By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Dogs will have a spot at the dining table in some Williston restaurants if a new ordinance is adopted by the city council.

Pet dogs will have the privilege of dining with their owners at restaurants offering outdoor eating facilities separated from regular restaurant dining.

Four restaurants in Williston currently offer outdoor eating areas. Three are located on Noble Avenue. One is located at the Williston Municipal Airport.

City Manager Scott Lippmann floated the idea of a doggie dining ordinance at Tuesday’s Williston City Council meeting. He said one local restaurant had been cited for a code violation for allowing a dog in the restaurant. The restaurant owner requested a doggie dining ordinance.

Registered service dogs can enter restaurants with their owners under Florida law. They are not considered pets.
The council expressed no opposition to the concept of allowing pet dogs to dine with their owners in areas set aside for dogs and their human owners. Lippmann will draft the ordinance and bring it back for council consideration.

Lippmann is modeling the ordinance after a similar law being used in Cedar Key. Gainesville also has such an ordinance.

In Cedar Key, restaurants are required to pay a $50 fee to establish doggie dining areas. The ordinance has rules. Dogs, for example, can’t enter through the regular restaurant to reach their eating spot outdoors, Lippmann said. Dogs must use a separate entrance.

“What we have done is essentially borrowed heavily from Cedar Key,” Lippmann said.

FIRE CHIEF RAISE

In other business Fire Chief Lamar Stegall was given an increase in his hourly pay from $15.33 to $25 at the request of Mayor Jerry Robinson who described Stegall as an outstanding chief.

Newly installed Council President Nancy Wininger cast the lone vote in opposition, but said it wasn’t because Stegall didn’t deserve the higher pay. She said pay raises normal take effect on Oct. 1 at the start of the new budget.

There was some concern that other administrators could ask for the same type of early pay raise, but none have tossed their hat into the ring for a raise at this point.

Robinson said he was looking at Stegall’s record of accomplishment when he proposed the raise. He said the fire chief might or might not be retiring from Duke Energy, but if he does retire the most he would work for the city is 15 to 26 hours per week at the new hourly rate.

Stegall worked about 10 hours per week last year. He has a full-time job at Duke Energy’s Crystal River coal-fired plants as a full-time fire department officer.

Councilman Charles Goodman said Williston Fire Rescue is “very well thought of as a volunteer department.” He believes the department’s stellar reputation was generated by Stegall’s leadership.

He said new firefighters are inspired by his leadership.
“They do this out of respect for him,” Goodman said.

Robinson said the raise was something Mayor Emeritus Gerald Hethcoat talked about for many years. Goodman said the raise had been in the works for several years when the city was in crisis and was never enacted for that reason.

Danny Wallace, Stegall’s former assistant chief, said Stegall gave up a pay raise many years ago to lobby for rank and file firefighter pay raises.

“He sacrificed for a long time to make other things work for other people,” Wallace said.

Going into Tuesday’s meeting, Stegall’s pay was $13 per hour below other chiefs in the area on average. Many of those chiefs are full-time fire chiefs.

Lippmann said Williston Fire Rescue alumni can be found on many area departments due to the excellent leadership and level of training they receive under Stegall’s command.

The council, in a related matter, gave Wallace permission to go forward with a USDA grant to purchase a fire truck for $408,000.

The USDA grant is for $204,000. The city will pay the rest.

Wallace said the initial grant offer was $100,000 but he convinced USDA to offer $204,000. He was commended for his efforts.

ROBINSON EXTINGUISHES RUMOR

Robinson told council members and the audience there was no truth to the rumor he was hired to get rid of Lippmann, City Clerk Fran Taylor and Public Works Director C. J. Zimoski.

“Absolutely not true!” he said slamming his hand on the dais.

UNION CONTRACT APPROVED

Council members approved a new contract for general workers in the city which includes a 3 percent pay raise.
The new contract also gives the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees the right to distribute union documents to new employees.

NO RETALIATION FOUND

Lippmann, who was asked to investigate allegations of retaliation by supervisors, said he has found no retaliation.

He investigated one case involving a female employee for contractor Severn Trent, but he said the woman wasn’t an employee of the city and couldn’t actually claim retaliation. Her employer was Severn Trent, not city supervisors. He said his impression was that she was dissatisfied.

The main problem for Lippmann was that the alleged victims never came forward to explain their claims of retaliation. He had no evidence he could use to confront supervisors and was never told the names of supervisors who were allegedly responsible for the retaliation.

Goodman had been contacted by former employees who said they resigned rather than face retaliation. Goodman protected their identities, apparently at their request. He said the employees were adamant there had been retaliation.

Lippmann and City Clerk Fran Taylor are updating the city’s human resource manual. It’s not clear whether any language will be added to further protect employees from retaliation.

Taylor said she and Lippmann will probably give the council a revised human resource manual in May for review. She suggested giving the council a month to review the changes.

BUILDING PERMITTING CHANGING

Lippmann said he has met with the contract building inspectors for the city and they have agreed to new contract language that changes the scope of the company’s services.

He said the firm has agreed to establish firm hours of operation when they will be in town to answer questions and do inspections. Their contract is expiring. The new contract will spell out their duties and hours of operation.

Lippmann wants to keep city employees out of the building permit and inspection business as much as possible. Employees can hand out forms, but that’s about it.

“By and large we are going to keep staff out of the process as much as we can,” he said.

Lippmann hopes to have the contract and scope of work spelled out by the next council meeting. He said he will do his best to have it ready by then.

CITY HALL FINANCING

Construction of the new Williston City Hall is well underway and the financing is almost ready to approve, according to Stephen Bloom, the city’s financial analyst.

Bloom said the city is currently spending city tax dollars for the early construction efforts rather than loan money. He said the city had written checks for $105,000 and $265,000.

He said the city will have the ability to spend up to $3 million under the loan agreement with Drummond Community Bank.

Goodman, who owns his own construction business and has built hundreds of homes has visited the construction site several times with Lippmann and took photographs of the work.

“I can tell you that company is doing a first-class job,” he said of Oelrich Construction of Gainesville.

Council members who are interested in the carpet color scheme of the interior can soon visit the interim City Hall soon to look at samples. Councilwoman Marguerite Robinson and Wininger have expressed interest in selecting colors.

RECEIVING RECOGNITION

Wininger was given a certificate for having completed her third training course in municipal government leadership through the Florida League of Cities.

Mayor Jerry Robinson said it was worthy of note that Wininger completed all three courses through the Institute of Elected Municipal Officials. The final course was called The Leadership Challenge (IEMO).