DFS Agenda
The DeFuniak Springs City Council is to meet this evening at 6pm at city hall on Highway 90.
Planning Director Greg Scoville is listed with:
1. Authorize Mayor to Sign memorandum of Understanding
2. Authorize City Attorney to Prepare Abandonment Ordinance
Request fee waiver for use of the Chautauqua Building – Melinda Wickham & Terry Dawkins, Choctawhatchee Military Council
6. ORGANIZATIONAL UPDATE:
(A) Project Share – Joel Paul
(B) Walton County Economic Development Alliance – Scarlett Miller
City Attorney Clayton Adkinson has:
Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance #TBA – Repeal Purchasing Policy
City Marshal Mark Weeks has:
(A) Request for reimbursement of insurance payments for vehicle damage
(B) Request authorization for budget amendment due to grant award
Assistant City Manager Bill Holloway has:
(A) Request to purchase Basketball Goals for Pat Covell Park No. 2
(B) Request to purchase Flow Pacing Chlorinator for WWTP
(C) Ratification for Emergency Repairs
City Manager Kim Kirby has:
(A) Present Water Rate Structure Evaluation – Charles Peters, PMA
(B) Approve Interlocal Agreement with Walton County
(C) Request authorization for City Council Credit Cards
The council should also:
(A) Set Tentative Millage Rate
(B) Set Public Hearing Dates for the Budget and Millage
(C) Revenue and Expenditure Reports
(D) Bills
Accidents
Several accidents in Okaloosa this weekend, one resulting in a fatality.
We reported on a fatality accident Friday morning when a driver on Highway 85 drifted onto the grass shoulder and overcorrected. The truck began to rotate and go across the southbound lane when the driver overcorrected a second time, causing it to rotate in the opposite direction and slide onto the west shoulder and overturn on the truck’s right side then strike several trees. The driver, 29-year-old Anthony LaQuanne McPherson of Montgomery, Alabama, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected and died from injuries. Drug/alcohol tests are pending.
Also on State Road 85, near Lake Silver Road, Saturday afternoon, a Chevy car was northbound, preparing to turn west on Lake Silver Road. A Chevy pickup truck was southbound on Highway 85 when the car turned into the truck’s path. The truck’s driver, 29-year-old Kristina Brazen of Crestview, was unable to react in time and struck the car head on. Brazen is listed with serious injuries. Her passengers, one adult and three children are listed with critical and minor injuries. The driver of the car, 27-year-old James Carnes, also of Crestview, is listed with critical injuries. Charges are pending against Carnes after the chemical/drug test. Everyone was wearing seat belts.
Dayco Lawsuit Against Walton County
Dayco, based out of Freeport, has provided garbage collection services to north Walton residents since 1986. Walton County has questioned the billing and says Dayco has overbilled the county around $600,000. Previously reports told you of the county’s investigation and claims against Dayco, the county asking the sheriff to look into the matter, a letter from Leroy “Bud” Day addressing the overbilling and more recently the decision of the Freeport Council to follow the county in temporarily or permanently ending the contract with Dayco. The Freeport City Attorney said the county is ending the contract with Dayco August 15 and will use another garbage collector.
While Bud Day sent a letter saying his company would work with the county on the reported billing issue, he later retracted the letter and Dayco has filed a lawsuit against Walton. Court documents show the complaint is for a breach of contract for anticipatory repudiation of contract for declaratory judgement; for judgement of estoppel; and injunctive relief. Basically Dayco is asking the court to get involved in deciding if the contract can be ended. The garbage collector says loosing the contract with Walton will harm the company and if Walton contracts with someone else and the court sides with Dayco, then Walton could have two garbage collection contracts.
Using the additional sales tax, Walton provides garbage collection for its residents. The money does not cover all the garbage fees for non-residential. Dayco has a franchise for the unincorporated parts of Walton County and for the City of Freeport. Dayco says it has maintained a master customer service list and the company says the franchise agreement did not contain any provisions which defined a residence for billing purposes. The master customer list was created through a number of sources including county records. They also say there is no general methodology to be used in determining the number of residences for Dayco’s monthly billing. Dayco was allowed to bill directly for business garbage collection. Dayco says they relied on county databases and data sources.
In the complaint, Dayco says, in fifteen years, the county made no objections to the master customer list. On January 10, 2010, Walton Finance Director Bill Imfeld contacted Bud Day and said they had conducted an audit for billing from March 2006 to January 2010. This is when the overbilling was cited. The complaint says Dayco was given 30 days to correct the billing errors Imfeld said were grounded in inaccuracies in the master customer list. Dayco claims the audit was not an audit to determine the number of residences or households in north Walton, rather and audit to determine the physical addresses on Dayco’s master customer list coincided with GIS and E911 addresses derived from county databases.
Bud Day says he attempted to physically count all houses serviced by Dayco. The complaint also states Imfeld created a spreadsheet showing 11,703 households and compared what the complaint calls a preliminary number to the number of households invoiced to the County by Dayco for each of the previous 48 months. The complaint says this comparison is what Imfeld used to cite the overbilling for $587,387.14. The court complaint further says Imfeld and the County knew the allegation and claim was false because Imfeld and the County knew the incomplete number of households identified by Bud Day (11,703) was not representative of the number of households in the Dayco north Walton service area. The complaint says the County knew the allegation and claim of overbilling was false because the utilization of one specified stagnant number of households could not be an accurate representation of the number of households in north Walton for each month over a forty-eight month period.
WZEP News Segment 3
Obituaries
Mr. Ellis Vyvyan Williams, 90, of the Pleasant Grove Community of North Walton County passed away Friday, July 23. Floral arrangements are being accepted or memorials may be made to Anderson Broxson Cemetery Fund, 3393 County Road 183V, DeFuniak Springs, Florida, 32433. Services were Sunday. Arrangements by Jerry Evans .
Mrs. Lennie Mae Henderson-Prevatt, age 69, passed away Wednesday, July 21. Funeral services will be held 1:00 PM, Monday, July 26, at Clary-Glenn Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow in the Paxton Cemetery. Floral arrangements are being accepted. You may go online to view obituaries, offer condolences, sign guest book, at www.clary-glenn.com. Clary-Glenn Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements.
Mrs. Ellen J. Miley, age 86, of Freeport, passed away July 24. Graveside services were held at 10:00 AM, Sunday, July 25, at the Hatcher Cemetery. You may go online to view obituaries, offer condolences, sign guest book and www.clary-glenn.com. Clary-Glenn Freeport Chapel Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements.
Robert Gordon Plummer, age 78, of DeFuniak Springs, passed away Sunday, July 25. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, July 27 at Davis-Watkins Funeral Home, beginning at 5pm. A time of visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Chautauqua Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.daviswatkins.com. Arrangements and services are under the direction of Davis-Watkins Funeral Home and Crematory.
Christopher Emanuel Richards, age 62, of DeFuniak Springs, passed away Friday, July 16. A celebration of Christopher's life will be held Wednesday, July, 28 in the Chapel of Davis-Watkins Funeral Home, beginning at 2pm. Flowers are being accepted. Interment will be in Barrancas National Cemetery at a later date. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.daviswatkins.com. Arrangements and services are under the direction of Davis-Watkins Funeral Home and Crematory.