By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Bronson Youth Sports, Inc. is finding ways to survive and prosper in its second year of existence but there have been delays and challenges confronting founders Angela and David Lambe as they worked with Bronson town government.
The Town Council agreed in December to release $4,000 of city funds to pay for a BYS insurance policy, but the council said Town Attorney Steven Warm would have to review the contract first. Warm hasn’t exactly set speed records approving the policy.
Warm continues to email questions about the policy to Interim City Town Clerk Melisa Thomas. She forwards the questions to the Lambe’s for a response. The delays are eating up valuable time as the Lambe’s prepare for the opening of spring sports.
The process of Warm reviewing the policy has been so slow that the Lambe’s decided to purchase a separate $300 policy for their 19 cheerleaders to ensure they could actually begin cheering at basketball games. The first basketball games were played Saturday at the Bronson Middle High School gym. The school is allowing BYS to use the gym for games. The Lambe’s bought the cheerleader insurance policy with leftover money from registrations.
Cold, Rainy Basketball Practices
One of the biggest challenges lies in figuring out where to practice for the basketball games. BYS currently uses a small open-air basketball court at James H. Cobb Park for practices, but the teams often are faced with cold or rainy January weather. The youngest basketball players, ages six and under, practiced on the open court last Wednesday on a cold, blustery night. The court isn’t well lighted for the young players. David Lambe turned on the lights of a nearby baseball field to give them additional lighting. An older team, 10 and under, couldn’t practice for Saturday’s games due to rain.
The Lambe’s are interested in using the old Bronson High School gymnasium for practices, but the county thus far hasn’t given them much hope. David Lambe’s last conversation with County Coordinator Wilbur Dean was that the county commission had reached a consensus that it would no longer allow community groups to use the old gym due to concerns about parking and liability. Spotlight asked how the board arrived at a consensus without ever discussing the issue in a public meeting. Dean said he had talked to all five commissioners individually over the past year and there was a consensus, in his view, that the gym would no longer be available to community groups.
Liability, Leasing
County Commission Chairman John Meeks, interviewed separately on Saturday said he doesn’t think the word consensus reflects what the board wants to do with the gym.
“I don’t know if I would use the term consensus. I think the subject has come up among board members with Wilbur about what the plan is for the gym,” Meeks said.
Meeks said the county is gradually moving more of its offices to the former Bronson High School campus, which unofficially is known as the Levy County Annex. The county construction and maintenance administrative office is moving to the Annex tomorrow. He said the water department will move to the school’s former multipurpose room. The church that currently leases the gym will continue to use it until early February when the lease expires.
“Then, we’re not going to let people use it because of liability. It’s county property and if somebody was in there and got hurt, with no lease agreement in place or something like that, who would be liable…Levy County. That’s where the issue lies,” Meeks said. “I would love for the Town of Bronson to purchase the gym or come with a reasonable offer to lease the gym so they can use it for activities with the youth. That’s kind of up to the town or whoever.”
Circulating Petition
Meeks said he talked to David Lambe recently. Lambe talked about circulating a petition asking for community support to encourage the county to allow BYS to use the gym. Meeks didn’t think that would be a good idea.
“I said, man, you’d be better off to get a petition to get the city to do something. At the end of the day, Bronson is my home and I love it; but it’s not equitable – I hate to use the word fair – for us to provide a gym for the kids in Bronson and not provide anything for the kids in Williston, Chiefland, Cedar Key, Inglis, and Yankeetown. I understand that it’s here and it’s available, but you see the quandary,” Meeks said.
“But as far as a consensus of Wilbur asking us or anything, I don’t know that that ever occurred. He and I have talked about it at length many times because it is in my backyard and it is my district. I would love to see that place used for what it was intended for, but at the end of the day I also have a responsibility to protect all the citizens of the county, not just the ones living in Bronson.”
Leasing to Town
Meeks said he believes the question of what to do with the old gym will come to the board as an agenda item. The board will discuss what the plan is for the building and what is equitable for all citizens in the county.
“We bought it with tax money and we can’t let a select few use it. Unless someone wants to lease it or purchase it we’re going to have to not let people use it, which is kind of a shame,” he said. “I personally wouldn’t have any problem leasing it to the town. I don’t know that I want to lease it to David Lambe, but if the town wants a lease to allow youth activities, I would go along with that.”
“The town has talked about building a community center for $300,000. Why not buy the gym and make it your community center. It’s got bathrooms it’s got office space on the side for coaches’ offices or whatever you wanted to use it for. You could have banquets you could have youth sports you could do anything you want with that building. It’s a hell of a bunch better than building something across town for $300,000.”
“I would love to see that building utilized for what is, but I can’t in good conscience say here you go, have it and not let everyone have access to it in the rest of the county,” Meeks said.
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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt January 10, 2021; Posted January 10, 2021
