ECUA Conducting 900 Acre Control Burn Near Plant In Gonzalez
March 7, 2019
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) will be conducting prescribed burn operations on ECUA property in the vicinity of the Central Water Reclamation Facility (CWRF) in Gonzalez Thursday through Saturday.
ECUA’s burn-certified contractor will conduct the burn operations, which are scheduled to begin at approximately 9 a.m. each day. These burn activities are a part of ECUA’s management plan for the ecological restoration of forest lands at the CWRF site.
The ECUA’s CWRF property is in the Gonzalez community and mostly lies south of Becks Lake Road, west of the Escambia River. A small amount of ECUA’s property north of Becks Lake Road will be included in this prescribed burn operation.
Although every effort will be made to ensure smoke will not affect roadways, drivers should exercise caution in the event smoke does lead to reduced visibility on the area’s roads, according to ECUA.
Click map to enlarge.
BJ’s Wholesale Club, Other Retail And Restaurants Planned For Former Sears Location
March 7, 2019
The former Sears location on Davis Highway will be home to a BJ’s Wholesale Club and several other businesses, according to planning documents filed with Escambia County.
The Shoppes at University Town Plaza will, according to county documents, will include the 98,883 square foot BJ’s club, gas station and exterior liquor store where the Sears was located. The former Sears Auto Center site will be replaced with a building with space for nine retail and restaurant tenants along Davis Highway.
The Sears closed last summer, and the building is being renovated.
BJ’s Wholesale Club, headquartered in Massachusetts, operates 215 membership warehouse clubs and 135 gas locations in 16 states in the eastern United States. The company has not responded to a NorthEscambia.com media inquiry about Pensacola.
NorthEscambia.com photo.
The Blue Angels One Of 21 New Specialty Plates Considered In Florida
March 7, 2019
– Other Plates Under Consideration Include Alabama, Auburn and Georgia Collegiate Plates–
Sen. Doug Broxson has filed a bill new create a new Blue Angels specialty license plate, one of 21 tags that may be coming to Florida
If the bill become law, the license plate would be designed at a later date and would include the words “Home of the Blue Angels” at the bottom. The annual fees generated by the plate will benefit the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, including the Naval Aviation Museum and the National Flight Academy in Pensacola.
There are currently 123 specialty license plates in Florida, and there are 21 under consideration this legislative session, including plates for the University of Alabama, Auburn University, University of Georgia that would benefit scholarships for out of state students. The University of Alabama plate endowment would be from the Pensacola Bama Club.
There is also a proposal that cap the number of specialty tags at 125.
Currently, every new plate must reach 1,000 presales before plates are manufactured, and any existing plate that falls below 1,000 on the road will be removed, but that requirement does not apply to college and university plates.
The top five specialty plates in Florida are the University of Florida followed by sea turtles, endless summer surfing, Florida State University and Protecting Wild Dolphins.
The University of West Florida plate is number 105 on the state’s list, with 1,303 sold last year, with 392 of those registered in Escambia County.
Atmore Man Killed In Highway 21 Crash
March 7, 2019
A two vehicle crash Wednesday claimed the life of an Atmore man.
Alabama State Troopers said Anthony Edward Dunkin, 33, was killed when the 2005 Honda Civic he was driving collided with a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer about 2 p.m. on Highway 21 about a mile north of I-65. Dunkin was pronounced deceased on the scene.
The driver of the Chevrolet, Crory Tyrail White, age 27 of Frisco City, AL, was injured and airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital.
Additional details have not been released as troopers continue their investigation.
Cantonment Church Offers Drive-Thru Ashes For Ash Wednesday
March 6, 2019
On Ash Wednesday, a Cantonment church offered a quick and easy way for people to take part.
Saint Monica’s Episcopal Church offered “Ashes to Go” at the 29 North shopping Center on Highway 29.
Ash Wednesday marks the first of the 40 days of Lent, named for the custom of placing blessed ashes on the foreheads of worshipers at Ash Wednesday services. The ashes are a sign of penitence and a reminder of mortality, and may be imposed with the sign of the cross.
Pictured top: Mike Scordado receives ashes from Fr. Anthony MacWhinnie, II. Pictured below: Dawn Hayes receives ashes. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Grand Jury Finds Gross Mismanagement In Century, $1 Million Lost, Natural Gas Missing, Financial Emergency
March 6, 2019
A grand jury has found the Town of Century lost over $1 million in utility accounts in just two years, can’t account for over 40 percent of their natural gas, made loans not revealed on audits for 14 years, improperly borrowed about $3 million from accounts with a 750-year payback plan, and is a state of financial emergency.
For additional details and grand jury recommendations, click here.
The grand jury received testimony from 18 witnesses and reviewed numerous financial documents and found that criminal charges were not appropriate. The grand jury did recommend that the State Attorney’s Office, State Auditor General’s Office and Escambia County continue inquiries into town operations.
“We are continuing to review various matters to see if there is anything that should take place,” Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille told NorthEscambia.com after the report was released. “The grand jury is still in session until June, but we do not anticipate bringing any of these matters back to the grand jury.”
If the grand jury recommendation is followed, it would leave Century has just a shell the town’s current structure, with most services provided by other agencies. Currently, the town does not provide law enforcement or other emergency response, with those services provided by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Escambia County EMS and Escambia Fire Rescue. Escambia County currently provide code enforcement for the town.
The town uses a contract private attorney and CPA. “It appears that Town officials are sometimes reluctant to seek the advice of their attorney because of concerns related to expenses,” the report notes.
The grand jury recommended that Century divest its gas, water and sewage service in order to pay debt, leaving a town and council responsible for only for roads, parks and land use regulations.
“Based upon our review, we are deeply concerned with the financial status of Century….Financial audits indicate that Century’s overall financial condition demonstrates signs of deterioration which may result in a future financial emergency. The poor relationship between the Mayor and at least several members of the Town Council has hampered the ability of the Town to respond to this situation.”
GAS DEPARTMENT
The town’s gas department once had 1,000 customers, but that number has fallen to 500 to 600 customers, with the Florida Department of Corrections being the largest customers at more than 20 percent of revenues reported in various enterprise funds.
The gas fund lost $527,738 in the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years.
“The reasons for these losses are many. The system itself is antiquated and has not been adequately maintained. Employees responsible for reading the meters have failed to do so properly or have not read them at all. Between twenty five and fifty customers have received gas services without ever having been billed. The prison and other commercial customers have had either inadequate or faulty meters which have resulted in substantial under charging.
“Unaccounted gas is the amount of gas that comes into the system minus the amount that is sold to customers. All gas services will have some unaccounted gas. Industry standards puts this amount at less than two or three percent. In 2015 Century reported unaccounted gas as 14.0 percent, in 2016 12.4 percent and in 2017 as 12.9 percent. In 2018 this amount jumped to 41.9 percent. This means that of the natural gas bought and paid for by Century in 2018 only 58.1 percent was actually paid for by its customers.
WATER AND SEWER
Financial concerns with the enterprise operations are not limited to the gas service. In 2016 and 2017, the water and sewer department lost $465,900.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES
Payroll checks for employees have been written on an account that did not have sufficient funds to cover these checks. This was caused by the failure to transfer sufficient funds from other accounts to the payroll account to cover these costs. Federal withholding was not paid to the United States Treasury because sufficient funds were not available. This resulted in fines or penalties being imposed.
Routine bills such as utilities and telephone are regularly not paid timely because sufficient funds are not available.
“The Town pays 99 percent of the employee’s health insurance premium and 78 percent for the employee’s family. Five employees were under withheld resulting in a cost to the town of approximately $6,000. While these costs have been paid timely, witnesses have indicated that Century cannot afford to continue lo pay for such an expensive program.”
LOANS
In 2003, loans were provided by the town to several business owners for economic development purposes. Three of these people went on to become elected officials, two who presently serve on the council and one who was a previous mayor. One of these loans was not paid timely and the council in July 2018, modified the terms of that loan to extend the repayment time by an additional three years. The monthly payments were also lowered at that time. These loans do not appear to have been listed on any audit as a debt owed to the town until 2017…14 years after the first loan.
BUDGET NOT REALISTIC
“The council must adopt a budget for each fiscal year. for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017 the original general fund budget was $679,857. This was later amended to $1,053,830 and the actual expenditures was $1,359,964. Revenues in the current year’s budget have been raised by approximately 30 percent. There does not appear to be a realistic basis for this increase. In order to make up this shortfall it was necessary for the Town to borrow from other accounts.
“According to the most recent audit, these funds were borrowed from restricted accounts made up of gas taxes and monies from the Local Option Sales Tax, Gas taxes may only be used for road improvement and LOST funds may only be used for infrastructure or purchases having an expected life expectancy of at least five years. They cannot be used for the day to day operation of the Town. Century improperly borrowed $306,134 in fiscal year 2017 from these funds which must be repaid.
“This is not the first year that Century has borrowed from these funds. As of September 30, 2017, the Special Revenue Fund was owed approximately $2,700.000. In June 2018 the Council approved a repayment plan of $300 per month. At this rate it would take 750 years to pay back these funds.”
SUNSHINE AND PUBLIC RECORDS
The grand jury said there appears to be a lack of understanding of the requirements of both the Sunshine and Public Record Laws. Testimony we have heard indicates that numerous public record requests have not been responded to in a timely manner. Minutes of council meetings have not been prepared for months at a time. The digital recording of at least one meeting has been lost. The file containing the paperwork for the economic development loan made to one council member has been misplaced and cannot be located. The Office of the State Attorney filed charges of noncriminal violations of the Sunshine Law against three members of the town council. All pleaded no contest and were fined.
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
The grand jury found there are no policies and procedure manuals to be used by office staff, and no adequate job descriptions when seeking new employees.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Molino Woman Cited After Wreck Involving School Bus
March 6, 2019
A Molino woman was cited in a three vehicle crash involving a school bus Wednesday.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 69-year old Shirley Lee was traveling north in the center lane of Davis Highway near Bloodworth Lane in her 2016 Honda Civic when she changed lanes and hit a stopped Jeep Cherokee driven by 37-year old Patsy Curtis of Pensacola. The Jeep rotated into the path of a school bus driven by Deborah January, 51, of Pensacola.
Curtis received minor injuries. None of the other drivers or passengers, including 13 passengers on the school bus, were injured.
Lee was charged with careless driving by the FHP.
Escambia County To Replace Timber Bridge On O.C. Phillips Road
March 6, 2019
Escambia County is set to rebuild a wood timber bridge on Occie Phillips Road near Walnut Hill.
The commission will vote Thursday on the award of a contract up to $634,175.53 to American Consulting Engineers of Florida to design a the new bridge. It will replace a 75-foot long timber bridge over Brushy Creek.
Local Agency Program (LAP) funding from the federal government is expected in 2020 for bridge construction.
NorthEscambia.com file photos.
Prison Staffing Shortage, Drones Eyed By House
March 6, 2019
A criminal justice package that would help state correctional facilities address a growing problem with staffing shortages and drones flying contraband into prisons advanced Tuesday in the Florida House with the endorsement of the head of the Department of Corrections.
“Obviously, I support this legislation — drones and prisons don’t mix,” Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch said. “Not only is there the risk of contraband, but even the use of drones to surveil the prisons, look at our security procedure and look at inmates in our facilities … is a risk to our facilities.”
The House Civil Justice Subcommittee approved the proposal without opposition. The measure (PCB CRJ 19-01) would ban the use of drones over and near state and private correctional facilities as well as juvenile detention centers. Also, the bill would lower the minimum age of correctional officers from 19 to 18.
Inch said changing the age eligibility would be a big help to help fill vacancies in prisons, an ongoing problem statewide. The turnover rate for state correctional officers last year was 29 percent, department spokeswoman Michelle Glady said. At the end of last year, the department counted nearly 2,000 vacancies.
“Properly staffed correctional institutions help strengthen public safety across the state, and this legislation directly assists the department by increasing the number of eligible candidates for hire,” Glady said.
Last month, prison wardens urged members of the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee to adequately fund the department as it deals with aging facilities and the problems with retaining prison staff.
Most wardens testified that staffing shortages are fueled by low salaries, poor working conditions and high demand for overtime shifts.
Inch asked lawmakers to picture the minimum-age proposal as an opportunity to give high school students interested in law-enforcement careers an early start.
“I’m very confident in our ability to train them and lead them well,” Inch said. “This will start our process in addressing the recruitment and retention problem we have in our state correctional system.”
Inch said training for 18-year-olds would include unarmed self-defense training.
The fact that the measure emerged as a committee bill — rather than a regular bill filed by a House member — signals that it will be a criminal-justice priority of House Republican leaders. It was not clear Tuesday when the measure will be heard next.
by Ana Ceballos, The News Service of Florida
NorthEscambia.com photo.
Molino Park Elementary Students Celebrate The Arts
March 6, 2019
Molino Park Elementary School held its annual Art Day recently.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Students spent the day immersed in a variety of fine arts from distinguished guests, such as Deborah Andress, Haley Krostag, Dale Cooey, Lyvonne Patterson, Patsy Pennington, Matt Brabham, Kaye’s Music, Pensacappella, Pensacola Symphony Ensemble, Mr. Mac’s Drum, Twirl Girlz, Schmidt’s Music and the Northview High School Percussion. The day concluded with the “Roundup”, where Heather Leonard’s Danceworks got students on their feet dancing a “Happy Dance” in the school cafeteria.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
