Alachua County Special Meeting

Minutes

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County Administration Building - Grace Knight Conference Room
12 SE 1 Street, 2nd Floor, Gainesville, FL 32601
Present:
  • Commissioner Mary Alford, 
  • Vice Chair Ken Cornell, 
  • Commissioner Anna Prizzia, 
  • and Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler 
Absent:
  • Chair Charles S. Chestnut, IV 

Commissioner Alford moved adoption of the agenda. The motion carried 4-0 with Chair Chestnut absent.

2nd Commissioner Wheeler

Assistant County Manager Tommy Crosby presented the above item. 

Mr. Crosby presented an overview of fund balances and reserves. The FY26 budget is $944,325,780 and increase of $81,692,026 over FY25. The County Manager has approved $4,438,041 in budget request. The Tax Collector debt on their new facility has been paid of early. That should result in about $500,000 increase to the County this year. The Clerk of Court had no additional funding request. The Supervisor of Elections had a $190,000 in request that were included in the proposed budget. The Sheriff's Office had a request for 3 new positions which were included. The County will have several facility preservation projects coming up in the future which will need to be addressed. It is anticipated that $3,000,000 a year will need to be added to the budget for these projects. 

Mr. Crosby further stated that at some point in the future an Assistant Facilities Director position will need to be added due to the workload in the Facilities Department. Also, staff if monitoring the FEMA changes to see what adjustments the County will need to make.

Commissioner Cornell requested that when the debt service ratios are presented, he would like to ensure that Leon County is used as a peer comparison as they are very similar to Alachua County. He further inquired what the budget impact would be if the County choose to go with the roll back rate for the millage. 

Mr. Crosby stated that the impact is roughly $11,000,000 lose in revenue. He stated that staff has done an exercise on the impact to the services provided excluding the required functions. He will provide the results of the exercise by email. 

Commissioner Prizzia, Commissioner Alford, Commissioner Cornell, Budget Manager Maureen Rischitelli, Commissioner Cornell, County Manager Lieberman, and Commissioner Wheeler presented comments. 

Vice Chair Cornell recognized Jim Konish who presented comments to the Board. 

Cemetery Acquisition

Commissioner Wheeler stated that the she has been working with Linda Saudek on the lime rock mines property for a potential conservation land purchase. There is a historic African American Cemetery on the property and the family wished to turn the cemetery over to the County. She would like for staff to review the proposition and to see what impacts this would have on the County and opportunities with the City of High Springs.

By consensus, the Board referred the matter to staff to review. 

Self Insurance Board

Commissioner Prizzia stated that she was surprised to learn that the employee health clinic does not offer menopause care which she feels is a basic service. She would like for staff to review the contract to see what is offered and what can be offered under its terms. She would consider an amendment to the contract if need be to provide this service. 

By consensus, the Board referred the matter to staff to review. 

New Intern

Commissioner Alford has tasked her new intern with compiling a Doge Audit Summary to see how it has impacted other Counties and Municipalities across the State. She stated that she will forward the results to everyone to review if they are interested. 

Commissioner Cornell, Commissioner Prizzia,  Assistant County Manager Tommy Crosby, Commissioner Alford, Commissioner Wheeler, and County Manager Lieberman presented comments. 

Animal Services Event

Commissioner Wheeler stated that this weekend there will be an adoption event in which it will be free to adopt a dog or cat this weekend. She encouraged anyone interested in having a pet to come the Animal Services Center this weekend. 

There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 11:48 a.m.