Christian Peterson
reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com
House Bill 4079, which was filed by Representative Jason and Senator Corey Simon on Friday, March 7, was reviewed by the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday, April 1. If the bill passes through several reviews, it will dissolve the White Springs town government and transfer all assets and legitimate liabilities to Hamilton County.
On Tuesday, April 1, a small number of people gathered at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee for discussion. Representative Shoaf presented the bill to the committee before stepping to the side, letting public comment be called. There were a total of 10 requests to speak. White Springs Town Attorney Leslie Jean-Bart was one representative to approach the stand.
She answered questions from the committee regarding the bill and the concerns expressed including the town's operational audit, the fact that no sitting council members were in attendance at the meeting, the fact that the town manager was not present at the meeting, the lack of citizens fighting against the bill, and the committee's understanding of Shoaf's character. The committee expressed, multiple times that, for Shoaf to file a bill such as this, extreme circumstances are required.
Representative Nan Cobb voiced her concern regarding the employees of White Springs. “As a former city official, it is a little bit disturbing to hear all of this,” she stated. “Not having those audits in, that is pretty serious stuff. I have yet to hear anything about a town manager?”
Jean-Bart responded, “When the audits were not submitted, everyone that was on the council at that time and the town manager and the town clerk all left. So, none of the individuals who were involved in not filing those audits are there currently. The new town manager came in in 2020. They had great difficulty, literally, they were handed keys and a piece of paper with passwords. There was no transition. So, the new council, the new town manager and the new town clerk had to really figure out what was going on on their own, and even the individuals who had been the accountants before weren't responsive.” However, according to the operational audit, the most recently audited financial statements, as of July 2023, were for the 2019-20 fiscal year. At the time of the operational audit, the audit reports for 2020-21 and 2021-22 were not filed.
Representative Cobb responded, saying, “This new town manager, he was good with having his council voting on issues with the town with no legal representation?”
“It's a woman, and I think that they were. Small towns trying to operate, trying to find a town attorney, the proposal was out there on their internet for quite some time, looking for someone to submit,” Jean-Bart responded. “So, they were trying to find an attorney, and like I said, because my family is from Lake City, and somebody knew, somebody knew somebody is how I ended up here. So, was she okay with it? I can't answer that for her; I know that they were actively seeking a town attorney.”
“Your town has 731 members or individuals that live there,” said Representative Mike Caruso. “I don't see an outpouring of representation here from the city. You're only an hour and a half away, and I would have expected to see hundreds here chanting, marching, complaining, protesting: 'Don't take our town away!' But that's not happening.” Later, Representative Caruso brought up his significant concerns with the private security firm that the town had hired previously, saying, “I'm looking at photos right now of some of the security officers and the weaponry they were brandishing. I want all the members to know, it's offensive.”
After Jean-Bart's comments and questioning, the nine other comments, which included Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners Chairman Richard McCoy, all waived their time in favor of the bill.
The committee then voted 13-2 in favor of the bill. Now, HB 4079 will move to its next stop, the Ways and Means Committee, with a recommendation from the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. The Ways and Means Committee meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, April 8, at 3 p.m. Keep an eye out for updates on this meeting in a future edition of the Riverbend News.