Water issues at charter review
Resolutions fail over adding a Water Quality Advisory Board, right to clean water
Members of the Charter Review Committee at last week’s meeting.
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN and LYNDA KINSEY
Members of the Charter Review Committee last week voted down last-minute proposals to put on next year’s ballot a question about whether to create a Water Quality Advisory Board to report on issues, and another that would have stated “Every man, woman and child in Wakulla County has the right to clean water.”
The Charter Review Committee had announced two weeks ago that it had finished holding meetings to discuss proposals, then a special meeting was set for Thursday, Nov. 2 to discuss the proposals, which were brought up by David Damon.
The first proposal, to create a board that would create an annual report on drinking water and groundwater issues, failed by a vote of 5-8. (A resolution required 10 of 13 members present to pass.)
That board would have monitored issues such as tap water quality in Wakulla schools; the old gasoline spill at the former jail – now Tax Collector’s Office – that is underground and moving towards the Sopchoppy well near the old Courthouse. It would have also reported on pollutants at the old landfill in Medart off Jack Crum Road.
The other issue of saying people have a right to clean water failed by a vote of 3 yeas to 10 nays.
The Charter Review Committee takes up possible changes to the county’s charter every eight years. Proposals go before county voters to vote up or down.
There are currently five proposals to be placed on the ballot: impact fee review every five years; require new development to preserve live oaks and longleaf pines larger than 6 inches in diameter; a limitation on RV parks to 5 units per acre, down from the current limit of 10; an anti-panhandling proposal; and a measure to review the charter every 5 years instead of 8.
Public hearings are set for Nov. 14 and 28 at the community center to discuss the proposals.
