FABRIZIO GOWDY
Gadsden County News Service
[photo caption: Gadsden County Planning Commissioners meet on May 15, 2025. From left: District 2 representative John Youmans, At-Large member Charles Roberts, District 1 representative Eugene Sherman III, and District 5 representative Lori Bouie. According to the Gadsden County website, there are currently five vacancies on the 12-person commission.]
[photo credit: A screenshot from a video posted on gadsdencountyfl.gov]
County Commissioners apologized last Tuesday to a constituent who has been held up by the Planning Commission for months and scheduled a special meeting to address the commission’s vacancies and dysfunction.
Jennifer Smith has been trying to rezone a 72-acre agricultural property on Aspalaga Road in Chattahoochee so she can build homes on it for her and her family. According to Smith, she first submitted her request to the Planning Commission in September and has been waiting for approval ever since.
“We are paying $3,400 a month and cannot do anything on this property yet — this is very frustrating,” said Smith.
Commissioners apologized to Smith and expressed a desire to solve the problem before the planning commission’s next meeting on April 9.
“If they’re not showing up, we need to get rid of them,” Hinson said, referring to Planning Commission members.
Absences at planning commission meetings were cited as the reason for the delays. The twelve-person body is made up of two members appointed by each county commissioner, as well as an at-large member and a school district representative.
The board ultimately agreed to hold an emergency meeting March 24 to address the issue, which occurred after the Gadsden County Times’ deadline for this issue. Check next week’s issue for updates.
Senior Citizen Items Pulled
The board pulled two senior services items from the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. One would have discontinued the county’s contract with the nonprofit Gadsden County Senior Citizens Foundation, and another would have allocated $40,000 for senior activities to the county-run Department of Elderly Affairs.
According to Commissioner Shawn Woods, Clerk of Court Nicholas Thomas had previously advised commissioners that the county’s funds and interests will be better served if the contract with the foundation is ended.
Both items were pulled to give the foundation a chance to make its case for why the contract should continue and give commissioners more time to decide whether to invest funds in the foundation or the Elderly Affairs Department. The issue will be addressed at the next BOCC meeting.
In other business:
- Reginald James announced that the county was able to get the cost of the new bathrooms being constructed at six down county parks down from $60,000 each to $35,000 each by using in-house labor.
- Citing his desire to avoid any ethics violations, Commissioner Ronterious Green refrained from voting for the consent agenda because his landlord was a recipient of one of the contracts awarded.
- Commissioners recognized New Hope Missionary Baptist for its 109 years of service to the community. It’s part of a recent effort by the board to honor all 48 churches in the county that have been in existence longer than 100 years.
All commissioners were present. The next regular BOCC meeting will be held March 31 at 6 p.m.
