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Lake City News 2019
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Posted
February 29, 2020 09:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Thursday evening, 11 years
after the Columbia County Observer
discovered and documented the abysmal state
of disrepair of Lake City's Blanche Hotel,
a veritable death trap that was being ignored by
the City fathers, developer Rhett Holmes and
Mayor Steve Witt cut the grand opening ribbon of
the 'new' Blanche.
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Posted
February 5, 2020 09:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
Monday night, except for Councilwoman Melinda
Moses, the City Council stood tall against
in-the-shadows conversations with developers,
their agents, and others coming before the
Council or its subordinate boards engaging in
quasi-judicial hearings or proceedings.
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Posted
January 21, 2020 05:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Lake City Councilman Chris
Greene, during the last City Council meeting
said, "This Council should not rework our
schedule for my work schedule." A few weeks
before, the City Council did just that.
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Posted January 14, 2020
11:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY / LAKE CITY, FL – Last
night at the Lake Shore Hospital Authority,
the Governor appointed Board declared 12
parcels, bought in crazed buying spree in
2006, surplus to the Authority's needs and
gifted the property to the City of Lake
City.
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Posted
January 7, 2020 08:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Once again, a lack of legal advice leaves Lake
City lurching, with City Manager Helfenberger
and the City Clerk scrambling to re-notice
Monday's January 13 City Council meeting.
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Posted
December 2, 2019 08:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Tonight, the City Council will decide who is
calling the shots when it comes to paying a $54k
road paving bill: City Attorney Fred Koberlein,
Jr., who has advised the City not to pay; or
City Manager Joe Helfenberger, who advised, "The
work was well done...The right thing to do is to
pay the bill."
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Posted
November 27, 2019 04:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
This past Thursday night, November 21, the
Columbia County 5 pledged $15,000 of Columbia
County tax dollars for a marketing campaign
designed to inform the public not to give money
to panhandlers.
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Posted November 14,
2019 11:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night at the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority, Lake City's
City Manager Joe Helfenberger made his pitch
for four parcels of property bought by the
Authority during a crazed buying spree begun
in 2006. The City is looking to build a new
City municipal complex in downtown Lake
City.
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Posted
November 7, 2019 04:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Tucked away on Monday night's
City Council agenda was the issue of paying a
road contractor for work completed on time and
on budget. City Manager Joe Helfenberger said it
was "a job well done" and the bill should be
paid. City Attorney Koberlein said, 'don't pay
the bill'.
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Posted
November 4, 2019 01:42 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Last Thursday, the United
Way Homeless Coalition subcommittee met to
discuss an advertising campaign to discourage
people in Columbia County from giving money to
panhandlers (and the homeless).
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Posted
October 15, 2019 11:50 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – The City Council and the Homeless County 5
(the County Commission) met in City Hall last
night to discuss issues of mutual interest. The
hot topic of the evening was the New City Hall
proposal and shared use with the County 5.
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Posted
October 7, 2019 04:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
In August 2018, 20 year Council veteran, Eugene
Jefferson, ran for City Council, won, and was
sued to have him removed from office. Tonight he
is scheduled to ask the City Council to have the
taxpayers pay his legal fees.
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Posted
September 23, 2019 09:40 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Unforeseen events have delayed
the start date of Vince Akhimie, Lake City's new
Assistant City Manager to Monday, October 14,
coincidentally the date of the next City-County
joint meeting.
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Posted
September 16, 2019 07:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL – A last minute change to Lake City's agenda has Lake
City's new Assistant City Manager, Vince
Akhimie, introducing himself to the public and
staff members at 5:15 pm this evening before the
Council meeting is gaveled to order at 6 pm.
City Manager Helfenberger said, "There will be
snacks."
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Posted
September 5, 2019 02:55 am
LAKE CITY, FL – On Tuesday night, September 3, the City Council
breezed through its budget items, approving the
2020 City fire assessment, the budget, and after
a few hiccups, let its prior approval of a
renewed contract with Waste Pro for City trash
collection and construction and demolition
debris stand.
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Posted
August 24, 2019 12:45 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
In May, Lake City began searching far and wide
for an Assistant City Manager; applicants
applied from all over America. On August 19,
Vince Akhimie, P.E., a person with over 25 years
of senior local government management
experience, accepted City Manager Joe
Helfenberger's offer to become Lake City's Asst.
City Manager.
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Posted
August 23, 2019 11:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – On Wednesday, August 21, Waste
Pro served up three pricing options to go along
with the four previously presented to the City
Council. Waste Pro is asking the Council to pick
an option at its September 3 Council meeting. If
the Council does not decide, the contract will
be extended for five more years as is.
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Posted
August 21, 2019 02:10 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Lake City, Florida, has some of
the lowest residential garbage pickup rates in
Florida. Three of the five City Council members
may be putting those rates in jeopardy.
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Posted
August 19, 2019 02:10 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
This evening, the City Council may be deciding
whether to end Waste Pro's exclusive franchise
for roll off and commercial waste. If
exclusivity is denied, City residents can expect
a rate increase of up to 28%, or more if Waste
Pro's contract is not renewed.
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Posted
August 5, 2019 02:59 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Tonight in City Hall, City
Manager Joe Helfenberger will be advancing his
continuing plan to secure the City's IT
resources from another cyber attack. It will be
expensive.
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Posted July
14, 2019 09:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Columbia County's
homeless and panhandler issues have been swept
under the carpet for the past 10 years. Some
think United Way is the problem.
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Posted July
11, 2019 09:00 pm |
Updated July 12, 2019
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – During Monday
evening's joint Lake City / Columbia County
meeting of the elected leaders and top
management of both bodies, the number one topic
was the homeless and panhandlers.
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Posted July
2, 2019 09:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall it
wasn't only the City's Rules of Procedure that
were being questioned, it was the process
itself.
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Posted July
2, 2019 09:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – After months of discussing
changes to Lake City's Rules of Procedure, rules
which had not been problematic for over a
decade, the City Council's proposed new rules
hit a roadblock of resistance.
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Posted June
25, 2019 07:45 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Monday morning the Lake City
City Council met in an unposted, unnoticed
special meeting to approve the payment of a 42
Bitcoin ransom (Monday value approximately
$462k) so the City could attempt to get its
locked down and encrypted data back.
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Posted June
11, 2019 01:00 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Sometime over the weekend
the city government of Lake City, Florida
was hit with a virus-malware attack that the
IT department claimed was the "Triple
Threat." The third leg of the "Triple
Threat" is a request for ransom. As of 9:20
am Monday, the City Manager said the City
has not been asked for a ransom and so far
he has not said it has.
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Posted May
28, 2019 04:00 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
The City of Lake City is accepting applications
for the position of Assistant City Manager. This
is administrative and technical management work
requiring independent judgment and a high degree
of responsibility in assisting the City Manager
in performing functions and activities necessary
for the effective operation of Lake City.
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Posted May
21, 2019 06:00 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall
began innocently, with long time resident
Sandra Smith addressing the City Council
commenting on the rules of procedure for
public speakers and the City giving a
"soapbox" for any comments at all.
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Posted May
13, 2019 11:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL – For the last few years, if
one attended a Lake City, City Council
meeting, sitting at the table off to the
left in the front of the room along with the
City's Director of Finance, was Assistant
City Manager Grayson Cason. After 18 years
with Lake City, Mr. Cason is retiring on May
31.
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Posted May
9, 2019 02:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – With over $10 mil in utility projects on the drawing
board and millions in other projects Lake
City and Columbia County are finally
realizing the fruits of their location. Lake
City, the Gateway to Florida, on the
intersection of I-75 and I-10, is looking
for an Assistant City Manager.
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Posted May
7, 2019 04:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall
Mayor Witt proclaimed May 5-11 City Clerks
Week. This was not just another
proclamation, but also an act of well earned
recognition of City Clerk Audrey Sikes,
Deputy Clerk Katy McCrary, and staff
assistant Nikki Starling, who are
collectively the information center for the
City government and the community.
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Posted May
5, 2019 11:59 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – During the past couple of
months there has been much discussion
regarding the Lake City Council's rules of
procedure and public participation. There
have been suggestions and counter
suggestions, with one councilperson moving
the City backwards and another hop scotching
the fence from following the lead of the
County's more meaningful public comment
rules to agreeing with moving the City
backwards in time.
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April 23, 2019
07:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Meeting rules for public participation were a hot
topic at last night's City Council workshop.
Councilwoman Melinda Moses was not open for
rules that allowed for timely public
comment. No member of the public spoke in
support of her old guard policy of
disjointed public comments which could have
speakers making comments so far in advance
of an item coming up for action that the
Council members would be hard pressed to
remember what the public had to say.
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Posted
April 22, 2019 07:55 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
A few weeks ago, City Councilman Jake Hill said
that City Hall is and has been referred to as
the "White House." He was not explaining the
color of the building, but the color of its
occupants and employees throughout the City. The
City Council is looking inward this evening.
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Posted
April 1, 2019 08:25 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Tonight, April 1, the City Council has an
extensive agenda with 8 resolutions, a Community
Development Block Grant public hearing, which
links the City and the County, and other
business on the docket. The agenda with
supporting information has not been made
available on the internet; neither has the short
version. The 5 pm special meeting agenda is also
not available.
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Posted
March 5, 2019 01:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – IDP's Dennille Decker came to
the microphone last night to give the City
Council and the attending public an update on
the $15 mil Blanche reconstruction. Long a
controversial project and the hallmark of former
City Manager Wendell Johnson's career, in about
90 days everyone, will know if City Manager
Johnson's vision will pay off.
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March
4, 2019 07:40 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Tonight in City Hall, the City Council has an
extensive agenda with 14 ordinances and 9
resolutions on the docket. The agenda with
all supporting information is 406 pages and has
not been made available on the internet. Neither
has the short version.
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Posted
February 7, 2019 12:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
After going over the City Council approved rules
for addressing the Council and asking all
speakers to address their comments to the
Council "as a whole..." Mayor Witt invited Lake
City resident and community activist Sylvester
Warren to the microphone.
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Posted
February 7, 2019 12:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Monday night, February 4,
2019, Lake City Mayor Steve Witt, for the
first time since January 21, 2014,
specifically referenced the City's rules of
"Decorum." The rules were brought up
matter-of-factly before any speakers were
invited to the lectern to address the City
Council. Lake City resident and community
activist Sylvester Warren was caught by
surprise. City Manager Joe Helfenberger
wasn't. Both had a problem abiding by the
rules.
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Posted
February 5, 2019 07:10 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall,
Mayor Steve Witt proclaimed the month of
February Black History Month.
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Lake City News 2018
(scroll down)
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Posted
December 19, 2018 08:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Monday night, December 17,
little noticed on the City Council agenda
was a $22,000 item which will bring Lake
City web design and agenda preparation into
the 21st century. City Manager Helfenberger
is also working to make the City more
transparent.
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Posted
November 4, 2018 04:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall,
City Clerk Audrey Sikes gave City Councilman
Eugene Jefferson his 6th oath of office and
his wife, Betty Jefferson held the family
bible and family members looked on.
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Posted
October 24, 2018 11:59 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
With low non living wage dead end jobs
populating Lake City's US 90 corridor like a
field of wild mushrooms, local law enforcement
has felt the pressure with more traffic and
congestion. Last night in City Hall Mayor Witt,
recognizing the fact that the City had stopped
providing funeral procession escorts "years
ago," directed the City Manager to come up with
a policy for the City and the Police Department.
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Posted
October 2, 2018 07:00 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night in City Hall, veteran Councilman
Eugene Jefferson received the Mayor John Land
Years of Service Award from the Florida League
of Cities.
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Posted
September 21, 2018 01:40 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – On Wednesday
afternoon, Lake City's new city manager, Joe
Helfenberger, along with Public Works
Director Thomas Henry, and Community
Redevelopment Advisory Committee (CRAC)
member Gloria Spivey appeared before the
Tourist Development Council (TDC) looking
for money to fill a claimed $300,874
shortfall in the Waterfront Entertainment
District, half of which it wanted from the
TDC.
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Posted August 1, 2018 03:00 am
On July 30, 2018, investigators from LCPD’s
Criminal Investigation Division and the State
Attorney’s Office traveled to Asheville, North
Carolina with an arrest warrant and located...
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Posted July
30, 2018 11:10 am | Op-Ed
While I
support local news coverage, I share the
belief with many of a growing deception of
news coverage to advance personal opinion,
which if we desired, we would seek
individually and not be forced to cough
up $1.00 under the guise of news.
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Posted July
20, 2018 06:30am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Wednesday morning, former Congresswoman Corrine
Brown's long time District Supervisor
(Jacksonville), Glenel Bowden, dragged VA
hospital staffer and Lake City resident
Clarence Tucker into the Columbia
County/Lake City Circuit Court seeking an
injunction to remove Mr. Tucker from the
upcoming City election
ballot. Mr. Bowden claimed that Mr. Tucker
did not live in the district to satisfy the
Lake City Charter requirement for one year
prior residency for city council candidates.
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Posted July
16, 2018 11:55 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
Eighteen months ago around midnight, Mayor
Steve Witt's car drove itself into Lake
DeSoto after he left the Elks Lodge, a well
known local hangout for Columbia County's
politicians, movers and shakers. He had too
much to drink. "I was feeling dizzy because
of a new blood pressure medication I was
taking and got out of my car to get some
air. I didn't take it out of gear and it
drove itself into the lake," he said today.
Six months later Mayor Witt pleads no
contest to a DUI. The story could have ended
right there, but Columbia County's
mainstream media, the local version of
Pravda, had a message to send.
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Posted July
9, 2018 09:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
The recent search for a city manager in Lake
City was generally an unscripted – fly by the
seat of your pants – affair. The Lake City City
Council was responsible for the search methods
and the final methodology of the background
check of the applicants. In the civilized world,
HR departments and credit reporting agencies
perform detailed background checks of finalists.
Lake City sent two armed Lake City Police
Department (LCPD) plain clothes investigators
unannounced into the present and past
communities of the two finalists, Joe
Helfenberger and Danielle Judd.
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Posted July
8, 2018 05:45 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Lake City should have a new City Manager
ready to begin on August 1, 2018 if all goes
according to plan during Monday evening's
City Council meeting. On the agenda is the
approval of the contract between Joe
Helfenberger and the City.
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Posted
July 8, 2018 05:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Those that have been driving around downtown
Lake City may have noticed activity
happening on the brick walls of City Hall.
These walls are brick façade. They are
falling down.
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Posted July
1, 2018 11:55 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – Thursday's June 28, 2018 special
City Council meeting was the Friday morning
main topic of Columbia County's mainstream
print media, the Pravda of North Florida and
the self-proclaimed only Columbia County
news source that you can trust, the Lake
City Reporter. While there were a few rocky
moments, in which the only
City Manager candidate left standing and
ultimate designee Joe Helfenberger was "cool
– calm – and collected," Friday's headline
accused Councilmen Jefferson and Hill of
"trying to throw up a last-minute
roadblock." This was not true.
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Posted June
28, 2018 05:00 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Yesterday evening in City Hall, Joe Helfenberger
was the "Last Man Left Standing" in the race to
fill the City Manager position, vacated when
Wendell Johnson turned in his resignation
earlier this year and
Danielle Judd, who had finished in a
dead heat with Mr. Helfenberger, withdrew.
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Posted June
7, 2018 11:35 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Beginning at 9 am and
ending a little after 6 pm, the City Council
soldiered through the five final candidates
for the vacated city manager job. The top
two finishers, Joseph Helfenberger and
Danielle Judd, finished in a dead heat and
have been the top two since the first
tabulation by the Council. Both candidates
are different in style and substance. The
final decision will be made at a special
meeting on June 19 after the final
interviews, which will begin at 1 pm.
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Posted June
5, 2018 03:20 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Wednesday morning
beginning at 9:30 am the City Council will
be interviewing the five semifinalists who
wish to be the next City Manger. The process
began with a bumpy start in February,
City Manager Search Halted, Job Posting
Withdrawn, Council Regroups...; then
gained an even keel and faltered again in
April, after Councilman Jefferson wasn't
prepared with his candidate rankings,
City Manager Search Stalls - Starts. City
Council in Disarray. Emerg Mtng Called.
Things were smooth again until City Attorney
Fred Koberlein's suggestion that the
scheduled interview times, might not be the
actual times.
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Posted May
22, 2018 11:40 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Columbia County and Lake
City have one thing in common: a school
district that does not teach the importance
of effective government. Both local
governments have been plagued by elected
officials and appointed ones, all alumni of
the Columbia County School District that
come to public meetings and just cannot be
heard or understood.
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Posted May
10, 2018 09:40 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Mayor Witt got right down to business. He
asked if anyone wished to address the
Council and seeing none he addressed the
Council: "I'm sure everybody received a
packet that Ms. Greene prepared. I want to
thank her for a lot of hard work puttin'
this together and our purpose tonight is to
give us a little short list and figure out
when and how many we want to interview."
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Posted
May 10, 2018 07:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Lake City City Hall is shutting down from 11am
to 1pm, during lunch time for many who do their
business with the City. No one knows who gave
the order. Last night, City Councilman Eugene
Jefferson thought the building was being shut
down for maintenance. It's not. It is being shut
down for a publically funded dinner for the
City's woman workers, some of whom with their
benefits, cost taxpayers over $100k a year. The
event is voluntary.
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Posted
May 9, 2018 07:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
A special meeting has been called for tonight at
6 pm in City Hall to whittle down the list of
the 9 city manager semi finalists. By the
conclusion of the meeting, the City Council will
have decided which candidates to interview.
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Posted
April 26, 2018 04:10 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
Eight years after
hiring IBI to develop a master plan
for downtown Lake City, the Community
Redevelopment Advisory Committee (CRAC)
approved the design for an
amphitheater/bandshell for Wilson Park in
downtown Lake City.
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Posted
April 20, 2018 10:30 pm
13 Finalist Applications & Rankings Available in Story
LAKE CITY, FL – Thursday evening was busy in Lake City
with both the City Council and the County 5
meeting concurrently for the first time in
the decade that this reporter has been
covering the two. On the City's
emergency-special meeting agenda was the
continuation of the new city manager search.
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Top Initial Rankings Spreadsheet, All
Applications: Available in Story
Posted
April 18, 2018 04:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
Monday night at City Hall had the City Council
searching for a way to rank and rate the 54
applicants for the City Manager spot, soon to be
vacant with the retirement of Wendell Johnson,
who is departing at the end of May.
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Posted
April 8, 2018 10:20 am
LAKE CITY, FL – A last minute flurry of
activity had City Manager resumes flying
into Lake City the last two days before the
April 6, 12 pm deadline. Through March 14
the City had received 10 resumes. Three
weeks later on April 4, the City had
received another ten. Between last Wednesday
and the Friday deadline, the City had
received another 34, two of which were from
well known former local officials and one
from a present official.
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Posted
February 28, 2018 07:45 am | updated
02:45 pm*
LAKE CITY, FL – Monday night in City
Hall, Mayor Witt reviewed the City Manager
Position papers in an effort to
make them ready for prime time. There was
input from the two candidates who will be
running against incumbent councilman Eugene
Jefferson, as well as a couple of members of
the public and the council members.
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Posted
February 23, 2018 08:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Thursday afternoon, after
receiving the updated City Manager Position
advertisement from HR Director Michele
Greene, Mayor Witt called for a special
meeting on Monday evening, February 26 at 6
pm to review the latest version of the City
Manager Position description and request for
applicants.
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Posted
February 21, 2018 02:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall,
the topic of the city manager search was not
included in the evening's agenda, even
though it was scheduled during the last City
Council meeting. City Manager Johnson's
explanation, given as the meeting was
winding down, seemed to fall short [as
spoken], "I apologize that under
departmental administration I do have an
add-on for discussion: that the -- Michele
Greene HR Director is gonna'
(unintelligible) on the city manager
advertisement."
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Posted
February 8, 2018 07:15 am |
Part II | go to
Part I
LAKE CITY, FL –
Following Monday's City Council city manager
workshop the regularly scheduled City Council
meeting was gaveled to order. Some members of
the public were still talking among themselves
regarding the city manager search and the
revelations by City Manager Johnson regarding
the experience required for the new city manager
applicant. Between the workshop and the regu#2015lar
meeting long time Lake City resident and former
Councilman Glenel Bowden asked to be put on the
agenda. Mayor Witt granted his request.
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Posted
February 7, 2018 06:35 am | Part I
| go to
Part II
LAKE CITY, FL –
Monday night in City Hall the search for a
city manager to replace retiring City
Manager Wendell Johnson was halted. The 5
o'clock meeting, billed as a workshop for
the council members to discuss what they
wanted in a new city manager, fell flat as
none of the council members appeared ready
for the meeting. A previous job posting,
approved by City Manager Johnson, was
withdrawn and the Council began regrouping.
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Lake City News
2017
(scroll down)
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Posted
December 5, 2017 11:35 am | (1
comment)
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall,
City Councilman Jake Hill's continued
efforts to oust City Manager Wendell Johnson
found no support from the rest of the City
Council. City workers with gripes, who
wanted to remain employed, stayed away, as
others lined up behind Assistant City
Manager Grayson Cason in a well scripted
show of support for the nine year City
Manager who has had a sometimes turbulent
career in Lake City and who has recently
taken hits in the press and with the public.
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Posted
October 4, 2017 11:55 pm
LAKE CITY,
FL – Monday night, October 2, was a tough
night at City Hall. After being criticized
by citizens; asked to resign by Councilman
Hill; and being skewered by Lake City's
mainstream media the day before: being
called a "liar by omission" by the paper's
editor Robert Bridges, City Manager Wendell
Johnson vented. Nothing got out of control
and Mayor Steve Witt, as he does with
everyone, did not intercede, allowing Mr.
Johnson to speak his piece.
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Posted
October 3, 2017 12:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall,
Mayor Steve Witt presided over a sometimes
contentious meeting while quietly, Chamber
of Commerce Director Dennille Decker, after
addressing the Council on the Stormwater Fee
Ordinance, sat with her two daughters
waiting for the vote.
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Posted
September 29, 2017 07:50 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
On September 5, 2017, after years of secret
negotiations by City Manager Wendell Johnson
with Integrity Development Partners (IDP) of
Georgia, the City Council in a show of no
confidence for the fruits of those
negotiations, voted to table the Blanche
agreement(s) with IDP. The deal to table
appeared to have been made before the
meeting and there were rumors and talk of
other alternative Blanche plans.
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Posted
September 6, 2017 06:20 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall, the
Blanche Project, a deal, which moments after
it was hatched over two years ago was made
confidential by the developer, Integrity
Development Partners (IDP), and was kept
confidential by City Manager Johnson for
over a year after the confidentiality had
apparently lapsed, went back to the drawing
board for modifications. Mayor Witt gave the
packed house of residents and business
people their turn at the microphone to state
their case for or against the project,
before the deal was tabled in a deal that
was cut before the meeting.
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Posted
September 1, 2017 06:45 pm | Part II
LAKE CITY, FL – On Sunday, August 27,
2017, Lake City's mainstream media and daily
newspaper of record, the Lake City Reporter
(LCR) published, what it called, a "Special
Report." It followed up on its Special
Report with an opinion piece and an article
"Blanche docs to be released." Both the
opinion and the article were off the mark.
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Posted
August 31, 2017 05:13 pm | Part I
LAKE CITY, FL – On Sunday, August 27,
2017, Lake City's mainstream media and daily
newspaper of record, the Lake City Reporter
(LCR) published, what it called, a "Special
Report." The lead off piece was an editorial
titled "The Blanche: A failed experiment."
While the paper's newly found sentiment is
one shared by mostly everybody - everywhere,
except four of the five people on the City
Council, the Blanche Project has not failed
yet. Only time will tell, should the City
Council approve the final agreements. The
LCR's special report has given a new
headline to an old article to make it seem
like it was against the project before it
really was.
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Posted
August 29, 2017 01:45 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – On August 7, 2017, City Manager
Johnson gave no hint to the City Council or
the public that the cost to move City Hall
across the street, to a space 2 1/2 times
its present space in City Hall, was going to
cost an additional $1.7 mil. The next
evening, August 8, at the Community
Redevelopment Advisory Committee (CRAC)
meeting, Mr. Johnson arrived late. CRAC
Chairperson, Councilwoman Melinda Moses
asked Mr. Johnson for an update. It was
then, with no members of the public in
attendance, that the City Manager revealed
the increased lease cost.
|
Posted
August 23, 2017 06:35 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
Recently, Lake City has become a Mecca of
non-living wage jobs, chicken wings, fast
food emporiums, auto dealerships, shopping
malls and Internet Cafes. The Lake
City/Columbia County Chamber of Commerce has
been leading the fight against Internet
cafes – one opened very close to the
Chamber's Hdq. -- and caught a friendly ear
with City officials. On August 8, 2017,
newly arrived City Building Department
chief, Rod Hoefert, gave the Community
Redevelopment Advisory Board an update on
the City's fight against Internet Cafes.
|
Posted
August 08, 2017 09:15 am
LAKE CITY,
FL – Last night in City Hall, Councilman
Jake Hill followed up his July 17, 2017
question to City Manager Wendell Johnson,
"Wendell, could you tell me what it's goin'
to cost the City to move out of this
building to across the street? Out of this
buildin' into the Blanche Hotel?" Since
being reelected to the Council in November
2016, Hill has complained he is being "kept
in the dark" about the details of the
Blanche. He is not the only one.
|
Posted August 5, 2017
07:00 pm |
Part II
|
Part I
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL –
On March 21, 2017, City Attorney Fred Koberlein hired
the Law Firm of Alan, Norton & Blue (ANB) of
Tallahassee
to investigate charges by FSU's Diane Scholz that she
was insulted, bullied, and manhandled by Lake City City
Manager Wendell Johnson. In her March 16 complaint, Ms.
Scholz did not threaten legal action, but asked that Mr.
Johnson be reprimanded. Mr. Johnson denied all charges.
On June 9, ANB cleared Mr. Johnson of any wrongdoing.
ANB's investigation cost the City $11,893.
|
Posted July 30, 2017
01:50 pm | Part I |
Part II
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – On March 16, 2017,
FSU's Florida Institute of Government's Diane Scholz, a
recognized expert in rural economic development grants
and grant writing, wrote to the Lake City City Clerk
complaining of "unprofessional and inappropriate
behavior" by City Manager Wendell Johnson." During the
July 17 City Council meeting, it was revealed that the
City had received the complaint and hired a private law firm to do an investigation.
|
Posted May 23, 2017
08:45 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – The Lake City Reporter's Sunday, May 21
announcement that City Council members will
be attending a special 'Chamber Only'
meeting in the City's Council Chambers about
the proposed implementation of stormwater
fees had City Manager Johnson scrambling to
walk back the announcement by the LCR.
|
Posted May 11, 2017
08:20 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Yesterday's Lake City
mainstream print media article, "Blanche
Hotel project 'will close'," had County
Manager Ben Scott blasting off a polite
email to City Manager Wendell Johnson
letting him know the County is not
interested in leasing City Hall. For years, City Manager Johnson and his private
partners, Integrity Development Partners (IDP), have
been telling everyone the construction/renovation of
Lake City's Blanche Hotel is just around the corner.
|
Pt II: The CRA votes
Posted April 19, 2017
07:45 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – On Monday night, April 17, back before the
Community Redevelopment Authority (the City Council) was
the "Façade Grant Incentive" for Double Eagle, LLC,
which was tabled on April 3 because of questionable
public notice.
Lake City CRA Tables $45,000 Facade Grant
Request. Mayor Witt gave a brief
explanation before the item was put back on the table.
|
Pt I: Background –
City Manager Johnson has been in charge of
the updated plan
Posted April 18, 2017
11:45 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – Last night, Lake City's Community
Redevelopment Agency (CRA) revisited the
April 10 tabled $45,000 request of the
recently incorporated Double Eagle
Investors, LLC. According to City Manager
Wendell Johnson's report to the CRA, the
request was for a "Façade Grant Incentive,"
which he morphed into a "Construction
Incentive Grant." According to information
received earlier today through a public
record request, the City Manager's Office
has no application, program or policy, and
no resolution or ordinance pertaining to
Construction Incentive Grants.
|
Posted
April 5, 2017 06:24 pm | updated April 7, 2017
05:44 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
On Monday, April 3, 2017, the Lake City Community Redevelopment
Agency (CRA) tabled a request from a newly formed
business, Double Eagle Investors, LLC, for a $45,000
façade grant application. Problematic were the
following: the meeting was not
adequately noticed; the grant application was not
included with the back-up material for the City Council;
the minutes of the Community Redevelopment Advisory
Committee (CRAC) which may have recommended the approval of
the $45,000 grant were not available; the grant
application was not available; the announcement of the
CRA April 3 meeting was not posted to the Lake City
event calendar until a day after the meeting, on April
4.
|
Posted March 1, 2017
08:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – On Tuesday, February
21, the Lake City, City Council met. On its docket was
an item regarding the Jack Berry Hwy, technically known
by the state as Lake Shore Boulevard, or the East Access
Road. Beginning in 2012, the project was driven quickly
into the shadows by City Manager Wendell Johnson, who
claimed that if your reporter attended the meetings they
wouldn't go smoothly. County Commissioner Ronald
Williams also worked to keep these meetings in the dark,
never reporting back to the County Commission.
|
Lake City News
2016
(scroll down)
|
Posted
December 20, 2016 08:45 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night, after hearing from the public
and all City Council members except
Councilman Eugene Jefferson, the City
Council tabled the consideration of its
medicinal marijuana dispensary moratorium.
Councilwoman Melinda Moses told the Council,
"I need more information." The Mayor and the
rest of the Council members agreed.
|
Posted
December 18, 2016 02:10 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – On December
1, 2016, ignoring the will of the people,
who three weeks earlier voted to
approve Constitutional Amendment 2, the
Columbia County 5
passed a never-ending moratorium on the
sale of medical marijuana in the
unincorporated areas of the County. On
Monday night at 6 pm, the City Council is
scheduled to vote to approve its own medical
marijuana moratorium for the next nine
months.
|
Posted
December 6, 2016 06:30 am | (2
comments)
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night, Mayor Steve Witt began the City
Council logo
discussion: "I think this is something the
City needs to get out there and get some
feedback. This is for discussion tonight. It
is not necessarily to do anything
permanent." Councilwoman Moses didn't agree:
"I love this. It's simple. It's our fountain
that everybody can relate to. I really don't
know why we're waiting. If anybody likes it
as well, why we wouldn't go ahead?"
|
Posted
December 5, 2016 10:35 am
LAKE CITY,
FL – After all the discussion of the Lake
City logo during the last half of 2015, the
future of the old Lake City logo, which
shows the Confederate Battle Flag went into
hibernation. Mysteriously, without any
public discussion and nowhere in the City
minutes a new City Logo mysteriously
appeared. In its agenda for tonight's City
Council meeting, Mayor Steve Witt is asking
the City Council to consider "adopting
Interim City Logo as the new City Logo."
There are no pictures of the new or old logo
in the City's agenda material.
|
Posted
November 22, 2016 03:33 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
After a 4 year absence beginning in 2012,
former city councilman Jake Hill was
reelected in August to the City Council.
Last night in the council chambers, City
Clerk Audrey Sikes gave Mr. Hill the Oath of
Office with his wife Deborah and daughter Ba-Brea
by his side.
|
Posted
October 17, 2016 06:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – City Manager Wendell Johnson
has dropped the ball once again, listing the
incorrect time on the City's web meeting calendar
for tonight's City Council meeting.
Tonight's meeting, according the meeting
agenda and the announcement last Thursday at
the Utility Committee, is set to begin at 6
pm. The City web calendar has the meeting
beginning an hour later, when at which time,
it would be over.
|
Posted
October 14, 2016 07:55 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – On Tuesday night, October11,
the Community Redevelopment Advisory
Committee (CRAC) met to discuss playgrounds
and playground equipment in Wilson Park. As
the 30 minute meeting was wrapping up, City
Manager Johnson gave a three minute update
on the $15,000,000+ Blanche project.
|
Posted
October 13, 2016 02:02 pm
LKE CITY, FL – City Manager Wendell Johnson
prides himself on being an expert on many
facets of municipal government. That appears
to be one of the reasons the City Council
hired him in June 2009. Seven years after
being hired, City Manager Johnson has been
consistently unsuccessful in keeping the
public advised of its meetings or giving
them timely access to meeting material.
|
Posted October 12, 2016
08:05 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Thursday night the 6th annual
Columbia vs. Suwannee High girls volleyball game known
as the “Dig Pink" is set to begin serving up the balls
at 5:30 pm in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
|
Posted September 30, 2016 11:50 am |
updated October 2
COLUMBIA
COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – According to the
Columbia County School District's Brandi
Keen, a broken water main has caused the
City to issue a utility wide Boil Notice. An
email sent from Ms. Keen reads in part: "The
City of Lake City confirmed a Utility Wide
Boil Water notice because of a broken water
mainline on Brookside and US Highway
90. Students should NOT use the public water
for drinking or hand-washing!"
|
Posted September 22,
2016 10:00 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL During and following the recent
primary elections County Commission
candidate B. Coker, City Council incumbent
candidate Zack Paulk, and City Mayor
candidate Audré Washington had questions
about the election process in Columbia
County and what went on during the meetings
of the County Canvassing Board. They claimed
they were denied appropriate access to the
records and meetings of the Canvassing Board
and took their case to court.
|
Posted
September 20, 2016 08:10 am
LAKE
CITY, FL
– Last
night in City Hall an era came to an end.
After six decades as City Attorney, a
contract for a new City Attorney for Lake
City was approved by the Council. Fred
Koberlein, Jr., one of the three finalists
for the position, had his contract approved
without comment, almost.
|
Posted
September 19, 2016 09:10 am
LAKE
CITY, FL
– On
August 31, 2016, Lake City had a special
meeting to interview three finalists for the
position of City of Lake City, City
Attorney. The position was being
vacated after more than five decades of service
by the legendary and longest sitting City
Attorney in America, Herbert Darby. Florida
law requires the interviews to be recorded.
The recordings of the applicants are
completely inaudible.
|
Posted
September 14, 2016 08:40 am
LAKE CITY,
FL – Last night in City Hall, Rhett Holmes,
president of IDP Housing, the
real-estate/construction group responsible
for the financing, design, and future
construction of what has become known as
just the "Blanche," Lake City's downtown
turn-of-the century Blanche Hotel
renovation, told the Community Redevelopment
Advisory Board (CRAC), "I know of no reason
why this deal will not proceed." Mr. Holmes
blamed "IRS guidance issues" for the delays
in completing the agreement between the City
and IDP, which will allow the construction
to begin.
|
Posted
September 1, 2016 08:55 am
LAKE
CITY, FL
– Last
night the City Council followed in the
footsteps of Columbia County and went for
the hometown team. Rather than go outside the
City/County limits to fill the important, soon
to be vacant city slot, that of retiring
City Attorney and legal legend, Herbert
Darby, the Council decided on a hometown
attorney. After an hour and a half of
interviews, the Koberlein law firm was
ranked number one.
|
Posted July
18, 2016 05:32 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – City Manager
Wendell Johnson is responsible for the
day-to-day operation of Lake City. The City
Manager's Office is responsible for
preparing City Council agendas and
forwarding them to the City Clerk for
distribution. The City Manager is also
responsible for seeing that the City's
calendar is kept up-to-date and has the
overall responsibility of scheduling
meetings so they are not in conflict with
those of other jurisdictions in
Columbia
County.
Lately,
City
Manager
Johnson
and the
City
Council
have
been
dropping
the
ball.
|
Posted July 13, 2016 03:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Monday at
Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital board meeting, none
of the Governor's Board members had a single question
about the recent deforestation at the back of the
Authority owned hospital on Lake Desoto, except Bd.
Member Janet Creel. On Tuesday, the Lake City Community
Redevelopment Advisory Board met. The comments at that
meeting were attention grabbers, especially that of City
Councilwoman Melinda Moses who said she was satisfied
with the new look.
|
Posted June
14, 2016 07:05 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last
night the Lake City, City Council approved
an open-ended Development Agreement with
Hutton Gleason Place LC, LLC, a business
registered with the state a little more than
3 weeks ago. The project will develop the
old K-Mart shopping center on U.S. 90.
|
Posted May
17, 2016 10:50 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
During
last
night's
City
Council
meeting,
City
Manager
Wendell
Johnson
brought
some
clarity
to two
projects
that
involve
the Lake
Shore
Hospital
Authority
and are
occurring
within
the City
limits:
the
clear
cutting
of the
trees on
the
south
side of
the Lake
Shore
Hospital
and the
relationship
of the
proposed
"Jack
Berry
Highway"
to those
trees.
|
Posted March 17, 2016 11:45 am | (1
comment)
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
On Monday night, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry and the LSHA
voted to clear cut one of the most beautiful areas of
trees around Lake DeSoto, saving just a handful of palm
trees. The Hospital Authority leases the land to
Community Health Systems (CHS). It is not clear if CHS
is going to give Berry clear-cutting permission. The
park is in the African American Community. Governor Scott's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Board is all white. Former City
Councilman, Jake Hill, told the Observer, "It would have
been nice if someone asked us about cutting down the
trees in our community."
|
Posted
January 20, 2016 12:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall,
Wendell Johnson's Wilson Park/Darby Pavilion/Lake
DeSoto
plan came to fruition as the Community
Redevelopment Authority (CRA) gave its stamp
of approval on a $1,635,307 cost estimate by
one of the City's contract engineers, Tetra
Tech. There remain two pieces of property in
the Project area that have not been
purchased, both of which impact the proposed
renovation plan.
|
Lake City News
2015
(scroll down)
|
Posted
December 11, 2015 04:45 pm |
Part I |
Part II
LAKE
CITY, FL – On Tuesday night, December 8, the
Community Redevelopment Advisory Committee
met for the fourth time since March 3, 2015,
to discuss the Lake DeSoto Waterfront and
Wilson Park Recreation Area Redevelopment
Project. Along with the top-secret Blanche
Project, City Manager Johnson and the City
Council are hinging the future of downtown
Lake City on these two projects. The
Landscape Architect and the Project Engineer
did not attend. However, it was made clear
that they previously met with Councilwoman
Moses, Mr. Johnson, and others behind closed
doors before coming up with their latest
plan.
|
Posted
December 11, 2015 06:15 am |
Part I |
Part II
LAKE CITY, FL – On Tuesday night, December 8, the Community
Redevelopment Advisory Committee (CRAC) met for the
fourth time since March 3, when the City
Council passed Ordinance No. 2015-2054. The
ordinance gave the City authority to issue a
redevelopment note not to exceed $1.2
million to develop/redevelop the Lake De
Soto waterfront and Wilson Park. Most of
design work was done behind closed doors by
City Manager Johnson and his staff in
conjunction with what appears to be two
hand-picked consultants. According to City
Manager Johnson, the public will be able to
weigh in after the final plan is complete
and ready for presentation early next year.
|
Posted
December 8, 2015 06:45 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night in City Hall, City Manager
Wendell Johnson backed down, again. In
October, Mr. Johnson brought to the Utility
Committee a proposal to privatize the
operation of the City's wastewater treatment
plant (sewer plant). Unhappy City workers
came out in force. Mr. Johnson backed down
and tabled sending out a Request for
Proposals to privatize the City worker's
jobs until last night, when the committee
tabled the City Manager's proposal, again.
|
 LCPD's Marshall Sova: Exceptional Service
Posted Nov. 18,
2015 08:45 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – Recently, Sergeant Marshall Sova was
recognized for exceptional service. On the
morning of October 10th, 2015, the Lake City
Police Department responded to a residence on SW
Jaguar Drive for a report of a shooting. The
shooting turned out to be a double homicide.
There was a third gunshot victim.
|
Posted
Nov. 2, 2015 08:10 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Carried over from October's
Community Redevelopment Advisory Committee
(CRAC) meeting, City consultants Burl "Bo"
Reardon of Tetra Tech and Timothy Green of
Green Consulting Group arrived at the CRAC
with poster boards showing the areas around
Lake DeSoto under discussion. The City set
up the meeting so that the renderings were
visible only to the committee members. Once
again, City Manager Johnson was at times,
barely audible.
|
Posted
October 20, 2015 07:30 pm
LAKE CITY,
FL – After 40 minutes of discussion about
privatizing the operation of the City's
wastewater treatment plants, City Manager
Johnson backed down and moved to table his
request until December to publish a Request
for Proposals (RFP) to privatize the
operation of Lake City's wastewater
treatment plants. However, the City Utility
appears to be trouble. Moments before the
motion was tabled, Utility Director Steve
Roberts told the committee, "We need to look
at this because we have no capital. We have
dipped into our reserves the last two years
and we simply do not have the money."
|
Posted
October 19, 2015 08:05 am
LAKE CITY, FL – In a maneuver designed to gut the
City's waste water (sewer) utility workers
from the City payroll, City Manager Johnson,
along with the City Council, gutted and
packed the Utility Advisory Committee. Now
the Committee is looking into privatizing the City
utility worker's jobs. The Utility Committee
discussion begins at 5:30 pm tonight.
|
Posted Sept. 29, 2015
10:55 am | (2 comments)
LAKE CITY, FL – On September 21, 2015, one
week ago yesterday, the City Council, after
months of backroom discussions with City
Manager Wendell Johnson, approved entering
into an agreement with Integrity Development
Partners (IDP) and the newly incorporated
Blanche Hotel Redevelopment, both LLC's,
located at the same address in Valdosta, GA.
The city of Lake City is now on the hook for
millions, in a deal in which the contracts
and amendments are still up in the air.
|
Posted
Sept. 21, 2015 07:55 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – City Manager Wendell Johnson is
not bashful about doing end runs around
Florida's Sunshine and Public Record laws.
He has been working since July with the City
Council to secure his legacy with the $20
Mil Blanche Renovation Project.
Details have been kept under wraps. If the
City and the developer did not correspond
before July 15, as is the City Manager's
claim, how did they modify and receive the
agreement which was headed to the City's
Attorney's office on July 15?
|
Posted
Sept. 20, 2015 10:55 | Updated 04:45
pm
LAKE CITY,
FL – Taking a page from Gov. Scott's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority's Jackson P. "Jack"
Berry, City Manager Wendell Johnson failed
to post the City agenda on the City's
website for Monday's scheduled meeting. It
was only after the Observer pressed the City
that the City Manager finally saw to it that
the agenda was posted – at approximately
10:45 this morning (after the Observer's
initial news post at 10:35am). The agenda
was supposed to have been posted Friday and
then last night.
|
Posted August
18, 2015 07:50 am | Final: August 19, 2015
06:20 am (3
comments)
LAKE
CITY, FL – 14 years after City Councilman
Eugene Jefferson moved to accept the present
Lake City logo, a logo which added the
Confederate Battle Flag and the American
flag to the top half of the City logo, he
seconded Councilman Zack Paulk's not
unexpected motion to retire "the seal and
develop another seal." Before the vote,
James Shillinglaw of the Museum of Southern
History, excused himself from the meeting,
sharing with the City Council what many
people in the audience came to articulate,
"Southern lives matter – Southern lives
matter." Assistant Chief Butler politely
escorted him from the Council Chambers.
|
Posted August
15, 2015 04:35 pm
Updated August 16, 2015 09:30 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – For weeks, folks in and
around Lake City have been waiting for the City Council
to step up to the plate and address the City seal, which
includes the Confederate Battle Flag . For a month after the tragic
murders in South Carolina, there were rumors circulating
of an inside, backroom deal to just remove the flag. The Council did nothing. Finally, on July 20, City
residents, Glynell Presley and Bruce Borders, began the
conversation.
|
Posted August 5, 2015, 04:00 am | news/analysis
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Lake City's
"hometown" newspaper has been around a long
time. It claims since 1874. The paper's
reporting of Monday night's unscheduled remarks
concerning the Stars & Bars on the Lake City
logo can only lead the inquiring mind to wonder:
What was it thinking?
|
Posted August
4, 2015 07:40 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night in City Hall, folks from all sides of
the Lake City Stars & Bars City logo issue
addressed the City Council. While not on the
agenda, Mayor Witt asked for comments from
anyone who wished to contribute to the
conversation.
|
Posted July 31,
2015 07:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Sometime after June's tragic shooting and
killing of nine African-American church members
in Charleston, South Carolina, the dormant issue
of the Confederate Battle Flag on the Lake City
logo became a topic of backroom discussions, the
place where the real business of Lake City is
accomplished. On July 20, Glynnell Presley threw
a monkey wrench into the backroom planning of
City Manager Wendell Johnson and others when he
appeared before the Council and brought up the
topic of the infamous Lake City logo
|
Posted July 21,
2015 11:59 pm | Part II |
Part I
LAKE CITY, FL –
At the conclusion of last night's City Council meeting
an ill wind blew into Florida's legendary Lake City, not
unlike the one in March of 2001, when the City Council
decided to mug the public at the12th hour and agreed to
change the City Logo without any advance notice. It is
not clear if anyone in the City ever thought to save the
audio of that meeting, which was voluntarily destroyed
in March of 2006. Today, with the help of the "hometown"
newspaper, the Lake City Reporter, history was rewritten
to make stone silent City Manager Wendell Johnson and a
stone silent City Council look like they did something
that they hadn't.
|
Posted July 21,
2015 02:00 pm | Part I |
Part II | (2
comments)
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night in City Hall, Bruce Borders (left)
and Glynnell Presley presented their views on
the Lake City Logo and its inclusion of the
Confederate Battle flag. Lifetime Lake City
resident Glynnell Presley, moved by the recent
events in South Carolina, appeared before the
City Council and asked that the logo depicting
the Confederate Battle Flag be removed from City
property. Lifetime resident Bruce Borders said
the logo should stay as it is. Mr. Borders, also
referring to the events in SC told the Council,
"This guy was a sick guy – a sicko. That
Confederate flag did not cause him to kill nine
people."
|
Posted July 07, 2015 05:25 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night, the City Council was required by Florida's
Truth in Millage Law (TRIM) to set the maximum City tax
rate for the Fiscal Year 2016 budget year. That's next
year's budget year which begins on October 1, 2015, and
ends September 31, 2016. In order to keep City revenue
the same (rolled back rate), the City approved a
preliminary rate of $4.0444 per $1,000 of assessed
value, up from last years $3.9751, representing an
increase of 6.93 cents per $1,000. In plain English, a
house valued by the Property Appraiser for $100,000
would pay an additional $6.93 on next year's City tax
bill.
|
Posted June 29, 2015 08:20 am | Opinion from the
publisher (1
comment)
LAKE CITY/COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – To some, the Stars
and Bars represents: secession from the United States of
America, war, destruction, killing, maiming, father
against son, brother against brother, family against
family, hate, the right to own human beings as property
(slavery), Jim Crow.
|
Posted June 20, 2015 06:55 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
This past Monday night, June 15, 2015, the City Council
approved the fourth Community Development Block Grant
application for a $750,000 one-half acre downtown
parking lot, half of which is already there. The only
Councilmember who seemed to have any idea of what was
going on was veteran councilman George Ward.
The grant, if awarded by the Department of
Economic Opportunity (DEO), will be funded by the
American People and includes $73,000 for the parking lot
plans and $60,000 for grant administration.
|
Posted June 18, 2015 04:25 am
LAKE CITY, FL – On Wednesday, June 17, 2015, the Lake
City Police Department was notified that a bomb
threat had been received by Ameris Bank.
According to the complaint, a disgruntled
customer had contacted Ameris Bank’s customer
service line and threatened to blow up the Lake
City and Live Oak branches. According to the
LCP, "During an interview, Ruzzo stated, "'I was
upset and told them I would blow the place up.'"
|
Posted June 6, 2015 08:55 am
LAKE CITY, FL – At 4 o'clock on Wednesday
afternoon the staff of the Columbia County
Department of Health, located in downtown Lake
City, smelled smoke. At 4:01 a code red was
called and the fire alarm was pulled. By 4:03
everyone was evacuated from the building and the
Lake City Fire Department arrived to put the
fire out. Mark Lander, DOH Director said, "It
was amazing. The fire department was here in two
minutes."
|
Posted May 22, 2015, 10:25 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
City Manager Wendell Johnson's Blanche Hotel
Redevelopment Project took a hit last night when the
County 5 voted 3-2 not to remove $1,000,000 from its
reserves and loan/grant Integrity Development Partners
(IDP) a million dollars interest-free. A convoluted
financial arrangement would have had Lake City make a
good faith guarantee of the IDP loan.
The project is not dead. On May 9, City Manager
Johnson told the County 5, "The
City don't want a loan from the County. I'm
sayin' that to ya because we don't need the loan
from the County. We got the money to loan
ourself..."
|
Posted May 21, 2015, 12:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
The Blanche Hotel Renovation Project is back on
the County 5 docket tonight. The issue The 5 may
decide is a simple one: will the County 5 be in
favor of giving/lending Integrity Development
Partners (IDP) $1,000,000 from the County's
reserves? The County 5's May 7 meeting ended in
confusion. One of the major issues brought up by
County Attorney Joel Foreman was the need to get
a written opinion from the County Auditor and
financial advisor, Richard Powell, regarding the
legality of an interest free loan to Lake City.
Mr. Foreman never got that opinion.
|
Posted
May 19, 2015 10:00 am
LAKE CITY/COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night in
City Hall, the Lake Shore Hospital Authority
land-buying spree, orchestrated by Jackson P.
“Jack” Berry in the mid-2000’s, paid off for
Lake City, when the City Council approved an
Interlocal Agreement, previously approved by the
Authority, giving a city block of Hospital
Authority land to Lake City. The property,
including legal fees, demolition, and other
expenses appears to have cost the Authority
tax-payers over $700,000. Now worth $34,000, it
will be turned into a parking lot.
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Posted May 14, 2015,10:35 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
The byword for Lake City, City Manager Wendell Johnson's
Blanche Redevelopment Project has been "confusion." City
Manager Johnson's secrecy throughout the project and
Columbia County's Hapsburg-like rule has done nothing to
clear the air. At midday yesterday, County Commissioner,
Sylvester "Bucky" Nash, told the Observer, "I wouldn't
be opposed to everybody getting in a room and airing it
out. Let's roll."
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Posted May 13, 2015 05:55 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – Early last night, the Community Redevelopment
Advisory Committee (CRAC) met to discuss the City's
downtown Community Redevelopment Area. The City's recent
loan of $1.3 million will provide the funds to redevelop
the Lake DeSoto area, known officially as the Wilson
Park Recreation Area upgrade. City Manager Johnson
explained it was time that Public Works Director Thomas
Henry's concept plan move from the drawing board to
reality...
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Posted May 11, 2015, 11:30 am | news/analysis
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Everybody is
entitled to their opinion, but it is good when
it is based on reality. The Lake City Reporter
besides "misreporting" Thursday's Board-Blanche
vote, which was a heartbeat away from having The
5 deep-six the Blanche/IDP/Johnson Downtown
Project, got the reason wrong why City Manager
Johnson attended the County 5's Thursday board
meeting and ignored how he came to address The
5.
|
Posted May 9, 2015, 05:59 am | Part II: City Manager
Johnson Addresses The 5
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – After the first 30
minutes of Thursday evening's Blanche discussion, the
proposed Letter of Intent between IDP, Lake City, and
Columbia County to renovate Lake City's downtown Blanche
Hotel was balancing on a precipice. Commissioners
Williams and Nash were in favor of at least giving the
City a million dollar loan. Commissioners DePratter and
Frisina were opposed. Commissioner Everett Phillips was
on the fence.
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May 8, 2015 12:01 pm | Part I
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – It was a rough ride for
Lake City's Blanche Hotel last night as the
County 5 met to discuss the Blanche
Redevelopment Proposal of Valdosta's Integrity
Development Partners (IDP). Seven and a half
months of secrecy, backroom dealing, lobbying,
and discussions culminated last night in
confusion, charges, and counter-charges. When
the dust settled, folks were headed back to the
drawing board for what appears to be the
Blanche's last stand.
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May 7, 2015 12:45 pm | News-Analysis
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Tonight, after
multitudinous meetings with the Assistant County
Manager, Ben Scott, and County Economic
Development Director, Glenn Hunter, Columbia
County's infamous County 5 will decide whether
or not to front Lake City at least a million
dollars on the derelict Blanche Hotel. Secrecy
and secret finances were a hallmark of City
Manager Wendell Johnson's time at the now mostly
defunct dismal failure, the $30 mil North
Florida Broadband Authority, of which he was one
of the financial kingpins. Johnson now is the
driving force in Lake City's Blanche project,
one that has ballooned from $13.5 mil to $17 mil
in seven months.
|
Posted April 25, 2015 12:01 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Local financial practice,
Gulf Coast Financial Services, Inc. (Gulf
Coast), was recently awarded Small Business of
the Year by the Lake City-Columbia County
Chamber of Commerce.
|
Posted April 21, 2015, 10:25 pm
|
Updated April 22, 2015
10:55 am*
LAKE
CITY, FL – At Monday night's City Council meeting, the
Blanche Hotel was again front and center. City Manager
Wendell Johnson told the City Council, "This is not a
$17 million taxpayer project. This is a $17 million
construction project, which will be funded at about
50-50 from available government funds. They're
(Integrity Development Partners "IDP" – the developer)
gonna' come to the table with $1.7 million of their own
equity."
In September 2014, developer equity was "approximately
$200,000." The seven month increase is 850%. No one is
explaining the numbers behind the increase.
|
Posted April 20, 2015, 05:10 pm | News/Analysis
LAKE CITY, FL – City Manager Wendell Johnson was
a kingpin in the $30,000,000
North Florida Broadband Authority debacle, which he
abandoned at the 12th hour. Now he is the prime
negotiator in the Blanche Hotel downtown renovation.
Seven months ago, in September 2014, the IDP – Wendell
Johnson Blanche renovation was slated to cost
$13,675,000. The price tag is now $17,000,000.
|
April 13, 2015 11:50 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Beginning in
2009, the Lake Shore Hospital Authority's
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry and Lake City's, City
Manager Wendell Johnson have turned a blind eye
to the plight of the handicapped on the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority campus in downtown Lake
City. The Authority Headquarters has missed the
accessibility mark for years. In 2009, City
Manager Johnson told the Observer ADA
accessibility/compliance was not the City's
responsibility and that if your reporter had a
problem, "You should find someone in a wheel
chair and have them sue," he said.
|
Posted March 11, 2015 07:55 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall, the Community
Redevelopment Advisory Committee met to accept the 2014
CRA financial report and listen to City Manager Wendell
Johnson discuss the three major issues confronting the
CRA: the land give-away from the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority; the $1.2 mil CRA loan; and the Blanche Hotel.
Most of the substantive discussion was about the
$14,000,000 Blanche Hotel Project.
|
Posted
February 24, 2015 11:28 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – The long-awaited arrival of the Blanche Hotel
train of advisors and consultants finally pulled
into Lake City, City Hall last night. They
played to a full house of residents, business
owners, downtown property owners, and City and
County officials. There were oohs – ahs and lots
of hyperbole. It was a two-man show of City
Manager Johnson and IDP's President Rhett
Holmes. There were lots of pretty drawings. City
Manager Johnson left the financing shrouded in
mystery, telling the audience, "No details
tonight will be conveyed."
|
 Blanche Saga Continues Monday Night: $14,000,000
financing remains unexplained
Feb. 21, 2015
11:28 am |
1 comment
LAKE
CITY, FL – City Manager Wendell Johnson and others have
claimed that the future of downtown Lake City rests with
the renovation of the Blanche Hotel, a City landmark
that had fallen on hard times years ago. It was ignored
by the City and City management, including City Manager
Johnson until the Observer exposed that it had turned
into a death trap.
|
Posted February 19, 2015 06:30 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – Tuesday night saw the City Council
unanimously approve the first step in securing a
$1,200,000 loan to improve downtown Lake City. Florida
statutes require the City Council approve the loan
twice. Mayor Witt was the only Council member who
commented on the loan. City Manager Wendell Johnson, who
many believe is making the downtown renovation his
legacy, asked the Council if they understood what the
loan was going to do for the City over the next 15
years.
|
Posted February 3, 2015 06:50 am | (1
comment)
LAKE
CITY, FL – The Lake City, City Council breezed through
Monday evening's meeting agenda in a speedy 16 minutes.
Resident Ralph Kitchens came to the Council for an
update on the $15,000,000 Blanche Hotel renovation, of
which there has been nothing new since
the last Blanche meeting of the handpicked
"Grassroots Blanche Stakeholder Committee" on December
16, 2014.
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|
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Lake City's
'New' Blanche Hotel, Resurrected and
Controversial, Celebrates a Grand Opening
Lake City, City Council Says
'Yes' to Ethics – 'No' to Ex Parte Communication
Councilman Greene:
Vacations-Work Should Not Determine Lawful City
Meeting Schedule
Lake City Downtown Revival
to Continue: LSHA Declares 12 Parcels Surplus -
Donate to City
City Manager Straightening
Out City Meeting Scheduling Mess: City Attorney
- Zero Direction
Who
Is the Boss – City Attorney or City Manager?
City Council Decides Tonight: 'To pay or not to
pay'
County 5 Pledge $15,000 for
an Anti Panhandler Marketing Campaign Without
Seeing a Plan
A New Downtown Lake City
City Hall: 3 LSHA Gov Appointees Will be the
Deciders on LC's Future
City
Attny Koberlein vs. City
Manger Helfenberger: Which Way Will the City
Council Go?
Panhandlers: Councilwoman
Moses & Com. Witt Want to Throw Tens of
Thousands $ Without Data
Downtown Lake City
Revitalization Hot Topic at City/County Meet -
LSHA: the Gorilla in the Room
Tonight:
Jefferson Set to Ask City Council For $17,828 in
Legal Fees When He Ran For City Council
Lake City Approves Budget,
Holding the Line on Taxes, Fire and Garbage
Assessments
Lake City Garbage Woes: Will
Low Rates and Pickups Continue Uninterrupted?
City
Residential Garbage On Tap Monday Night:
Residential Rates May Be Heading Up – Way Up
City Manager Declares War on
Cyber Attacks – Fortifying City IT: It Will Be
Expensive
County's United Way Is the Homeless Coalition:
"The problem is getting worse," Ron Williams,
Jr.
Columbia Cnty – Lake City
Homeless/Panhandlers: "Too Big of a Problem –
We Need a Joint Effort"
Lake City's Rules of
Procedure: Racist? Dictatorial? Fair? – It's
Back to the Drawing Board (Part II)
Lake
City's Rules of Procedure – Not Problematic For
Over a Decade – Background (Part I)
Lake City Finally Admits to Cyber Ransom, FL
League of Cities to Pay Approx $474,000
White Supremacy vs. Public
Opinion in City Hall: Morph Into Race Baiting by
the Lake City Reporter
Lake City Assistant City Manager: City on the
Move, Position to be Advertised Shortly
City Council Rules, Mayor
Witt Says, "Let's Try Another Way"
Meaningful Public Comment:
Challenging for Lake City's Old Guard
Lake
City Keeping the Public in the Dark Again
Tonight's Agenda Nowhere on City Website
Lake City's Blanche Hotel: IDP's Decker
Gives City Council an Upbeat Construction
Update
City Leaves Public in the Dark About Pending
Issues at Council Meeting Tonight
City
Manager Upgrading City Web Presence – Working Towards More Transparency &
Participation
City
Councilman Eugene Jefferson Takes Oath for
the 6th Time: Begins 21st Year on City
Council
Mayor Witt Directs City Manager to Develop a
Policy for Police Escorts at Funerals
Unprepared, the City Appeared before the TDC
$300,874 Short for the Lake DeSoto
Waterfront
Lake City's Mainstream Media:
Lake City Reporter, A Growing Deception of
News Coverage
Bowden v Tucker,
Rudimentary Court Rules Out the Window:
Tucker Removed From Dist. 10 City Race
Lake City's Mainstream Media Rakes
Mayor Over the Coals: Sends Message to New
City Manager
LCPD City Manager Investigation: Background
Check or Stassi Like Police Overreach?
City
Hall, The Bricks Are Falling Down
Lake City Reporter Gets
It Wrong Again: "It wasn't a roadblock,"
Councilman Jefferson
Last Man Left Standing:
Helfenberger Stars at the "Meet & Greet" the
City Manager Candidate
The Race for City
Manager Now Down to Style & Substance In a
Dead Heat: It's Helfenberger v Judd
City Manager Search, Next Up The Interviews
– Will the Semifinal 5 Begin With a Clean
Slate?
City Manager Grayson
Cason: Mostly Couldn't Be Heard, Agenda
Material Incomplete for $296k Job
Spec Mtng Whittles
City Mngr Candidates From 9 to 5:
Interviews June 6
City Hall Shutting Down Mid-Day: No one admits
to giving the order - City Manager Cason -
Silent
City Manager Candidates
On Tap in City Hall 6pm Tonight: Who will be
interviewed?
Amphitheater/Bandshell Coming to Downtown
Lake City: Committee Gives Final Approval
City Mgr Search Back on
Track, Field Narrowed to 13, Mayor Welcomes
Q's From the Community
City Manager Search Stalls - Starts. City
Council in Disarray. Emerg Mtng Called -
Conflicts w/The 5
City Manager Search to
Resume
City Manager Search
Getting Back On Track,
Mayor Witt Calls Special Meeting for Monday
Night
Lake City, City Manager
Search: "Off to a Bad Start," Glenel Bowden
Lake City Charter/City
Manager Confusion
Councilman Hill Stands
Tough Against the Tide
"Lie of Omission": City
Manager
Johnson Fires Back at Lake City Reporter
Editor, Robert Bridges
Stormwater Fee Ordinance Adopted
Blanche: After a Vote of No Confidence
Redevelopment Options Unwrapped, But Not
Public
Blanche: One by One They Came to the Mic,
But the Deal to "Walk it Back" Was Cut
Before the Meeting
Columbia Cnty's
Mainstream Media & the Blanche: Twisted Facts, False Praise
(Part II)
Columbia County's Mainstream Media and the
Blanche: Fake News, Twisted Facts, False
Praise
Blanche
Update: Lease Cost Up $1.7 Million, City
Manager Johnson, "That's not unusual"
Lake City to
Internet Cafe Owners: You Are Guilty Until You Prove
Yourself Innocent
Blanche Delayed Again:
How Much Is the Move? Cnclman Hill Calls
for Workshop - Ward Votes No
Investigation of Complaint Against City Manager
Johnson Cost $11,893: Consultant Clears Johnson
Reversal of Plans, City Man Scrambling, Says
Council Mbrs Won't Attend Spec Chamber Meeting
Unequal Opportunity for Big Money CRA Grants
- Councilman Jake Hill Votes "No"
Unequal
Opportunity the Hallmark Downtown
Redevelopment Big Money CRA Grants
Lake City CRA Tables $45,000 Facade Grant
Request
Jack Berry Hwy Moves to Lake City, City Has No
Plan or Funding Plan, Bogus Info Sent to FDOT
Lake City Picks Interim Logo – Councilwoman
Moses Ready to Move Without Public Input
Lake City Tonight,
Buried in the Agenda, A New City Logo
The
Come-Back Kid: Jake Hill, After a 4 yr
Absence, Took His Seat on the City Council
City
Meeting Calendar Wrong Again
City Manager Johnson
Updates the City on the $15,000,000+ Blanche
Project: 'Ready for Takeoff'
Dig These Girls Thursday Night in Pink. It's the
Annual Col v. Suw High Girls Volley Ball
Shoot Out
School District Warns: Don't Drink the Water
Court Moderates Canvassing Bd Record
Inspection Dispute, Election May Be Contested
New City Atny Fred
Koberlein: What Did He Say?
City Attorney Interviews
– Flatlined – Completely Inaudible: City
Violates Statute
City Atny Slot Goes
to Koberlein, Councilman Elect Hill Ignored,
Public Records Issue
Lake
DeSoto Deforestation Complete, "Chainsaw" Jack &
Gov Scott's Hosp Auth Bd Silent
Hutton Dev Scores: City Council
Approves 10yr $440,00 Tax Abatement & $340k
in Cash
"Chain Saw Jack" Berry & Gov's LSHA Board Vote
to Cut Down Lake DeSoto Trees
Million
Dollar Plus LC Waterfront Redevelopment Back
to the Drawing Board, Again (Pt II)
Johnson Backs Down Again: Outsourcing City
Utility Division Workers Put on Hold
Indefinitely
Lake
City Waterfront Redevelopment Tonight:
City Manager
Backs Down on Outsourcing: Workers Safe Through Christmas
The Blanche: Economic
Development for the Developer Puts City
Taxpayers on the Hook
Blanche on Lake City
Docket: City Manager Johnson Fails to post
Council agenda – Leaves public in dark
Stars
& Bars – the Conversation Continues
Monday's
Lake City Agenda Still a Question
Lake
City Logo: The Discussion Began With City Manager
Johnson & City Council in Stone Silence
Lake City Logo: Fair, Balanced, Symbol of Hate? Last
Night in City Hall, the Discussion Began
Lake City Proposed Tax Increase Negligible: $6.93
projected on a $100,000 home appraisal
Lake City, Columbia County
Lake City Tries Again for $750,000 Parking Lot Grant:
Will the 4th Time Be a Charm?
Threatening
To Blow Up Bank: Not a Good Idea
Fire
At the Health Department: Lake City Fire Department
Arrives at Scene in Two Minutes
The Great Lake Shore Hosp Auth Land Give-a-way. Financed
by Columbia Cnty Tax Payers, City Scores
Lake City: Looking for a Consultant for its Downtown
Community Redevelopment Area
Blanche Hotel Train of Advisors Pulled into City Hall
Last Night: Lots of Pictures - Not Much New