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To the editor:
This is not about the disastrous Fire Tax. But the proposed Starter Charter is following the same scenario: failure to thoroughly study and understand every consequence. For example; the resident authors of the proposed Starter Charter state in their handout:
“Allows the voters of the County to propose changes to the Charter <But,> Exempts Constitutional Officers from provisions of the Charter”
This is a grossly inaccurate claim. If the Starter Charter is enacted it will be detrimental to the Constitutional Officers (Property Appraiser, Supervisor of Elections, Sheriff’s Office, Tax Collector and Clerk of the Court) because Section 9.06., of the proposed Charter reads: “Amendments Related to Constitutional Officers”
No amendment shall be made to the charter that will diminish or otherwise affect the authority, governance, or operation of any constitutional office created by Art. VIII,s 1(d) of the Florida Constitution unless such amendment is proposed by a resolution approved by not fewer than four charter commissioners placing the amendment on the referendum ballot as stated in paragraph 9.04. The approval of the amendment by the referendum shall require a vote in favor of the amendment by 60 percent of the qualified electors voting on the proposed amendment.
“Unless” is the pivotal word. The first several lines in this section imply that the Constitutional Officers will remain as currently authorized and then retract it with the word “unless”. Thus, four County Commissioners can decide to take control of one or more of the Constitutional Officers’ domains as some commissioners have demonstrated with their attempt to do so with the Mosquito Control District and the Airport Authority.
One Commissioner has publicly stated that he supports his former aide for a commission seat and another Commissioner has said he supports a former candidate (then Democrat and now Republican) for a commission seat. This gives the appearance of “stacking the deck” for acquiring more power. Should these two new candidates win the election, the commissioners will have the potential to control every facet of county government including the Constitutional Officers.
Where is the transparency? These same commissioners and candidates had a hand in the authorship of Section 9.06. There was no Charter Commission to study the plan to help prevent unintended consequences. The announced date for a vote was rushed from November to August and the final Starter Charter was not available until late April. Motives are suspect. Without a doubt, this makes the proposed charter flawed and one of many reasons to vote no for a change in the St. Johns County form of government.
Douglas C. Crane
Ponte Vedra Beach
Letter to the editor:
I got a call from a person who had been at a candidate’s forum in the Northwest.
They said Candidate Mark Miner was asked how he was going to manage to be a Commissioner, since he had a full time job and was going to school part time. Apparently he replied that it would not be a problem since the job of Commissioner was only part-time.
They asked me, if that was true about the job being only part time?
I thought about the 40 to 60 hours a week I spent my first year. On July 27th a news paper story listed his campaign money was mostly coming from developers.
So the answer came to me. It may well be part time, if all you do is show up and vote the way you’ve been told. It's happened often enough before and will no doubt again.
Mary F. Kohnke
Ponte Vedra Beach
July 27, 2008
To the editor:
Commissioner Stevenson has apologized for the fire fee. She voted for this poorly thought out, rush to get money from our pockets. The Fire Fee MSBU mess is a prime example of people not doing their
homework and citizens paying the bill. The cost of presenting you with the notice that you were about to be gouged was $200,490. Commissioner Stevenson is sorry. She says “We were led to believe by staff-“, well she is the Commissioner, why didn’t she do her homework and review the figures from staff. She campaigns on her experience as a CPA. A true steward of the people’s money knows “that haste makes waste” before spending over $200,000 of our money. Commissioner Rich stood against this rush to fleece but no one listened and it was another 4-1 vote. The apology is $200,000 too late but then so is realizing that her votes for 44 of 47 developments has left us with a horrid infrastructure deficit.
Linda Reed
Ponte Vedra Beach
July 27, 2008
To the editor:
It appears that the St. Johns County Fire Department’s effort to carve out a piece of the property tax pool through the enactment of an MSBC was foiled at the first public meeting in St. Augustine. While the outcome will be applauded by the taxpayer, it is unfortunate that only one county commissioner, Commissioner Rich, had the strength of character to vote against the proposal when it was under consideration. As usual, Commissioner Rich led by example; the other four commissioners took the path of least resistance.
The effort to create the MSBC was a transparent effort to bypass the budgeting process and subvert the pressure to reduce property taxes. I presume the Fire Department felt that its 5-year Plan wouldn’t fare very well when the County Commission prioritized the Fiscal Year 2009 budget.
A.B. Aftoora
Ponte Vedra Beach
To the editor:
As a Vietnam veteran I am amazed that the only candidate whose military service seems to be publicized is Mark Miner. I find it offensive that one local paper has repeatedly referred to “Iraq war veteran” Mark Miner but ignores the fact that Ben Rich, Ken Bryan, Al Abbatiello, Randy Brunson and Gary McMahon are all veterans.
So the question becomes, why so much emphasis on Mr. Miner’s Iraq War service? Is it because at 24 years old, that is all there is to talk about?
I recently attended a forum where Mr. Miner was asked how he could do the job of Commissioner while holding down a management position with CSX and complete his undergraduate degree. His response was that “being a commissioner was designed to be a part time job.” Not if you are going to put in the hours to do your homework.
Look at the Fire Fee mess due to lack of proper Commission oversight.
I wondered who would want a part time commissioner elected? I think I found the clues when I examined the campaign contributions on the Supervisor of Elections web site. Mr. Miner’s first contribution came from Karen Stern, and her developer friends are well represented in his list of contributors. Mr. Miner has a great deal more money than Commissioner Rich has raised, most of it from outside St. Johns County.
That means he will have more signs and more advertisement, paid for by development interest. Now I think we can figure out who wants Mr. Miner elected.
LTC (ret.) USA Charles E Cowan
Ponte Vedra Beach
July 30, 2008
To the editor:
Election is easy decision
You only have to ask yourself one question to make the right choice. There is no wrong answer. You hold the power to vote the way you feel about your county.
Do you want controlled growth, lower taxes and a professional administration?
Vote Ben Rich in District 3 and Ken Bryan in District 5!
Do you want run away growth, more taxes to pay for needed infrastructure left behind, another politically appointed administration, and the southern part of our county to be like the northern section?
Vote for one of the other guys!
Ben Rich may not always be politically correct but I know he is always thinking of you when he votes. He is the man that led the way to controlled growth, lower taxes and a great administration.
Ken Bryan is already very involved in community work, giving of his time to serve the people all over the county. He is a great person with the right intentions and would serve you well.
A note about the District 1 race, keep Cyndi Stevenson. She has worked hard with our new direction and is currently working on projects for you that I would like to see her finish. She cares about you, the people.
In closing I would like to ask the republicans to pay close attention to the race for the Republican Party state committee woman and state committee man. Let's keep the hard working people we have now. Please vote for Rebecca Reichenberg and Jon Woodard. They both are doing a great job in these non-paid positions.
Ron Sanchez
St. Johns County Commission, District 2
Letter to the Editor:
There are several reasons St. Johns County residents could wish to vote for the proposed charter. Here are a few.
If you believe the county is underfunded and needs additional revenue in the form of a 10 percent tax on your utility bill, then you will certainly want to vote for the proposed charter. Sixty-three percent of the counties which have adopted a charter form of government have imposed utility taxes.
If you have any desire to see our constitutional officers (Sheriff, Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, Clerk of the Court and Supervisor of Elections) become appointed, rather than elected, then you will want to support the proposed charter. I like having a voice in who serves as a constitutional officer. I can’t imagine having a more responsible team than we currently enjoy.
If you want to open the door to some current members of the County Commission having the possibility of serving 16 years in office, then you will want to support the charter.
The proposed charter does give voters an opportunity to remove members of the county commission by recall. Unfortunately the provisions are likely to be so restrictive, time intensive and expensive that they are unlikely to ever be used.
There is nothing wrong with a charter form of government, but there are plenty of things wrong with this starter charter. If the County Commission wanted to do this right why didn’t them empower the people by setting up a representative Charter Commission? One reason is that they avoided having to provide a comprehensive study showing the effects of a change.
I’m not an expert on charter governments, but I trust the experts who’ve said this proposed charter is bad for us all. We can pass this starter charter and stuff all sorts of amendments into it in the future and hope for the best. Another thought is to get it as nearly perfect as we can before we pass it.
Jon Hunt
St. Augustine
Dear Ponte Vedra Leader Editor:
I have read with interest, a number of articles concerning the St Augustine Chamber of Commerce and their opposition to the St Johns County Charter Home Rule issue on the upcoming primary ballot. Please keep in mind that the Ponte Vedra Beach Chamber studied this issue in depth and its Board voted to strongly support the Home Rule Charter form of government for our County. Paramount in our reasoning is that it gives more control to the voter and business owner- always a good thing for business!
Few things are more important to business than choosing their form of government .Unfortunately there are a number of distortions being communicated concerning how this Charter would work and it is important that the business community understand that choosing a “flexible form” of government (Charter) is essential for good business .
Issues raised by the St Augustine Chamber of Commerce concerning the ability to levy a utility tax is not a reason to reject Charter Home Rule since the current County government already has the authority to tax us to large extent and certainly does.
Only Charter Home Rule would allow us to make more decisions on a local level and control our own destiny to a greater extent since the citizens of our County know the needs of our local businesses more than Tallahassee politicians.
St Johns County will continue to be one of the fastest growing counties in the country and we will need this flexibility to wisely manage our own destiny as we grow. Only a Charter Form of government can accomplish that.
Thank you for the opportunity to address your article.
Regards,
Chuck Bushong
President
Ponte Vedra Beach Chamber of Commerce
Aug. 13, 2008
Do you sign blank checks? That's what you will be asked to do on the primary ballot this month. There will be a proposal to adopt a “charter” form of county government followed by a series of amendments.
Despite its misleading title and its proponents' claims, the proposed charter is not an effort to bring the county from non-home rule to home rule. The current St. Johns County constitutional home rule form of government was enacted in 1968 to remove the requirement that county ordinances had to be approved in Tallahassee.
Some misleading spin is that 80% of Floridians live under charter government, so what could be wrong? Yes, 19 of 67 Florida counties (28%) have a charter but are largely counties with high-density populations. A city requires a charter, i.e. St. Augustine. St. Johns does not fit that mold. The proponents simply want to remove checks and balances from the State.
The norm would have been for the County Commission to appoint a Review Committee. Rather, small group of self-appointed drafters went about picking and choosing their favorite provisions from other county charters. This has been dubbed a “core” charter designed for future amendments.
As an example, in the fog of potential amendments (not yet on the ballot) is a provision to subject developments of 99 units or more to an individual citizen referendum. Asking all citizens to approve of specific development projects assumes knowledge of considerable detail and obviates the responsibilities of representative government. Votes cast in ignorance would constitute a grotesque denial of property rights, like an economic stoning.
The few touted benefits of the charter, i.e. the difference between home rule as we currently have it and home rule as proposed, are few and of dubious value.
Limiting campaign contributions to $250 rather than $500. This is insignificant. In fact, the winners of the last two St. Johns County Commission elections were the candidates who raised and spent the least amount of money.
Recall. This is ineffective. New charter or not, those wishing to initiate a recall would be bound by State law procedure, long and complex. On the other hand, defending oneself from a recall attack would prove expensive and time consuming. The threat would be a deterrent to those contemplating candidacy.
The right to amend. The devil resides right here. Remember the “core” idea? Any future bite of this apple, the stuff they didn't think you'd swallow now, could and probably will contain a worm.
The text of the St. Johns proposed charter ordinance makes it clear; a proposed amendment needs only one gadfly with a complaint and four Commissioners or a low threshold of petition signatures to find its way onto the ballot. This charter would be an activist/gadfly paradise.
My guess is that those activists have in mind to amend the charter to include within the Commission's power the Sheriff, the Tax Collector, the Assessor, the Supervisor of Elections and the County Clerk, all of whom are elected individually and act independently. With the words, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” in mind, we should all favor a diffusion of power in government.
When the self-appointed drafters were done, the Commission called a half a dozen public meetings that struggled to draw more than 20 people at a time. A third to a half was the same people at each meeting. In my mind, this would qualify as low demand, lukewarm reception and anything but broad citizen understanding.
Three provisions were added to the ballot by Commission votes:
Term limits. In recent history, it has been the exception that a County Commissioner has been re-elected. The St. Johns County voters have spit them out like watermelon seeds! For better or worse, the ballot box has imposed a limit based on the voting majority's definition of merit. We don't need artificial term limits.
Non-partisan elections. This would make it easier for Democrats to get elected by eliminating Republican Party support for its candidates. Voters chose to align with a party or register as independents; that choice has consequences. Some call this disenfranchisement, a false premise upon which to abandon the party system.
“Charter” height restriction for coastal buildings. This would be belt-and-braces for an existing 35-foot county ordinance and should not be necessary.
On the charter ballot, you will be asked to buy what is still a core charter. You may read the anodyne words of the ballot text, but you will not know what damage has been done until some time after you cast your vote, when the amendments start coming. Then, if an amendment is unwise, costly or a power-grab, you will have to worry that enough people are paying attention to vote “no.”
Why in heaven's name should you vote for a different form of government, when the change brings so little immediate benefit and opens so wide a field for abuse? Please vote “NO” August 26.
Douglas C. Worth
Ponte Vedra Beach
Please Publish this in the Ponte Vedra Leader. Thanks!
Vote Cyndi Stevenson County Commission, District 1
I first met Cyndi Stevenson, many years ago, at swim team events where both of our children swam. We became friends connected by the common concern about our community and making sure that it was the best place that it could be for us and our children.
Cyndi has been involved in many community service initiatives relating to beach access, environmental issues, parks, schools and sidewalks, to name a few. The first time that I experienced her effectiveness was as I watched her spearhead the grassroots effort of the residents in Julington Creek Plantation to stop a proposed road that could have dumped cars from over 4,000 homes in new neighboring developments on a 2-lane collector road near a County Park and middle school. This would have caused devastating stress on the internal road system in JCP. Through her negotiating efforts, we were able to convince the developer that there were better ways to solve his transportation access issues. This resolution actually became the catalyst for many of the new roads located between Racetrack Road and CR 210.
This is a perfect example of the thoughtful approach that Cyndi makes as she goes through the process of studying issues that affect residents throughout St. Johns County. She is an intelligent, honest and creative decision maker.
Being a CPA by trade provides Cyndi with strong credentials to assess and fine tune the large county budget that the Commission deals with on an annual basis. Merely cutting numbers from the budget is not the solution. Rather, Cyndi looks for ways to fine tune the budget along with finding creative ways to leverage our resources to make a greater impact with what we have.
As the Record so aptly said in their endorsement article this past Sunday, “Stevenson has a more balanced view of countywide needs. She knows how to gain concessions from developers that are beneficial to the county’s infrastructure. She knows that it takes more than saying “no” to be a county commissioner”.
This is the kind of leader that this county needs at this time. Please vote to re-elect Cyndi Stevenson, County Commissioner, District 1.
Susan Beaugrand
St Johns, Florida
To the editor:
Fland Sharp recently filed his financial statement as part of the candidacy process for mayor, and listed the Beach Mermaid/Ocean Club as a bar/restaurant, which as a resident and concerned citizen, I know the Ocean Club is not a restaurant – it does not serve food. I do know that it is a bar and serves booze.
I also found out that Fland Sharp in fact sought, voted for, and received a waiver for a bar only set-up. Why would he characterize the Ocean Club as something it is not? Does he think restaurant sounds more respectable than bar? Why the deception?
If elected again I fear this kind of deception will continue to permeate every aspect of our city government. We need to trust our our local government, and I can't trust Fland Sharp. I will not vote for him on September 30.
Leah Tahiry
Jacksonville Beach
Aug. 28, 2008