Local Government Management Internship Program 2008

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