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HIGH SPRINGS – A review of the High Springs Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) audits revealed that the City owes the CRA almost $200,000.

As part of the High Springs CRA request for an extension, several items were submitted to the Alachua County Economic Development Coordinator, Edgar Campa-Palafox, including the CRA's financial audits for previous years.

It was determined that the City inadvertently neglected to put in matching funds into the CRA account from 2002 to 2006. During those four years, the amount that should have been paid into the CRA fund from the City's coffers amounts to more than $199,000, according to CRA Director Amanda Rodriguez.

Normally, both the County and City contribute tax revenues paid by property owners within the district to fund the CRA.

“It [the payment] was apparently overlooked,” said Rodriguez. “We have been unable to locate any documentation that took place during those four years to explain the omission any other way.”

“The City came to us after realizing the problem and brought with them a 10-year payback plan,” explained Campa-Palafox. “The County attorney said the cleanest way to resolve the issue is for the City to make payment in full to the City's CRA fund prior to the County signing an interlocal agreement to extend the CRA. Since that would put a burden on the City to do that, I suggested a five-year payback period as a compromise. Now it's up to the County Commission to decide what they want to do.”

The item will be reviewed at the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 5.

If the CRA is extended, the County will commit to contributing to the fund at the same millage rate as the City.

Rodriguez also emphasized that the BOCC has the final word on how this will all work out, but Campa-Palafox's proposed resolution of the problem appears to be what the City is hoping will be acceptable.

The High Springs CRA, which is scheduled to sunset in December of this year, is requesting an extension for an additional 15 years with the opportunity to reevaluate their progress and possibly continue for another 15 years.

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ALACHUA COUNTY – The local branch of the NAACP, religious leaders from local black churches and concerned citizens expressed their support for Alachua County Superintendent of Schools Owen Roberts at a five-hour long meeting Tuesday night at Kirby-Smith Center in downtown Gainesville.

Despite the overwhelming support of approximately 35 speakers, the school board voted to accept the evaluation conducted earlier by board members and voted to accept Roberts’ resignation, which had been tendered earlier in the day.

Supporters became enraged by the Board's decision and threatened to take action at the ballot box. “Racism” was charged by audience members including the president of the local NAACP branch, Evelyn Foxx.

Poor teacher morale, student disciplinary issues associated with recent budget cuts and pressures associated with high-stakes standardized testing have been cited by critics, as well as charges of plagiarism in a self-published book. Supporters say Roberts was working to lower school dropout rates and reduce racial disparity.

Although Roberts was present at the meeting, when things became heated between audience and school board members, he left.

A severance package of 20 weeks pay and accrued leave will be paid to Roberts. The total severance package amounts to $133,000, according to the Assistant Superintendent of Finance, Alex Rella. The motion to accept the less-than-favorable evaluation of Roberts’ performance was made by April Griffin and seconded by Rob Hyatt and was unanimously approved.

The motion to accept Roberts’ resignation was made by Gunnar Paulson and seconded by April Griffin and received a 3-2 vote with Leanetta McNealy and Rob Hyatt dissenting.

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HIGH SPRINGS – High Springs residents, some with children in tow, attended a recent city commission meeting voicing concerns about the need for additional funding for the City's Parks and Recreation Department budget.

“The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board began last November to look at the maintenance and staffing needs for our city,” said Ross Ambrose, the Board’s chair. “We also were tasked with becoming the Tree Board last year.”

Listing issues of concern, Ambrose also provided a five-year vision plan to address the items of most concern. Ambrose then followed up with suggestions from the Tree Board.

Noting that some of the equipment, restrooms and fields at city parks could not be adequately maintained by one person, specifically noting the Civic Center playground – which has been closed for four months – Ambrose said, “The budget should be a reflection of community priorities and a vision of those leading the city.”

Ambrose said, “The City used to have two full-time people in the Parks and Recreation Department.” Now the City has one person to take care of all six parks, which he listed as the Civic Center, Sports Complex, Memorial, Walter Howard, Catherine L. Taylor and James Paul Parks.

He noted that the Advisory Board realized that other priorities had to be addressed in previous fiscal years to take care of regulatory requirements. Now the Advisory Board wants to make commissioners aware of needs that have gone unmet due to previous budget constraints and the resulting deterioration of some of the recreation facilities during the past few years.

Pointing to the City's grant efforts to obtain new playground equipment, Ambrose stated that the City must also provide for maintenance of that equipment once it has been purchased.

One item that received additional inquiry and discussion was Ambrose's comment that staff had to turn down requests to use some facilities because there was no money in his budget to operate the lights.

“I have to watch my utility budget very carefully,” said Basford. “Turning on the lights uses more electricity than running them.” He told commissioners he had to limit the length of use of the fields during the winter months due to his limited utility budget.

Referring to recreation-related items in need of repair, Ambrose said, “There is no inventory…because Robert doesn't have time to sit down and make a list.”

Ambrose noted further that there are policies that need to be addressed that could put the City in a position of liability. “Robert has identified such items as transporting children to other facilities as one of many items that there is no policy in place to address,” he said. “The City has been lucky so far that nothing has happened because of the lack of policies.”

Another item brought to the commission's attention was that in every economic development workshop the City has had over the years, “good recreational opportunities” is listed as one of the items comprising a good quality of life, one of the stepping stones to attracting families to the community.

Several audience members addressed the commission, some of whom were coaches who have subsidized equipment purchases for their teams due to lack of budgeted funds to provide for or replace defective equipment.

Commissioner Sue Weller and Mayor Byran Williams both thanked Ambrose and the citizens who had spoken and said they would take the suggestions made during the meeting into their budget workshops, the first of which begins July 12.

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BOB BROWN/Alachua County Today

Micanopy's Cholokka Boulevard offers a picturesque backdrop of moss-draped oak trees and historic buildings.

MICANOPY – Small and unassuming, but with a rich history and beautiful Spanish moss-draped live oaks, the Town of Micanopy is a Florida treasure.

The second-smallest community in the county is considered the oldest inland town in the state, claiming 1821 as its founding date.

Native American settlements predated any European or American communities by hundreds of years. A nearby important Seminole village accounted for both Micanopy’s initial American settlement and eventual name.

Moses Levy, the father of future Florida railroad magnate and U.S. Senator David Yulee, purchased thousands of acres that included the future site of Micanopy with the intent of establishing a refuge community for European Jews according to Micanopy resident Chris Monaco’s book, “Moses Levy of Florida: Jewish Utopian and Antebellum Reformer.”

A trading post was started primarily by Edward Wanton, an agent sent by Spanish land owner Don Fernando de la Maza Arredondo, which was eventually named after the local Seminole chief, whose title was “Micanopy,” which loosely translated as “head chief” in the native language.

In 1822, Levy and 23 Jewish settlers that had been gathered by Levy’s partner Frederick Warburg settled near Wanton’s post, completing construction of 13 houses by 1823. An additional 25 Jewish settlers arrived that year.

This initial settlement was ultimately doomed, however, by the outbreak of the Second Seminole War in 1835. Micanopy was on the very outskirts of Seminole territory, and the community was abandoned during the war while two forts were established nearby: Fort Defiance, which was likewise abandoned early in the war, followed by Fort Micanopy.

The area surrounding the Micanopy vicinity was a major theater in the war, with several battles taking place nearby. Most citizens sought refuge during the war further north in Alachua County at Newnansville near present-day Alachua.

After the war ended in 1843, Micanopy quickly became a thriving community once more. Along with Newnansville, it was the largest community in North Central Florida.

The Methodist Church established the East Florida Seminary there in 1852 (not to be confused with the East Florida State Seminary which later became part of the University of Florida), the first attempt by Methodists to establish a school in Florida, but it closed permanently with the outbreak of the Civil War. The original building’s cornerstone is kept at the Methodist’s Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

While the population of Gainesville began to drastically increase after the Civil War concluded and the City of High Springs quickly sprang into existence as the second largest community in the county in the late 1890s, Micanopy’s population has remained remarkably consistent for over 100 years, maintaining the size it reached at the turn of the 19^th Century.

Today, Micanopy is a center for antique shopping along its primary street, Cholokka Boulevard. Numerous historic buildings are preserved with care, and the Micanopy Historical Society has one of the more extensive local history museums on display, open daily from 1 p.m. – 4 pm.

Micanopy remains a small but vibrant, living and breathing time capsule from Florida’s native and earliest American past.

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Therapy horses Magic and Catherine traveled to Orlando at the request of shooting victims' families.

HIGH SPRINGS – Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses were invited to Orlando by a representative for several of the families who had lost loved ones in the June 12 shooting at Pulse nightclub.

Therapy horses Catherine and Magic, along with their caretakers, Debbie and Jorge Garcia-Bengochea, visited with individual family members, first responders and volunteers on Wednesday and Thursday following the incident. The couple and their horses returned home each night, so accommodations were not an issue. Volunteers and the American Red Cross provided water and other needed items for the horses each day.

Magic traveled to Orlando both days while Catherine made the trip once. Both visited the main memorial at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the place where President Obama spoke last week, and were greeted by dozens of people who were there to mourn the loss of friends and relatives or show support to the families of the 49 people slain by the gunman, Omar Mateen.

“We visited privately with the families of those slain,” said Debbie Garcia-Bengochea. “We never allow photos of those meetings to be published.” But other public appearances, like the visit to the memorial site, are allowed, she said.

“We are there to help support grieving family members and first responders...not for publicity,” she said.

Catherine was named in honor of Catherine Hubbard who was lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Catherine has visited Sandy Hook/Newtown, Connecticut several times.

Magic is known as the Little Hero Horse. He was named by TIME Magazine as one of “History's Ten Most Courageous Animals.” AARP named him the “Most Heroic Pet in America,” and he was named “A Reader's Digest/Americantowns Power of One Hero.”

Magic is also a Deputy with the Alachua County Sheriff's Office and will soon be featured in an upcoming book by National Geographic Kids called “The Book of Heroes.”

The organization has been requested by tragedy-stricken towns all over the United States to help survivors heal after experiencing loss of life or serious injuries. The horses also have been trained to be around hospital equipment and often visit children’s hospitals to provide love and therapy to those in need.

For more information about Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity, readers can visit www.Horse-Therapy.org, www.facebook.com/TherapyHorses or call 352-226-9009.

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ELLEN BOUKARI/Alachua County Today

Kevin Crowder of Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA) explains key points of his firm's preliminary market study and strategy for boosting economic activity in Alachua's downtown and historic district.

ALACHUA – According to an economic research firm retained by the City of Alachua, the lynchpin to boosting economic activity in Alachua’s downtown area comes down to five factors: recognizing what should be preserved, enhanced, promoted, invested in and capitalized upon.

Preliminary recommendations were offered by Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA) at a public workshop held Monday, June 13 in Alachua City Hall. RMA is the consulting firm retained by the City of Alachua to conduct a market study and economic development plan for the downtown area. An initial workshop was held in January to discuss the need to boost the downtown and how that could be accomplished.

Some of the issues raised at the January workshop included possible ways that traffic along U.S. 441 could be directed to the business district in downtown Alachua; the creation of adequate parking; better signage; how to maintain foot traffic on Sundays when some stores are closed; removing stop signs on Main Street; modifications to city codes to encourage shorter business startup times; and ways to help keep retail buildings from being rented out as office space. Additional issues and suggestions were submitted through the survey process as well.

Since that initial workshop, RMA sought public input through surveys of downtown business owners and property owners to gain insights into existing conditions and ways to improve the business climate throughout the city and downtown for inclusion in an economic development plan. The firm conducted additional market research and analysis to arrive at the recommendations.

The mid-afternoon meeting, which was held in the commission chambers, was attended by more than 50 individuals representing business and property owners in the downtown area as well as longtime residents interested in the future plans for the area.

RMA’s Director of Economic Development Kevin Crowder presented preliminary findings of the marketing study and a draft economic development plan to the Alachua City Commission.

Suggestions included branding downtown Alachua to give it an easily recognizable identity, attracting a business class hotel, attracting residential investment, enhancing the residential quality of life and responsiveness to businesses and investors.

Suggested opportunities included preservation of the area’s unique character, such as its authenticity of historical buildings and venues. Other recommendations included enhancing relationships with major businesses in the city, investing in recreation complexes and in the entrances to the city and providing incentives for targeted uses in the downtown area.

RMA offered a number of areas that could be invested in that would improve the downtown area’s competitiveness. These investments include a downtown coordinator position, a marketing and branding initiative, a façade improvement program, directional and wayfinding signage, street lighting, additional streetscape and landscape improvements.

Promoting downtown events was also a key finding of ways to bring the community to the downtown area through ways such as music, arts, storytelling, and historic awareness events.

After the conclusion of the presentation, city commissioners as well as some audience members offered their comments about the direction of the downtown and their ideas as well.

The next step in the process is for RMA to incorporate suggestions made Monday into the final market study and action plan, including strategies to accomplish the recommendations, for presentation at the July 11^th scheduled commission meeting.

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