Christian Peterson
reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com
On Tuesday, April 8, House Bill 4079 was presented to the Florida Ways and Means Committee. The bill, which has been sponsored by Representative Jason Shoaf and Senator Corey Simon and which, if passed, would dissolve the municipality of White Springs, has been making its way through multiple committees within the Florida legislature. On Tuesday, April 1, the bill was found favorable by the Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee and was sent to the Ways and Means Committee.
"We're here today because I feel that we're forced to in doing our duties to the people of the state of Florida," Shoaf said during his introduction of the bill. "I came to the decision, along with Senator Simon, to dissolve the City of White Springs after a lot of input, feedback and outcry from the citizens."
He went on to explain that he felt there had been extensive reasoning to be found leading up to the decision. A few issues he noted included the General Auditor's Operational Audit of the town, the approval of illegal internet cafes to operate within town limits, and the lack of election integrity.
"I believe it's necessary because of a clear pattern of mismanagement. They've (the town council) mishandled finances; they were complicit in the complete disregard for our constitutional right to free and fair elections, and the blatant neglect of residents," Shoaf added. "I believe that this bill is a step in the right direction to help these citizens of the City of White Springs move forward with life and have better government."
As the committee moved on to the portion allowing for questions and public comment, a few of the representatives voiced their concern regarding the history of the town and the "illegal gambling operations." While being questioned, Shoaf made his argument once more, including his support for the re-incorporation of White Springs at a later time.
"This isn't a business decision; this isn't an emotional decision. This is a leadership decision. Those are made with a different strategy and different factors. I believe that when a city is being mismanaged and can't get its house in order, there are plenty of steps to take to help get it on the right track. Usually, that's held in the form of elections. But this group decided to do away with that, too," Shoaf stated. "So, at this point, with all of this information, I just can't see how we could go from this type of enterprise to all of the sudden shifting gears, and now they're seeing the light. I do believe, with my whole heart, that the best decision is to dissolve the city, to let the county restore the honor and integrity of the citizens of White Springs and bring their name back into a great place where it belongs and where it deserves to be. Then, in a few years, let's see if they get their house in order. Then, as a community, we can come back, and I would be the first to help advocate reincorporation."
With his closing comment, the committee turned to hear comments from the public in attendance. The first speaker was Robert Townsend, who spoke on his employment as the town manager from 1996 to 2013. He argued against the bill, saying, "I acknowledge and concur that the town governance is broken. However, we feel that there are other ways to make a much more powerful solution.” Townsend continued, addressing issues that the town and elected officials had overcome together in the past, specifically during his tenure.
The next speaker was Tonja Brown, who explained she had been a citizen for 59 years and served on the council for 11 years. "It's hurting my heart," she said, expressing her opposition to the bill. "That we have gotten to this extreme that we got to fight to keep our community."
Following her was Cheryl McCall, who argued neither in favor of nor against the bill. Rather, she encouraged the committee to view the videos of the meeting if they wanted to "laugh or cry." She continued later, speaking on her candidacy for town council. "I never intended to be in government in my 70s, but I love my town. What's happening to it is scary. It's really scary," McCall said. "No police, no fire, no first responders. I'm old; I need those things." She went on to express her thoughts on what the community would be able to do to benefit the town if the bill were passed. "It is sad to think we may not be able to self-govern, but it has not worked. We cannot get those people out."
Robert Gamsby was next. Although he acknowledged that the concerns regarding the town's government were justified, he assured the committee that the town's residents care about the process. However, he felt that the creation of solutions and an "action plan" could help the town. "I am under no illusions that we are guaranteed success in this. I understand I can spend 50 hours a month for the next three months digging into everything that's going on there, only to come to the conclusion that we can't save the town. And if that is the case, I am going to be the first person to sign up to get the town dissolved," Gamsby said. "I know that the town is sick, but right now, we don't know how sick it is. We, as the people who love this town, should have every right to do everything in our power to make sure that it is the right decision to put this town down. The state is standing on our doorstep with a shovel, saying it's time, and I'm saying, just, please let us try to do everything we can to fix this."
Following them was Randolf Williams, one of the individuals removed from the town council after his illegal appointment to the seat. He voiced his opposition to the bill, saying that the citizens of White Springs were against it. "You couldn't get 12 people in White Springs to go along with dissolving the town," he argued. However, contradicting his statement, of the 35 public speaker request forms, 19 individuals -- 12 of which are residents -- waived their time to speak in support of the bill. Randolf continued, claiming only a handful of people had spoken to Rep. Shoaf and that those individuals were using their "clout" or reputation to make this bill move forward. "They come here giving you all one story, and that is a story; it isn't the truth," Randolf said during his closing comments. "So help me, God, that isn't the truth." Before he sat down, Representative Fiona McFarland asked Randolf if he was related to the current mayor of White Springs, Jacqueline Williams. Randolf said "no" before admitting that she is his sister-in-law.
White Springs Mayor Jacqueline Williams then stood at the podium, explaining to the committee that she had been "appointed" to the council in 2019 under a different "regime." She then alleged that the reason the town was having trouble was because the previous administration, which she claimed had been full of inexperienced people, had left, and the people currently running the town were inexperienced and learning. "That's what we accepted: missing paperwork, open safe, cameras being removed; it was just mayhem," she said. "That was nothing we asked for; that was nothing we signed up for, but that is the hand we were dealt." She further claimed that, despite the allegations, the police department was not defunded. Rather, she claimed that the officers resigned. Williams also claimed that the previous fire department was not in compliance with the law; however, the town had created a new fire department that was active and in compliance. She then claimed that the council had experienced stalking and violent threats. "I did not cause this mess," Williams said. "I'm trying to be a resolution for everything that was previously handed to us."
Representative Tom Fabricio asked Mayor Williams, "If for some reason this committee did not pass the bill and the municipality is not dissolved, what is your plan to fix all these problems?"
"My plan would be like I did when I first became the mayor: have a workshop with the citizens," Williams replied. "Hear them, let them be the voice; as a city council member, I work for them."
"Madam Mayor, it seems that we're hearing that there's a lot of problems in that municipality, and you're telling me that you actually don't even have a game plan today to get yourself out of those problems," Rep. Fabricio responded. "So, do you have a written game plan?"
Williams replied, saying her written game plan would be the same as last year's. "And what I had last year was for the citizens, the council and the administrative staff to get together. Because Vice-Chair (Fabricio), what you're hearing is us against them. That's what you're hearing; that's really what you're hearing," she said. "If one cannot have their way, then it's a problem; if the other see it's back and forth. You cannot run a municipality in that manner." She argued that the town was addressing its financial issues and that the problem only became apparent after the Auditor General's Operational Audit.
Town Attorney Leslie Jean-Bart then approached the podium. She started by clarifying that she had only been the town attorney since July 2024. She claimed that the town was "doing very well financially. It has six months of expenses in reserves. This is not a town that is on the verge of running out of money." She also claimed that it was legal for the town council to approve the illegal internet cafes. Jean-Bart went on to support Williams's claims regarding racial and violent threats being directed toward the council. She stated that it was appropriate for the council to hire private security personnel armed with firearms due to their fear for their safety. She continued, alleging the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office refused to be present at meetings.
"That was reasonable for them to bring in private security because they could not count on Hamilton County to provide them with security," Jean-Bart said. She went on to speak on the idea of "illegal elections." "When I came in, this was after the town attorney was no longer with them. The charter does allow for appointing for vacancy, and then in another section at the bottom, it says, but if there's more than one, you need to hold a special election. They did not have a town attorney at the time; they simply missed that."
However, in the June 19, 2024, edition of the Riverbend News, an article ran on the front page titled, "Did the White Springs Town Council break its charter?" In this article, it explained that the council had broken its town charter by appointing the two individuals to their seats. The two council members were not removed from their seats until Feb. 29, 2025, despite Jean-Bart joining the town government in July 2024.
Next to address the committee was Town Manager Vanessa George. She also claimed that the problems in White Springs stemmed from the previous administration, saying that when she was hired, she was simply "given a set of keys and passwords." George claimed that she had been working hard to fix all the problems, alleging that the audits were late due to the previous administration's failure to do them or leave the relevant paperwork for the current administration to fix them. She made a specific point about the private security hired by the town.
"I want to talk about the security because I think that was not hit on enough. Okay, at the time, all Black women, as the attorney stated," George explained. "We had people come in the office, and excuse me, 'I want to speak to the head n***a in charge. Ah, n***a b***h. Let me speak to, where, where, where your head n***a at?' We have those, 'Hey y'all n****s ain't gonna be there long. I can't wait 'till all y'all gone, and then we have only white people running this town.' That's scary, especially for a bunch of women." She continued, saying, "And you have somebody coming in and you saying these things, sending letters, talking about chopping ya head off."
George also alleged that the sheriff's office was not present at meetings, and if they were, they avoided entering the building. George continued, saying that the reason the elections in 2024 were not held was because the individuals running for election failed to turn in the proper paperwork at the right time. She went on to speak on the finances of the town as well, saying, "Financially, we're doing good. I don't know where this illusion, I think a lot of people has this misconception that the town of White Springs is broke. We're not; we still have our ARPA money, and we have not touched a dime of our ARPA money. We're still doing well; we have not had to touch our ARPA money."
Richard Powell, the town's hired public accountant, was the next individual to speak to the committee. He told the committee that he opposed the bill. He went on to address his history of running an auditing firm and working with finances and audits throughout his life. "Based upon information the town has submitted to the auditor general to document these corrections, I believe the auditor general will conclude that all noted findings have been appropriately addressed and substantially corrected," Powell said. "As for the town's finances. I can state that they are very stable, with the general fund having $1 million in reserves and an excess of one year's expenditures. And the Enterprise fund showing positive cash flow and building reserves. The town is current on its debt payments, payroll tax filings and vendor payments." Powell clarified later during the questioning that he believed the auditor general's report had been appropriately addressed. After fielding multiple questions, Powell remained consistent in that he considered the town in good financial condition.
Befaithful Coker was the next speaker to stand before the committee. She started by talking about her personal history with White Springs, having grown up in and around the town. She then went on to speak on her recent experiences. "For the past five years, it has been unsafe to be there. It's unsafe to walk around in White Springs; it's unsafe to bring young people to the council meetings. I took a job as a reporter just so that I could provide some degree of comfort to residents who wanted to be involved in council meetings but felt intimidated," she said before addressing the private security. "With a reporter press pass on, I, too, was subjected to armed security, dressed as if they were in some scary cop movie. Silencers on the guns, AK-57s; it was very intimidating. It was so intimidating that I couldn't continue to subject myself to it. This council isn't a cooperative council. They've stood before you and told you that they've encouraged and welcomed participation, but they did not."
She continued, voicing her concern that the presentation given by the council was not a good example. "They do not operate with that level of humility with citizens," Coker said. "The names that they have shared with you that they've been called, they've called me those names. They've said those things to my children attending council meetings." She also pointed out that before the council had approved the internet cafes, both Third Circuit State Attorney John Durrett and Hamilton County Sheriff Harrell Reid had told the council that it was illegal to do so. "They disregarded the Third Circuit State Attorney and the sheriff. You cannot stand before this body and say that you did not have the experience and you've been working with the best you had, but you disregarded the people who did have the experience."
Following Coker's remarks, Judith McClure was invited to speak. She began by identifying herself as the person depicted in the Riverbend News photo, standing in front of private security guards with their weapons pointed at her feet. McClure also stated that the racist comments made to the council were attributed to the late Joe Griffin rather than multiple citizens. "The people of White Springs are not losing their town. It's the people that make the community," McClure stated. "We have a beautiful state park, and like it was said, we tried to do the Azalea Festival, which has gone on for years, and the town wouldn't let anyone take it over." She also spoke about her concern regarding the town's finances, questioning why the Town Hall was shut down for so long due to mold not being removed if the town had so much money. "Many of us in White Springs feel that we have no input on things that impact White Springs. Over 100 people went to the town meeting and pleaded with them to not put illicit gambling in." McClure ended by saying she completely supports the bill and agrees with everything that Coker had said earlier.
The next person to approach the committee was Scott Gay, who also spoke in favor of the bill. "What we have here is a lack of transparency and accountability, and we have had a lack of transparency and accountability since roughly 2020," he said. Gay expressed his concerns regarding the absence of an auditing committee in the town. Additionally, he pointed out that the town has a larger administrative staff compared to its blue-collar workers. He highlighted that the town's reserve funds primarily consist of Local Option Fuel Tax money, which comes with spending restrictions, and a significant portion of the reserve being ARPA funds.
While reviewing the budget, Gay stated he "came up with roughly $735,000 in administrative costs that would be eliminated if we were absorbed into the county. The county already provides a reliable fire department service, ambulance services, sheriff's department, code enforcement, building inspection, election supervision, tourist development, county court, heavy equipment when we need it and animal control. We're paying $735,000 to have 300 water bills sent out per month. And for the folks that don't know, the council raised their salaries in 2020 from $100 a month to roughly $550 to $600 a month, depending on whether you are the mayor." He also alleged that the citizens had spent over $100,000 fighting against the council, challenging decisions that they had made, including the illegal internet cafes.
John Warner was the next to speak to the committee. He expressed his confusion over why the town, despite allegedly having significant funds, would not pay off its debt, which, according to Powell, was around $1.4 million. Additionally, he voiced his feelings of insecurity while walking around town, along with his frustration regarding what he perceived as the town's neglect of infrastructure repairs. "They don’t care for the town. I’m sorry, they don’t," he said. "I really wish that they did. I really wish that they would get their act straight." He joined several of the previous speakers by also raising concerns about the private security firm, which is no longer employed by the town. Warner ended by claiming that the citizens had done a lot to try and work with the town but were shut down at every turn.
White Springs Fire Chief Steven Stith then stood up to speak, first addressing his history with the town before explaining how the new department was formed. "When they talked about Ms. George shutting the fire department down, she did shut it down," he said. "It took me three months after it was shut down to get all the equipment back certified to be operable to not be a liability for the town." Stith addressed the accomplishments the department had achieved and clarified that while it doesn't operate 24 hours a day, it is indeed active. He explained that there is a fire department available and that he felt it was better for the citizens to be in White Springs because the other option is Hamilton County for fire protection, which he alleged was 17 minutes away. "I am against this bill," Stith said. "I do want to say that I’m not in it for the money. We all talk about who is making what money; I make $25,000 a year to be the fire chief in White Springs. It’s not about the money. I like White Springs, and I like all the staff that’s there, too."
Nicole Williams, a former council member, also stood to speak in opposition to the bill. "I am not in support of the town being dissolved, but there are things that need to be done," she said before speaking on the elections issues. "We have been denied elections, and when she (George) spoke on the election of last year, first of all, once I wrote the letter to JLAC (Joint Legislative Auditing Committee), I was voted off the council. We had a lot of disagreements because me, I am for the people...I was first elected in 2020, and in the beginning, it was good; we had a great council in the beginning...As far as with this last election last year, it was not 11:50 a.m. when we turned in our paperwork. It was myself, Cheryl Aldritch and Anita Rivers, who was the mayor, but now she's serving as vice mayor. When we turned in our papers, it was the preliminaries for the Republicans, you know, for them to vote on who they were choosing as their candidate for the presidential election, so the library was closed. So we couldn't make copies of Form 6, which was the new financial form that had to be turned in when you ran for an election. We did it online; it was stamped online at the time, you know, the days that we did it, but it wasn't printed out...We went to town hall, Shirley and myself turned in the paperwork, turned in everything. The city Supervisor of Elections, Audre Washington-Ruiz, told us to go print it out because their printer was messed up at town hall...They told us that we can go get the papers printed out and to bring them back after lunch because she (Washington) was getting ready to go to lunch. When Shirley went to turn in the forms for us, we were told, 'Oh, it’s too late now.' She (Washington) went back on her word, and she (Shirley) was there before the time that she (Washington) told us that we had to be there." Nicole also took the time to clarify that it was Joe Griffin saying the racist things to the council and town employees. She also said that she had heard in a town council meeting George saying, "I don't trust you white people," which she later clarified, saying, "I don't trust you White Springs people." Nicole ended by saying that the town has plenty of issues, but more people wanted to change the administration than dissolve the town.
Richie McCoy, Chairman of the Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners, was the next speaker. "I'd like to thank Mr. Shoaf for bringing this to light," he began. "I think it would be a great disservice if we did not dissolve it. I know I heard a question earlier about 'Is the county prepared to take this task on?' Well, the answer to that is: who is prepared? But I will tell you this: we are prepared to take on this challenge. There is a lot of disservice going on over there to the community as it is...So take everything into consideration; just know that the county is ready to take on the job if that's what we need to do."
Additional individuals who waived their public speaking time in opposition to the bill were Sylvester Warren III, White Springs Town Clerk Cynthia Williams and White Springs Utility Director Ray Vaughn.
Individuals who waived their time to speak in favor of the bill were Michael Shea, Hamilton County Commissioner Jimmy Murphy, Bo Beauchemin, Joseph Simmons, Roger Green, James Dees, David Brantley, Wade Singletary, James Lee Holland, George Toider, Carolyn Canva, Jackie Gaylard, Robert Gaylard, Francis Dees, Michael Batusil, Sharon Shea and Julie Gay.
After all public comments were made, the committee moved into its section allowing for debate and closing comments. Several representatives of the committee spoke during the discussion. Some supported the dissolution, while others opposed it. However, those against the dissolution did not argue that the town was innocent. Instead, they issued a warning: if the bill were not passed, there would be increased scrutiny on White Springs, and the town needed to improve its situation. After the debate concluded, Rep. Shoaf was recognized to give his closing remarks.
He first pointed out that in 2021, the town had voted to shut down the illegal internet cafes but reopened them 14 months later despite the citizens' wishes. "Fourteen months later, after they voted unanimously to shut them down, they brought it back up to issue two casino licenses, city licenses. Folks, that's illegal; they know it's illegal. In fact, if they didn't already know, they should have, and if that wasn't enough, the longest-serving sheriff in Florida showed up, looked them in the eye and said what you're voting for is illegal. You cannot do it. The state attorney said it is illegal. Guess what, folks? They did it anyway," Shoaf said. "They knew full well, and they voted intentionally to break the law. Where I come from, when someone knows something is illegal, and they choose to do it anyway, that makes them a criminal. I can't cut it any other way. Well, that's the town council you have today. They're still there...That leadership chose to deny proper elections so they can stay in power...They're still there, and now that they're here, now that they're facing this action, now they want to fix it." Shoaf continued, noting that when Mayor Williams was asked what her plan was if the bill didn't go through, "Her plan was 'to do what I did last time.'"
"Today, you notice that the majority of the people who came to speak in favor of this bill were not elected. They were not part of the government; they were citizens who drove over here, and almost every single person who spoke against the bill was elected or brother-in-law or first cousins. Just absorb that, weight that in your judgment," Shoaf said. "In closing, the delegation's decision was driven by the city's decision to harbor a criminal gambling enterprise. I believe they engaged in a conspiracy to take away the voting rights of the people to elect their leaders. I believe that they made reckless financial decisions with the taxpayer's dollars that we are all, as elected officials, supposed to protect. We're given that trust, and it's all been violated. Anyone else who knew something was illegal, had a sheriff look them in the eye and say, 'If you do this, it's illegal,' and chose to do it anyway, right in front of them, should not be in elected office, and that group should no longer exist under the State of Florida."
After Rep. Shoaf's final remarks, the committee proceeded to vote 12-4 in favor of the bill. HB 4079 will now travel to the State Affairs Committee, which has yet to announce a time and date for this discussion. To view the meeting in its entirety, visit www.thefloridachannel.org, click on "Video Library," and find the video titled "4/8/25 House Ways & Means Committee."