County Commissioner Matt Brooks will serve as chairman in 2020.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Levy County Commissioner Matt Brooks was selected Tuesday as chairman of the board by a 5-0 vote, with current chairman John Meeks respectfully refusing a sixth term.

            Brooks, who was attending a toll road meeting in a different county, voted over a speaker phone on the board dais. Commissioner Mike Joyner was selected vice chairman.

            The board chairman and vice chairman are selected by their fellow board members. They serve one year terms. Meeks said it was time for him to give up the job.

            “I sat in the middle of it. I enjoyed most of it. Some if it was difficult. We got through some difficult times. We got through it as a team, but my turn is over for a time,” he said. “I think anybody who serves five terms as chairman deserves a break and I’m asking for a break. I am respectfully refusing to be considered.”

            Joyner nominated Brooks as chairman and Commissioner Lilly Rooks nominated Joyner as vice chairman. Brooks, who was participating by speaker phone, was asked by Meeks if he heard his name mentioned.

            “Yes, something about I missed the meeting today so y’all are going to make me the chairman,” Brooks said, drawing laughter from the board and audience.

            Meeks, who was chairman for five consecutive terms served through controversies such as the adoption of a $116 landfill special assessment and requiring county employees to pay for their own family health insurance coverage.

            He was chairman when the county switched to free residential dumping at the landfill and began licensing garbage haulers and requiring them to carry liability insurance.

            He was also chairman when the county adopted a resolution giving the board the future option of franchising of garbage routes countywide. He was one of five voting members on the board through all the controversies, but he was the chair when it all happened.

            He was also chair when the county accepted a $220,000 donation from philanthropist Robert Echols to build an air conditioned and heated dog kennel at the landfill. The kennel is under construction.

            Meeks was chair when a decision was made to begin building satellite garbage dumping stations at various locations in the county to shorten the drive for people living in the areas like Cedar Key, Camp Azalea, Inglis and Yankeetown areas.

            Landfill Administrative Director Rod Hastings said the first satellite dumping station off County Road 337 in the vicinity of Cedar Key is operating well and popular with customers. He said two other future satellite stations, one on Butler Road near Inglis and the other in Camp Azalea near the Suwannee River are being bulldozed for construction.

            Meeks was also chair when the county changed its landfill resolution allowing unlimited free dumping of residential garbage to a new set of rules limiting how many bags could be dumped. The maximum is eight bags per day now.

            Meeks was also chairman when the board voted to purchase the former Bronson High School and Elementary School for $1.5 million. The group of buildings behind the Levy County Courthouse will serve as the future office complex for the property appraiser, tax collector, county commission and many other county offices.

            Meeks, Joyner and Brooks are up for re-election in the fall of 2020.

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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting December 17, 2019