The news was not good for Levy County this year as two suspended county commissioners were convicted on political corruption charges, unemployment rose to double digits while property values dropped by double digits, the county budget was squeezed, but the sheriff found money for 15 new cars, and hopes for construction of a new hospital, four replacement bridges, a two-unit nuclear power plant and mining operation were delayed.

One bit of good news was the historic swearing in of County Property Appraiser Oz Osborne — the first elected Republican official in Levy County. He was elected in November 2008, but did not take the oath until January, unlike School Superintendent Bob Hastings, another Republican, whose term of office began immediately upon his election in 2008.

The governor added to that total when he named two Republican interim appointments to the county.

In January, the Commission had only three of its five members on board as longtime Commissioner Sammy Yearty of Gulf Hammock and two-term commissioner Tony Parker of Bronson were suspended in November 2008 after being indicted on federal charges.

The commission had a quorum to meet and conduct business and elected Commissioner Nancy Bell of Chiefland to replace Yearty as chair. But those two empty seats stayed that way for months.

In March, the governor appointed Marsha Drew of Yankeetown to Yearty’s seat but did not fill Parker’s until the end of July when he named Chad “Cracker” Johnson of Chiefland. Both are interim appointments.

In early December, a jury convicted the two commissioners of conspiracy to solicit a bribe and accepting a bribe from undercover FBI agent Sean Quinn, who posed as a New Jersey-based developer named Sean Michaels. Yearty was convicted of an additional charge of lying to another FBI agent during an interview.

Yearty and Parker are due to be sentenced in April but have asked the judge to declare a mistrial and grant them a new trial.

In the meantime, research is being done in Tallahassee and Bronson on whether the governor should vacate the offices and call an election this year or let things go along until Yearty and Parker’s seats come up for election in 2012, or whether the power to remove the convicted commissioners lies with the State Senate, or whether the interim commissioners simply remain in the seats until the federal case has a final resolution or the 2012 election occurs.

In other political news, three judges who sit on the bench announced their retirements. Levy County Judge Joseph Smith’s last day is today and Crist has named former prosecutor Timothy Browning as his replacement.

Two 8th Judicial Circuit judges, Stan Morris and Frederick Smith, also announced their retirements in January 2010. Morris hears criminal cases in Levy County while most of Frederick Smith’s work has been in Alachua County. A Crist spokesman indicated the governor would be making the appointments in the New Year.

The only tempest in a teapot

The money squeeze started almost immediately after the start of the year as tax receipts from the 2008 holiday season were a bit higher than expected, but rising prices gobbled it up as some departments found themselves spending more than planned. The commission sent a message that expenditures needed to be scrutinized.

That came into play as the commission found itself facing a drastic drop in property tax revenues as Barker informed the board in mid-summer budget talks that property values were down an average 11 percent from the year before and to expect the slide to continue into 2010.

The county asked every department to cut its 2008-09 budget numbers by 5 percent for the 2009-10 budget year. Sheriff Johnny Smith balked at cutting his budget saying he would have to park cars, and limit patrols in order to make the cut.

Smith eventually made the 5 percent cut and the commission gave him extra money for inmate medical care and car repairs. One reason for the inmate medical money is that the jail incurred almost $500,000 in bills for just two inmates during the year. The county was forced to tae over and pays the bills after the sheriff’s medical budget was exhausted in March.

But the situation took a turn when Smith showed up Sept. 30 to tell the commission he had found unspent money set aside for emergencies in the budget and he would be returning the car repair money and another $40,000 to the commission and he still had enough money to buy and equip 15 brand new patrol cars that arrived that day.

Other county departments parked vehicles, as employees no longer take them home, gave up cell phones and cut other expenses.

Federal stimulus money was on the minds of commissioners early in the year and in the spring the county learned there would be $1.2 million available for roadwork. The state Department of Transportation said it would spend some of the federal money on a bike and pedestrian path on County Road 320 from Manatee Springs State Park to U.S. Highway 19 in Chiefland.

But the bulk of the money would be spent on improvements to 2.2 miles of County Road 40 from the Marion County line into Levy County.

The county commission also signed on to grant applications for federal stimulus money for transportation equipment — buses and other items for Nature Coast Transit — and clammer’s relief.

In January Progress Energy held an open house in Inglis to present its plans for transmission lines for the proposed $16 billion nuclear power plant for southern Levy County. In February it took public comments on the plans.

In April the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board heard a petition by a coalition of environmental groups opposing the plant’s construction. It dealt the first blow to construction plans by ruling months later that it would hold further hearings on the group’s claims.

In May, the NRC threw a kink in the plans when it told Progress it could not start site preparation and excavation work while the plant’s combined operation license application was being considered. This meant work — and the possible employment of a county suffering double-digit joblessness — was put on hold for 20 months.

The plan to build a hospital in Chiefland, put on hold by the nation’s tight credit situation, is waiting to be realized. The Legislature gave a 36-month extension to the certificate of need, to allow construction of the medical facility as late as 2012.

But nothing has been heard on when construction on the facility in months.

Tarmac America, which has proposed constructing a lime rock mine on about 5,000 of land near Inglis and the proposed nuclear plant recently announced it would delay the start of construction — and plans to hire workers — for a year as its permit application works its way through the federal process.

In June, the hopes for a Central Florida Community College campus in Chiefland got a boost when retired teacher and farmer Jack Wilkinson donated $2.5 million to the Levy Campus. In his honor the college’s board immediately decided to name the campus in his honor. Wilkinson died later in the year but he knew generations of students would benefit from his gift.

No construction date has been set for construction to begin, as the Legislature must allocate the remaining funds for the $12 million project.

By the end of the summer the county commission was handed two hot issues by its planners: an exotic animal sanctuary license by the state without notice to the county and no application for a special exception by the owners; and a recommendation by its planning board to reject plans for a lime rock mine in Morriston, home to the county’s horse industry.

The county has been at odds with the Fish and Wildlife Commission on the issue of licensing locations in the county for housing Class I and Class II animals that pose a risk to humans, i.e. lions, tigers, bears, chimpanzees and other big cats.

County regulations call for permit holders to apply for and receive a special exception to zoning in order to locate such animals in residential areas.

County officials went to the FWC and negotiations are still underway on possible changes to the handling of state permits.

The Morriston mine proposal is on a back burner as the owners have delayed appealing the planning board’s rejection to the commission.

As the year draws to a close, the one item on the county commission’s agenda is whether to join the Nature Coast Water Authority or to start its own county authority. The issue is crucial to the county’s future development and it played a role in the trial that has occupied the news of late.

The FBI agent posing as a developer was proposing to build a high-density residential project — something not possible in the county, Yearty and Parker contended in their defense.

It’s not possible because the county has a policy of not operating water and sewer systems, leaving that to the cities. And state rules require water and sewer service for high-density developments. Fire sprinkler systems required for such developments also cannot be run on wells.

The question before the commission s whether it will get into the water business at a time when water conservation restrictions are being implemented and research is showing the areas water supply levels are dropping as water goes to urban development on the Atlantic Coast.