By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
The Bronson Middle High School track program suffered another setback this week when the Bronson Town Council balked at spending $40,000 to resurface its track at James H. Cobb Park.
Town Manager Sue Beaudet said the quote from V.E. Whitehurst & Sons, Inc. was the only one received by the city, and she left it to council members to decide if they wanted to spend that much money.
Council members looked at each other and moved on to discuss other business.
BMHS has never had a home track. The Levy County School Board has never shown an interest in building one. The last hope of the school was to resurface the town’s track for school track meets.
Track Coach Rod Thomas had mentioned the idea to the council. Beaudet followed up by getting the quote. She didn’t give a clear answer when asked if Jimmie Jerrels Hauling and Grading of Bronson had been approached.
Without a home track, Bronson track athletes don’t have a place to practice and hone their skills and the school can’t host home track meets.
Whitehurst Corporate Secretary J. Chris Burleson noted in his Dec. 22 letter to Bronson Public Works Director Curtis Stacy that the $40,000 price tag didn’t include any athletic surface on the track or restriping, or adding sod around the track.
BMHS uses the town park for cross-country meets. The cross-country meets can be held without using the track itself.
In addition to resurfacing the track, the school or the town would need areas for the long jump and triple jump, a pole vault area including the cushion, and an area for discus and shot put. Those facilities are considerably less expensive than resurfacing and restriping the track.
Beaudet said the only quote she received for restriping the track was in excess of $7,000. The track would have to be painted to meet Florida High School Athletic Association standards.
Track practice begins soon.
The town often gets $50,000 Florida Recreation Development Assistance grants to pay for upgrades to the city park but the council hasn’t expressed support for the idea of using a FRDAP grant to resurface and restripe the track.
Rescinding Code Enforcement Appointment
Beaudet said the town has rescinded the appointment of Williston engineer Jason Gowland for a position on the town’s code enforcement board. Gowland had been contacted by the town to take a position on the board. He agreed.
The council had previously approved Gowland’s appointment to board, but Town Attorney Steven Warm cautioned that state statute may prohibit non-residents from being appointed to the board.
Spotlight Founder Linda Cooper asked during public participation at the Jan. 3 board meeting if Gowland would serve on the code enforcement board. Beaudet said his appointment was rescinded due to the fact that he wasn’t a town resident.
The town has appointed former Mayor Beatrice Roberts to the code enforcement board despite questions about whether she actually lives in Bronson.
Roberts owns a home in Bronson on Pine Street, has a homestead exemption on the house, and reportedly pays all the utilities, but those factors alone don’t establish residency. She must live within the city limits to establish residency.
Roberts’ husband owns a home in Raleigh and lives there. The town council apparently took the position that Roberts had served the town for many years as an elected official and should be allowed to accept the volunteer position on the code enforcement board, and besides, Beaudet was having problems filling slots on the code enforcement board.
Renewing Manager’s Contract
Beaudet was approved to work for another year as the town manager. Her salary will remain $70,000 annually. She was hired on Feb. 1, 2021.
She served during a tough year when Town Hall was closed for a time as a precaution to prevent the spread of COVID 19.
Beaudet lost a $1.3 million sidewalk grant because of a clerical error.
She also presided over her first town election. Spotlight reviewed signatures on absentee ballots and found the signatures on 12 ballots were unrecognizable and the signatures on 28 machine voting ballots were highly questionable.
Beaudet is the first city manager to last a full year in the city’s top administrative post and by all accounts, except for a couple of big exceptions – the grant and the election – she has done well in administering the town.
Mayor Robert Partin said it has been a pleasure working with Beaudet. He said she kept him well informed of what was happening in the town, contacting him every day and sometimes twice a day with updates.
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Photo by Terry Witt: The track at James H. Park in Bronson remains in use for recreational walking and running but is cracked and showing its age. The Bronson Town Council backed away from a chance to resurface the track for $40,000.
Town of Bronson Regular Meeting January 3, 2021; Posted January 9, 2021
