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GAINESVILLE – The preferred candidate for the position of county manager has turned down the offer, again.

Stockton Whitten went from runner-up to top pick for the job last week when the previous first choice, James Bourey of Greenville, S.C., decided on another job outside of the county. Now, a week after Whitten took the lead, he has dropped out as well.

Whitten sent an email to County Commissioner Mike Byerly Tuesday morning, informing him of his decision. The message read:

"I trust that this correspondence reaches you in a timely fashion.  I certainly appreciate your time and willingness to discuss the proposed contract offer forwarded to my attention by the County Attorney's Office.  I have reviewed the documentation in great detail and spent the last week in consultation with my family regarding the opportunity.  I have always felt that Alachua County would be a great place to live, work, and raise a family and I am still of that opinion today.  This was bolstered by the many wonderful people I had a chance to meet during the interview process.    However, in reflecting on the totality of the circumstances, I believe at this juncture, it is in the best interest for me and my family to remain in Brevard County."

Whitten is currently the deputy county manager in Brevard County, a position he got late last year. He was an assistant county manager for 12 years before that.

The third choice for the job is Charles Oliver, CEO of Oliver & Associates in Pensacola. The county will still have to negotiate with him regarding a contract.

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Sonny Richards is still serving up local favorites from a menu of sandwiches and sweets at the eatery’s new Santa Fe Boulevard location.

HIGH SPRINGS – After nearly 12 years of operating out of a building near the railroad tracks, a familiar eatery has moved. The Station Bakery & Cafe moved to their new location at 201 Santa Fe Boulevard in early May.

The Station first opened its doors in 2001, after Sonny and Suzanne Richards, along with their daughter, Laura Janicki, came across the train station situated on Railroad Avenue. The family decided that it would be the ideal place to open a bakery.

As a family-run business, they came up with each of the menu items and soon became known for their assortment of sandwiches, cakes and éclairs.

Although they are no longer located in a train station, The Station will keep their name and the train theme. Railroad lanterns hang from the ceiling and model trains decorate the counter.

“We are still in the process of putting up the train pictures,” Janicki said.

The new location provides the bakery with a larger kitchen and double the seating. The family has also hired two new employees to help with the shop.

Janicki said that the new place is in a more convenient location for customers and that it provides a great opportunity for business.

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 Over a year later and with summer around the corner, Poe Springs remains closed as renovations and repairs have taken longer than anyone anticipated.

HIGH SPRINGS – It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to be responsible for picking up the trash in Poe Springs and making sure the restrooms work.

Last year, the City of High Springs came to the county with the idea of taking over management of the park's daily operations, a job that mainly requires keeping the location clean and maintaining the facilities. In return, the city would keep the revenue earned by the springs to pay for the cost of management, as well as the hope of attracting more visitors to High Springs to spend money in local businesses. Negotiations fell through, but the county is still willing to look at the prospect, said Mark Sexton, spokesman for Alachua County.

"The option is still out there," he said.

Currently, several members of the city government have said there are no plans at the moment to resume talks, but once the city's financial issues are addressed, that could change.

"We're just in the process of getting our budget straight," said City Manager Ed Booth. It will probably take about two years before the city would be in a position to take over, he said. Booth said the first step would be an extensive reevaluation of the costs and benefits of running the park.

Funding was the final straw that killed the original negotiations, but there were other factors, Booth said.

A major obstacle was the fact that the county had to perform heavy renovations to the park, and the completion date kept getting pushed back, said High Springs Mayor Sue Weller. When the county had estimated the renovations would be done by late last year, the city lost interest because it didn't want to operate the park for several months before it became profitable in the summer, she said.

The overhaul still isn't finished, but the current completion date is set to be within three to four weeks, said Robert Avery, Alachua County director of Parks and Recreation.    

The steps leading into the springs were breaking down, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection told the county they had to remove beach sand from the area to prevent it from getting washed into the springs, Avery said. A retaining wall also needs to be replaced. The cost of the renovations was originally around $86,000 Avery said, but has swollen to nearly $147,000.

When the park opened in 1992, Alachua County contracted the day-to-day management to the YMCA. In 2009, the private company Nature Quest took it over, but that arrangement ended in late 2011. Since then, the county has managed Poe Springs.

City Commissioner Bob Barnas was the biggest proponent of the arrangement, said Damon Messina, who acted as the director of Parks and Recreation for High Springs at the time of the talks. Barnas was the one who originally took a takeover plan to the county, said Alachua County spokesman Sexton. The original plan assumed High Springs would more or less break even on the cost of running the park with the revenue it would have made, but might see more economic activity in local restaurants and businesses, said Mayor Weller. Barnas declined to comment. Weller wasn't convinced the city would even make enough money to break even, and doubted the idea that people visiting Poe Springs would come into town and spend money.

"No program that was presented shows how we would get people from Poe Springs to come into High Springs."

The idea of raising prices and expanding the number of days the park is open is one possible option.

"The admission rate would probably have to go up," said City Manager Booth.

If the city hypothetically made enough money running the springs that it was turning a large profit, the county would renegotiate the contract, said Alachua Parks and Recreation Director Avery. It is unlikely that will happen, though, he added.

"The park has always been self-sufficient," he said, but "they'd be doing pretty good to just break even."

Though Booth estimates it will be about two years before the city's budget could realistically be enough to consider taking over Poe Springs, the possibility of opening up a dialogue about the idea could start much sooner, said Mayor Weller.

The High Springs budget for next year will be presented in July, and plans to look into the viability of taking over the park could be presented then.

"I haven't heard anyone discussing it, but I suspect there is still an interest," Weller said. "If it just came to a vote just to see if in fact it would be feasible for the city to run Poe Springs, I think that would be something that would probably pass."

If High Springs decides not to pursue a management takeover, the county could keep running the springs itself, said county spokesman Sexton.

"We're prepared to operate the park as part of the county park system," he said. The county might also look to contract with another company like Nature Quest.

Because High Springs has an immediate interest in making sure Poe Springs does well, he said it makes sense for them to take the park over. Once the renovation work is done, Sexton said it is his understanding there will be a renewed conversation with the city.

"The county is certainly open to the idea," he said. "It rests in the hands of the High Springs commissioners."

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NEWBERRY – A reduction in property tax revenues has forced City of Newberry commissioners to place a freeze on discretionary spending.

The move is not expected to affect the completion of projects such as the construction of the Martin Luther King Community Center, said City Manager Keith Ashby.

“I made the announcement on Monday night that all discretionary items on the budget were frozen. However, because the community center is funded by construction through grant money, the freeze doesn’t affect the completion of the center,” Ashby said.

The decision to cut discretionary spending came after the Florida Rock property, Newberry’s major industrial property taxpayer, was devalued from nearly $173.4 million to $88.3 million. The loss of almost half of Florida Rock’s taxable value is hitting Newberry hard. The city had budgeted ad valorem taxes from the company at $1.3 million, but that tax revenue is now being reduced by some $312,297.

“So that’s a big chunk. That’s like 21 percent of our ad valorem revenues,” Ashby said.

Not only must the city grapple with the loss of revenues, but the matter is compounded as the property value adjustment process is occurring as the city is three-quarters of the way through the fiscal year, Ashby said.

“The only way to recover is to freeze the budget totally, which is not going to raise a lot of savings. Obviously if we are three-quarters through the year, there’s no way to save money because it’s already been spent,” he said.

Mayor Bill Conrad believes the loss in revenue will directly affect the availability of a travel budget for the commission and that it may result in a hiring freeze and a larger transfer from the utility fund to the general fund.

Meanwhile as the city juggles funds with fewer than four months left in the 2013 budget year, there is still no known completion date for the MLK building, which further complicates the planning of its programs and staffing considering both these elements would likely fall under discretionary spending.

“It seems like the building may not be finished up until the end of this month, maybe even July,” said Commissioner Alena Lawson.

Ashby said a lack of information about programming and staffing the community center stems from the uncertainty of the completion date with respect to the end of the city’s fiscal year, which is Sept. 30.

“If there’s only a month left in the year, then the expenditures of funds on programs is going to be pretty negligible,” he said.

If the decision is made that paid staff is needed to run the community center, the majority of those expenses would likely come from next year’s budget, regardless of a freeze on discretionary spending.

The focus on the community center’s function currently “is a moot point,” Conrad said.

The more pressing issue for the city appears to be dealing with the $312,297 loss of revenues that had been included in this year’s budget.

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Eagle Scout Seth Montgomery led a service project of constructing planter boxes at Mebane Middle School that will be used to grow fresh fruit and vegetables for student lunches.

HIGH SPRINGS – On June 4, 2013, Seth Montgomery of High Springs Boy Scout Troop 69 officially completed the requirements for obtaining his Eagle Scout rank. 

Montgomery’s Eagle Scout Service Project was to plan, develop and lead others in construction of planter boxes for Mebane Middle School in Alachua.  The planter boxes will grow strawberries and cucumbers which will be placed on Mebane students’ lunch menu.

Kathy Schmitt, Manager of Food Services at Mebane, was the local representative heading up the Eagle Scout project. On April 6, 2013 the boxes were set up on school grounds. Schmitt has accepted the boxes as complete saying they are “wonderful.”

Prior to completion of his Eagle service project, Montgomery worked his way through five ranks of Scouting, earning the rank of Life Scout.  After completion of the service project he underwent his Eagle Board of Review on June 4, 2013 and earned the rank of Eagle Scout, a rank that on average, only about 3 percent of all Scouts ever achieve. Also completing his Eagle Board of Review on June 4 was fellow Troop 69 scout Layne Bloodsworth who has officially earned scouting’s top rank.

Throughout his venture, Montgomery completed and earned numerous merit badges and provided community service hours, among other requirements, in order to earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

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It's been over 20 years since Stockton Whitten last lived in Alachua County, but he still remembers the small-town feel of the area.

The Alachua County Commission voted on Tuesday to begin negotiating a contract with Whitten, who is now the top pick for the position of county manager after the previous favorite, James Bourey of Greenville, S.C., withdrew himself from consideration.

Whitten has been the deputy county manager of Brevard County since late last year, and was an assistant county manager for 12 years before that.

People usually associate Brevard County with the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Whitten said, but there's another side to the area.

“What people don't realize about Brevard is that we have a lot of agricultural land," he said. "A lot of our industry is agriculture." Whitten said he's dealt with both rural and urban issues.

The topics important to small communities vary from place to place, he said, so the only way to address them is to listen.

"A good leader is a good listener," he said.

People outside of population centers and county seats can often feel marginalized, he added, and need to be considered when setting county-wide policy.

"We've dealt with people just feeling like they're ignored and not part of the county as a whole. You have to be able to understand their point of view."

Transportation, infrastructure and jobs are three major issues Whitten said he's dealt with in rural areas.

He studied at the University of Florida in 1990, receiving a Master of Arts with a certificate in public administration. Commissioner Susan Baird raised concerns about how Whitten represented his degree, which he described as a Master of Public Administration, a degree that UF does not offer. However, Alachua County Human Resources Manager Kim Baldry said that both degrees are functionally equivalent, and Master of Public Administration was a valid shorthand way for Whitten to describe his qualifications.

The County Commission debated at Tuesday's meeting whether to adopt a "take-it-or-leave-it" approach to negotiating a contract with Whitten.  

Commissioner Charles "Chuck" Chestnut IV took issue with amount of compensation the previous top candidate, Bourey, asked for in addition to his base salary.

"When we're going to give away the kitchen sink, I have some issues with that," he said.

The commission voted to offer Whitten the same contract that was offered to Bourey, a $160,000 base salary as part of a compensation package totaling $227,000.

Chestnut suggested that Whitten be given the chance to make a counteroffer, since the same opportunity was given to Bourey.

"You've got to give him the opportunity," he said. "What I don't want to happen is that this county be sued because we failed in our process to make it a fair process for all of the candidates."

Whitten said he hasn't really started communicating with the county over the details, but the job offer in Alachua County is his preferred choice for employment.

"It's an honor to be chosen," he said. "When I think of Alachua County, I think of nice towns and nice people."

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