After several residents voiced concerns about law enforcement being overly aggressive in Newberry's NW 252^nd Street area of town, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) has been investigating leads and reaching out to the community for help with resolving the issue. 

At a city commission meeting on July 26, six residents complained that police were harassing innocent citizens and being disrespectful when responding to calls in the NW 252^nd Street area.

In response, Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell held a community meeting at Newberry City Hall on Aug. 9 to hear what residents had to say and address their concerns.

Darnell said that the complaints revealed a need for ACSO to improve its efforts to connect with the community.

“It wasn’t pleasant to hear, but it was necessary for us to get that information,” she said.

While she was not happy to hear about the complaints, Darnell said that she is proud of the way that ACSO has responded to them.

“We had a couple of citizens who were concerned, but we’ve been very responsive in meeting with them and doing follow-up as of the next day,” Darnell said.

In order to encourage citizens to come forward with information about any police misconduct that may have occurred, ACSO arranged for Keith Vermillion, chief inspector for the Office of Professional Standards, to be at the City of Newberry mayor’s office on Aug. 18 and 24.

According to Lt. Steve Maynard, the public information officer for ACSO, seven citizens came to speak with Vermillion.

While most of the information that was given lacked specific details, all of the leads are being looked into, according to Maynard. He added that supervisors will be randomly reviewing the digital video and audio tapes that are recorded from the vehicles and persons of the deputies.

“If we determine that anything less than professional, courteous interaction has taken place, those deputies will be held accountable,” he said.

In order to improve its relationship with the community, Maynard said that ACSO has established a neighborhood watch in the NW 252^nd Street area and is focusing on “community-oriented policing,” an approach that Maynard described as assigning an officer to the same beat in order for him or her to communicate with the citizens and get to know them better.

Although ACSO plans to address the concerns from residents, it does not intend to decrease its presence in the NW 252^nd Street area.

“We have to have the same presence because the need is there,” Maynard said.

According to Maynard, the ACSO responded to 4,546 calls for service in Newberry from April 14, 2009 to Aug. 2, 2010, excluding traffic stops. Of those calls, 1,599, or 35 percent, came from the 10 square blocks around NW 252^nd Street.

Mayor Harry Nichols said that the sheriff’s department has done a great job with responding to the complaints.

“They have gone out of their way to respond to problems and concerns from people,” Nichols said.

Any citizen of Newberry who feels that he or she has been treated unprofessionally by a member of ACSO can contact the Office of Professional Standards at 352-384-3050 to file a formal complaint.

Cost projections for the two Newberry park projects – Triangle Park amphitheater and Martin Luther King Jr. multi-purpose center – suggest that the city will have to scale back both projects drastically or possibly scrap one altogether.

At the Aug. 23 commission meeting, architect Paul Stresing priced Triangle Park amphitheater at about $420,000 and the Martin Luther King Jr. center at $95 per square foot, or $495,000 total.

Newberry is only expecting to have about $500,000 for both projects. The $500,000 is funding the city receives from Wild Spaces Public Places (WSPP), the countywide one-half cent sales tax program.

After viewing the latest numbers, the commission was concerned about how feasible it would be to complete both projects.

“Looks like we got money for one project, and we’re trying to do two,” Commissioner Monty Farnsworth said at the meeting.

Commissioners discussed which project would get priority if the costs remained too great.

Commissioner Lois Forte said the city has been working on Triangle Park much longer, and she doesn’t want to see it stripped down completely to make the money stretch over two projects.

However, the commission did not make a decision yet on whether it will cut one of the projects.

Instead, the focus of the meeting was on how to cut costs.

One method discussed is to build the projects in phases – starting with the core of the project and building with simple concrete block.

“The beauty of building a core building is that you can always add to it,” Stresing said.

The plan had always been to build the projects in phases, but the latest price projections may force the city to go even more bare-bones in the earlier phases.

This means going with concrete over carpeting or tile, for example. Stresing said the aim is to keep the projects simple, frugal and maintenance-free.

Commissioner Joe Hoffman proposed another way to cut costs: cut the size of the projects. At $95 per square feet, making small changes in the width and length of the projects can save several thousand dollars.

Stresing also noted that the $95 per square foot rate is not set in stone. During better economic times, the cost would have been about $125 to $150 per square foot. However, in today’s economic climate, the figure could drop well below $95 per square foot, depending on how the bidding situation works out.

“This is a cost estimate based on current prices. You put it into a bidding situation, that number might drastically reduce,” Stresing said.

Stresing said donations from local businesses would also cut the projects’ cost.

“There are components of it that we could tap into some local resources if they would be interested in participating in the project,” he said.

Robyn Rush is no stranger to local government officials. About two months ago, she filed a lawsuit against the City of High Springs, which has yet to be resolved.

But when she approached the commission during an Aug. 26 meeting, it wasn’t about the Florida Sunshine Law and the right to public records.

This time, Rush fired off a series of specific and detailed allegations amounting to a claim, that if her data is correct, she said it appears the City of High Springs has committed fraud against the federal government.

Commissioners appeared baffled last Thursday night when she presented her concerns.

Later during the meeting, City Commissioner Larry Travis said he “has a real problem” with people coming up and making accusations while he and the other commissioners have no prior knowledge of the issue. This was not the proper way, he said, to go about voicing a complaint.

Though she did not go into detail, Rush later indicated that she chose to address the commission directly based on prior experiences that calling or e-mailing city commissioners or the city manager yielded little or no response.

“If they’re not under the spotlight then they don’t feel the responsibility to take action,” she said.

The questions she raised concerned the High Springs Police Department’s use of Byrne Grant funds, which consist of federal money disbursed through the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

Rush cited various city documents she claims show that some of the city’s expenditures of grant money does not appear to match up with the dollar amounts for which the city requested reimbursements from the sheriff’s office.

She claims that in several cases, dating back to 2008, the city requested grant reimbursements to cover expenses of overtime pay for officers. But in the cases in question, she said the city never actually wrote the corresponding checks to cover overtime pay.

Toward the end of the commission meeting, Mayor Bill Coughlin opened the floor to High Springs Chief of Police Jim Troiano, to respond to Rush’s concerns.

Troiano told commissioners that he can assure them, he has never intentionally misused any grant funds, and in this instance, to the best of his knowledge, neither he, nor the city, has done anything wrong. Both he and the city manager, Jim Drumm, said that if there has been a bookkeeping mistake it will certainly be addressed and corrected, but they have no knowledge of any intention to deliberately scam anyone.

The chief also indicated that contrary to rumor, he confirmed with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that he, nor the city of High Springs, is under investigation regarding the Byrne Grant at this time.

On Wednesday, Drumm said he has not received written confirmation, but he added, “My understanding is that there is not an investigation.”

He also said that he spoke to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) grant administrators on Monday, and they will be doing an administrative review of the grant over the next week.

The general consensus of the commission was that the records Rush cited should be reviewed, and the city should do whatever is in its means to answer her questions and put all doubts to rest.

Troiano said he would gladly give money from his own paycheck to pay for an investigation, if that’s what it takes to prove his innocence.

Drumm said he believes that this administrative review will clarify any concerns that were brought forth.

This Sunday, residents all over Alachua County will have a reason to celebrate because for many, it will be a three-day weekend. Children nationwide will rejoice at the thought of “no school on Monday.”

Labor Day is an American tradition, in fact, a national holiday, and one local city will be hosting an especially “explosive” celebration Sunday evening as Newberry’s Backyard BBQ puts on its 13th annual Labor Day Fireworks Show.

The event starts at 5 p.m. and fireworks will start at dusk. There will be music, food and an array of family activities, including face painting and horse and carriage rides.

The event, which will be held at the Easton-Newberry Sports Complex, located at 24880 NW 16th Avenue, Newberry, will be free and open to the public.