High Springs to end police and fire?
Hello from Gainesville, Florida. It's Monday, September 14, and you're listening to StreetSmart. I'm Seth Johnson. StreetSmart is a weekly podcast from Mainstreet Daily News, where we cover local news that informs, engages, and inspires listeners like you.
Seth:A big thanks to our sponsor, Forest Meadows Funeral Home, where compassion meets experience. Check out their beautiful gardens, funeral home, and tribute center. Formations, funerals, and memorials all in one trusted place. With exceptional care and personal attention, Forest Meadows is here to honor every life with care.
Seth:Here's the top headlines we're following.
Seth:The city of Gainesville passed a package of budget items for the upcoming fiscal year. A final vote will come Thursday on the $174 million budget with no increase in the millage rate, an $8 million jump in the fire assessment.
Seth:Gallo Car Wash in Gainesville expanded to a third location earlier this year and is already working on its fourth. The owner told Mainstreet that the business always wants to keep the cost of a wash below the hourly minimum wage and is proud to be the official car wash of the Florida Gators.
Seth:Gainesville Regional Utilities is moving ahead with demolitions around Depot Park in the Power District. Tearing down the vacant and crumbling buildings will be the first step toward an eventual sale. After expenses, selling the nine acres identified could bring $7,500,000 in revenue.
Seth:The University of Florida recently welcomed a new staff member. Maverick is a black Labrador retriever that is now working with the police department's canine team to search for explosives. And as one canine is hired, another retires. Beamer had her last day as an explosives dog at the Gainesville Regional Airport on Friday. She performed one last sniff during a ceremony and will now stay home with her handler of eight and a half years.
Seth:For all the details behind these stories, visit mainstreetdailynews.com. Every day, we're adding new information to help keep you informed, and it's all free with no paywall, thanks to our generous member. Welcome to another episode of the StreetSmart podcast. I'm Seth Johnson, and I'm with rural reporter Lillian Hamman this week.
Lillian:Glad to be here for another episode of StreetSmart.
Seth:Sometimes, we know when stories are gonna be coming and they're gonna be important, and sometimes they just hit suddenly. And Lillian, you had one of those sudden stories hit you late last week and kind of late on Thursday night.
Lillian:Yeah. That was one of those curve balls. I was not expecting it to be a late meeting or, have the content that it did, but
Seth:Just hit us with the news. What's the big headline?
Lillian:Yeah. So the city commission voted to start negotiations with the Alachua County Fire Rescue and Alachua County Sheriff's Office for police and fire services. They emphasized that these are good faith negotiations, which means this is different from past times when the county has provided information on what it would look like if they presumed public safety services instead of High Springs having their own police and fire departments. Those times were just informational. This is truly intending to surrender services.
Seth:Those negotiations are gonna start between High Springs' interim city manager, along with perhaps some of their, fire police chief with Alachua County. But, I mean, the city commission came really close to dissolving the police department in a two three vote that just, you know, barely didn't pass by one person. Otherwise, you know, it could already be a done deal that they're gonna move away from having an independent department and move towards county services.
Lillian:Yeah. Each of the commissioners kind of took a minute to just almost grieve, but explain that they really felt like with this budget this year, which they kinda went through also during the meeting, that there's just no room to keep both services, just too expensive. And then there's the homestead exemption vote coming up in November. And so just a lot of unknowns. But end of the day, commissioners identified that the city has $5,000,000 of debt roughly.
Lillian:And, you know, cost of services are only going up. I mean, they said for the police department, all the vehicles are leased and it would just be $400,000 alone to repair them. Just regular maintenance. So, just expenses like that.
Seth:And from the City of Gainesville perspective, I've been covering their budget season and they've seen increases year over year and the largest increases are police and fire, whether that's, you know, the bargaining units and the salaries as they go up. And then also the the cost of repairing that equipment, maintaining it, or the software you need for those services. It, adds up and those have been the large increases. So for a smaller city like High Springs, to have both. And we've said it before on this podcast, High Springs is the only city besides Gainesville that has both a police and a fire department.
Seth:Like, that takes money and you're gonna either have to have that in the millage rate which hits residents or, you know, it just has not been keeping up.
Lillian:That's a good point when you, you know, compare it like that. I know covering their budget last year, I think public safety was almost 50% of High Springs' general fund budget. And they're struggling too because the general fund is being supplied by a lot of the utilities and just things that should not be keeping the general fund afloat. And, you know, there's also the concern that with the Bridalwood development and other developments coming, they're gonna want good services like in house police and fire. But at the end of the day, it's just not affordable right now.
Lillian:So, vice mayor Wayne Bludsworth Junior, his term is up in November. He's not running again. And he really felt that if he didn't try to make some measure during the meeting last week to make a change with any of the departments, then he wasn't leaving the city better than he found it. So he's the one that made the motion to dissolve the police department. And he kinda added the caveat that that money would go towards a new study for the fire department that would enable the city to be able to raise their fire assessment again.
Lillian:Because in May, they already voted to reach their maximum, which was $383.
Seth:His motion, he was thinking we dissolve the police department. I think he mentioned because it's harder to tamp down on a police department budget in order to make sure the fire department is really solidified. And would it be accurate to say I mean, this has kind of been bubbling for the last couple years. They've known, you know, things aren't sustainable, but they've been hesitant to pull any big levers. And did they finally get to the point where, you know, we gotta make a big change?
Seth:Otherwise, this is just gonna keep getting off the rails.
Lillian:Yes. That's very accurate. And I would say this was probably the first time I've seen it since I've been covering High Springs that really, at least the community members that showed up were also in support of it. I mean, one police officer got up and said, you know, he loves his job, but he he completely understood the decision that the commission had to make and just the numbers kinda spoke for themselves. Mayor Andrew Miller said he didn't want to support dissolving the police department because they're fully staffed and they have, you know, roughly 20 employees versus the fire department employs around eight staff members and four of those positions are currently open.
Lillian:So it just seems like a little bit of the less stable department.
Seth:And commissioner Tristan Grunder voted with Bloodsworth to dissolve the police department, but that failed. That's where that second motion came forward to just negotiate for both departments with the county. What would it look like for the county to take over police and to take over fire? And like you mentioned, the fire department has been less stable. They've had multiple different fire chiefs.
Seth:They just recently got their interim, and there's been other interims in the city too. That's something else the city is trying to juggle.
Lillian:Yeah. So High Springs currently has an interim fire chief, an interim public works director, and an interim city manager. They fired their last city manager in July and their parks and recreation department director, Jennifer Applebee, has been stepping into that interim role. But they are looking to factor in that city manager search into their twenty twenty six, twenty seven budget. They just got a new finance director that was empty for six months.
Lillian:And another big thing with Bloodsworth's motion that he emphasized was he was one of the proponents that fully supported keeping both police and fire back when they discussed this, you know, last year and earlier this year. He wanted to raise the fire assessment, see what that would do. The commission kind of mentioned that since the city manager's firing and some other leadership changes, some things have come out that commissioner Grunders said are borderline criminal and will require an investigation just related to financial oversight and lack thereof. So not sure what, you know, all that was about, but I'm sure it'll be coming out soon.
Seth:Definitely a landmark story and landmark decision by the city commission and it's gonna be impacting. You know, it's the first story, then now it's gonna lead to a lot of things in the future with how this negotiation go, what the county says about what they can and can't do to take over services, and when that happens. I mean, the fiscal year starts October 1, so it sounds like the High Springs might start continuing with their police and fire into the fiscal year. Maybe it stops halfway through, or seems like nearly everything is up in the air and on the table. We're going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor before we get to the news forecast and event segment.
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Seth:Now for this week's news forecast. The city of Alachua meets tonight and will discuss the possibility of data centers within its development codes. The Newbury City Commission will also be gathering tonight with a light agenda. The Children's Trust of Alachua County has a board meeting scheduled for Thursday at 4PM, and the city of Gainesville will vote to finalize its budget and millage rate on Thursday as part of its regular meeting. The budget hearing will come during the evening session.
Seth:Now
Lillian:for our events segment covering upcoming family friendly events this week. Celebrate constitution week in Newbury where City Hall will be decorated as Independence Hall on Saturday as part of the city's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary events. At the same time, Newbury's fabulous fifties festival will take place outside on Mainstreet. UF's Carillon Studio will perform a lineup of earth, wind, and fire tunes during a concert at 01:30PM on Sunday. Sing along to all your favorites from the seventies group.
Lillian:The Williston Fall Market will run from 10AM to 3PM on Saturday. The event at Heritage Park will feature live music, festive food, a kids zone, and vendors. One hundred fitness will host a back to school bash in Jonesville from 09:30 to 11:30AM on Saturday. The bash will feature a kid's fitness competition, parent and children activities, raffles, prizes, food trucks, and more. Plus, the event will benefit Gainesville area rowing.
Lillian:The Gainesville Bird Expo is flocking to the Alachua County Sports And Events Center on Sunday from 9AM to 3PM. With the $5 entry fee, visitors can find birds, toys, cages, stands, feed, and anything else they need to love their feathery friend.
Seth:A slate of events happening this weekend and a cawsome one on Sunday with the bird expo.
Lillian:I see what you did there, Seth. Caw, caw, caw. Maybe we can ask JC if we can get an office bird?
Seth:Oh. Oh. I don't I don't think we really need to ask. I think it's in the budget.
Lillian:I agree. The newest addition to the Mainstreet team. Keep your eye out.
Seth:And that's all we've got for this week's StreetSmart podcast brought to you by Mainstreet Daily News and made possible by our generous members. You can access more free news at mainstreetdailynews.com. We'll be back next week with more stories that matter to you because they take place right here in Alachua County. Take a minute to share StreetSmart and help us continue the work. Our theme music is Sunset Sonata by Gainesville's Ska band, Now Leaving Space.
Seth:This episode is a production of MARC Media.
