Credit: Stew Liker's Columbia County Observer

July 10, 2026  3:45 pm | 5 min read
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COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The North Florida Water Utility Authority (NFWUA) took center stage during the July 2 meeting of the County Commission (Columbia County 5 or The 5). The 5 rejected its two most credentialed Authority board applicants, instead appointing local developer Jock Phelps and electrical contractor Walt Graham.

After a heated exchange, in which the Authority's Executive Director was “buzzed off” by County 5 Chairman Tim Murphy, Commissioner Rocky Ford accused The 5 of injecting "politics" into a body created to be free of it.

Commissioner Ford said that appointing board members to the NFWUA was “to take politics out.” Filling two volunteer seats that replace the Authority’s elected County commissioners during what the commissioners have labeled the utility's critical "build out phase" is questionable. The County 5 declined to seat two former utility directors, who offered their expertise for free; declined to hear a fitness analysis from the Authority's executive director; and split the vote (4-1) that ended in a clash over whether résumés or relationships drove the vote was not a good sign.

The outcome shapes who will steer major infrastructure and budget decisions for the taxpayer-subsidized NFWUA (Columbia and Suwannee County’s unincorporated water and wastewater future) on an Authority board without any elected representatives.

County Manager David Kraus presented four candidates (the following descriptions are taken from the candidate resumes, not Mr. Kraus, whose descriptions were brief):

Steve Roberts: former utility director for the City of Lake City and Columbia County. 40 years of water and wastewater experience; a certified public manager; oversaw the construction of water and wastewater treatment plants. Mr. Roberts has a master’s degree in environmental management (water, wastewater, solid waste, hazardous waste, and air pollution).

Stacy Cowart: former Columbia County utility director, still in the utility business; worked his way up from the bottom, utility certifications and advanced utility management training, a high school graduate.

Walt Graham: a retired electrical contractor worked in the electrical field from 1969-2025, when he retired. Mr. Graham’s resume states that he has experience in “water and wastewater electrical processes.” Mr. Graham is a HS graduate

Jock Phelps: involved in “Florida real estate for 35 yrs,” and is a pawn broker. Mr. Phelps was a member of the Columbia County P&Z. He has a BA in anthropology. Mr. Phelps was the only candidate who did not include a resume. Instead, he included a list of property he owned in the County.

County Manager Kraus reminded The 5 of a prior directive that selected applicants attend Authority meetings before being seated, "because until you're on this board or attend these meetings, you don't really truly get a full picture."

Executive Director Shannon Roberts offered a "brief assessment" ranking the four by fit for the utility's current needs, stressing he was not there "to denigrate any candidate" and that the choice was "ultimately this board's."

I'll stop you right there. We're not looking for that.

North Florida Water Utility Authority Exec. Dir. Shannon Roberts was given the "buzz-off" by County Chairman Murphy. (file)

Chairman Murphy shut it down: "I'll stop you right there. We're not looking for that. We’ve got. I appreciate your opinion, but this board is more than capable to read our backup material - make decisions on that.”

Commissioner Hollingsworth backed Mr. Murphy, but on different grounds. Mr. Hollingsworth objected to publicly ranking volunteers at all: putting people forward and ranking them "below everybody else," he said, would discourage residents from ever serving again.

Commissioner Parnell noted the board had appointed a P&Z member the week before without any ranking.

Other than Commissioner Ford, Chairman Murphy appeared to be the only other commissioner who reviewed the candidate material provided: “I did my research, I did my homework.”

Com. Ford is also chairman of the NFWUA.

Commissioner Ford pushed back, questioning why the County solicited résumés and experience if it would not weigh them. He called the panel "the future of Columbia County and utilities." He argued two applicants clearly outranked the others, adding that both had been paid "hundreds of thousands of dollars "for the same expertise they were now volunteering for free – "a pretty good gift to the Columbia County citizens."

Without being invited, County Attorney Joel Foreman weighed in on the dispute, telling The 5, staff simply vets applicants "to make sure they check all the boxes.”

County Attorney Foreman also explained that Mr. Graham could not serve on both P&Z and the Authority, so appointing him would open a Planning & Zoning vacancy.

County Chairman Tim Murphy did not look happy. (file)

After almost 10 years as a member of the Columbia County 5, Chairman Murphy continues to be challenged by the rules of procedure he and the board have approved annually. It is unclear why calling for and recording votes is still challenging for him and the rest of The 5.

The 5’s adopted rules call for voting by “ayes” and “nays.” Instead, its members vote ‘for’ a motion by voting “aye” and ‘against’ a motion by voting “aye.”

Cowart + Roberts (Ford's motion; seconded by Phillips):Failed.

Commissioner Phillips said he knew the candidates. “They’re all upstanding people in this county, and I agree – kind of agree – with Rocky, you got experience in the field. Why shouldn't we use somebody's been experiencing the field?”

Deputy Clerk Melissa Williams: she takes the minutes for the Clerk of Courts. The County 5 don't make it easy. (file)

The vote was so muddled the clerk could not follow it; a roll call vote was not called for; Commissioner Phillips voted against. Mr. Murphy declared it failed.

Jock Phelps (Hollingsworth; seconded by Parnell): Passed, 4–1. After a confused voice re-vote (which had Com. Phillips changing his vote), Com. Ford voted no, saying he had to vote for "the two most qualified people" and that "this [NFWUA] is a board that requires expertise."

Walt Graham (Hollingsworth; seconded by Murphy): Passed, 4–1. Ford could not be heard voting in the room, on this reporter’s tape, or on the Clerk’s recording.

Effective date (Murphy; seconded by Hollingsworth): Passed (Ford in favor). The new members will attend two July sessions — a budget workshop and a regular meeting— and officially take their seats at the August meeting, giving them, Murphy said, "a good learning curve" on the budget and Executive Director Shannon Roberts’ planned adjustments.

The procedural confusion was nothing new for the County 5: the deputy clerk admitted "I'm tryin'," the county manager laughed, and County Attorney Foreman, without being asked, directed a commissioner-by-commissioner roll call vote to untangle the results.

After the appointments, Commissioner Ford refused to let the item pass quietly, reminding the room that the Authority was built to remove politics from utility decisions — then charging that the board had done the opposite.

Com. Ford
I’ll tell you what, everybody just saw here, you injected politics right back into the utility authority.

Com. Murphy
I seen it on your side. You got your opinion – I got my opinion.

Com. Ford
Did you read the resumes?

Com. Murphy
Believe it. I believe it. I read it, and I read between the lines, too.

Com. Ford
Between the lines?

Com. Murphy
Between the lines. That white space.

Com. Ford
What did it say between the lines?

Com. Murphy
That were politics tryin’ to be embedded back into it?

Chairman Murphy ended it, “We're moving on."

The infamous Columbia County 5: they never disappoint. 

Stew Lilker’s

May 21, 2026  11:25 am | 5 min read
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SUWANNEE COUNTY, FL – The North Florida Water Utility Authority met at 9:30 am Monday in Live Oak. The helter-skelter utility authority is composed of two county commissioners, each from Suwannee and Columbia Counties, and one citizen member. Pre- and post-meeting issues, while out of the public eye, highlight the Authority's core trust and transparency issues.

The Utility Authority Board members have canned their bowling team shirts, as things have become more serious.

One of the structural problems that the North Florida Water Utility Authority (NFWUA or Authority) has had from its sub rosa beginnings is trust and transparency, e.g., its meetings are intentionally not recorded for public view; board minutes are not available on the Authority website; agenda materials are late, or so late that the Authority board and the public are entirely left out of the loop.

Monday’s May 18 North Florida Water Utility Authority meeting was no exception, with the Executive Director outdoing his normal last-minute agendas and 12th-hour agenda web postings.

At 4:44 pm on Saturday (May 16), the Executive Director had still not posted the agenda, nor the supporting material. This prompted your reporter to text Authority Executive Director Shannon Roberts to ask whether the meeting was canceled.

The Executive Director didn’t know the agenda never made it to the Authority website. Apparently, neither did anybody else connected to the Authority, from the Board members on down to the County Managers.

Mr. Roberts sent along the agenda, posted it on the website, and explained in an email, “There was a process breakdown in the upload notification.” Your reporter asked what that meant. There was no answer.

Suwannee County resident Wayne Hannaka has appeared at most Authority meetings.

The Authority Charter, passed by both Columbia and Suwannee Counties just over two years ago, provides for the establishment of bylaws. Bylaws are “The secondary, internal rulebook detailing how the company [or a municipality] operates on a day-to-day basis. Bylaws must always comply with the articles of incorporation and higher statutory laws.” [1, 2]

The NFWUA has no bylaws. As a result, the executive director has no rules for agenda preparation, deadlines, supporting information, or other day-to-day operations. The Authority Charter (ILA) mentions a few responsibilities.

As the board meeting drew to a close, Wayne Hannaka of Suwannee County told the board:

 "There was no agenda available until yesterday [Sunday], I look every day to see when the agenda comes out, so I can do a little research and figure out what's going on. Unfortunately, things get dragged out to the very last minute, and there's not any communication."

It is likely that, before Monday’s 9:30 am board meeting, none of the Board members had seen the finalized agenda, which was not available until 8:05 am on Friday morning (the 15th), less than one business day before the meeting.

Local Florida governments are heading into budget season. This is the time of the year when counties, cities, towns, and special districts begin planning their finances for the coming year. In Florida, for these public entities, the budget year begins on October 1. Planning is characterized by preliminary budget workshops, where elected and appointed boards publicly flush out sometimes complex and controversial financial issues. While not always pretty, the process allows for citizen oversight, input, and official transparency.

The Utility Authority is responsible for at least $100 million in public assets and an operating budget of $1.77 million. Over $1 million of that is direct subsidies from the taxpayers of Columbia and Suwannee Counties.

To confuse the public, the Authority calls the subsidies "grants."

County Manager David Kraus spends a lot of time dealing with Authority business.

After the meeting was adjourned, County Manager David Kraus and Exec. Dir. Roberts discussed the Authority's budget for next year. Mr. Roberts told Mr. Kraus that he was trying to get a preliminary budget done by the end of the month.

The Authority's financial agenda includes new rates. It also covers revenue projections based on those rates and new expenses from both Columbia and Suwannee Counties.

Mr. Roberts mentioned that he was trying to have a draft budget completed by the end of June.

Mr. Roberts said he was going to meet with all the board members separately and “go over the budget. When we’ve had our meetings, they’ll be able to approve and ratify it.”

Your reporter was packing up his equipment and asked, “Why don’t you have a budget workshop – everybody has those?”

Mr. Roberts said, “I don't want to have a budget workshop. I want them to have the ability, on their own, by themselves, to go through it on their own without anybody else.”

Your reporter said, “You give them no credit. Are you telling me they can't mentally sit at a meeting? Everybody has budget workshops except this authority? That's part of the problem, not having government experience. I don't know anybody who doesn't have budget workshops.”

County Manager Kraus added, “We’re having one on Thursday.”

Mr. Roberts said, “That’s how I want to work this.”

Your reporter said to County Manager Kraus, “You need to talk to him about that, before he sinks his feet in concrete.”

Mr. Kraus agreed.

Mr. Roberts said, “You must presume, I’ve never heard of that before.”

Your reporter replied, “I’m presuming you're digging in.”

Mr. Robert said, “I'm not talking to you about that. I'm done with it. Buzz off.”

Your reporter buzzed off and finished packing up.

Utility Authority Vice-Chair Franklin White. Here he is listening to Executive Director Shannon Williams.

After your reporter packed up his car, he had a few words in the parking lot with Authority Vice-Chair Franklin White about Authority budget workshops.

Mr. Robert’s "no budget workshop" remarks were relayed.

Mr. White was puzzled, “What do you mean?”

Mr. Robert’s “no budget workshop(s)” was repeated.

Mr. White didn’t beat around the bush: “Bull Shit.”

During a discussion about the NFWUA at the Suwannee County Commission meeting on Tuesday evening (May 19), Mr. White said, “We have to have a workshop with the Water Utility for a budget.”

At the January 13th City Council meeting Ms Robinson requested that an additional form be used for the city manager review, even though it duplicated the existing review and appeared not to be relevant. This discussion, if you want to call it that, all started when she voted to not renew Mr. Session's contract  and councilman Jefferson made a second. The issue appeared to be that Robinson wanted to use an evaluation form produced by ICMA, which Mr. Sessions is not a member which he stated this is the first he has heard of the organization and that she felt he should be a member. Mr. Jefferson stated he did not want to talk about Sessions contract when his review was not completed although Mr Campbell and Alford had completed their review and met with Sessions to discuss. It was not clear if  Ms Owens had completed her review since she was out sick at the meeting. After multiple attempts to resolve the issue by the city attorney and chairman Ms Robinson continued giving her opinion until the chairman slammed the gavel multiple times to try to gain control but she continued . If Robinson and Jefferson had done their duty of completing a review perhaps the issue could have been resolved without disruption. In the middle of a heated debate about what form to use Mr Jefferson got up from his chair, no can we have a recess or excuse me for a minute and motioned to the audience for former councilwoman Owens to come forward and spoke in secret to her and returned to his seat asking where are we now. Did he need direction or advice what to do next, none of us will know. Two citizens spoke about council respect and decorum at the beginning of the meeting , but evidently not all of the council were listening especially the two that are the worst offenders.

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