MAYO — After hearing proposals from three insurance providers at a workshop last month, the Lafayette County commissioners chose to stay with the status quo.

At Monday’s Board of County Commission meeting, the commissioners voted to retain Brown & Brown Insurance as the county’s group health insurance provider based on its ranking, beating out Lance Braswell with Lafayette County Farm Bureau and PRM.

The commissioners each ranked the three finalists using a five-category evaluation form based on net cost to the county and its employees, products and services offered, responses to the needs of the county’s employees, prior experience with counties and cities and financial responsibility of each agent.

Brown & Brown has been the county’s provider the past three years. Braswell previously handled the county’s insurance.

SRWMD provides check

Hugh Thomas, the executive director of the Suwannee River Water Management District, provided a check to the board as a payment in lieu of taxes as well as an update on the district and its programs.

The check was for $77,581.69.

Among the topics Thomas covered included current projects in Lafayette County that are utilizing SRWMD grant funding, which include Mayo drainage improvements, Roosevelt Circle, Ruth Springs restoration, Middle Suwannee River and springs restoration and aquifer recharge and the Ravine and Convict Springs nutrient capture and treatment project. Thomas also said 15 agricultural producers in the county are using the district’s ag cost share program since 2015 and as a result, 0.906 millions of gallons of water are conserved every day with nearly 200,000 pounds of nitrogen use reduced.

Thomas also told the board that the majority of the Suwannee River Basin actually lies in Georgia, making it crucial for the two states to work together.

Anthony Adams, the chairman of the BOCC, said from his experience with the Middle and Lower Suwannee River and Withlacoochee River Task Force, started due to the ongoing wastewater spills from Valdosta, Ga., that there has been a serious lack of communication between the two states and their agencies.

Thomas said part of that probably stems to the lawsuit over the Flint River Basin.

“Some of that is loosening up a little bit,” he said.

Adams added: “It’s hard to communicate with Georgia about the problems they’re affecting Florida with.”

County Engineer Frank Darabi, of Darabi and Associates, updated the board on the progress with the flood protection project in the Roosevelt Circle area. He said that there isn’t funding available to complete the pond on the land that the county purchased.

However, he said from discussions with SRWMD representatives and investigation into the area, the county may have a better chance of obtaining future grant funding due to the proximity of Perry Spring as well as the existence of a sinkhole in the area that feeds into the spring.

Darabi said, with Thomas in agreement, that the need to protect the sinkhole and spring increase the score the county would receive for a project in that area utilizing a SPRINGS grant.