County Grants Big Raise; Resident Wants to Save Huge Trees; Suggests Chiefland Take Advantage of Bypass

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Levy County Commissioners gave their employees a big pay raise Tuesday.

Employees received a raise of $2.50 per hour plus 5 percent of their total salary.

Several examples of how employees benefit from the raise were cited in the board agenda item. The raises are effective May 21, 2022.

An employee earning $11 per hour will earn $14.17 under the new agreement, an employee earning $18 will go to $21.50 and an employee earning $25 per hour will be raised to $28.80.

Commissioners said the pay raise makes the county more competitive in the job market particularly for lower-paid employees.

The board reached an agreement with the Laborers International Union of North America, Local 630, to provide the wage hike.

County Emergency Medical Service paramedics and EMTs received a large raise earlier this year. They are represented by a different public employee labor union, the International Association of Firefighters, Local 4069. The raise amounts to $5 per hour over the course of 2022-23.

Chiefland Bypass, Saving Huge Trees

Morriston resident Dianne Garte spoke on two subjects, the potential bypass around Chiefland to improve traffic flow and her idea for a county tree preservation ordinance.

The Florida Department of Transportation has talked about the very real possibility that a toll road in Citrus County, Suncoast Parkway, will be connected to U.S. 19 below Inglis, funneling heavy toll road traffic to U.S 19.

DOT officials have also said there is a possibility that a bypass would have to be constructed around Chiefland to assure smooth traffic flow after toll road traffic is added to the free highway.

“That does provide an opportunity to make a real downtown in Chiefland by narrowing the existing 19 and adding some additional housing, some low income, and some mixed housing units,” she said.

Garte said the city should consider looking at the opportunity to have “a real downtown with an identity in Chiefland where people can walk comfortably and live and shop and go to school within a workable, profitable community.”

She addressed county commissioners with her idea but board Chairman Rock Meeks said the board has no ability to control what happens inside the Chiefland city limits. The city controls its own destiny and has its own land development code and zoning rules.

On the subject of a tree ordinance, she wants commissioners to consider requiring people who wish to cut down a tree that measures more than 40 inches around the edge of the tree to pay for a permit.

She said diseased trees need to be cut down, and the felling of a diseased tree should also require a permit.

“We want to preserve our granddaddy oaks. We want to preserve our big trees. Our trees contribute a great deal to the environment we’re looking to preserve in Levy County,” she said. “They help our air quality, they help our water quality, they provide wildlife habitat, they sequester carbon and they provide cooling and they are aesthetically pleasing.”

“Hopefully the ordinance will discourage the type of development where people come in with big equipment, clear everything, and then plant a couple of trees after they have created their septic systems, their roads, and their development.”

Jail Repairs

Commissioners voted to make repairs to the Levy County Detention Center totaling about $190,000.

However, County Coordinator Wilbur Dean said he would have to check to make sure the proper process was followed by staff when obtaining quotes from contractors.

Commissioners chose the low bidders for roofing repairs and replacing air conditioning systems known as air handlers.

The air conditioning units and most of the roofing is 34 years old.