By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Levy County Commissioner Desiree Mills finally put her foot down Monday and demanded an end to county staff slow-walking their research into composting.

            County staff had been told to bring some type of draft language to the July 11 board meeting regarding composting, but instead, they are still talking to state agencies trying to gather information.

            On Monday, at the end of a special meeting that had nothing to do with composting, Mills, in her commissioner comments, said the public was demanding answers and she wanted something done.

            “I had a large amount of public outcry. I want to make sure we’re going to talk about composting and try to finalize that for our first meeting in July,” Mills said. The first meeting is on July 11.

            County Attorney Nicolle Shalley said staff met with the Florida Department of Agriculture Monday and met earlier with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection but wanted to go back and ask DEP a couple more questions.

            Shalley was under the impression Planning and Zoning Director Stacey Hectus would give the county commission an update on composting at the July 11 commission meeting.

            “I’m just looking for something. I want to get past this and I want to make an ordinance and get this done,” Mills said.

            Commission Chairman Matt Brooks said he also thought staff was planning to provide language or options at the next meeting on July 11 for the board to consider.

            “Is that what we’re talking about at the upcoming meeting?” Brooks said.

            “I don’t think staff is that far along,” Shalley said. “We want to provide you with the information and have you all figure out what you want to allow if anything. Right now, it’s not a permitted use in the county. I think it’s for you all to determine what you will allow and we’re trying to base it on regulated categories and classifications.”

            Brooks instructed staff to provide the board with options at the July 11 meeting. He said Hectus will have the information from DEP by that meeting, “and we can give concrete clear directions on which way we want to go and put some timeline to get this done. I think the public is anxious to put it to rest. We’re all understanding that.”

            Preliminary indications from staff are that they might recommend allowing manure composting in Levy County based on zoning and land use classifications, but they haven’t been specific. Everything they’ve done in the past month has been out of the public eye.

            The most popular view among opponents of manure composting is for a total prohibition on the importation and transportation of bulk manure products, including horse stall waste, into the county for composting purposes. Many opponents also favor a total prohibition on commercial or industrial manure composting of any type in Levy County.

            Staff doesn’t appear to be headed in that direction nor is it clear whether a total prohibition would be one of the options they would offer the board for consideration.

            Traditionally, the Levy County Commission chairman works closely with the county coordinator and top-level staff out of the public eye regarding ongoing issues and policies. Brooks said he has been having ongoing discussions with staff on the composting issue.

            Shalley said Hectus, County Coordinator Wilbur Dean, and sometimes County Engineer Andrew Carswell have been involved in the meetings with state agencies.

            Dean, in an interview before Monday’s County Commission meeting, said staff hasn’t obtained all the information needed to make a presentation to the board. He said they want to know, among other things, how the state agencies interpret all the different categories of composting, what they consider to be nutrients, what they consider a landfill, and what they consider agriculture.

            “What falls into the category of a landfill? DEP has a lot of different sectors in it and not one sector handles all of this,” Dean said. “One of the things we tried to do is touch base with every one of them and get their interpretation of what we have here on the ground and what we’re trying to accomplish.”

            “What do you think the county commission is trying to accomplish?” Dean was asked.

            “They want to determine, and I don’t want to speak for them – I know the direction they gave staff was to gather all the information,” Dean said. “We’re going to give it to them. The final decision will be theirs, but I can tell you they don’t want widespread composting going on all over Levy County without there being proper zoning and proper regulation for it.”

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Enterprise Reporting June 26, 2023; Posted June 26, 2023