Fort White: On Tap Tonight: public comment back, budget approval, NFPS, and more
September 21, 2026 9:45 am | 2 min read
FORT WHITE, FL – This month’s Fort White Town Council meeting looks like it will be shorter than the usual three-hour marathons. The removal of the public comment section at the beginning of the meeting is being added back in so folks don’t have to sit around for three hours to address the Council.
Before the August 17 Council meeting, in an apparent effort to mirror the Columbia County 5, the beginning of the meeting public comment section was removed from the agenda, which left a couple of people stranded in their seats for almost three hours before they could address the Council.
Interim Town Clerk Glenn Hunter said that, in retrospect, removing the early public comment session was not a good idea. He said, “Presiding Officer Terry would make the final decision to put the public comment session back at the top of the agenda.
Your reporter spoke with Ms. Terry about this. She said, “Yes, it was not a good idea to remove that from the agenda. Public comment at the beginning will be added back to the agenda for all future meetings.” She continued, “If folks have something on their minds, they should be able to speak and not have to sit for three hours to do so.”
Also
on the evening’s agenda
This year’s proposed budget (page 17) projects total revenue of $488,975, expenditures of $ 471,329, and beginning cash of $700,000.
A Planning & Zoning meeting to review a site plan application of The Gathering (page 22). The site plan included with the application is so poor in resolution that it is mostly useless. The application includes no explanation of what The Gathering is beyond one line in the Concurrency Worksheet, nor does it explain why NFPS did the sufficiency review or what it cost.
North Florida Professional Services (page 50) is looking for the Town to approve a task order under what NFPS calls the “Continuing Professional Services Agreement.” The “Continuing Agreement” is not included, and much is unknown.
The Town is looking to acquire a new IT consultant (page 53) and service agreement. Interim Clerk Hunter and the company principal will be introducing the proposal.
The Halloween Parade (page 70) is followed by a Fluidpay proposal (page 72), which is confusing.
The Glenn Hunter Contract, which did not have the errors of the last contract (tabled) corrected, can be found on page 77.
The Town’s Attorney Folds Walker gave an opinion on the Brad Dicks zoning controversy (page 82).
The contract to clean Town Hall is on page 89.
Countty PIO and political candiate Dennis Rivera at the last Fort
White meeting.
Epilogue
Your reporter reached out to Town Council candidate and County Public Information Officer Dennis Rivera, who is, according to Mr. Rivera's campaign literature, is “Focused on Solutions, Not Division,” and asked whether he supported adding a public comment section back to the beginning of the agenda.
Mr. Rivera did not respond. His bosses at the County do not favor early public comments.
Mr. Rivera is running against Councilwoman Terry.