November 26, 2023

Hi Everyone,

Thanksgiving – My hope is that everyone was able to spend this holiday surrounded by the people they love and that everyone had plenty of food to eat and share with others. Citizen turnout at our commission meetings has been amazing, thank you all for supporting our city. Your participation is essential to its health and well-being and it’s having an impact.

City Charter Review

According to the agenda for Monday’s commission meeting, citizens interested in becoming part of our city’s charter review committee should fill out the advisory board application posted on the city’s website. Click here for a copy of that application. The purpose of the committee is to conduct a review of our charter and recommend changes. Our current charter was passed on November 2, 2014 and is to be reviewed every ten years. The charter review committee must consist of at least five members appointed by the commission. For more information or directions on how to submit your completed application please come to Monday’s meeting or contact our City Administrator Jerome Adams at (386) 345-3522 or by email adamsj@oakhillfl.gov.

Storm Water Fee

At the last commissioner’s meeting our city administrator Jerome Adams suggested that the City of Oak Hill impose a storm water fee upon its citizens to help pay for maintenance and to clean up debris that has accumulated through years of neglect. Over the course of the last year many citizens, including myself have made suggestions to the commission on alternative ways to clean and maintain our stormwater control system. Volusia Transform386 for example, was suggested as a potential source of funding. For more information click here to read my August 7, 2023 newsletter, or here to read my August 19, 2023  newsletter. As far as I know, out city has made no effort to secure any of these funds. Each time a suggestion is made, the mayor tells us that we’re waiting for a $50,000 stormwater study the city contracted with Mead and Hunt (our city engineer) to conduct. I was first told of this study over a year ago in October of 2022 during a conversation I had with the mayor about stormwater damage inflicted on the citizens on Nancy Street.

The adoption of a plan and yearly maintenance schedule for stormwater ditch cleaning and maintenance will afford our city the safety and security the system was intended to provide. This problem is not something that just happened overnight. The reason this has become such an enormous burden, the scope of which is overwhelming, is that years of neglect has allowed debris and erosion to fill and block the system. Key intersections such as culverts under roads have either collapsed or become blocked by sand and debris. When a system of vital importance is neglected and fissures in that system are allowed to fester, its utility wains. The cost to rehabilitate grows exponentially. It stands to reason that if you clean and maintain your home on a regular schedule, it’s much easier and less costly than if you let it go for an extended period of time. With this in mind, the imposition of a tax without reviewing available options or developing a plan, seems less than creative.

Saints & Sinners Cemetery

Dru Ann Welch has been spearheading an effort to rehabilitate the historic Saints and Sinners cemetery. Click here to review my October 28, 2023 newsletter. Many of the graves are those of U.S. Military Veterans and are in various stages of disrepair. Army veteran and Oak Hill resident Charlie Dean has been assisting Ms. Welch in her effort to document the graves. He has reached out to Sons of the American Legion, acting Vice Commander, Ricky Taylor to see if the Legion would be willing to act as a liaison to the V.A. for families that have veterans buried at this sight. Many of the grave markers are missing, broken or in bad condition. The American Legion has helped thousands of veterans and families obtain benefits from the V.A. and their knowledge and experience is indispensable. This is a good thing and I hope they’re successful in providing our veterans with a final resting place that reflects the pride our country takes in them. This is an excellent effort that our city can be proud of.

How do I get my vote back?

If you recall, at a special meeting held on October 19, 2023, the Oak Hill City Commission voted to award a $222,618.44 contract to JBI contractors to upgrade the baseball field at Mary Dewees Park. Click here to review my November 12, 2023 newsletter regarding this subject.

As the commission debated the issue at that special meeting, Mayor Gibson, in an effort to garner support for this project, told the commission that the city stood to gain a $900,000 windfall of additional ad-valorem tax revenue as a result of adopting the “preferred” millage rate. The “rollback” rate, would have kept the revenue the same as last year. Click here to view the mayor making this claim. He says it again here.

After the meeting, I sent the city accountant an email asking how much additional revenue our city stands to gain by adopting the “preferred millage rate as opposed to the “rollback” rate. Click here to view an email chain between our city accountant and myself. As you can see by reviewing the email, he explains the proper way to calculate the amount and then goes on to say the “rollback vs. actual comparison (assuming no changes from the preliminary rate which we did not do during the September hearings) can be done by comparing line 24 versus 25 on page 2 of the DR‐420. The line 24 amount is what the taxes would be at the rollback rate, while the line 25 amount is the taxes at the current rate – so about a $100,000 difference.”

So, our own city accountant says the additional ad-valorem tax revenue for 2024 will be $800,000 less than what the mayor tells the commission will come “flowing in.” You can see and hear in the video links that he convinced at least two other commissioners that we have enough revenue coming in. I argued that the additional revenue is only $100,000 and the mayor told me I’m wrong. Click here to view that exchange. This should concern all citizens of Oak Hill. If the mayor didn’t know what he was saying was inaccurate, that’s not good.  If he did know it, that’s even worse.

After this exchange I was apprehensive about what I had voted for so I reached out to the county ECHO grant manger seeking a copy of the grant application. After reviewing the document, I noticed some inconsistencies so I called them back for additional information. Specifically, resolution 2021-21, that is attached to the application, stated that the city had approved $60,000 in matching funds but the grant application stated the city was to provide “$144,892.53 confirmed matching funds.” Apparently, the amount the city voted to approve was incorrect and they had to submit a corrected resolution 2021-24. As the conversation progressed, I had mentioned to grant manager Kendra Hively that during the commissioner’s debate at the special meeting regarding this grant, I asked if we had budgeted for the matching funds and was told that we had not. In-fact the mayor made it perfectly clear that the money would be coming from the “general fund.”

Ms. Hively argued that after the money had been approved by the commission by adoption of resolution 2021-24, the money would have been placed in an “encumbered” fund and should be clearly identifiable in our city’s budget. This obvious conflict troubled me, so I reached out to our city accountant and asked if he could Identify any item in our city’s budget that would provide for this “encumbered” $144,892. To view this email exchange, click here. I’m currently seeking additional information from the city accountant because I have a feeling that most funding for projects that have not yet been budgeted for must be approved and the budget amended at some point by a commission vote. Those funds would also be encumbered.

With this in mind, if you think of all the funding that our city commission has approved in the last year alone, and I mean it’s a big list, hundreds and thousands of dollars, some reflected in the budget and some not; does that mean some or all of the $450,000 said to be in the general fund, to cover the matching funds, could be encumbered? Resolution 2021-24 was passed on October 25, 2021. That would imply that the $144,892 was incumbered from that day forward but was not reflected in the budget. Keep in mind that this is only one of the items approved by the commission that does not appear in the current fiscal budget. Kinda makes you wonder how much money we actually have. For a commissioner it’s like throwing darts with a blindfold on.

According to an audit report filed with the city of Oak Hill by BCM certified public accountants for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, titled, Financial Statements and Independent Auditor’s Reports, “The City is required to budget for all reasonably foreseeable revenues and expenditures for each fiscal year.” Click Here to view section, “MWOl (2022): Budget Deficiencies” in the audit report.

Note: If the commission had been provided all the information pertinent to this ECHO grant within a reasonable time (at least 5 working days) prior to the special meeting, would the vote had been the same? This would have allowed each commissioner ample time to conduct due diligence and research. Their decision would not have been based on misinformation.

The Gaines Street Gang

Some residents of North Gaines Street received notice from the city that Garden Street Communities has submitted a request for a Public Hearing of their Preliminary Development Plan. The meeting, with the PLDRC board, is scheduled for Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. at the City Hall. This is a typical ploy by our city; hold a meeting, the results of which will no doubt affect the lives of all citizens from the surrounding area, just 4 days before Christmas when most are traveling, have guests, or are otherwise distracted by the holiday season. It’s a shame that our own city government has such little regard for citizens and would engage in this type of inconsiderate behavior. To view the notice, click here. Wonder whose idea it was to throw this “turd in the punch bowl?”

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Our City Commissioner’s meeting is Monday, November 27 2023 at city hall. The time is 6:00 PM. Click here for the agenda pack.

Please come and let your voice be heard. Your presence and participation is how we hold our commission to account.

As always, it’s my pleasure to serve you, I appreciate your support. Please let me know what I can do to help. I’m here to represent you…

Thanks again,

Joe Catigano
Oak Hill City Commissioner
Seat 3

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