Jacksonville Beach discusses future of July 4 fireworks

Plans for a Fourth of July fireworks display may fizzle as the state of emergency is now in place through July 7. Jacksonville Beach officials will discuss whether to proceed with the annual Independence Day event at the June 1 City Council meeting, which is days ahead of the cancellation deadline with the vendor Pyro Shows.
“We have until the end of this month. The fireworks company has told us they have a three- to four-week working window,” said City Manager Mike Staffopoulos. “We don’t want to be those people who pull the trigger at the last possible moment.”
The vendor contract was submitted last month for execution, but Staffopoulos said he was not prepared to sign it at that time based on the current COVID-19 response.
“To get a little more particular, we are about five weeks out from Fourth of July and we are still at a point of social distancing being in effect and some businesses still being closed and other businesses only being opened to 25 percent capacity,” he said.
“I recognize that the only other time the Fourth of July was cancelled in this city was a number of years ago and obviously that was a big issue at the time. This is a signature event for the city. I wanted to put this on our radar and if we needed to wait another week and talk about it at the next council meeting, so be it.”
Governor Ron DeSantis announced May 8 that he was extending the state of emergency another 60 days which includes the July 4 holiday. The emergency declaration issued by Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is indefinite and has no end date.
According to Staffopoulos, the city of Jacksonville has not yet made a formal decision regarding the Independence Day celebration. St. Augustine officials have said they are effectively waiting to see how Jacksonville Beach proceeds before they make a call.
“I’d like to do everything we can to not cancel this event,” said councilman Cory Nichols. “A lot could change in the next two weeks.”
Jacksonville Beach budgets just over $10,000 to pay for barricades, security fencing and portable restroom facilities. The city of Jacksonville has actually paid for the fireworks for the last four years to the tune of in excess of $20,000.
“I don’t believe we have paid anything at this point in time. The fireworks company has indicated that they need us to execute the agreement and make a deposit at that time,” said Staffopoulos, noting that there is no written agreement between Jacksonville Beach and the city of Jacksonville for the payment of the fireworks.
City Attorney Chris Ambrosio said if the city moves forward with executing the contract, a $12,500 deposit would be required but the financial responsibility would fall on the city of Jacksonville.
“However, the vendor in their current agreement – and I would ask to revise this agreement – but the way they have it in their standard agreement is you must provide 30 days written notice if we intend on canceling or else forfeit the deposit,” he said.
“I don’t accept this contract on behalf of the city of Jacksonville Beach. I would want to modify this as part of what we would need to do in preparation of the [June 1] meeting.”
Council will be asked to review the terms of the vendor agreement and the status of the state of emergency in order to make a final decision whether to proceed with the July 4 event. It is not yet known if the meeting will be open to public attendance in Council Chambers or if virtual participation will remain an option.