New High Springs City Manager terminates Public Works Director, Commission will allow camping on City property for BMX event

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – At the April 25 Regular Meeting of the High Springs City Commission, a woman announced during public comment that newly-hired City Manager Jeremy Marshall has fired longtime City of High Springs employee and Public Works Director Thomas Henry. Marshall, who is from New York, was absent from the meeting due to a pre-planned two-week vacation. Commissioners also voted to approve a special event permit to allow camping on City property during a BMX event.

National Day of Prayer Proclamation

Mayor Katherine Weitz began the meeting with a proclamation declaring Thursday, May 2 a National Day of Prayer. She read the proclamation aloud, and she talked about the National Day of Prayer’s history since 1775 and how it was signed into law by Congress in 1952 and re-affirmed by President Reagan in 1988.

Public comment

During public comment, Kelly and Dave Potter from Prohibition Pizza said Sunday is one of their busiest days, but they depend on being able to seat their customers at the High Springs Brewing Company. They said the brewery was closed this past Sunday because they were not able to obtain a special permit to remain open on Sunday, as they had previously been able to do. Weitz explained that special permits should never have been issued since the local ordinance has no provision for such permits. The Potters encouraged Weitz and the Commissioners to work out a solution that would help all local businesses and help make High Springs a weekend-long destination for tourists instead of only on Saturdays.

Christy Swilley said, “I am speaking out to express my mounting disappointment in my City government. The citizens of High Springs should be very concerned about the individuals who are responsible for the City of High Springs. Many of you may have heard many different versions of what transpired between the new City Manager, Mr. Marshall, and the previous Interim City Manager and former Public Works Director, Mr. Thomas Henry. And there are many lies being thrown around town. He does not deserve that at all, in any way shape or form. Mr. Henry has had a 30-plus-year career as a public servant. He has never once been written up or received a negative employment evaluation from this administration. He was nominated by this current Commission to be part of a trio providing coverage of City Manager duties until a suitable City Manager could be hired. He was not compensated for these additional duties, nor did he request them. He did them so that he could help the City continue to move in a forward direction.

“He did not resign three times as is being stated. He only resigned once, and he attempted to revoke that. He was not given the same courtesy as another director who did the same thing roughly a month ago… Mr. Henry was also not given an opportunity to defend himself against the accusations that were made against him. That bothers me immensely, that this team had utmost confidence in him two weeks ago to give him those kinds of responsibilities. He’s never shied away from any angry citizen comments or complaints. He has unfortunately had limited revenue and limited options in many cases, and he’s been able to accomplish a lot with the little that he’s had, and he’s done so without asking for any recognition for it. And it’s a sad day when someone can come in and condemn someone in such a very short period of time, less than four business days. I’m angry and I’m disappointed, and I really hope that the citizens of High Springs are paying attention to what’s going on in these walls…

“I find it very odd that today we do a recognition of National Day of Prayer, because I’ve done a lot of staying on my knees this week and asking for guidance in this situation, and how angry I felt, and how betrayed I’ve felt on how we can treat people the way that we have. And I encourage anyone who is a believer, if you’ve never read it before, there is a book by Frank Peretti called This Present Darkness , and it’s about spiritual warfare and the evils that befall a small town, and it might be a good nighttime read if anybody wants to pick it up and read it. So, thank you.”

Weitz read a letter she had been asked to read during public comment: “We met with Jeremy Marshall on Tuesday, April 23, to welcome him and ask him about the removal of Thomas Henry from his position as Director of Public Works the morning of the fifth day on the job, before he even knew all the names of his employees. He removed Mr. Henry, one of the best employees with 33 years of experience in the field, an employee who at every meeting one or more of our Commissioners had only positive things to say about him and actually had glowing remarks about how he got things done.

“Need I remind everyone Mr. Marshall said he would not make any personnel changes for 6 months when he was interviewed for the job? We are sick that he would remove an exemplary employee like Mr. Henry when we are in such tumultuous times. We will email each of you additional details about our meeting in the next couple of days. We were appalled by some of Mr. Marshall’s responses and his complete lack of emotional engagement. We are quickly losing confidence in Mr. Marshall’s ability to be able to lead us through these very difficult times. Respectfully, Scott and Lynn Jamison.”

Weitz said she didn’t think it was appropriate for her to comment, but she appreciated everybody’s input very much.

Brad Riddle, Chair of the High Springs Historic Preservation Board, said, “I gotta say I was shocked… Thomas was awesome. I was able to get a lot of things accomplished through Thomas that I wasn’t able to before… I would love to see Thomas come back.”

Camping on City property during BMX event

In other business, Commissioners voted to permit camping on City property (with no alcohol allowed) during the High Springs BMX Gold Cup Regional Qualifier event, to be held at the end of June.  Commissioner Andrew Miller made a motion to approve the special event permit, and Commissioner Byran Williams seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.

Pioneer Days this weekend

Weitz closed the meeting by saying, “Pioneer Days is this weekend. Come on out and have some fun. Weather should be agreeable.”

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