Personnel with the water and wastewater systems and mayor of the town of Century are scheduled to hold a meeting at the water plant on Wednesday, Sept. 25, with several people from the state of Florida, including State Sen. Doug Broxson and State Rep. Mike Hill, according to Century Mayor Henry Hawkins, to address problems.
“This is fact-finding meeting so we can get the stuff that we need,” said Hawkins. “We cannot apply for grants without them coming to put an eyeball on what is needed.”
Century recently had a wastewater inspection under the new superintendent Heath Burkett, but he does not know the results of that inspection yet and says he hopes to find them out at the meeting.
Burkett worked under Alicia Johnson, the former water and wastewater superintendent who left the town of Century last March to work for the town of Jay. This was his first wastewater inspection since he was named superintendent.
“The job is OK,” said Burkett. “It's stressful, a new role for me, and I'm learning as I go.”
Burkett said he is certified in both water and wastewater, holding a B license with the state of Florida.
Burkett indicated he was not sure what the meeting will be about, but he will find out next Wednesday.
“I'm walking into it blind,” said Burkett. “I don't know too much about it.”
Mayor Hawkins said this meeting is vital to future funding for the town and it has been a while coming.
“We put all of our requests in through them and we finally got their attention,” said Hawkins. “We got them to realize that we do need some help financially. If we're not always talking to them about these issues, they're not going to hear what we say.”
Hawkins said if this meeting goes well and the town can benefit like he would like to see, it will free him up to do more lobbying.
