By Linda Dean Cooper
A simple records request to Levy County exposes that the Planning and Zoning Department has only filing cabinets of paper files for permit information before 2023.
$100 Charge for Simple Records Request
I requested a list of all the sand mines and barrow pit permits in Levy County. One would assume a simple database was kept for basic information retrieval of records. I was wrong.
County Manager Mary Ellen Harper responded that the county would charge me approximately $100.02 for three hours of employee time to go through all of the filing cabinets and then locate and scan all of the requested documents from each file.
Employee time is expensive, but a simple list should exist for tracking sand mines and barrow pits; therefore, no employee cost or time is required. Searching through filing cabinets is time-consuming, but unnecessary with today’s software and electronic capabilities.
County Records in Jeopardy of Being Destroyed?
Are the department’s records in jeopardy of being destroyed if a fire breaks out? Or flooding during a hurricane? The Planning and Zoning department is in the old Bronson High School building. How are such vital records preserved?
I responded to Manager Harper that I would volunteer to search the records for the permits and scan the documents for them. I informed her I had been previously vetted by the County’s HR department with a drug test and background check before volunteering at the Animal Control Department a few years ago.
Time for Harper to Request Volunteers and Interns?
Perhaps Harper should ask for volunteers or interns to digitize county records. Records need to be digitized and placed on the county website for transparency and beneficial records retention.
Those permits should be listed for anyone to view at any time. Searching through paper files before 2023 is unacceptable. The Property Appraiser should have those same permits on his website, along with the mine “cut-out lines” defining the location on his website for the public to view.
County Minutes Book from 1850-1878 Missing
A valuable piece of historical documents is missing from the Clerk’s office. As a member of the Levy County Historical Society, I was informed that a county minutes book from 1850 to 1878 is missing. The Clerk of Court is responsible for those historical records. The Minutes book was checked out by a local family and not returned. If that book is not returned that information is gone forever if no other copy exists. I have been corresponding with Clerk Matt Brooks, trying to locate the minutes book and/or if a copy of that information exists.
Clerk Brooks’ Response to Missing 1850-1878 County Minutes Book
“To the subject of your request, “Commissioners’ Minute Book A” has been logged as missing since June 14, 2001. It is also logged on my inventory as missing as well. I have made further inquiry as to if this particular record was recorded in film and is currently stored at the Iron Mountain Storage Facility in Pennsylvania.”
Perhaps Clerk Brooks will take the missing minutes book to inspire him to start digitizing the historical records in the basement of the county courthouse to be placed on his website before any more historical documents are lost forever.
We, the people, should not have to pay twice for records we paid for with our tax dollars.
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Posted April 25, 2025
