January 19, 2021
The Town of Glen St. Mary held a regular monthly meeting on Tuesday,
January 19, 2021 at 7:27 P.M. at the Town Hall with Council MembersMcCullough, Oca, Padgett and Reneau present. Mayor Steve Rhynehardt presided over the meeting. Council member Reneau opened with prayer followed by the flag salute.
Note: These meeting minutes are a summarized version of the actual discussions at the meeting. These are not verbatim transcripts. For a complete audio recording of the discussion please contact Donna Loadholtz at glenstmary3777@glenstmary.org.
Minutes: Consideration:
A) Approval of minutes of December 15, 2020 - Regular Monthly Minutes: On a motion by Council member Padgett, second by Council member Reneau, the Board voted to approve theminutes as presented. (Vote 5-0)
Policy Agenda Items:
A) Review Prior Month Expenditures – Council had no questions about the prior month’s expenditures. On a motion by Council member Padgett, second by Council member Reneau, the Board voted to approve the prior month’s expenditures. (Vote 5-0)
Mayor Rhynehardt then asked Council if they had any new business. Council member Padgett brought up that there are semis parking on the right of ways. The Town has an ordinance to deal with this matter because after a while the semis will break up the edge of the roadways. Council member Reneau added that she has been contacted about vehicles with no tags all over town. Attorney Bense suggested sending letters out and then send them to the magistrate if they do not comply.
Mayor Rhynehardt updated Council with old business. He turned it over to Attorney Bense to discuss the Waste Water Grease Traps. Attorney Bense asked Council if they had received the information he emailed with Macclenny’s ordinance and the draft of ours. Part III of Macclenny’s Ordinance indicates that we are a utility contracted out and they have the heightened responsibility as the provider. We are the user, but need regulations for our customers. There are also federal regulations and we have included everything they regulate in our version. We already have a piece of that in our Ordinance. Other than the federal regulations, it has what we need to stay out of trouble with Macclenny. Also not included here are permits that Macclenny requires for significant users. We are considered an industrial user to Macclenny, but we do not have any industrial customers here but we could define an industrial user based on their sewer usage or percentage of sewer capacity they are using and we could establish a license to increase revenues. This would be up to the council but would give a little room for more revenue and also a little heightened regulation. There are still inspections that could be done without the permits. Everything else pretty much mirrors theirs. They basically have an ordinance for each type of user, but we do not. It is important to get this in place before we need it and don’t have anything, but don’t want to piece mill it either. We can amend it later if we need to. Mayor Rhynehardt told Council we had to call in professionals in last month for a sewer line that was clogged. The professional snake had a tough time in part of the sewer line. We are paying for something that didn’t just happen overnight, but this has been building up over many years. We also found the grease trap is not piped as shown on the sewer as-builts. We have no idea when it was changed or who did it. Attorney Bense pointed out Section 14 addresses accessibility for inspection. He also mentioned there is a range for violations listed at the end. Businesses would have to come into compliance, there would be no grandfathered properties in this matter. Council member Padgett stated that the City of Macclenny is having this problem and she thinks they are about to get someone to go out and inspect businesses to make sure the grease traps are being cleaned. This would put something else on Matt, but the bigger you get the more problems you have. Council member McCullough asked if a new account would need to be inspected. Maintenance employee and water plant operator, Matt Torgerson stated he believes the Health Department would be the inspector. The Town should have been notified to give a letter to the County prior to permits being issued. Mayor Rhynehardt asked Council if they want to move forward with the grease trap ordinance. Attorney Bense stated the question is whether or not we wait to have a permit system in place. Councilman Oca and Council member McCullough agreed that the Town should. Attorney Bense replied we will do that for significant industrial users. They are currently listed as those using 25,000 gallons or more per average work day, but that will probably not happen because that is the total capacity that we have with the City of Macclenny. Anyone using 5% or more of the Town’s capacity would be considered. Council then briefly discussed the Dollar General that is using 15% of our capacity. They have been notified several times regarding this matter. They have paid every bill, but it would be cheaper to get it fixed. Another user type would be any users that have toxic pollutants that would be regulated by the Florida Statutes. A laundromat would fall under this category. The State has other regulated areas for the Environmental Protection Agency that may also be covered. Attorney Bense told Council he will make the changes discussed and will try to have it ready for the first reading next month.
On a motion by Council member Reneau, second by Councilman Oca, the Town meeting was adjourned at 7:53 P.M.
