City sets ordinance for citizen support groups

MACCLENNY, FL - City Commissioners rushed to put a new ordinance in effect on the heels of North Florida News Daily’s article on "Heritage Park... Boon or Boondoggle" at their regular meeting last night.

Admitting there could have been stronger checks and balances in effect on behalf of the city’s involvement with the park, the new ordinance will set guidelines for citizen groups who actively work to improve and manage city parks.

"Everybody’s heart was in the right place, but were there oversights? Yes, there was," said City Manager Gerald Dopson. "Some of these items didn’t have their I’s dotted and their T’s crossed. This article brings out some issues."

The City of Macclenny took over control of the park in June 2003 after the fledgling project became the center of controversy between various fractions of the Baker County Historical

The Florida Department of State Division of Corporations dissolved the nonprofit corporation on Sept. 19, 2003 because it had not filed an annual report required by law.

Society and park committee chairman LaViece Smallwood. The lease agreement would allow the Historical Society to still own the land and depot, but would allow easier access to get grants for funding the park.

Smallwood and others formed a nonprofit corporation called Baker County Heritage Park Inc. as a support organization for the park in 2002. However, the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations dissolved the nonprofit corporation on Sept. 19, 2003 because it had not filed an annual report required by law.

"I’m not blaming anyone, but the renewal was not filed," said Dopson. "We’re looking to Frank (city Attorney Maloney) to make sure we do what we need to do to make it right."

The ordinance addresses this problem making it necessary for any support organization such as Friends of the Park or Heritage Park Inc. to be a Florida corporation not for profit incorporated under the state. It follows the blueprint of the one currently used with organizations such as the support group for state parks like Olustee Battlefield and defines the guidelines for the citizen support organization and partnerships.

Even after the city manager noted that mistakes and oversights necessitated the new ordinance to be developed less than a week after the article ran, North Florida News Daily publisher David Theus came under fire by commissioners’ Vernon Bennett and Phil Rhoden, with Rhoden likening the article to a "witch hunt"

"Heritage Park... Boon or Boondoggle" was written by Linda Rosencrance, a Massachusetts-based freelance writer who came across information on Heritage Park while researching historical parks across the nation. She says she became intrigued by what she found to be inconsistences in financial oversight and public and private issues regarding the park.

After a four-month investigation including gathering public documents, newspaper articles and individual interviews with city employees, park director Smallwood, members of the Historical Society and others, she completed her story.

In the course of her investigations, Ms. Rosencrance was given the names of people to interview. One of those names led her to North Florida News Daily and Theus Media Group who purchased the article for print.

"One reason we decided to run this article was to affect change for good," said Theus. "Obviously we did."