Local Government Management Internship Program 2008

Followers of this blog will note that the issue of Cumberland Island access has generated a lot of local interest. For more detailed information on this controversy, see the links below.

The first is an article in the Florida Times-Union, a Jacksonville metro area newspaper.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/070108/geo_297859610.shtml

Three of our interns, Andrew, Emily and Lindsey, helped Coleman Langshaw (Fernandina beach Marina director) draft a response to the newspaper article. That link is

http://userpages.wittenberg.edu/jankrom/response.pdf

On a lighter note, the interns recently had a fun weekend on Cumberland Island. And, as the photo below shows, the faculty are subjecting them to a lot of academic stress.
Prof. Ankrom

For this update, I think I’ll make an efficient use of existing resources (can you tell I’m a quick learner?) by pasting an email I sent to 32 Florida cities that summarizes the research I turned into the CDD Director, Marshall McCrary, on June 30:

“…. I was asked to prepare a comparative analysis for the purpose of developing a policy that the city could follow in accepting and processing requests to the commission for fee waivers.

A general email was drafted to over 50 Florida cities. The email generally inquired about the types of fee waiver your city granted, if any, and the policy available to process fee waiver requests. To date, 32 cities have replied.

With your assistance I was able to collect the attached information using online resources, email and phone interviews.

Please note that most of my comments and recommendations have been deleted from the packet. However, the raw data is available for all to review. The responses are organized in alphabetical order, but do not show the cities that responded post the June 30 2008 submission date. Instead, those cities can be seen on the attached spreadsheet. Finally, in addition to more specific recommendations based on the policies collected, the document at the end of the packet was used to propose the following to Fernandina Beach:

In order to process requests from not for profit organizations that directly benefit city residents, Fernandina Beach should move to adopt an application similar to that of Leeseburg, Virginia’s land development application. It has been formatted to fit what I think would be an appropriate application for Fernandina Beach to begin using to supplement staff memos explaining the request, the cost, the options available to the commission per code, and actions that the commission has taken in the past for similar fee waiver requests.

A formal policy has not yet been drafted for Fernandina Beach. Thank you all for your contributions. You have made my research a huge success!”

After discussing the comparative analysis with the City Attorney, Tammi Bach, we decided to meet with Chuck Hall, a representative of the Historic Fernandina Beach Business Association (HFBA), once more to discuss our findings. During this meeting Tammi informed Mr. Hall that the city was bound by the First Amendment and could only regulate time, place and manor, but certainly not content. We proposed for discussion the possibility of heavily regulating street performances along Centre Street to alleviate congestion on the heavily trafficked downtown street and the Waterfront in anticipation of its future development. We also discussed the possibility of mandating a $100 annual permit fee to be required for all street performers, including those in Mr. Hall’s Street Entertainers program, currently approved by the city as a special event, that auditions licensed street performers. But, the program itself might only be responsible for a $100 annual fee for the program, essentially making it cheaper to perform under the HFBA. After drafting an email to Mr. Hall asking that he address the issues discussed with the downtown merchants, to my dismay, Mr. Hall later informed Tammi that he wished to postpone a first reading of the proposed ordinance until August. I was really looking forward to seeing this policy go from draft to implementation. I suppose I will just have to call Tammi in August and find out the results of this very interesting policy.

Although further discussion on this topic has been postponed I will share one of the many court cases I found that speaks to the topic of regulating street performers:

“In 2003 a Seattle ordinance required buskers - or street performers – to get annual $5 permits, wear badges, perform in one of 16 locations and refrain from asking for money. In April 2005, a lower-court judge sided with Berger, finding that the rules violated the First Amendment. The city settled with Berger for $22,000. The city then appealed and the 9th Circuit majority agreed with the city, writing that the rules further significant city interests, by keeping street performances from posing threats to the flow and convenience of Seattle Center patrons in heavily congested areas.”

Whatever the outcome of this ordinance, the city and Tammi both are very aware of the countless street performance advocacy groups and the possibility of litigation (something we learned a lot about in class) especially with regards to protecting the First Amendment. Is it any wonder then that Tammi repeats “time, place and manor” most probably on a daily basis? In my opinion, the city is very fortunate to have a city attorney who very stringently follows the letter of the law. Her number one priority is to keep the city out of trouble and from what I have observed she is an excellent resource for this city! I commend her for all of her hard work and her strength. Her job isn’t an easy one, but she does it exceedingly well. No doubt Fernandina Beach would be lost without her. I also thank her for teaching me a great deal about city government.

Final Note: In other news, I don’t want to leave Fernandina! Like I told the Mayor, I learned more from the last commission meeting than I have in all three years of my internship experiences. My personal response blog on the topics discussed during the meeting totaled a mere ten pages! Needless to say, this town has a way of keeping everyone on their toes!

After meeting with the National Park Service on June 24th, 2008 I am able to more accurately gauge the challenges this project will involve. Not only were the marina director and interns I met helpful, but each had a very objective standing on the National Seashore. Visitation levels were discussed along with suggestions on how to improve the current decrease of thirty-four percent. Most importantly, the National Park Service stressed their ultimate mission of protecting Cumberland Island’s natural resources while allowing individuals to visit and enjoy its treasures. Timothy Stone, the current superintendent of the park, was particularly helpful answering many of the questions about the environmental impact of an increase in attendance. In addition, the City of Fernandina and the City of St. Marys will soon be exploring and examining how each community will be impacted and what type of effort will be required in order for access from Fernandina to be worthwhile. This past Friday a select group from Fernandina made a trip to St. Marys and Cumberland, explaining the benefits that Fernandina had to offer to each community. This trip was crucial to providing direct evidence on how much of an asset the Cumberland National Seashore could be if only more were educated on its unique beauty. A triangle taxi system between the three communities could only benefit St. Marys, Cumberland, and Fernandina, since locals and tourists would have an opportunity that is currently unavailable. Progress is expected to continue, with many individuals in each community curious as to what positive result this access will bring. Further analysis and a survey will be conducted to determine pressing factors that will show substantial significance in obtaining access.

27 June 2008

My name is Emily Beaugh and I’m a junior at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. My project with the City is to develop programming for the government access channel, number 29. I’m gathering information from all of the different departments in City Hall as well as information about the Community. From a media/public information perspective, access to Cumberland from Amelia Island would be really interesting and fun to communicate to the residents and tourists of Fernandina. I think this has potential not only for a great television program but also a new asset to the community.

Today we guide the Tourist Development Council of Fernandina Beach on a voyage from Fernandina Beach to St. Mary’s and then the exotic and rarely explored Cumberland Island. Our mission is to convince the TDC, various media reporters, and lobbyists, that Fernandina is missing out on a spectacular opportunity not only for tourists but the community of Amelia Island at large.

I’m writing now on Monday morning (the 30th) to follow up on the trip to Cumberland with the TDC & Co. The day was a success at large and everyone parted optimistically, believing that Fernandina Beach deserves access to Cumberland Island just as much as St. Mary’s does, and eventually FB will have that access. Coleman assigned everyone some homework to spread the word and continue to keep the momentum going on the project. Sadly, the legislation bit can’t happen for at least a couple more months, so the interns won’t get to see the project fully through.

It’s hard to believe that we only have two and a half more weeks here. This weekend was fabulous. All the interns went out to Coleman’s house on Cumberland. We went land sailing and did a million other fun things. I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown. Six weeks gone already! I’m not ready to go home. Maybe we can arrange an extended stay with the City?

As we approach the halfway point of the internship program, students are busy with their projects. Here is an update on their progress thus far.
Lots of work is getting done.

Public Programming Development for Local Cable Access Channel 29: Emily Beaugh

So far I’ve been working on my first project, to create a minimum of eight hours of programming for the City’s cable TV access channel. My project also involves creating a policy for the programming. I was initially working with a pre-appointed videographer that my supervisor, Mike, had chosen. However when the videographer’s work appeared to not be up to par, I recommended the city stop working with him and find someone else to continue the project. I recently found a low-cost, yet quality videographer to potentially hire. I hope to meet with her either this week or the next.

In the meantime I have been meeting with various department heads to discuss what material should go on the access channel. So far I have met with the marina, parks and recreation, and the golf course directors. After I create a draft of a “public finance 101” program, I will meet with the City’s finance director.

I’ve also visited the museum and plan to use some of their archived photos in the programming. Other possible material for the access channel is footage of the local schools and businesses. I’m looking into getting a satellite for the City which would come with good programs to supplement the City’s programming. City Commission meetings will also be broadcasted on the channel.

To create a policy for the programming, I’m working with the City’s attorney to review other cities’ policies. So far I have collected policies from Jacksonville and Tampa. By the end of this week I hope to have a draft of the programming schedule completed. Over the next four weeks I will collect actual footage and data to get a better idea of how all the different programs will come together. By the end of the internship I want to provide a complete and accurate schedule for eight hours of programming and have at least four hours of that programming complete. This goal may need to be adjusted in the future.

Community Development–GIS: Cristina Lopez and Troy Meyers

Troy and Cristina are working with Kelly, one of the City Planners, on a project to help update the historical district structures 2007 resurvey in GIS. The purpose of this project is to obtain pertinent data in digital format and to consider options for updating the existing historic district boundary. To date, they have finished entering all of the file data. Troy will now spend the next couple of weeks cleaning up the file and reconciling the 30 mismatched addressed by going out in the field and recording data. This will involve field work for Troy who is currently out in the historic district correcting the mismatched addresses.

City Attorney– Comparative Analysis of Tipping Policies: Cristina Lopez

After our first commission meeting I asked to tag along with Tammy Bach during the scheduled meeting with Mr. Chuck Hall of the Downtown Historic District to talk about drafting an ordinance to regulate street performers in Fernandina Beach. He has a special event permit fee that allows him to hold auditions for street performers in the downtown district. This led to inquiries about being able to tip street performers. Upon review of the city ordinance, it was discovered that the ordinance had no mention of street performers in the code. Long story short, Tammy Bach was asked to begin drafting an ordinance that addressed this issue. Last week I prepared a 40-page comparative analysis study using ordinances and phone survey’s from St. Augustine, Florida, San Antonio, Texas, Key West, Florida, Boulder Colorado, Orlando, Florida, and Sanford, Florida for the purpose of drafting an ordinance to regulate street performances on public rights of way in Fernandina, Beach Florida.

CDD–Green building comparative analysis and Fee Waiver Research: Cristina Lopez

I am working on a comparative analysis of green building policies that Kelly began but hasn’t gotten a chance to finish. I also have a request from Marshall, the CDD director to “look for information on Fee Waivers in other jurisdictions. This is to try to develop a policy the City can follow in accepting and processing requests to the Commission - maybe they must be a not-for-profit - maybe they limit eligibility for waivers to just local impact fees vs. permitting fees, etc” As you can see, this is also in response to the previous Commission meeting. Marshall needs a way to limit waiving permit fees so that his budget isn’t negatively impacted by waiving fees for countless non-profits that come knocking on CDD’s front door.

Cumberland Island Access: Andrew Tomko and Lindsey Warner

After working four weeks consistently and diligently on this project, we are excited to report that great strides have been made. First, the access project is set to have an initial tour/informational gathering on June 27, 2008. This will provide specific insight to the TDC, the city attorney, and mayor exactly outlining how the access will benefit St. Marys, Cumberland, and Fernandina economically and socially. A detailed itinerary was created to ensure that TDC will support and back the city of Fernandina, a vital council to ensuring success. Additionally, the city attorney is currently making initial contact with state lobbyists and other critical government officials on why this project deserves particular consideration. Essentially, this will allow for further communication to be conducted with individuals who possess the resources necessary to shift the project further. The National Park Service is scheduled to meet with us and the marina director within the next week to update individuals about the need for a triangular system of touring between the islands.

Animal Ordinance Development: Andrew Tomko

As far as the animal ordinance is concerned, I am currently reviewing the original ordinance No. 96-42 and comparing and contrasting it with suggestions and modifications requested by the city police department. My goal is to produce a highly detailed and compact document laying out the exact needs of the police department and areas of the original ordinance that will require modification. I am also researching and analyzing more recent ordinances which provide rules and regulations concerning pit bulls. Currently, the new ordinance is set to be presented at the next city commission meeting, provided all of the fine details are ironed out.

Enterprise Funds Collaborative Marketing Efforts: John Wickham

The first project I was assigned, which currently is my priority, is a marketing project for the golf course, marina, and airport. I am working on different ways to market these enterprise departments together so that they can bring in more revenue through package deals and other ideas. I have sat down with each department director individually and also as group. Last Thursday I met with them as an entire group and we were able to generate a lot of ideas including the possibility of creating a city-sponsored fishing/golf tournament sometime in the fall. Another idea that was discussed was about creating a coupon style book to sell to members of the golf course and people who visit and use the Marina and Airport. Also the City Manager wants me to look into creating a brochure for these enterprise groups and the city as another way to market the city of Fernandina Beach and what it has to offer. I am still in the process of determining exactly what kind of brochure would be most appropriate, and I hope to meet with the City Manager or the Assistant to the City Manager to discuss that in the near future.

Human Resources Job Descriptions Re-formatting: John Wickham

My second project is to go through and change the format of the job descriptions for the Human Resources Department. The manual that contains all the job descriptions is being revised and the formatting of each description needs to be changed so there is uniformity in the manual. I was just given this assignment today (Thursday June 19, 2008) so I plan to talk with the Human Resources director some more in the near future to clarify exactly how she would like me to proceed.

Marina Welcome Center: Lindsey Warner

My main project is to find different types of information, objects, and artifacts to put in the Marine Welcome Center that is going to be built at the Marina by September 2009. So far, I have visited the local Museum of History and have done a lot of research on Fort Clinch State Park, Egan’s Creek Greenway, the wildlife of the island, the history of Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach, and the marina. The Marine Welcome Center is not going to be extremely large, so what can go in it is very limited; however the museum does have a very old 12-foot canoe that they are willing to loan to the Marine Welcome Center. Next week the Marina Director and I have a meeting at Fort Clinch State Park to discuss the multiple types of interactive exhibits that they use and the possibility of getting grants from the state to help with funding the project either separately or jointly.

Research on Recycling Information: Emily Beaugh and Lindsey Warner

Based on the discussion at the recent City Commission meeting of June 17th, we have been assigned the task of gathering all the information about recycling that the Commissioners requested. Info such as what can be recycled, where stuff can be dropped off, who takes it; and whether there might be a video/DVD we could find via the library or some green organization that could be used on the access channel about
how/what/where to recycle, etc. We will be working with garage supt, Jeremiah Glisson on this.

Airport Economic Impact Study: Jim Thinnes

I am working with the City Airport Manager, Richard Johnson, and will be conducting an Economic Impact Study of the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport. I have researched similar studies and compiled a list of questions which will be given to Chamber of Commerce members as well as local businesses in a survey format. With the help of Mr. Johnson, an interview list has been compiled and I am currently in the process of interviewing the people included on the list. Once the interview process and surveys are completed the data will be collected, recorded, and analyzed. With the help of Dr. Ankrom the airport’s economic impact on the surrounding community will be calculated and assessed.

Police Department Projects: Greg Sponseller

In the police department I am currently updating and revising their general policy manual. Last updated in 2004, the policy manual needs to be reorganized and sections need to be revised. Currently, the policy manual is lengthy and somewhat confusing in certain sections. Many general regulations are included in inappropriate sections and I am working to rearrange some items and create a more general organization system so the manual can be more easily referenced and read. I plan to work with the department’s technology specialist to put the manual on the city’s website to make it available to the public and to allow officers to use a keyword search to find different policies.

In the past few weeks I have been going through the manual page by page and thinking of new ways to rearrange the sections. I was able to find several other police departments’ general policy manuals online and at different stations so I am using those as a basic reference. A digital copy of the manual was given to me and I have been reorganizing the sections more easily as word files on the computer. More organization can be done and more revising can be done in the next few days as I meet with Sergeant Bradley who is the department’s accreditation specialist. Fernandina Beach has one of the best departments in the area and has been awarded accreditation from the state. The policy manual must be in accordance with accreditation standards so the department can continue on its path of excellence.

Following this project, I have been asked to do research on surveillance systems to be installed at Main Beach access points. This will entail searching funding for the surveillance systems and looking at different surveillance equipment which will be used by the department to prevent crime and solve cases which arise at these access points. Officers have a difficult time patrolling this area and the cameras will allow the department to more quickly and efficiently do their job.

Projects Still to be Addressed During the Next Four Weeks

1. Downtown Parking Survey
2. Tree Survey
3. Noise Abatement Policy Review/Analysis
4. Airport Filing System
5. Review of Goals and Objectives

Eleven years ago, 15 Wittenberg interns traveled to Fernandina Beach for one of the earliest iterations of the Local Government Management Internship Program. Over the years, many of the alumni of the program have gone on to careers in government at all levels, and for most of them, having the internship program on their resume ended up being a unique talking point during their job interviews. Three former program alums, and their spouses/partners, returned to Fernandina Beach this summer for a long weekend vacation. Seen in the photo below sitting at the City Commission dais are Brent Bolin (Witt ‘98), Stacy Rastauskas (Witt ‘98), and Ryan Gaug (Witt ‘98). Brent received his joint MPA/JD degree from Indiana University and is now working as an attorney in Washington, D.C.. Stacy received her MPA degree from George Mason University, and previously worked as a Congressional staffer, including a stint in the Speaker’s office. She now works in intergovernmental relations for The Ohio State University. Ryan just recently received his Urban Planning M.A. from the University of Minnesota and has taken a job with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. He also previously worked as a staffer on Capitol Hill. The current 2008 interns were glad to have the alums visit and provide their perspectives on Fernandina Beach and careers in government.

We are very busy working full time, going to class two nights a week, and attending City Commission meetings every other Tuesday night. During our free time on weekends, though, we’ve been able to get out and about and enjoy various activities. Our first weekend, we drove down to the St. John’s River Ferry and crossed over to enjoy some inexpensive fresh seafood at the local Singleton’s Seafood Shack.

LGMIP Interns aboard the St. John’s River Ferry

At Singleton’s Seafood Shack

The next day, we took in a Jacksonville Suns baseball game. The Suns are the Los Angeles Dodgers’ AA team playing in the Southern League. They won and we got to witness a grand slam homerun by one of the Suns players!

Last Saturday afternoon afforded us the opportunity to get together for a picnic at Ft. Clinch State Park at the north end of the island where the Amelia River meets the ocean.

Of course, we’ve also taken advantage of the beach.

Before I arrived in Fernandina Beach, Florida I was still a little unsure about the internship program and how the citizens of Fernandina Beach would react to having us in their city for eight weeks. All my concerns were quickly washed away upon arrival. I can not think of a better place to do my internship than here. Everyone at City Hall and other people that we have met here have welcomed us with open arms. In my first week on the island I was able to complete the initial project that I was assigned. I was working for the Human Resources Department in City Hall, and was assigned to work on revising the city job descriptions. I went through and made changes that the City Manager suggested for their job description book.

Currently, I am working on my second project which I am really excited about. I am to develop a marketing plan for the Marina, Airport, and Golf Course that would involve creating some package deals for tourists involving these three activities combined with some local hotels. So, initially this week I met with the department heads for the Marina, Airport, and Golf Course to find out what their ideas are for the project.

Outside of work during off hours I have had an amazing time. The weather down here has been fabulous (but hot) with the temperature right around 90 degrees each day. Our condo is located just a block away from the beach. So far everything has been great and I am really looking forward to the remaining six weeks of this program…. John Wickham, ‘09 Wittenberg

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Welcome to the sunshine state! This is my first time ever in the state of Florida, and I quickly learned that life here, and especially life on an island is very different than life in the Buckeye state. I cannot believe we have already been here for almost two weeks!

I am working directly with the Marina Department and with Marina Director Coleman Langshaw focusing mainly on the new Marine Welcome Center that is going to be built and also doing a few other small projects such as getting “No Wake Zone” signs put up. I am also assisting fellow intern Andrew Tomko on a project that would allow ferry access from Fernandina Beach, Florida to Cumberland Island which is a national seashore. Coleman was very generous and set Andrew and me up in what just might be the best office in the entire city! Our view is incredible, and every day we can watch boats coming and going, sea gulls, blue herons, egrets, pelicans, manatees (which I just saw for the first time today) and Coleman assures me dolphins, but I have not yet seen them.

Over the last week, there has been a lot of excitement at the marina. The Eleonora, which is a schooner yacht out of London, England, came into the marina and docked. Eleonora was built in Holland and launched in 2000, is made mostly out of wood, and is over 160 feet in length! I did some research and found that just to rent the yacht for one week, it would cost $82,000! Sadly, the boat left on Wednesday, but today there is going to be more excitement! Fifty boats are coming into the marina out of Jacksonville, and Andrew, Emily, and I get to greet them and help direct them to the areas where they need to dock.

This past Tuesday night we attended a City Commission meeting for the first time. Going into the meeting I honestly had no idea what to expect and thought it would be long and boring, however that was not the case. The meeting was very interesting and the Commission did a great job of getting through all of the items on the agenda quickly. One of the current hot topics in the city right now is the possibility of moving city hall from where it is now into an old post office downtown. The opinions of the citizens and officials seem to be split with people either being really for the idea, or extremely opposed to the idea. At the commission meeting on Tuesday there was some discussion on this topic, and I think it will be very interesting to see what will happen over the next six weeks.

The town is unique and is very political, the ocean and beaches are beautiful, and the people are wonderful and are very glad to have us here. I cannot wait for what is yet to come……Lindsey Warner, ‘08 Wittenberg

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After getting a better background of the city itself, and all the departments involved in City Hall, I received my first task which was in the Community Development Department (CDD). I am working with the Historical District (and Society) that is in the City of Fernandina Beach. I am partnered with Christina from Trinity University because she also has a background in GIS and GIS applications. In this project we are looking at Florida Master Site Files (FMSF), which contain just about every bit of information/data that deals with a particular parcel of property or building/structure. We are looking into these files to convert them from paper files and two different electronic appendices, which only contain certain bits of information, and putting them into one large data set.

We first examined the old Historic Properties Re-survey, in the City of Fernandina Beach, Nassau County, Florida, conducted in June of 2007, which gave us the methodology of the re-survey and the historic background of the City of Fernandina Beach. After reading and looking through the Resurvey, Kim Hanlon who is a Planner in the CDD, suggested that we write an outline and our methodology behind the project to help us better understand what we were doing and explain to her what we were doing. At first I thought the outline/methods section would only take a few hours , but it ended up taking us a couple of days because we had to explain the things we were looking at and make sure that they were structured in the way that they could be converted from the Excel program into the ArcMap program. The ArcMap program is the GIS program that is used here and also at Wittenberg. The data we are compiling will be a rather comprehensive data set that will be able to be loaded into ArcMap and will make looking at the Historic District easier for the Historical Society and for the CDD. Because of how comprehensive the data set is, and will be, it is a rather slow process due to the fact that we have to check to make sure the addresses match each other inside the FMSF’s and in the other already existing appendices….Troy Meyers, ‘08 Wittenberg

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Looking back I cannot believe that two weeks have gone by so fast. My first impression is how nice everyone we have met along the way has been. It doesn’t matter where we go, everyone goes out of their way to make us feel welcome, which has made for a more easy transition into the “real world.” We are definitely kept busy, between work, classes at night, and city commission meetings.

In class the first week we were fortunate enough to have two long-time members of city government to sit with our class and have a round-table discussion. The first was current City Commissioner Ron Sapp, who has over 23 years of experience with city government. The second guest was current State Representative of this are, Aaron Bean, who does not have quite the same experience as Commissioner Sapp but was on the Commission for a while and served as Mayor. Also, with his experience in the state house, he was able to give us a different perspective about local governments. The format of the discussion was mostly question and answer. They discussed the things they enjoyed about being involved in city government and why Commissioner Sapp decided to remain at the local level and alternatively why Mr. Bean decided to make the jump to the state level. Other parts of the discussion included critiquing the City of Fernandina Beach’s City Manager format and what they felt were the pros and cons of it. Both of them thought it was the best form of government for Fernandina Beach, even though they had some criticisms of it.

The City Commisison meeting was another new and unique experience for me personally. It was interesting to see how a typical meeting is run and the different types of issues included on the agenda. I believe this will help me upon my return to Wittenberg as a newly-elected member of Student Senate. The part of the meeting I found to be most interesting was the discussion and debate about the possible purchase of the old city Post Office, which is of historical significance. The biggest concern is of course cost to the city with the purchase and then renovations of the current building. Another issue brought up along with the cost is the idea of a domino effect of buildings and offices moving to new locations if City Hall were to be moved to the top floor of the Post Office building. This seemed to be one of the most heated and discussed issues of the night and it will probably end up being the topic of my research paper for class.

I would say the thing I am most excited about is my major project for the city. I am working with the City Airport Manager, Richard Johnson, and will be conducting an Economic Impact Study of the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport. I have researched similar studies and compiled a list of questions which will be given to Chamber of Commerce members as well as local businesses in a survey format. With the help of Mr. Johnson, an interview list has been compiled and I am currently in the process of interviewing the lpeople included on the list. Once the interview process and surveys are completed the data will be collected, recorded, and analyzed. With the help of Dr. Ankrom the airport’s economic impact on the surrounding community will be calculated and assessed. The most rewarding part of the trip for me so far is how greatly appreciative Mr. Johnson is of the work I am doing for the airport. Jimmy Thinnes, ‘09 Wittenberg

As we approach the end of our 2nd week in Fernandina Beach, the students have plenty of thoughts and reactions to what they’ve been doing and seeing. Tuesday evening, we attended our first City Commission meeting, and several of the students’ remarks below contain reactions to the meeting.

The Fernandina Beach City Commission in Session

I have seen many local council meetings in my hometown and Fernandina Beach’s city commission meetings are similar. Proclamations were distributed at the beginning of the meeting recognizing outstanding citizens of Fernandina Beach or the accomplishments of different organizations. The most notable proclamation was presented to Antonia Maria De Risi recognizing June 9, 2008 as “Antonia Maria De Risi Day” in celebration of her 100th birthday. Mrs. De Risi was present with some of her family members and the citizens in attendance were excited for this particular award. Three other individuals were presented with proclamations recognizing them for allowing Fernandina Beach to develop their property as a public park. Mayor Malcolm did a fantastic job presenting these and one can easily see the sense of pride he has in his community.

Other business issues followed the presentations. Police Chief Hurley discussed a mutual aid agreement with the Commission which relates to Fernandina Beach’s police department and the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department. This issue is particularly important to me since I am working in Fernandina Beach’s police department and I have been hearing quite a bit about their relationship with the county sheriff’s department. The police department responds to many emergency calls directed to the sheriff’s department in the county because the police department is located on the island whereas the sheriff is not. The response time to many calls on the island is much faster from the police and many of the calls the police department responds to in the county can directly affect the city. Members of the Commission want the county to reimburse the city for the use of their police officers in these situations but Chief Hurley does not want to discourage the county from asking for help. I believe Chief Hurley was right when he said slightly larger costs do not compare to the safety of officers and citizens. I’m looking forward to seeing how the relationship between the police and sheriff’s departments develop during my time here.

The American Legion Post 54 received a waiver for their permitting and impact fees. Many of the members were in the audience and I believe that their overwhelming presence had a positive effect on the Commission and helped them receive this waiver.

The floor was eventually opened up to citizens to discuss items not on the Commission’s agenda and I had anticipated exactly what I saw. I anticipated seeing a few citizens speak on some problems they have seen and wanted to bring to the public’s eye and one or two more radical citizens ranting about an issue which they feel they are an authority on. I think every small city has a few of these who will show up to every meeting and try to start a revolt…. Greg Sponseller ‘10, Wittenberg

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I am very excited about the local government management internship program here in Fernandina Beach, Florida. My experience so far has been absolutely amazing! I feel like I am learning something new every day. On the first day of work I was assigned to the community development department. Troy and I are working with Kelly, one of the City Planners, on a project to help update the historical district structures 2007 resurvey in GIS. The purpose of this project is to obtain pertinent data in digital format and to consider options for updating the existing historic district boundary. On the first day of work Troy and I were eager to get started. We quickly got settled in our office and began swapping stories about our experiences with GIS at Wittenberg and at Trinity. In no time at all we took out our textbooks and began refreshing our memories about how to create data sets. We then drafted a three-page detailed methodology assignment that Kelly edited for us. This helped us to think deductively about our project and include the details that we had already expected to be very important to the success of our project. Although we have quickly found data entry to be long and tedious, our attention to detail has led to a laundry list of questions – just ask Kelly how many questions she answers per day! She and the other city staff have been truly excellent mentors!

For the past two summers I interned with the City of La Porte, TX Planning and Engineering Department. Much like La Porte, I would have to say that the city staff here in Fernandina Beach have been invaluable learning tools and have inspired me to continue on my pathway to one day seeking a position in city government. I just love learning from their experiences, how ‘they got here,’ what inspired them to work for the city, what they think about city issues, what they do on a day-to-day basis, what their biggest challenges are, and any other mini lessons they choose to impart with me either by example or through one on one conversations. Like I told Mike, the IT Director, on my first day of work, in addition to Dr. Baker, they really are mini professors for this entire group of interns. It is their enthusiasm, hard work and dedication to serving the citizens of Fernandina Beach that I find to be one of the most rewarding parts of this experience thus far.

On Tuesday night my group and I attended a city commission meeting. Every moment of discussion and even non-verbal communication exchanges were learning experiences! One item towards the end of the meeting and another amended to the agenda caught my attention more than the other issues. The first involved possibly acquiring the old post office in downtown and converting it into a new city hall. One of the commissioners raised a very interesting observation. Beginning to inquire about how much the post office will cost the city will probably only end up tipping the first domino in a sort of chain reaction decision making process with a high dollar value that simply is not a priority for the tax payers of Fernandina Beach. He said that this sort of thinking would be analogous to him and his wife talking about a beachfront house that costs 1.2 million dollars. This left the audience to assume that this purchase was certainly not in their budget. Furthermore, he argued that parking issues would require the acquisition of adjacent land and getting the building up to code would pose an unbearable burden on the budget. Another commissioner asked, if not city hall what should the post office be and what would an abandoned building do to the downtown business district? All of these arguments were very interesting, however I do share the concern of the first commissioner. At a time of fiscal uncertainty and with a finite number of existing resources it is of the utmost importance that the city prioritize its redevelopment projects. Perhaps this issue is more of a long-term goal.

The second issue involved the downtown business association and musicians that were invited to play in the downtown area last weekend. The turnout was so successful that they want to continue doing it all summer. The city attorney informed the commissioners that the city ordinance does not prohibit peddling or asking for tips on a public right of way. A citizen and member of the downtown business association then responded to this discussion by saying “We want quality music downtown. As the ordinance is written now any hobo or drug dealer can flip open a guitar case and ask for tips.” One Commissioner then responded by saying “I agree. Tipping undermines the downtown area.” The decision was made that the city attorney would begin working on a way to draft an ordinance to control tipping. I was really bothered and altogether floored by the words the citizen chose to describe unwanted musicians. My biggest fear with any ordinance that tries to control who can and cannot be in a public space and what they can and cannot do is that it is likely to invite discrimination. How can we judge who and what are considered to be of appropriate quality? It is concerns like these that lead me to believe that we can no longer expect conflict and lively discussions about issues of our day in a Habermasian public sphere. Soon we will soon find ourselves confined to spaces that geographically place boundaries between differences. We will forget what it is to be challenged by conflict. What and who are we afraid of? On the other hand, logistically and realistically I understand that the city cannot efficiently provide for public safety and security with hundreds of musicians in the right of way. However, there must be a fair way to allow musicians to collect tips without inviting an opportunity for discrimination. I am genuinely excited to see more discussions about the proposed ordinance, hopefully before the end of our stay here in Fernandina. Overall, this was a very exciting meeting and I am looking for more opportunities to hear lively debates about issues here in Fernandina at the next commission meeting…. Cristina Lopez, ‘08, Trinity University

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Wow! I could not ask to be in a better place than Fernandina Beach, Florida. Amelia Island truly has made me feel welcome and has some of the best people to interact with. Each aspect of the internship experience is going excellent. I am currently looking through my office window a 150-foot yacht while I continue to plan and research information pertaining to obtaining access from Fernandina to Cumberland Island. I am also reading over a city ordinance that deals with animal control. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to sit in on the city commission meeting which was a very beneficial experience. This provided direct insight on how the commission/city manager form of government operates. Today, I have various meetings with Coleman Langshaw, the Marina director for the city. I am closely working with him on contacting commission members, state representatives, and other guests for our initial trip to Cumberland Island. Furthermore, I am working with Tammi Bach who is the city attorney. She is mentoring me on some of the legal issues that involve this project and the ordinance. Outside of class and work has proven to be a fun experience also. The weather has been sunny and close to 90 degrees each day, and the ocean, beach, and pool have been amazing! …Andrew Tomko, ‘09 Wittenberg

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The last few days have been a blur, so I’m finally getting around to journaling. Right now it’s 8:30 a.m. and I’m sitting in my office, occasionally greeting the city staff as they trickle in to their desks. I’ve been charged with the task of organizing some public programming for the local government access television station. The City needs eight hours of programming to take over the channel. At the moment I feel optimistic that I can come up with all of the hours, but I’m worried about the quality of the final product. Hopefully I can impress the citizens! Fernandina Beach is a great place with tons to talk about so I just hope I can do it justice.

Today is a big day for me because I’m actually going out and starting the project. I’ll be overseeing two meetings with Joe, the videographer, and two different department heads. First we’re meeting with Coleman Langshaw, who oversees the Marina, and then we’ll see Nan at Parks and Recreation. I know I’m working hard because I won’t get to eat lunch until 1:30…!

Last night all of the interns attended the Commission meeting. These meetings occur twice a month, every other Tuesday. I was worried about the how long the meeting would last after we got copies of the small textbook which was the agenda. The community is invited to attend the meeting in which the five commission members, including the Mayor and Vice Mayor, discuss and take action on certain City issues. I didn’t understand much of the meeting because I didn’t have much background information, but it was easy to pick up on the good and bad vibes associated with different topics. Particularly, issues of City expansion brought up much tension between one of the Commissioners and the other four.

Another controversial topic regarded the City’s police department not being compensated for their service in the County, where citizens do not pay taxes to the City. The Police Chief is concerned that requiring the citizens in the County to pay for the City’s services would make them hesitate to seek help when necessary. The City is worried that its citizens are paying for both their own safety and the other residents of the island, as well. The City entered an agreement with the County, but some were hesitant to do this. The problem is complex and highly political; I’m interested to see how the issue will unfold.

It’s obvious that Fernandina Beach has a predominantly small-town, personal approach to their city government. It seams to me that the wide array of issues the City faces requires a more professional approach, however. I’ll have to remember to keep my eye out for these two different management styles among the citizens and City employees and officials…. Emily Beaugh, ‘10 Trinity University

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2008 LGMIP Interns in City Commission Chambers: (L-R) Jim Thinnes, ‘09 Wittenberg, Troy Meyers, ‘08 Wittenberg, Lindsey Warner, ‘08 Wittenberg, Cristina Lopez, ‘08 Trinity University, Emily Beaugh, ‘10 Trinity University, John Wickham, ‘09 Wittenberg, Greg Sponseller, ‘10 Wittenberg, Andrew Tomko, ‘09 Wittenberg.