A Possible EMS Charge, Three Rezonings and $398,750 in Liens: What to Know for Monday's Meeting - 10/19/2026

THE SHORT VERSION

· Item 6: the Dr. MLK Jr. Memorial Road path goes to the lowest of six bidders, Hale, at $697,950.50. That is 27.9% under the engineer’s estimate of $967,594.64 (pp. 146 to 148).

· Items 3, 4, 5 and 7: Dewberry Engineers is in four items: a $253,925 sewer engineering contract, a $513,450 road design job, an on-call contract extension, and top ranking for a Wakulla Gardens stormwater contract with no price yet (pp. 15, 69, 72, 248).

· Item 14: the Board is asked to schedule a hearing on an ordinance that would let the county add a yearly EMS (ambulance) charge to property tax bills. The consultant’s memo prices it at $179 per home for the budget year starting October 1, 2027 (pp. 388, 409).

· Items 11 to 13: three code enforcement liens totaling $398,750 would be cut to $6,736.75 (pp. 282, 305, 329).

· Items 15 to 17: two of the three rezonings are to commercial. Each is beyond the plan’s quarter-mile mark from a major intersection, so the Board must find the change fits the surrounding area and will not negatively affect nearby residential parcels. Staff recommend approval of all three and the Planning Commission voted unanimously for each (pp. 463, 464, 487, 488).

· Item 8: $678,863 of a $4.5 million state grant moves from site work to design and pre-construction (p. 253).

ROUTINE CONSENT ITEMS

· Item 1: minutes of the October 5 meeting (pp. 6 to 12).

· Item 2: bills and vouchers for October 1 to 14. The itemized statement is not in the public packet (p. 13).

· Item 9: tabled to a future meeting. It would have approved an agreement with the Northwest Florida Health Network to administer opioid settlement funds (pp. 1, 2).

CONSENT AGENDA

★ Item 3: Sewer Engineering for Panacea Shores, Dewberry, $253,925

This is engineering, design, permitting and inspection work to fix stormwater and groundwater leaking into the sewer pipes (called inflow and infiltration) in Panacea Shores Units 2, 3 and 4 (p. 14). Two firms bid. A three-person county staff committee scored them, and the Board approved the ranking on September 8 (pp. 14, 15). The contract runs October 19, 2026 to April 30, 2030, with one optional extra year (p. 15). It is paid by a federal disaster recovery grant (CDBG-DR) on a reimbursement basis (p. 15).

★ Item 4: Wakulla Gardens Stormwater Planning, Dewberry Ranked First

Phase 1 covers surveying, flood risk analysis, engineering, design, permitting and bid preparation to reduce flooding in Wakulla Gardens. It does not include construction (p. 68). A later phase, not part of this request, is expected to buy about 16 parcels and build six stormwater retention basins sized for a 10-year storm (p. 68). Three firms bid and the three-person staff committee scored them out of 240 points.

Dewberry Engineers scored 211, LJA Engineering 201, and Spectra Engineering and Research 176 (p. 69).

The Board is only approving the ranking and letting the County Administrator negotiate with Dewberry. The cost is “unknown” and will come back to the Board later (pp. 69, 70).

Item 5: One More Year for 18 On-Call Engineering Contracts

Eighteen firms hold on-call engineering and consulting contracts the Board approved in October 2022 (p. 71). Item 5 uses the last of two optional one-year renewals and extends each through October 16, 2027 (pp. 72, 74). No dollar amount is attached, because work is priced project by project (p. 72). Dewberry is one of the 18 (p. 72). The contracts expire October 16, 2026, three days before this meeting, and the amendments are dated October 19 (pp. 72, 74).

★ Item 6: MLK Path Construction, Hale, $697,950.50

The path is about 1.115 miles of eight-foot asphalt along the south side of Dr. MLK Jr. Memorial Road, from Rehwinkel Road to Mallard Pond Circle (p. 146). Six companies bid by August 11 (p. 146).

Hale $697,950.50 (lowest), North Florida Asphalt $748,088.00, C.W. Roberts Contracting $761,230.50, Gulf Coast Utility Contractors $967,120.00, M of Tallahassee $1,043,375.00, and Davidson Contracting $1,469,000.00 (p. 146).

The engineer’s own estimate was $967,594.64 (p. 148). Hale is $269,644.14 below it (27.9%) and $50,137.50 (7.2%) below the next bidder. The highest bid is more than double the lowest. Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, the engineer of record, checked Hale’s cost breakdown and recommends the award (p. 147). Work must finish within 210 days. The Florida Department of Transportation reimburses the county, with $1,127,866 available, tracked in a fund set up for this project (p. 147).

Item 7: CR 365 Spring Creek Road Design, Dewberry, $513,450

This is a work authorization under Dewberry’s on-call contract for survey, design and permitting to resurface Spring Creek Road from Bloxham Cutoff Road to U.S. 98, with striping, signs and drainage work (pp. 248, 249). It is a lump sum, finished within 240 days of signing (p. 250), which lands in mid-June 2027 (our arithmetic). Fully paid by a state road grant (the Small County Outreach Program) on a reimbursement basis (p. 249). Dewberry was selected competitively in 2022 (p. 249).

★ Item 8: State Grant Moves $678,863 Toward Design

In 2025 the Board accepted a $4,504,369 Florida Commerce Rural Infrastructure Fund grant for a non-residential building project in Opportunity Park. No county match is required (p. 251). After the county hired its design professionals and a design-build contractor, the money set aside for pre-construction work “were not sufficient,” so staff asked the state on July 16 to move funds (p. 252). The state agreed, and the Board is asked to approve (pp. 252, 253). The total does not change. The three buckets do (pp. 253, 257 to 259):

Item 10: SHIP Housing Report Certification

SHIP is the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, state money for affordable housing. The Board is asked to sign the county’s certification of its annual report for the closeout year FY 2023-2024 and interim year FY 2024-2025 (p. 268). State law sets a September 15 deadline (p. 279). The packet says the report was filed electronically September 17 and amended September 25 (p. 268), so the Board is ratifying after the fact. The closeout year shows $489,095 spent on four homeownership projects and $40,954.60 in administration paid to Accenture Infrastructure & Capital Projects, LLC (pp. 270, 274). Total spending of $530,049.60 is $11,418.74 more than the $518,630.86 in revenue, and the form shows a carry-forward of negative $11,418.74 (p. 270). The report lists the households helped by name and address (p. 274). Wakulla Reports is not repeating them.

GENERAL BUSINESS

★ Items 11, 12 and 13: Three Code Enforcement Liens Cut by 98%

A lien is a legal claim on a property for unpaid fines. In each case the code enforcement board set daily fines, the property stayed out of compliance, and fines piled up. Each applicant now asks the Board to cut the lien to the county’s actual costs plus 20%, to be paid within 60 days. The Code Enforcement Special Magistrate recommended approval for all three on September 25, and staff recommend approval too (pp. 281, 282, 305, 328, 330). Each property has since come into compliance, and the packet says no county resources were used beyond administrative costs (pp. 281, 304, 328). The county ordinance sets the floor for any reduction at the county’s costs plus 20% (p. 282). None of the properties is a homestead, so the county could foreclose on the unreduced liens (pp. 282, 305, 329, 330). We are not naming the owners.

★ NEW: Item 14: Schedule a Hearing on an EMS Tax Assessment Ordinance

Today the county pays for ambulance service with general fund money, ambulance fees and insurance payments (p. 395). Item 14 asks the Board to schedule and advertise a public hearing on an ordinance that would let the county add a yearly EMS charge to property tax bills, based on the benefit a property gets rather than its value (pp. 388, 434). The ordinance does not set a charge. The Board would set one later by resolution during a budget process (pp. 388, 389). The goal is to start in the budget year beginning October 1, 2027 (p. 388). The ad costs about $150, and staff recommend scheduling the hearing (p. 389). The groundwork: the County Administrator approved a proposal from Accenture on December 8, 2025, the Board held a workshop May 4, and it accepted Accenture’s memo July 13 (p. 388).

PLANNING AND ZONING

A rezoning changes what a piece of land may be used for. Each of these is a quasi-judicial hearing, so before voting each commissioner must disclose contacts with the applicant or anyone else about the request (County Code Sec. 24.01, p. 3). The Planning Commission recommended approval of all three on October 12 (pp. 462, 474, 486), and staff recommend approval of all three (pp. 464, 476, 488). No written public comments had been received on any of them (pp. 464, 475, 488). The legal test: the applicant must first show the rezoning is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Code. To deny it, the county must then present competent substantial evidence that keeping the current zoning serves a legitimate public purpose and is not arbitrary, discriminatory or unreasonable (pp. 462, 474, 486).

★ Item 15: R26-07, 1.84 Acres on Crawfordville Highway, Residential to Commercial

Commercial Roofing Company, LLC asks to rezone 1503 Crawfordville Highway from RR-1 (semi-rural residential, one home per acre) to C-2 (general commercial, a wide range of businesses) (pp. 462, 463). A single-family house is on the land now, and part of it is in flood zone A, the 100-year floodplain (p. 463). The stated reason is commercial use next to the company’s existing roofing business (p. 465). Staff’s adjacent-parcel table lists C-2 commercial (Logan Roofing Company) to the south, RR-1 single-family to the north, RR-1 single-family and pastureland to the east, and PUD (Windsor Park, an undeveloped mixed-use subdivision) to the west (p. 463). Staff’s text adds that an auto repair business is “just north” and that commercial zoning runs along both sides of Crawfordville Highway nearby (p. 464). The auto repair business to the north is confirmed on the ground by Wakulla Reports; staff’s table lists single-family RR-1 to the north. Notices went to owners within 1,000 feet (p. 464).

★ Item 16: R26-08, 4.6 Acres on Oakland Drive, Fewer Homes Allowed

The landowners ask to rezone Tract 43 of Rainbow Acres, 106 Oakland Drive, from RR-1 to RR-2 (pp. 474, 475). That lowers the density from one home per acre to one per two acres, about four homes down to about two on 4.6 acres (our arithmetic; p. 475). The land is undeveloped, in flood zone X (minimal flooding), with single-family homes and mobile homes next door (p. 475). Notices went to owners within 500 feet (p. 475). This is the only one of the three that reduces what can be built, and its motion needs no extra findings (p. 475).

★ Item 17: R26-09, 3.25 Acres at Riversink Estates, Residential to Commercial

The landowners, represented by an engineer, ask to rezone Tracts 3 and 4 of Riversink Estates from RR-1 to C-2 (pp. 486, 487). The land is undeveloped, in flood zone X (p. 487). The stated reason is a change “from Residential to Commercial on major 4 lane highway” (p. 489). Staff’s adjacent-parcel table lists C-2 (an auto glass repair business with an approved site plan) to the south, AG to the north (a single-family home and mobile home), RR-1 to the east (a single-family home and mobile home) and RR-1 to the west (single-family homes) (p. 487). Staff add that a warehouse and storage facility, then a solar generation facility, lie farther south (pp. 487, 488). Notices went to owners within 1,000 feet (p. 488).

THE BOTTOM LINE

Most of this agenda is routine. Six items carry something worth watching:

1. Items 15 to 17. Two commercial rezonings beyond the plan’s quarter-mile mark. Each needs two Board findings (compatibility and no negative impact on nearby residential parcels). Staff recommend both and the Planning Commission was unanimous.

2. Item 14. The first step toward a yearly EMS charge, $179 per home in the memo’s FY27/28 numbers, on top of the $277 fire assessment.

3. Items 3, 4, 5 and 7. Dewberry Engineers in four items, with a contract whose fee is not in the attached text.

4. Items 11 to 13. Liens of $398,750 cut to $6,736.75.

5. Item 6. A $697,950.50 path contract, 27.9% under the engineer’s estimate, with a contractor name that differs between documents.

6. Item 8. A state grant shifts $678,863 from site work to design.

The meeting is Monday, October 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM. The Board also holds a special meeting Wednesday, October 28 at 1:00 PM on appeals to the Board of Adjustment, cases BOA26-01 and BOA26-02 (p. 5). The next regular meeting is Monday, November 2 at 6:00 PM (p. 4).

This post was written with AI assistance and reviewed word for word by a member of the Wakulla Reports team. (See footnote for more details and send any corrections to: wakullareports@gmail.com)

A note on how we work: Wakulla Reports uses AI to read through long county agenda packets and to maintain running trackers of county spending, contracts, and land use changes, which would be hard to keep up by hand. Every post is reviewed word for word by a person on our team before it is published. Figures are tied to pages in the public record, and if we get something wrong, tell us and we will fix it. Email: wakullareports@gmail.com

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