County Postpones Action On New Park For Bratt
March 21, 2008
A new community park is in the works for the Bratt community. The Escambia County Commission will vote on a land swap on April 3 that will make a 10 year dream a reality.
The commission was expected to approve the land swap Thursday night, but the vote was postponed until the next meeting due to a problem with the legal description of the property, District 5 Commissioner Kevin White said.
“We are not dropping it; we are just postponing it until the next meeting,” White said.
The county is set to trade 57 acres of mostly wetlands that county owns on Hanks Road for 13.19 acres at the corner of West Highway 4 and Bratt Road. The Highway 4 property is currently owened by Kale and Donna Schneider.
“I think this is a great thing,” District 5 Commissioner Kevin White told NorthEscambia.com. “A park in that area has been needed for a long time. This has been 10 years in the making.”
The land swap will end up costing the county only about $9,000. That will leave about $141,000 currently budgeted in White’s discretionary Local Option Sales Tax funds to develop that park. In the beginning, that money will pay for land improvements, playground equipment and a walking trail. Softball fields are part of the ultimate plan for the park, White said. The county’s current Admendment 1 budget crisis will not effect the funding for the park since funds will come from the local sales tax monies.
“It will be a great asset for the community, and we expect the private sector will get involved and help too,” White said. “It provides another park in the north part of the county that the other board members have supported since I have been here.”
The new park, if the land swap is approved by the commission next month, will be located along Highway 4 between Bratt First Baptist Church and Northview High School. The land is currently an open area with just a few very small trees (pictured below). The aerial photo above shows the placement of the property.
County Considers Millions In Funding Cuts, Lake Stone Funding Gone
March 21, 2008
Escambia Commissioners have identified about $10.5 million of a needed $12 million in budget cuts, including funding for Lake Stone near Century.
The county had funded Lake Stone (pictured above) to the tune of $23,472 last year, and they had ranked it at number 34 on a list of 78 county departments. But during a budget workshop Wednesday, the commission decided to cut the funding and allow it to become self-supporting.
Other items considered by the commission to cut costs:
- continue a hiring freeze on roughly 100 vacant positions
- pay for some capital outlay projects on credit to make more funds available in the current budget
- form a committee to decide if about a half million a year that goes to the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce and the Pensacola Escambia Development Commission for job development could actually be done cheaper by the county
- eliminate three positions from the county’s human resources department, outsourcing the work
- county parks and recreation events must make enough from their fees or they would be cut
- inmate labor will be used for park maintenance such as mowing
- suspend county employee tuition reimbursement
- cut an assistant county administrator position and its office aide, saving $210,823
- consider early retirement buyouts
- cut the $115,000 for the Human Relations Commission that hears fair housing complaints
- cut the county’s Merit System Protection Board from $126,225 to $35,000 per year. The board exists to provide civil service employees a way to air work grievances, but the board has never heard a case.
County Honors Agriculture
March 21, 2008
The Escambia County Commission approved a proclamation honoring agricultural related industries in the county at their Thurday night meeting.
“Florida farm families are stewards of the land, contributing to the health, beauty, productivity and quality of our state’s water, soil and forest resources for the benefit of all Floridians,” the proclamation read.
“Agriculture and natural resources industries are the core of our county’s health, recreation and economy,” it continued.
Agriculture related revenues in Escambia County exceed $25 million annually, with forestry and related manufacturing industries contributing another $350 million annually in the county.
The proclamation officially recognized March 20 as Agricultural Day in the county.
“Agriculture is vital to Escambia County,” Jimmy Cunningham of Molino told the commission on behalf of the Florida Farm Bureau and several other farm related groups in the county. “Remember, every time you eat, what you wear and even the leather chairs you are sitting in…agriculture has made this possible.”
“We provide the necessities of life,” he continued, “food, shelter and clothing.”
About 44,000 Florida farms occupy about one third of the state’s land area, or about 10.5 million acres.
Pictured above: District 5 Commissioner Kevin White presents the proclamation to Molino farmer and cattleman Jimmy Cunningham.
Another Candidate Qualifies For The District 5 Commission Race
March 21, 2008
Georgette Harris of Cantonment has joined the list of candidates seeking the Escambia County District 5 Commission seat. Harris prefiled as a Democrat.
Harris will face incumbent Republican Kevin White of Molino, Republicans Randall McCrackin of Cantonment, Packy Mitchell of Cantonment and Chris Washler of Cantonment; and Democrat John Hartman of Cantoment.
Easter Bunny In Century Thursday; Students Hunt Eggs
March 20, 2008
The Easter Bunny (music teacher, Mr. Morrrell) visited Pre-K. Ms.Stephens class this morning at Carver/Century K-8 School. The Easter Bunny was in Century a few days early celebrating the first day of Spring today.
The students at Carver/Century also had an Easter egg hunt today, pictured below. Scroll down to see all of the pictures.
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NorthEscambia.com Investigative Series Part Seven: Allied Waste Responds
March 20, 2008
Today, NorthEscambia.com completes our seven part investigative series looking at Allied Waste and their service to the citizens of the North Escambia area. Our Emerald Coast Utilities Authority Board member, Larry Walker, has pushed the board for months to pull Allied’s franchise agreement that is currently set to expire in 2010. Walker has stated repeatedly that he wants ECUA to take over the 11,000 Allied customers in North Escambia. So far, ECUA has rejected the takeover, but they have ordered 11,000 automated collection waste cans and seven new garbage trucks.
Today, we hear from Allied and their responses to Walker’s plans and our NorthEscambia.com series. NorthEscambia.com called Andy Liess, Allied Waste’s Pensacola general manager, last Friday to get his responses. He requested that we submit our questions via email, which we did. He called back with his responses on Tuesday.
Walker presented numerous citizen complaints about Allied to the ECUA board at their last meeting, some of those complaints dating back to last year. Liess did not deny that Allied had service problems in North Escambia, but he said Allied had resolved many of their problems.
“I’m not going to tell you that we did not have issues in the past,” Liess told NorthEscambia.com. “But we have improved. We make sure we continue to improve.”
When Allied is notified of a problem with service, Liess said they make every effort to solve that problem the same day, even if it means sending someone out “in the middle of the night”. But in order for a problem to be solved, a customer must first contact Allied and let them know something is wrong, he said.
“We take our commitment to Escambia County very seriously,” he said. “We have invested millions of dollars in Escambia County, and most of our 100 plus employees live in this county. We understand the importance of customer service, and we make sure our customers get a level of service they deserve.”
Walker stated in documents to the ECUA Board that Allied routinely skips some pickups, especially on dirt roads and around major holidays like Christmas.
“I see no reason that holidays should have more problems,” Liess said. “But dirt roads do present an issue after rain events. Our trucks are 55,000 pounds and it is dangerous to put them on a dirt road. It is a challenge for us. But we resume service as soon as possible.”
Liess acknowledges past service problems, including problems with calling customer service, but says those problems have been corrected an additional solutions added.
“There were previous phone problems, but we added an email contact with same day service, and our hold times have returned to reasonable levels. The additional communications methods have made a dramatic improvement.” Additionally, Liess said that Allied is working on a website for local use and customer service for better and easier access. That site, he said, is expected to be complete in two to four weeks.
“We do realize that there are gaps in our service,” Liess said. “We continue to make improvements to close those gaps, especially in the last several months.”
“We take our commitment to Escambia County very seriously. We have had a partnership with ECUA since 1995, and we look forward that partnership for years to come,” he stated. “The ECUA board and the staff have discussed Dr. Walker’s requests. Both the board and the staff continue to support us.”
To read part one of this series, click here, for background information.
To read part two of this series, click here.
To read part three of this series, click here.
To read part four of this series, click here.
To read part five of this series, click here.
To read part six of this series, click here.
Cofield Celebrates 100th Birthday
March 20, 2008
A reception to honor Maggie Elizabeth Brantley Cofield in celebration of her 100th birthday was held on March 15, 2008, at Heritage Nursing Home in Milton.
Mrs. Cofield was born in Conecuh County, Alabama, on March 15, 1908, to Joe and Lou Powell Brantley. She married Harvey Cofield on December 19, 1924. She is the mother of two children, Ernest Cofield of Monroeville, Alabama, and the late Charles Cofield of Century. She has eight grandchildren: Ann Cofield Brooks, Cathy Cofield Crawley, and Tom Cofield of Century; Gordon Cofield of Pensacola; Larry Cofield of Texas; Melvin Cofield and Maxine Casey of Repton, Alabama, and Donnie Cofield of Pascagoula, Mississippi. She also has 14 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great grandchildren.
NorthEscambia.com Investigative Series Part Six: Walker’s Plans To Pull Allied Waste Franchise
March 19, 2008
Today, NorthEscambia.com continues our seven part investigative series looking at Allied Waste and their service to the citizens of the North Escambia area. Today, we will read comments from Emerald Coast Utilities Authority member Larry Walker about his plan to pull Allied’s franchise. On Thursday morning, we will have comments from Allied’s general manager about the whole situation and our series.
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority is preparing itself to eventually take over garbage collection North Escambia from Allied Waste.
Allied Waste currently has a contract that extends until 2010 for residential garbage pickup north of Ten Mile Road for 11,000 households. But ECUA District 5 Board Member Larry Walker sees several situations where ECUA might take over the contract sooner. Residential garbage in Century is picked up by Allied under a separate contract with the town.
ECUA voted in November to purchase 11,000 automated collection garbage cans instead of their usual 2,000 per year. The board had voted against the proposal a month earlier, but approve the purchase after an open letter from Walker. ECUA also voted to purchase seven new garbage trucks.
The trucks have arrived; the cans have not. Walker said the cans are expected to be delivered in the next month or two.
Walker has repeatedly called for the termination of Allied’s franchise because he believes they are providing poor service. While the cans have not arrived, Walker believes the Allied-ECUA agreement should end quickly.
“ECUA should proceed immediately to seek to terminate the Allied franchise. I assume that Allied will refuse to cooperate, a lawsuit may entail, or an adjudication procedure. This will take a few months. By the time the legal process is completed, ECUA will have the cans and the drivers, and a plan for distributing the cans quickly,” Walker said in an email response to questions from NorthEscambia.com.
If his fellow board members approved the takeover, Walker said there are some factors that might delay ECUA from picking up residential waste in North Escambia.
One delay might come from Allied choosing to fight the franchise takeover in the courts, Walker said.
“If Allied agrees to the takeover, the next challenge is cans,” he said. “If the 11,000 cans have arrived, there would be the time required to distribute them—a matter of a few weeks. If Allied would agree to ECUA use of the existing Allied cans, this factor would not slow down the takeover at all.”
Additional delays could result from the hiring and training of drivers, Walker said. “Putting all this together, ECUA could assume operation of the system within 30 days IF (a) Allied did not fight it, (b) cans were available—either new ECUA cans or the existing Allied cans—and (c) drivers could be employed/trained.”
As for the residential Allied customers in the Town of Century, they would see no change under Walker’s plans. He said that ECUA would consider picking up residential waste in Century “only if the City of Century requested it. That is City business, and ECUA will not infringe on the autonomy of the City of Century in any way.”
To read part one of this series, click here, for background information.
To read part two of this series, click here.
To read part three of this series, click here.
To read part four of this series, click here.
To read part five of this series, click here.
Century Care Center Plans Remembrance Ceremony
March 19, 2008
A remembrance ceremony for Century Care Center residents, both past and present, will be held at Century Care at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 5.
Century Care is encouraging participation for the families and friends of current and past residents. For more information, or to RSVP, contact Mae Hildreth at Century Care Center at 256-1540 no later than Friday, March 28.
Refreshments will be served.
School Board Talks Budget Savings
March 19, 2008
Cutting dollars was the theme of the Escambia County School Board’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday night.
Board members learned that the district saved $2.5 million last year when they consolidated several Pensacola area schools…Brownsville, Brown Barge and Wedgewood middle schools.
A hiring freeze is in effect in the district, with only essential personnel like teachers and principals being hired.
At Tuesday’s night meeting, the board trimmed about $8,000 from the current budget by voting to cut their use of the Pensacola Civic Center for graduations by a day, down to two days.
In other business, the board also voted to install an emergency generator at the Walnut Hill Bus Garage.