What's Going On In Suwannee County

5/26/26 Special Meeting

• As expected Chairman Campbell discussed the gas tax sharing between the county and city, and his thoughts that the city's amount needed to be adjusted. At this point there was no option other than to approve the current rate and be prepared to discuss details after the budget and audit with the county later in the year at a joint workshop.
• Meeting was all of ten minutes long in my option because the two talkers: Robinson and Jefferson were not present, guess they didn't think this was important.
• Click on Articles for 5/28/26 Update

05/12/26 City Council Meeting

• No public comments were made
• Mayor Davis suggested that water bills for senior citizens in the rears be discussed at budget hearings
• Hampton Inn ground breaking was discussed
• MS Owens asked about ADP doing payroll, and Mr. Sessions explained that they could not do the job correctly and he fired them and now the accounting department has taken over, he also discussed payrolls that were incorrect will be made whole the next payroll period.
• High school student council presented the merit of stopping smoking and vaping at city parks , and asked the council to pass the ordinance which was voted 5-1 to implement.
• Resolution 2026-21 to authorize the relocation of funds was discussed , with Mr. Jefferson interrupting and asking about resurfacing roads in the middle of the vote, however the measure was passed.
• The lien amnesty of a property was discussed and approved 5-0
• A short discussion took place regarding providing water and sewer to the new Hampton Inn which was approved 5-0
• No discussion was had regarding the sale of obsolete property owned by the city was passed 5-0
• A resolution to approve the city manager contract for LAST year was approved 5-0. Jefferson again talked about the evaluations and he did not do one because he was confused what form to use. The city attorney had to explained AGAIN this was discussed a few meetings ago and the old form was to be used. Of the five members only Campbell and Alford did a review an met with Mr. Sessions to discuss it. Evidently the other three can't bring themselves to do their duty and submit an evaluation in January, yet there are constant complaints about the city manager from Jefferson and Robinson. 
• Resolution 2026-4 was to renew Mr. Session contract back dated to January 9, 2026. The item was passed 4-1 with Robinson being the na vote.
• Resolution 2026-26 was to give Mr. Sessions a raise to $115K which passed 3 to 2 with Robinson and Jefferson Na. Perhaps an evaluation should take place for the three that didn't do their duty in January
• Chairman Campbell brought up the gas tax distribution to the city from the county and felt it should be increased , the city attorney was asked to contact the county attorney to see if the city could get a better deal.
• See ARTICLES page for more detail.

04/30/26 Update

•  SUWANNEE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT Half-cent sales tax will go before BOCC Meeting
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05/19/26

• Consent Agenda: approved 5-0 with discussions regarding:  Gas sales tax request from the City of Live Oak asking for a bigger share which was deferred till a workshop between county and city could be coordinated.
• A resolution to put 1/2 cent tax for the school board to be put on the November ballot
• Four time specific items to rezone were approved 5-0
• County Attorney notified the board that Ms Vanderburg lawsuit regarding RV Park has been dropped.
• County Attorney notified the board that a donation has been finilized in the amount of $3.8M by an anonymous donor and gave the specifics of how the money is to be spent.
• Brenda Flanagan informed the board that repair of the 164th street bridge could cost $1M with no funds from DOT. Commissioner White asked to go back to DOT and see if there were any options or if the bridge were closed paving the road.
• The courthouse dome project is underway and should be completed inn two months
• Commissioner White gave a brief update on the NFWUA and asked if the board was still in on this venture even though Columbia County recently sold their Mega plant to the City of Lake City which will effects the overall financial position of the Authority. Commissioner Hale stated lets keep going forward and talk more at budget time.
• Wayne Hannaka told the board the Authority is just not working together and can not sustain without more funds from the County this year (his estimate $1M). He remarked the Authority is like having a boat you keep putting in dollars in a hope to drive it once a month, not good use of citizens funds.
• CLICK ARTICLES FOR MORE DETAIL AND READ BREAKING NEWS.

05/18/26 Regular Meeting

• Three citizens spoke about the utility and asked does it really make sense anymore with Columbia County not really committed due to the fact that they just sold their mega site plant to the city of Lake City.
• Financial report from Powell and Associates show expenditures of $77, 968.86 for the month,  a gross profit from October 1, to April 30 shows an amount of $1,044,037.57 however that amount is misleading since $651,010.45 is contributions made by Suwannee and Columbia Counties , in fact the profit is only $393,027.12
• Continuing service contracts to two seperate engineering firms were approved 5-0 
• Commissioner White questioned the sale of the Mega site water and sewer utility to the City of Lake City and why the Authority was not informed prior to the sale. He questioned Columbia Counties commitment to the Water Authority. That lead into a long discussion/argument  between Rocky Ford who was against the sale and Tim Murphy. At some point in the back and forth Columbia County Commissioner   Robby Hollingsworth  got up and told the board they need to get politics out of it and let people that are experienced in water authority sit on the board, he also said the Mega site sale was a financial decision only and he supported it. Mr Murphy then gave his version of the sale and stated that was the intent from the beginning to sell to the city and that is was all about dollars only. He also stated that communication to the Water Authority was poor and needed to improve.
• I spoke to Mr Ford after the meeting and he was still furious about the sale , stating they don't know what they did.