By JAMIE WACHTER on Wednesday, September 27, 2023Subhead

Four counties eye ways to consolidate utility costs, work.

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• Columbia County Commissioner Rocky Ford said the North Florida Regional Utilities advisory committee, which had previously met informally, has established that the four counties are interested in working together on utility needs. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)

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The North Florida Regional Utilities advisory committee is now official.

The next step for the group consisting of county commissioners and county managers from Columbia, Suwannee, Hamilton and Baker counties will be to inventory exactly what each county already has as part of their utility systems.

The group, which had been meeting informally in sessions ran by Greg Bailey, the president of North Florida Professional Services, formalized Wednesday. Columbia County’s Rocky Ford was unanimously approved as the committee chairman with Suwannee County’s Franklin White unanimously approved as vice chairman. Shannon Roberts, Suwannee County’s administrative associate, will serve as the group’s secretary.

“The first thing we needed to do was to see if there was an interest,” Ford said. “I think we’ve established there’s an interest in it.

“I’m glad to see there’s an interest and we’re moving forward.”

After making those appointments, the majority of Wednesday’s meeting focused on the next steps for the group toward the potential end goal of a regional utility authority.

Brian Roche, the water resource director with North Florida Professional Services, advised the group to do an inventory of its entire utility operations, everything from what equipment it uses, as well as extra materials, to the customer base it serves and the fee structures in place, to the permits it has for both water and wastewater.

That information will be gathered prior to the committee’s next meeting on Nov. 8.

The individual counties are also going to add to the list who is operating its utilities and contacts so those employees or contractors can discuss needs in the future as well.

“We’ve got to do this where we save the most money for all the counties,” Ford said.

Roche said he talked with a colleague Wednesday morning who is helping establish another utility authority for a group elsewhere, who provided some advice.

“Don’t worry about all the details at first, just make sure people are aligned and get together the objectives and all the details will work themselves out over the years and decades,” Roche said.

Kevin Kirby, Columbia County’s assistant county manager, asked how that would work if Suwannee County called and needed assistance.

Columbia County Manager David Kraus said that would be up to the committee to make a recommendation, ultimately. However, it could be as simple as a mutual aid agreement or there could be interlocal agreements governing that.

“Long term, your goal would be to have one big entity that operates on its own,” Roche said. “In between, has to be worked out.”

Kirby said his confusion is how the separate counties get from operating independently now to the ultimate end goal. But he said the partnership could be a real benefit to all the parties if done correctly.

“Right now, we’ve got a big fog,” Bailey said. “We’ve got to start clearing the fog away.

“We don’t have enough information today to get to that point.”

Staz Guntek, Columbia County’s program development director, told the board that there are potential grants available through the Suwannee River Water Management District, but they’ll need to decide what types of funding they want to pursue.

Guntek also said the committee needs to consider, if it continues to advance, how it would like to set up a regional utility authority, which could involve interlock agreements or a local bill passed by the Florida Legislature

By JAMIE WACHTER on Friday, June 23, 2023Subhead

Commission eyeing Falmouth location to cover Catalyst Site.

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• The Suwannee County Commission has decided to search for a new location for its next fire station instead of the property the county purchased in 2019 along U.S. Highway 129 north of Interstate 10. (ROB WOLFE/Special to the Reporter)

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LIVE OAK — Suwannee County’s next fire station is moving to a new location.

The Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved looking for a new location for Station 6 at Tuesday’s meeting.

During a lengthy workshop that preceded the meeting, the commissioners and Fire Chief Eddie Hand discussed, along with the county fire assessment, whether the location on U.S. Highway 129 north of the Interstate 10 interchange was the right spot.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Hand said of utilizing the current site for the station, noting the turn east U.S. 129 makes as it heads north out of the county would shift coverage far to the east.

Hand, as well as the majority of the commissioners, said a priority needs to be making sure the new station can provide coverage for the county’s Catalyst Site, which has received significant state funding the past two years to help spur industrial and economic growth there, west of Live Oak.

Commissioner Travis Land said he believed the Catalyst Site had to be covered. He added another option would be moving the station further north in the county to help prevent too much overlap with the current Station 1 on the western edge of Live Oak and the City of Live Oak’s station. The county and city have a mutual-aid agreement to assist each other in and near the city limits.

“That circle needs to 1000% pick up the Catalyst Site,” Land said, adding the “game has changed” in regards to where the need was with state funding rolling in for the Catalyst Site.

Maurice Perkins, the District 2 commissioner, said he’d prefer a new station cover both Pilgrim’s Pride on the western edge of the county along U.S. 90 and the Catalyst Site.

“It makes no sense to put that station where we agreed to put it,” Chairman Franklin White said.

However, District 1 Commissioner Don Hale said he didn’t care about using that particular spot, which was purchased in 2019. But he felt it was important to keep the station needed to be close to that area to provide coverage for the county’s residents, adding state legislators and previous commissioners worked hard to get state funding — a $750,000 appropriation in the 2020 budget — for that site.

The board eventually agreed to look into the existing volunteer station site in Falmouth as the new station site. If that site, which would need construction of a new station, and possibly additional property, doesn’t work, they would begin looking elsewhere.

Prior to the discussion on a new fire station location, Hand told the commissioners that the county fire assessment, which is included on property owners’ property tax bill, needs to increase at least $25 from its current $120 rate.

Hand said that increase is necessary to cover the current budget shortfall that his department has on the fire service side.

“We’ve got to get the fire assessment to where it needs to be,” he said. “We have to do something.”

Other increase options were also provided that would help cover the staffing cost as well as future staffing additions, including for Station 6, and equipment replacements.

GETTING RID OF PACE

The commission also unanimously voted at Tuesday’s meeting to terminate the county’s existing agreements with PACE loan providers.

County Attorney Adam Morrison, during the workshop, told the commission that currently there are 26 PACE loan agreements in place in the county, dating back to when the board first authorized Florida PACE Funding Agency to begin offering the loans for improvements or repairs to property related to renewable energy or energy conservation or efficiency in 2015.

However, Morrison explained that there are complaints surfacing around the state, including in Columbia County, about consumer protection concerns with the companies. Morrison advised that the county could terminate its agreements based on those concerns for consumer protection.

Property Appraiser Ricky Gamble said both he and Tax Collector Sharon Jordan would support the board’s action to stop PACE funding in Suwannee County.

Gamble, formerly a county commissioner, said the loans were originally sold as a way to help people make necessary improvements if they didn’t have other funding available. However, he said that comes with a consequence.

“It puts them behind the 8-ball,” he said. “They could lose their home over an air conditioner.”

Jordan urged the board to take action soon, as another company had recently sent notice of a pending agreement coming.

“The quicker you move, the better,” Jordan said. “It’s really not good.”

Another concern with the PACE funding, Morrison told the board, was the Florida PACE Funding Agency is now operating under a Leon County court order to operate in every county in the state without local agreements, which he said “doesn’t make a lick of sense.”

However, Morrison said by already having agreements with PACE funding companies, Suwannee County is in a stronger position than those counties that have not because the termination clause mandates the companies stop selling the loans locally.