City Attorney Clay Martin & City Council Ignore Mandatory Public Hearing Notice Requirement in Multi-Million Dollar WWTP Purchase from County
May 5, 2026 1:25 pm | 8
min read
AI Summary in a minute
Columbia County Observer photo and graphic
LAKE CITY, FL – City Attorney Clay Martin ignored Florida statute and common sense when the Mayor and City Council approved a resolution purchasing the County’s wastewater treatment plant at the privately owned North Florida Mega Industrial Park without noticing or holding a public hearing.
Background: “The Great Don Rosenthal Hoodoo”
City Manager Don Rosenthal
On August 7, 2025, at the end of the evening’s Council meeting, City Manager Don Rosenthal “reported the City had an opportunity to acquire the Columbia County Mega Industrial Park Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). He informed members that the cost would be a total of seven million dollars and asked for permission to negotiate and work with the County to make the purchase.” (City minutes)
Not included in the minutes was the fact that City Manager Rosenthal provided a last-minute handout with the underlying details of his plan, which was undated with a nondescript title, “Columbia County MEGA Industrial Park Wastewater Treatment Plant.”
Besides lacking a date, there is no accurate descriptive title, no name of who it was from, nor to whom it was addressed.
Like leading lambs to the slaughter, Mr. Rosenthal could have called his document, “The Beginning of the Great Don Rosenthal Hoodoo.”
The next stop was the infamous Columbia County County Commission (“The 5” or the “Columbia County 5”).
The Columbia County 5 holds its public hearing to apprise the public of its sale of the WWTP
Eight months later, on April 16, 2026, the Columbia County 5 held a properly noticed public hearing on the sale of the County’s WWTP, the notice appearing in the designated local newspaper.
However, as what has become a common practice in the City and the County, supporting information is withheld from the public until the very last minute, or, mainly in the County, is not available at all. Information from the City that was required for the County to hold its public hearing arrived at the County almost at the end of business on April 15, the day before the public hearing.
During the County’s public hearing and deliberations, it was clear that none of The 5 thoroughly reviewed the information or the proposed contract between the County and the City.
At 10:34 am, the County 5, on a 4-1 vote, sold its $45 million WWTP to Lake City for $1,591,405 plus accumulated loans.
Next Stop – Lake City – 4 days later
The Big Lake City Lie
The City of Lake City was not looking to have moss grow between its toes and scheduled the City's acceptance of the County WWTP transfer for its regularly scheduled meeting on April 20, four days later. At 11:38 am, 4 minutes after The 5 agreed to sell the WWTP to the City, the City released its agenda.
As usual, the City couldn’t finalize and post its agendas without subsequent revisions. The final edition of the April 20 agenda was available on the morning of May 1, three days before the City Council meeting.
The Lake City public hearing schedule was spelled out in Exhibit K: set by the Mayor for April 20; public hearing noticed on April 16 in the publication of the agenda for the April 20 City Council meeting.
Exhibit K: none of this happened. At the meeting
Mayor Walker never announced the public hearing
he purportedly set.
Unlike the County, the City did not publish the required public hearing notice in the local newspaper.
Nor did the City, contrary to its written claim, (“public hearing noticed on April 16 in the publication of the agenda for the April 20 City Council meeting”), publish anywhere in its April 20 agenda that there was a public hearing regarding the purchase of the County WWTP.
At 3:39 pm on Monday, April 20, your reporter emailed the City Clerk, the City Manager, the City Attorney, and the Deputy City Clerk, stating in large, bold purple letters that “The revised agenda states nothing about a public hearing” regarding the sale of the WWTP.
Your reporter asked the City two questions:
Does the City plan to go ahead with agenda item number thirteen (13) without notice of a public hearing?
Considering the FL statutes, opinion of the AG, and the impact to the City regarding this purchase, does the City plan to advertise the hearing in the official newspaper of Lake City…?
A few minutes after the email was sent, a phone call followed to the City Clerk's Office, asking Deputy Clerk Cannon to ensure that City Clerk Sikes and the City Attorney were aware of the lack of notice regarding the required public hearing.
A text message was also sent to the City Attorney Clay Marting, advising him of the email.
Before the meeting, Mr. Martin wrote: “The city has complied with the statutory requirements regarding the WWTP matter.”
The City Meeting
The City Council unanimously passed Resolution 2026-043, approving the acquisition of the North Florida Mega Industrial Park wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) from Columbia County.
Over the roughly 11-minute segment, City Attorney Clay Martin explained the statutory requirements for the purchase under Florida Statute 180.301 and read the 10-point criteria determining public interest.
City Attorney Martin explicitly quoted
Florida Statute 180.301, noting that a
municipality cannot purchase a wastewater
utility "until the governing body of the
municipality has held a public hearing on the
purchase..."
Despite the statute's crystal clear requirement to hold a public hearing, the City did not publish a formal public notice in the newspaper, nor did it designate the item as a "public hearing" on the meeting agenda.
Mayor Walker noted, "We didn't have anybody sign up for public comment on this," and moved directly to council discussion — no public hearing was opened or closed.
There was no substantive discussion of any of the 10 statutory factors by the Council members. Instead, Council members Carter, Jernigan, Young, and Harris offered congratulatory remarks to staff, the City Utility Director, the Wastewater Director, the City Manager, and the County 5.
Councilmember James Carter moved to approve the resolution and specifically incorporated the April 15 § 180.301 analysis memorandum into his motion, the first line of which states, “Lake City may not purchase the referenced wastewater treatment plant until the City Council has 1) held a public hearing on said purchase…”
Councilman Carter’s motion was seconded and passed unanimously via a 5-0 roll call vote.
Analysis: the City violated the strict requirement of the controlling statute
The City's failure to provide a published notice of a public hearing violates statutory requirements.
Merely placing the item on a regular agenda and allowing general public comment does not satisfy a statutory "public hearing" requirement.
In Florida local government law, holding a legally binding "public hearing" inherently requires "public notice." The purpose of a statutory public hearing is to give citizens the opportunity to review the financial impacts, terms, and conditions of large acquisitions (in this case, over $5,000,000) and voice their opinions before the governing body takes action.
A "public hearing" under Florida law is not the same as a regular council meeting with a generic public-comment slot. It carries specific procedural requirements:
Advance public notice, which is typically published in a newspaper or a specific place on the municipal website. Florida's Government in the Sunshine Law (Ch. 286) and longstanding case law require meaningful notice for hearings that affect the public.
The notice must identify the subject matter, e.g., the WWTP purchase, so the public can meaningfully participate.
Merely placing the item on a regular agenda and allowing general public comment does not satisfy a statutory "public hearing" requirement. Florida courts and the Attorney General have repeatedly distinguished between:
• A regular meeting (noticed under Sunshine Law with a general agenda), and
• A public hearing (requires specific, subject-matter notice and a formal opportunity to be heard).
There are potential legal consequences to the City’s lack of any notice of a public hearing regarding the WWTP purchase.
The action is voidable if challenged. Florida courts have voided governmental actions where mandatory hearing/notice procedures were skipped.
A lack of public trust that the Council and top rungs of the City government can do things right.
The cure option: the City could cure the defect by noticing and holding a proper public hearing and re-adopting the resolution, except … (see the epilogue below)
Epilogue: one more thing
The approved City and County contracts do not match.
During City Attorney Clay Martin’s presentation, he said, “The contract before you tonight was approved by the County Commission last Thursday evening, following a hearing very similar to the one that the City will engage in tonight…”
This is problematic on two counts. The City never advertised or opened a public hearing – the County did.
The contract the County approved is not the one the City approved.
