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NEWBERRY ‒ Newberry City Manager Mike New will be staying in Newberry. This comes despite the offer of what appeared to be a more financially lucrative city management position from the City of Atlantic Beach. New made the decision to remain in Newberry and notified Atlantic Beach on Thursday, Aug. 10, withdrawing his name from consideration for the position of city manager.

“I submitted my application after being encouraged by people in the Jacksonville area that I have professional relationships with,” said New. “My family lives in Fernandina Beach, and we are over there often visiting,” he said. “Plus, we love being on the coast, so it could have been a good fit for us.”

In an Aug. 7 City of Atlantic Beach special commission meeting, the commission approved a resolution appointing New as the City’s city manager. The resolution also authorized the execution of an employment agreement between the City of Atlantic Beach and New.

“Unfortunately, negotiations weren’t successful,” said New, who said he wasn’t actively looking for a new position. “I have submitted only one job application in the past five years and that was for the City of Atlantic Beach. I’m really happy at the City of Newberry. I couldn’t work for a better city commission,” he said.

New added, “My staff is top notch and the citizens are warm and welcoming. However, the opportunity to live closer to my mother and on the coast, along with all the encouragement I received from professionals in the Atlantic Beach/Fernandina area, were things to consider. But it just wasn’t a good fit after all,” New said.

New has been the Newberry City Manager since July 2014 and previously served as the Public Services Director for the City of Alachua for 10 years. He graduated in 1988 from the University of Florida with a Bachelors degree in Environmental Engineering.

New and his staff have earned recognition in several key areas of city management. His most recent recognition came when he was named 2023 Member of the Year by the Florida Municipal Electric Association in July.

During his tenure, the City of Newberry has established an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system, finalized negotiations with the County to establish a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), earned recognition for Certification of Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting for four consecutive years, participated in a large-scale solar project expansion and is working to increase the City’s solid waste system into a regional wastewater system while also creating an environmental park.

“The Newberry City Commission is excited to know that our city manager will be staying at the helm and continuing to manage all the exciting projects that are happening in our community,” said Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe. “His steady hands and his commitment to our community are truly valued. We look forward to many more years with him.”

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NEWBERRY ‒ Newberry City Manager Mike New has been recognized as the 2023 Member of the Year by the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA). The award was presented to New during FMEA's annual conference in St. Petersburg.

The Member of the Year award is given to an individual or group within an FMEA member utility who exemplifies extraordinary service and dedication to the association and Florida's public power industry.

“Mike has consistently gone above and beyond to advance the value that public power provides to Florida's communities,” said FMEA Executive Director Amy Zubaly. “His unwavering commitment to supporting public power in Newberry and throughout Florida has made numerous contributions to FMEA.”

New has served as Newberry's City Manager since 2014. In his role, he is responsible for ensuring reliable power delivery to the city's public power customers, orderly execution of emergency response measures and providing the city's line workers with the training and resources they need to do their jobs.

New served as FMEA's president from 2015 to 2016 and remains one of the longest-serving executive committee members. His numerous accomplishments include receiving the American Public Power Association's Larry Hobart Seven Hats Award in 2017, which recognizes utility managers who serve in the nation's smaller public power communities and whose variety of management responsibilities extends well beyond those of a manager at a larger utility with a larger staff.

New admitted that he was caught off guard by the award. “FMEA and its members have provided me with much more benefit than I could reciprocate,” said New. “Their sole mission is providing affordable, reliable power to their rate payers. It’s quite an honor to be recognized by your peers, and I am forever grateful.”

“We are incredibly proud of Mike for this well-deserved recognition," said Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe. "Mike's leadership, vision and dedication to public service align perfectly with the city's core values. This award is a testament to his unwavering commitment to our community and public power."

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ High Springs residents are speaking up about a local park. At the Aug. 10 High Springs City Commission meeting, a planned expansion of Memorial Park near Edgemoor subdivision was the subject of numerous citizen questions and comments.

Originally, the park was to be extended to include another baseball diamond. The land, which was purchased through Wild Spaces Public Places funds, had a $200,000 grant associated with development of the park facilities.

However, the City returned the grant funds when it was determined that the property would have to be repurposed due to its proximity of the City’s third well field.

According to Assistant City Manager Bruce Gillingham, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations limit development of the park in proximity to the water well. As there was no time to re-engineer the project in accordance with the grant funding deadline, the City returned the grant funds. Gillingham believes the City will be exploring the matter further in the coming months.

In other business, the Commission approved a fire services rate on second reading for Fiscal Year 2023-24 in compliance with Fire Assessment Guidelines. The initial preliminary Resolution directing the preparation of the assessment roll was read and adopted at the July 13 meeting with the assessment rate of $223 for residential properties. Resolution 2023-L establishes the final rate of assessment the proposed rate. Gillingham said this is the highest rate the City could set this year, adding that there was no new equipment or personnel planned for the coming year.

Gillingham announced that Sept. 15 is the date set for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters to be shipped to High Springs. He anticipates that actual installation of the meters will begin the first week of October. The AMI system will remotely collect customer water usage data in real time.

High Springs Town Hall meetings are scheduled to begin Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. at Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church, 1240 N.W. 1^st Avenue, High Springs. The second Town Hall meeting will take place Sept. 5 at 6 p.m., but the venue hasn’t yet been set. The third Town Hall meeting is scheduled for Sept. 19 at City Hall. Advanced Metering Infrastructure will also be discussed at the Aug. 31 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) soiree for business owners.

The next High Springs City Commission meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 24, at 6:30 p.m.

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NEWBERRY ‒ The City of Newberry Fire Department invites the public to join them for a “Push-In Ceremony” for the new Quint 28 on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023, at 9 a.m. at the Newberry Fire Department, 310 NW 250^th Street in Newberry. 

The act of “pushing-in” fire apparatus traces its roots back to the 1800s when fire departments relied on horse-drawn pumpers when responding to incidents. firefighters would have to unhitch the horses and push the apparatus back into the station after returning from each call. With the advent of motorized fire apparatus, the need to push apparatus into the station was no longer necessary, but the tradition lives on as the push-in ceremony remains a symbol of fire service and serves to honor the history found in fire departments across the country.

The new Quint 28, a 2023 E-One Typhoon custom chassis quint truck, replaces a 1999 Southern Coach. A quintuple combination pumper or quint for short, derives its name from the five functions the truck can provide—pump, water tank, fire hose, aerial device, and ladders. The new Quint 28 is poised to serve the citizens and visitors of Newberry for the next 20 years.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ A puppy’s plight in a sinkhole brought out help from the High springs Fire Department.

At 10:10 a.m., Saturday, July 29, the High Springs Fire Department was dispatched to the intersection of Northwest 255^th Terrace and Northwest 168^th Place in High Springs’ Cinnamon Hills Estates neighborhood, for a report of a dog stuck in a sinkhole.

High Springs firefighters arrived on the scene at 10:21 a.m. to find a 15-foot-deep sinkhole that had opened up a few days earlier inside a stormwater retention basin, with an 11-week-old Labradoodle puppy trapped, but uninjured, at the bottom of the hole.

Within minutes of arrival, firefighters began rescue operations. The first responders first attempted to create a sort of hammock, using ropes and a foldable tarp-like device used for moving patients, called a “MegaMover. They placed treats and peanut butter inside in hopes of being able to safely wrap the dog within the MegaMover and bring it up to the ground.

Unsuccessful in luring the puppy with treats, firefighters deployed a ladder and lowered firefighter/ paramedic Kim Arnold into the hole, where she was able to successfully rescue the puppy.

Recent technical rescue and animal rescue training attended by firefighter Arnold and other members of the High Springs Fire Department paid off in another successful rescue.

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GAINESVILLE, FLA., (Aug. 22, 2023) – Judges for 2023’s National Cade Prize for Innovation named this year’s 21 Fibonacci Finalists. Finalists will compete to win $10,000 in their respective category groups—Agriculture and Environmental, Healthcare/Biomedical, IT/Tech, Energy, and Wildcard. One of the five category winners will be selected as the Inventivity™ Grand Prize winner and take home an additional $50,000 prize.  

For the first time, this year’s 14th Annual Cade Prize for Innovation accepted applications from inventors and entrepreneurs based anywhere in the United States.  Almost half of this year’s 21 Finalists are from outside of Florida.  Prize applicants from 15 states, affiliated with research universities, the private sector, and technology transfer organizations submitted early-stage inventions.  

“We were very pleased to see strong interest in the Cade Prize from leading research institutions across the country,” said Cade co-founder Richard Miles.   

The finalist teams not only have an innovative idea, but one that also has significant market promise and the potential to make a big impact in its field.  

The Cade Prize, a capstone initiative of the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention, is named after Dr. James Robert Cade, Gatorade’s lead inventor. This year’s 21 Fibonacci Finalists are: 

Final judging will take place at the Cade Prize Awards Ceremony at the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida on September 28. $100,000 in cash prizes will be awarded: $10,000 to the winner of each category and an additional $50,000 for the Inventivity™ Grand Prize Winner selected from the five category winners. Each award recipient also receives $2,000 of in-kind legal services. 

 This year’s Cade Prize is sponsored by Scott R. MacKenzie, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), Exactech Inc., Infotech, Florida Farm Bureau, OneSixOne Ventures, Saliwanchik, Lloyd & Eisenschenk law firm, Florida Trend, James Moore Certified Public Accountants and Consultants, and Aloft Gainesville University Area Hotel. Visit https://cademuseum.org/inventivity/cade-prize/ to learn more.  

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