By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                After months of discussion, Chiefland City Commissioners

Voted 4-1 Monday to change their election date from the first Tuesday in August to the first Tuesday in April.

            The first election to be impacted by the change will be in 2022 when two incumbent commissioners, Lance Hayes and Lewrissa Johns, will see their terms of office shortened by four months. Both have agreed to the change.

            Commissioner Rollin Hudson was opposed to changing election days, noting Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones introduced the idea of having a single April election for all cities in the county, but he said not all of the county’s cities have agreed to a new election day.

            Jones appeared before the Chiefland commission and other elected city boards saying she wanted one Municipal Election Day in Levy County to simplify things for her office. Instead of dealing with eight municipal elections scattered throughout the year, she would prefer to have one election day.

            Hudson said he would have supported the change if all the cities were going along with the game plan, but only three cities, Chiefland, Bronson, and Cedar Key thus far have changed their election day to the first Tuesday in April.

            “I’m going to vote no because I thought the entire county would move together and not just one or two,” Rollins said.

            Johns said she favored moving the election for a reason other than just complying with the request of the supervisor of elections. She understood why Jones wanted the election moved.

            “But for us as a city, it changes from being right at budget time and there are only two weeks for us to have an election runoff and for us to get ready,” she said. “So that’s why I’m in favor of it. I know what Tammy was trying to do and I agree with it, and my term is going to be shortened by four months and Mr. Hayes too. We both agreed at the last meeting we understand that.”

            The heart of budget time for any municipality is in July and August. City Manager Laura Cain, in previous meetings, said operating an election at the same the city budget is being prepared puts stress on the staff.

            Redistricting County Lines

            In other business, city commissioners agreed to County Coordinator Wilbur Dean’s request to allow the use of the Tommy Usher Center by the county at no cost on Oct. 25 for a public meeting to discuss changing the district lines of county elected officials serving on the school board and county commission.

            After every 10-year national Census, the state requires counties to set new district boundaries for county commissioners and school board members that account for increases or shifts in population. Levy County elections for county commission and school board are countywide. Every registered voter can cast a ballot in any school board or county commission race except in political primaries. Each of the elected school board members and county commissioners must live in the district they represent. The district lines are important for that reason.

            Dean said the county commission and school board will share identical districts for the first time after redistricting is complete. The two boards are sharing the cost of redistricting. One of the county commission’s goals is to ensure that none of the county’s eight municipalities are split between two districts, Dean said. It appears from early indications that some districts may contain more than one city, however.

            The company hired by the county commission and school board to redistrict the county appeared before county commissioners on Oct. 5 to show board members maps illustrating multiple options for redistricting the county. The public will have an opportunity on Oct. 25 at the Tommy Usher Center to examine the maps and comment on the various redistricting proposals, according to Dean.

            Raising Cemetery Lot Prices

            After months of discussion, commissioners voted to raise the price of a single 4 by 16-foot burial lot to $300 for Levy County residents and to $500 for non-Levy County residents, and the cost of a quarter lot big enough to accommodate four burials to $900.

            The price of lots hasn’t changed for many years and commissioners learned that many people from across county lines were burying their loved ones in Chiefland Cemetery due to the low prices. The city has a limited amount of space in Chiefland Cemetery.

            Commissioner Norman Weaver said the only thing missing was a price for burying a cremation urn. He felt the city should set a price for burying an urn at Chiefland Cemetery. He said if the city doesn’t make an accommodation for cremation urns, it could “come back to haunt them.” Hudson pointed out the play on words, referring to haunting them. Weaver said that wasn’t what he meant. But he understood the humor. Commissioners made no specific change to accommodate cremation urns.

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City of Chiefland Regular Meeting October 11, 2021; Posted October 11, 2021