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Lake City News
Index
2013-2014
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Lake City News 2014
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Posted December 18, 2014 11:35 am | Part II
LAKE CITY/COLUMBIA COUNTY – After City Manager Johnson's
remark about the C-A-V-E people he said the
person who wrote the letter to the City was "not
informed about what we're trying to do and the
value the project would bring to the City." As
the meeting progressed, City Manager Johnson had
a change of heart. By the end of the meeting
City Manager Johnson told the group, "Anybody is
invited to show up and sit at the table... If
anybody wants to be a stakeholder, they can show
up and participate and have the same say as
anybody else."
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Posted December 17, 2014 01:40 pm | Part I
LAKE CITY/COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Yesterday's 8:30
a.m. discussion by the handpicked "Grassroots
Blanche Stakeholder Committee" went off on time
as City Manager Wendell Johnson led the
discussion of the proposed $15,000,000
renovation of the downtown landmark. Ninety
minutes after a bit of a shaky start, the
committee seemed to have found itself heading
for a community project in which the pro and con
sides are going to have to come together to make
this successful for Columbia County/Lake City
and put its historic downtown back on the map.
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Posted December 11, 2014 05:35 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Tuesday evening's Lake City Community Redevelopment
Advisory Committee (CRAC) meeting played to a full
house. According to committee Chairwoman, Lake City's
Vice Mayor Melinda Moses, there is a new energy
downtown. She wants to spread the news that "things are
moving." Columbia County's Economic Development Chief,
Glenn Hunter, told the Committee that folks should be
able to see the Committee in action, "So they can
understand what is happening."
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Posted December 4, 2014 01:55 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
The renovation and revitalization of downtown Lake
City's deteriorating Blanche Hotel was on the docket at
yesterday morning's Economic Development Advisory Board
(EDAB or Board) meeting. City Manager and EDAB member,
Wendell Johnson, gave the committee an update. He
announced that a committee was formed and Chamber of
Commerce Director Dennille Decker had taken "a
leadership role in putting the stakeholders committee
together."
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CM Johnson: "A lot more
conversation than we probably need."
Posted December 3, 2014 07:35 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
It was not a surprise in City Hall on Monday
night when Wendell Johnson moved to consolidate
his power and eliminate citizen participation on
the City Utility Advisory Committee. The
Committee was whittled down to three City
Council members, the City Manager, Assistant
City Manager, the Director of Utilities, and his
assistant. Among others eliminated from the
committee was the Director of Public Works and
the Committee's only private sector member, Walt
Graham of Graham Electric. During the following
Council meeting, newly appointed Vice Mayor,
Melinda Moses, questioned the elimination of
citizen input.
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Posted December 2, 2014 10:35 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night, the City Utility Advisory Committee
recommended continuing the Utility Impact Fee suspension
at a 50% level. According to the City Management, Lake
City has the lowest impact fees of the communities it
surveyed. Shands at Lake Shore, the Hospital in downtown
Lake City, owned by America's largest private hospital
corporation, and leased by the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority, saved $72,000 in impact fees last year. Mayor
Witt told the Committee, "We're getting killed on the
commercial side."
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Posted December 1, 2014 10:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Tonight's Lake City Utility Advisory Committee
has on its docket City Utility Impact Fees and
the reconfiguration of the Utility Committee.
The City Council dropped the impact fee issue in
the Committee's lap at the last City Council
meeting. The proposed reconfiguration of the
Utility Committee does not have a seat for the
County and proposes to stack the Committee with
3 City Council members.
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Posted November 17, 2014 11:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Buried at the bottom of tonight's City
Council agenda is the innocuous item: "Water and Sewer
Impact Fees (Wendell Johnson)." That is the only
explanation. As it usually does, the Observer has posted
both the
short agenda and the
agenda packet (available for 30 days), which is what
the Council sees. However, without drilling through the
76 page agenda packet to the last page, one would never
know that City Manager Johnson is asking the Council to
lift the moratorium on the City's utility impact fees.
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Posted November 4, 2014 08:59 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night in City Hall, City Manager (CM) Wendell
Johnson revealed the embryo of a plan to raise the
Blanche Hotel from the dead. The landmark Blanche has
been languishing for decades in the heart of Lake City's
decaying downtown. CM Johnson is working to strike a
deal with a company, which goes by two names,
IDP, Integrity Development Partners, LLC or, IDP
Housing, to renovate the Blanche. IDP's estimated
project cost is $13,675,000. Other than Mayor Witt, no
one on the Council had one word or question to
contribute to City Manager Johnson's one sided
conversation.
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Posted October 15, 2014 10:59 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night in City Hall, the Community
Redevelopment Advisory Committee (CRAC) gave its
final approval on the logo and signage that is
designed to carry Lake City into the future.
There were oohs and ahs as the work of the
subcommittee on branding was brought to the
Committee by designer Justin Simmons. There are
two notable changes from the old designs: the
Confederate flag is gone and the phrase "Gateway
to Florida," which has been used by the Lake
City and the County for decades, has been
changed.
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Posted October 6, 2014 02:45 pm | (Part XLIV) |
updated Oct. 8, 2014
LAKE CITY, FL – 13 days short of three years ago
today, with the $30,000,000 Obama Stimulus
funded North Florida Broadband Authority (NFBA)
shut down by the Feds for reorganization, Lake
City's City Manager, Wendell Johnson, told the
NFBA Board the Federal Government's
reorganization plan "sounds like a Chinese Fire
Drill." He continued, "We all know what's gotta
be done." Tonight, City Manager Johnson is
asking the City Council to pass a resolution
withdrawing from the NFBA. The resolution gives
no reason.
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Posted September 11, 2014 08:35 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Tuesday night the Community
Redevelopment Advisory Committee met in City
Hall and began the public discussion of branding
the Lake City Community Redevelopment Area. This
is the area of blight that extends through
downtown Lake City. Justin Simmons, a recent
graduate of UF, volunteered his time to help the
City work on a marketing strategy for the
downtown. Mr. Simmons told the committee that
the branding of Lake City should encompass all
of Lake City and not just the downtown. Mr.
Simmons explained that Lake City is in
competition with surrounding areas, such as
Gainesville.
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Posted September 3, 2014 07:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL – It was smooth sailing for City
Manager Wendell Johnson last night as the
$63,446,535 City budget was approved without one
question from the City Council. The City's
increased fire assessment was approved, with a
couple of members from the public voicing
displeasure with the increase. The City also
approved Waste Pro's new trash collection rates
as a result of the County raising its tippage
fees over 20%.
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Posted August 29, 2014 07:55 am
LAKE CITY, FL – If you drink and drive in Lake
City beware: The Lake City Police Department is
joining with law enforcement throughout the
nation for the "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over"
campaign August 13 to September 1, 2014. LCPD
Officers will be aggressively looking for
impaired drivers during the crackdown and will
arrest anyone caught driving impaired.
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Posted
August 13, 2014 05:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night's Community
Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee (CRAC)
meeting was an upbeat affair as it was reported
by City Manager Wendell Johnson that the City's
population had recently spiked above the 12,000
mark; there are now 15 new active site
developments on the drawing board; and there is
renewed interest in the downtown Blanche Hotel.
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Posted July 24, 2014 1:35 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
When I saw Dave's number come up in my phone this
morning, I knew it wasn't good news. Call it a
premonition. A couple of years ago, Dave's heart
troubles had forced him to leave the City on medical
leave, which turned into retirement. His heart, which
was a good heart, was letting him down. Dave Clanton
learned about utilities by doing utilities. He was a
public servant who served the people and told the truth.
Dave Clanton was the kind of man that made America
great. A public servant that worked for the people and
suffered the politicians quietly. Lake City will miss
Dave Clanton. The America we used to know will miss Dave
Clanton, and I will miss Dave Clanton.
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Posted July 23, 2014 01:10 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Monday night, controversy and
questions surrounded the appointment of Gainesville
attorney Jennifer Springfield as Lake City's first Code
Enforcement Special Magistrate. City Councilman Zack
Paulk questioned the experience of Ms. Springfield and
told City Manager Wendell Johnson and the Council, "I
have some questions. I don't have questions of Ms.
Springfield." A short time later City Manager Johnson
told the Council, "Everybody has to start somewhere."
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Posted July 8, 2014 10:40 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall, the City
Council held a work shop to interview Jennifer
Springfield of Springfield Law for the position of Code
Enforcement Special Magistrate. Late in 2013, City Manager Wendell Johnson presented
the idea of establishing a Code Enforcement Special
Magistrate to hear Lake City code enforcement cases. The
Special Magistrate would sit in place of the
community members of the Lake City Code Enforcement
Board.
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Posted June 17, 2014 09:45 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – Last night the City Council, acting as the
Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA), finally
did something about the continuous rundown
condition of Lake City's downtown main street.
City Manager Wendell Johnson, who has been with
the City since 2008, has been unable to generate
much enthusiasm for downtown renovations. The
CRA approved a one-time $2,000 per business
Grant Facade program last night. Without any
details explaining the program, it looks like
the City will just give the money away.
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Posted May 7, 2014 10:10 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – Monday night in City Hall was generally
uneventful as the City took care of its
business. City Clerk Audrey Sikes, one of Lake
City's Sunshine Girls and one of the most
respected City Clerks in Florida, received a
proclamation from Mayor Witt in recognition of
Municipal Clerks Week. Deputy Clerk Katy
McCrary, Lake City's newest Sunshine Girl,
received the proclamation along with Ms. Sikes.
In a somber moment, Police Chief Gilmore
encouraged folks to buckle up and drive safely,
telling the City Council that the Lake City
Police Department takes public safety very
seriously.
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Posted April 8, 2014 07:45 am
LAKE
CITY, FL – Lake City's legendary City Attorney,
Herbert F. Darby, was surprised last night at
the City Council when Jeff Simmons recommended
what many folks had been thinking for some time:
Lake City's new pavilion on Lake Desoto be named
in honor of the City's legendary Attorney.
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Posted April 7, 2014 10:50 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Buried in tonight's City Council
agenda is an item that will affect any City
resident given a City Code Citation. City
Manager Wendell Johnson, without publishing a
notice seeking applications for Code Enforcement
Magistrate, is looking to anoint Lake City
attorney, Richard E. Stadler, as Special
Magistrate for Lake City's code enforcement
needs. Mr. Stadler works for long time City
Attorney, Herbert Darby, whose law firm is the
City law firm. In some parts of the civilized
word this might be considered a conflict. In
Lake City/Columbia County, it is business as
usual.
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Posted March 18, 2014 05:25 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last
night, after City Manager Wendell Johnson took
time to do his due diligence, the City Council
approved a contract with Tindale-Oliver &
Associates, which saved the citizens of Lake
City $8,686 on a Fire Assessment Rate Study fee.
The Tindale-Oliver contract, which City Manager
Johnson presented to the Council on March 3d,
was for $33,650. Before the March 3d meeting,
your reporter advised Councilman Ward that the
County had just completed its rate study at a
negotiated contract price of $24,978. Councilman
Ward moved to table the item until last night.
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Posted March
15, 2014 09:59am
UPDATE No. 1: Police
Officer Identified (Posted 02:30
pm)
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Posted March 4, 2014 01:15 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – The City Council was two members
short last night as Council members Ward,
Jefferson, and Mayor Witt took care of the
evening's business. In a shade under 20 minutes,
the Council agreed to begin negotiating with
Anderson Columbia for a City financed 6 inch gas
line extension with a capital cost estimated to
be $1.35 million. The Council approved City
Manager Johnson's recommendation to donate a
piece of City property which cost $158,000 in
2010 and is now valued at $77,000, to the United
Way. City Councilman Ward moved to table the
recommended action of the City's top brass to
approve a $33,650 fire rate study after learning
that Tindale-Oliver & Associates and Columbia
County agreed to a fire rate study at $24,978.
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Posted February
19, 2014 10:20 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night Lake City's
Utility Committee heard a presentation from the
Eastern U.S. General Manager of Utility Service
Partners, Inc., Mike Madden, who in partnership
with the National League of Cities presented the
City with a program for City Utility Customers,
which for minimal cost, will insure residential
water and sewer line connections and pipes
against breakage, blockage, clogs, and leaks.
Some of the residential connections in the City
date back to the mid 1920s.
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Posted February 4, 2014 07:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – On January 22, 2008, after
years of neglect and lost interest, Lake City
gave the City's Southside Recreational Complex
to Columbia County. Since that time, the County
has spent millions upgrading the facility and
has turned it into one of the premier tournament
centers in Florida and the Southeast. Last
night, Nick Patel and Harvey Campbell of the TDC
appeared before the City Council and asked the
City to contribute $25,000 to the facility. He
said, "We are here to extend our hand to forge a
partnership with the City."
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Posted January 22, 2014 10:00 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night, the City
Council overlooked last week's slight of all
Columbia County residents by City Manager
Wendell Johnson when he scheduled a
special City Utility Committee meeting at the
same time as the regularly scheduled County
Commission meeting. Last week's Utility
Committee meeting was one of the most important
City Utility Committee meetings in recent times.
The Committee recommended spending $15mil on
wastewater, which will in great measure
determine economic development in Lake City, the
Designated Urban Development Area, and major
areas of Columbia County for decades.
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Posted January 15, 2014 05:00 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night at the Lake City
Community Redevelopment Advisory Committee
(CRAC), local business owner and city resident,
Ron Robbins, came before the committee seeking
approval for a $65,100 façade improvement grant
to improve two main street buildings which he is
renovating and turning into a restaurant. The
total façade renovation is estimated to cost
$86,800. The City Community Redevelopment
Authority, which is the City Council, will have
to waive the $5,000 maximum storefront/business
contribution for this project, which is located
in the downtown and expected to employ 16 to 20
people working two shifts.
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Lake City News 2013
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Posted December 26, 2013 08:45 am
LAKE CITY, FL – With healthful kids meals and
children’s nutrition remaining a top culinary
trend for 2014, according to a new report from
the National Restaurant Association (NRA),
Applebee’s restaurants have announced a
completely redesigned kids menu with 10 meals
that meet the NRA’s Kids LiveWell nutrition
criteria and more than 650 combinations of
entrees, sides and beverages.
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Previous suspension cost City "well over $300,000" – CM
Johnson
Posted December 17, 2013 08:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night, Lake City, City
Manager Wendell Johnson recommended continuing
the City's 23 month impact fee suspension for
another year. On December 4th, CM Johnson told
the County Economic Development Advisory
Committee (EDAC), "The data that I’ve put
together from our building department indicates
that we have had a suspension of well over
$300,000 in the last 23 months." Last night CM
Johnson told the City Council, "I ran some
numbers through the City’s Planning Department
and I found the value of the suspended fees has
been about $271,000." CM Johnson brought no
statistical analysis to either the City Council
or the EDAC showing how he arrived at his
totals.
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Posted December 16, 2013 012:40 am | updated
06:28 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Tonight's City Council meeting has
City Manager (CM) Wendell Johnson's Rules of Procedure
back on the Council's agenda. Removed from the City
Manager's Rules is his photo ban, which not one City
Council Member spoke against. Following in the footsteps
of the Governor appointed Lake Shore Hospital Authority
and its Manager, CM Johnson's iron fisted police rules
remain. The City Manager did not prepare tonight's
modified version of his rules with anyway to determine
what his changes were. Instead of being listed under
"Old
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Residents learn about the 911 ring down
Posted December 8, 2013 08:50 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
The final year's breakfast with
Lake City's Police Chief Gilmore played to a packed
house at Lake City's First Apostolic Church. Church
members and residents came to learn about the Lake City
Police Department. Chief Gilmore fielded all questions.
Residents did not know that when they call 911 within
the city limits valuable seconds are lost.
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Posted
December 3, 2013 09:28 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night the City Council breezed through the
evening's agenda in under 12 minutes. There were
no substantive comments by any Council member.
City Manager (CM) Johnson announced that the
Council policy for public meetings will be back
before the Council at the December 16th meeting,
with the changes that were directed by the
Council.
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Posted November 19, 2013 04:45 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night the City Council reviewed City Manager
Wendell Johnson’s Proposed Rules of Procedure. It wasn’t
clear if anyone other than the City Manager and the City
Clerk had thoroughly gone through the City Manager’s
Rules before the meeting. After the meeting, long time City Councilman George
Ward told the Observer, "For now, the photo ban stays."
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 City Manager Rewrites City Rules of Procedure:
Proposes photo ban; police power to remove
citizens without warning
Posted November 17, 2013 08:40 am
LAKE CITY, FL – On Monday night at 6 pm at
a City workshop, City Manager Wendell Johnson is
proposing an update to the "Rules of the City
Council," specifically, formalizing the rules of
procedure for public participation. Mayor Steven
Witt's open meeting and liberal public
participation policies have been commended by
everyone, including a Three Rivers Legal
Services attorney who said at one City Council
meeting, "I like what I see here." City Manager
Johnson is proposing a Lake Shore Hospital
Authority like photo ban, banning photos of the
Council at work and giving the police the power
to remove folks without warning from City
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Posted September October 8, 2013 07:59 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall
the 2010, $18,000,000 bond issue for a new
wastewater plant and improvements to the old one
took center stage as the City Utility Committee
discussed its options. City Manager Wendell
Johnson led the discussion. He told the
Committee, "There are two major projects that
the bond was intended to fund. One was the
Kicklighter wastewater treatment plant, new
construction, and the other was the upgrade of
the existing St. Margarets wastewater treatment
plant."
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Posted September 17, 2013 6:50 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night Lake City had its final
budget hearing. What some folks thought were shaky
financial practices in the past have passed with City
Manager Wendell Johnson at the City's helm and Donna
Duncan, the City's Director of Financer at the financial
helm of Lake City. Smart financing and refinancing of
the City's debt and sound financial practices have left
Lake City in good financial shape and with enough money
to give all City employees a 3% cost of living allowance
(COLA) this year.
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Posted September 4, 2013 07:35 am
LAKE CITY /
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL –
In 2006, then Columbia County Sheriff, Bill Gootee
began the task of combining the County's
dispatch services: fire, sheriff, and EMS. At
that time Sheriff Gootee told the County, "The
more public safety and public service users are
on the same system means better public safety
for all." Seven years later, the clashing of
heads between Lake City and Columbia County
continued with nobody listening, as the Columbia
County/Lake City combined dispatch concept is
headed for the scrap heap. Last night, Lake City
continued on its course to go it alone, once
they upgrade their fire dispatch so they can.
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Posted August 14, 2013 11:58 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night the Lake City
Community Redevelopment Advisory Board met to
view and discuss the plans for the lakeside
pavilion on Lake Desoto, just to the east of the
city's rundown downtown. This was the first
viewing of any drawing of the pavilion. The
project has been spearheaded by City Manager
Johnson and was put out to bid without any
drawings or architectural review. In 2011 the
city paid $100,000 plus for a Community
Redevelopment Area Master Plan from one of
Florida's top urban design groups. The
pavilion was not in the plan.(Graphic:
This is the first and only drawing of the lakeside
pavilion. City Manager Johnson told the committee, "The
pavilion is gonna be the beginning of what's to come.")
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Posted August 6, 2013 10:25 am
LAKE CITY, FL – With elections a year and a half
away, the City Council fell into line with the County 5
and contributed their unfair share to the $80,000 gift
to the Chamber of Commerce for a retail study with the
Alabama Company, Retail Strategies, already under
contract with the Chamber. Chamber President Joel
Foreman told the City Council that all the information
will not be available to the Council or the County.
Wendell Johnson said, "If it
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Posted July 16, 2013 08:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Monday night was a tough night for
good news in Lake City/Columbia County, but the day was
saved by the Girl Scouts when members of Cadette Troop
525 showed up in City Hall to promote their new reading
program, "For the Love of Reading," designed to support
children's literacy.
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Posted July 12, 2013 11:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
Tuesday evening's meeting of the Lake City
Community Redevelopment Advisory Committee had
the committee discussing how to get more
businesses to improve their downtown property.
At an earlier meeting the Committee suggested
mini grants and cash advances. Legendary City
Attorney Herbert Darby didn't think that those
were a good idea. Local business leader, John
Kuykendall suggested written standards. City
Manager Wendell Johnson was opposed. He said
defined standards are "counterproductive."
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Posted June 24, 2013 11:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Recently the Florida Association
of City Clerks announced that Lake City’s City
Clerk, Audrey Sikes was voted Clerk of the Year.
The Florida Association of City Clerks has more
than 500 municipal clerks representing Florida’s
cities, towns, villages and special districts
across the state. The award of Clerk of the Year
is a big deal. Columbia County’s long time
County Manager Dale Williams even tried to hire
her away from the City. “I know how good she is,
I tried to hire her...,” he told the Observer
last
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Posted June 21,
2013 08:18 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Last night's County Commission
meeting brought no surprises as the County
Commission finally KO'd the Columbia County/Lake
City 911 Combined Communications Center.
Commissioner Stephen Bailey said it was
unfortunate "that we are in the situation that
we are in with the relationship between the City
and the County as it comes to dispatch."
Commissioner Ronald Williams said, "I thought it
was a good gesture of this Board to sit down at
the table with everybody involved... I cannot
see why when everything was solidified with a
City Manager and a Chief of Police – why the
deal was so bad and we
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Posted June 20, 2013 12:20 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Columbia County's 911
communications has been broken for decades and has
become the poster child for what can go wrong at every
level of a dispatch center. The County Commission took
over the total operation of 911 communications in 2008.
Political maneuvering, a lack of supervision, revolving
door communications center directors, broken equipment,
dueling dispatches, wrong addresses, and an emergency
backup center housed in a utility trailer at the County
jail, plugged into nothing and inoperable, are just some
of the conditions that have been the hallmark of County
controlled 911 communications
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Posted
June 17, 2013 01:59 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – At its beginnings in 2008, the main purpose
of the creation of the Columbia County Combined
911 Communications Center was to take the
dispatch center away from then Sheriff Bill
Gootee and discredit him enough to cost him the
election against challenger and Columbia County
good ole' boy, Mark Hunter. It worked. Bill
Gootee was defeated and it looks like, unless
there is some intervention by the folks elected
to represent the people of Columbia County/Lake
City, Sheriff Mark Hunter is going to be getting
the 911 dispatch center back and Lake City is
going to go it alone because the County can't
get its act
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 LCPD Click It or Ticket: Reminds citizens to buckle up
Posted June 5, 2013 04:55 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
For the past two weeks, police officers across
the United States and Florida have been
increasing their efforts to promote safety
through seat belt use as part of the Click It or
Ticket campaign. The Lake City Police Department
participated in this “wave” to help remind
citizens to buckle up while
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Posted June 4, 2013 09:35 am | Part II
Part I
LAKE CITY, FL –
Last night the City Council, meeting as the Community
Redevelopment Authority (CRA), formally approved its
first Commercial Improvement Grant and added $4,000 to
include two new gates that City Manager Johnson had
removed. Jackie Kite, the City's CRA Director, presented
the proposal to the Council. There was no site
plan; no photos; no color choices; no artists
renderings; and only one bid, that of a fence
contractor that Ms. Kite and the whole council
went out of their way not to mention, County
Commissioner Rusty
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Posted June 3, 2013 12:01 am | Part I
Part II
LAKE CITY, FL – Nineteen months after
spending $100,000 plus for a new downtown Lake
City Redevelopment Master Plan, Lake City's
downtown continues to languish. Barely any
businesses were willing to put up the 50% match
for façade improvements, so the city came up
with a plan to pay 75%, which is also not a
stunning success. On the City's Community
Redevelopment Agency Meeting agenda for Monday
evening is a request for a Commercial
Improvement Grant for a $28,000 chain link fence
with 2 gates. The only bid was that of
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Posted May 7, 2013 09:15 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night, the City
Council reviewed the four election districts
within its boundaries, an act required once
every five years by the City Charter. City Clerk
Audrey Sikes presented the current and proposed
boundaries, the changes of which were to insure
that each district had approximately the same
number of registered voters. Hundreds of hours
were spent redrawing the districts and the maps.
Three people showed up for the special
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Posted May 5, 2013 02:40 pm | Updated May 5, 2013
07:54 pm
LAKE CITY, FL –
This Monday night at 5:30 pm, May 6, 2013, Lake
City is presenting its new proposed
redistricting maps to the public for the first
time. The meeting, originally scheduled for May
2, was rescheduled by Lake City Mayor Steve
Witt, after it was discovered that the special
meeting was in conflict with the County
Commission meeting, which was scheduled for the
same time. Mayor Witt told the Observer, "As
Mayor of all the people of Lake City, who are
also residents of Columbia County, I wanted to
give everyone the opportunity to attend the
redistricting special meeting so that they could
participate and be heard."
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Posted February 5, 2013 07:05 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall the City
Council had a new perspective. Instead of shuffling
through reams of paper the Council members were
following the meeting agenda on sleek new laptops. In a
memo from City Clerk Audrey Sikes, she advised the
council that February would be the last month for paper
agenda materials and beginning in March all agenda
material and supporting information would be sent via
email.
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Posted January 27, 2013 09:45 am
LAKE CITY, FL – On January 25, 2013, at
approximately 7:45 p.m., an unknown white male
committed a home invasion robbery of a residence
during a jewelry party. The male suspect
threatened all the ladies inside with a handgun.
He fled the scene minutes later empty handed...
Upon entering the residence, the suspect later
identified as Mr. Derick J. Lee, 24, pointed the
handgun at the ladies and began yelling, "Give
me your money
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Posted January 23, 2013 04:55 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last night in City Hall for almost an hour the
topic of an art gallery coming to downtown Lake City was
explored. Lake City's run down and dilapidated downtown
corridor was not an impediment to the Art League's
Jeanne Van Arsdall and her fellow Art League members,
all residents of Lake City/Columbia County. The Art
League members were committed to finding a building and
a landlord with a commitment to the downtown. Dr.
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Posted January 17, 2013 07:30 am
LAKE CITY, FL – On January 16, 2013 at
approximately 5:27 a.m., Mr. Enrique R. Cutts,
27, was sitting in a vehicle and was approached
by Mr. Cory M. Douglas, 28, and shot in the face
with a flare gun. Mr. Douglas fled the scene but
was later located and arrested. Mr. Douglas was
transported to Gainesville for medical
treatment.
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City FL Man Shot In Face With Flare Gun