The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Zephyrhills City Hall

Zephyrhills voters head to the polls

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Voters in Zephyrhills will decide the outcome of two city council seats in an election set for April 10.

In District 3, Devin J. Alexander, Cory P. Sommers and Jodi Wilkeson are competing for the seat vacated by Kenneth Compton, who chose not to seek re-election.

In District 4, incumbent Charles E. Proctor will face challenger William D. Seville.

Brian Corley, Pasco County supervisor of elections

Voters can pick up carry-out absentee ballots through April 9, at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5344 Ninth St.

On April 10, voters must cast their ballots between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at Alice Hall Community Center, 38116 Fifth Ave., in Zephyr Park.

Although voter turnout is historically low for municipal elections, Brian E. Corley, supervisor of elections for Pasco County, thinks there could be an uptick in participation this year.

Voters “appear to be a little more energized than in the past, which certainly makes me a happy camper,” Corley said.

Plus, there’s a sizable number of voters who, for the first time, requested Vote by Mail ballots for the 2016 election cycle, leading up to the presidential and general election, Corley said. They requested ballots through every election for two cycles, he said.

These voters typically don’t vote in city elections, but ballots have been mailed to them.

So, now, “literally, all they have to do is fill in a couple of ovals, and drop it in the mail, or get it back to our office by 7 p.m. on the 10th, and it will obviously count.”

Corley finds it ironic that voter turnout “is through the roof” for elections when voters are choosing the nation’s president, but local elections have low turnouts.

“Your city council members — those are the ones you pass by, going to church, going to Walmart. They make very important decisions that deal with the future of your city. It really kind of baffles me that people don’t get involved in coming out to vote in those elections,” Corley said.

“They need to get off the sidelines. They need to get in the game and have their voices heard,” he added.

Meanwhile, voters won’t need to do a thing in Dade City, San Antonio or St. Leo on election day.

The results of those are already known — since the candidates in those races drew no opposition.

In Dade City, Scott Black and Camille S. Hernandez won seats on the City Commission.

In San Antonio, Elayne Bassinger, Sarah Schrader and Eric C. Stallworth won seats on the City Commission.

And, in St. Leo, Donna H. DeWitt, James E. Hallett and Richard Christmas won seats on the Town Commission.

Published April 4, 2018

Eddie Herrmann, a pillar in San Antonio, was an original

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Edward Joseph Herrmann, known as “Eddie” to most everyone in San Antonio, was an original, and with his passing on Oct. 21, the community paused to reminisce about a pillar of the community.

Eddie wore many hats. He was a father, a son, a husband, an uncle, a former Mayor of San Antonio, an award-winning winemaker, a writer and a respected historian.

His death came on the evening of the 51st annual San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival, an event which he co-founded with Deputy Sheriff Willy Post, as a project of the Jaycees.

Edward ‘Eddie’ Joseph Herrmann died on Oct. 21, on the first evening of the 51st annual San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival, an event he co-founded in the town of San Antonio, in East Pasco County. (Courtesy of Madonna Jervis Wise)

To know Eddie was to appreciate a man who revered his community, and valued the facts and lessons of history.

Local history buffs and museums regularly consulted with Eddie.

“Eddie gave me many photos to use on the Fivay.org website, and he was able to provide information about a number of old photos,” said Jeff Miller, who operates the website and is a respected local historian.

“Eddie knew of the existence of a large collection of high-quality vintage photos of Dade City, San Antonio and surrounding towns. Most of the photos were taken by the Dade City Chamber of Commerce in the late 1920s, and before. He asked Oliver and Barbara DeWitt of Dade City, who are now in possession of the photos, to allow me to scan the photos, which are known as the Helen Eck Sparkman Collection. They can be viewed and downloaded in high resolution on the Fivay.org website,” Miller said.

These photos of public places and historic homes are indicative of Eddie’s zeal to capture accurate information and to share his knowledge, often through anecdotes, about the culture and flavor of a specific time or event.

Herrmann co-authored “The Historic Places of Pasco County,” commonly called “the orange book,” with James J. Horgan and Alice Hall in 1992.

The volume traces the history of the county from 1887 to a hundred years later, in 1987, describing 264 buildings, sites, and homes that were designated as historic. The book also provides a map and guide to the county’s cemeteries.

Compiling the information was a gargantuan task.

And, Eddie told others about a time he once spent 24 hours, without a break, conducting research for the book, along with his great friend, the iconic Zephyrhills activist Alice Hall.

“We spent the night together at the Zephyrhills City Hall poring through records, and they just left us there all night,” Eddie said.

Eddie was a charter member of the Pasco County Historical Preservation Committee, formed in 1977 by the Pasco County Commission.

In his role on the committee, he was involved in the placement of historical markers throughout Pasco County.

His work was valuable in protecting landmarks, said Scott Black, another local historian and a member of the Dade City Commission.

Eddie identified “important sites around the county that were in danger of being forgotten,” Black said, via email.

“I particularly remember how often he would talk about his quest for the ‘26-Mile House,’ which was a stagecoach stop 26 miles south of Chocochattee (present-day Brooksville) on the old road to Tampa,” Black said.

Eddie pinpointed the location so well that he was able to persuade the county to require Lennar Homes to fund an historical marker at the entrance of the Stagecoach Village housing development in Land O’Lakes — as one of the permitting conditions for the development, Black recalled.

Pat Mulieri, a member of the Pasco County Commission at the time, recognized Eddie’s contributions in a proclamation he received in 2014 on the steps of the Pasco County Historic Courthouse in Dade City.

Edward ‘Eddie’ Joseph Herrmann is in the front row on the far left, in this photograph taken at one of scores of historic marker dedications he took part in, throughout Pasco County.

Eddie rarely missed a meeting of the Pasco County Historical Society, and he served the organization in every capacity, from president to board member to program chairman, for many years.

He provided a wealth of information, and was always ready to help others unearth historic facts.

For example, he delved into assisting Eva Martha Knapp and Hernando High School students with documenting the 1944 German POW Camp No. 7 that was operated in Dade City during World War II. During the course of that work, Eddie forged friendships with several former soldiers — hosting them at his home and then visiting them in Germany.

Eddie had the knack of seeing both the forest, and the trees.

He recognized the interweaving of the economy, resources and changing political issues.

For instance, he had extensive knowledge about Florida horticulture, and proved to be an invaluable resource for me, when I was conducting my research for local history books about Dade City and Wesley Chapel.

As an example, he encouraged me to include the impact of a cactus farmer, Anthony Tuzzolino of Wesley Chapel, who raised 15 acres of cacti and imported cacti, and other produce, from Wesley Chapel to Ybor City during the early 1940s.

Beyond merely telling me that, Eddie researched the issue, contacting the Pasco County Cooperative Extension Office, as well as the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences on Opuntia Cactus, and then he passed along several citations to me.

Thus, I wasn’t surprised when I later learned that Eddie himself was an accomplished gardener and grower. As a matter of fact, he won the Florida Grape Growers Association’s first winemaking competition in 1974, and then went on to spend years continuing to hone his skills in growing grapes and making wine.

When gopher tortoises were declared a “species of special concern,” Eddie embraced the opportunity to protect the tortoises — which had been used in races at the Rattlesnake Festival. He spearheaded the design of a large wooden version of a toy that resembled a gopher tortoise to be used instead.

Eddie’s research also helped correct the record on one of Dade City’s most iconic buildings, Miller said.

“It had long been thought that the historic 1909 courthouse in Dade City was designed by a local man, Artemus Roberts, but Eddie discovered that it was actually designed by Edward Columbus Hosford, an architect who designed many courthouses and other buildings in the South,” the local historian explained.

“Eddie’s discovery came about after his brother Gregory moved to Mason, Texas, and told Eddie that the courthouse there looked almost exactly like the one in Dade City, but that it was designed by Hosford. Eddie looked through the old minutes of the Pasco County Commission and found that Hosford did indeed design the Pasco courthouse, and that Roberts was the Superintendent of Construction,” Miller added.

In addition to his public life, Eddie was a man who treasured his faith and family.

Every Sunday, he could be found kneeling in his pew in church at his parish of St. Anthony of Padua in San Antonio. Then, the family gathered for a pancake breakfast at his parents’ home.

He also was an active member of the St. Leo community and participated in St. Leo Abbey events. Articles he wrote about Father Felix Ullrich, former pastor of Saint Anthony Church, and about the history of San Antonio can be found on Miller’s website, Fivay.org.
With Eddie’s passing, San Antonio has lost a man who worked tenaciously for the community’s good.

Those of us who were lucky enough to know him, will miss Eddie’s optimistic outlook and energy.

In his final email to me, he signed off in customary way: “Keep smiling. It looks good on you!”

It was the same kind of upbeat sentiment that he conveyed, in so many different ways, during a life well-spent in San Antonio.

Edward “Eddie” Joseph Herrmann

  • Edward Joseph Herrmann, widely known as ‘Eddie,’ was born to Joe Herrmann and Rose Ullrich Herrmann on July 25, 1936 in the Jovita Building in San Antonio.
  • Eddie grew up in the Jovita Building that was built by his grandfather, Lucius Herrmann, a baker by trade, and Tony Rachel, with help from his father, Joe, and his aunt, Margaret Herrmann Kirch, who were teenagers at the time. The family lived upstairs, with businesses downstairs.
  • Eddie had several siblings: Margaret Herrmann Beaumont, Paul Herrmann, Rosemary Herrmann, Joseph Herrmann, Barbara Herrmann Sessa, John Herrmann, Mary Sue Herrmann Keenan and Gregory Lucius Herrmann.
  • Eddie started school a year early at St. Anthony School and skipped a grade. He graduated when he was 16 from St. Leo College Prep School.
  • Eddie married Mary Patricia “Patsy” Miller on Oct. 19, 1955. Their 62nd anniversary was just two days before Eddie died. The couple’s five children are: Michael Joseph Herrmann, Amy Herrmann Greif, Larry Herrmann, Laura Herrmann Bailey and Eric Herrmann.
  • After finishing high school, Eddie worked for his dad’s Saf-T-Gas Company, but eventually bought the Culligan Soft Water Business from his dad and raised his kids in ‘Culligan Kindergarten,’ with the children riding around with him for years in his big truck, as he serviced his route. His wife, Patsy, was the bookkeeper.

This biographical information was supplied by Margaret Herrmann Beaumont, Eddie’s sister.

By Madonna Jervis Wise

Published November 1, 2017

Water and sewer rates expected to rise in Zephyrhills

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Zephyrhills residents could see an increase on their utility bills, beginning next year.

City staff is recommending a 4-percent increase in water rates and an 8-percent increase in sewer rates for all customers each year for a five-year period, beginning Jan. 1.

The Zephyrhills City Council voted unanimously for City Attorney Matthew Maggard to draft an ordinance regarding the proposed rate increases, during its July 10 meeting.

The first reading of the ordinance is slated for its next council meeting, on July 24.

The new two-story Zephyrhills City Hall will include new council chambers, office and storage space, restrooms, a lobby, stairways, an elevator and a courtyard. (Courtesy of City of Zephyrhills)

As an example, a customer in Zephyrhills using 3,000 gallons of water per month currently sees a bill of $40.03. With the January rate hike, the bill would rise to $43.14, an increase of $3.12. It does not include sanitation rates, which already is an additional $11.25 per month.

Users of 5,000 gallons per month would see their bills increase from $53.29 to 57.52, an increase of $4.23; while users of 7,500 gallons of water a month would see their bills increase from $73.12 to $78.75, an increase of $5.63.

A recent study conducted by Raftelis Finance Consultants, found that 79 percent of residential customers use 5,000 gallons or less a month.

The impeding rate hikes, according to City Manager Steve Spina, are primarily to “help keep up with costs in the Utility Department for operation maintenance.”

Additional revenues from utility also will be used toward debt service, renewal and replacement costs (new pipes, equipment), capital funding (extending services to new development, plant expansions to handle growth) and maintaining reserves.

“I don’t like (rate) increases anymore than the next person,” councilman Lance Smith said, “but, I do like my water to come on when I turn the faucet on.”

The draft ordinance, too, will call for an increase to utility impact fees on new construction.

For a single-family residence, water impact fees are slated to rise from $641 to $1,010. Sewer impact fee rates also are expected to jump from $2,010 to $2,260, for a single-family home.

The city originally sought to enact the rate increases, if approved, by October.

Spina, however, suggested city leaders delay the implementation schedule due to an ongoing water utility project.

Last fall, the city began rolling out a program through a contractor, Arizona-based Fathom, to replace all of the city’s meters and begin a digital monitoring bill-paying system  — costing the city $6 million over two years.

The Fathom rollout led to numerous complaints from residents, who saw their bills go up after installation of new bar meters provided more precise water-usage readings, finding leaks the old system did not detect.

During the council meeting, Spina reasoned that delaying the rate increases will allow the city to fully complete the Fathom transition, and allow customers to adapt to both the new system and new rates.

“We had rough patches with Fathom, which we’re pretty much finalizing and getting through,” Spina said. … “Frankly, we — me and the administration— did not do a very good job of advertising, publicizing and explaining the different events that were going to occur during that rollout, and should we ever have something like this again, we definitely know what to do and what not to do.”

Council president Alan Knight later advised Spina to put together a public outreach campaign for the five-year utility rate increases.

The city’s last five-year rate hike, approved in 2012, called for a 10-percent hike for the first three years and 5 percent the final two years.

In other action, the city council received a visual preview of the new, $6.2 million Zephyrhills City Hall building.

Public works director Shane LeBlanc displayed an artist’s final design rendering of the two-story brick building, which will measure 19,615 square feet.

In January, the council voted to construct the new edifice, replacing the current 13,497-square-foot City Hall, at 5334 Eighth St., which dates back to the 1950s.

Demolition is scheduled in the next few weeks, with construction beginning Aug. 23 and lasting for approximately one year.

Council members expressed enthusiasm for the conceptual drawing showing the west entrance of the property, which features a courtyard plaza that will connect City Hall with the adjacent Zephyrhills Library.

The rendering also shows a fountain as its centerpiece in an area that will include public-use seating.

Besides the courtyard plaza, the new City Hall will include upgraded council chambers, additional office and storage space, restrooms, a lobby, stairways and elevator.

The rendering was furnished by architectural firm Harvard Jolly.

Published July 19, 2017

Riding the Route 54 County Connector

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They cut the ribbon on a posh new bus a few weeks ago, signaling optimistic expansion of Pasco County’s two-year-old east-west route linking Zephyrhills and New Port Richey.

Assembled under a fan-cooled tent in the parking lot of the Medical Center at Trinity, officials spoke buoyantly about the future of mass transit in Pasco County, with the bus in the background lending physical evidence to their commitment.

And, what evidence it is. Sleek. Ocean blue, emblazoned with a green and yellow stripe undulating across the side — a wave below a bright ball of sun and a seagull taking wing.

Courtesy of Pasco County Pasco County is using this new bus in an expansion of its east-west route, linking Zephyrhills and New Port Richey.
Courtesy of Pasco County
Pasco County is using this new bus in an expansion of its east-west route, linking Zephyrhills and New Port Richey.

Inside, more blue. Soothing. Welcoming. Comfy, upholstered padded seats that say, sit, rest, stay awhile. Overhead, adjustable air conditioning vents and reading lights, just like on intra-city buses and airliners. Upscale.

And, that’s not all. Over the next several months, they’ll add free Wi-Fi, introducing the option of online productivity or entertainment to your ride, while Pasco County Public Transportation drivers get you pretty close to where you need to go.

It’s all perfectly splendid. But, so far, it’s also all a dream. Not that the new buses, two of them, aren’t authentic. Or, that Pasco’s commitment to mass transit isn’t both enthusiastic and genuine. But, there’s a reason there’s no mention of “rapid” in the system’s official name, as we shall see.

Let’s be clear. If, just now, it serves as nothing more than a symbolic reminder that Pasco is a single, unified entity, and not some geographic hybrid stitched together by whimsical bureaucrats and maintained by stubborn tradition, then the connector serves a valuable purpose.

Still, the additional buses, acquired through a $1.031 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, represent a severe test of the “Field of Dreams” launching instructions. If they drive them, will riders come?

Having traveled the line, designated the “Route 54 County Connector,” roundtrip from Zephyrhills to the Trinity hospital recently, I can say without hesitation: Winning converts is going to take time.

And, that’s a generous review. The trip, which, even following the bus’ roundabout circuit, could have been accomplished by car in about two hours, took more than twice as long.

Possibly because of this snail’s pace, there were long stretches where I was the only passenger aboard. At its most crowded — after a late-afternoon stop at the Wiregrass campus of Pasco-Hernando State College — I shared my ride with five others.

Not that you can’t meet pleasant company along the way, among them Jonathan Funnel (pronounced “foo-NELL,” accent on the second syllable), 25, who routinely rides from the Zephyrhills City Hall stop to The Groves for his job at the Cobb cineplex.

Funnel, who reports he loves all movies, everything having to do with baseball, plus the NFL’s Packers and Eagles, likes that the bus drops him near the Grove’s Dick’s Sporting Goods store. “It’s heaven,” he says.

Among the notes jotted by Funnel’s traveling companion: “We rode together about 25 minutes. A car couldn’t have done much better.” Our driver, Jose Rojas, 62, a retired postal worker from Land O’ Lakes who piloted heavy machinery as a Marine, observes pleasantly, “Today’s been rainy. There’s no traffic. I love it.”

About then the radio squawks. The bus out of Zephyrhills goes only as far as The Shops at Wiregrass. There, in the parking garage, westbound passengers switch. But, the connector, bound from Trinity, is caught in a snarl triggered by a crash near Collier Parkway.

“Uh-oh,” Rojas murmurs. When we arrive at the mall terminus, the driver apologizes for the delay with a what-are-you-gonna-do shrug, adding “He’ll be along in a while.”

He’s seven minutes early, so he gets out and stretches, groaning pleasantly. No passengers board before Rojas makes his on-time departure, half-a-million-dollars of empty bus.

“A while” turns out to be most of a half hour, which allows time to strike up a conversation with Odette Rennie, 69, a Virgin Islander who settled in a Land O’ Lakes village along State Road 54 sometime after a nearly catastrophic accident in Los Angeles broke her right arm in three places and convinced her to swear off personal transportation almost completely.

She’ll ride if her husband or son are driving. Otherwise, she takes the bus, even though she concedes — as do many fans of public transportation — managing the last half-mile home presents challenges of its own. Some days it’s brutally hot. Today, near the Ferman new car dealership, she exits into a downpour, lamenting she’d left her big umbrella at home.

Worse, because the bus is designed to drop passengers onto raised platforms, Rennie makes a big step onto an unpaved shoulder, punctuating the maneuver, “Ow, wow!”

After that, riders come and go singly. One seems to have just finished a shift at Big Lots; he falls asleep immediately. Another, at the Suncoast Parkway, has come from a bike ride. He loads his two-wheeler on the front, drops coins in the slot, slumps into a seat and, buds in ears, studies his smartphone. Farther up, a boarding passenger complains that the bus is late. She doesn’t want to hear about the accident.

Nobody does. If the buses are adequate, and this one is more than that, nothing kills ridership quite like blown schedules. On the day they snipped the ribbon, Commissioner Kathryn Starkey conceded as much. “We’ll never get people out of their cars as long as buses can get stuck in traffic. We need real bus rapid transit” — that is, buses traveling in lanes reserved only for buses.

Still, if you’re not in a rush, there’s something to be said for riding, especially if you take one of the scenic seats a couple of steps up in the back. Not driving means you can fixate on industrious egrets following a tractor-drawn mower hacking through a pasture. Not driving and sitting up high means you finally see over the reeds to the little lagoon with a small dock framed in lattice west of Keystone Community Church.

Being alone, being chauffeured, means your thoughts can wander. I’m thinking, from time to time, riding the bus just might be therapeutic. And, at $3 a roundtrip, it will be cheaper than any shrink.

This is the buzz in my head at the end of my four-hour odyssey. It could have been worse. And my mind is oddly at ease. If I’m ever not in a hurry again, I could do this.

 Published Oct. 19, 2016

 

 

Zephyrhills poised to name Spillman permanent fire chief

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Four months after being named the interim fire chief, the Zephyrhills City Council is set on Monday to make Daniel Spillman’s job at the head of the city’s fire rescue department permanent.

Spillman took over the department in June when Verne Riggall — under fire for how he had run the agency over a two-year period — resigned before city council members could vote on whether to terminate him.

Spillman interviewed for the permanent position Sept. 22, and competed against Capt. Ralph Velez and former Pasco County fire service officer Stephen Smith for the job, according to city documents. The three made their bids for the job in front of a selection committee that included Zephyrhills city manager Steve Spina, city human resources director Sandra Amerson, former fire captain Scott Winters, and Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce executive director Vonnie Mikkelsen.

Velez has been a captain with the fire department for more than seven years, according to an online social media profile, and also has served on the board of Main Street Zephyrhills Inc. between 2005 and 2011. Velez has spent 24 years total with the Zephyrhills fire department, according to published reports, and graduated from Zephyrhills High School in the early 1980s.

Smith spent six years as a training chief for Pasco County Fire Rescue, according to an online business profile, and retired from that job in 2010. He’s currently a charge paramedic and trainer in Manatee County, and has consulted with and worked as an expert legal witness for EDT Corp., for nearly 25 years.

Spillman joined the Zephyrhills fire department in September 2013 after spending more than a year as a fire chief in Escambia County. He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida International University, and a master’s degree from City University in Bellevue, Washington, according to his resume.

As city manager, Spina has the power to appoint and even remove the chiefs of both the fire and police department, as long as he has a simple majority approval from the city council.

Riggall worked in High Springs as the fire chief the same time now former Zephyrhills city manager Jim Drumm led that city’s administration. Drumm resigned his job in Zephyrhills less than two months before Riggall after realizing he didn’t have the council’s support to continue as city manager.

Before he left, however, Drumm already had considered investigating issues in the fire department under Riggall. Spina continued the investigation after he took over as interim city manager, and said there were problems in how Riggall staffed fire engines and emergency response vehicles. Some of the staffing records also showed there were not enough workers on hand to safely respond to necessary calls, Spina said, and even they didn’t have all the appropriate equipment they would need.

The fire department was suffering from low morale, as well, and Riggall reportedly did not keep regular office hours, Spina’s report at the time said. Instead showing up at non-traditional times so that he could work around his wife’s schedule.

The city council will make the final decision during its regular meeting Oct. 13 at 6 p.m., at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Zephyrhills threatening to sack fire station contractor

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The renovation of Zephyrhills Fire Station 2 already is hundreds of thousands of dollars over budget and months behind schedule. And it seems city officials have had enough.

The city council has set a special meeting for Tuesday where it’s possible Pillar Construction LLC as well as Canerday Belfsky Arroyo Architects are fired.

City attorney Joe Poblick informed the companies of the impending decision Aug. 14 in an email to Pillar project manager Kevin Boutros, as well as architects Leo Arroyo and Richard Belfsky. The move came after a series of emails between the city and Boutros where both sides disagreed not only on when the long-delayed project was projected to be completed, but how much it would cost as well.

Pillar and Canerday were awarded the big in 2013 for $1.03 million, and for work to be complete by July 3. In May, however, both came to the city council and shared complications in the renovation work, including some shoddy construction that had taken place at the fire station, which is located next to city hall in downtown Zephyrhills, over the years. They first asked for another 36 days to complete the work, but then adjusted that to double the original time, moving the completion date to Jan. 11, according to city documents.

Those changes include more than $263,000 in additional expenses, bringing the total project cost to $1.3 million — nearly 30 percent higher than originally planned.

City public works director Shane LeBlanc cut the cost of changes down to $207,000, rejecting requests for additional money for electrical work, bracing, and structural work. The city also demanded that most of the work be done ahead of Christmas, but Boutros made it clear in an email that it would be nearly three weeks later, by Jan. 11.

City officials are asking the council to demand Pillar accept the lower amount and the shorter construction time, or terminate the contact. The council will have to make that decision during the special meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. in Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Vandalism blocks opening of new Zephyrhills restaurant

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A successful restaurant near the Florida State Fairgrounds wants to expand into Zephyrhills, but nearly $40,000 in much-needed repair work on the new location could kill the deal.

The Zephyrhills City Council, meeting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, could approve a measure that would give Michael and Laura Andrews a chance to open a Smokehouse B-B-Q & Grill at 5740 Seventh St.

The Andrews want to take over the space formerly occupied by Pancho Villa’s Mexican Restaurant, and purchased the 36-year-old building for $95,000, according to county property records. The property sold in 2003 for $250,000, and was being sold as part of a short sale, according to a June letter from Rebecca Gaddis, a vice president at San Antonio Citizens Federal Credit Union.

The Andrews tried to get a Small Business Administration loan to help cover the purchase cost of the building and complete the major repairs, but the the condition of the building made that impossible, Gaddis said.

“The down payment, closing costs and required repairs will exhaust the available capital the Andrews currently have,” Gaddis said in her letter. “The opening of Smokehouse B-B-Q & Grill Inc., would be delayed, while the furniture and needed equipment to operate the business are purchased over time. ”

Gaddis added the restaurant could create 25 to 30 new jobs for Zephyrhills, and remove a vacant storefront from the city’s downtown.

Smokehouse B-B-Q was started in 2004 on U.S. 301, one mile north of Interstate 4 in Tampa, Gaddis said. Although revenue has steadily increased over the past few years, the Andrews felt they had reached their capacity at their current location, and wanted to add a second one.

The CRA is set to meet Aug. 11 at 5:30 p.m., at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Zephyrhills council takes aim at fire chief

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Update: Published reports state that Verne Riggall resigned as the Zephyrhills fire chief on Friday, leaving the city council with the job of appointing an interim chief Monday night.

Zephyrhills Fire Chief Verne Riggall followed his former city manager, Jim Drumm, from High Springs. But he might soon be following him out as well.

Steve Spina, who replaced Drumm on an interim basis as Zephyrhills city manager, wants the city council to remove Riggall from his job as the city’s top firefighter. And that decision could come as early as the council’s meeting Monday night.

“There is a clear lack of coordination and communication in Zephyrhills Fire Rescue, and a lack of support and respect for the chief from the personnel I interviewed,” Spina said in a memo to the council. “This chief is not bringing people together in a way that is critical in ensuring the proper response of emergency personnel, and the provision of timely and adequately equipped rescue vehicles. There is a clear sense of dysfunction and morale issues that impacts the day-to-day operations, and I believe hampers the ability to provide top notch fire rescue services.”

Riggall was named the city’s fire chief in 2012, a year after resigning from a similar job in High Springs after finding his position was being eliminated from the city budget. Drumm had already left his job there as city manager, and moved to Zephyrhills. Riggall followed soon after, first stepping in as an interim, and six months later, offered the job permanently.

That vote in April 2013 had everyone patting each other on the back, according to published reports. A group of firefighters had even attended the council meeting, cheering Riggall on. Then council president Kent Compton said Riggall’s credentials were “decades in the making.”

But a lot has changed in a year. Drumm resigned this past April after learning he would not have enough votes on the council to renew his contract. And before he left, Drumm was starting an investigation of Riggall, who some said had lost the confidence of his firefighters.

Many of those issues were spelled out in Spina’s memo. One of the biggest concerns was how Riggall was staffing fire engines and emergency response vehicles. Some of the staffing records showed that there were not enough personnel on hand to safely respond to necessary calls, and even they didn’t have all the appropriate equipment they would need.

If a problem had arose, Riggall said a backup unit or one from Pasco County could help, but relying on such help was problematic, Spina said.

Another issue involved the hours Riggall worked. His shift would sometimes include late nights and weekends — something he reportedly said was to better accommodate his wife’s schedule.

“Department heads should be available during the day to respond to city council, the public, staff and the city manager and other department heads,” Spina wrote. “Most people will not try to contact the chief at 9 p.m., or on weekends.”

Spina said when he asked Riggall how he would correct these issues, he was told that Riggall would “try to improve communications.”

In a second memo to the council ahead of Monday’s meeting, Spina outlined his investigation, which also included interviews with fire union representative Michael Richards, Lt. Kerry Barnett and City Clerk Linda Boan, along with “several other” fire department employees.

Riggall was placed on paid leave June 2.

Spina is asking the city council to fire Riggall, which only requires three of the five council members to agree. If that does happen, Spina has also recommended an interim fire chief: Daniel Spillman.

Spillman, according to Spina, joined the city’s fire department last September after spending more than a year as fire chief with Escambia County. He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and a master’s degree from City University in Bellevue, Washington, according to his resume.

Monday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Zephyrhills cancels fire station meeting Tuesday

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A meeting set up to talk about potential cost overruns at Zephyrhills Fire Rescue Station No. 2 Tuesday night has been cancelled.

The city council will instead take up the nearly $250,000 in overruns in a massive renovation project at the fire station during its regular June 9 meeting, City Clerk Linda Boan said.

In a memo to the council, acting city manager Steve Spina said that he had hoped to have more information about those cost overruns at the May 27 meeting, but getting that information is taking a little longer than anticipated. Spina has proposed holding a workshop to go over some of the details of the changes ahead of that meeting, but it’s not clear when and if that would be scheduled.

Renovations for the 54-year-old building were expected to cost just over $1 million, but could now reach as high as $1.3 million. When workers there started demolishing parts of the original fire station, they found a structure much different than they had anticipated. Some of the building was not even constructed to existing code at the time, an architect involved with the project told the city council earlier this month, and his being help up mostly by weak walls.

Some of the issues being worked out include wall scans to find out what other problems might exist behind the drywall, Spina said, as well as some changes to how the electrical systems will be fixed.

The city council’s next meeting is slated for 6 p.m. on June 9 at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Drumm outlines conditions to resign as city manager

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One of Charlie Proctor’s first duties as president of the Zephyrhills City Council is a somber one, by his own admission.

Wednesday, Proctor and the rest of the council will consider a resignation proposal from City Manager Jim Drumm, leaving a vacancy in the city’s top manager’s job for the second time in three years.

In an April 17 letter to Mayor Gene Whitfield and the rest of the council, Drumm maintains his position that the council can’t remove him without four out of five votes, but said he is willing to step down so that the city can move forward.

“This past month has been unsettling for me and my family,” Drumm said. “We came to Zephyrhills seeking stability, and now we have learned that with little notice, we are to leave. This greatly disappoints me.”

The call for change started in March when Drumm’s three-year contract, which expires next month, was up for renewal. Then city council president Lance Smith said he did not want to renew it, joined by fellow councilman Ken Burgess. Proctor, who at first supposed Drumm, later changed his position after what he said was a community mandate to make a change in the city manager’s post.

The question, however, was whether or not the city could part ways with Drumm, even if they didn’t have four votes to oust him. City officials sought three legal opinions, including one earlier this month spearheaded by now former councilwoman Jodi Wilkeson, which all agreed that Drumm could be asked to leave at the end of his contract, whether there were four votes to support it or not.

His contact, Drumm said, was in conflict with the city charter, and when there is a conflict, the charter should be the prevailing document — much like the U.S. Constitution, or Florida’s state constitution.

“We all, including me, have sworn to uphold them all in our oath of office,” Drumm said in his letter.

If accepted by the council, Drumm would receive all wages earned through his last day, reimbursement of all accrued vacation leave, and 20 percent of his accrued sick leave. He also would receive 20 weeks of severance — at a cost of nearly $35,000 — and city-paid premium payments of his health insurance for the next five months.

In return, Drumm will step down and not pursue any legal action against the city.

Wednesday’s special meeting begins at 6 p.m., at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.