By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Bronson Town Council members on Nov. 15 approved an agreement with Wi-Fiber Fixed Wireless, a broadband internet provider that allows the company to place a transmitter on top of the city’s water tower.

            Wi-Fiber agreed to give Town Hall and Bronson Fire Rescue free broadband internet service in exchange for the use of the water tower as a fixed point to mount their transmitter.

            Council members had to work their way through the issue of how much liability insurance coverage the company would carry. Wi-Fiber initially said they would carry $500,000. Mayor Robert Partin said they would need $1 million.

            The problem was resolved when Town Manager Susan Beaudet showed Wi-Fiber representatives that they were actually carrying $1 million of coverage but apparently didn’t know it.

            Wi-Fiber already operates out of Chiefland.

            Michael Johns, the Wi-Fiber representative who spoke to the council, said the company will have to make an adjustment in order to provide the new fire department firehouse with broadband internet on the north end of town. He said providing Town Hall with internet won’t be a problem. The firehouse is in the process of being constructed.

            Beaudet said she wanted to tap into an alternative source of broadband internet in case AT&T, the town’s current provider, experienced another unexpected outage as frequently happens. Beaudet said the town can then tap into Wi-Fiber rather than being without internet service for hours at a time.

            AT&T has developed a reputation in Bronson for losing its service at unexpected times, leaving customers frustrated. Town Hall relies heavily on internet service to transact business, as with all municipalities.

            Water Agreement

            Council members approved a resolution that grants them authority to begin working with Otter Creek and Cedar Key on pumping drinking water from Bronson to both municipalities.

            Beaudet appeared before Levy County Commissioners Tuesday to ask them to adopt a similar resolution that sets in motion the process of establishing a water pumping facility in Bronson and the pipelines necessary to transport the water to the other two cities.

            The Suwannee River Water Management District is also interested in participating in the water transfer arrangement.

            Cedar Key and Otter Creek have their own water departments but both have trouble with pumping water that meets state drinking water quality standards. Both have signed resolutions similar to what Bronson approved.

            Details of how this water transfer would work are sketchy at this point. Partin appears to be heading up the effort to develop an interlocal agreement to make the water pumping plan work, but he hasn’t disclosed the site of the future water well or how the town would make money from pumping the water or exactly what Bronson’s responsibilities would be in the entire matter. It’s still early in the process.

            Broken Culvert

            Bronson Realtor Natalie Thomas expressed concern over plans by the Bronson Council and the Levy County Commission to repair a broken culvert that drains onto her property across from the Levy County Government Center, the former Bronson High School.

            The town has reached an informal agreement with the county to provide $2,000 in materials needed to fix drainage at the site if the county will provide the labor. The council approved a motion at the Nov. 15 meeting asking the county for a written promise it would provide the labor to make the repairs.

            The county says the town and the county have the right to repair a culvert that floods a portion of School Street during heavy rains. Thompson said digging up the culvert and making it flow more freely will only add to the flooding that already occurs on her property.

            She said she will do whatever is necessary to protect her interests as a property owner. Councilman Aaron Edmondson looked at Thomas’s property during recent heavy rains and said the stormwater runoff soaked into the ground quickly on her property. At the same time, he said the town doesn’t want to get sued over something like this.

            It’s unclear when the culvert was installed under School Street. The county purchased the former Bronson High School campus from the Levy County School Board. It’s also unclear whether the culvert was discussed at the time of the sale. Regardless, it is an issue now.

            Wilson Street Reconstruction

            Council members approved Mittaur & Associates as the company that will handle the reconstruction of Wilson Street, the dirt road that runs behind the Dollar General Market.

            The town has received a $343,000 state Small County Outreach Program grant to fund the project, which will result in Wilson Street being paved.

            Mittaur, which acts as the town’s engineering company on nearly all of its projects, will bid out the work and design the road project.

            Holiday Bonuses

            The council voted to give every town employee, and council members themselves, a $250-holiday bonus.

            Track Restriping Delayed

            Public Works Director Curtis Stacy will research how the town’s asphalt track at James H. Cobb Park can be resurfaced, reconstructed, or restriped for high school competitions.

            Stacy said few companies are in the business of restriping existing tracks. If the town found a firm that could do the work, he said the track is so heavily worn that restriping it isn’t a good idea.

            Councilwoman Sherrie Schuler suggested Stacy check with the Levy County School Board to find out how the Rosewood track was constructed. She heard it was made of a special material that allowed the track to be constructed in an area that is sometimes wet.

            One of the problems with the Bronson track is that the entire park floods during heavy rains. The track generally remains dry except for the southwest corner, which typically floods when water from neighboring soils becomes saturated and spills over the track. The southwest corner of the track may have to be elevated to avoid the problem of flooding.

            The BMHS track coach has expressed an interest in using the track for middle-high school meets. BMHS has never had a track of its own.

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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting November 15, 2021; Posted November 21, 2021