Story and photos by STACY MARTIN
On Monday, Jan. 25, the city of DeFuniak Springs held its regular council meeting at the Walton County Courthouse. Mayor Bob Campbell presided along with Council members Todd Bierbaum, Kevin Crystal, and Robert McKnight.
The meeting began with Mayor Campbell presenting an award to Walton Academy Charter School students for the submittal of photographs depicting “My City, I’m Part of It, and I’m Proud of it!”
Next, the council moved to approve the consent, and regular agenda with one item from the consent agenda, regarding a special event permit, moved to the agenda.
Under Administration, City Manager Mell Smigielski request direction to craft an RFQ for commercial real estate services to sell City Hall. At a previous council meeting, the staff was instructed to solicit realtors to sell the city hall building on behalf of the council. Council member McKnight made a motion to approve the request with a second by Council member Bierbaum.
In the discussion, the concern was over the additional broker’s fees the buyer would have to pay to go through a realtor instead of bidding out the sale of city hall and chance not getting the full amount of the value. The council voted in favor of the request as a starting point to begin the process, even to review possibilities of another entity working on behalf of the city. Crystal stated that he would like to request the realtor have a commercial background and qualifications for commercial transactions.
The next item was a request for a motion to approve the broadband lease agreement with SOM1101 LLC (doing business as Wild Star Group) for three locations on city property. The three sites are listed as a city well #1 on 110 S. 11th Street, well #10, at 142 Peck Cawthon Rd, and the city’s water tank, 451 Sunrise Rd.
Bierbaum stated that he requested a contract renegotiation or a reevaluation of the contract after two years. Bierbaum noted that they are leasing out valuable tower space and will have to move to a paid lease instead of a free lease. Bierbaum also asked the Wild Star Group to provide statistics and data about how many customers they serve and how much revenue they generate.
McKnight asked why the city is charging $36 a year (one-dollar, per tower, per month) considering the administrative costs to review the contract, paperwork, and accounting services involved to keep up with the project. McKnight later suggested a better price for the city to help cover the costs on their end would be $100 per month, per tower, for a total of $3,600 a year. Additional concerns involved clarification on the length of the contract.
Mayor Campbell said that this project is an effort by both parties, and there is no prediction on how this will work out if it works out at all. Bierbaum reiterated that the city and the county are in desperate need of broadband access and are willing to give them three years to get up and running and, at the end of that term, come back and be prepared to negotiate a higher rental fee contract.
Crystal stated that he didn’t want to miss out on the longterm opportunity over a small amount of money, knowing that the other cities and the county are all taking the risk. Bierbaum asked representatives from Wild Star Group if it was feasible for them to pay from the $3,600 estimate on administrative fees upfront and include a reporting metric in the lease providing the number of subscribers per tower and what the overall profitability is through the county. The group agreed.
In public comments, Sara Comander stated that she was the county commissioner who initially got broadband started in the county and that Walton County is the nation’s leader in bringing broadband to residents. Comander also stated that there is not enough broadband, and that the council is focusing on pennies over what is best for the citizens. Other citizens spoke and expressed similar sentiments. The council voted in favor of the contract with the spoken terms met on record.
In the last item, Smigielski requested a motion to approve the first reading of an ordinance that provides for the implementation of the proposed water and sewer capacity fee structure based on the study conducted by Dewberry Engineers. McKnight made a motion to table the issues, wanting to discuss the costs and possible tiered implementation. Ellisa Petis with Drewberry stated there was no way for any tiered system to be implemented without compromising the city’s system and the city’s expected capital improvement plan maintenance and general system operations. After further discussion from staff and council, the motion to table the issue carries with one nay from Bierbaum.
The next item was a request for a motion to approve a special event permit application from Main Street DeFuniak Springs (MSDFS) for their Freedom Festival on the Fourth of July. Sara Comander addressed the council, asking the council to require MSDFS to charge a higher rate to their vendors for their street fair and to donate a portion of their collections to the DeFuniak Springs Business and Professional Association (DBPA), which has been operating the fireworks July Fourth celebration for years. Chelsea Blaich stated to the council that she has been in contact with Comander.
MSDFS is interested in working with the DBPA, promoting their fundraising activities but was not aware of Comander’s request for MSDFS to increase vendor fees or donate a portion to the DBPA. The council stated they could not dictate to MSDFS how to proceed but could only deal with the permit request itself. Council voted in favor of the request unanimously.
From the finance department, Finance Director Debra Gibson requested a motion to approve the resolution of PNC Equipment Finance, LLC for $472,929.65 towards the financing of a new fire truck. The council approved the request unanimously.
Next was from the planning department, who requested a motion to hold a public hearing and approve and adopt on second reading an ordinance adopting an amendment of Section-1 of the Future Land Use Element of the city of DeFuniak Springs Comprehensive Plan. Deputy City Manager Carisse LeJeune stated this ordinance is designed to allow residential dwellings on redeveloped commercial properties located in the Historic Downtown C-1 Commercial Zoning District.
McKnight made a motion to direct staff to bring back to the council within 90 days recommendations that will update the language to be more inclusive on what types of businesses can come downtown to be more business-friendly. The council approved unanimously. Crystal then made the motion, with a second from Bierbaum, to approve the second reading and adopt the Comprehension Plan’s ordinance.
The next request was for a motion to hold a public hearing and approve and adopt, on the second reading, an ordinance adopting an amendment to the Land Development Code; Commercial Restricted (C-1). Motion carried unanimously.
The last request was for a motion to approve a resolution stating the city council’s intent to amend the Comprehensive Plan and approving the transmittal of the adopted text amendment to the Department of Economic Opportunity. Motion for approval was made by Bierbaum and seconded by Crystal, with the motion carrying unanimously.
City Attorney Clay Adkinson made a request to the council for an ordinance repealing and replacing, in part, Ordinance 871, thereby amending the Municipal Code, Chapter 6, Cemeteries, Section 6-11, entitled “Burial Plots.” Adkinson stated that section 6-11 of the cemetery ordinance dealing with burial plots currently reads that the only way a person can have a burial plot transferred in their name is to have an order from probate creating several problems. The cemetery also has multiple generations that have passed since the death of the plot’s original owner.
Changes to 6-11 have an update that now reads that the city will allow an heir or successor with valid documentation of the deceased plot owner and allow them to determine who gets the plot’s use. Bierbaum made a motion to approve the first reading with a second from McKnight, the motion carried.
From the staff reports, Smigielski requested a motion for council to appoint an alternate liaison to the Emerald Coast Regional Council. The council nominated and voted to approve Mayor Campbell as the alternate.
From council comments, McKnight stated that he was keeping Council member Henry Ennis in thought and prayers as he is out due to health issues related to COVID-19. McKnight also expressed his appreciation to staff for explaining some of the financial statements and thanked the city for their advertising on the gas rebate programs. McKnight also stated he is glad to have returned to the council with health improvement but noted there might be restrictions in his attendance where there are large crowds.
Bierbaum pointed out that the comments on the city’s progress with broadband were contradictory, noting that the city and the county are in desperate need of broadband services instead of leading the way in those services. Bierbaum also stated to Dewberry that he would like to see them be more pro-active in addressing some of the complications occurring on South Second Street from the SRF improvements.
Mayor Campbell stated that the Second Street project Dewberry is working on is a very narrow right-of-way and that there may be messes before all is finished. Campbell also said that he feels the city is working with the county on some of these projects from broadband to Eagles Crossing and does not disrupt that partnership.
The next city council meeting is scheduled to be held on Feb. 8 at 4 p.m. at the Walton County Courthouse.