By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Two aging culverts that drain stormwater from School Street onto private property in front of the Levy County Government Center in Bronson continued to be a political thorn in the side of the Bronson Town Council and Levy County Commission this week.

            The culverts drain onto property owned by Bronson realtor Natalie Thomas and her husband. The Thomas’s are concerned about a plan by the county and Bronson to unclog the culvert directly in front of the government center entrance, fearing it could send additional stormwater onto their property and devalue their land for future development.

            Thomas’ attorney, Doug McKoy, convinced the town council Monday to arrange for a joint meeting of representatives of the town, the county commission, and Levy County School Board to work out a solution that benefits all parties rather than having the Thomases file a lawsuit.

            McKoy said when the school board sold the 4 ½ acres to the Thomas family it failed to disclose that there were two drainage easements (culverts) funneling stormwater to the property. He said the school board should be part of the discussion. The school board, as the former owner, hasn’t been involved in the legal quagmire to this point.

            “Honestly I don’t know that the school board is completely left out. I know they’re gone from it now. They sold it to my clients. They signed affidavits that saying that there weren’t any easements for things like that,” McKoy said. “The last thing I want to do is be involved in a lawsuit with the town, the county, and the school board. That would be one of the worst things in my life if I had to do something like that, but fair is fair and right is right and I really feel you can solve it without hard feelings along the lines you talked about.”

            McKoy was referring to a statement by Mayor Robert Partin that the town owns the street that covers the culverts and has a responsibility as the public owner of the facilities to work out a solution beneficial to all the parties involved.

            “The county, the school board, and the town need to be at the table. I think we all agree to that. I’ll be glad to do whatever. It’s really our problem because it’s our street,” Partin said.

            The county and the town were apparently unaware or never mentioned publicly that there are two culverts under School Street that drain onto the private land parcel owned by the Thomases. The only discussion to this point had been to repair the culvert directly in front of the government center entrance. If they knew about the second culvert, they never mentioned it in public discussions.

            McKoy was the first to disclose the existence of a second culvert draining stormwater from School Street onto his clients’ property at Monday’s town council meeting. The second culvert is at the top of a hill directly opposite the old school cafeteria that is now part of the government center.

            The culvert close to the entrance of the government center has a grate embedded in the street to capture stormwater and dump it in the culvert. From there, the culvert empties onto Thomas’ property. Heavy rains on Tuesday caused the grate to overflow and leave a massive puddle of clear water in front of the government center. The flooding problem prompted the county to contact the town about fixing its culvert.

            County officials negotiated a solution with the Bronson Town Council to repair or replace the culvert. The town agreed to pay $1,800 for materials and the county would supply the labor, but the Thomases were left out of the discussion. It was apparently assumed that the culvert existed long before the county commission bought the school and could be repaired to make it flow better without consulting the landowners next door.

            That’s when Natalie Thomas got involved. She approached the town council at a recent meeting. She said she would enforce her property rights. She showed up with an attorney at Monday’s council meeting to enforce her property rights.

            McKoy said he expects that someone might argue Natalie Thomas should have done her due diligence before she bought the property to determine if there were any adverse conditions that could affect her use of the land, but McKoy said the problems weren’t obvious. The culverts weren’t identified as drainage easements in sale documents from the school board.

            Town Attorney Steven Warm agreed with McKoy that the Thomases should have been made aware of the drainage easements.

            “The seller has a duty to disclose that,” he said.

            Warm spoke to McKoy by way of a laptop internet Zoom connection. McKoy was well into his presentation when Warm first spoke up and challenged McKoy on something he had said. His voice came from the laptop. They talked for several minutes before Warm asked McKoy how he makes a living.

            “I’m an attorney,” McKoy said.

            Warm apologized for not knowing he was speaking to an attorney. McKoy apologized for not clearly identifying himself as an attorney, but everyone in the room seemed to know he was a lawyer. McKoy was raised in Bronson and graduated from Bronson High School. His father, Mac McKoy, was the clerk of circuit court for many years. Warm, who was speaking by internet connection, apparently didn’t have a view of McKoy from the laptop or just didn’t know him.

            There have been problems in the past when Warm missed meetings due to concerns over COVID-19. He sometimes couldn’t hear what was being said over the internet connection. At Monday’s meeting, the council asked Warm to weigh in on an issue, but he didn’t respond. Eventually, Partin spoke loudly enough that Warm heard him. Warm apologized. He said his mind must have been somewhere else.

            The county commission heard about the town’s plans to convene a joint group of all the parties involved when it was approached by Town Manager Susan Beaudet Tuesday morning. She explained that the town was seeking an alternate solution, although she didn’t go into details about McKoy’s presentation.

            “I want a solution,” said Chairman John Meeks.

            Meeks pointed out that the drainage culvert in front of the government center existed long before the county bought the property from the school board.

            “I don’t care what your survey shows or doesn’t show, that pipe existed pre-ownership of the property,” he said, adding that it drained the school and the street.

            Partin will organize the joint meeting of the town, county commission, school board, and property owners.

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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting December 20, 2021; Posted December 22, 2021