By Peter Guinta
ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH -- Apparently unable to make a decision and stick with it, Anastasia Mosquito Control District board members on Wednesday chose not to finalize the project cost of a proposed new headquarters on nine acres it owns at Interstate 95 and Agricultural Drive.
A motion to hear an architect discuss that cost went down 3-2, with board members Ron Radford and Vivian Browning dissenting.
After the vote, Radford said, "It makes no sense to cancel something we already said we'd do. We're deciding now not to do anything. We're down in the weeds."
Browning said, "Our purpose was to protect St. Johns County citizens as best we can. We need to see this through."
The board has discussed moving inland to a new, approximately $3 million headquarters since 2005, partly to escape the potentially poisonous effect that a future hurricane would have on a beach side compound loaded with barrels of pesticides.
Board member John Sundeman, who has opposed the relocation from the beginning, tried to get an item on the agenda that would have canceled the project outright.
He brought up the same point he's repeated for five years: "Why has there never been a needs-cost analysis?"
Also, he dismissed the hurricane threat as low and said the district would be forced to operate in deficit spending if it spent its reserves on the building.
"Why are we going forward with this when there's absolutely nothing wrong with (the beach compound)?" he said.
Sundeman, joined by Chairwoman Jeanne Moeller and board member Janice Bequette, effectively killed the motion.
"Estimates are $3 million to $3.5 million," Sundeman said. "What do we really need out there? We need to know all the variables and what they will cost."
Moeller, once a supporter of the project, is now waffling.
"I'm not telling you I won't vote for a new building," she said. "(But) we don't have the information we need to make a vote."
At one point, she added, "It's beyond my ability to understand."
She said 50 percent of people she asks think the district should move; the other 50 percent doesn't.
"We're attempting to build a building to fit a budget, not a building to fit a need. We have our cart before the horse," she said.
Radford said their job is the public health of this community.
"None of us would have proceeded on the basis that it wouldn't make financial sense," he said. "We ought to continue the effort we have under way. I don't know where we go from here."
Moeller also opposed asking for bids from local businesses when the district may never buy.
Browning condemned "political jousting" on the board for the deadlock, adding that some board members are too concerned with process and not with purpose.
The St. Johns County Commission has intentionally held up passage of a zoning approval it promised the district after AMCD gave it seven acres the county desperately needed to build its new Emergency Operations Center.
This action raised suspicions of a county desire to absorb AMCD. That began sometime in 2005 and 2006, when former St. Johns County Chairman Tom Manuel -- now heading to prison on an official corruption conviction -- said he'd take over the district and merge it with county operations.
On Wednesday night, Moeller said an e-mail from an assistant county administrator said county and district officials can meet and go over an outside efficiency report next week, "then find a way to alter the report if necessary."
That sent her off.
"The county spent $25,000 for a study on an independent agency," she said. "Then they put in writing that they'll alter the report. I do not think we need to defend ourselves."
Sundeman then scolded her for censuring him months ago for reading a personal letter to the County Commission, when she did that last week, making it sound like the letter came from the AMCD board.
"You got caught, ma'am," he said. "You didn't have the right to censure me."
Moeller said she represented the district as its chairwoman.
The board then decided to meet with the county in May but did not set a date.
Browning said, "We need to be talking to them and pointing out our concerns. (But) I have seen no effort by the county to embrace our input. What is their agenda? We feel like this 60-year-old special district can do a better job of killing mosquitoes."
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