The Willie Galimore pool will reopen in May, according to plans announced at a recent City Commission budget workshop, and the Jacksonville Jaguars may be a funding partner for the namesake of the former pro football player.

General Services Director Jim Piggott told commissioners $600,000 has been set aside, including most of the $400,000 the county gave the city when it discontinued management of the Galimore center and pool.

Piggott said $40,000 had been drawn from that $400,000 to operate the center this year, but only $28,000 was spent while programs brought in $15,000.

He added the YMCA is considering operating the pool (operational costs are estimated at $279,000 a year) and the Jaguars may step in to help. Addition of a catering kitchen is also planned with the budgeted monies.

The pool will be open May to Labor Day next year, with a potential to be open May to December in future years. 

Impacted water line

   "I must be on a brown water mailing list," City Commissioner Bill Leary commented during the recent city budget workshop. "By far, the most complaints emailed to me have been about brown water.

   "But it didn't really hit home until I had a call from my wife. In the midst of washing some white linens, she said, the water turned brown."

   Public Works Director Martha Graham has gotten her share of brown water complaints as well, and was prepared at the workshop to list causes and mitigating and proposed actions.

   Causes, she said, include main breaks, pressure fluctuation and, of course, older metal pipes with rust and sediment build-up. Ongoing actions include automatic and spot flushing, chemical corrosion studies and, of course, water main replacements.

   Replacement is a slow, and expensive, process. Of the city's 200 miles of water lines, 67 percent are PVC - a non-corrosive plastic material. The remaining 65 miles of line is metal.

   Cost for total replacement: $16.6 million. The city has spent just over $1 million replacing 3.73 miles of line since 2009, and budgeted $2 million for another 3.39 miles in the proposed budget.

   That budget includes a utility rate Increase of 1.7% plus one percent for the brown water program, and utility bond restructuring.

   City Comptroller Mark Litzinger says extending a current utility bond another two years can produce another $4-$5 million for the brown water program, while more favorable bond rates can save an estimated $900,000 a year.  

  The bond would be extended from 2021 to 2023. Litzinger said the city's entire $22 million in utility bonds would be paid off in 2023 "without the need for a rate increase for the debt service."

   And, Litzinger said, "that entire $4-$5 million would be directed to the water line replacement

 program." 

Meanwhile, line scrubbing for relief   

     Public Works Director Martha Graham described to commissioners a stopgap measure for brown water - Unidirectional Flushing.

   Specific flushes follow a sequence in sediment-filled lines, she said. Clean water is forced through a segment of the main at higher velocities to deep-clean the line, dislodging and removing sediment. The system closes valves strategically to direct the flow of water from clean into dirty pipes.

    Last year it was a reenactor describing the military uniforms and equipment of 1842.

    Last Saturday two reenactment teams and a six pounder cannon were mustered in as the West Point Society of North Florida continues to grow its signature annual commemoration of the end of the Florida Indian Wars and interment of war dead at St. Augustine's National Cemetery.

   The Peace River Artillery transported from Dade City the cannon, a replica of the cannon in the ill-fated Major Dade column, to provide salutes during the ceremonies, while members of the Seminole Wars Foundation explained wares and life during this period.

   Society President Joe Naftzinger promised these annual ceremonies at the National Cemetery will continue to grow as a signature military event for the city's 450th anniversary and beyond.