Bronson City Councilman Berlon said former Public Works Director Erik Wise left the town in a bad spot.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                When former Bronson Public Works Director Erik Wise resigned on Oct. 22 he left a full year of sewer plant paperwork in arrears that may lead to big fines from the state, Town Councilman Berlon Weeks said Monday.

            Weeks said Wise, who was in charge of the town’s sewer plant and water plant, was required to fill out daily sewer plant reports and send them to the Florida Department of Environmental protection.

            But he was a year behind when he left the town.

            “Honestly if I had found about these DEP reports before that, I would have asked you not to pay the man his bonus or his sick time or anything,” Weeks said. “The fines we’re fixin’ to get when they come out with these DEP reports is going to be big.”

            Wise resigned without giving a reason. His final day on the job was Nov. 8.

            Weeks said the failure of Wise to fill out the necessary paperwork points once again to the need for a city manager that can coordinate with the departments to make certain everything is in order.

            “This needs to stop and if we have too many people over their own departments and no coordination, you’re going to constantly have things like this happening. Erik really left us in a bad spot,” Weeks said.

            Parks and Recreation Director Curtis Stacy is being asked to fill in for Wise while the city seeks a replacement public works director. Among other things, Stacy is being asked to hire someone to repair a lift station and a pump.

            Mayor Beatrice Roberts said something good came of Wise’s departure.

            “Even in the office, the atmosphere is a whole lot better. It’s just like, I enjoy going in there now and I haven’t heard the girls talk like this in a long time,” Roberts said.

            Weeks asked Town Attorney Steven Warm if the city had any recourse to recoup money from Wise if the town is fined for Wise not filing daily reports with DEP.

            Warm said he doubted there was anything to town could do.

            “You could in theory chase him for malfeasance in office if he did it indifferently, negligently or even intentionally,” Warm said. “Realistically in my judgment there isn’t much you can do. Sometimes it’s like the dog chasing its tail around the pole to be honest with you.”

            City Clerk Shirley Miller said the city received one resume’ from an applicant for the public works director position around 4 p.m. Monday and the other two other inquiries were from people who supplied very little information about their background.

            The city isn’t setting a definite deadline for applicants at this point with the understanding they can’t go on forever with someone to operate the city’s sewer plant and water plant.

            The city is currently using Chiefland Sewer Superintendent Randy Wilkerson to run the town’s sewer plant and they are using another professional vendor to operate the water plant.

            Requesting Sealed Bids

            Council members voted unanimously to instruct Miller and Fire Chief Dennis Russell to request sealed bids from contractors interested in constructing the city’s new fire house.

            The bids will request contractors to submit bids based on a design/build arrangement. The winning bidder would have to hire all the necessary professional contractors to design and build the facility.

            Russell and his staff had been using an entirely different process. They weren’t seeking sealed bids from contractors. They asked for requests for qualifications and began interviewing three companies.

            But Weeks said he felt that the town could be taken advantage of if a contractor was selected who hadn’t given the town a solid dollar figure on how much he would charge to build the fire house.

            Russell argued that his private conversations with contractors would ultimately lead the fire department to choose the best company for the best price.

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            But the council didn’t buy into his idea.

            Roberts said she personally thought the fire department had obtained sealed bids until the contractors sent bid packages to Town Hall that were already opened.

            Russell has been dealing with three contractors, but Warm warned the council can’t only send bid documents to the trio of companies interested in the project. The bid process must be open to everyone.

            The Florida Legislature has awarded Bronson $900,000 to build the fire house and Russell is planning to request an additional $950,000 from the Legislature in January.

            Fire House Site

            Russell wants to build the fire house on about seven acres of land donated to the town by billionaire Frank Stronach, but Weeks has a different idea. He would like to build the fire house behind what could be the future Town Hall.

            Weeks said the county is interested in expanding its road department facilities on the seven acres that Russell wants to set aside for the fire house.

            Weeks and Councilman Robert Partin have talked to county officials about the possibility of trading land the town owns in exchange for what is now the county Building and Zoning office located opposite the Dogan Cobb Municipal Building.

            Partin said his discussions with the county have been in general terms. Weeks said the county is definitely interested in the land Russell wants for his fire house. The fire house property is directly across U.S. 27A.

            Weeks’ idea is to trade the fire house property and perhaps other town owned property for the building that would be the eventually Town Hall. The current Town Hall could then be converted to a community center.

            But the council hasn’t made any formal decision on whether to build on the seven acre site just north of the County Extension Center, nor has the county commission made any formal commitment to a trade.

            Warm said he would check to make sure the donated land on the north side of town could be used for something other than a fire house.

            Flag Apology

            Roberts apologized and took responsibility for the town not raising the American Flag over its Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day.

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            “We do apologize. The flag wasn’t there for Veterans Day,” she said. “I take responsibility because I assumed when I told them at the last meeting to put it up, that it was up, so I take responsibility for that this time. Next time somebody else will take responsibility.”

            Miller said when she returned from her trip to Michigan she realized the flag hadn’t been raised over the Veterans Memorial. She said the reason it wasn’t raised is because the rope broke and was off the pole.

            “We had no method of putting it over the pulley, so I went to the county the same day; they will get the flag up and fix the rope over the pulley tomorrow morning,” Miller said.

            She said she tried to get the county to do it sooner, but the county road department doesn’t work on Fridays.

            The town still doesn’t have a bucket truck that could be used to lift workers to the top of the pole. The Ocala firm doing the repair work has promised to have the truck fully repaired by Wednesday. The truck has been parked at the Ocala repair shop for more than a year. The town gave the company $10,000 initially to do the repairs. It took several letters from Warm to stimulate the company’s interest in repairing it in a more timely fashion. But the truck is old and parts are hard to find.

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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting November 18, 2019; Posted November 18, 2019