By Terry Witt -Spotlight Senior Reporter
Former Bronson Mayor Beatrice Roberts was appointed by the town council on Dec. 6 to serve one year on the city’s new code enforcement board despite continuing questions about whether she actually lives in Bronson.
The town ordinance creating the new board says its members must be residents of Bronson appointed by the town board, but questions have been raised in the past by Spotlight as to whether Roberts is a Bronson resident.
Most longtime observers of Bronson politics say Roberts lives with her husband in Raleigh and rents out her home at 390 N. Pine St. in Bronson to close relatives. The Levy County voter roll in 2021 listed five people using 390 Pine St. as their residential address for voting purposes, among them Roberts.
The people listed as living at the address earlier this year were her late grandson, Mahki Bostic, who tragically passed away from a car accident just before the 2021 town election, Ashley D. Mongo, Jimmie L. Mongo, II, Tiffany Mongo, and Roberts whose last name was Mongo at one point in her life.
Town council members appointed Roberts to serve in the position of architect on the code enforcement board since the town needed to fill at least three of the five positions to have a quorum to do business and the town has no architect. She will serve one year. David White will serve two years in the contractor’s position and Mark Kjeseth three years in the realtor’s position.
Town Manager Sue Beaudet has been searching for people to serve on the code enforcement board but has had difficulty recruiting board members. She said the town has two pressing code enforcement issues the board needs to deal with.
Mayor Robert Partin acknowledged that the appointment of Roberts wasn’t a perfect situation.
“Right now, we need to get people on the board to do this. I know this is a question that keeps coming up. It’s not a perfect situation. Right now, she (Roberts) is obliged to serve on this. Sue worked diligently to get people to serve on this board. We have to get somebody. Like (Beaudet) said, it’s a non-paid volunteer situation,” Partin said.
Roberts missed the council meeting to attend a memorial service for her grandson.
A reporter asked Beaudet if members of the code enforcement board are required to live in Bronson.
“They have to be a resident of Bronson,” Beaudet said.
The reporter asked if Beaudet required members of the code enforcement board to sign an affidavit swearing they are residents of Bronson.
“It’s not an elected position. It’s a volunteer position. It’s not paid. It’s only going to meet when there’s an issue. Right now, we have two issues that need to go before this board,” Beaudet said.
“You don’t want non-residents making judgments about residents,” the reporter noted.
Councilwoman Sherrie Schuler asked the reporter why a person couldn’t serve on the board if they are using a Bronson residence?
“If they have a residence in the city and they use that as an address, are you saying that’s an issue?” she said.
“The issue is whether they live at that residence,” the reporter responded. “I mean, you can have a house inside Bronson, but if you don’t live there, you are not a resident of Bronson.”
“If you pay your taxes here you could,” Schuler responded.
“No, that doesn’t mean anything,” the reporter said.
The code enforcement board ordinance states, “The Code Enforcement Board shall consist of 5 members, all of whom shall be residents of Bronson appointed by the Town Council. At its discretion, the Town Council may choose to appoint two alternate members to serve in the absence of regular members.”
Partin at that point called for a vote. The board voted 4-0 to approve the three code enforcement board members. Councilman Jason Hunt was ill and couldn’t attend the meeting.
Town Attorney Steven Warm explained the length of time the three code enforcement members are to serve but didn’t comment on whether a non-resident could serve on the code enforcement board.
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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting: December 6, 2021; Posted December 13, 2021
