Brown wants to be city planner

By Cindy Jo Ayers

Trenton City Manager Taylor Brown told the Trenton City Commissioners last week that it is time to renew the City of Trenton’s contract with the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council.
Brown went on to say that the annual contract costs the town $15,500 each year. The city manager told the commissioners he feels he can do the job because he is a planner.
Brown went on to tell the commissioners that the city’s Comprehensive Plan has not been updated recently, and it is 20 years old. Brown said that he could start to work on updating the Comprehensive Plan as well as take care of any new development issues. Because of the extra work load, he would like to receive an additional $10,000 in salary. Brown said that he required the additional salary because of the work it entailed, which would mostly be done on weekends and after hours.
If the commissioners decide to use Brown as city planner, then it would save the town $4,000 each year. The additional savings of $1,500 would be used for attorney fees for some of the process that has to be written by an attorney.
Several of the commissioners discussed this issue. Commissioner Tim Kinsey asked if the extra salary could be paid in the form of a bonus.
City Attorney David M. Lang, Jr. said that he would have to look into it further, but he believed Brown would have to be paid in salary.
Commissioner Randy Rutter said, “We will end up with a more timely process and a better product.Seems like it’s the way to go to let Taylor do this.”
During the discussion it was made clear that the Commissioners would take away the extra salary if it did not work out with Brown taking on the extra responsibility of doing the planning work and if they had to return to the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council.
Lang advised the commissioners to take some time to think about this and revisit the issue at their next meeting in December.
In other news, Kyle Stone, executive director of the Gilchrist County Chamber of Commerce, requested fees be waived for a Special Use Permit for the 2011 Christmas on Main Street event. The commissioners voted unanimously to waive the fee.
Stone told the commissioners that Christmas on Main Street is planned for Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. Current plans include having a trackless train at the event this year. The train will deliver Santa to the depot.
The City of Trenton also agreed to fund the snow slide again this year with $2,500 from community redevelopment funds. Stone told commissioners she is planning to have trees on the courthouse lawn this year sponsored by individual businesses.
The city commissioners also unanimously voted to pay $3,040 to Clark Sales Display, Inc. to put up holiday decorations on 19 light poles along Main Street in Trenton. Clark Sales will be paid out of community redevelopment funding as well.