The July 18 County Commissioners Meeting was an incredibly long day!! With almost 8 hours of information to share, and many of them of interest to everyone, this will be a longer update than usual
Public Safety Update
Chief Bullard shared that new fire trucks were put into service, some of which are better able to serve some of our more rural parts of the county.
The Sheriff’s Department update was from Director Tara Wildes gave an update on the SJSO War on Drugs. Last year they seized 518 grams of Fentanyl, enough to kill every resident in the county. She shared their efforts to do drug rehabilitation therapy with inmates during incarceration in an effort to reduce drug use in the county.
The Clerk of the Court’s report was an update on Jury Service and selection. The county no longer uses voter rolls for jury selection but instead pull 500 random names from the rolls of the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Consent Agenda Items
There was much discussion on the Consent Agenda as there were deletions and moves of items. Item 22 and 31 were asked to be pulled from Consent and moved to the Regular Agenda by Legal.
Commissioner Alaimo proposed pulling Consent Agenda Item 30 and moved it to the Regular Agenda.
These changes were made.
For the Regular Agenda, Commissioner Whitehurst asked to move Item 7, the budget up to number 2 in the presentation.
Legal noted 2 add on items for the Regular Agenda, a vacation of a Right of Way at Volusia and Brevard Sts. This was advertised to the public but inadvertently omitted from the agenda. A transfer of funds for the Tourism Development Council just came up at the Monday meeting so there was a request to add that to the agenda.
Regular Agenda Items
Agenda Item 1 was a presentation on recent First Responding Unit Exercises. Included in the update was a video of part of the exercises that may be of interest.
You can watch the presentation here: First Responding Unit Exercises
This was followed by the review of the Vacation of Right of Way at Volusia and Brevard Sts. There is grant money from the state and matching funds from the county that required the request to be heard on July 18 to keep the project moving forward. This is a project led by the West Augustine Historical Community Development Corporation. The project will provide a much needed affordable healthcare facility. Vacation of Right of Way
Next up on the Agenda was the very important Agenda Item 7, the 2024 County Budget. Interestingly, rather than go straight to the presentation by the Director of OMB, Jesse Dunn, there was a 25 minute presentation by Deputy County Administrator Joy Andrews.
You can watch the presentation here: Presentation by Joy Andrews
I do recommend watching the video to get the full flavor of what she shared. Highlights are noted here.
Ms. Andrews presented this as a “Budget Snapshot in time.”
She covered several areas:
- BoCC Vision & Leadership
- Public Safety & Wellness
- Building. Infrastructure
- Quality of Life
- Economics & Tourism
- Internal Capacity Building
- Challenges and Opportunities
Vision & Leadership – Ms. Andrews highlighted the priorities set by the BOCC, Transportation Infrastructure, Economic Resiliency, Coastal Protection & Flood Mitigation and Resilient Future for Children. She reminded us of the Transportation Summit with the Legislative Delegation last year and a trip to Washington DC, which resulted in Funding for the county that was 5 times what was received in 2022.
The projects funded were:
- Restoration of North Ponte Vedra Beach – $25 Million
- County Road 2209 Phase 1 – $15 Million
- St. Johns Safe Rail Project – $6 Million
- State Road A1A Intersection Improvements – $6 Million
- Summer Haven Conservation Land acquisition Program – $5 Million
- Pine Island Road at US1 Intersection Safety enhancement – $2 Million
One of the highlights of the update was that Moody’s Upgraded the county’s credit rating from AA1 to AAA.
Public Safety – Highlighted in this section were updates that appear to be reaching back several months, including the COVID response and the Response to Hurricanes Ian & Nicole. Included here was a reference to leveraging over $1 Million in grant funding for new schools. (Considering the cost of a new school, this doesn’t appear to be a large amount.)
In the discussion on Fire Rescue, she shared benchmark numbers of Fire Rescue Staff of 1.3 per 1000 residents, St. Johns County is 50 personnel short of this benchmark thus they are requesting funding for 18 new positions in 2024.
Community Wellness & Revitalization – noted an added 255 multifamily housing units for residents at 60% AMI or less. She brought out the partnership to revitalize West Augustine and Hastings by combining county funds with grant funds for the Health and Wellness Center in West Augustine and the Hastings Community Center and Library.
Building Infrastructure – Noted were Wastewater Treatment updates at Anastasia Island and SR 16, and 35 miles of milling and resurfacing or roads in the county.
Quality of Life – updates on the re-opened County golf course and enhancements to Veterans park, Rivertown Park, and Treaty Park.
Development & Internal Services – highlighted the strong rebound of Tourism in St. Johns County since 2020 resulting in a 28% increase in tax revenue.
Challenges & Opportunities – Challenges noted were workforce retention & expansion, agile and efficient infrastructure delivery, and creative public finance tools. Opportunities noted were inflation catchup pay for county employees, adding 9 lieutenants and 9 engineers to the fire rescue budget, bond funding for 4 regional parks, and bond funding for 3 Fire/Sheriff joint stations.
In this part of the presentation was a request for a 7% pay increase to bring staff up to competitive salaries.
At the conclusion of Ms. Andrews presentation, Commissioner Dean pointed out that over the last 12 months, the Commission has denied more large residential projects than it has approved.
Jesse Dunn, Director of the Office of Management and Budgets presented the 2024 proposed budget. The video to see Mr. Dunn’s presentation can be found here:2024 Budget Presentation
It is great to see that the county has a new format for the budget workshops and there is an interactive web site to view the budget. This should provide much greater transparency into the budget.
Here is a link to the new site: OMB Budget Site
Taxable value growth increase for the year is 16.5%. This will be evident in our property tax bills at the end of the year. Notably, those of us with Homestead exemptions will only see a 3% increase in our tax bills as they are capped by state statute. Those properties without homestead exemptions will be seeing the 16.5% increase in their tax bills. This will result in $43.6 million in property tax revenue for the county.
August 1 will be the hearing on the approved millage rates that we will see in our TRIM notices later in the year.
During discussion Commissioner Dean recommended increasing funding for the LAMP program to $2 Million and to increase funding for library services. The board also agreed to the request to increase county employee salaries by 7% thus making their salaries more competitive and adding 18 positions to the Fire and Rescue Department.
There was also a request to increase library staff sufficient to have the libraries open 7 days a week.
All of these items will be included in the revisions that come back to the Commissioners on August 1.
Agenda Item #2 was request to waive time limits on when the Bella Terra PUD could be brought back to the Commission for review. This had been denied previously and the requirement is that they wait one year before reapplying. The waiver was approved 3-2.
Agenda Item 4 – Little Florence Cove – Nestled in the shadow of the future First Coast Expressway, this is a change in zoning designation from Rural Silviculture to Res A. This will be 5 residential units on 1- 2.5 acre lots. Approved 5-0.
Agenda Item 6 – St. Johns County Land Development Code Tree Protections was an item for discussion. At the conclusion of the presentation by staff there was a recitation by Commissioner Joseph with 14 new items that she is proposing to be added to future ordinances. I will not try to capture them all here, but suggest you watch the video. The Commissioners asked staff to do an in-depth review of the 14 points and come back to the Commissioners with recommendations.
The Video begins here: St Johns County Tree Protection Video
The presentation can be found here: St. Johns County Tree Protections Presentation
Agenda Item 11, Project Shamrock, was a presentation by Steve Livingstone, President and CEO of JAX USL (a St. Johns County resident) on a proposed sports complex near the intersection of CR 210 and SR 16A. Local star athlete Tim Tebow is one of the owners of JAX USL. They are proposing a public-private partnership that would enable professional soccer events as well as multi-purpose fields for local residents to enjoy.
Their proposal involves a 40 acre site on 16A that is already slated for ball fields but to do a land swap with FDOT to develop the adjacent land as part of this comprehensive sports complex.
An important element of the proposal is in line with Mr. Tebow’s passion to serve those with disabilities so there is a focus on the ability to bring in Special Olympics to this facility.
They estimate a combined economic impact to the county (direct and indirect) of $150 Million per year and the creation of 1,380 jobs over a 10 year period.
Preliminary cost impacts are in the range of $30 Million.
This was a presentation on the potential of this project. Staff was directed to come back to the Commissioners with information on ownership, revenue that would be produced, and if FDOT would even be amenable to the land swap.
Commissioner Arnold did raise some concerns about how the facility would be available to local residents.
Commissioner Dean wants to see benefits and costs to the taxpayer from the staff when they come back to the Commissioners.
You can watch the presentation by Mr. Livingstone here, it is well worth the watch: Project Shamrock Video
And read more about the project here:
Agenda Item 12 – The much-awaited discussion on the Resignation of Hunter Conrad.
The video can be found here: Hunter Conrad Separation Agreement Video
There were 3 motions in this discussion.
- The first was to accept the resignation of Hunter Conrad and authorize the Chair to execute the separation agreement and general release and to appoint Joy Andrews as Interim County Administrator.
- The second was to authorize an employment agreement with the Interim County Administrator.
- The third was to authorize an expedited nationwide search for a permanent replacement.
The agreement presented had already been signed by Hunter Conrad; this was the first opportunity for the Board to discuss the contract agreement.
The discussion amongst the commissioners on the topic became somewhat contentious. I encourage you to watch the video to gain more insights into the concerns raised.
A search committee was approved to work with the national search. The Committee named was made up of Commissioner Henry Dean, Clerk of the Court Brandon Patty, Human Resources Director Ms. Hutchinson, County Appraiser Eddie Creamer and Jerry Wilson, a retired Coca Cola executive. (Commissioner Whitehurst shared in an interview the following day that Mr. Creamer had advised he could not participate in the committee.)
Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Joseph recommended adding ASL signing to the Commissioner’s meetings. Ms. Andrews will reach out to the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind to see if they have a program where students can assist. She also asked to provide more public access to the information about the company who will be working with the county on the update of the Comprehensive Plan.
Commissioner Arnold asked for an economic development analysis to be done for Hastings. She also presented a request to purchase the Zora Neale Hurston home and work to preserve the historic value of this home. The Board agreed to issue a Letter of Intent to purchase the house in West Augustine. This will allow the county the opportunity to do the research and analysis necessary to make the purchase.
Commissioner Alaimo shared that he had attended his first Florida Association of Counties and thanked Commissioners Arnold and Whitehurst for nominating him to the FAC Board of Directors.
Nothing from Commissioner Whitehurst.
County Administration Report
Ms. Andrews shared that the county had just received grant money to purchase the Genovar property from the Florida Boating and Waterways Organization. This is 31 acres of land along the river, north of SR 312 and south of the Nix Boar Yard Road. It is anticipated this will become part of our Parks and Recreation assets.
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Beth Tate 