The February 6, 2024 Board of County Commissioner’s meeting began with a Proclamation recognizing February 2024 as Black History Month. The proclamation was accepted by Greg White, Robert Nimmons, Chair of the West Augustine CRA Steering Committee, and Dwala Willis, Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee.
Mr. White gave an interesting acceptance speech worth listening to at this link: Greg White Acceptance Speech
The Second proclamation of the morning commemorated the Life and Legacy of Dr. Otis A. Mason. This proclamation was accepted by Pamela Mason, daughter of Dr. Mason. You can watch that presentation at this link: Dr. Otis Mason Proclamation
The Proclamation and Ms. Mason provides some interesting history of St. Johns County while covering the significant accomplishments of Dr. Mason. It’s well worth the watch.
Read more about Dr. Mason here: Dr. Otis Mason News Story
Public Safety Report
SJSO highlighted this is Teen Dating Violence awareness month and there are resources available through the Sheriff’s department. There was a fundraiser for Big Brother/Big Sisters Tuesday night. And Open Arms Recovery, an organization focused on supporting opioid addiction, is opening an office in St. Johns County in March to help combat the opioid crisis in St. Johns County.
St. Johns County Fire Rescue –highlighted the Rapid Intervention Team Competition in Orlando, January 11 – 12. Two teams from SJC made it to 1st and 3rd place overall in the competition.
Clerk of the Court Report included a warning about fraudulent calls to residents claiming the person has missed jury duty and a warrant has been issued for their arrest and demanding payment. This is not how it works. If someone misses jury duty, they are issued a summons by the Clerk of the court. Please contact the Clerk’s office at 904-819-3629 if you have received one of these phone calls.
Public Infrastructure Update
The Public Infrastructure Update focused on the community of Hastings. Watch the full presentation here: Hastings Infrastructure Update
Below are some key slides from the presentation.
The Legislative Update was moved to the February 20 meeting to give more time to focus on the many items moving through the legislature now.
Consent Agenda
There was some movement of items on the Consent Agenda Tuesday.
Items 7 and 13 were moved to the Regular Agenda becoming (1a) and (1b) respectively.
As anticipated, during public comment on the Consent Agenda there was commentary about Consent Agenda Item 29, the separation agreement for County Attorney David Migut.
Read the Consent Agenda Item here: Consent Agenda Item 29
The Consent Agenda was approved 4-1 with Commissioner Joseph being the dissenting vote.
Regular Agenda
Agenda Items 2 and 3 were continued to future dates.
The applicant for Agenda item 2 (Mills Creek Workforce Housing) asked to withdraw this item and continue to a time certain. Based on information provided by the Growth Management department this appears to be delayed because of information related to transportation. This was continued to March 5.
The applicant for Agenda Item 3 (Wedding Venue on CR 13) has also requested a continuance and this was continued to February 20.
The Regular Agenda was amended with those changes.
Agenda Item 1 – This was a request to designate the building at 165 Vilano Road as a Local Landmark.
Read the presentation here: 165 Vilano Road Landmark Designation
This item was approved 5-0
Agenda Item 1A – formerly consent agenda item 7 Consent Agenda Item 7
“The Board of County Commissioners has the authority to grant permissive use agreements for the temporary use of County owned property to property owners and/or their contractors. Property owners may request a permissive use agreement to utilize adjacent County property for access, staging and temporary storage to construct improvements or effect repairs to their property. Approval of this Resolution will authorize the County Administrator to execute the Non-Exclusive Permissive Use Agreement as necessary without further Board action, allowing greater flexibility for staff to coordinate the timing of the proposed use with minimal disruption to normal operations and/or typical public use of the property. St. Johns County Real Estate Division and the office of the County Attorney will draft and review all requests prior to issuing the Non-Exclusive Permissive Use Agreement.”
Commissioner Joseph had concerns that someone could take advantage of this agreement without some time parameters in place.
County Administrator Andrews indicated she thought the item was being pulled for a date in the future to give staff time to address the concern about time parameters.
By consensus the item was pulled from the agenda and will be brought back at a time in the future.
Agenda Item 1B – formerly consent agenda item 13 Consent Agenda Item 13
“For the past year, the Utility Department has been working to develop a career path for its staff. The career path is aimed at staff training, retention, development and growth. Over the past 3-5 years, the Utility has not been able to compete with regional, neighboring Utilities such as Clay County, JEA and Palm Coast and consequently lost several of its talents, especially within its technical space. Last year, the Utility initiated a career path for most of its maintenance and treatment plant operators. The program focused on establishing a highly-qualified, highly-trained technical and professional workforce by providing a sequence of training segments wherein employees could develop and grow in their position and be fairly compensated. The program has been a huge success with almost zero turnover. The Utility is now proposing to extend this program to all its remaining divisions. The Utility has also identified a few improvement areas within its organizational structure to consolidate some of its management positions. In the short-term, this proposal will require upgrades to certain positions, however, in the long-run these changes will provide tremendous savings to our operational budget. Funding needed for both, the career path and position upgrades (due to the re-organization) will be provided by existing vacancies, budgeted special pay, savings from budgeted capital vehicles and other budgeted line items that have surplus balances. Consequently, there will be NO FY 2024 budget increase. Over 90 utility department positions will benefit from this program. The Utility department currently serves over 57,500 water customer accounts with an FY 2024 operational budget of approximately $45 million. The Utility Capital Improvement plan for FY 2024 is approximately $280 million. Details of the budget transfers are attached.”
Commissioner Joseph indicated she wanted this to be discussed on the Regular Agenda to highlight good practices in the County budget.
This item was approved 5-0.
Agenda Item 1C – was a “red folder” item seeking approval of a nonexclusive permissive use agreement on behalf of a Parks and Recreation contractor.
This was approved 5-1.
Agenda Item 4 is a Request for a Reconsideration or Waiver of One-Year Time Limit to Reapply for the Deer Run PUD.
What does that mean? The Deer Run PUD request was denied by the Board of County Commissioners on September 19, 2023. Under the Land Development code, the applicant cannot reapply for 1 year after the denial. The applicant is requesting the Board to either reconsider their denial or waive the one-year requirement. Deer Run PUD Request
This request was denied 5 -0
Agenda Item 5 – Proposed Ordinance Amendments for Special Care Housing
This is the first reading of an amendment to the LDC regarding Assisted Living Facilities. This comes at a request made at the September 19, 2023 Board of County Commissioners Meeting. Special Care Housing Ordinance Amendment
During public comment it appeared some were confusing Assisted Living Facilities with Affordable Housing. Commissioner Whitehurst asked for clarification that this was not about affordable housing. It was confirmed – this is Assisted Living, not Affordable Housing.
The proposed amendment was approved 5-0.
Agenda item 6 – Appointment to the Land Acquisition Management Program (LAMP)
Conservation Board. There is one vacancy on the Board because of the resignation of Jimmy Watson from District 3. There are 3 applications, Lauren Howington, George Spiegel, and Kevin Gamble. LAMP Appointees
After hearing dissenting public comment and much discussion at the Board, Lauren Howington was approved 4-1 with Commissioner Joseph being the No vote.
Watch the discussion/debate here: LAMP Board discussion
Agenda Item 7 – Appointment to the North Coastal Design Review Board
There are 3 vacancies on the North Coastal Design Review Board created by 2 expired terms and an alternate member being appointed as a regular member. There are 3 applications, Sacha Martin, Linda LaCerva, and William Morton.
All 3 applicants were approved unanimously.
Agenda Item 8 – Appointment to the Tourist Development Council
Under Saint Johns County Ordinances, 2 elected municipal officials must serve on the council. This is a request to have St. Augustine Beach City Mayor Dylan Rumrell appointed as the representative for St. Augustine Beach. TDC Appointment
There was some interesting debate about the appointment of Mayor Rumrell. The requirement is that there be 2 municipal officers. The representative from St. Augustine Beach had been former Mayor Donald Samora. The City Manager submitted a letter recommending new Mayor Dylan Rumrell replace Donald Samora on the TDC.
Commissioner Joseph raised concerns that there is a conflict of interest because Mayor Rumrell is head of the Ampitheater who hosts Sing Out Loud and TDC dollars are often allocated to Sing Out Loud.
After hearing public comment echoing similar concerns, Mayor Rumrell spoke and indicated he would recuse himself whenever there was a conflict of interest.
The appointment was approved 4-1 with Commissioner Joseph being the No vote.
Public Comment
During Public Comment, many residents spoke out about the potential move of the historic Canright House from it’s current location to Windswept Acres Park. It appeared this move was a surprise to many local residents.
This item was first brought to the County Commissioners for review in August of 2022. During Commissioners reports on that date, Commissioner Waldron asked for information related to a letter from the St. Johns County Cultural Resource Review Board asking the Canright Houses be identified as a significant structure associated with the Civil Rights Movement. After discussion, the Commissioners approved a letter of support from the Board and to have staff research the potential relocation of the structure from 5480 Atlantic View to Windswept Acres Park. Minutes are here: Board Minutes for the first mention of saving the Canright House
There was more discussion on this topic during Commissioner’s Reports.
Commissioner’s reports
Commissioner Whitehurst began with asking for some clarification on items mentioned during public comment. One item was that the Board had at some time voted to not include Public Comment in the recorded minutes of the meetings. Commissioner Whitehurst did not recall such a vote and asked Administrator Andrews if she had recollection of such a vote. She did not. With further discussion it was clarified that neither recalled any direction to the Clerk of the Court in how to record the minutes.
His second clarification was about the movement of the Canright House. He recalled that perhaps 2 years ago, Commissioner Waldron had seen something about the preservation of the home. He recalled some discussion about bringing this back on a future agenda and there had been a handful of people who had expressed support for moving the house. He noted now they are hearing opposition to the move.
Administrator Andrews shared that they were doing a Public Meeting on Thursday, February 8th from 5 – 6 to discuss all the facts related to the house. She shared that Commissioner Waldron had been very supportive of saving the building but was concerned about funding the move. The Parks Foundation was able to secure a little over $400,000 from the state to cover the cost of the relocation. The Parks Foundation came back to the Board and received unanimous approval to move forward with the move.
Commissioner Joseph asked if another location could be found for the move of the Canright House. She also asked to look at other counties to see how they take public record and what the do online. She also shared that She will be doing a listening hour at the Ponte Vedra Beach Library on March 26th at 5:30 PM.
Commissioner Alaimo recognized the St. Johns County Teacher of the Year, Tina Hemby, and the Rookie Teacher of the Year, Aimee Monie. He also highlighted the community meeting on the Canright home on Thursday and is continuing to meet with residents who are concerned about the Shore Drive Trail. There is a Community Meeting on the Shore Drive Trail scheduled for February 14, 5:00 PM at the Southeast Branch Library.
After thanking David Migut for his service as attorney, Commissioner Alaimo made a motion to bring in an external counsel to serve as interim County Attorney while they are recruiting to replace Mr. Migut. He recommended Rich Kommando, who currently serves as the Housing Finance Authority Counsel for the County. His rationale was to have an outside view from someone who does not want the position full time.
During Board discussion about this motion, Commissioner Joseph recommended placing Christine Valliere in the interim role. Mr. Lex Taylor was also recommended as being able to fill the interim role.
A motion was made to authorize the chair and the county administrator to work toward an interim contract for county attorney. The motion was approved 4-1 with Commissioner Joseph being the no vote.
Commissioner Whitehurst commended the Public Works Department for the 1000’ extension of the west bound turn lane on Race Track Road at Veterans Parkway. It greatly improved the safety on that section of Race Track Road.
Commissioner Dean brought up the conference on Beach Preservation where he will be giving the welcoming remarks at the Embassy Suites where the beach renourishment project is just about to get under way.
County Administrator’s report
Administrator Andrews requested a letter of support from the Board for the request to locate the Black History Museum in St. Johns County.
She also provided an update on the lawsuit involving the Clerk of the Court. The County has received a notice from the court that an order of dismissal due to the former IG not responding to the suit.
Additionally, she shared that there are 3 Joint Town Hall meetings to cover the Comprehensive Plan and the Strategic Plan update.
Upcoming meetings will be:
- Feb. 20, 6 – 7:30 p.m. at Pacetti Bay Middle School Auditorium, 245 Meadowlark Lane
- Feb. 21, 6 – 7:30 p.m. at Southeast Branch Library, 6670 US 1 South
- Feb. 22, 6 – 7:30 p.m. at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, 1050 A1A North
Ms. Andrews also expressed appreciation to the board for approving the Publix incentive. She wanted to clarify that this was not an expenditure of taxpayer funds but operates like a rebate. Publix is investing $145 million in the county. The incentive dollars are a rebate back in the amount of $5 million that will help fund that $145 Million investment that is bringing jobs and long term tax revenue to the county.
County Attorney’s Report
Thank you to the Board members and all county employees he has worked with.
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Beth Tate 