Seth Johnson
The High Springs City Commission on Tuesday moved forward on a fire prevention contract with Alachua County, approved an advertisement for its open city manager position and decided to table discussion on the city attorney contract.
The commission approved a one-year contract for Alachua County Fire Rescue to perform fire inspections for the High Springs. The contract is the first for these services and comes after High Springs Fire Chief Bruce Gillingham left the post in October.
Currently, Newberry Fire Chief Mike Vogel is serving as the interim fire chief for High Springs. He told the City Commission that without Gillingham, no one remains who’s qualified to do the inspections.
Alachua County Fire Rescue will perform the inspections with its own rate schedule charged to the contractor. Vogel added that Alachua County will hold training for High Springs personnel to learn the position. By the end of the one-year contract, Vogel said the city should be ready to handle inspections again.
Alachua County Fire Rescue Chief Herold Theus told the commission that the Board of County Commissioners will also need to vote and approve the contract. That vote is scheduled for Dec. 12.
High Springs City Manager Ashley Stathatos resigned on Nov. 16 and will continue working through the end of February. She joined the city in November 2020.
With the resignation, the City Commission approved an advertisement for the post. The commissioners OK’d a salary range of $100,000 to $120,000.
The commission also discussed possibilities for an interim city manager. Several department heads have held the role in the past. While several names were mentioned, the commission kept the possibility open for future discussion.
Mayor Katherine Weitz added an item to Tuesday’s meeting on the city attorney contract. She said she wanted to bring the option forward for the new commission to discuss.
Folds Walker, LLC. has served as the city’s contracted attorneys for more than a decade. Currently, Scott Walker attends meetings for the city, and his firm survived a 3-2 vote to replace the firm last year.
Weitz said the primary motivation to look for a new attorney would be potential savings.
“We need to look at saving some money, and that might be a place where we can save some,” Weitz said. “It’s not just [your contract] that I’m interested in looking at to be quite honest with you.”
She added that Folds Walker LLC. might be the most responsive and best option that comes through the request for proposals anyway. The firm currently serves as attorneys for eight other cities, including Newberry, Archer, Micanopy and Lake City.
The budget for 2024 anticipates attorney services costs of $87,779.
Commissioner Tristan Grunder said he thinks the city needs to wait instead of another potential change in leadership. With a city manager leaving, an interim fire chief and an assistant city manager who recently left, he said it might be best to keep the contract in place.
Commissioner Steve Tapanes agreed and made the motion to table the discussion until after a new city manager is found. He said that would also allow the new manager to weigh into the discussion.
The motion passed 3-1 with Commissioner Andrew Miller in dissent. Miller said searching for a new contract was the right path, adding that he hadn’t been happy with past issues.