Local Government Management Internship Program 2008

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.