Light-up McIntosh December 15
Light-up McIntosh will begin at the Civic Center at 6:30 p.m. The event will host Santa Clause and an area choir from six local churches will sing.
06.14.07 -- BRIEFS: Council switches back to old Historic Ordinance, rescinds new water fee
Friday, June 15, 2007
By CHER PHILLIPS
- The McIntosh Town Council decided last night to rescind an $8 a month water fee they started to establish last month in order to pay for repairs to the water system. McIntosh's water system has been running at a $20,000 deficit for some years now. Efforts to raise the water rates, the lowest in the county and most likely the state, have failed. The council will be looking at alternative plans in the next month to find a way for the town's water operations to break even.
- The council voted to switch historic ordinances last night in a public hearing before the meeting. Historic ordinance 2006-151, which passed in June of last year, was repealed in exchange for Historic ordinance 2007-161. Ordinance 161 had the same wording as the 1980 's historic ordinance which originally created the historic district. Earlier this year, the council voted to repeal 151, but they also asked the Land Planning Agency to correct what the community did not like about the ordinance. Instead, the committee suggested removing the ordinance altogether. The switch-out vote will have to pass another public hearing before the town's first ordinance will be back in place.
- Council Vice President Howard Walkup would like to build a town hall on the land the town owns where McIntosh Area Charter School is current renting land. Walkup suggested last night that he contact the University of Florida and seek the assistance of student architects and engineers. Other council members wanted to hash out other options and decided that the council will hold a workshop in the next week or two to discuss options.
- Councilman Lee Deaderick brought a list of six possible options for building a permanent school building. He said he would make a copy of them available to the Mirror.
- Deaderick pushed Town Attorney Scott Walker toward a resolution in the case between the town and Brent Leytem. Leytem had a series of codes violations filed against him years ago and the legal case has been drawn out over years frustrated residents living on the west side of town. Leytem made changes to his property that other residents and the town suggest may have changed the way water drains into the creek bed on the west side.
- The council also decided it would ask its regional planner, Bruce Day, to consider rewriting the bulk of the McIntosh Development Code. Deaderick was concerned that the code is confusing, incomplete and faulty. He noted that the code references a public works handbook that no one in town can locate. Council President Frank Ciotti said he had some concerns about rewriting the codes because code changes have been met with resistance from the town's residents. Ciotti cited the example of the switched out historic ordinance.
- The council passed an ordinance for the first time that would give the council the authority to remove citizen board members with a 4/5's majority vote. The ordinance will have to pass twice before it becomes law.
- The Tree Ordinance was tabled, again, to give council members a chance to read updates. Deaderick, the proposed law's greatest critic, said he was very close to voting for it.
- Judy Greenberg asked the council to help the McIntosh Garden Club complete the installation of a Blue Star Marker on the median in highway 441 on the south end of McIntosh. When the Garden Club originally planned the install the marker, a veteran memorial, the Florida Department of Transportation said it would cost $300 to install the marker. But later, the group was told it would cost $1,300.
- The town will buy ice cream for the July 4 celebration around Van Ness park. Ciotti and Mayor Marsha Strange hope to hand out ice cream bars or pop sickles around lunchtime, as long as their supplies last. McIntosh has a July 4 celebration every year that begins at 10 a.m. with a bike parade, Ciotti said. He said children decorate their bikes and then the local Lion's Club sells hamburgers at lunch time. Strange said they have potato sack races, as well.
- The town is still under a precautionary boil water notice that they hope will be lifted by Friday, June 15. One in eight test came back unsatisfactory. To lift the notice, the town needs to have two consecutive days of clear tests. Town Clerk Debbie Miller said she did not know why that test failed. Deaderick said that he thought it was probably a lab issue since the first four tests on the water in McIntosh after the service interruptions came back clean. The council was positive about how the town handled the water failure, including complying with the precautionary boil water notice. Several residents present at the meeting noted that they were not clearly notified about the notice. One resident said the message on her machine was unclear, so she drank the water after a day. Another resident said they found the note on their door three days after the notice had been in effect. The town is planning to purchase an automatic phone notification system.
posted by Cher @ 12:14 PM,
12 Comments:
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At June 22, 2007 12:57 PM ,
Cher said...
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Word up, McIntosh - I'm seeing lights and movement around the grocery store. Anyone know what's up there?
-C -
At June 25, 2007 8:15 PM ,
said...
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Thhe owwner has a security person watchiing the store.
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At June 27, 2007 6:43 AM ,
said...
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The Taliban is going to open a mini-mart.
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At June 27, 2007 7:15 PM ,
said...
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Its going to be a petting zoo, for mcintosh flash's pleasure.
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At July 06, 2007 8:01 AM ,
McIntosh Flash said...
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I heard that an adult book store was going in. Right across the street from 2 churches???
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At July 06, 2007 8:15 AM ,
Cher said...
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Where'd you hear that?
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At July 08, 2007 8:47 AM ,
McIntosh Flash said...
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I didnt hear it, it is my civic duty to start a rumor if I have not heard one by noon daily.
Being serious now, I think that Fred Wilson has someone moving in though, there is a lot of activity there taking stuff in and out. I really hope that it is another community based "general store".
Sorry for the joking about - it just seemed like that was where the thread was leading... -
At July 08, 2007 10:47 AM ,
Cher said...
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Thanks for clearing that up. McIntosh is prone to enough rumors.
I'm glad it's not an adult bookstore. (Nothing against freedom of speech, choice, all that.) My thoughts were that the council painted the town into a corner so that it was somewhat vulnerable to something like this. Think about it. The council will repeal the historic ordinance (which has a clause for approving businesses in the historic district) for the second time next week making it defunct. They eliminated the business licenses earlier this year. The town would really have no way of fighting a business like that coming in to town.
A general store would be nice. -
At July 08, 2007 12:46 PM ,
said...
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I heard Bill Glass is opening the adult store.
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At July 08, 2007 2:19 PM ,
said...
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And I bet you will buy from him huh:)
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At July 12, 2007 8:59 PM ,
said...
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you can never get the name of the cowardly sob, when they use your name in such a manner. oh, mcintosh,,,,chitty little cowards in a chitty litle town.........
bill glass -
At July 13, 2007 9:58 AM ,
McIntosh Flash said...
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I never thought that I would agree with you Bill, but after the meeting last night - it is quite clear that there are factions that want complete control of everything. Thosee factions are very static and unwaivering in their opinions. There is no room for compromise.
I would not go as far as saying that we are cowards, it just seems that those in the middle of this axe grind have no place to go! If we voice a public opinion, one side or the other will then target us. I dont want to have foot prints on my back like others have - they are the victims of being public with thier opinions. I stay in the shadows like a coward, but hope for a time and place to speak openly. I guess that is why I call myself the flash.
I think that you are former military - When in an occupation, you just hunker down and ride out the artillery; waiting for the calvary from your side to arrive. You see what targets are getting pounded, so you try to stay away from those battle scenes. The only problem in McIntosh, there are too many victims of friendly fire. Both factions will pound you.
Wow, did I say that I agreed with Bill Glass? I think that if many of us thought about it, we just might.. (did I say that??)
Editor
Editor and Publisher:
I'm Cher From McIntosh, FL I'm a graduate student at the University of Florida working on a master's degree in Mass Communication. While I was finishing my undergrad degree in journalism last year, I reported on McIntosh, Fla. for an in-depth reporting class. I figured that the reporting and the public record files should go somewhere people can access them. Reporters don't report to keep the information they find to themselves. Some of that reporting is included here in a forum that allows response. McIntosh suffers because with no news coverage, the local government and the rumor mill have too much potential to run rampant over residents. I moved to McIntosh in the fall of 1999. My profile
About This Blog
The primary purpose of this blog is to accurately reflect what happens in town public meetings and dispel rumors. I record the meetings and make them available for download. One of the goals of this blog is to offer residents a place to voice opinions. The comments, views and opinions expressed there are not necessarily those of the editor.
