By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            For as long as anyone can remember, code enforcement cases for Levy County government were handled through county court, but in recent years a backlog has developed that many believe could be resolved by hiring a code enforcement special magistrate.

            The magistrate would function much like a county judge, taking testimony, reviewing evidence, making decisions on how the code enforcement cases should be resolved, and freeing the county judge to handle other types of legal issues.

            Levy County Commissioners are expected to hire a special magistrate at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Some believe the chief cause of the backlog of code enforcement cases are gaps in the Land Development Code that don’t provide the county’s code enforcement officer or the county judge with the tools to clearly define what is or isn’t allowed in the unincorporated areas governed by the county commission.

            Many code enforcement issues are on hold for now until the county commission resolves the biggest hot-button topic – how to deal with manure composting sites that developed in rural residential areas of the county over the years without any regulations to govern them, or prohibit them, or prevent additional sites from being established in the guise of commercial or industrial composting.

            The county says a draft ordinance governing composting is being prepared and should be ready for the Levy County Planning Commission to review by July 10. The planning commission would make a non-binding recommendation to the county commission. There is fierce public opposition to any additional horse stall waste, or bulk manure of any kind, being transported into the county and dumped in the unincorporated residential areas for composting. People are opposed to any type of manure composting regardless of where the waste was generated.

            Commissioners are in agreement that a special magistrate is needed to take code enforcement cases off the plate of the county judge. County Judge James T. Browning retired recently due to health issues. The governor is expected to choose his replacement.

            Two weeks ago, Levy County Commissioners discussed three law firms that applied for the special magistrate position, Braswell Law, Fugate Law, and Weiss Serota & Helfman, but a decision was postponed when County Attorney Nicolle Shalley suggested commissioners themselves should fill out their own ranking sheets for the three law firms.

            Shalley, Procurement Coordinator Alicia Tretheway, Development Department Director Dave Meyer, and Code Enforcement Officer Dave Banton reviewed the applicants and ranked them from a staff committee perspective. Braswell Law received 85.3 points. Fugate 83.6 and Weise Serota and Helfman 77.6.

            A motion by Commissioner Desiree Mills to hire the Fugate firm was seconded by Commissioner John Meeks but never came to a vote. When Shalley and Tretheway recommended each of the five commissioners fill out their own ranking sheets and review the qualifications of the applicants, Mills withdrew her motion and Meeks withdrew his second. Mills said she had reviewed the applications exhaustively.

            The Braswell firm already serves as a magistrate in Gainesville and the Fugate firm handles magistrate duties in Newberry. Braswell would have charged $300 per hour, Fugate $250 per hour. The savings was one of the reasons Mills said she made a motion to hire the Fugate firm.

            Attorney Norm Fugate was questioned by Meeks about whether he was representing people who had code enforcement cases pending in county court. Fugate said he and his son Blake Fugate, also a company attorney in the Fugate firm, discussed the conflict issue and concluded they aren’t representing anyone who would pose a conflict of interest if they were hired to handle magistrate duties.

            “We would not take any case that would be in conflict with code enforcement,” Fugate said.

            One of the conflict cases Fugate said Meeks was referring to was in Rainbow Lakes Estates, but it was a permitting case, not code enforcement. Fugate said his firm has terminated their representation of the woman. Commissioners were in general agreement that they would probably choose a second law firm to serve as a special magistrate if there was a conflict, or the case could go to county court.

            Shalley said a magistrate has to be careful about avoiding conflicts of interest. She said state law specifically prohibits repeated conflicts of interest. She said they can’t practice law in the county where they represent clients as a private attorney. In the committee report, she expressed concern about Fugate’s conflicts of interest if he became magistrate but also said an alternative could be appointed to take over conflict cases.

            “A special magistrate acts just like the local county judge or circuit judges. They are not allowed to practice law in the jurisdiction because it’s recognized if they were out practicing law and representing people in Levy County, then those people would likely come before them for their cases to be heard and it’s the appearance, if not truly a conflict. In other words, people who are also involved in these cases might feel that the county judge could not be impartial having represented that person prior — so a special magistrate sits similarly to a judge in this county. I just want to make it clear because I don’t think I heard Mr. Fugate say that his firm would not be representing clients in Levy County anymore,” Shalley said.

            Fugate responded: “I guess the straightforward answer is yes, if it did rise to the level of what we perceived as a conflict, if we did get the job, if there was a conflict – if we got the position of special magistrate, we would not be taking any cases that have anything to do that might be perceived as a county conflict situation.”

            He added, “I’m not sure just generally representing somebody in a real estate closing some years back could create a conflict. If a separate case came before the magistrate, and that’s generally how we operate as attorneys – if a client comes to us with a special situation and that situation is resolved, that’s the end of the case, and would not enter into a conflict type situation.”

            Fugate added that the man who heads the Braswell firm, Jefferson Braswell, is a good friend of his and one of his best attorney friends. He said he’s a good guy and the county couldn’t go wrong if they chose him as the magistrate. He said he would also be a quality magistrate for the county.

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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting June 12, 2023; Posted June 18, 2023