Inverness Mayor Bob Plaisted will make a proclamation during Tuesday’s city council meeting calling for a Baker Act facility.

Plaisted knows that given the stalemate of the proposal after more than three years since a new drug addiction mental health provider was awarded the county’s contract, his proclamation may not tip the scales, but it’s one more call for a resolution.

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The sticking point is money and who would own the 60-bed facility. LifeStream Behavioral Center, the organization that provides drug and mental health care, has bought property near the College of Central Florida for the facility.

The organization would kick in $2 million. Hernando County has pledged another $2 million.

Currently, the county’s Baker Act patients are transported by sheriff’s deputies to LifeStream’s Leesburg facility, but that takes deputies off patrol for much of the day.

The problem is that the Citrus County Hospital Board, and the Citrus County Commission, both of whom would donate to the project, want the facility to revert back to the Citrus County public if LifeStream were to lose its mental health contract with the county.

Plaisted told the Chronicle that he understood that county government would want to own the Baker Act facility if LifeStream left. But the county also needs a Baker Act facility and its residents are doing without.

Plaisted said the county and hospital board should donate to the project and be willing to not own the facility.

“If that’s what it takes,” Plaisted said of getting the facility built.

As for the facility’s future if it is built and who would own it, Plaisted said, “things change hands over the years.”

He said the county should “worry about that later” and focus on getting the Baker Act service here.

In his proposed proclamation, Plaisted will cite the county’s large senior citizen population, problems of dementia, and how seniors also need Baker Act care.

Plaisted said he is making the proposed proclamation at the urging of Dementia Education Inc. and Coping with Dementia LLC.

The city council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Valerie Theatre, 207 Courthouse Square.

The promotor of Inverness’ annual Inverness Country Jam said months before the three-day October event that he expected to lose money the first time organizing the attraction, which included 15 music acts and two sound stages.

Steve Pritchard, of Pro Event Tours Management, was not surprised then when the Oct. 28-30 event left him in the red and making up the difference from his own pocket.

Pritchard would not be specific about the finances of the country jam, but told the Chronicle that he did not make money, nor break even.

But given the favorable reviews of the inaugural Inverness Country Jam and that the event has all the fundamentals to be successful, Pritchard said he is excited about the next year’s country jam.

Pritchard has a three-year-long agreement with the Inverness council for two additional country jams. He told the council earlier this year that he expected to lose money on the first show, and hopefully break even on the second, and be in the black on the third show. The show, with two stages, was at Liberty Park and Depot District area.

“The only thing that went wrong was my overconfidence that I could pull this off in the time I had,” he told the Chronicle Thursday.

Events such as these typically take a year to 18 months to prepare, he said. Pritchard told the Chronicle he organized the event in only three months, and as a result wasn’t able to sign on large sponsors, which have already spent their marketing money on other events.

Pritchard also said many of the volunteers he had hoped would help during the event were not available, which forced him to hire workers and exceed his labor budget.

There were a total of about 1,500 three-day tickets and nearly 1,000 one-day tickets sold, making for about 5,000 visits to the three-day event. Some people with three-day passes did not attend all three days, Pritchard said.

He was hoping for about 7,500 visits to the event.

But Pritchard said there were many things about the event that went well and promising signs that interest in the country jam will only grow next year.

To fix some of the financial shortfall, Pritchard said he will start now in trying to woo financial sponsors to affiliate themselves with next year’s event.

He said he will also ask the city to help fence off the event next year and provide temporary wifi to the event’s area.

Meanwhile, many things went right, he said.

Based on ticket sales, about 70 percent of people who came to the event were from outside Citrus County, Pritchard said. And of those, 10 percent were from outside Florida. They came from 22 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, he said.

Unfortunately, more people from Tampa bought tickets than did people from Crystal River, he said.

There were 14 food vendors and 11 of those had never worked in Citrus County, meaning the event introduced them to Inverness.

All in all, Pritchard said that visitors to the country jam were “impressed with the bands, impressed with the food ... and impressed by Inverness (which hosted it).”

The Inverness City Council will decide whether to write off a near $54,000 lien on property the owner now wants to sell.

The hefty lien’s origins date back to Oct. 7, 2019 when a city code enforcement inspector cited property owner, Gregory Pinto for violating overgrowth standards at his Poplar Avenue property.

According to City Manager Eric Williams, Pinto found a company that would remove the overgrowth from the city’s right-of-way and informed the code enforcement officer, and assumed that was the end of it. Instead, the case was passed on to a special magistrate hearing on Nov. 1, 2019 and Pinto was given 30 days to fix the violation or face a $50 per day fine.

Recently, someone wanting to buy Pinto’s property on Poplar Avenue contacted Pinto and also did a title search. The interested buyer contacted Pinto and told him about the lien.

Williams said the city and Pinto have reached a settlement agreement of $700 to release the lien.

Williams told the Chronicle the $700 covers the city’s costs for initiating the lean, magistrate, and other associated work connected to the case.

In other business, the Council will discuss:

Christmas comes a little more into focus as the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce makes its request for its Annual Christmas Parade in Inverness.

“We are pleased to work with you once again on the Chamber’s Inverness Christmas Parade,” wrote Josh Wooten, Citrus County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, to the city council.

“This is truly a signature event for the City of Inverness and the community families,” he wrote.

This year’s theme will be “Christmas Around the World 2022.”

City Manager Eric Williams will recommend the council approve the request. Although the route of the parade is within the city, the city must still get FDOT permission to close Main Street.

“We are excited to proceed without delay to assist in securing the proper approvals and FDOT permit for the closure of a portion of Highway 44 through the City,” Williams wrote his council bosses.

The parade is scheduled for Dec. 10 with staging for the parade to start at 8:30 a.m. at Citrus High School and to start at noon. The program will follow its traditional route on Main Street and turn to finish at Highland Boulevard.

Williams said that the city’s first inverness Country Jam won’t have attendance records immediately available, but initial indications are that the three-day event was successful.

Williams said thousands of people attended and that all of the county’s hotels were fully booked. He said he would provide more details as they become available. The event was a public/private venture with Pro Event Tours Management.

The city council will meet 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Valerie Theatre, 207 Courthouse Square.

Buttons, bumper stickers, shirts and signs — all adorned with calls to “save it, don’t pave it” and “stop the turnpike” — were the accessories of choice for several Inverness residents on Tuesday evening.

About 70 of these decorated locals gathered at the bi-monthly Inverness City Council meeting, where they voiced concerns regarding potential construction to the Florida Turnpike. The meeting included a lengthy public comment portion and concluded with the council’s decision to review a “no build” resolution, which several attendees requested.

Residents raised concerns in response to the proposed Northern Turnpike Extension (NTE), which offers four potential routes expanding the turnpike northwest through combinations of Citrus, Marion, Levy and Sumter Counties. It was conceived as part of the now-repealed Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance (M-CORES) bill to improve traffic congestion and capitalize on economic development across the state.

Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, a division of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), introduced the extension as a standalone project last year. Since then, residents in the affected counties have expressed fears of land loss and environmental damage.

Inverness residents like Kevin McAdams, 67, worry that the construction of the southernmost corridor option, which reaches as close as two miles from downtown, will destroy the local nature and wildlife. During the public comment portion of the meeting, McAdams said he pictures a “landscape devoid of all the attributes and memories of the Nature Coast” if the project proceeds.

Environmental uncertainty was a major topic of discussion. In addition to resident comments, Michael McGrath, a representative from the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club and the No Roads to Ruin coalition, detailed the potential detriments to Florida’s natural resources in a presentation.

McGrath said the construction threatens vital natural areas like the Kings Bay springshed and the Withlacoochee River: two important waterways to Florida’s overall aquatic health. He said a no build option, which nullifies all construction plans, is non-negotiable.

“The no build is the only option to protect our state,” McGrath said.

FDOT representatives Jeffrey Arms and Jennifer Stults, who presented project updates and addressed questions from the council, said the department is working to minimize any environmental impacts.

The project’s schedule, Stults said, has “slid to the right about a year” to allow for more adjustments. Stults said will look to narrow the potential routes where possible, which will limit the areas affected by construction.

As Floridians, Stults said FDOT employees are conscious of the project’s consequences.

“We also want to do the right thing,” she said. “We live in Florida, too.”

The extension is in its Alternative Corridor Evaluation stage, which aims to designate one of the potential routes as the official option. FDOT will evaluate the final route against a no build option in the following Project Development and Environment study, set to conclude in 2024.

But residents want the no build now. Instead of breaking new ground, they suggested a Transportation Systems Management approach, which looks to improve existing roadways. They pointed to the expansion of Highway 44 and possible construction to Interstate 75 as alternatives to the extension.

Though not legally binding, local governments can pass no build resolutions to communicate that they are not in favor of the construction. Arms said FDOT will take these into consideration as it decides on a potential route.

More than a dozen residents participated in public comment regarding the potential construction, and all called for the council to pass a resolution immediately. Commenters like McAdams feel the move can slow the pace of the project.

“By this council endorsing a no build option, you’re sending a signal to pump the brakes,” he said.

The council ultimately sided with its constituents, unanimously agreeing to consider passing a no-build resolution. However, Cabot McBride, the council president, said the resolution will include a key revision.

McBride said the council will remain open to potential construction plans if further studies from FDOT deem them necessary. Though he and the council support taking the alternative management approach and exploring other alternatives, McBride said an extension to the turnpike through Inverness is a lingering possibility.

“We need to have the honesty, the integrity and the ability to say to all of these people sitting here that we may need to look into this again,” he said.

The council will meet May 17 to review a draft of the resolution. Council members will then vote to officially support a no build option.

But the family will soon start a new chapter. Joe’s will reemerge at its new site at 1754 U.S. 41 N., a former art studio next to the Roller Barn. There’s no opening date scheduled but owner Joanna Kozevski is shooting for the end of this year.

Joe’s current location at 911 Main St. won’t be empty for long. Chipotle Mexican Grill this week made a formal application to the city of Inverness to develop the site, City Manager Eric Williams said.

Williams said he knows Chipotle has many fans and the city, while having other Mexican restaurants, doesn’t have one with quite this concept.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, with 211 restaurants in Florida and over 3,000 globally, is known for its bowls, tacos and burritos that are made to order in front of customers.

“It was a meeting place for folks in the city,” he said. “There were often some powerbroker breakfasts that went on there. When you ate (at Joe’s), someone would come up to you who knew you.”

Joe’s was open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, and served breakfast and lunch. The food was American home-style cuisine.

Kozevski said the new place is smaller and holds about 100 seats, compared to the former 155-seat building.

“It’s more manageable for me and my family,” said Kozevski, who will be running it with her husband and brother. Her dad Josif Kozevski retired seven years ago. “I’m so thrilled it’s only a half-mile from our existing business.”

Kozevski said she hopes to retain as many of her 22 employees as she can. Many have been with Joe’s for over 20 years.

The widening of U.S. 41 near there will cut off some of the new location’s frontage and require Kozevski to put parking in the back.

Kozevski said she gives a heartfelt thanks to the community that supported Joe’s and hopes they return to the new restaurant.

“Twenty-eight years in our business is a really long time,” she said.

Michael D. Bates is a staff writer with the Citrus County Chronicle and can be reached at mbates@chronicleonline.com.