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Lake City News
Index of stories 2009 - 2010
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Lake
City, FL
(Posted Dec 23, 2010 10:55 am)
Members of the Lake City Police Department
set out to raise enough money to buy
Christmas presents for twenty children...
|
 Columbia
County, FL (Posted Dec 23, 2010 07:55 am)
At Monday's Lake City Community Redevelopment
Authority meeting, Christmas came a little early
to nine Lake City Façade Grant applicants, as
Lake City handed out $49,098.26 in Façade Grant
awards. ¶ Community Redevelopment Director,
Jackie Kite's informative presentation was
marred by the fact that no one from the public
could see the photos, maps, drawings and other
material that the City Council was using to make
their decisions. ¶ City Manager Wendell Johnson ...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Dec 18, 2010 03:45
am)
We received the results of the Department of
Community Affairs (DCA) on-site monitoring visit
for one of the City’s ongoing housing
rehabilitation block grants. This $750,000
grant, which started in 2008, proposed to
rehabilitate or demolish and replace 16 homes.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Dec 11, 2010 10:00
am)
On November 15, 2010 the City Council approved
Resolution 2010-12 to support the CDC’s
participation in this program, which is designed
to revitalize and strengthen the City’s CRA
District by enhancement of home ownership
opportunities to very low, low, and moderate
income families.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Dec 10, 2010 11:10 am)
After the choking incident of Challenge
Principal Deborah Hill, the temporary fix of the
School Resource Officer issue is working its way
toward a resolution as the District and the Lake
City Police Department put their heads together
to come up with a permanent solution.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Dec 09, 2010 09:10 am)
With the future of Florida soon to be resting on
his shoulders, the enormity of the Gov Elect's
task ahead seems to have hit home in a moment
between the banter in Ward's Jewelry Store, as
the Gov Elect faces the challenge of a lifetime.
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Lake
City, FL
(Posted Dec 08, 2010 03:15 am)
On December 6, 2010 at approximately 4:12 a.m. Officer
Brian Bruenger responded to 1050 NW Commerce Blvd in
reference to a patient stealing drugs.
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 Interested
in the downtown?
Lake City Wants You
Lake City, FL
(Posted Dec 05, 2010 07:38 am)
The Lake City
Community Redevelopment Agency is requesting
citizen volunteers to serve on a Community
Development Advisory Committee. The Committee is
being formed. Lake City is accepting
applications.
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 Lake
City Projects and Activities Report
December
2010 • Administration, Community Development, Fire,
Police, Public Works, Recreation, Utilities
Columbia County, FL (Posted December 4, 2010 01:15
pm)
This report provides an overview of on-going key
Lake City projects and activities. It includes
descriptions, status, action milestones, and
other information. It serves as a public
information resource, allows for efficient Staff
management, administration and monitoring of
important City issues. I urge you to take a look
at it and see what Lake City is up to.
Grayson Cason
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Lake
City, FL
(Posted Nov 25, 2010 05:30 am)
On March 13, 2006, Mr. Francis Lester Watson age 72 was
reported missing from his Lake City, Florida residence.
There had been no leads since Mr. Watson's
disappearance.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Nov 20, 2010 07:30
am)
Following the City Council’s approval on
November 15th, the Staff is moving forward with
the
Everbridge Citizen Alert System. This system
will allow the City to rapidly send messages to
City residents about natural disasters, crime,
system outages or any other announcement. The
system can also call City employees in an
emergency and tell them where to report.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Nov 18, 2010 06:45 am)
On Monday
night, November 15, 2010, Lake City Florida's
city workers came up one Council vote short on a
vote that could have entitled them to an even
playing field and a fair hearing, before coming
to work one day and hearing the words "You're
outta here. Resign and you'll get a couple of
months severance and unemployment – balk and you
get fired. We don't owe you any explanation."
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 Columbia County, FL (Posted
Nov 14, 2010 05:00 pm)
Monday night, November 15th at 07:00 pm, the
city will discuss implementing its new Personnel
Policy Manual. Everything good and every
progressive rule included in the manual is made
meaningless by these two words, “at will.” This
is a one sided manual, which still makes it
possible for the City to ask an employee to
commit perjury and if they don’t, be fired. ¶
Florida is among only a handful of states that
provides no caveats against arbitrary, abusive
or wrongful termination...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Nov 06, 2010 08:30
am)
The new terminal is well underway and the
Project Superintendent is on site managing Phase
I of the four-phase construction project....
The “legal sufficiency” review of the new
Personnel Policy Manual was completed this week
by Marks Gray, P.A. (Go
to the weekly Police Report)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted October 30, 2010 06:30
am)
Prior to November 30, 2010, the Staff will
complete the “public notice” requirements for
the proposed rate adjustments. The draft
ordinance will be submitted for review of the
City Attorney during the first week of November
and first reading of the Ordinance is scheduled
for December 6, 2010. If approved by Council,
the effective date for implementation of rate
changes is January 2011.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted October 23, 2010 07:15
am)
The Staff has been working with the CDC for the
last six months on a residential CRA Project on
City owned property on Escambia Street. This
area is where the former City Gas Department was
located and is the site of the Old City Jail and
Water Tower.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Oct
19, 2010 11:20 am)
Last night was an interesting night in Lake
City, City Hall, where facts are presented,
intelligent conversation takes place, residents
are treated with respect... Common sense and the
rule of law prevailed when Councilman George
Ward said, "We should continue the efforts as
defined under the Interlocal Agreement...
somehow or other, we are going to have to make
this work, because it's for the common good of
everybody."
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Oct 16, 2010 07:10
am)
The long-awaited ground breaking ceremony for
the City’s new 6,000-square foot terminal was
held this week and attended by a great crowd of
community leaders. Lake City Mayor Stephen Witt
said, “This modern, single-story, user friendly
terminal...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Oct 13, 2010 05:10 am)
I extend my sincere appreciation for your
[City Council] continual
support throughout this past budget year and commend
your courage in approving many challenging financial and
personnel requests. I applaud the City Staff for
contributing to a progressive year 2009-2010 and thank
everyone for their unyielding cooperation and assistance
in preparing a most successful FY11 Budget.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Oct 5, 2010 10:10
am)
Tyson Johnson, "the hometown boy," of Lake City's Parks
Johnson Insurance Agency fights for his $2,000,000
account in front of the Lake City, City Council. (Go
to story)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted September 18, 2010 09:35
am)
Key City Staff members attended a
FCCMA sponsored training session this week
on “Health Insurance - understanding the rising
costs and what to do about it.” A workshop will
be held this Monday at 6:30 p.m.
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Lake City Report -
Sept 10, 2010
North Florida Broadband
and Project Activities take center stage
Columbia County, FL (Posted September 11, 2010 05:30
am)
The NFBA’s proposed Operating Budget for 2011 is
$1,246,688; the Capital Improvement Budget for
2011 is $29,903,562...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted September 10, 2010 05:55
am)
On Tuesday night, September 7th, the Lake City
Community Redevelopment Agency, which is really
the City Council, approved an amendment to the
IBI Group contract... IBI is now contracted to
do a study to determine if the City should
expand the CRA, effectively doubling its size...
The meeting lasted only twelve minutes, but the
potential for rebirth of the downtown is
a-wish-come true for many of the long time and
short time Lake City residents. (photo:
Councilwoman Moses)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Sept 3, 2010 10:40 am)
The focus of activity this week was the FY11
Budget.
The City’s first public hearing for “Tentative”
adoption of the new budget is scheduled for
September 7, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. Major budget
details are available
here.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted August 28, 2010 10:00
am)
The City Manager's topics for the week are the
utility system construction revenue, City health
insurance costs and three new service contracts.
For the City crime statistics, see Chief
Gilmore's report, which is included in the City
Staff Report.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted August 17, 2010 08:30
am)
Last night's Community Redevelopment Authority
(CRA) meeting was where the action was as long
time business owner Marc Vann's Façade
Improvement Grant Application was the first
application considered by the CRA Board, which
is the City Council... City Councilmen Hill and
Jefferson, were not swayed by what they heard...
(photo: Marc Vann)
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Lake City Report -
Aug. 13, 2010
City Utility Bonds up-up
and away,
$600,000 airport terminal grant on the way
Columbia County, FL (Posted August 15, 2010 05:00
pm)
The agreement from the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) for the $600,000 grant Lake
City has been waiting for is in. The City
Council is being requested to approve the FAA
agreement at the August 16th regular meeting...
(click title to read more)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted August 9, 2010 11:00
am)
Hiring Freeze – Still in force for FY 2011 Lay
Offs – No layoffs planned or expected. Merit
Increases – Funding is in the FY 2011 budget for
25% of City employees to receive a 3% merit
increase. City employees have not received COLA
and/or merit increases for several years...
(click title to read more)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 31, 2010 08:05
am)
The City received exceptionally good news this
week with the issuance of our Utility System
Bonds Credit Rating.
Standard & Poor's has rated the Utility
Bonds AA, with a stable outlook.
Moody's rating is A1 with no outlook. These
ratings exceeded our expectations...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 29, 2010 05:30
am)
County
resident, Laura "I really love Lake City" Pitman
Moody, came to the Downtown Master Plan public
meeting with pictures, magazine articles and a
ton of ideas... Over the past thirty five years,
there have been at least three downtown
redevelopment or revitalization plans...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 23, 2010 06:30
am)
The City Financial Team and Raymond James Bond
representatives met this week to complete the
required interviews with “Credit Rating”
Agencies... The final budget changes resulting
from the last two weeks of Staff reviews is
nearing completion...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 19, 2010 05:15
am)
During the past few months a great deal of
discussion has occurred involving the future use
of the old City Jail and property. Council had
declared the property surplus to the City's
needs and authorized demolition of the jail and
gas department buildings... Councilman...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 10, 2010 12:25 pm)
During the last 12 months our conservation
measures really paid off. The City's electric bill was reduced by
$231,944 from the previous 12 month period. This
represents a 19% reduction for the past year...
(Scroll down this week's
staff report for more important
information).
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 9, 2010 009:25 am)
Lake City put its best foot forwarded last night as it
hosted the monthly Suwannee River League of Cities
dinner. Municipal members from the counties of Columbia,
Dixie... packed the room to listen to the Board... One
of the highlights of the evening was the cooking mastery of Lake
City's own Councilman, Jake Hill - the Barbeque
King...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 3, 2010 10:35 am)
The airport project consists of a new 6,000 sq.
ft. multi-use airport terminal building and
adjacent asphalt vehicle parking areas, a 1,100
foot access road... The Energy and Operational
Enhancement Project - substantial savings can be
realized through improved efficiency....
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Columbia County, FL (Posted June 27, 2010 10:15 am)
The City continues to be busy with the budget.
This week we met to make sure that we are
connecting all the dots and are moving in the
right direction. We also met with the bond
underwriter. We’re on schedule and things are
looking good. I also put out a call for
estimates. (The Observer
spoke with Mr. Johnson for this week's City
Manager's report)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted June 25, 2010 10:20 am)
At yesterday morning’s governmental focus group
the Columbia County Commission was invited and
chose not show up, not to send the County
Manager or any other representative of the
County government. The lack of County interest
in the downtown of Lake City continues.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted June 20, 2010 06:00 am)
At the
request of the City, Jones Edmunds Engineers,
Inc. has completed a Structural Engineering
Assessment and issued the final written report
on June 15, 2010... Budget ... No later than
July 19, 2010, the Staff will distribute the
draft budget and request Council to approve a
proposed millage rate for TRIM Notice purposes.
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Columbia County, FL
(Posted June 5, 2010 11:45 am)
Grayson Cason,
Executive Director of Admin. Services: "We are
all working together to prepare these reports.
These reports are our yardstick to see how we
are doing."
(The
June 6th staff report is available here)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted May 22, 2010 07:40 am)
The Staff will move aggressively to develop the
capital improvement schedule for streets,
curbing, sidewalks and storm water upgrades and
intends to begin work within the next 90 – 120
days... To supplement this effort the Staff has
initiated discussion for a $750,000 block
grant...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted May 15, 2010 04:15 am)
The FY2010-11 Budget Workshop process continues
at 5:30 pm this Monday night. In contrast to the
previous meetings, this workshop will spotlight
the potential financial impacts resulting from
the further decline of General Fund revenues.
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 Columbia County, FL (Posted May
13, 2010 09:50 am)
Following in the tradition of Lake City's
popular Mayor, Steve Witt, the star of the
review process was Chairperson Ann Skinner, who
took the Mayor's gavel and kept Lake City's
policy of timely public comment and the free
exchange of ideas alive. Unfortunately, over the
ninety day tenure of the Board, only a handful
showed up from the public to observe or
participate.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 24, 2010 05:25 am)
As reported last week, the Sales Tax and Utility
Bond initiative is progressing as planned. The
Request for Funding Proposals (RFP) process exceeded
expectations and 10 proposals were received on Monday,
April 19, 2010...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 23, 2010 02:55 pm)
Decision time is on the horizon for the Lake
City Charter Review Board, whose decisions may
well affect the future of Lake City for the next
ten years and beyond. Last night, in the absence
of Chairperson Ann Skinner, charter review
veteran and Vice Chair, Mario Coppock led the
review board in its usual high level of
discussion.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 18, 2010 10:25
am)
With a budget workshop on tap for Monday night,
City Manager Johnson told the Observer: I
encourage the public to attend all budget
meetings and city council meetings. We have
staff available to answer your questions and
Lake City values your contribution.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 9, 2010 11:00 pm)
The IBI Group, Inc. was chosen by the CRA as
the top ranked firm to prepare the Plan Update.
The City Staff has completed negotiations with
IBI representatives for a not-to-exceed fee of
$94,100 and the contract was approved by the
Community Redevelopment Agency and City Council
on April 5, 2010.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 28,
2010 • at 09:15 am)
Staff work on the Employee Classification and
Pay Plan is complete following several months of effort
The final document will be distributed to Council for
initial review...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 19,
2010 • at 11:55 pm)
Long
time purchasing agent, Debbie Garbett, announcing
who submitted the Fleet Management Services RFPs. Ms. Garbett told
the Observer, "We put everything we request on
the
City website and on
Demand Star. We want to
be able to make the best deals for the people of
Lake City. Sometimes the best...
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Columbia
County, FL (Posted March 10, 2010 at 09:25 am)
 OJ
Lake and Victoria Ellis share a light moment as the
legendary Herbert Darby explained that there are still
parts of the charter that he is trying to understand...
Chairperson Skinner, like the Mayor who appointed her,
will be representing Lake City's open style of
government well.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 6,
2010 • at 05:00 am)
Although the State Revolving
Fund (SRF) was previously viewed as the most viable
financing option, we will evaluate the potential for use
of a new form of bonds known as Build America Bonds
(BABs)... An owner representative of the Blanche
contacted me late this week and delivered the “as built”
construction plans... The IBI Group of...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
March 3,
2010 • at 08:55 am)
City Manager Johnson
told the Observer, "I have a vision for downtown
Lake City. It is a dream... It has to be researched...
Step one has been determined... The most important thing
right now is the safety of the people that are using and
visiting the building. That is the main reason
that I did this. The structural analysis is a small
price to pay to assure that they are safe.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
March 1,
2010 • at 09:30 am)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 27,
2010 • at 11:15 am)
This Monday night, the City Council will weigh in
with its thoughts and its vote on whether to accept the
responsibility of the engineering study.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 26,
2010 • at 10:57 am)
By Stew Lilker
 Late
Thursday afternoon, Lake City again showed that it is
leading the way into the 21st century in Columbia
County, when the three finalists came before the City
Council to present themselves and their ideas on why
they should be chosen to develop Lake City's CRA Master
Plan. All were at the top of their game and the cream of
the urban planning and design crop.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 20,
2010 • at 7:30 am)
The City staff and local
community volunteers are planning the 2nd annual “Take
Pride in Your Community” Cleanup Campaign. This “Green
Team” event will take place from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00
noon on April 24, 2010 staging at the Richardson
Community Center.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 13,
2010 • at 8:00 am)
The planning
draft of the new City Personnel Manual has
been on-going for several months and is
approximately 40% complete. The new policy
will provide information ...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 5,
2010 • at 9:00 am)
On the City Manager's docket this week
are the February Projects and Activities
Report, a few more words on the awards
banquet and all the department reports.
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Lake City, FL (posted
January 30, 2010, at 07:am)
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Lake City, FL (posted
January 29, 2010, at 07:am)
The
2010 Lake City awards banquet is more than
just another Lake City annual awards dinner.
2010 marks the beginning of a new era and a
major changing of the guard for Lake City.
This year's awards committee chairperson was
one of Lake City's own Sunshine girls, City
Clerk, Audrey Sikes (photo), the nonvoting
member.
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Lake City Airport Terminal moving ahead
Blanche
Hotel and Bond Debt remain on
City Manager's docket
Columbia County, FL
(Posted January 23, 2010)
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Lake City, FL (posted
January 21, 2010; 11:15am)
Capt. Rudolph Davis
In the United States, employees without a written
employment contract generally can be fired for good
cause, bad cause, or no cause at all. Florida is an
"employment at will" state. This means an employee in
Florida can be fired -- "because." In Florida it is
established law that no reason has to be given. An
employee can be fired because his employer just "feels
like it."
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Bond Debt and the Blanche
Hotel
take center stage this week
Columbia County, FL
(Posted January 16, 2010)
The bond review
continues ... At this time I am pleased to
report the City has a very favorable
position ...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted January 9,
2010)
At the year's first City Council meeting the
Council approved the “Water, Wastewater and
Reclaimed Water Rate Study.” The City Attorney
and Staff are proceeding with the legislative
and public notice activity. The
implementation process should take 90-120 days.
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Posted December 28,
2009
by City Manager Wendell Johnson and
staff
(The adoption of the rate study was tabled until
January, after Utility Director, Dave Clanton,
discovered some inconsistencies in the numbers. As
reported earlier, the unpopular availability fees are on
tap to go away. -- ed.)
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Posted December 11,
2009
by City Manager Wendell Johnson and
staff
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Posted December 9,
2009
Lake City Manager Wendell Johnson is on a roll with
the Lake City Reports. See what the Lake City government
is up to. If you are curious to know how many record
requests were handled by the
Sunshine Girls, or are interested in how many police
calls were handled by the Lake City police department,
or even how many gallons of water Steve Robert's state
of the art water plant pumped, the Lake City reports is
the place to go.
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Columbia County, FL (posted
November 17,
2009)
By Stew Lilker
Monday night's City Council meeting began at 6:15
with a short workshop and a few words from the city's
utility consultants,
Tetra Tech, regarding the proposed elimination of
the city's utility accessibility fees.
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Columbia County, FL (posted
October 21,
2009)
This unlucky creature did not escape the Blanche Hotel. The
Lake City Fire Department and the Observer want to make
sure this doesn't happen to you.
Go to Photo Gallery
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Columbia County, FL (posted
October 09,
2009)
By Stew Lilker
The Lake City ad hoc Blanche Hotel Committee met on
Wednesday, October 7th. The committee members, Council
members Melinda Moses and George Ward and City Manager
Wendell Johnson were joined by police chief
Rigby-Gilmore for the important discussion. The purpose
of the meeting – bring back a proposal to the City
Council regarding the Blanche Hotel.
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Columbia County, FL (posted
Sept 17,
2009)
By Stew Lilker
The Sept.14 Lake City utility committee ran smoothly,
quietly and professionally. Everyone from the city knew
what they were talking about. City Manager, Wendell
Johnson (blue shirt and tie) addresses County Com DuPree
with his reservations about running the county utility
at Ellisville. The entire city council attended this
important meeting.
The City of Lake City has been in the utility
business for a hundred years. There have been some
bumps, big bumps, along the way. The city utility is now
run and managed by a team of professionals and soon,
along with its world class water plant, will also have a
state of the art and up to date sewage treatment plant.
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Columbia County, FL (posted March 16, 2009)
by Stew Lilker
City Clerk, Audrey
Sikes, sorts through the city's electronic data base of
digitized records.
Gov. Charlie Crist has proclaimed this week “A
Week of Sunshine” and urged Florida’s citizens to
celebrate Florida’s dedication to making state and local
government accessible and transparent to the public.
Two weeks ago the Observer interviewed Lake City’s
own Sunshine Girls, City Clerk Audrey Sikes and Deputy
Clerk Michelle Green. The City Clerk’s Office serves as
a beacon of sunshine for all of Columbia County and is
no doubt what the Governor had in mind when he
proclaimed “A Week of Sunshine.”
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LCPD
toy drive a huge success
911 Combined
Communication Center stays
Lake City Puts Insurance Providers In Ring
River League of Cities
County
Commission MIA
Lake City
abuzz