When one biosolids firm, JENNIGIRL LLC sued Putnam County government over a biosolids special use permit being denied by the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Putnam County Attorney, RICHARD CHRISTIAN KOMANDO, did not file an Answer. Instead of litigating, KOMANDO settled the case with the biosolids firm. A lawyer for both corporations and governments, conflicted KOMANDO and his politically-connected BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A. were voted in as St. Johns County Attorney on April 15, 2025 by 3-2 vote of the St. Johns County Commissioners. KOMANDO was supposed by Commissioners SARAH ARNOLD, CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST and CLAY MURPHY. KOMANDO was opposed by County Commission Chair Krista Keating Joseph and Commissioner Ann Taylor. The JENNIGIRL LLC plaintiff's lawyer, ZACHARY WATSON MILLER, son of the 271 employee ENGLAND-THIMS & MILLER engineering firm co-founder DOUGLAS MILLER, is now on the short. list for appointment to be a St. Johns County Circuit Court Judge, by vote of the 7th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission on July 11, 2025.
St. Johns County residents, supported by Erin Brockovish, have filed a class action case against one biosolids firm for stinking up their neighborhoods.
From Steve Patterson, longtime environmental reporter for the Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union:
Report: Miami-area sewage sludge raising cost of St. Johns River cleanup over $1 billion
- A new report estimates that cleaning up phosphorus pollution in the St. Johns River, caused by sludge spread on upstream farmland, could cost communities over $1.1 billion.
- The pollution, stemming from a 2013 change in state rules, has significantly impacted the river's health, particularly in the upper basin.
- The report, commissioned by the Public Trust for Conservation, highlights the financial burden of addressing the biosolid mismanagement.
- Despite a 2019 task force recommendation and a 2020 state law, the issue persists, with increased biosolid volume and phosphorus levels in the upper basin.
Communities around the St. Johns River may face expenses topping $1.1 billion to clean phosphorus pollution in the river caused by sludge spread on farmland far upstream, an environmental nonprofit’s report released July 10 said.
The algae-feeding pollution has become a lasting worry for the river’s health since a 2013 change in state rules triggered increased sludge-dumping in the St. Johns upper basin, around Brevard and Indian River counties.
Starting hundreds of miles away, upper basin waters flow north to Jacksonville and the ocean ― downstream from the upper basin ― carrying pollution that has been a longtime Northeast Florida problem.
The report commissioned by the Public Trust for Conservation, a nonprofit environmental law firm, used an outside firm to create a first-of-its-kind estimate of financial impacts of the sludge, which the state formally labels as Class B biosolids.
The costs might reach as high as $1.4 billion, the report said.
“Florida’s mismanagement of biosolids has not only inflicted serious environmental harm, but now also threatens to impose staggering financial inequities,” John November, executive director and general counsel of the trust, said in a release announcing the report.
He said cost calculations the trust commissioned from the Balmoral Group, a Central Florida consultancy specializing in economic and engineering aspects of land and water issues, could be an example for communities around the country trying to handle similar impacts.
The report was partly funded by the St. Johns Riverkeeper, a leading advocacy group on river issues.
Costs in the report represent expenses over a span of 40 years, which the company said reflects the cost of doing water-cleaning projects that can offset the impacts of the volume of phosphorus the sludge-spreading would add.
The water management districts’ study reported “strong correlative evidence” that applying more Class B biosolids led to increased levels of both phosphorus and nitrogen, the other nutrient regularly connected to algae blooms.
A state task force that Gov. Ron DeSantis created in 2019 agreed that year that pollution in the St. Johns upper basin should be regulated by basin plans like those used in the river’s lower basin, where Jacksonville is.
Northeast Florida governments, utilities and others that held federal wastewater permits were required to agree in the 2000s to cut nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the lower basin by limiting pollution to a safe amount called a total maximum daily load, or TMDL. A TMDL agreement was set for the upper basin too and limits were allocated for sections of that basin called Water Body IDs, or WBIDs. But the Balmoral Group report said 19 of the lower basin WBIDs receiving biosolids are considered environmentally impaired but only three of those have published TMDL limits.
Instead of curbing phosphorus, however, the Balmoral Group report said the total volume of biosolids in the upper basin had increased further between 2019 and 2022, resulting in about 1,600 tons of phosphorus per year being added spread on the ground in the upper basin, some then seeping into the northbound river.
That extra phosphorus is in addition to the river pollution Northeast Florida communities already pay to undo through local projects to make the river healthier.
A change in state law the Florida Legislature passed in 2020 set a now-passed 2023 deadline to address environmental hazards from excessive sludge use, but November said some biosolid players have asked for an extra five years to make changes.
November said he's hoping the report can help his efforts to build a coalition to seek better solutions to water pollution.
He pointed to a project in Indiantown in Martin County where a Washington firm, Sedron Technologies, has started work on a project intended to process biosolids without creating the kind of pollution flowing into the St. Johns.
48 comments:
There you go again throwing Komando in there when he really doesn't have anything to do with Miami sewage or anything of the sort. Looks like you just dislike lawyers. Gee I wonder why. Stop taking it out on other people.
"Why do the heathen rage?" (Psalm 2). Who is "Pete"?
What role has "Pete" had in cases where KOMANDO was counsel?
What is the actual given name of "Pete?"
Why always ululating whenever KOMANDO is mentioned?
Clsssmates? Crass posts give you away. Your sins have found you out.
What is the business purpose of the hundreds of hostile posts by "Pete?"
Angry Olle "Pete" purports to give me orders? "Pete" purports to threaten me with "libel" or "defamation" litigation? Pestiferous "Pete" threatens me with criminal prosecution? What is his relationship with bloody, sexist, misoygnist imagery attacking four wonderful women, including two (2) County Commissioner? What is his family's relationship with secretive clear-cutting Florida putative "developers?" What is his relationship with St. Johns County Attorney RICHARD CHRiSTIAN KOMANDO and his BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A., whose senior partner in the corporate law firm of BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A., former State Senator WILLIAM BRADLEY, representecd in 2025 Florida high-rise and casino developers as a lobbyist? Did the poster(s)' father co-found a 271 person engineering firm of ENGLAND-THIMNS & MILLER, P.A.? What rough beast(s) shows up on my blog with tedious tawdry threats, taunts and haughty hate speech? Is ""Pete" a lawyer? Please identify yourself, "Peter " with your Florida Bar number, and your criminal defense lawyer and agent for service of process. You have the right to remain silent, but we wish you wouldn't,
I simply said you could probably be sued if you defame a private entity regardless of whether or not you see them as government. Your misperception could land you in hot water. I'm not giving orders to anyone. Go ahead and put yourself in jeopardy. It's not my ass on the line and after all you could always plead senility.
Hundreds of responses asking for proof and evidence for your claims you mean? How is that hostile unless you don't have any? How does that make me hostile?
"Pete" is obsessed with defending his pal, KOMANDO. Biosolids is a trigger for these two lawyers. Dull corporate lawyers. Trite triopes. Privileged pompous wounded male egos. Adolescent animadversions. So boring. So supercilious. Abusive. We feel so sorry for "Pete," so sorry for KOMANDO, and so sorry for their misspent lives. Never did anything for anyone. No ideals. Unsophisticated. Public nuisances.
Crickets.
Pollution. PFAs. Biosolids. The legacy of corporate lawyers and their control. Hide your heads in shame.
What sort of confused, conflicted corporate lawyer and "County Attorney" would avoid filing an answer to a lawsuit by a corporation alleging its rights were violated by Board of Zoning Adjustment, instead passively settling the JENNIGIRL case without doing his job as Putnam County Attorney?
It's time for KOMANDO to go. It's time for BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A. to go. We need a County Attorney. A watchdog. Not a lapdog.
When will SJC BoCC evaluate KOMANDO's performance as County Attorney?
No evaluation for County Attorney. Only one (1) evaluation for County Administrator, by her gal-pal, Commissioner SARAH ARNOLD.
Here's the 2003 County ordinance on the County Attorney. https://stjohnsclerk.com/minrec/OrdinanceBooks/2003/ORD2003-64.pdf
"The life that is unexamined is not worth living." No personnel evaluation of County Attorney. Tremendous power.
The litigation dialectic involves a civil action being commenced by a complaint, followed by an Answer or a dispositive motion. KOMANDO never filed an Answer in response to JENNIGIRL's complaint against Putnam County. Why?
Billions of dollars to clean up the St. Johns River environment. KOMANDO could not be bothered to file an Answer in response to JENNIGIRL's lawsuit?
Hiring a corporate lawyer to represent five counties was a mistake.
Hiring KOMANDO as SJC County Attorney after we learned of his representing corporate criminal defendants in federal court was malpractice. No background check.
Never negotiating with KOMANDO was malpractice.
Third-rate elected officials make SJC a sixth-rate government.
KOMANDO stiffed Commissioner Ann Taylor when she asked for a list of his private clients during his work as our County Attorney. Disrespectful, disdainful and undemocratic. Corporate control of our government is exemplified by KOLMANDO's corporate criminal defense lawyer work for the SLAUGHTER BROTHERS, tried and convicted in federal court for federal income tax fraud and workers compensation fraud. Three (3) incurious County Commissioners did not give a fig about our rights to open honest governments. It's time for KOMANDO to go. It's time for Commissioners CLAY MURPHY, SARAH ARNOLD and CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST to honor their oaths, without fear or favor of HUTSON COMPANIES and other wealthy developers. Do you jobs, or resign.
Let's amend our County ordinances. Let's adopt a County Charter. Let's elect our County Administrator. Let's elect our County Attorney. Enough flummery, dupery and nincompoopery with one-party rule by part-timers, however well-intentioned, who are unencumbered by the expertise and independence we need to govern.
So our corrupt and overdeveloped St. Johns County, being overdeveloped by greedy businessmen, has the very same law firm, BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A. that employs as a partner the next Florida House Speaker (GARRISON), whose lobbyist-partner, former Senator ROBERT MILNER GARRISON, JR., also represents FOUNTAINBLEAU DEVELOPMENT? (Developer of high-rises and proposed casinos in Las Vegas and South Florida).
Several SJC Commissioners voted April 15, 2025 to hire RICHARD CHRISTIAN KOMANDO and the corporate law firm of for BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A., based on expression references to "influence." You've been played, CLAY MURPHY. You've been used, CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST. You're a tool for ex-Senator and current County Clerk lobbyist TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON , SARAH ARNOLD, married to a corporate lawyer who serves on our Florida 7th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission. I will pray for you. Look at the overdevelopment that surrounds us. We reject your clearcutting. We reject your works and pomps.
Our brilliant former Secretary of State and Secretary of War Elihu Root said the most important function of a good corporate lawyer, or a good government lawyer, was to tell clients, "You're damned fools, and you should stop!" No proof and no evidence that either KOMANDO or his pal, "Pete" ever did so. What manner of men are these without ethics or class? In the words of Hale & Doar partner to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy at the Army-McCarthy hearings, "at long last, Senator have you no sense of decency?"
Yeah the guy isn't a bad guy and has done nothing wrong and you're bashing the guy. You're complaining about me pointing that out like I should be ashamed? I don't think so buddy. You should be ashamed. Nice try though
Before anyone ever thinks of hiring KOMANDO, his law firm or "Pete" for another position of public trust, they should go back to law school. Get an LL.M. (Master of Laws). As my late mentor, USDOL Chief Judge Nahum Litt (1979-1995) and former Civil Aeronautics Board Chief Judge (1977-1979) once told a CAB General Counsel, "you should go back to [Harvard] law school for retreading." Really, KOMANDO and "Pete?" Is this the best you can do?
Uhhhh.. you posting like 20 times in a row is making me think you have some problem that the public might want to consider before voting for you in some election. You're clearly not playing with a full deck, and this is on display for all to see, so you've lost mentalization capability when a reasonable comment has been made. Nobody should vote for you. You got issues.
Pitiful, snooty and untalented, "Pete" and KOMANDO are quite a pair.
In the classic 1982 Paul Newman movie, "The Verdict," the truth-telling ethical whistleblower nurse, played by actress Charlotte Rampling, on cross-examination by the sinister, cynical corporate lawyer, played by actor James Mason, eloquently denounced the Boston corporate lawyers and Catholic hospital physicians involved in an alleged cover-up of medical malpractice that led to a young pregnant woman's becoming comatose during childbirth. She stated "You're a bunch of whores!"
Crickets? You're derelict here on your own blog, not reviewing comments now all of a sudden crickets? Cricket yourself. The cognitive dissonance and senility is out of control along with the false and exaggerated claims!!!
You call it derelict for him to censor your violent, pornographic comments on the Magic Beach thread? You're not entitled to seeing your abusive, sick posts wherever you write them.
Pete writes "Hundreds of responses asking for proof and evidence for your claims you mean?"
What exactly is the claim you're demanding proof and evidence for on this blog post? Name it. Cite it. Otherwise you're just blowing smoke.
Guess what? You aren't a one man commission. You haven't presented one bit of proof of evidence for illegal activity or corruption. "Because I say he shouldn't be working for SJC" doesn't mean a thing. He got hired, get over it. Stop complaining just to complain
Uhhhh he's saying that the appointment of Komando is somehow illegal, unethical, or corrupt. I'm asking him for actual proof and evidence of such activity. Instead of giving me the proof, he's simply saying "Because I said so." None of his explanations so far back up any claim of unethical, illegal, or corrupt behavior. Just a bunch of statements and assertions that have no basis in reality.
Josephs said it was illegal to have friends and professional relationships that might help bring more money to SJC? Never heard of such nonsense and can't imagine a group of people who would think that more money in the county is somehow a negative thing. Just goes to show you how people will oppose anything, even the sun rising and setting.
Proof, please? Date and time? Link to minutes or video.
Yeah you posted the link on your own website. It was the meeting where Clay Murphy said he (Komando) would be good because he has relationships with people in Tallahassee.. then Josephs said something about illegal activity... which is nonsense. You know exactly what I'm talking about, you've posted the link here before, and you were probably there so don't hand me that bs
Miller, you aren't fooling anyone by mispelling her nam as Josephs. Your mispellings and your misquotes are getting old. Joseph never said any such thing and you know it. Same with what you just wrote about Ed. As I posted earlier, unless you can QUOTE him and demand evidence, then don't waste our time with your paraphrasing that always alters what people actually said.
Pete leaves out the whole part about "bring home the bacon." LOL
As opposed to leave the bacon elsewhere? What kind of advocate is that? People not supposed to advocate for resources to be devoted to SJC? Why don't you people just move to wherever else you think is more worthy of resources? What's you people's big problem huh?
It's not a county attorney's job to bring home the bacon from the state legislature. Arranging a quid pro quo with an attorney to get his partner who is speaker of the house to direct extra money to the county that the attorney works for sounds like it could be illegal, which is what Joseph said.
That's not "quid pro quo" when there's no quid and no pro. You've simply said there was and tried to make that reality just by virtue of you saying so. That's dishonest especially when you refuse to give proof and evidence for your libelous accusations.
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