Town of Welaka february 2018

PLEASE HELP CONSERVE WATER!

Remember: Water bill payments can be made anytime of the day or night, even on weekends, by using the “Utility Payment” drop box at the top of the stairs at Town Hall.

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Special Days This Month: Friday, February 2nd –

Groundhog Day

Wednesday, February 14th – Valentine’s Day

Friday & Saturday, February 16th & 17th –

Welaka Springfest

Monday, February 19th – President’s Day

Waste Pro

February 5th – Garbage, Recycle

February 12th – Garbage, Recycle,

Yard Trash February 19th – Garbage, Recycle

February 26th – Garbage, Recycle,

Yard Trash

Please call Waste Pro if you have any

questions at 328-5445.

Public Meetings

February 13th, Tues – Zoning Board

5:30 p.m.; Code Board 5:45 p.m., Town

Council 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall. For

more information call Town Hall at 386-

467-9800.

The Town of Welaka Utility Department is available for water and sewer problems 24

hours a day at 467-8677.

TDD 800/955-8771

February Meter

Readings

February meter readings will begin:

Friday, February 16th.

United Methodist Church Pancake Breakfast $4

Pancakes, Sausage, Bacon, Orange Juice and Coffee!

Saturday, Feb. 3rd and Feb. 17th from

7:30 a.m. – 10 a.m.

Reiter Insurance Agency Dear Mayor Sands and Welaka Friends, I am writing this letter to let you know that we are regrettably vacating our present location in Welaka due to circumstance that are out of our control, and have been unable to find similar space for our office. We will be here until March 13th, and after that we will be just a short distance away in our Crescent City Office and always available to come to Welaka whenever necessary. We have truly enjoyed our time in this community, and greatly appreciate your business and support over the last 12 plus years. We are happy to continue to serve your insurance needs and are always just a phone call or email away. If there is anything I can do, or if you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call at 386-698-2400. Very Truly Yours, Cindy Highfill

TOWN OF WELAKA

ZONING BOARD MEETING

TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2018

@ 5:30 P.M.

WELAKA TOWN HALL

1. The meeting was called to order

by Finch at 5:30 p.m.

2. Roll Call: Kevin Finch –

present, Allen Rusek – present,

Lenore Toole – present, Harriet

Vanslyke – absent, Les Thomas –

present, and Town Attorney, Allen

Scott – absent.

3. Approval of Minutes of Meeting

of December 12, 2017. Finch asked

if any deletions, corrections or

additions – there were none. Rusek

made a motion to accept Minutes of

Meeting of December 12, 2017,

second by Thomas. Motion carried

4-0.

4. Old Business: none

5. New Business: none

6. Audience Participation: Sands

stated that the County accepted an

Ordinance with a mean 1 (one) foot

above sea level. Sands stated that

we should notify parties that are

affected by this. County will have a

“no wake ordinance”.

7. Toole made a motion to adjourn

at 5:42 p.m., second by Rusek.

Motion carried 4-0.

TOWN OF WELAKA

CODE ENFORCEMENT MEETING

TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2018

@ 5:45 P.M.

WELAKA TOWN HALL

1. The meeting was called to order

by Finch at 5:45 p.m.

2. Roll Call: Kevin Finch - present,

Allen Rusek – present, Lenore

Toole – present, Harriet Vanslyke –

absent, Les Thomas – present, and

Town Attorney, Allen Scott –

absent.

3. Approval of Minutes of Meeting

of December 12, 2017. Finch asked

if any deletions, corrections or

additions – there were none. Toole

made a motion to accept the

Minutes of Meeting of December

12, 2017 as written, second by

Rusek. Motion carried 4-0.

4. Old Business: none

5. New Business: none

6. Audience Participation: none

7. Rusek made a motion to adjourn

at 5:48 p.m., second by Thomas.

Motion carried 4-0.

TOWN OF WELAKA

TOWN OF WELAKA

TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2018

@ 6:30 P.M.

WELAKA TOWN HALL

1. The meeting was called to order

by Mayor Sands at 6:30 p.m.

2. Invocation was given by Watts.

3. Pledge of Allegiance led by

Washington.

4. Roll Call: Mayor Gordon Sands

– present, Sam McGauley – present,

Willie Washington – present, Jamie

Watts - present, Louis Peronard –

present, and Town Attorney, Allen

Scott– absent.

5. Approval of Minutes of Meeting

of December 12, 2017. Sands asked

if any deletions, corrections or

additions. Peronard stated that he

would like to point out that this is

the Mayor’s Newsletter. He can put

in there whatever he wants.

Peronard stated in the minutes of the

meeting he begs to differ with what

is in here. Peronard stated not alone

with the remarks from Pam Olson

and Alexa Peronard. Peronard stated

that someone added couple of

sarcastic comments. After Alexa

Peronard’s comment it says “in her

opinion”, and after Pam Olson it

says “again”. Peronard asked who

added that, he can only guess, but

he’s saying it has no place in the

minutes of the meeting. Peronard

stated that he cannot approve of the

minutes from the last meeting.

Sands stated he does not touch the

minutes. Peronard motioned to

delete remarks from the minutes,

Watts second. Motion carried 5-0.

6. Florida League of Cities –

Presentation: Mark from the Florida

League of Cities presented an award

for Mayor Sands. A Resolution of

the Board of Directors of the Florida

League of Cities, Inc., Honoring

Gordon L. Sands for twenty years of

Elected Service, and presenting him

with the John Land Years of Service

Award in recognition of his

unselfish commitment to municipal

leadership and governance.

Whereas, America’s Municipal

Governments have long relied upon

the unselfish leadership of their

citizens for local self-government,

and Florida’s Municipal

Governments share the time-

honored role as the level of

government closest to the people;

and whereas, this reliance places

extraordinary responsibilities upon

citizen legislators- Municipal

Elected Officials- who make

significant sacrifices of their time

and energies on behalf of their

citizenry, often for little to no

compensation, making this

commitment a true labor of love;

and whereas, Municipal Leaders

strive for excellence in the

governance of their City, Town or

Village, and commit themselves to

providing quality services,

governing effectively and working

to improve the quality of life; and

whereas, the League has named it’s

Years of Service recognition in

honor of John Land, the Mayor of

Apopka between the years of 1949

and 2014, a leader whose dedication

is unsurpassed at the national and

state levels, and who modeled the

way for decades of Municipal

Leaders; and whereas, several terms

in office is high compliment voters

give to an official, and with these

years of experience comes a

strengthening of wisdom,

discernment and strong leadership

skills that brings tremendous value

to the Municipal Governments of

Florida; and whereas, Gordon L.

Sands has held office in the Town of

Welaka for twenty years and is

recognized for this achievement.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the

Board of Directors of the Florida

League of Cities, Inc.: That Gordon

L. Sands is commended for his

dedication to the Town of Welaka

and is hereby recognized as an

outstanding public servant in

Florida. Adopted by the Board of

Directors assembled this 18th day of

August 2017, in Orlando, Florida.

Mary Lawson attended the

presentation and thanked the Mayor

for his service.

7. James Moore Audit Presentation

– Jennifer Forrester presented the

Preliminary and Tentative Financial

Statements Audit for Ending Fiscal

Year September 30, 2017.

McGauley asked Forrester to read

their last statement on their audit.

Forrester read, James Moore stated

in our opinion the Town complies in

all material of respect with

affirmation requirements with the

year ended September 30, 2017 and

that was noted in all of the reports.

Watts made a motion to table until

the next meeting.

8. Request to Speak – (a) Charles

Overturf: Election 2018: – Overturf

stated that this is your Election.

Overturf stated that all we do is

assist you all as candidates and as

citizens of the Town because of

your Charter, your decisions that

you make and State Law which we

have to follow. Overturf stated that

he can assure you with what we will

do is follow everything that you all

tell us to do, and we will do it in a

fair and honest way so that way

every candidate, and also every

citizen, will feel like they’ve been

treated the way they should. So, as

we approach some of these items

that I, Overturf, am going to discuss

with you tonight please keep that in

mind that I’m going to bring the

issues and questions up to you and

then I will let you all make the

decision if possible. State Law says

that we have to have a Canvasing

Board. Overturf stated that usually

that is the makeup of the Council. In

this particular year it’s a little bit

different because of the fact that

Eltervoog resigned before the

Election so Peronard was appointed,

and State Statute says you can only

be appointed until the next Election,

so that’s coming up now. We have

three of you all that have qualified

and are on the ballot besides three

other candidates that may be here

tonight. Overturf stated that we have

to have three members to serve.

Two of you are not on the ballot so

you all could be the two, but we will

need a 3rd person because a lot of

times dealing with the County

Canvasing Board, that I am a part

of, many of times there may be one

of us that disagrees with the

decision of the other two, and if

there is only two of you then of

course there will be a lot of one on

one votes and that does not get us

anywhere. One of the things we will

need to consider we will need a 3rd

person to represent you all on the

Canvasing Board. McGauley asked

if there is a Statute that prevents the

Mayor from sitting on that Board?

Overturf stated no, usually the

Charter says that the two

Councilmembers serve. Overturf

assumed McGauley and Sands, but

we will still need a 3rd person.

Watts stated if Overturf could give

us an example of the duties of the

Canvasing Board. Overturf stated

dealing with ballots, mail ballots,

and provisional ballots, decisions if

a person is eligible or not eligible. It

will come to the Canvasing Board,

and you will be the ones who will

decide if that particular ballot will

count or not count. It is very

important. It has a lot to do

especially if you have a close

Election. It gets to be a lot more

important especially if there is a

landslide. Overturf stated that

anything to do with an Election and

if a question comes up we might

approach you as a Canvasing Board

and ask some direction and say we

can do it this way or that way what

is your decision. So, it needs to be

someone available. Overturf stated

that he would go over the list. There

will be at least three different

meetings that we had already

scheduled and we will expect that

you be there. The citizens will

expect you to be there. It has to be

someone who wants to serve.

Overturf stated that he is not going

to say the meetings will be six hours

long or anything, but they will

probably be an hour or two hours

especially when we do the L&A

Test which is our Logic and

Accuracy Test, when we bring the

equipment here and test it and show

everybody that it’s counting

correctly. Pam Olson said that she

nominates Edward Lemon. Watts

asked as a Councilmember up for

re-election, does he have the ability

to vote on something like this

matter, because he has a conflict of

interest in this matter. Overturf

stated that honestly, with this issue,

it’s probably not as big of a deal

because just appointing someone

voting on it, it’s still going to be that

he and the other two people’s

decision. Overturf stated in that

sense Watts was admirable for

doing it. If all three of you had to

drop off then there are only two

votes. Overturf stated that two

people don’t make a forum.

Overturf stated the second item he

wants to go over is this year we

have three Council positions up.

Your Charter says two of those

positions are two-year terms, and

one of them because Peronard took

Eltervoog’s place, is a one-year

term. Overturf stated that he looked

at your Charter and he didn’t find

anywhere that it distinguishes,

except for the fact that there are six

candidates. The top three are going

to be your Councilmembers.

Overturf stated that he just doesn’t

know if they will have anything to

go on Statute wise to say which one

will be the one going on the one-

year term. McGauley stated what we

have done in the past is the top two

went to the two-year position, and

the bottom went to the third

position. Overturf stated that he

understood that two of them that

were technically running for two-

year terms and Peronard is the only

one who can technically do that. If

that’s what you decide it’s fine with

us, Overturf stated. Overturf wanted

to make sure if one of them is 3rd

that they understand that they have

to turn around and run again next

year. McGauley stated that we have

been down this road before with

nine candidates running and one of

positions being a one-year term.

Overturf stated he wants everyone

to understand about the one-year

position. Overturf stated his 3rd

issue which is totally up to the

Town and that is whether you ask to

do mail ballots. There are

approximately 45-50 residents that

are on our permanent list with the

County that every Election we send

it out automatically, we don’t go

and call and ask. They are on this

list but the State gives each Town

the opportunity to run their Election

the way they want to, and some

Towns do not do mail ballots they

say come on Election day and vote,

and that’s the Election, and others

say no were going to do that.

Overturf stated that he needs your

input tonight and the reason he says

this is because your qualifying in the

Election is really tight. McGauley

asked if these mail ballots will be

considered Absentee Ballots?

Overturf stated right, we don’t call

them that any more, the State

switched it to Mail Ballots. The

reason it is so important to make a

decision tonight, if you have any

possible Military or their family that

live in the Town of Welaka that are

overseas, the State Statute says we

have 45 days and that would be

January 20th. Overturf looked and

right now we do not have anybody

that has asked for a ballot that is in

your Town and currently overseas.

So, we have 35 days before the

Election to mail out everybody’s

ballot if you decide to do that. So

that’s still January the 30th. Overturf

stated that each Town has the right

to do it. Watts stated he thinks we

should give people the opportunity.

McGauley stated the he would like

to have it included in the count.

Sands stated we are going to have to

decide quickly and when would you

print ballots? Overturf stated I’ve

already got the ballots with me

tonight and I wanted to get with

Mrs. McDaniel, as the Town Clerk,

to sign off on it and each of the

Candidates to sign off on it. That’s

why we do the form DS-DE25.

Overturf stated that a lot of people

don’t read that that’s the way you

want your name on the Ballot. So,

the way you sign that form, and

gave to her, is what we put on there.

Overturf stated that he will let you

look at it before we leave tonight

and get you to sign it because

tomorrow we will send it and start

the equipment process, and then turn

around and start the printing of the

ballots, because we have to have

that before the 20th or the 30th at the

latest. Mayor Sands asked who can

pick up an absentee ballot, mother,

sister, brother? Overturf stated it has

not changed but most of the time

they want it in writing. Like if you

said I want my wife to come and

pick it up, we just have to have it in

writing. If you decide to do it there

is a deadline. Six days before the

Election we have to stop them

because if somebody is in California

and they want us to send them a

ballot out there, you don’t have time

for us to get it out there to you and

get it back by 7 p.m. on Tuesday

night. We have some deadlines we

have to work through so as far as

that’s concerned. Watts stated he’d

like to see absentee. Overturf stated

is that in consensus of the Board.

Council agreed. Overturf stated how

we will do this is print and send out

to those 45-50 that have asked for it

and we will do that all at one time

approximately January the 30-31,

somewhere around there. We try to

get it to the voters as soon as we can

so they have time to mark the ballot

and get it back to us. Overturf stated

that it will come to our office. We

will verify, my staff will, that each

signature is exactly the same as the

person that signed the ballot. If we

have any questions, State Statute

says we have to cure the process. So

in other words, let us just say

someone was going to vote by mail

and he sends it in and the lady that I

have in charge to do that questions

and says you know what Charles

this just doesn’t look like his

signature, by law what we have to

do is I have to send him an affidavit

and say please sign this again

because your ballot and your

signature are not matching with

what we have, and I will tell you if

we have to do that from the County

Office. Overturf stated that those

ballots are going to be brought down

in a lock box brought to you all for

Canvasing Board that night of the

Election and you as a Canvasing

Board are going to look at this and

look at the new signature and

whoever the three are on the

Canvasing Board will have to make

that decisions. It will not be our

office, it will be up to you three.

Overturf stated that like he said, this

is your Election, but that’s how we

will handle that. Overturf stated

another subject he wanted to go over

was provisional ballots. Again, this

will be for the Canvasing Board.

Provisional ballots are when there’s

a question concerning the eligibility

of a person to vote. Do they live

here, are they really eligible, are

they really registered? Anything like

that, and of course in the State of

Florida we have to bring picture ID

and so sometimes if you forget your

Driver’s License, the Clerk during

the day may say you’re going to

have to vote a provisional ballot, but

that’s State Statute and I know your

Charter follows that. Provisionals let

us just say someone forgot and they

didn’t bring it. The State Statute

says you have 48 hours to bring in

evidence to show to the Canvasing

Board that I am an eligible voter.

Peronard stated why not change the

voting precinct to the Church.

Washington replied that you,

Peronard, try to change everything.

Peronard stated he has been here for

twenty years. Washington replied

that he has been here for fifty years.

Peronard made a motion to change

voting precinct to the Church. Watts

seconded the motion. Roll call:

Sands-No, McGauley-No,

Washington-No, Watts-Yes,

Peronard-Yes. Motion denied 3-2.

9. Code and Zoning

Recommendations: none

10. Utility Matters: none

11. Town Matters:

Mayor Sands Report:

(a) Animal Control – Sands

addressed the cat problem in the

Town, and we are still trying to

come up with a solution with

Animal Control.

(b) Springfest – Sands stated the

20th Annual Springfest is Friday and

Saturday, February 16-17, from 8:00

a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Councilman McGauley Report:

none

Councilman Washington Report:

none

Councilman Watts Report: none

Councilman Peronard Report: none

12. Audience Participation: Faye

Carpenter, 600 Pine Street-

Intersection of 6th Avenue and Pine

Street on the east side, is all rooted

out and needs to be taken care of.

Carpenter stated another issue is the

storm drain ditch by her property on

Pine St. and Orange St. has not been

cleaned out in two years, come

February. There is brush in there.

We have had seven long snakes in

our yard since the hurricane.

Carpenter stated we are not sure if

the snakes are coming from there, or

where they are coming from. When

the guys mow the grass, they mow

on the wide side and not the narrow

side. Carpenter stated that her

husband has been taking care of the

other side, but he is unable to do so

now. Pam Olson, 292 Maxwell

Drive- Olson stated that she would

like to say that several months ago

back before the hurricane that she

did email Jennifer about the trees

and she thinks she copied everybody

about the trees growing in the storm

drain, especially in the Harbor. I

think we need to clean out those

drains. Olson stated that there have

been trees growing in them for

years. They have not been cleaned

out in years. Olson stated that

especially right there on Maxwell

and Margaret, and then going down

on Maxwell. Olson stated that she

asked a couple of times, but nobody

has acknowledged that. Olson stated

that the other thing is we have seen

a lot of things happening in the

Town in the past weeks and it’s

been very stressful for everybody.

Olson stated that it was not her

intention to bring stress, but when

she sees things that she feels like

need to be addressed it’s hard for

her to not bring it to people’s

attention, because she feels like

things need to be done properly and

right. Olson stated that she has read

through the Resolutions and the

Charter, and she thinks those things

need to be available for people to

read and acknowledge so they know

what it is. The thing that she doesn’t

think is right, there are codes of

conduct. Olson stated that here’s

one of them that she read, and she

did print them out for everybody to

have a copy. Olson stated that if we

are going to have these procedures

then we should follow them because

it brings structure to the Town and

gives an equal opportunity for

everybody to work together on

accountability and transparency.

Olson stated that’s been difficult

and very stressful because all the

things that have transpired in the

Town, and she doesn’t want there to

be any animosity, but I just think

that if we are going to have rules

and procedures that we need to

going forward she would like to see

the Town Council do their job and

bring the leadership. Olson stated

that you can’t have people doing

things that are in the Town for

personal gain. It needs to be equal

opportunity for all of the people.

13. Police Matters: Porath stated

that he finished out the fiscal year.

For police calls, there were 117 calls

for service. Porath stated that he has

until January 31st to report our

findings to FDLE. Porath is in the

process right now to go over each

call and make sure we have

documented it correctly. Porath

stated that he is working with

Putnam County Sheriff Office

making sure some of the calls they

took falls back to us if it meets the

criteria.

14. Attorney Matters: none

15. Watts made a motion to adjourn

at 8:18 p.m., second by Washington.

Motion carried 5-0.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WELAKA FRIDAY & SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16TH AND

17TH 9 A.M. – 4 P.M.

HOT DOGS AND BAKED

GOODS

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!!!

a, FL 32193