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We're live this House. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. My name is Melissa Moss. I'm the President of the Democratic Club of Amelia Island. I really welcome all the community members who are here with us today who are also live streaming at home in their james and slippers, you know, where we might all want to be. Welcome candidates. Thank you all for being here. We very much appreciate it.

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audience members may notice that two of our candidates are not present. Those are two

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mayoral candidates. Darren asks you and Dr. James Anton. James Anton had a late

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patient appointment. He will be here at 6 or a little bit after. Commissioner asks you

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is working on a shift, he is not able to come, although you never know, sometimes they come.

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I also wanted to give a special thank you to the City Clerk, and I'm sure I know your staff helped as well.

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We had an interesting time with logistics, and you've been marvelous on the setup.

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Thank you so much for all of that.

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I want to thank the cross-section of community members who provided input

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it and feedback to me during the whole question development process. We could have had a hundred

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questions and been here all night. And the volunteers who did the real work of getting

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us ready for this evening, DCI board members, Leanne, Catlin, and Patty Mooney.

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So I just want

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to remind everyone that this is being live streamed and so people at home are watching now.

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This will also be archived and put on the city website so that it can be watched afterwards.

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It's really a great way to go back and look more at your candidates.

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This is a forum. It is not a debate.

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We will open by asking a series of five questions of all of the city commission candidates

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before we move to a series of four questions for the Memorial Candidate.

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But the forum's closing question will be asked of all candidates.

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There will be no questions from the audience.

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The moderator will be calling on the opponent commission candidates to respond back to

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back.

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So for instance, seat one opponents will be the first to answer question one.

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Seat two opponents will be the first to answer question two and so on.

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The moderator will also indicate which one of the two candidates for each

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commission see will speak first and reverse that order for the next round of

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questions. Basic ground rules, there's not a lot. The questions in sequencing of

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responses were provided to the moderator by the Democratic Club. You may always

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ask the moderator to repeat the question because by the time it gets to you you may need

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a repetition. And we will adhere tightly to the time allocated for each question. While

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you need not take the entire allotted time for each response you must complete your answer

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by the end of the allotted time. I'm going to do the moderator introduction now. And our

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Our moderator this evening is Cameron Moss, yes, we're related by marriage.

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We are both county residents.

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That doesn't mean that we don't care what goes on the city.

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In fact, we think it matters a great deal what happens in the city because as the city goes,

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so does the rest of the county.

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As a NASA County resident, Cameron has attended and provided comment at both city and

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county commission meetings for a number of years.

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He has also served as a member of the County Commission Planning and Zoning Committee.

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His skills as a moderator drive from many years as an international business consultant,

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facilitating discussions and planning sessions with executives and leadership teams.

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And with that, we're ready to roll.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Mrs. Moss.

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As much as we've got a handful of questions here that we'll go through for each candidate and in the spirit of fairness, two minutes per answer per person per question.

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So it's always two minutes and it will be showing up in the right clock here that hopefully you can all see and when it winds down to zero, you should stop.

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So I've found that difficult myself sometimes.

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Okay.

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So first question for each candidate.

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We'll start with Mr. Bean as an incumbent.

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Question is, and this will be the same for all of you.

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Please introduce yourself, emphasizing the education

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and professional or volunteer experiences,

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the best qualify you for the position you are seeking.

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Mr. Mouse, thank you so much.

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And thank you to the Democrat Club for having me today.

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It's a real pleasure to be with you all tonight.

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I got his first start by saying thank you.

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For the past four years, it has been honored to serve you

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as your mayor and the city commissioner.

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And I look forward to serving you another four years.

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And so we're looking forward to that.

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What qualifies me for the position number one?

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We'll start with the education.

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Excellent question, Mr. Moss there.

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I grew up in the Nassau County school system right here

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in front of the Naveech.

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We started that south side.

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We went to emblematic.

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We went to emblem love.

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We went to the great further than to be in high school go pirates everybody and we then went took our talent

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Thank you Mary, and I see you had your class where you need this weekend, by the way. I knew that there you go

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We went to the University of Florida where I got my engineering degree and at that point in time

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You got a decision to make when you get a engineering degree where are you gonna go?

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You got to follow the jobs

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You got to be able to go out and make money support your family and

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What we're blessed with here in front of the beach are jobs right here at home

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And that is what I found I was able to come home and go right to work at one of our local

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potent paper mills.

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So with that being said, what kind of volunteer experience, and what kind of a, I would

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say number one, is that some of my experience in general for this job four more years is

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that I've been doing this job for the past four and I think we've been rocking a roll and

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getting ready for four more.

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But furthermore, other great things around town, I've served as president of our local Rotary

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Club.

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I have the vertical front of the beach. I have volunteered coaching our high school robotics team.

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We took a big loss at Cali and recently they are, they're a lot stronger robotics than you think.

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And then both, let me, I don't want to have any crap about Cali and they're great.

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But folks, bottom line is my experience is all right here in front of the beach because this is my home, it always has been and always will be.

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So with all that being said, oh my wife Alexia's here and I have a daughter on the way.

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So, we're very excited about that, and she said it grew off in the state of schools on it.

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Thank you, yes.

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Thank you, Mr. Beane.

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Just quickly repeating the question, introduce yourself, emphasizing education,

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and professional or volunteer experiences that qualify you for this position you're seeking.

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Ms. Tudon.

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Hi, my name is Tudon.

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Thank you for all for being here, so it's super nice to be here.

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I have an undergraduate degree from William & Mary in Virginia where I met my husband

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on the first day of school. It was interesting. And got paid to go to graduate school, get my

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master's degree in nutritional biochemistry, which I think really helps me in terms of

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research and understanding complex issues and moving forward to find solutions.

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Didn't think I wanted to get my PhD so went the way of most of my family and ended up teaching.

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Although our first duty station in Germany, my husband was 26 years in the Army

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so our first duty station in Germany, no teaching jobs to be had at the Army base

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where I was closing, so I ended up working in an accounting office that was not

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modernized and so I want an award building them a database to get them on track to

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functioning in the real world. And that led to a whole series of volunteering. It seemed

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everywhere we moved, I ended up as the treasurer. Nobody wants to be treasurer ever. So,

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treasurer, PTO, treasurer of the conservative NASA when we moved here, spent 17 years teaching

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high school, mostly chemistry, and AP environmental science. At our last duty station in Maryland,

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I served for four years. Our City had a sustainability committee, which I would love to see as a standing committee here our job was to put our fingers in every pot of Sydney business and help build into processes to make the city more resilient for long-term issues and save money along the way almost all the time because if you plan for the future you save money because you don't waste money on poor decisions.

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I spent a lot of time when we first moved here volunteering and all sorts of things so

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I've got to know a lot of community and I hope to be here for the next 30 years.

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Thank you, Mr. Sturgis, you're up next introducing yourself emphasizing education and professional

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or volunteer experiences that qualify you for the position you're seeking to take.

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Thank you, Karen.

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I would take the good afternoon, and I'm glad to see all the bright smiling faces out there.

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I'm David Sturgis, or C2 Commissioner, and vice mayor. I've been here my whole life.

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My family's been here since 1710. This is home for me, and I care deeply about this community,

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and that's the reason why I'm running for re-election. I studied like Bradley,

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All my life, I studied FBHS, got my high school degree and then went and got an

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associate's applied science and electrical engineering, served for a year or

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so a job and didn't really like that. So I moved on to being one of my

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passions of helping people and building their dreams. I do construction, most of

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degree model, and I have more of a hard-knots type of running your own business for over

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22 years on this island, and seeing it since I've been a child. I've been here 51 years

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all my life, and so I have that strong work ethic. I work all the time, and I enjoy putting

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back. As far as serving for the community, I'm part of the North East Florida Regional Council.

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I serve on that around our district. I'm also a board member for the North East Florida Boy Scouts

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Sable District. I'm the homeowner's association president, Furny and Shores, as well as I'm an

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former Eagle Scout. And so I spent many of times at all of these churches serving any time

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anybody need anything, I'm there serving. I believe in giving back into the

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community for 27 years. I actually put the manors, manors seen up at the site

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Michael's Catholic Church, all volunteer with my father. We enjoy doing this.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Sturgis.

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This has been true. Would you like to question again?

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Now I'm good.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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So I'm Denise Minchew, and I'm

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running for city commission seat two.

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I want to thank the Democratic Club for having this forum.

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These forms are so important to making sure

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that you, the voter and the citizens in this community,

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can learn about all the candidates

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and learn about our issues.

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So I'm a native Floridian.

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I grew up up in down the East Coast of Florida.

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We moved around a lot as a kid, but I graduated from high school in

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Bunnell, Florida, which is Flagler County before there was a Palm Coast, so I

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really know what development looks like. And I went to work two weeks after I

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graduated from high school with Southern Bell and Daytona Beach. And I tell people

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that I went to the University of work. And I had a 38-year career with Bell South

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was Southern Bell, Bell South. I started as an operator, and worked my way up to a

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director at Bell South Business Systems. At that point in time, I think you could do that

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in the phone company. You didn't have to have a college degree to be able to be succeed

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and like you do now. So my work experience has always been in what I think of as customer

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operations, and a lot of process work, a lot of strategic work. I never, I always was

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able to do the work that I helped figure out how to, for other people to do. You know,

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at one point we were an organization of about 900 people, and we had to write processes

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to steer that ship, which is really hard to get 900 people in nine states to do the same

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thing consistently every day, but that was my job and that was what we've worked for.

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So I really am focused on process and process improvement.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Ms. Mitchell.

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Ms. Kelly, are you all right with the question or shall I read it?

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I'm ready to get.

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Okay.

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Thank you.

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Please introduce yourself, emphasizing the education and professional or volunteer experiences

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that best qualify you for the position you were seeking.

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can you hear me? I get a lot of complaints and I'm not talking a lot enough. I'm

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Christie Callie, I'm running for C-3. I graduated high school and went straight

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to work. I worked two jobs or first union national bank during the day and

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special assets division. I rode the bus to get there and by the age of 22 I built

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my first ten. By the age of 24 I opened my first business, North Florida

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seven more locations throughout.

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I've served my husband in 2016 when he developed cancer for two years. That's what I did.

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So I'm going to keep my family going, trying to keep my husband alive and it didn't work out. And so here we are. I'm

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totally qualified to have all the business experience you could need or want to run and help run this town.

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I want to have great ideas to generate revenue,

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while maintaining our lifestyle,

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our little, small, beautiful lifestyle here.

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I want to keep genuine and hope for the best of my time

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to make.

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Thank you, Ms. Kelly.

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Mr. Pointer.

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Could you repeat the question?

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Could you repeat the question?

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Sorry, I'm late.

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Yes, we have to repeat the question.

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Please, introduce yourself.

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You'll have two minutes.

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Introduce yourself, emphasizing the education

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and professional or volunteer experiences that best qualify you the position you're seeking.

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Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, went to the University of Cincinnati,

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and from there, we've done a lot of different things.

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Came down here as a toy developer that did work out after a couple of years

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and had a start pretty much from scratch.

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My family, we started a Catholic caravan, and then yada yada yada.

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many different businesses since then.

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I was a volunteer for a life card volunteer for the pool.

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I've been a city commissioner two times.

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I currently serve on the historic district.

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I care a lot about the city, which is why I do what I do.

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And we're happy to have really put our roots in here.

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My family works with me in the business.

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and we've been successful enough with the support of the community and I'm just

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interested in continuing to give back.

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Thank you, Mr. Pointer.

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Moving to the

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first, the next question and we'll begin this with Mr. Sturgis. This is in the

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area of managing city assets.

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Maintenance in Fernandina is a never-ending need and the

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The city doesn't seem to have enough money and plans to do it right.

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What do you think needs to change to address this problem without overburdening taxpayers?

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Thank you, cameras.

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Actually, I'll start out.

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That is a pretty easy question.

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We have a maintenance plan in a plan for the future that already exists.

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We just inherited, for previous commissions, a lot of not necessarily addressing all the

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issues.

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not to say that they were bad but they were just they all crop up with cities

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every time the city has different issues whether it's drainage whether it's

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building maintenance whether it's whatever it all depends on what these five

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commissioners decide so we have a plan for rotating maintenance on vehicles which

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we're already we have enacted it instead of we follow it all the time on the big

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purchases like fire trucks and stuff like that, we have a plan going forward to add

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this to the rotation. As far as building maintenance and road maintenance, we've

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upped our limit every year as far as without going up on the taxes. We've upped the

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amount that we put towards these issues. So I think that we're maintaining it.

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The

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upgrading the paving every year we go more and do more.

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So I think we are addressing it from the different revenues.

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We keep going for grants and working well with the county.

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We can do different things that help some of these areas.

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And we are doing it.

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We are establishing it with almost $8 million

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that we got over the last time period

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with grants for different stuff.

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And then we spent close to 20 to $30 million on maintenance

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and not salaries and not things working in the city.

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So over the last three or four years or so.

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I think we're moving in the right direction.

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It's just we picked up the ball

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where it needed to be moved a lot farther.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Sturgis.

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And I was too.

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Maybe that's in Fernandina is a never ending need.

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The city doesn't seem to have enough money

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and plans to do it right.

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Right, what do you think means to change to address this problem without oververting taxpayers?

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I think maintenance is a big issue.

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We've removed a lot of beach walkovers and haven't put them back on.

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We, in fact, need more if we're going to enable dunes to grow that little goat paths through

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the dunes that are not healthy for the dunes.

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We have a whole lot of blanks in our five-year capital improvement plan and don't fully tie

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our budget to our five-year capital improvement plan, let alone a 10 or 25-year plan.

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I think one of our most overlooked assets is our trees.

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Our trees are part of our assets and our infrastructure and we don't have an urban tree management plan

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where you know exactly where every tree is, what species it is,

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and when its life is coming to an end, and when and where you need to replace it.

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I live on beach street, and if you drive down big sections of beach

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it's really a beautiful canopy, but when you look under that canopy,

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the future canopy is not growing, and it needs to be growing already.

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there's no two and five and ten-inch trees under these big beauties and and it's

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it's something you have to plan for and or else you will not have it in the

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future and with the flooding that we just had more trees we're losing we all

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know we drive around we're losing trees every week you you all can picture big

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beautiful trees that used to be near your house and are gone and it's an asset that

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that we really need to improve on.

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And alternative sources of revenue are something

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that we have not explored as we have tens of thousands

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of residents coming over the bridge.

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And we, the taxpayers of the city, we pay for all our assets

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and the use of all of our assets.

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But we offer them for free to everybody coming.

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And maybe we want to continue doing that,

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but maybe we don't.

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Thank you Mr. In my apologies to the panel. I can't read my own handwriting. So I got the order wrong, but that's okay.

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Can I just mention, you are not amplified on your mark by microphone. It's not, it's not, you're not, that's the order of people listening to a call.

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I don't know if there's someone in the back who may be able to help with AV. It's certainly not a, I understand. I, I will speak up.

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You're welcome, so I should

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have asked Ms. Minshiew first and I didn't.

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So I'm just going to the pair and go from Joyce to Mr. Bean, and then I'll come back to you, Ms. Minshiew.

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Is that okay?

293
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Sorry about that.

294
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My bad, so one for the team, please show.

295
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Mr. Bean, maintenance in front of Dina is an ever ending need.

296
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City struggles to have enough money and plans to do it right.

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what do you think needs to change to address the problem without overburdening

298
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taxpayers? Absolutely. We as a city we work very well and we work incredibly

299
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hard on our budget. In fact what we always say the biggest the busiest part of

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a city commissioners life cycle is the obvious September that's budget season

301
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that's when we sit down we work on where all the money is going to be spent. We

302
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also part of that budget is the five year capital plan. We make a plan for the

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future, how are we going to spend future dollars as they come in? We have that plan, we have

304
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that plan and we make sure we use that plan moving forward. Is that plan going to be by the time

305
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you get to year three? Will that still be the same plan? Most likely no, because needs pop up and

306
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it's important that you prioritize and you work for the most urgent need to make sure that things get

307
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done when they need to be. When you see a need pop up, you have to be agile, you have to respond,

308
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you have to make sure that our city's needs are covered and that's what our commission has been

309
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a great job of working at. Now what I will say is a wonderful opportunity. It's

310
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alternate sources of revenue. That's the opportunity here. And that's something

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that this commission has been absolutely pursuing. And let me tell you where

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we've been tackling this. It's our relationships with the county, with the state.

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It's relationships. Now folks, when you used to open the newsletter, you go back a

314
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couple of years. You would open the newsletter. You would see the same headline

315
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over and over again about how the city and the county they're fighting again.

316
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That's what you would see over and over again, but if you opened it in the past couple months,

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You might be seeing headlines like the city and the county are once again working together and let me tell you why

318
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That's a great thing. It's because we are now working on funding projects using county and state dollars. We've got projects funded through the county

319
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Such as our new eBoravarez soccer complex. We're gonna. It's a two million dollar complex

320
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The city is only coming up with a million. The county is coming up with a million

321
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That's a partnership and that's great news. That's alternative sources of revenue. We're partnering with the school board on opening up a new practice fields in front of the school board building.

322
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It's these partnerships and also with the state we have two million dollars coming in to make sure our seawall has continued.

323
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We have a lot of great stuff coming through and that's thanks to these alternate sources of revenue and partnerships. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Dean. Ms. Menshew.

325
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is a never ending need, the city doesn't seem to have enough money and plans to do it right.

326
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What do you think needs to change to address this problem without overburdening tax barriers?

327
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Thank you.

328
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I do think that we've had a disconnect over some time period between the budget and the

329
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The capital improvement plan, things show up in the budget, during budget year that have

330
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never been on a capital improvement plan, and they're not necessarily things that were

331
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emergencies and just popped up.

332
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They were things that were just delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed until they become

333
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an emergency or they become chaotic.

334
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So I think there needs to be a lot stronger view and look more long-term across the budget and across the plant.

335
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We do have pockets of things that are working well.

336
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We have great vehicles because we have somebody who works really hard on that.

337
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But that does, you don't see that across the entire city and particularly in terms of

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maintenance on buildings and some other long-term planning.

339
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So in terms of alternate sources of revenue, yes there has been an improvement in working

340
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with the county, with the state and some of that has to do with the personal relationships

341
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between the commissioners and some of it has frankly I think has to do with

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changing a leadership of the city manager and so we would once that

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relationship has improved I would think that we could continue to work cooperatively

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and look at the city and the state as of or the county and the state is the

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value partner for things that we have common interest on. I don't consider the

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County, my big brother, I consider them a valued partner and would like to work with them that way

347
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So I do think that we continue we need to continue to look for grants. We need to continue to look for these other funds and

348
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And move and move forward with a longer term plan

349
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Thank you, Ms. Venture

350
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Mr. Pointer

351
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made us in Fernandina is a never-ending need and the city doesn't seem to have enough money and plans to do it right.

352
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What do you think needs to change to address the problem without overburdening taxpayers?

353
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Well, I think that the city has done a decent job on some things and a really poor job in others.

354
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And I can say that because I was a commissioner being part of that, not doing such a good job on some things and doing a better job on others.

355
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One of the things that this commission, current commission was supposed to have done for the last three years was to look at a bond type thing and they haven't gotten around to it.

356
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I know it takes a lot of work and that type of stuff but you cannot fix this entire city on every year's property tax.

357
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You need to go out and you need to have a good plan.

358
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you need to say if this needs to be done and this needs to be done, this needs to be done,

359
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what is this going to cost? These are 50-year plans. These are 50-year improvements on buildings.

360
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The taxpayers of this year should not be burdened with all that expense on one year. It's ridiculous.

361
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The people who move in here in the following year and he's going to be here for the next 20 years

362
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should be sharing in that. You can't do this all on one year. I served on a

363
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commission one time where their adage was we're not going to spend any money

364
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unless we have it. Well you're never going to have any money. On these things if

365
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you need to build a new center you need to build a new city hall. These are just

366
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I'm throwing these things out. You can't do that on your property taxes on just

367
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today. This has to be spread over 20, 30, 40 years on just the taxpayers of today. But

368
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people are going to share in that time and time again over the next 10, 20, and 30 years.

369
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That's the way you think this is. Thank you, Mr. Pointer. Mr. Kelly,

370
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maintenance in Pernadina is a never ending need and the city doesn't seem to have enough money

371
00:29:53,610 --> 00:29:58,610
and plans to do it right. What do you think needs to change to address this problem?

372
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:27,800
Without overburdening taxpayers. Well, I think to start with, we have to put our needs ahead of our wants. I think that all any available funds we have right now, we've got to bring the city up to speak. Get it where we need it and then push forward from there. We have outside revenue strings coming. We need to use that money, push it into repairing our town, getting us where we need to be, and then work on alternate sources of income for projects going forward.

373
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Great. Thank you.

374
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Moving on to the next question, and I'll promise to get the order correct.

375
00:30:37,300 --> 00:30:44,340
This is in the area of responsible development, and we're going to start with C-3, so Mr.

376
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Pointer, you're going to get to go first on this one.

377
00:30:46,900 --> 00:30:47,040
Okay.

378
00:30:47,980 --> 00:30:51,040
Ms. Kelly, I think you want to go twice in a row, so I have to give you a breathing word.

379
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Residents are concerned about losing the special charm of Fernandina to development that

380
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doesn't fit with the existing character of the city.

381
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:07,080
What do you think the biggest risks are to Fernandina as we know it?

382
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And what will you do to mitigate them?

383
00:31:11,450 --> 00:31:13,930
Well, I try to just lead by example.

384
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If you look at the projects that we've done downtown,

385
00:31:17,310 --> 00:31:21,610
a lot of people criticize us for my family for buying that property and putting

386
00:31:21,610 --> 00:31:23,070
a miniature golf course on it.

387
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When I could have maximized my dollars by building a 45 foot building.

388
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I didn't want to see a 45 foot building

389
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and I didn't think it was going to fit in the community environment that I wanted to live in.

390
00:31:35,570 --> 00:31:42,150
So we put in basically a garden. It's those types of things that I think responsible development

391
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needs to be done. I think that the commission should reach out to developers who are looking at

392
00:31:47,290 --> 00:31:59,530
doing things in the city and seeing how we can work together where they can be happy but the city

393
00:31:59,530 --> 00:32:07,890
fees for impact fees and stuff if they do something that is in keeping with what the community

394
00:32:07,890 --> 00:32:13,070
wants. These are the types of things that you have to reach out. You know, I'm sick

395
00:32:13,070 --> 00:32:17,010
and by the thought of a 45-foot building right behind this building on their trunk

396
00:32:17,010 --> 00:32:22,430
alley property. I don't even know how it gets to that point, but I don't know if anyone's

397
00:32:22,430 --> 00:32:31,550
spoken to anybody or try to work this thing out, but I'm disappointed and those are the types of things that we have to work in the future.

398
00:32:32,610 --> 00:32:35,850
I believe in property rights, but there's ways of doing it.

399
00:32:38,270 --> 00:32:48,850
Thank you, Mr. Pointer. Ms. Kelly, residents are concerned about losing that special charm of Fernandina to development that doesn't fit the existing character of the city.

400
00:32:49,630 --> 00:32:53,630
What do you think the biggest risks are to Fernandina as we know it?

401
00:32:54,030 --> 00:32:55,650
And what will you do to mitigate them?

402
00:32:56,770 --> 00:33:02,230
I think the biggest risks are having very out of place buildings, again, like Tringoli happened.

403
00:33:02,930 --> 00:33:07,250
And I think that could have been negotiated ahead in time.

404
00:33:07,410 --> 00:33:15,570
I think everyone needs to get together before everybody gets upset and negotiate the best possible scenario.

405
00:33:15,570 --> 00:33:25,330
When I say everybody, I mean the community members, everybody has to go in calmly and think through the best possible scenario so that we do not come up with this.

406
00:33:25,850 --> 00:33:35,790
Hopefully we can go back to the table on Trangali and rework that. I hope so. I think that is the biggest risk of that happening over and over again.

407
00:33:35,790 --> 00:33:42,790
And the only way is to learn from that one and in the future you have to negotiate the

408
00:33:42,790 --> 00:33:47,550
best possible outcome before it comes to, you know, a really bad situation.

409
00:33:49,110 --> 00:33:49,970
Thank you, Ms. Kelly.

410
00:33:51,370 --> 00:33:56,170
Moving down to the end of the row, Mr. Bean, residents are concerned about losing the special

411
00:33:56,170 --> 00:34:00,490
charm of Fernandina to development that does not fit with the existing character of the city.

412
00:34:01,290 --> 00:34:04,410
What do you think the biggest risks are to Fernandina as we know it?

413
00:34:04,410 --> 00:34:06,290
And what will you do to mitigate them?

414
00:34:06,770 --> 00:34:07,370
Thank you, Ms. Moss.

415
00:34:07,510 --> 00:34:09,550
Let me start by setting the record straight.

416
00:34:09,730 --> 00:34:10,690
Let's set the record straight.

417
00:34:11,090 --> 00:34:13,230
Number one, we have to quickly go over

418
00:34:13,230 --> 00:34:15,330
what something called live local is.

419
00:34:15,470 --> 00:34:16,550
So if you haven't heard about this yet,

420
00:34:16,690 --> 00:34:19,210
it's a state law that I personally do not agree with.

421
00:34:19,570 --> 00:34:22,250
It says that if you do a certain percentage

422
00:34:22,250 --> 00:34:24,870
of affordable housing with the end of the development structure,

423
00:34:25,330 --> 00:34:27,210
and when they say affordable housing,

424
00:34:27,630 --> 00:34:29,790
it's not really what you would think is affordable housing.

425
00:34:29,930 --> 00:34:30,750
It's simply not.

426
00:34:31,230 --> 00:34:33,110
And if you meet that requirement,

427
00:34:33,110 --> 00:34:38,230
you can meet the maximum density that a municipality allows, which in front of the

428
00:34:38,230 --> 00:34:42,890
case up until this current commission reduced the density, which we did to

429
00:34:42,890 --> 00:34:47,510
combat this law, was 36 units per acre. And that is currently what is being

430
00:34:47,510 --> 00:34:51,490
invoked on the Tregali property. So I wanted to say that I completely agree with

431
00:34:51,490 --> 00:34:55,030
what Commissioner Porter said about how you need to negotiate with these folks.

432
00:34:55,550 --> 00:34:59,070
You need to work with people like the Tregali family when they come and ask

433
00:34:59,070 --> 00:35:02,930
because if you work with them, you can end up with an end result that I think

434
00:35:02,930 --> 00:35:09,030
fits in with the character of the neighborhood, it fits in with the community, and what was approached back last

435
00:35:09,030 --> 00:35:13,970
February was a proposal where they had 12 lots, and they were asking us to do a

436
00:35:13,970 --> 00:35:21,890
replat to make those even. Therefore, they could do six buildings, six duplexes, there are 12 units. That was the proposal. If you work

437
00:35:21,890 --> 00:35:29,350
with us on this replat, they're going to throw in sidewalks, drainage, they're going to do a lot to benefit the community and only build 12 units.

438
00:35:29,350 --> 00:35:32,590
That was a great deal for everybody a great deal for the city

439
00:35:32,590 --> 00:35:36,750
And that's why the commission was willing to work with them and get something that benefited the community

440
00:35:36,750 --> 00:35:44,130
Now since then there's been a lawsuit that squashed the 12th and so the developer is now invoking their right to go maximum

441
00:35:44,130 --> 00:35:46,650
That's what they're doing if I had a magic wand

442
00:35:46,650 --> 00:35:51,270
I would wave it and wish there was no lawsuit because I really want the 12 back

443
00:35:51,270 --> 00:35:57,430
I we worked really hard to get a good deal for everybody and then this lawsuit stopped the 12 and now we're dealing with 30

444
00:35:57,430 --> 00:36:02,850
So, folks, if there's a lesson learned from Schengali, it's that we need to work with these

445
00:36:02,850 --> 00:36:06,390
people that are building in our community because if we work with them, we can end up with

446
00:36:06,390 --> 00:36:07,990
something we all more agree with.

447
00:36:08,630 --> 00:36:08,910
Thank you.

448
00:36:09,810 --> 00:36:10,750
Thank you, Mr. Bean.

449
00:36:11,790 --> 00:36:17,130
Mr. Newton, residents are concerned about losing that special charm of frontendina to development

450
00:36:17,130 --> 00:36:19,610
that doesn't fit with the existing character of the city.

451
00:36:20,510 --> 00:36:25,750
What do you think the biggest risks are to frontendina, as we know it, and what will you do

452
00:36:25,750 --> 00:36:26,490
to mitigate them.

453
00:36:27,470 --> 00:36:31,470
I think the biggest risk to the community is loss of our character and I think the

454
00:36:31,470 --> 00:36:38,650
lesson from Tragali is that this sitting commission could have read our law 1.03.05 the

455
00:36:38,650 --> 00:36:45,090
way the judge did, that the commission, there was no plausible explanation for what the

456
00:36:45,090 --> 00:36:45,730
commission did.

457
00:36:46,070 --> 00:36:50,830
Our planning advisory board voted unanimously for that not to happen and the board of

458
00:36:50,830 --> 00:36:52,110
The adjustment voted unanimously.

459
00:36:53,370 --> 00:37:01,030
The 12 units that came in were originally had three homes on 4th Street where it was

460
00:37:01,030 --> 00:37:08,770
R2 zoning and the homes on the other side directly across the street would have had, would

461
00:37:08,770 --> 00:37:09,850
have been looking at homes.

462
00:37:10,230 --> 00:37:18,030
Instead the commission voted against our laws to even it out and have condos facing them,

463
00:37:18,250 --> 00:37:19,050
have duplexes.

464
00:37:19,050 --> 00:37:22,630
I think we also need to protect our wetlands law.

465
00:37:23,090 --> 00:37:28,190
This commission is currently considering changing how you calculate net density and how many

466
00:37:28,190 --> 00:37:29,630
units are allowed on a parcel.

467
00:37:30,250 --> 00:37:36,850
So you do the math of what's the zoning and how many acres are you do you have but before

468
00:37:36,850 --> 00:37:39,170
you do that math you subtract out wetlands.

469
00:37:40,550 --> 00:37:45,850
Well this commission is considering removing that wetlands subtraction and allowing greater

470
00:37:45,850 --> 00:37:47,050
density on a parcel.

471
00:37:47,850 --> 00:37:55,590
We have got to actually strengthen and protect our laws in our last duty station in Maryland.

472
00:37:56,330 --> 00:37:58,870
The pervious and pervious surface was flip-flop.

473
00:37:59,370 --> 00:38:02,570
We allow 60% of a lot to be impervious here in the city.

474
00:38:02,670 --> 00:38:04,970
It needs to be the reverse, only 40%.

475
00:38:04,970 --> 00:38:10,950
And that is in fact how the city was originally organically developed with smaller homes

476
00:38:10,950 --> 00:38:14,190
that didn't fill the lot which allowed trees.

477
00:38:15,010 --> 00:38:18,990
The more you fill a lot, the more trees you have to take out, which means you get a big

478
00:38:18,990 --> 00:38:23,410
rainstorm and you're missing where's the rain going and it needs to run off, where are the

479
00:38:23,410 --> 00:38:29,410
trees that collect the rain? There's a lot we can do to strengthen our loss to protect

480
00:38:29,410 --> 00:38:38,190
our community. Thank you, Ms. Tudon. Mr. Sturgis, residents are concerned about losing that special

481
00:38:38,190 --> 00:38:43,510
charm of Fernandina to development that doesn't fit with the existing character of the city. What do

482
00:38:43,510 --> 00:38:48,210
Do you think the biggest risks are to Fernandina as we know it, and what will you do to mitigate them?

483
00:38:49,330 --> 00:38:50,190
Thank you, Cameron.

484
00:38:51,370 --> 00:38:59,230
I'm not pro-development. I'm not anti-development. I support good development and smart community management.

485
00:39:00,790 --> 00:39:11,050
Growth is something everyone in our city and county is feeling with over 1.6 million visitors every year that travel over that bridge and go back over.

486
00:39:11,050 --> 00:39:17,150
I understand the concerns about development, and our city's land development code actually

487
00:39:17,930 --> 00:39:20,370
is designed to help managing control the growth.

488
00:39:21,750 --> 00:39:26,490
As a commissioner, I've worked hard, and it is important to meet a balanced property rights

489
00:39:26,490 --> 00:39:29,690
with protecting unique community ecology.

490
00:39:31,390 --> 00:39:38,470
Recently we took a step, as Bradley said, I'll just quote, the facts we converted 39 units

491
00:39:38,470 --> 00:39:43,270
and commercials only to 18 units to reduce the density that everybody is feeling.

492
00:39:45,250 --> 00:39:50,450
The 1.6 million travelers coming over causes a lot of strain but we are doing something

493
00:39:50,450 --> 00:39:52,950
actively at this commission to reduce density.

494
00:39:54,010 --> 00:40:02,610
As an elected official it is my job to listen to constituents and over development is a problem.

495
00:40:02,970 --> 00:40:07,930
Everybody is concerned with it and I think we can fight for those solutions for our

496
00:40:07,930 --> 00:40:13,870
residents in the end come up with an even balance. Thank you. Take a

497
00:40:13,870 --> 00:40:16,830
Mr. Sturgis. I'm good. You don't have to repeat it. I'll put

498
00:40:16,830 --> 00:40:23,310
I wanted to. Okay. I finally got it. No, not good. Please go ahead. You can say it

499
00:40:23,310 --> 00:40:27,350
by heart, right? Sorry. Please go ahead. Thank you. So first of all, I want to

500
00:40:27,350 --> 00:40:32,590
clarify a couple things. The local does not apply to the R2 zoning on half of the

501
00:40:32,590 --> 00:40:39,810
property. So one of the reasons that there are concerns about that property now is that

502
00:40:39,810 --> 00:40:44,950
that developer is trying to apply live local rules to the entire footprint and it does

503
00:40:44,950 --> 00:40:49,050
not apply to the entire footprint. The city needs to be able to recognize that and deal

504
00:40:49,050 --> 00:40:54,410
with it. I think one of the other issues we have is we have a planning department that doesn't

505
00:40:54,410 --> 00:41:00,730
have any planners in it anymore. Four people have left in the last couple of years and there's

506
00:41:00,730 --> 00:41:06,330
hardly anybody there, so how can you actually adequately plan and protect your city when

507
00:41:06,330 --> 00:41:10,430
you don't have a planning department that's adequately staffed and adequately trained.

508
00:41:11,190 --> 00:41:15,710
So that is something else that we need to look at and we need to work on.

509
00:41:16,350 --> 00:41:24,890
We also need to continue to look for opportunities to make the land development code more cohesive

510
00:41:24,890 --> 00:41:31,930
and more clear. I am very concerned about these suggestions that we're given to the planning

511
00:41:31,930 --> 00:41:38,170
department about reducing wetlands from the density calculation. That does nothing but

512
00:41:40,150 --> 00:41:48,870
drive, just drives more density and you know that is a huge problem. 103.05 which is a component

513
00:41:48,870 --> 00:41:54,470
of the land development code is very specific about how you divide or subdivide lots.

514
00:41:55,430 --> 00:42:01,190
And again with the Turingale property, I do not believe it was adequately addressed.

515
00:42:01,630 --> 00:42:05,990
So I think we need to make sure that we have the right people and the right jobs in the

516
00:42:05,990 --> 00:42:11,050
right departments so that they can actually manage what's going on in our city properly.

517
00:42:11,050 --> 00:42:30,470
And we need to continue to look at our land development code and understand what we need to do to approve it and to tighten it up and to make it better for both the developers and the existing property owners. Thank you.

518
00:42:31,770 --> 00:42:32,810
Thank you, Ms. Benchew.

519
00:42:34,110 --> 00:42:39,950
The next area is going to be investing for the future while living in the present.

520
00:42:40,190 --> 00:42:40,610
Can I get everybody?

521
00:42:41,010 --> 00:42:41,910
No, I just keep you guys.

522
00:42:42,030 --> 00:42:42,350
Yeah, I can.

523
00:42:43,150 --> 00:42:43,870
We went first.

524
00:42:44,610 --> 00:42:44,790
Sorry.

525
00:42:45,690 --> 00:42:46,510
Don't do that.

526
00:42:47,290 --> 00:42:47,870
Just kidding.

527
00:42:48,210 --> 00:42:48,930
I thought I covered everybody.

528
00:42:49,150 --> 00:42:50,510
So thank you.

529
00:42:51,270 --> 00:42:52,610
Quality control is really important.

530
00:42:53,750 --> 00:42:57,330
The next topic, investing for the future while living in the present.

531
00:42:59,770 --> 00:43:01,150
Mr. Newton, we'll start with you.

532
00:43:02,930 --> 00:43:07,850
State government requires a five-year capital improvement plan, and Fernandina should

533
00:43:07,850 --> 00:43:09,730
have these items in the annual budget.

534
00:43:11,030 --> 00:43:15,290
How effective do you think the city is in implementing the five-year capital improvement plan

535
00:43:15,290 --> 00:43:17,010
and how it ties to the budget?

536
00:43:17,710 --> 00:43:19,950
What improvements, if any, would you make to the process?

537
00:43:22,110 --> 00:43:28,390
When I moved here, one of the first things I did was join a group with a very ugly name.

538
00:43:28,750 --> 00:43:33,290
Their name was the Land Development Code, the Comprehensive Plan, Land Development

539
00:43:33,290 --> 00:43:34,370
Code Working Group.

540
00:43:34,690 --> 00:43:37,750
We changed our name to Conservative NASA.

541
00:43:39,290 --> 00:43:48,450
Our job for a couple of years was working with the city in a volunteer capacity to tease

542
00:43:48,450 --> 00:43:55,670
through every aspect of the land development code and the comprehensive plan and help build in

543
00:43:55,670 --> 00:44:00,570
greater resiliency, help build in better long term planning, help build in processes to actually

544
00:44:00,570 --> 00:44:08,770
get there. Our vision 2045 plan is actually very good if you've ever looked at it, it's online.

545
00:44:09,670 --> 00:44:18,910
it's not really being aimed for. There are processes in place in terms of 5 and 10 and 15

546
00:44:18,910 --> 00:44:25,890
year plans that are not being budgeted for. And you know I think about when my son was born

547
00:44:27,210 --> 00:44:36,610
the law had just changed for the 529 investment plan. I'm sure some of you are aware of that.

548
00:44:38,790 --> 00:44:43,870
We opened a 5-2-9 for both our kids, the years they were born.

549
00:44:44,090 --> 00:44:46,550
You long-term plan for these things.

550
00:44:46,570 --> 00:44:51,310
When you think about your own home, you know when your roof is likely to fail.

551
00:44:51,490 --> 00:44:58,710
You know when your furnace is likely to be done and the only way to get where you actually

552
00:44:58,710 --> 00:44:59,890
you want to go is to

553
00:45:06,090 --> 00:45:08,310
We don't do enough of that.

554
00:45:10,810 --> 00:45:25,250
And I would like to see, I would particularly like to see greater resiliency if where everybody's watching what's going on in Asheville and what happened as, as Helen came through. And it's only a matter of time before it hits something hits us.

555
00:45:26,670 --> 00:45:28,250
Thank you, Mr. Bean.

556
00:45:29,050 --> 00:45:32,990
State government requires a five-year capital improvement plan, and

557
00:45:32,990 --> 00:45:35,290
Fernandina should have these items in the annual budget.

558
00:45:36,210 --> 00:45:41,510
How effective do you think the city is in implementing that five-year capital improvement plan on how it ties to the budget?

559
00:45:42,130 --> 00:45:44,230
What improvements, if any, would you make to the process?

560
00:45:44,930 --> 00:45:45,330
Absolutely.

561
00:45:45,910 --> 00:45:49,430
I'll tell you, we have a very strong five-year plan within our budget.

562
00:45:49,530 --> 00:45:54,170
As we've already addressed earlier this evening, we spoke about we have a five-year capital plan, and that's

563
00:45:54,170 --> 00:45:59,110
across all departments. So every department brings their own, it all rolls up into our main

564
00:45:59,110 --> 00:46:05,350
budget, but that includes things like stormwater, like our roads. We have a facilities plan. We have

565
00:46:05,890 --> 00:46:10,850
a vehicle plan. How is our fleet looking? We have plans for all these things, and let me tell you,

566
00:46:11,090 --> 00:46:17,570
I want to emphasize this point as I did earlier. Is that a plan? It's a plan, but it's not a prediction.

567
00:46:17,770 --> 00:46:23,430
It's not a prediction, but it's not necessarily locked in to what's going to happen. As needs arise,

568
00:46:24,110 --> 00:46:32,870
There's not any need to completely lock down exactly what the plan will one day become, because I'll tell you what, you always got to be agile.

569
00:46:33,090 --> 00:46:41,290
So we have a strong plan, but when the day comes, we will have the ability to make sure that we're able to fund our city's greatest needs at the greatest time.

570
00:46:41,730 --> 00:46:45,810
Those needs will arise as we get there. We have a great plan, and we're going to make sure that it's funded.

571
00:46:45,810 --> 00:46:50,070
Now, I'll tell you what, part of this plan, as we're talking about the budget, is that

572
00:46:51,470 --> 00:46:57,470
we had the biggest budget in our city's 200 year history this year, and that's this

573
00:46:57,470 --> 00:46:58,010
current year.

574
00:46:58,130 --> 00:47:01,670
It was the first year and over a decade, we went to the rollback rate, and that was in

575
00:47:01,670 --> 00:47:03,650
the 2023-2024 budget.

576
00:47:03,770 --> 00:47:06,470
We went to the rollback rate there, and we did that to not raise taxes.

577
00:47:08,310 --> 00:47:12,290
We did that at the same time while making sure we have a strong plan for the future.

578
00:47:12,690 --> 00:47:15,010
So I'll tell you, it's all about good planning.

579
00:47:15,010 --> 00:47:21,250
It's all about good budgeting, even with going to a modified rollback rate this year, we were able to add three new

580
00:47:22,150 --> 00:47:26,050
Firefighters, two new police officers. We're making sure we have all these things

581
00:47:26,550 --> 00:47:31,970
We're looking forward to having this great strong budget. So I appreciate everybody being here tonight. Thank you

582
00:47:34,240 --> 00:47:34,940
Thank you, Mr. Bing

583
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:36,860
Ms. Minshue

584
00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:39,520
Yes, okay, ready

585
00:47:41,820 --> 00:47:46,130
You're ready for me to read or do you gonna get the answer? Oh, no, I'm ready to go. Okay go for it. Thank you

586
00:47:47,730 --> 00:47:53,890
So, yeah, we have this really great plan, but then we sit in a council meeting or a workshop

587
00:47:53,890 --> 00:47:58,090
and we take money out of it for like, and nobody ever asked any questions.

588
00:47:58,710 --> 00:48:01,730
The playground equipment at Central Park is my favorite example.

589
00:48:02,150 --> 00:48:07,770
For three budget cycles, it was $350,000 put in the capital group plan to replace that playground

590
00:48:07,770 --> 00:48:08,150
equipment.

591
00:48:08,710 --> 00:48:13,310
And for three cycles, the city commission took the money out.

592
00:48:13,890 --> 00:48:19,350
nobody ever asked the question what are the implications what happens if I take

593
00:48:19,350 --> 00:48:24,090
this money out nobody ever stood up and said this is what's gonna happen if

594
00:48:24,090 --> 00:48:29,610
you take this money out so one day in 2023 parts of rep went out took the

595
00:48:29,610 --> 00:48:33,110
equipment down because it was it in the life and then we have the biggest crisis

596
00:48:33,110 --> 00:48:37,550
we've ever had in all of Fernandino Beach because there's no playground equipment

597
00:48:37,550 --> 00:48:41,370
suddenly where it was replaced with playground equipment that was designed for

598
00:48:41,370 --> 00:48:57,710
that would fit, so we may have a plan, but we don't follow it, and we don't ask the hard questions that say what are the implications of making a decision to put something in or take something out?

599
00:48:58,490 --> 00:49:10,150
And those are the kinds of issues that I think we as a city commission need to be asking, I'd like to see the budget workshops be department specific

600
00:49:10,150 --> 00:49:15,430
So that we could actually, in front of the public and as transparent as possible, have

601
00:49:15,430 --> 00:49:22,610
parts direct or have public facilities or have HR, anybody come and say, this is my

602
00:49:22,610 --> 00:49:29,190
budget and I'm going to defend it or I'm going to explain what I need to do in it.

603
00:49:29,650 --> 00:49:32,950
It's what I had to do in a corporation.

604
00:49:33,610 --> 00:49:38,390
I just didn't get a free pass on my budget and I had to defend every single penny that

605
00:49:38,390 --> 00:49:43,390
ever put in every year. And I think that there are better ways for us to manage this budget

606
00:49:43,390 --> 00:49:50,710
and to manage the long-term capital and framework plans that we may or may not have in place

607
00:49:50,710 --> 00:49:59,650
adequately. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Benchute. Ms. Kelly, state government requires a five-year

608
00:49:59,650 --> 00:50:03,950
capital improvement plan and Fernandino should have these items in the annual budget.

609
00:50:03,950 --> 00:50:10,770
How effective do you think the city is in implementing that five year capital improvement plan and how it ties to the budget?

610
00:50:11,190 --> 00:50:13,650
What improvements if any would you make to the process?

611
00:50:14,570 --> 00:50:22,390
I think overall the plan is good. I see room for improvement. I see room for some cuts.

612
00:50:23,050 --> 00:50:24,670
I've been pretty vocal about that.

613
00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:31,500
I think we can move forward. I think you have to be agile like they said.

614
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:48,320
but I definitely think we need to have a lecture suggestion, have open forums on a department basis by department because we have some departments that are costing money or costing way too much money.

615
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:49,600
I'd like to see some cuts made.

616
00:50:50,900 --> 00:50:54,420
other than that, I think like this said, you just have to be agile, you have to plan,

617
00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:58,820
but you have to be ready to to to Ziggins Ag a little bit sometimes.

618
00:51:01,410 --> 00:51:02,050
Thank you.

619
00:51:02,890 --> 00:51:03,650
Mr. Pointer.

620
00:51:04,870 --> 00:51:10,610
Well, we have a capital improvement plan that on paper always looks good, but in practice

621
00:51:10,610 --> 00:51:11,730
never works out.

622
00:51:13,570 --> 00:51:15,670
In Florida, you always have to have a balanced budget.

623
00:51:16,110 --> 00:51:22,990
so what happens at the end of the year when you've at a meeting three months ahead

624
00:51:22,990 --> 00:51:27,770
of time give a hundred thousand here a couple hundred thousand here and then

625
00:51:27,770 --> 00:51:31,710
at the end you're like well we that that street that we were going to repay we're

626
00:51:31,710 --> 00:51:36,250
gonna have to push that off to the next year and that's what happens and that's

627
00:51:36,250 --> 00:51:42,510
what's been happening for a long time and I think we're really kind of behind the

628
00:51:42,510 --> 00:51:48,670
Ape on a lot of these areas and that's why I really think that this in the future we

629
00:51:48,670 --> 00:51:52,750
have to come up with a plan there's two kinds of plans that we have to come up with.

630
00:51:53,190 --> 00:51:57,010
The yearly plan the midterm plan and then the long term plan.

631
00:51:57,630 --> 00:51:59,290
Five years is not long enough.

632
00:52:00,370 --> 00:52:04,650
When you're talking about replacing buildings or redoing this this is that's not long enough

633
00:52:05,050 --> 00:52:10,210
and you also can't do it on a rollback or you can there's just not enough money.

634
00:52:11,330 --> 00:52:20,850
It's gotten too far, too long, and we need a plan moving forward that we can share these costs over a lot longer period of time.

635
00:52:21,250 --> 00:52:31,690
So it's not a burden on the people who live here just today, but those people who will be moving here 10 years from now will also be sharing in the cost of what we've done.

636
00:52:33,710 --> 00:52:34,610
Thank you, Mr. Pointer.

637
00:52:35,490 --> 00:52:41,010
And the feedback I will get on my job here is that I had one thing to do, one job, and

638
00:52:41,010 --> 00:52:41,650
I couldn't get it right.

639
00:52:42,830 --> 00:52:46,710
So apologies, Mr. Sturgis, I seem to skip over you in this fun question.

640
00:52:48,510 --> 00:52:49,710
Everybody's getting a turn in that.

641
00:52:50,090 --> 00:52:54,310
Mr. Walls, I just do it with it, I need you to come back to me.

642
00:52:56,430 --> 00:52:57,050
Thank you.

643
00:52:57,190 --> 00:52:58,410
You're very generous, I appreciate it.

644
00:52:58,670 --> 00:53:01,250
State government requires a five-year capital improvement plan.

645
00:53:01,250 --> 00:53:04,790
And for them, Dino should have these items reflect the annual budget.

646
00:53:05,410 --> 00:53:10,110
How effective do you think the city is in implementing that five-year capital plan and

647
00:53:10,110 --> 00:53:11,030
how it ties to the budget?

648
00:53:11,610 --> 00:53:13,470
What improvements if any would you make to the process?

649
00:53:14,090 --> 00:53:14,650
Thank you, Cameron.

650
00:53:16,270 --> 00:53:18,650
I believe we do have a great five-year plan.

651
00:53:19,270 --> 00:53:21,270
However, it's not a magic ink ball.

652
00:53:21,970 --> 00:53:24,990
This city is a ton of giant entity.

653
00:53:25,370 --> 00:53:28,430
We do have a lot of resources and we do have a lot of parts in it.

654
00:53:28,430 --> 00:53:34,630
And I believe that one of the biggest things is, and nobody's mentioned it yet is, our biggest

655
00:53:34,630 --> 00:53:36,370
resource is our youth.

656
00:53:36,690 --> 00:53:37,590
Our youth.

657
00:53:37,710 --> 00:53:39,910
We're investing in our youth in parks and rec.

658
00:53:40,490 --> 00:53:42,390
We are investing with the county's health.

659
00:53:43,050 --> 00:53:47,090
We are literally getting the money it needs to build new soccer fields.

660
00:53:47,670 --> 00:53:52,390
The money it needs to revitalize, we spent over half a million, well more than half a million,

661
00:53:52,790 --> 00:53:55,330
close to 850,000 on central park.

662
00:53:56,430 --> 00:54:01,190
playground equipment necessarily isn't the biggest stress that this city feels.

663
00:54:01,870 --> 00:54:06,130
Like those floods that we got last week that nobody can tell about economic or

664
00:54:06,130 --> 00:54:11,050
mother nature when she flexes her muscles. Those are things that prove

665
00:54:11,050 --> 00:54:16,690
weaknesses that the city we have to be nimble. As a small city we are nimble. We

666
00:54:16,690 --> 00:54:21,230
can make adjustments. We can take care of the flooding. We can make adjustments to our

667
00:54:21,230 --> 00:54:26,450
Our plan, so the plan will change based on those needs, based on our citizens' needs.

668
00:54:26,770 --> 00:54:33,110
So I really do think that is the most important thing is the critical issues, not necessarily

669
00:54:33,110 --> 00:54:37,090
one piece of playground equipment that might have got missed during the budget cycle.

670
00:54:38,170 --> 00:54:43,970
However the case may be, we are doing it and we are making large strides with the county

671
00:54:43,970 --> 00:54:48,730
and the state's health and I think we're going to continue to do it and then we can make

672
00:54:48,730 --> 00:54:51,230
Ferdinand, a better place every day.

673
00:54:51,830 --> 00:54:52,130
Thank you.

674
00:54:53,010 --> 00:54:54,230
Thank you, Mr. Sturgis.

675
00:54:54,950 --> 00:54:56,430
Mr. Anton, thank you for joining us.

676
00:54:56,590 --> 00:54:56,970
Welcome.

677
00:54:57,470 --> 00:54:58,010
Very quick.

678
00:54:58,510 --> 00:54:59,430
A quick intro.

679
00:55:00,110 --> 00:55:04,250
We're going through questions with the candidates for the commission seats.

680
00:55:04,610 --> 00:55:08,410
And then we have a set of questions for my oral candidates that will follow immediately after this.

681
00:55:08,630 --> 00:55:12,070
So we'll get to you in a couple of minutes.

682
00:55:12,650 --> 00:55:13,790
As long as I get the order.

683
00:55:16,410 --> 00:55:19,810
Last category is ethics and accountability.

684
00:55:22,030 --> 00:55:28,470
There's a perception that commission members are serving special interests instead of the people that elected them.

685
00:55:29,270 --> 00:55:39,250
How the commission has ultimately chosen to handle issues such as the Trangali property, developer impact fees, and the Bioethanol plant appear to have undermined public trust.

686
00:55:39,250 --> 00:55:46,430
If elected, what will you do to regain and strengthen that trust, and we'll start with

687
00:55:46,430 --> 00:55:46,890
Mr. Point.

688
00:55:49,190 --> 00:55:54,110
Well, the first thing I'll do is I won't hire a consultant and then ignore what they

689
00:55:54,110 --> 00:55:54,710
tell you.

690
00:55:56,440 --> 00:56:01,770
We had a consultant that said you need to raise the impact fees for new development.

691
00:56:03,130 --> 00:56:06,930
This commission lowered it from what it was originally.

692
00:56:06,930 --> 00:56:14,630
Now, I would be impacted by that, and I was happy to be impacted by it, because this

693
00:56:14,630 --> 00:56:23,170
is future development, but what happened is by not raising that fee to the people who

694
00:56:23,170 --> 00:56:29,890
are coming in, we have now just burdened the entire community when this work needs to

695
00:56:29,890 --> 00:56:35,670
be done on the water and sewer, we all get to pay for it, instead of the new people coming

696
00:56:35,670 --> 00:56:43,430
in paying for it. So I don't really understand why the commission went against the recommendation

697
00:56:44,130 --> 00:56:50,070
of the consultant and lowered the fees when they said you're not collecting enough money

698
00:56:50,070 --> 00:56:58,550
for the future to fix your problem. So I won't do that. And as far as ethics go, I'm

699
00:56:58,550 --> 00:57:04,430
an open book. Just I have meetings. When I was a commissioner, I had meetings every month

700
00:57:04,430 --> 00:57:09,030
for people to come and ask any questions that they had, I'm always available because I'm always

701
00:57:09,030 --> 00:57:12,570
around with the restaurants that we have, and I encourage that.

702
00:57:15,080 --> 00:57:16,080
Thank you, Mr. Pointer.

703
00:57:16,520 --> 00:57:22,420
Ms. Kelly, there's a perception that commission members are serving special interests instead of

704
00:57:22,420 --> 00:57:27,800
the people that elected them. How the commission is ultimately chosen to handle issues such as Tringoli,

705
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:34,200
developer impact fees and the bioethanol plant appear to have undermined public trust. If elected,

706
00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:36,820
What will you do to regain and strengthen that trust?

707
00:57:37,660 --> 00:57:44,420
I am a resident and a taxpayer just like everybody in this room and everybody in this city.

708
00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:50,820
My only focus is the residents and the taxpayers of this city.

709
00:57:51,300 --> 00:57:52,000
I have one of you.

710
00:57:52,280 --> 00:58:00,700
I have a long-term plan here, but I want to live in my little hammock out there until I die and I'm invested in the community.

711
00:58:01,080 --> 00:58:01,900
I want the input.

712
00:58:01,900 --> 00:58:07,380
I want to know what your ideas are, what your thoughts are, how can we hold

713
00:58:07,380 --> 00:58:13,180
the cost down while still keeping the integrity of our beautiful little town.

714
00:58:13,480 --> 00:58:18,520
I want it to be just like this when I am 90. I want it to be amazing and quiet

715
00:58:18,520 --> 00:58:23,580
and small and I don't want big bohemith buildings going in. I'm with you guys.

716
00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:29,060
I 100% and for the community. I don't have any special interests. I am not building

717
00:58:29,060 --> 00:58:38,480
or developing anywhere, I just want to represent the tax payers, residents, and businesses of this town.

718
00:58:39,420 --> 00:58:44,540
Period, no matter your party, I want to represent us.

719
00:58:46,620 --> 00:58:47,280
Thank you, Ms. Kelly.

720
00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:52,360
Next to Ms. Tutton, would you like me to repeat the question?

721
00:58:52,940 --> 00:58:53,100
Sure.

722
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:58,980
There's a perception that commission members are serving special interests instead of the people that elected them.

723
00:58:58,980 --> 00:59:03,040
how the commission has ultimately chosen to handle issues such as the

724
00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:08,480
Trangali property, developer impact fees, and the bioethanol plant appear to have

725
00:59:08,480 --> 00:59:13,060
undermined public trust. If elected, what will you do to regain and strengthen

726
00:59:13,060 --> 00:59:13,520
that trust?

727
00:59:15,670 --> 00:59:23,090
I think the way you move through your life and and the effects that you

728
00:59:23,090 --> 00:59:27,530
project, I mean, you know, mother to high school teacher for 17 years,

729
00:59:30,370 --> 00:59:30,370
soccer

730
00:59:30,370 --> 00:59:31,870
you're constantly teaching ethics.

731
00:59:32,750 --> 00:59:35,330
One of my favorite memories was when I was,

732
00:59:35,910 --> 00:59:38,750
I think I was 13, you think I'm short now,

733
00:59:38,890 --> 00:59:40,410
you should have seen me when I was 13,

734
00:59:40,750 --> 00:59:44,350
my family, six kids were going to an amusement park,

735
00:59:44,810 --> 00:59:48,930
and I was about to get in for free with my little brother,

736
00:59:49,150 --> 00:59:51,350
and my mom said, oh no, no, she's 13,

737
00:59:52,170 --> 00:59:56,170
and paid the full $80 fee, and I was like,

738
00:59:56,330 --> 00:59:59,490
are you crazy, but that's what I was taught,

739
00:59:59,490 --> 00:59:59,850
Thank you.

740
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:00,460
What's right?

741
01:00:02,700 --> 01:00:10,760
I think if anybody has looked at the campaign finances, my campaign has accepted

742
01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:19,160
nothing but 100% donations from individuals. My opponent has accepted a thousand dollars

743
01:00:19,160 --> 01:00:24,560
from waste management, a thousand dollars from Florida Public Utility, our electric company,

744
01:00:24,560 --> 01:00:27,320
from PAX and Tallahassee, from developers.

745
01:00:28,640 --> 01:00:33,420
My question is, why do those people want my opponent to win?

746
01:00:34,060 --> 01:00:35,700
What do they think they're buying?

747
01:00:36,580 --> 01:00:38,160
And it's not a good look.

748
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:41,820
And I won't question my opponent's ethics

749
01:00:41,820 --> 01:00:44,820
because I don't know my opponent that well.

750
01:00:44,940 --> 01:00:48,600
But I will question the donors and the acceptance

751
01:00:48,600 --> 01:00:49,500
of this money.

752
01:00:49,500 --> 01:00:57,140
I think certainly if anything came before me in the commission that directly impacted me,

753
01:00:57,320 --> 01:01:02,260
my property or something near my property, you clearly have to recuse yourself.

754
01:01:02,480 --> 01:01:06,400
But I can't imagine much that I would need to recuse myself from.

755
01:01:06,720 --> 01:01:15,660
But I think communicating, letting people know you're listening and letting people have their voice

756
01:01:15,660 --> 01:01:16,560
and their opinion heard.

757
01:01:17,960 --> 01:01:19,180
Thank you, Ms. Tudon.

758
01:01:19,760 --> 01:01:26,380
Mr. Beane, there's a perception that commission members are serving special interests instead

759
01:01:26,380 --> 01:01:27,520
of the people that elected them.

760
01:01:28,060 --> 01:01:32,100
How the commission is ultimately chosen to handle issues such as the Trangali property,

761
01:01:32,600 --> 01:01:37,400
developer-in-fact fees, and the bioethanol plant appear to have undermined public trust.

762
01:01:37,880 --> 01:01:41,440
If elected, what will you do to regain and strengthen that trust?

763
01:01:42,820 --> 01:01:43,420
Absolutely.

764
01:01:45,020 --> 01:01:50,760
short answer. I run every single issue that has any perception of possibly being

765
01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:54,200
an ethical issue. I run that by the city attorney. I run that by our city attorney and

766
01:01:54,200 --> 01:01:59,960
I make sure that we're doing the right thing per floor to long and per per what we need

767
01:01:59,960 --> 01:02:05,640
to be doing to make sure we do the right thing. I would say but more generally this is my

768
01:02:05,640 --> 01:02:09,880
home. Vernon in a beach is my home. It always has been. It always will be. This is the

769
01:02:09,880 --> 01:02:14,660
place that I grew up in. This is the place that I will be raising my daughter in. I want

770
01:02:14,660 --> 01:02:20,460
the best for our home. And so with all that being said, I'm going to make the right decision

771
01:02:20,980 --> 01:02:25,080
for front of the data beach. I'm going to do what's right for all of our residents. And

772
01:02:25,080 --> 01:02:30,240
I'm going to do that because this is why I'm here. Why do I get up every morning and do

773
01:02:30,240 --> 01:02:35,160
what I do? I do it because I love our home. I love our town. And again, I just want to

774
01:02:35,160 --> 01:02:39,920
say thank you so much to every person, every person, every person who's donated, every

775
01:02:39,920 --> 01:02:44,640
of local small business, every local big business has donated, it's my campaign and says they

776
01:02:44,640 --> 01:02:49,480
want to be a part of the bean team. I say thank you because without you guys I would

777
01:02:49,480 --> 01:02:57,500
not be where I am today. Thank you so much. Thank you Mr. Bean. Mr. Sturgis. Got it this

778
01:02:57,500 --> 01:03:02,400
time. There's a perception that commission members are serving special interests instead

779
01:03:02,400 --> 01:03:06,920
of the people that elected them. How the commission is ultimately chosen to handle issues such

780
01:03:06,920 --> 01:03:12,520
as Trangali, developer impact fees, and the bioethanol plant, a period of undermined public trust.

781
01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:16,460
If elected, what will you do to regain and strengthen that trust?

782
01:03:17,920 --> 01:03:24,620
Well, first and foremost, I don't believe I have a conflict. When I took this part-time job

783
01:03:24,620 --> 01:03:31,000
at the City Commission, when they swore me in, I heard it was a part-time job. However,

784
01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:34,260
However, I live this, I live the city.

785
01:03:34,780 --> 01:03:37,460
This is where I was born, this where I grew up.

786
01:03:38,040 --> 01:03:41,900
And a lot of people do know me, a lot of big people, a lot of small people know me.

787
01:03:42,660 --> 01:03:48,660
We all have vocations, most of us on this commission, who are serving have vocations.

788
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:55,160
So I work very hard as a builder, just because I'm a builder doesn't mean that I'm able

789
01:03:55,160 --> 01:03:55,720
to be bought.

790
01:03:55,720 --> 01:04:03,680
Well, no one campaign donation, no one person going to help me is going to buy my loyalty.

791
01:04:04,760 --> 01:04:10,020
I'm here for the city of Ferdinand Beach, first and foremost, I'm a native at local

792
01:04:10,520 --> 01:04:16,120
and I care about the island and the city specifically, because this is home for me.

793
01:04:16,820 --> 01:04:21,040
I didn't move here, even though I enjoy everybody that does move here.

794
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:29,100
I, this is my home, so I don't think I have a conflict to suggest policy change sometimes

795
01:04:29,100 --> 01:04:35,000
when I suggest a policy change because I've put a lot of hours in doing what I do and

796
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:39,800
I can see whether improvements could be made in our city land development code.

797
01:04:40,340 --> 01:04:45,520
I put a lot of effort into knowing what the city is and how it works.

798
01:04:45,520 --> 01:04:53,700
So I understand that it takes a lot of discipline to serve in this position.

799
01:04:54,260 --> 01:05:00,760
A lot of people don't really realize how much is involved with serving as a city commissioner as much as I do,

800
01:05:00,980 --> 01:05:02,960
or as much as the people that are serving currently.

801
01:05:03,540 --> 01:05:06,380
They understand how many hours is put in and doing this job.

802
01:05:06,920 --> 01:05:11,480
So I do appreciate everybody and all the residents, I take all phone calls,

803
01:05:11,480 --> 01:05:21,140
and all emails and respond to them, even Arlene in the back row or even anybody else I can call them out by name that I respond to them.

804
01:05:22,580 --> 01:05:23,300
Thank you.

805
01:05:28,320 --> 01:05:30,500
Thank you, Mr. Sturtis and thank you, Arlene.

806
01:05:33,000 --> 01:05:33,860
Ms. Menshue.

807
01:05:35,360 --> 01:05:43,680
So what will I do to regain trust? One of the various first things I'll do when I'm elected is I'm going to request a workshop.

808
01:05:43,680 --> 01:05:49,280
so that we can start talking about moving public comments back to the earlier on in the meeting.

809
01:05:50,500 --> 01:05:58,700
I would like to see us do maybe to try. You know, this is all just like you can do anything you should set your mind to do

810
01:05:58,700 --> 01:06:04,280
and this is not like brain surgery or anything, so we could just try stuff, right?

811
01:06:04,520 --> 01:06:06,780
And if it works great, it doesn't work, we'll try something else.

812
01:06:06,780 --> 01:06:16,460
So, I like to see us do quarterly cam halls so that we can understand and hear what all

813
01:06:16,460 --> 01:06:20,740
the community is interested in and has to say.

814
01:06:21,940 --> 01:06:26,580
I am a long time resident here.

815
01:06:27,020 --> 01:06:30,600
My family moved here in the 1930s when the mills first opened.

816
01:06:30,980 --> 01:06:35,000
My grandfather is resting comfortably out at Boss Fellow.

817
01:06:35,620 --> 01:06:45,200
And so this city is important to me as well. I am a retiree. I have one house. I have one

818
01:06:45,200 --> 01:06:54,880
pinch of plan. I have one so security. I do, I am not beholden to anybody. I am, as Shirley

819
01:06:54,880 --> 01:07:04,240
Chisholm used to say, I am unbought and unbossed. So I am here to represent the citizens. I'm not

820
01:07:04,240 --> 01:07:13,940
I have no aspirations past this job here, and I will be your voice on the City Commission.

821
01:07:14,480 --> 01:07:18,000
And you, as a voter, have the power to make that decision.

822
01:07:18,640 --> 01:07:23,500
And you, as a voter, have the power to decide what kind of City Commission you want.

823
01:07:24,180 --> 01:07:27,380
So that's what I would do to restore trust.

824
01:07:27,840 --> 01:07:28,280
Thank you.

825
01:07:29,380 --> 01:07:30,440
Thank you, Ms. Benchut.

826
01:07:31,560 --> 01:07:36,680
And I'd like to take just a moment and thank all the candidates for participating in this

827
01:07:36,680 --> 01:07:38,100
round of questions for the candidates.

828
01:07:38,600 --> 01:07:40,460
I think we should give them a round of applause for their participation.

829
01:07:42,950 --> 01:07:43,450
Thank you all.

830
01:07:47,310 --> 01:07:48,150
But don't move.

831
01:07:49,410 --> 01:07:50,110
You're not done yet.

832
01:07:50,830 --> 01:08:00,130
When I'm moving to the mayoral position, candidate discussion, and Mr. Askew is apparently

833
01:08:00,130 --> 01:08:01,490
on shift and not able to be here.

834
01:08:01,490 --> 01:08:04,030
So we're just going to grill you.

835
01:08:04,270 --> 01:08:05,450
I'm excuse me, speaking of you.

836
01:08:05,610 --> 01:08:06,750
I'm going to see.

837
01:08:07,770 --> 01:08:08,370
Bring it on.

838
01:08:10,930 --> 01:08:13,090
We'd like you, if you would, please, to introduce yourself.

839
01:08:13,190 --> 01:08:13,730
You've got two minutes.

840
01:08:14,110 --> 01:08:17,930
Introduce yourself, emphasizing what education and professional

841
01:08:17,930 --> 01:08:21,010
or volunteer experience you have that qualifies you

842
01:08:21,010 --> 01:08:22,810
for the position you were seeking.

843
01:08:23,230 --> 01:08:23,390
Certainly.

844
01:08:24,290 --> 01:08:26,130
So for those of you that haven't met me yet,

845
01:08:26,290 --> 01:08:27,350
my name is James Anton.

846
01:08:27,850 --> 01:08:30,110
I live at 7.04, South 12th Street.

847
01:08:30,110 --> 01:08:32,170
I've lived there for the past four years.

848
01:08:32,390 --> 01:08:35,190
I started living on the silent almost 10 years ago.

849
01:08:35,590 --> 01:08:37,590
On Monty View Road, just two doors down from Congress

850
01:08:37,590 --> 01:08:38,430
and there and being actually.

851
01:08:40,410 --> 01:08:42,270
My wife and I started our business here

852
01:08:42,270 --> 01:08:43,150
on a shoestring budget.

853
01:08:43,250 --> 01:08:46,750
We took about $15,000 of our savings after finishing Cairo School

854
01:08:46,750 --> 01:08:49,010
and opened up our office in three little 10 by 10 rooms

855
01:08:49,010 --> 01:08:49,830
on the south end.

856
01:08:50,430 --> 01:08:51,490
And we've now grown to the point

857
01:08:51,490 --> 01:08:53,050
that we can actually purchase the building

858
01:08:53,050 --> 01:08:54,050
where we plan to move into.

859
01:08:54,830 --> 01:08:58,130
And I say that all to say that we came from pretty much nothing

860
01:08:58,130 --> 01:08:59,910
other than being able to live in my in-laws house.

861
01:08:59,910 --> 01:09:04,130
I had no financing. I didn't take a bank loan. We started the business from scratch.

862
01:09:04,890 --> 01:09:08,890
Fast forward now being almost 10 years into living here and I have a two-year-old daughter

863
01:09:08,890 --> 01:09:12,470
and I have aspirations of hoping to keep this community as beautiful as it is now.

864
01:09:13,290 --> 01:09:17,270
Some relevant back story of what I've done to be qualified for this position.

865
01:09:18,030 --> 01:09:23,310
In addition to being the six-year member of the Furnity to Beach Power Referral Group,

866
01:09:23,530 --> 01:09:26,950
where I learned how to refer a business with 30 to 40 other local professionals,

867
01:09:26,950 --> 01:09:36,150
I served as the vice president and the president, and now I'm grooming my doctors to be the business owners that they could be one day going and learning how to run that group.

868
01:09:37,070 --> 01:09:41,830
What pushed me into becoming a commissioner was some process issues specifically with planning and permitting.

869
01:09:42,570 --> 01:09:50,350
And that's pretty much what drove me to decide if I wanted to either take legal action against the city or join the commission to fix policies, process, and procedures.

870
01:09:50,810 --> 01:09:54,630
So, as you can tell by the position that I'm in, that's the decision that I made.

871
01:09:55,350 --> 01:10:00,170
And being a doctor, we have to take a hypocritical to do no harm.

872
01:10:00,750 --> 01:10:08,630
And for me, there's no difference in voting on your tax dollars or policies and procedures that affect you as that hypocritical can take care of my patients.

873
01:10:09,370 --> 01:10:13,690
So, to the credit of how Ms. Tutan said, this is literally my DNA of who I am.

874
01:10:14,250 --> 01:10:15,710
And none of that is going to change.

875
01:10:16,090 --> 01:10:19,410
I also have no long term political aspirations beyond the City Commission.

876
01:10:19,410 --> 01:10:24,450
I'm just here to do the right thing, and I hope that you all see why that's a good

877
01:10:24,450 --> 01:10:25,030
choice for you.

878
01:10:26,850 --> 01:10:27,590
Thank you, sir.

879
01:10:28,950 --> 01:10:30,670
Let me try next candidate for mayor.

880
01:10:30,950 --> 01:10:32,170
Oh, that would be Mr. Antone.

881
01:10:33,890 --> 01:10:34,570
Two minutes.

882
01:10:38,640 --> 01:10:40,060
I've got to change the name tag.

883
01:10:40,940 --> 01:10:41,740
I'm not confused.

884
01:10:42,000 --> 01:10:42,880
I don't have enough trouble already.

885
01:10:43,960 --> 01:10:47,240
How would you define the role of mayor in Fernandina Beach?

886
01:10:48,080 --> 01:10:52,160
Well, I think it's important to first step back and look at the structure because this

887
01:10:52,160 --> 01:10:56,380
has actually been a funny little comment from some patients and friends and constituents

888
01:10:56,380 --> 01:10:58,980
have mentioned is, oh, you're running against Bradley Bean.

889
01:10:59,560 --> 01:11:03,560
Well, unfortunately, that's not the way the structure is, and I had to explain to them first

890
01:11:03,560 --> 01:11:05,520
how the cycle worked and how to make it.

891
01:11:05,520 --> 01:11:06,560
I wouldn't think I'd be fortunate.

892
01:11:09,220 --> 01:11:12,900
Two commissioners are currently pretty much the only choice for mayor.

893
01:11:13,180 --> 01:11:17,220
So clearing that up and then furthermore, suggesting that if that's where we're going

894
01:11:17,220 --> 01:11:19,000
and I've been on this commission for two years,

895
01:11:19,660 --> 01:11:21,480
I believe that having enough experience

896
01:11:21,480 --> 01:11:23,160
and seeing how the agenda runs,

897
01:11:23,600 --> 01:11:25,280
how interacting with city staff goes,

898
01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:28,120
the key for a mayor is to be the representative

899
01:11:28,120 --> 01:11:29,580
and the figurehead for this city.

900
01:11:29,860 --> 01:11:32,020
And although we don't carry any more voting power

901
01:11:32,020 --> 01:11:33,120
than our fellow commissioners,

902
01:11:33,600 --> 01:11:35,660
you tend to gain a lot more of the attention

903
01:11:35,660 --> 01:11:36,500
from your citizens,

904
01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:39,160
and you are the character witness and representative

905
01:11:39,160 --> 01:11:42,380
for both your commissioners and for city staff.

906
01:11:42,620 --> 01:11:43,960
And I said this in a previous forum

907
01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:46,600
that I believe our job is to be the liaison

908
01:11:46,600 --> 01:11:50,540
on between the people and the city staff to get the job done with the city vision is.

909
01:11:51,140 --> 01:11:55,180
And so my job is to serve as a leader and to make sure that not only every commission

910
01:11:55,180 --> 01:12:00,500
meeting we're leading and we're getting business done timely with decorum, but also giving

911
01:12:00,500 --> 01:12:04,240
staff some vision as to where we should be heading in the future, which comes to some questions

912
01:12:04,240 --> 01:12:07,920
that you probably have regarding capital improvement plan policy.

913
01:12:08,100 --> 01:12:09,140
So I won't jump to none on that.

914
01:12:11,440 --> 01:12:12,220
Thank you

915
01:12:14,500 --> 01:12:21,860
the next question in comparison to higher mayors I won't mention that

916
01:12:21,860 --> 01:12:26,320
Mr. Bean is sitting next to you would you do anything differently in that role

917
01:12:26,900 --> 01:12:32,940
if so what well a comment that was mentioned earlier and I will admit that I

918
01:12:32,940 --> 01:12:36,440
supported at the time the moving of the public comment for reasons that I still

919
01:12:36,440 --> 01:12:40,440
believe are valid however I think that the way I've seen this fall in the last

920
01:12:40,440 --> 01:12:45,360
two years it is very very necessary to give citizens the opportunity to bring that back to the

921
01:12:45,360 --> 01:12:49,240
front of the meeting and suggestion that I appreciated which I would be willing to follow is

922
01:12:49,240 --> 01:12:55,160
to take mayoral privilege if in fact we do have a large group of public feedback that would potentially

923
01:12:55,160 --> 01:13:01,320
delay the agenda and perhaps prioritize that we're up to ten speakers specifically city residents

924
01:13:01,320 --> 01:13:05,040
can go first and then if we think we want to move that to the end of the meeting that's a really

925
01:13:05,040 --> 01:13:10,220
strategic way where we don't have to allow where one really long meeting makes the rest of all of our

926
01:13:10,220 --> 01:13:14,880
public comment be pushed to the end. So I think that's one distinction there. And then something I'm

927
01:13:14,880 --> 01:13:19,620
very, very adamant about is discussing how the city is going to find revenue sources without

928
01:13:19,620 --> 01:13:24,480
increasing millage. And I've mentioned examples of those. I'm more than happy to go into detail with

929
01:13:24,480 --> 01:13:30,280
those. But I specifically said we deserve a conversation about the MyFernadina program that's been

930
01:13:30,280 --> 01:13:35,780
proposed. Our citizens deserve a workshop in a conversation about any and all terms of paid parking

931
01:13:35,780 --> 01:13:40,080
that we can possibly entertain, and anything else that's on the table, and it's okay if

932
01:13:40,080 --> 01:13:43,720
it doesn't happen, citizens don't like these ideas, but we need to have that conversation

933
01:13:43,720 --> 01:13:44,320
in front of you.

934
01:13:44,360 --> 01:13:47,340
And I think that's the critical point of the workshops and the town halls.

935
01:13:48,680 --> 01:13:49,260
Thank you.

936
01:13:50,640 --> 01:13:51,420
Final question.

937
01:13:52,400 --> 01:13:58,500
What would you do to increase public trust and engagement, and how would you persuade your

938
01:13:58,500 --> 01:14:00,660
fellow commissioners to adopt those ideas?

939
01:14:01,520 --> 01:14:03,160
Well, I've advocated the town halls.

940
01:14:03,160 --> 01:14:10,260
I like the idea of doing them quarterly perhaps instead of every month if there's maybe not enough meat on the bone to get into certain topics.

941
01:14:11,240 --> 01:14:16,680
So I think given people the opportunity for a town hall so that they can speak to us and selfishly as I've said before.

942
01:14:17,420 --> 01:14:21,760
I want that feedback because in my two years as a commissioner for you, there's been a number of agenda items.

943
01:14:22,280 --> 01:14:31,160
We get the short of it from the city staff, we do our research and then sometimes a group of residents show up practically have torches and pitchforks

944
01:14:31,160 --> 01:14:34,660
are upset that we're taking away their park or we're putting something in that's going

945
01:14:34,660 --> 01:14:35,980
to diminish their property value.

946
01:14:36,500 --> 01:14:40,500
And I believe that everything from the town hall and the workshop can drive that discussion

947
01:14:40,500 --> 01:14:42,820
to avoid some of those issues from happening in the future.

948
01:14:43,360 --> 01:14:44,780
So I believe that's very important.

949
01:14:45,020 --> 01:14:50,600
And then ultimately, just being available and being responsive, I am probably out of any

950
01:14:50,600 --> 01:14:55,380
on this commission the most committed in hours and what I do, but I always call my constituents

951
01:14:55,380 --> 01:14:59,600
back at the end of the day or I'll take the phone on a lunch break and I make sure to check

952
01:14:59,600 --> 01:14:59,700
Thank you very much.

953
01:15:07,800 --> 01:15:30,220
Thank you, Mr. Anta. Now, the closing question for all of you, including Mr. Anta, instead of a closing statement, we'd like each of you to answer the following questions. What is the one question that you haven't been asked but wish you had been asked?

954
01:15:30,740 --> 01:15:33,460
So, tell us that question and then answer it.

955
01:15:36,550 --> 01:15:37,170
Is that clear?

956
01:15:38,210 --> 01:15:41,490
So, what's the one question you haven't been asked that you wish you'd been asked?

957
01:15:41,870 --> 01:15:44,470
What is the question and how would you answer it?

958
01:15:45,310 --> 01:15:49,410
Because it's a bit of a curve ball, and I've got Ms. Kelly up first, you're happy to take

959
01:15:49,410 --> 01:15:51,250
30 seconds if you'd like to think about it.

960
01:15:52,270 --> 01:15:54,450
Well, it's an odd ball answer.

961
01:15:58,310 --> 01:16:03,190
My personal one is my personal issue around here.

962
01:16:03,810 --> 01:16:07,350
Why aren't more people asking about this golf course situation?

963
01:16:07,790 --> 01:16:08,310
That's just me.

964
01:16:08,810 --> 01:16:14,690
We got $890,000 this year alone into that golf course.

965
01:16:14,930 --> 01:16:17,670
Why is no one asking questions about this?

966
01:16:18,110 --> 01:16:18,870
That's my question.

967
01:16:19,570 --> 01:16:21,050
Why is no one talking about it?

968
01:16:21,670 --> 01:16:24,010
Why is it anyone upset ever?

969
01:16:24,910 --> 01:16:29,790
It's our tax dollars year after year going into this golf course.

970
01:16:29,950 --> 01:16:30,470
That's just me.

971
01:16:31,210 --> 01:16:32,010
I'm about the money.

972
01:16:32,010 --> 01:16:32,890
Mr.

973
01:16:37,480 --> 01:16:37,760
Pointer.

974
01:16:38,100 --> 01:16:39,560
I have no idea.

975
01:16:42,540 --> 01:16:45,340
I've been asked so many questions over my lifetime here.

976
01:16:45,580 --> 01:16:46,580
I don't.

977
01:16:46,740 --> 01:16:47,120
Let's see.

978
01:16:48,700 --> 01:16:50,380
Why am I running again?

979
01:16:50,980 --> 01:16:52,440
I've gone through this two times.

980
01:16:53,100 --> 01:16:55,720
I've run four times, one twice, lost twice.

981
01:16:56,520 --> 01:16:57,840
I'm not a politician.

982
01:16:58,560 --> 01:17:00,000
I'm not good politician.

983
01:17:02,440 --> 01:17:06,460
I'm running because I'm frustrated with the way I see things moving.

984
01:17:06,460 --> 01:17:14,360
forward and that's why I'm running and what I'd like to see moving forward is a

985
01:17:14,900 --> 01:17:26,740
more cooperative commission working on the behest of the community to get

986
01:17:26,740 --> 01:17:27,860
better things done.

987
01:17:29,970 --> 01:17:35,090
Thank you. Mr. Sturgis what's the one question you've never

988
01:17:35,090 --> 01:17:39,770
been asked, but wish you had been asked. What is that question? And then answer it, please.

989
01:17:41,450 --> 01:17:46,250
Well, I'm going to say a funny thing to start with. The one question I would say is, is when do I

990
01:17:46,250 --> 01:17:52,850
have time for a vacation? However, the fact may be I like to serve the city. So I'm just going to

991
01:17:53,350 --> 01:17:59,370
answer my own question when I make time to have a vacation. I love my children, I love my family,

992
01:17:59,370 --> 01:18:07,730
and upon most I love the city. It really is my city. I've lived here all my

993
01:18:07,730 --> 01:18:15,090
life and I care about it and the decision the taxpayers will make a decision

994
01:18:15,090 --> 01:18:20,410
whether I stay elected or I don't stay elected and we'll see that on

995
01:18:20,410 --> 01:18:25,450
election day but I believe I've done what's best for the city and I want to keep

996
01:18:25,450 --> 01:18:30,610
doing what's best for the city we have a lot of work to accomplish. We've done a lot in a short

997
01:18:30,610 --> 01:18:35,470
amount of time and there's a whole lot. I've heard other things candidates have said that I would

998
01:18:35,470 --> 01:18:41,910
love to say responses to in this forum however I'm not going to do that. I feel it's not professional

999
01:18:42,410 --> 01:18:47,810
but I do know there's other answers that I could say to a lot of things that I would like to. However

1000
01:18:48,510 --> 01:18:55,050
I think the most professional way and the most awesome thing to do for this evening is to carry

1001
01:18:55,050 --> 01:18:59,150
on the good work that we've been doing at this commission for the city. Thank you.

1002
01:18:59,530 --> 01:19:01,870
Thank you, sir. Ms. Menshue.

1003
01:19:02,910 --> 01:19:06,990
So I think I have kind of the same question that Tim has.

1004
01:19:07,390 --> 01:19:15,330
Because I have run twice and lost twice. And so people say, why do you keep doing this?

1005
01:19:15,790 --> 01:19:20,150
And are you crazy? And do you know?

1006
01:19:20,150 --> 01:19:28,430
And if this this comments go on feel free to answer both those questions, you know, I

1007
01:19:28,430 --> 01:19:36,070
I love this city. I have always loved this city. I've been coming here since I was a child.

1008
01:19:36,650 --> 01:19:49,290
And I know that I can make this city be better because my whole 40 year career was all about

1009
01:19:49,290 --> 01:19:57,610
making things better. No matter where I worked or what department I was in or when I was consulting,

1010
01:19:57,870 --> 01:20:04,830
what company we went to, we were all about making things better. And I know that I can do that

1011
01:20:05,370 --> 01:20:12,770
because I've done it my whole life. And I think there are lots of opportunities in the city to

1012
01:20:12,770 --> 01:20:21,090
improve processes and improve how we communicate and to improve how we train people and to improve

1013
01:20:21,090 --> 01:20:23,290
how we respect our employees.

1014
01:20:25,430 --> 01:20:31,950
And I think I can bring that energy and some of those suggestions

1015
01:20:31,950 --> 01:20:39,070
and ideas to the table. And so that's why I'm running and asking for your vote on November

1016
01:20:39,070 --> 01:20:43,190
Number 5, for me, Janice Minchew, City Commission, C2.

1017
01:20:43,490 --> 01:20:44,030
Thank you.

1018
01:20:46,510 --> 01:20:48,230
Thank you, Ms. Minchew.

1019
01:20:49,330 --> 01:20:51,610
Mr. Bing, the one question you've never been asked,

1020
01:20:52,730 --> 01:20:54,170
but wish you had been asked.

1021
01:20:54,530 --> 01:20:56,290
Tell us that question then answer it.

1022
01:20:56,530 --> 01:20:58,550
I wish you would have asked me, hey, as mayor,

1023
01:20:58,730 --> 01:20:59,830
what have I been fighting for?

1024
01:21:00,010 --> 01:21:01,110
What will I fight for?

1025
01:21:01,410 --> 01:21:02,310
What am I going to keep doing?

1026
01:21:02,510 --> 01:21:03,610
So that's my question.

1027
01:21:04,010 --> 01:21:05,450
The answer to that is in the past four years,

1028
01:21:05,670 --> 01:21:06,910
we made a lot of decisions.

1029
01:21:07,130 --> 01:21:08,450
There are a lot of things in the past four years.

1030
01:21:08,450 --> 01:21:14,130
I stand behind every single one we put in the work to make sure that we make the best choice for front of the new beach

1031
01:21:14,610 --> 01:21:19,210
Part of doing this are things like our city commission sometimes is a three two vote

1032
01:21:19,210 --> 01:21:23,590
But we it took a three two vote. We added public comment to workshops for the first time

1033
01:21:23,590 --> 01:21:28,490
There's never been public comment workshops, but by a three two vote. We've added public comment to workshops

1034
01:21:29,210 --> 01:21:36,210
We tried to make the city much more accessible and it has been I've really worked hard as mayor to revamp our Facebook page

1035
01:21:36,210 --> 01:21:40,210
which you guys have been seeing. The City of Thurland Beach patient page has had so many

1036
01:21:40,210 --> 01:21:44,490
new programs and things coming out. I participated in that with our Minute with the Mayor program,

1037
01:21:44,650 --> 01:21:48,910
which is a big thing that we drop every week a minute, where we speak directly to the citizens.

1038
01:21:49,410 --> 01:21:53,790
In fact, that Minute with the Mayor won the Northeast Florida Regional Award for quality of life.

1039
01:21:53,970 --> 01:21:58,650
We are recognized here in front of the page for having a award-winning program like that.

1040
01:21:59,550 --> 01:22:04,190
I hold a monthly town hall where I get to interact with the citizens every second Friday

1041
01:22:04,190 --> 01:22:08,970
the council on aging. Since the day I was elected mayor, I've held that, I think we're at

1042
01:22:08,970 --> 01:22:12,690
20, I guess we're at 22 now because we're, it's coming back around the horn here, but we've had

1043
01:22:12,690 --> 01:22:18,590
these town halls so we get here directly from folks all around the city. Just being more accessible

1044
01:22:18,590 --> 01:22:25,070
than ever before we have. I also want to say that I'm the only candidate in my race who is willing

1045
01:22:25,070 --> 01:22:30,750
to tell you right now I am opposed to paid parking. I will not charge it apart. I will not do that.

1046
01:22:30,750 --> 01:22:36,130
You can't convince me to do that. I'll tell you why it's because of issues like these if you've been following

1047
01:22:36,130 --> 01:22:38,330
Furniture politics for a long period of time

1048
01:22:38,330 --> 01:22:43,690
You know that these are these hot button issues stuff like paid parking it comes up over and over again

1049
01:22:43,690 --> 01:22:49,070
I think every candidate should already have an opinion on paid parking and tell you about it right now

1050
01:22:49,070 --> 01:22:53,350
We don't need to have another workshop about paid parking because we've had it over and over again

1051
01:22:53,350 --> 01:22:59,630
That's something there folks. I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna fight for it's our families like my family like my daughter

1052
01:22:59,630 --> 01:23:02,890
I want to make sure we keep Fertidina, Fertidina.

1053
01:23:03,110 --> 01:23:03,450
Thank you.

1054
01:23:05,280 --> 01:23:06,420
Thank you, Mr. Beane.

1055
01:23:07,060 --> 01:23:08,000
Mr. Tutan.

1056
01:23:09,340 --> 01:23:12,880
I wish somebody had asked me about sea level rise.

1057
01:23:13,400 --> 01:23:16,700
I may know a climate steward educator and right down here,

1058
01:23:17,080 --> 01:23:21,540
we have a gauge that's from what was set in the 1890s.

1059
01:23:21,600 --> 01:23:25,640
It's a, we have extremely good sea level rise data

1060
01:23:25,640 --> 01:23:26,740
for Fertidina.

1061
01:23:26,820 --> 01:23:28,780
We've had nine inches of sea level rise.

1062
01:23:28,780 --> 01:23:39,540
NOAA predicts that by 2050 we will have another 12 inches of sea level rise, and by 2100 depending on our carbon emissions we will have another 2 to 7 feet of rise.

1063
01:23:40,060 --> 01:23:45,780
We're building a sea wall that will only protect us, or we are talking about building a sea wall.

1064
01:23:45,860 --> 01:23:50,740
We're not planning on funding it, but we're talking about it. That will only protect us to 9 feet.

1065
01:23:50,740 --> 01:23:55,600
and the way disasters play out economically,

1066
01:23:56,340 --> 01:23:59,540
and we can see what's happening with every hurricane,

1067
01:23:59,720 --> 01:24:01,180
we can see what's happening with Asheville,

1068
01:24:01,460 --> 01:24:05,940
is that not only do costs to a municipality rise,

1069
01:24:06,460 --> 01:24:10,800
but tax-based lowers, because people abandon their properties.

1070
01:24:11,620 --> 01:24:15,780
So let's look at Crane Island that we annex into the city.

1071
01:24:16,100 --> 01:24:18,200
Everybody knows the trees are all dying there,

1072
01:24:18,260 --> 01:24:19,660
because of saltwater intrusion.

1073
01:24:19,660 --> 01:24:25,520
because that land is so incredibly low, what will happen to those million-dollar properties?

1074
01:24:26,200 --> 01:24:30,300
Many of them do not have insurance on them because people own their homes outright

1075
01:24:30,300 --> 01:24:32,960
and you're not required to buy insurance if you don't have a mortgage.

1076
01:24:33,820 --> 01:24:37,300
What happens when a million-dollar home is destroyed?

1077
01:24:38,140 --> 01:24:42,120
And the person is rich enough to just walk away from the property.

1078
01:24:43,160 --> 01:24:47,100
Who cleans that up? Where does the burden of that come from?

1079
01:24:47,720 --> 01:24:53,760
We are not planning for future resiliency and it's not right for our future children.

1080
01:24:54,500 --> 01:25:00,260
I want to serve this committee and the city and the here and now, but also for my children.

1081
01:25:00,520 --> 01:25:04,860
I would love it if 30 years from now my children arm wrestle over who gets the house and who

1082
01:25:04,860 --> 01:25:08,520
gets the money because I both them want the house.

1083
01:25:08,680 --> 01:25:11,180
We live in a funky cool old house on the green light.

1084
01:25:11,320 --> 01:25:15,380
This place is too beautiful to not protect and it needs protection desperately.

1085
01:25:16,740 --> 01:25:17,540
Thank you.

1086
01:25:18,920 --> 01:25:19,640
Mr. Ante.

1087
01:25:20,900 --> 01:25:26,060
Well, I've been asked this privately, but not publicly, so that's the best I got for you right now is why do you want to become mayor?

1088
01:25:26,740 --> 01:25:31,680
And the short answer to that is I'm already on the commission and I'm going to be here for two more years.

1089
01:25:32,040 --> 01:25:32,920
That's the first piece.

1090
01:25:33,560 --> 01:25:40,080
Secondly, I have a number of constituents who have expressed that they believe in my philosophies and my votes.

1091
01:25:40,480 --> 01:25:43,220
And I think I would be doing them a disservice not to run.

1092
01:25:44,180 --> 01:25:48,720
Furthermore, for those of you that don't know, before I became a politician locally, even

1093
01:25:48,720 --> 01:25:51,680
though I have no career aspirations, I'm a competitive bodybuilder.

1094
01:25:52,000 --> 01:25:52,680
I don't like to lose.

1095
01:25:53,220 --> 01:25:55,380
So whether it's personally or for this city, I want us to win.

1096
01:25:55,580 --> 01:25:56,900
I want us to win on our budget.

1097
01:25:57,000 --> 01:26:01,240
I want us to win on process, policy and procedure, and I want this to remain a beautiful place.

1098
01:26:03,550 --> 01:26:04,410
Thank you very much.

1099
01:26:05,230 --> 01:26:09,070
That completes the questions that have been prepared for this forum.

1100
01:26:09,610 --> 01:26:14,270
Thank you all for your participation and your eagerness to share your views.

1101
01:26:15,230 --> 01:26:19,590
Thank you all very much for coming. I think they deserve a round of applause.

1102
01:26:26,290 --> 01:26:28,790
We're here again, but now we're on the line, too.