Slavin family values -- putting people first

On June 6, 1944, my late paratrooper Father parachuted into France and helped liberate the first French town from the Nazis, before the sun even rose that day.  

My Dad taught me, as JFK's dad taught me him, that "you have to stand up to people with power, or else they walk all over you."

In his spirit, my Mother helped organize the employees of Camden County College in Blackwood, N.J. into what became International Union of Electrical Workers Local 440.  Mom got some 40 union cards signed in an hour in 1970.  The clerical and custodial employees prevailed.  

One of my law professors in Memphis told a mutual friend that I was a "natural born attorney."  My Mother said, "I always knew you were an S.O.B."

My late mentor, the Honorable Nahum Litt, was the Chief Administrative Law Judge of the United Staes Department of Labor, 1979-1995.  

Chief Judge Litt stood like Horatius at the bridge, protecting the independence of hearings in whistleblower and in workers compensation cases for Black Lung disease sufferers from the coalfields.

Judge Litt helped me to understand. We worked to understand administrative law's perversion of justice by rich and powerful corporations.  

I later wrote about ACUS for Common Cause Magazine.  In response, Congress defunded a federal agency from 1995-2010: the prestigious Administrative Conference of the United States lost funding because it wasted federal tax dollars on worthless studies by pro-agency law professors.  ACUS sought to inflict Alternative Dispute Resolution on workers and corporations. ACUS sought to defang and declaw the Freedom of Information Act.  ACUS sought to stifle lawyer representation of workers in cases against powerful employers, while encouraging non-lawyer representatives. 

My Mother, my Father, and Chief Judge Litt taught me valuable lessons. 

Here in St. Johns County, we're learning what happens when soulless corporations control and contaminate our governments.  

Deforestation. 

Flooding.  

Unplanned overdevelopment. 

Overcrowded schools with hundreds of unsafe portable classrooms. 

Since 1981, I've investigated and helped expose corruption in our country.

 I've lived in St. Augustine since November 5, 1999. 

We've seen the murder of a Sheriff deputy's girlfriend reported in The New York Times and PBS Frontline, 

My Mother had decades of experience in purchasing for Camden County College and corporations like F.W. Woolworth.

 

When I learned that our Mosquito Control Commission bought a $1.8 million no-bid helicopter, I asked my Mother if she would buy a helicopter withoutn competitive bidding: "absolutely not."  

Working with the late Robin Nadeau, John Sundeman,Jeanne Moeller, Don Girvan,  and other community leaders, 

We, the People helped persuade our Mosquito Control District to cancel the no-bid contract.  Taxpayers won a full refund of our MCD's 10% deposit. 

Chief Judge Litt was tight as a tick with government money. Judge Litt taught me that any government budget can be cut by 10%. Here in St. Johns County, we have a $4.5 million mosquito museum, with 41% cost overruns. There's too much waste in government. 

Mosquito-borne diseases kill one million people annually.  My Father was bitten by a mosquito in Sicily in 1943 as an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper.  

I believe in miracles. They called me a "miracle baby."

Likely due to my Father's suffering from malaria, it took my patents a dozen years, praying to Saint Jude, (patron Saint of hopeless causes), before they were able to have their only child (me).   Mom said the chances of my being born were less than one in 100,000.

We've achieved dozens of public interest victories. 

We can control pestiferous mosquitoes.

We can control corruption. 

Help me help you save money and save lives. 

I would be honored to have your vote to serve on the board of the Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission. Vote on or before November 3, 2026.

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

www.edslavin.com

http://www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

http://www.staugustgreen.com

(904) 377-4998   

Ed Slavin, LINCOLNVILLE AND WEST AUGUSTINE DUMPING SCANDAL – CHRONOLOGY (January 14, 2008)

Read January 19, 2009 petition to EPA and President and 2008 Petition for Review to FDEP, here:  

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-07/documents/01r-09-r4_complaint_redacted.pdf

https://www.thecre.com/quality/2008/20080706a_quality.html

I would be honored to have your vote for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, seat 2, on or before November 3, 2026.

We, the People, of St. Augustine and St. Johns County, united, will never be defeated.  Here's the chronology that I published on this blog in 2008, after Folio Weekly's remarkable then-Editor Anne Schindler dubbed me an "environmental hero" in her December 18, 2007 Editor's column for exposing City of St. Augustine's environmental lawbreaking (entitled "Dirty Deeds") calling for criminal prosecution of City officials responsible for dumping a landfill in a lake, comparing the situation to Clay County's illegal dumping scandal:

LINCOLNVILLE AND WEST AUGUSTINE DUMPING SCANDAL – CHRONOLOGY

LINCOLNVILLE AND WEST AUGUSTINE DUMPING SCANDAL – CHRONOLOGY

LINCOLNVILLE AND WEST AUGUSTINE DUMPING SCANDAL – CHRONOLOGY
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.”
— the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.)

"Justice delayed is justice denied." – Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Starting circa 1905 
■ Dumping of household trash, sewage sludge and industrial trash in the historic Lincolnville community, from the present location of the Willie Gallimore Center south. This and other dumps in St. Augustine and St. Johns County are never remediated.
■ Location of City’s sewage treatment plant in Lincolnville at south end of Riberia Street.
■ Location of Atlanta Gas Light coal-to-gas plant in Lincolnville at north end of Riberia Street.
■ Location of polluting boatyards in Lincolnville.
■ Location of City’s garage and water treatment plant in West Augustine

June 12, 1964 
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. writes letter from jail to clergy, calls CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE “most lawless” city in America. President Johnson signs 1964 Civil Rights Act in July 1964.

1970
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established after first Earth Day.

1988
CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE ceases using Old City Reservoir, still backup water supply.

1991
■ Environmental Justice (EJ) movement begun to remedy low-income and minority communities bearing disproportionate share of dumping and pollution. 
■ No evident effort by CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE to examine the legacy of decades of dumping decisions affecting low-income and minority communities of Lincolnville and West Augustine.
1995 
Then-City Manager WILLIAM POMAR writes and promises Army Corps of Engineers to dispose of all refuse properly in the creation of an artificial wetland at the south end of Riberia Street.

2000-2005
■ EPA holds public hearings in St. Augustine before approving cleanup of old coal-to-gas plant at location planned for Sebastian Inner Harbor. 
■ AKERMAN SENTERFITT lawyer WILLIAM L. PENCE represents the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE as its environmental counsel and is at all times since available to answer questions by City officials on environmental issues..
■ PENCE, asserts that the cleanup of the Sebastian Inner Harbor Project was “successful.”
http://proceedings.swix.ws/2005_10_09_Brownfields/content/pdf/Pence.pdf

September 27, 2005
City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS, signed $200,000 contract for hauling for Riberia Street site, without any City Commission approval sought or required.


December 1, 2005
GREGORY J. STRONG, a marketing executive for a petroleum industry supplier and past environmental regulatory manager for polluters fined hundreds of thousands of dollars by EPA, becomes Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Northeast Florida District Director.

December 9, 2005
St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) biologist, at the Old City Reservoir site, tells CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE officials not to dump without permit. City starts illegal dumping the next day, without ever calling lawyer PENCE at AKERMAN SENTERFITT..

December 10, 2005 
Illegal dumping of some 60,000,000 pounds of contaminants – including arsenic, thallium and vinyl chloride – begins in the Old City Reservoir, in secrecy, without public notice.

December 12, 2005
St. Augustine City Commission agrees, without voting, to allow Civil Rights Foot Soldiers Monument in the Slave Market Square (Plaza de la Constitución), rejecting City Manager HARRISS’ claim that only “colonial” history was suitable, while agreeing with HARRISS’ demand that the victims of the City’s discrimination had to raise funds for the monument.

January 9, 2006
■ Certified letter from FDEP responds to permit application, tells St. Augustine not to dump without a permit. 
■ Illegal dumping continues in Old City Reservoir.

February 17, 2006
■ Illegal dumping reported to National Response Center in Washington, D.C.. (Report 788280)
■ Illegal dumping continues in Old City Reservoir.

February 24, 2006 
■ Mayor GEORGE GARDNER defends illegal dumping, says it’s only “clean fill.” 
■ “There are no bedsprings in clean fill” as EPA expert John Marler explains. 
■ Former EPA Region 4 Regional Administrator John Henry Hankinson states that the coquina pit lake where the illegal dumping took place is an “open sore going straight down to the aquifer and the groundwater.”
■ City Public Affairs Director Paul Williamson claims that the City’s $30,000 document camera/podium will be unavailable to members of the public February 27 to show any documents or videos.
■ City Manager HARRISS, when asked about whether he had permit, responds: “I’ll get one.“ He never does. Illegal dumping continues in Old City Reservoir.

February 27, 2006
■ Assistant City Manager JOHN REGAN, P.E. tells Ed Slavin that “because of what you [Slavin] have done, it will be a long process.” Ed Slavin tells REGAN that it is the City, not him that did the polluting.
■ REGAN twice asks Ed Slavin for copy of DVD provided to Federal and State environmental crimes investigators. 
■ Ed Slavin declines to provide DVD to REGAN, based upon request from Federal and State criminal investigators.
■ REGAN asserts to Ed Slavin that the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE was “in a hurry” to finish wetland remediation in order to begin the Sebastian Inner Harbor Project. 
■ REGAN sends E-mail to CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER PAUL WILLIAMSON, inter alia using pejoratives about questions being asked on Respondent COSA’s illegal dumping in Old City Reservoir:
"Suggested RESPONSE: 'Your request for information has been forwarded to the City Attorney for response.' THE END. - And do not respond to anymore (sic) of his E- mails unless the above is the response.' Any further attempt to 'answer' any of his outlandish (sic) and absurd (sic) questions and accusations only serves to fuel his misguided (sic) filibustering (sic) and empty (sic) threats (sic). He has nothing (sic) else (sic) to do with his life and his only (sic) 'contact' with the outside world is through emails (sic). Suggest allowing Wilson to "handle" the responses.
JR
■ Mayor GEORGE GARDENER publicly promises “answers” to Ed Slavin’s questions. None provided yet.
■ Illegal dumping continues in Old City Reservoir..

March 1, 2006
■ Illegal dumping continues in Old City Reservoir two (2) days later – FDEP’s Brian Durden photographs illegal dumping after criminal investigators arrive.
■ In the presence of AKERMAN SENTERFITT partner WILLIAM PENCE, Esquire, then-CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE Public Works Director WILLIAM LEETCH and other CITY employees told EPA and FDEP criminal investigators that mainly clean materials were dumped at the Old City Reservoir and only 80 cubic yards of “unsuitable” material were dumped. (PX-12). This information was not accurate.

March 13, 2006
■ Then-Commissioner (now Mayor) JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. says he is “tired” of people “trashing” City Manager HARRISS, which Vice Mayor and Commissioner SUSAN BURK says is only by “one (sic) disgruntled (sic) citizen” raising concerns about illegal dumping.
■ All five City Commissioners vote unanimously to give HARRISS an honor (a plaque) and vote to express their “confidence” in HARRISS.

March 15, 2006
■ FDEP orders the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE to remove the solid waste from the Old City Reservoir lake and put it in a Class I landfill no later than April 17, 2006. 
■ Twenty months later, the cleanup has not been done.
■ CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, AKERMAN SENTERFITT and GEOSYNTEC start spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, delaying Old City Reservoir cleanup by 2-3 years.


March 23, 2006
Clay County Grand Jury indicts three county officials for illegal dumping in widely reported $9,000,000 dumping scandal, which began in 2004.

March 27, 2006
Taxpayer-purchased plaque publicly presented to HARRISS by all five City Commissioners, lavishing praise. Mayor GARDNER, Vice Mayor BURK and Commissioners CRICHLOW, JONES and BOLES are photographed with HARRISS, expressing confidence in him, discouraging cooperation with ongoing criminal investigation and may constitute obstruction of justice. The proclamation stated: P R O C L A M A T I O N 
WHEREAS, the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE is extraordinary among places in the world and is fortunate to have William B. “Bill” Harriss as its City Manager, a person whose passion for the City and professional commitment to the City is unmatched; and 
WHEREAS, in his more than two decades of service to the people of St. Augustine as Chief Financial Officer, General Services Director, Assistant City Manager and now as City Manager, Mr. Harriss’ philosophy (sic) of administration through strong team-building consistently inspires the City’s more than 350 employees to aspire to do their best, and 
WHEREAS, through responsible fiscal planning, Mr. Harriss has ensured the City’s solid financial standing and earned its sound management the highest respect; and 
WHEREAS, with honest enthusiasm for the highest level of proficiency in every aspect of his work, Mr. Harriss’ prudent (sic) management has resulted in improved reliability of service for the City’s 10,000 utility customers while continually upgrading infrastructure, and 
WHEREAS, by making public safety a high priority, Mr. Harriss has lead (sic) the fire and police departments to create a safe community for the City’s 14,000 residents and millions of annual visitors. 
NOW, THEREFORE, it is with great pride (sic) that the St. Augustine City Commission recognizes the outstanding contributions made by William B. “Bill” Harriss to the people of St. Augustine, commends him for his professional commitment, and expresses its full confidence in his management of the City. 
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set our signatures and caused the Seal of the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE to be affixed this 27th day of March in the year of our Lord two thousand six and the four hundred fortieth year of the founding of St. Augustine, the Nation’s Oldest City. 
George Gardner, Mayor, Susan Burk, Vice Mayor, Joseph Boles, Commissioner, 
Donald Crichlow, Commissioner, Errol Jones, Commissioner 

March 28, 2006
In a consent to search form, JOHN REGAN, P.E., Assistant City Manager, admitted that the location in question is the "OLD CITY RESERVOIR," after City officials quibbled about the name (and anonymous postings on St. Augustine Record's "Talk of the Town" website denied it was the OLD CITY RESERVOIR. (PX-13).

Early April 2006
Illegal dumping first publicly reported in two small newspapers -- the Collective Press (St. Augustine monthly) and Out in the City (Jacksonville monthly).

April 10, 2006
Commissioners announce, without voting, their “understanding” that public comments by one individual can be either at the beginning or at the end of Commission meetings, but not both. This violates the Commission’s longstanding practice of allowing Ed Slavin, et al. to speak at both the beginning and at the end of Commission meetings.

April 13, 2006 
Front page St. Augustine Record article by prize-winning reporter Kati Bexley reports illegal dumping (8th anniversary of HARRISS’ hiring without national search or Sunshine notice).

April 14, 2006
Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D. files lawsuit against City for Open Records violations involving his requests for records on city trucks, including those haulting contaminants from Riberia Street to Holmes Blvd.

April 24, 2006
City Commissioner JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., Esquire states that the City needs to seek attorney fees and monetary sanctions against Dr. Hines to make him “pay the piper,” threatening him and anyone else who files an Open Record lawsuit with a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP suit), possibly violating Florida law against government SLAPP suits.. Commissioner and Vice Mayor SUSAN BURK, Esquire amended her motion to hire Upchurch, Bailey and Upchurch to seek attorney fees for supposedly frivolous litigation. City Clerk Martha V. (Nell) Porter later confirms to Dr. Hines and Ed Slavin that Commissioners did not have a copy of Hines’ Open Record lawsuit when they termed it frivolous and voted to seek attorney fees to make him “pay the piper.”

May 23, 2006
CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE Chief Administrative Officer TIMOTHY BURCHFIELD signs affidavit claiming records sought by Dr. Hines do not exist. In January 2007, CITY provides 45 pounds of records claimed not to exist, later providing computer disk that could not be read (claimed to contain.

August 8, 2006
At initial court hearing in Dr. Hines’ Open Records case where monetary sanctions were threatened, CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE outside counsel Sidney Ansbacher provides Dr. Hines with 45 pounds of documents City previously claimed did not exist on truck use, including hauling of contaminants.

August 22, 2006 
CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS writes a “Dear Chief” letter to FDEP Chief of Law Enforcement, GREA BEAVIS, asserting reasons for not prosecuting the CITY, including Messrs. JOHN REGAN, P.E. and WILLIAM LEETCH, P.E., attending “the Florida Chamber of Commerce Environmental Permitting Summer School and short course held at Marco Island this past July.” (PX-10).

August 25, 2006
■ Refusing to bring any criminal charges against the Respondent CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, GREA BEAVIS, Chief of Investigations, FDEP Division of Law Enforcement, sent a letter to CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS (PX-9), stating he relied upon representations in HARRISS’ August 22, 2006 letter (stamped as being received by FDEP August 24, 2006). No copy of the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s course material or proof of attendance or grades was ever provided to BEAVIS or FDEP. A full-color brochure on the Florida Chamber of Commerce Environmental Permitting Summer School shows that it is lacking in balance, dominated by corporate law firms and consultants. http://www.floridaenet.com/pdfs/2006summerschool.pdf
■ Nothing in FDEP’s undated, unsigned, “CASE CRITERIA” (CX-11) suggests that municipal engineers attending a Chamber of Commerce course is good cause for declining to prosecute the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE for dumping “solid waste” in a “lake.”
■ No meeting minutes or notes of the meetings between HARRISS and FDEP have yet been provided by FDEP.
■ No report of interview form (or Offense/Incident Report/Narrative form) of any meeting between HARRISS and FDEP has yet been provided by FDEP.
■ FDEP criminal investigators’ records reflect no investigation of perjury, obstruction of justice or any past dumping prior to December 2006
■ In closing a criminal case involving contamination of the Old City Reservoir with arsenic and other toxicants, FDEP’s Bureau of Environmental Investigations (BEI) "investigation" concluded, "No (sic) economic or specific motive for permit violations could be identified." 

October 12, 2006
City Attorney JAMES PATRICK WILSON resigns, effective January 31, 2007. 

October 13, 2006:
■ Vice Mayor and Commissioner BURK moves to accept WILSON’s resignation immediately, paying him without requiring attendance at work through January 31, 2007.
■ Vice Mayor and Commissioner BURK moves to hire RONALD BROWN and DOBSON & BROWN, P.A. as the City’s temporary attorneys.
■ Neither action was preceded by proper Sunshine notice on the City’s website. No press or public attend the illegal “Special Meeting,” which was not asserted to be an “emergency.” State’s Attorney later refuses to take Sunshine violations to Grand Jury.

November 1, 2006
St. Augustine Chronicle runs cover story by reporter Frank Matzke on illegal dumping, the first publication to publish FDEP staffer Brian Durden’s March 1, 2006 photographs of illegal dumping continuing two (2) days after the criminal investigators arrived.

November 7, 2006
Ed Slavin requests HARRISS to preserve all documents and disable shredders. No response.

November 13, 2006
Mayor GEORGE GARDNER denounces Ed Slavin at last Commission meeting as Mayor, saying he asked too many questions, earning standing ovation by Commissioners, et al.

November 19, 2006
St. Augustine Record editorial (entitled “Always Stick to Your Guns”) denounces GARDNER for his attack on Slavin, chilling free speech rights, supports Slavin’s effort to inform the people.

November 22, 2006
St. Augustine Record reports FDEP’s proposed fine of the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE of more than $46,000, with FDEP’s calculations stating the amount of the fine was based on City’s lack of good faith. FDEP, waited until after the election.

December 16, 2006
Ed Slavin forgives ex-Mayor GARDNER, et al. in Christmas column in St. Augustine Record.

December 22, 2006
Commissioner BURK moves to hire RONALD BROWN as permanent City Attorney without Sunshine notice of this item (agenda advertised only to discuss tax exemptions for low-income elderly residents). 
January 17, 2007
“Basic outline of the City’s settlement proposal” states city will not agree to put solid waste in Class I landfill without a “binding final court order,” stating: “Under no circumstances, except for a final non-appealable court order, will the City agree to remove the fill (sic) material to a Class 1 landfill.” This position never discussed at City Commission meeting first.

March 12, 2007
ST. AUGUSTINE CITY ATTORNEY RONALD BROWN claims the mediation with Dr. Hines was a victory for CITY. No reference is made to “pay the piper” remark, now apparently inoperative.

January to November 2007
FDEP and CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE continue secret negotiations -- attendees include managers, lawyers, engineers and public relations spokerspersons.

June 13, 2007
Without public hearing, City Commissioners vote unanimously to redefine City boundary line to exclude Ed Slavin’s residence from City of St. Augustine, where he has voted since 2000.

June 18, 2007
FDEP District Director STRONG spoke at an EPA Community Involvement Training Conference seminar in Jacksonville, Florida. (PX-8B). Agenda focused on environmental justice issues (PX-8B) and included optional field trip to St. Augustine’s coal-to-gas plan. (PX-8B).

September 2007
City Commissioners and staff refuse to answer questions on City budget at two (2) public hearings and a workshop, including questions on budgeting for environmental cleanup of Old City Reservoir.

September 18, 2007
City’s AKERMAN SENTE$FITT lawyers file with FDEP "Report of Results of SPLP Sampling of Fill Material from the Holmes Boulevard Borrow Pit."

October 2, 2007
City’s lawyers file with FDEP – without notifying the public – their "Fill Removal and Relocation Plan for Holmes Boulevard Borrow Pit and Riberia Street Waste Disposal Area, Revision 3", October 2, 2007 ("R&R Plan"), which describes the methods and means proposed to remove “solid waste” from Holmes Site to Riberia Street dump. 

November 1, 2007
St. Augustine Record editorial (entitled “Let the public speak early”) calls for restoring public comment to start of City Commission meetings. Commissioners had referenced three speakers (B.J. Kalaidi, David Thundershield Queen and Ed Slavin in violating public’s First Amendment rights).

November 6, 2007
Assistant City Manager JOHN REGAN writes City Manager HARRIS, requesting City Commission consideration of proposed Consent Order.

November 9, 2007
At approximately 2:38 PM EST, CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE gives E-mail notice Consent Order will be on agenda for November 13, 2007 City Commission meeting.

November 11, 2007
St. Augustine Record editorial gives public notice of right of public to speak on bringing waste back to Lincolnville at 8 AM meeting on November 13, 2007. 

November 13, 2007
■ Consent Order only briefly discussed at meeting that commenced at 8 A.M., the day after Veteran’s Day holiday, outside the ordinary course of business, with minimal notice the preceding Friday (November 9, 2007) 
■ Commissioner and ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER and Commissioner and ex-Vice Mayor SUSAN BURK left the meeting before dumping is discussed.
■ Commissioners ask no tough questions and learn no new information..
■ Effects upon Lincolnville residents are not discussed.
■ St. Augustine City Commissioner ERROL JONES makes the motion, seconded by City Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW, to approve the Consent Order sending solid waste back to Lincolnville, giving City 475 days to remove contaminants from Old City Reservoir. Vote is 3-0. 
■ Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. denies the public the right to speak on Consent Order, supported by City Attorney RONALD BROWN, who claims that there was no “advertisement” of a “public hearing.” BOLES threatens arrests, motions to police officers.
■ HARRISS refuses calls to resign, saying “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
■ Later that afternoon, JOHN REGAN tells Messrs. Slavin and Seraphin, et al that it would have taken fifteen (15) minutes or less for AKERMAN SENTERFITT environmental lawyer WILLIAM PENCE to have told Respondent COSA not to dump, if only CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE officials had asked or requested him to do so.
■ REGAN tells Messrs. Slavin and Seraphin, et al. that it would have cost seventy-five dollars ($75) for WILLIAM PENCE to have told Respondent COSA not to dump, if only CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE officials had asked PENCE about the dumping before commencing it.

December 8, 2007
■ Consent Order advertised in St. Augustine Record, giving persons twenty-one (21) days within which to petition for review and request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.

December 12, 2007
■ It's cheaper" was the main reason offered by City in defending the proposed Consent Order sending contaminated materials back into the Lincolnville community. December 12, 2007, St. Augustine Record @1, quoting Mr. JOHN REGAN. 

December 13, 2007
■ Florida Times-Union reporter Deirdre Conner reports dumping controversy. 
■ City Commissioners JONES and GARDNER attend meeting of “Stop the Dump,” with some 80 people in attendance.
■ FDEP District Director STRONG tells Ed Slavin in telephone conversation that what happened in St. Augustine in 1964 was “irrelevant” to St. Augustine’s illegal dumping and institutional racism today.
■ REGAN repeated that statement about it being “cheaper.”.
■ REGAN inaccurately called the illegal dumping a “giant, giant technical (sic) mistake.”
■ REGAN correctly called the coquina pit a “lake.”
■ REGAN apologized for the illegal dumping in the Old City Reservoir.
■ REGAN said the City’s notion of sending the solid waste back to Lincolnville is “counterintutive” and “a little bizarre.”
■ REGAN said there had been dumps for decades on City-owned property from the current location of the Willie Gallimore Center southward. 
■ REGAN, said that there were “many, many dumps” in St. Augustine, Florida.
■ REGAN says City performed “root cause analysis” and had “reorganized” as a result of the illegal dumping – on January 9, 2008, REGAN admitted there was nothing in writing.
■ FDEP District Director STRONG and other FDEP staff attended the community meeting but did not speak or answer questions or identify themselves.
■ FDEP claims it needs seven (7) days advance notice to meet with a citizens group, citing Sunshine law for this dubious proposition.

December 18, 2007
■ Folio Weekly Editor Anne Schindler exposes the City’s lawbreaking in her editor’s column, (entitled “Dirty Deeds”) calling for criminal prosecution of City officials responsible for dumping, comparing situation to Clay County’s illegal dumping.

December 27, 2007
■ Seven citizens petition FDEP to review the Consent Order, detailing allegations of environmental racism and denial of public’s right to speak in a 20 page filing.

December 31, 2007
■ Seven citizens ask FDEP to hold City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS, Mayor and Commissioner JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. Vice Mayor CRICHLOW, ex-Vice Mayor SUSAN BURK, Commissioner and ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER, and Commissioner ERROL JONES as individual respondents subject to potential personal liability for the illegal dumping, also asking for a March 10, 2008 trial date and seeking discovery of documents from CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FDEP, Akerman Senterfitt and Geosyntec Consultants.

January 7, 2008 
■ CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE asserts in the St. Augustine Record that it is concerned citizens who have “stymied” cleanup by requesting a hearing on taking waste back to Lincolnville, saying the cleanup will be delayed 150 days.
■ REGAN quoted in St. Augustine record as saying “Outside from a few individuals, we’re not hearing from the public on this, and we really want to make sure the public understands this project.”

January 9, 2008
■ Assistant City Manager JOHN REGAN admits “root cause analysis” of reasons for illegal dumping, which he reported at the December 13, 2007 meeting, was unwritten (inconsistent with engineering standards for such analysis)..
■ CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FDEP, AKERMAN SENTERFITT and GEOSYNTEC fail to provide copies of speakers’ curriculum vitae or complete Powerpoin® t presentations for the January 10, 2007 meeting.
CONCLUSIONS

1. The CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE has violated environmental laws, committed environmental crimes and avoided meaningful law enforcement for two (2) years. 

2. The CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE was not candid with federal and state investigators or with citizens and journalists.

3. The CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE has delayed the cleanup of the Old City Reservoir for two (2) years, without justification or excuse, risking contamination.

4. The CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, its law firm (AKERMAN SENTERFITT) and the law firm’s engineering firm (GEOSYNTEC) all worked in secret with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), devised the supposed “remedy” or returning contaminants to Lincolnville, without a public hearing or consulting anyone, denying the public the right to speak at the November 13, 2007 meeting and repeatedly discouraging and limiting public comment since February 2006 report to National Response Center.

5. The CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE lacks respect for human rights and our environment.

6. The Consent Decree between FDEP and the CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE is a stench in the nostrils of the Nation and must be rejected.

7. The Holmes Blvd. and Riberia Street sites both must be cleaned up, along with our City government. We need an Inspector General, Ombuds and transparency.

8. Officials responsible for illegal dumping and coverups must be investigated by a Grand Jury, just like those in Clay County, Florida..

9. The CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE needs a whistleblower protection ordinance to assure that employees can report problems to Commissioners, law enforcement and journalists..

10. The CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE urgently needs an Environmental Justice ordinance and a City Commissioner, Manager and staff pledged to respect our environment and civil rights.. As Al Gore, Jr. wrote in Earth in the Balance (1992), environmental problems are often associated with corruption.

In secret, behind locked gates, the managers of the Nation's oldest (European-founded) City illegally dumped 40,000 cubic yards of contaminants in the Old City Reservoir, where people fished and swam for generations. 

Now our City and State want to bring the contaminants back to Lincolnville, negotiating in secret, without ever informing the two (2) affected Environmental Justice communities of Lincolnville and West Augustine.

Three City Commissioners (MAYOR JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., VICE MAYOR DONALD CRICHLOW and Commissioner ERROL JONES) rubberrstamped a Consent Order without allowing promised public comment. Two other City Commissioners (GEORGE GARDNER and SUSAN BURK) left the meeting without either discussing or voting on the issue. This required citizens to act to commence an Administrative Law Judge hearing to obtain sworn candid answers and a full remedy.

St. Augustine's pollution symbolizes our City's putative leaders' lack of trust in the public's right to know. This is advanced citizenship. Please share your questions and whistleblower disclosures about City government, today and every day. Then let's demand answers. Expect democracy. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 

For more information, please see www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com or contact Judith 
Seraphin of the Lincolnville Neighborhood Association at 829-0808.

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Note: PX references are to Petitioners’ Exhibits filed with FDEP in State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection v. City of St. Augustine. Attached is PX-3, Anne Schindler’s column from December 18, 2007 Folio Weekly.

FIGHTING CORRUPTION in St. Johns County -- Let's make this magical place safe for democracy.

Tom Wicker's journalism professor at the University of North Carolina said, "If you're telling a story about a bear, bring on the bear."  The bear here in what we call "God's country" is CORRUPTION, my friends. 

Reforming St. Johns County starts with you.  

And it starts with Mosquito Control. 

We love this beautiful place.  Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse was "to whom much is given, much is expected."

President Woodrow Wilson said we "must make the world safe for democracy."

"The love of money is the root of all evil." 1 Timothy 6:10.

Corruption is the root of all evil in our governments. Everywhere. Americans agree.

I am running for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County (seat 2) and I would be honored to have your vote on or before November 3, 2026.  Help me help you.  Let's fight corruption together.

I've been investigating, reporting on and exposing corruption since 1978.  

From Appalachia to Washington, D.C.  to California to Florida, I've investigated corruption and empowered Americans to resist waste, fraud, abuse, discrimination and petty boodling.

Here in St. Johns County, a corrupt former Sheriff was fired by the Florida Senate under Article IV section 7 of our Florida Constitution for corruption.  But Sheriff David Shoar's website lied to us for years  that corrupt Sheriff Lawrence O. Davis was "exonerated" by our Florida Senate, which removed him from office by 44-2 vote in 1971. 

Sadly Sheriff Robert Hardwick, the current Sheriff, abuses our Sheriff's website to pay homage to Sheriff Shoar, who with State's Attorney Ralph Joseph Larizza was  culpable in the coverup of the September 2, 2010 murder of a Sheriff's deputy's girlfriend, Ms. Michelle O'Connell.  That deputy is still on the payroll in 2026.  

County Court Judge Charles Tinlin and U.S. District Court Judge Brian J. Davis both found probable cause that Jeremy Banks committed homicide, killing Ms. Michelle O'Connell on September 2, 2010.  Sheriff Shoar declared it was as "suicide" before the sun even rose.  

Robert Hardwick was the investigator for the State's Attorney Ralph Joseph Larizza. Investigator Hardwick and his Assistant both thought Banks committed homicide and wanted an exhumation and autopsy.  

Larizza conveniently recused himself from the Michelle O'Connell case while Hardwick was at the FBI National Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia.  

When Michelle O'Connell's family finally arranged for an exhumation and independent autopsy, it found Michelle's jaw was broken. She was a victim of domestic violence.  Her killer remains employed by the County Sheriff and can retire in 2027.  It's our money.

We in the reality-based community disdain deception and condemn dangers to democracy, like promiscuous proliferation of FLOCK cameras and wasteful, out-of-control spending on edifice complexes for the Sheriff and Mosquito Control Commission.

We in the reality-based community don't approve of wasteful spending or harmful rhetoric.d

We don't need more overpriced Taj Mahals, no-bid contracts needless flubdubs or dishonesty.

Massive cost overruns and self-dealing must stop.

County Commissioners make more than $100,000 per year.

Mosquito Control Commissioners make $400 a month, but voted to give themselves illlgal "Christmas bonuses of $1000, violating Florida law pay cap of  $4800/year.  Thanks to WJCT/Jacksonville Today and reporter Noah Hertz for publicizing it.  It's our money.  

In the spirit of the 27th Amendment, it's wrong for public officials to raise their own pay during their current term of office. 

It was good enough for James Madison and it's good enough for St. Johns County.  

Let snollygosters go elsewhere. 

I am against wasting your money on self-aggrandizement, sweetheart contacts, domestic and foreign travel and conventions without trip reports or valid government purpose.

Our County elected officials sold out our citizens to the likes of private equity taking over Bayview, the beloved Skilled Nursing Facility Commissioners unanimously voted July 20, 2021 to sell its lease with the County to dodgy private equity interests that control dozens of nursing homes.'

Our elected officials in 2016 actually voted to allow PARC GROUP, controlled by the greedy WINN-DIXIE DAVIS FAMILY, to erase its legal commitment to dedicate 40 acres of Nocatee development to affordable housing, for the lucre of $800,000.  

This vicious vote violated our citizens' civil rights.  

So did the WINN-DIXIE DAVIS FAMILY's 2026 demand to alter state law to allow development of "agricultural enclaves" on demand. That dopey, dubious devilish  proposition was rejected 3-2 by our newly empowered St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners, which voted against the rebarbative, ridiculous ROGERS TOWERS' corporate law firm's rote demand to muck up some 4420 acres of mostly old growth forest.

Our elected officials voted 3-2 in 2025 without a conflicts check to hire a corporate lawyer, RICHARD CHRISTIAN KOMANDO,  as County Attorney, while allowing him to represent private clients, including the SLAUGHTER BROTHERS, roofers convicted in federal court for defrauding IRS and workers. It's time for KOMANDO to go.  

The odious otiose oleaginous corporate lawyer lied, in writing, to reform County Commissioner Ann Taylor, extravagantly claimed that his client list was secret and somehow protected by attorney-client privilege.  This louche liar needs to clean out his desk and get out of the County Commission building. Now.

Both our Anastasia Mosquito Control District Director and our County Administrator are Chinese Americans. Each of them have taken vacations in Communist China each year. Both are imperious, vastly overpaid potential security risks and treat our local government employees as servants, serfs and vassels. 

In the annals of St. Johns County's legendary corruption, in the history of its sins, crimes and torts many at the behest of bootleggers, organized crime devious developers, the case of Trey Alexander Asner is instructive.  

Mr. Asner was the County's historic preservationist, but he did his job "too well" for corrupt County officials, who fired him for preserving African-American history (Canright House and the 1953 St. Johns County Jail Annex, where the Rev. Dr. Maartin Luther King, Jr. and some 1000 civil rights protesters were incarcerated 1963-1964).  The building is now preserved, but Andrews wanted to demolish it. It's time for her to go.

Paid $360,000/year, maladroit County Administrator Junyao "Joy" Andrews still won't meet with Mr. Asner, and neither will criminally-charged Commissioner Sarah Salley Arnold.  

Pray for them. 

Vote for qualified candidates who will stand up to corruption in our town and our time.

I would be honored to be your voice standing up to corruption and self-dealing, starting with Mosquito Control.

My Father helped liberate the first French town from the Nazis on D-Day, June 6, 1944, before the sun even rose that day.

The late David Brian Wallace and I first visited St. Augustine in 1992 and fell in love with the place and its history. We were then living in Washington, D.C., where Brian worked for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and I graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and was honored to represent American whistleblowers.

Brian and I moved to St. Augustine on November 5, 1999.  A few weeks later, the truth emerged; Brian said, "it's crooked around here!"  He was right.  

We were ashamed when we realized the level of corruption here.  Ever since, I've worked to solve the problem. 

When the City of St. Augustine dumped a landfill in the Old City Reservoir a coquina pit lake, friends informed me and I helped them resolve the problem of environmental racism in West Augustine.  I reported the City to the National Response Center, which assigned the Environmental Protection Agency and Florida Department of Environmental Protection to investigate. The coquina pit lake was cleaned up and the 80 acre site off Holmes Blvd. Extended will soon feature affordable housing.

.In 2006-2007, my mentor, League of Women Voters leader Robin Nadeau, recruited me to help oppose Mosquito Control's $1.800,000 no-bid TEXTRON Bell Jet Helicopter incapable of killing a single skeeter. It was freighted with waste, fraud and abuse.  I asked my Mother, a longtime former Purchasing Secretary for corporations and a county college. She would not buy a helicopter without competitive bidding.  

But our Mosquito Control Commission voted 3-2 to buy the fancy-bears helicopter.  Mosquito Control Commission Director Dr. Xue likes to spend money and too often gets his way.  We, the People defeated his wasteful spending. After ten months, Mosquito Control Commissioners voted unanimously cancel the illegal no-bid helicopter and got a full refund of our 10% deposit.  We, the People won!

When Mosquito Control illegally used pesticides near Bald Eagle nests, I reported AMCD to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  

When a negligently piloted Mosquito Control helicopter allegedly nearly killed six golfers with a helicopter at a county golf course, one of the near-victims told me. No helicopter will ever again endanger our wildlife or people.

I am appalled at the alleged fake Voter Guides scandal afflicting both parties, apparently.

I have been your watchdog on Mosquito Control for twenty years.  Help me help you.

The next global pandemic could be a mosquito-borne disease,  We will be prepared with good science, sound planning and resistance to wasteful spending.  It is up to us to reject 41% cost overruns and other irregularities. 

TIME FOR A NATIONAL SEARCH! -- DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM RETIRING -- St. Augustine City Manager has had only one employer since circa 1997 (updated October 12, 2026)

I would be honored to have your vote on or before November 3, 2026 for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County (seat 2).  Love this magical place. Moved here on November 5, 1999.

St. Augustine needs a national search for a City Manager.  Who among us would disagree?

Expressing the trite and ungrammatical view that St. Augustine is "very (sic) unique," and violating both grammatical rules and the reasonable expectations of probity, our rather unsophisticated St. Augustine City Commissioners dumped the decision of a national search into the laps of future City Commissioners at their October 12, 2026 meeting.  

Meanwhile, the Commissioners oddly renewed the horse and carriage franchise for the Cushion family, after cancelling their carriage licenses due to documented lawbreaking and horse abuse allegations. 

The word "unique" never carries a modifier.  It's unique or it's not.  

But the third rate City Commissioners in sixth rate City of St. Augustine government remain mired in schtick and horse manure, that stinky substance that one cleans out of horse barns, and which allows corruption to flourish.  

In April, 2005, DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM told me "there is no corruption in the City of St. Augustine."  We were discussing zoning and planning, and he was then the understudy to MARK ALLEN KNIGHT, the City Planning and Zoning Director.

St. Augustine and St. Johns County are "unique" in corruption history, perhaps requiring their own chapter in a future edition of Mark Grossman's book, POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN AMERICA --An Encyclopedia of Scandals, Power and Greed, and coverage in Brendan Ballou's PLUNDER -- Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America.

That pervasive stinky St. Augustine corruption allowed a feculent former City Manager to dump a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir) and hornswoggle haughty naughty Commissioners that it was "clean. fill." Longtime Atlanta-based EPA regulator John Marler told me that "there are no bedsprings in clean fill, or toilets." A former City Attorney asked the former City Manager if he had a permit to dump the landfill in the lake, to which the rebarbative reprobate former City Manager replied, "I'm gonna git one."  (He never did).

St. Augustine city burghers long attacked talented visual artists and musicians, running them off St. George Street at the behest of greedy businessmen, whose cat's paw was a former City Manager.  See First They Came for the Artists (Ed Slavin & Georgio Valentino, Folio Weekly, March 19, 2019).  

Yes, the City of St. Augustine aspires to be a "Compassionate City." It's time to prove it with a national search, instead of promoting the next good-ole-boy in line.

Mediocrity and municipal corruption led investigative reporter Lincoln Steffens to write a book called The Shame of the Cities. The  City is run by hollow Organization Men, typified by the incumbent City Manager, who never had another employer other than the City of St. Augustine since he graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1997.  He was recommended for an interview by a third generation City Mayor, also a third generation State Representative, a corporate lawyer, whose handwritten letter to then City Manager William Pomar noted that privileged DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM's unnamed uncle was a Flagler College Professor.  While  BIRCHIM's contract expires June 2, 2028, he's resigning now. Good career move, after repeated failed, uninspiring, unproductive work.

We need to hire more qualified people, not more clones and clones of clones of clones.  

A national search is the standard of care. Anything less is more horseshit, willful wanton negligence, recklessness and neglect of duty.

A national search allows consideration of qualified candidates from everywhere, seeking the best and the brightest, complying with civil rights laws -- instead of considering only the mediocre yokels whose decades of mistakes keep getting repeated, decade after decade.   (In the immortal words of the late United States Supreme Court  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "Three generations of imbeciles is enough.")

My late Irish-German grandmother would have called these superficial, slow-thinking St. Augustine Commissioners "hopelessly provincial."  

No class. No courage. These are not reformers.  These are Babbits practicing conformity to the expectations of the owners and controllers and Epstein Class. 

As my Mother would say, "We are surrounded by mediocrities."

Tell Commissioners: It's time for a national search for St. Augustine City Manager, as I wrote in the St. Augustine Record in my April 26, 2010 Guest Column, here:

City of St. Augustine press release: 

On Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at 10:07:33 AM EDT, CityStAug Communications <info@citystaug.com> wrote:

September 29, 2026

 

City Manager David Birchim announces retirement

 

Commission will select interim city manager

 

On Monday, September 28, City of St. Augustine City Manager David Birchim submitted his letter of retirement to City Commissioners, effective Wednesday, December 16, 2026. Birchim was selected from three candidates in May 2023 to serve as City Manager, following former City Manager John Regan upon his retirement in June of that year.

 

Upon retirement, Birchim will have 29 years of dedicated service to the City of St. Augustine, decades of experience in professional urban planning and public administration, including more than 23 years in supervisory and leadership positions.  His extensive knowledge of City operations, commitment to public service, and leadership have helped guide the organization and advance important initiatives.

 

During his tenure as City Manager, Birchim worked closely with the City Commission, staff, residents, and community partners to manage City resources while addressing the challenges of a growing and evolving community.  His leadership reflected a commitment to balancing St. Augustine’s future with the preservation of the history and character that make the city unique.

 

Birchim’s career closes with many successes to his credit, including the creation of the Community Services Department and development of the Dignity Pavilion, advancing the West King Street Parking Garage and new Anastasia Island fire station initiatives, and most recently, a complete revision to the City’s management and operations of Nights of Lights, the globally recognized, community holiday event.

 

“It has been an honor to serve the City of St. Augustine and to work alongside such a dedicated team,” said Birchim. “Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of being part of many projects and initiatives that will have a lasting impact on the city.  I’m grateful to the City Commission, staff, community partners, and especially our residents for their trust and support.  St. Augustine is an extraordinary and special place.  I’m proud of what we have accomplished together and confident in the City’s continued success.”

 

Birchim holds a Master of Science Degree in Planning from the University of Tennessee.  He is accredited by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and Florida Public Pension Trustee Association (FPPTA).  He was promoted from Planning and Building Director to Assistant City Manager to specifically be responsible for overseeing special projects such as land development, affordable housing, legislative funding initiatives, and the resilient shoreline initiative.

 

The City Commission accepted Birchim’s letter, releasing him from his contract which is set to expire on June 2, 2028.  At the next meeting when all commissioners are present, they will select an interim City Manager to allow the final decision to made by the newly seated board in 2027.

 

Media inquiries may be directed to Melissa Wissel, Communications Director, at 904.293.3307.

 

#  #  #  #

 

Attachment: Retirement letter submitted by City Manager David Birchim, September 28, 2026

 

 

Melissa Wissel

Communications Director

City of St. Augustine  |  Communications Department

P.O. Box 210  |  St. Augustine, FL 32085

Office: 904-825-1053

Mobile: 904-293-3307

Email: mwissel@citystaug.com

Fax: 904-825-1096

www.CityStAug.com 

 

 

    

____________________________________________________________________________

Please Note: Florida has a very broad Public Records Law.  Unless specifically exempt by state law,

written communications to city officials or staff regarding official city business are public records

available to the public and media upon request. If your email communication is related to official 

government business, it may therefore be subject to public disclosure.