To: Levy County Coordinator, Levy County Board of County Commissioners, and Levy Planning Board Members
From: Linda Cooper – Taxpayer
Date: May 4, 2023
This letter is to address the lack of communication, the inadequate minutes for Planning Board meetings, and lack of basic essentials for staff to conduct public meetings for the Planning Board. After the board meeting on Monday, May 1, 2023, I was informed the meeting was not recorded due to bad battery issues and perhaps a microphone malfunction. I don’t know if notes were taken to record information for the minutes. This is a shamelessly bad way to conduct a public meeting.
Many concerned, distressed citizens were there concerning the sand mine hearing only to be told it had been rescheduled for July 10. Many of the attendees had fears that blasting would be involved if the proposed sand mine is approved. One couple came from Orlando for the hearing because they heard blasting was involved. The crowd of mostly older folks were told the postponement of the hearing was posted on social media. Most in the audience said they did not have internet or use Facebook. They were very angry the hearing was postponed and they came for nothing.
It is well known the audio for online listeners during Levy County Commission meetings is pitiful at best. What’s worse is there is no online audio during the Planning Board meetings or workshops. Levy County has one print newspaper that rarely covers government meetings. How is the public to know what their local government is planning or has imposed until it’s too late? The public and citizens should not be subjected to such shoddy, inadequate communications, especially for the upcoming May 9th “county commission manure dumping (composting) workshop scheduled for 3:30 p.m. when most people are at work.
Below is a portion of my statement to the Planning Board before approving the sparse April 6, 2023 minutes in hopes of getting more details included in the minutes for the record:
The minutes as presented are a poor representation of the 2-hour meeting from last month. The public and other interested public officials are kept in the dark and uninformed if these minutes are approved as presented. The discussion was very informative. All that information is lost if you accept these minutes as is.
I then argued important details were left out of the minutes such as:
1. Petition for Unity of Title:
There was a great discussion concerning unity of title, the subject of last month’s meeting discussing density issues facing the county such as lots of a quarter acre or less.
2. Subject of Composting:
Board member J. D. Holmes asked: How many jobs this would create, not how much money someone would make. He also said there is a big difference in creating jobs and someone making money. Concerns were stated about water quality, truckloads of horse manure, and horse owners giving their horses more than just feed. He asked, if someone had a 40-acre field, is this an AG related business?
Chairman Tommy Harper replied: Not really, because there’s no agricultural process. So, it should be done as industrial.
Planning and Zoning director Stacey Hectus said the board is looking at commercial, industrial, and AG as the classification. Board member Michael Earnest speaks at length about logistics and current dumping in Levy County. Said everybody knows I’m in the business and the single largest hauling company. He goes on to mention sitting at Eddie Hodge/Derby Gold or Fant as a close loop circle that makes sense to go there, logistically and getting rid of it. “It’s where it just makes better sense to save some money,”
The above is just a snippet of the 2-hour meeting. I believe the public deserves a much more concise, detailed accounting of discussions which should be reflected in the minutes for each and every planning meeting.
I know the planning department is understaffed. The recordings can be sent out to professionals to transcribe as attorneys do for transcribing their depositions.
Newly appointed Chairman Parks Wilson disagreed and said they could not do verbatim minutes. I was not asking for verbatim, just more detail. I downloaded the audio file in Office 365 which gave an excellent transcription of the meeting in Word. Not perfect, but a lot is contingent on the speakers speaking into the microphone. Two brief paragraphs of the meeting as official minutes is a disservice to the public.
The discussion on composting was very interesting and anyone interested should request a recording from the Planning Department. The discussion on composting starts at 47:45 mark and goes to 1:10:15.
The BoCC is turning a blind eye concerning the appointment of Michael Earnest with an obvious conflict of interest as a planning board appointee. Was the board provided background information on Mr. Earnest before his appointment? Was a copy of his application included in supporting documents? Was the Board aware that Earnest works as COO for Reid Nagle’s All In Removal and on his application as a reference listed Chairman Matt Brooks as “friends forever”? Reid Nagle is the owner of, All In Removal, Black Prong, and Big Lick Farm. Earnest has influence when discussing matters of composting, agritourism, and farm worker housing as a board member in public meetings. He spoke at length about All In Removal’s involvement in hauling shavings and manure. Black Prong is currently suing the Levy property appraiser, Levy tax collector office, and executive director of the Florida Department of Revenue. Perhaps Mr. Nagle has an interest in the upcoming farm worker housing land use discussions?
In conclusion, the good people of Levy County as well as county staff deserve better than the failed leadership of the seasoned board members of the BoCC is currently providing! The lack of transparency, the flow of information to the public, and the public’s ability to listen to decent audio during a board meeting are no longer excusable or acceptable. The City of Williston has managed to YouTube their meetings with great audio and video. Why can’t the county do the same?
Very Sincerely,
Linda D. Cooper
Williston FL 32696
Posted May 4, 2023
