Three cheers for five Commissioners for rejecting County Administrator MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK's demand to end the St. Augustine Beach Wednesday Farmer's Market at the St. Johns County Ocean and Fishing Pier parking lot. This was a unanimous vote of no confidence in the County Administrator. In 1998, St. Augustine City Manager Joseph Pomar resigned after City Commission ignored one of his recommendations. It's time for WANCHICK to resign while he can.
Also:
1. The RFP means Farmers Market vendors are now free to bid for the contract and to form a cooperative. "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last."
2. Kudos to all five of our County Commissioners for listening to "We, the People." This was an epic, decisive vote of "no confidence" in County Administrator Michael David Wanchick. He demanded to END our iconic SAB Farmers Market to make way for parking for new Embassy Suites Hotel, owned by Key International, (Ardid family of Miami). Corruption foiled again.
3. BoCC RFP vote rejects mismanagement by secretive St. Augustine Beach Civic Association, long feared by vendors and politicians.
4. SABCA recruited and supported politicians, demanding favoritism as a quid pro quo.
5. SABCA was a special interest group. It was a thinly-disguised, taxpayer-subsidized Political Action Committee. SABCA gave $500 to support 8.33%/half-penny sales tax hike for schools (relieving developers of $150,000,000 in impact fees by spending $187,000 on campaign, in $200,000 2015 Special Election) -- 33,200% return on investment (ROI).
6. SABCA attacked our cherished First Amendment rights. Remember what it did to Commissioner Ken Bryan and former SAB Code Enforcement Chair Wm. Rosenstock?
7. SABCA violated ADA, blocking disabled parking spaces
8. Remedying unaccountability and mendacity, RFP vote ends SABCA's lucrative 18-year, no-bid evergreen contract
9. WILLIAM JONES, disgraced demoted St. Johns County Sheriff's Department Civil Process Supervisor, is President of SABCA. SABCA wanted no RFP, stating it was unAmerican to require competitive proposals. Archly attacking concerned citizens JONES said Commissioners should not "reward bad behavior."
10. Commissioners declined JONES' invitation to violate competitive bidding requirements, and the noisome nasty pleas of JONES' wife, GAYE JONES, and disgraced defeated hick hack St. Augustine Beach Mayor ANDREA SAMUELS.
11. Commissioners wisely decided not to reward SABCAs "bad behavior." Three cheers!
12,Why the unhinged attacks by the JONESES and SAMUELS on informed citizens who dared to ask questions, make open records requests and file ADA complaints? Watch video. http://stjohnscountyfl.swagit.com/play/02202018-542. (ITEM 11)
13. SABCA's lousy louche self-appointed leaders showed their guilty consciences by their rude, ranting cant and petty pejoratives.
14. Pray for them
BOTTOM LINE: Another victory for "We, the People" in St. Johns County. It's time for WANCHICK to go.
Here's the Record's story:
Time for a change?
By Sheldon Gardner
Posted Feb 21, 2018 at 12:01 AM
Updated at 6:07 AM
St. Augustine Record
St. Johns County commissioners voted Tuesday to open the door for different management of Wednesday farmers markets held near the St. Augustine Beach pier.
County Commission Chair Henry Dean made a motion to have county staff prepare a request for proposals for management of the farmers market at the pier parking lot. The proposals would provide for the county to recoup costs associated with the event. Commissioners unanimously supported the move.
Dean, who lives in St. Augustine Beach and whose district includes the city, strongly supported keeping the market in St. Augustine Beach in the pier parking lot, which is owned by St. Johns County.
“The farmers market [near] the pier in St. Augustine Beach has been, to me, a phenomenal iconic part of our little village,” Dean said.
He also said after nearly 20 years with the same management of the market by the St. Augustine Beach Civic Association, it’s time to open the door for other organizations to have a shot and to change the agreement to make it more favorable to the county.
But the deal isn’t done until a formal agreement has been approved.
Getting out an advertisement and receiving proposals and ranking them could take several weeks, County Attorney Patrick McCormack said. Then a recommendation will come to commissioners for a decision. In the meantime, the county can extend its agreement with St. Augustine Beach Civic Association, he said.
The commission’s decision came after public comment, including from vendors at the market and members of the St. Augustine Beach Civic Association who discouraged the county from searching for new management.
Bill Jones, president of the civic association, touted the group’s efforts such as supporting community events and charities. The civic association doesn’t pay rent to the county for the farmers market or for electricity used during markets, but the organization pays for insurance and other costs associated with the markets, he said.
Farmers market revenue, which comes from vendor fees, helps pay for Music by the Sea concerts, and the civic association pays rent to the county for using space for those concerts.
Jones also said the group created the event at the pier nearly 20 years ago, and he said the organization struggled with the county considering giving it to someone else.
“It doesn’t seem very American or very enterprising,” Jones said, adding later that he’d like to hash out a new agreement directly with County Administrator Michael Wanchick.
While others also defended or criticized the civic association during public comment, some focused on keeping the market in St. Augustine Beach.
Mark and Gail Jordana, who live outside of St. Augustine Beach on Anastasia Island, sell stone jewelry at the Wednesday markets. Mark Jordana told commissioners that the market represents about 40 percent of the couple’s business revenue, and that other vendors are probably in a similar situation. He added that the market brings visitors and a “small-town feel” that the city should preserve.
“This is a cultural event in our community. It’s loved by many people. We have visitors that come back year over year,” he said.
After the vote, Mark Jordana said that the decision represents the start of a long process, and that he’ll feel comfortable once a formal agreement is signed.
In other business
Commissioners unanimously approved developing an ordinance to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in St. Johns County but not in St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach.
State law prohibits the county from regulating dispensaries in a more restrictive way than pharmacies are regulated, Soria said. County staff proposed allowing dispensaries and treating them in the same way as pharmacies, Soria said. Other options include extending an existing moratorium on dispensaries, which ends March 31, for less than a year.
Soria, responding to a question from Commissioner Jeb Smith, said a ban wouldn’t affect the ability for people to have medical marijuana delivered to their homes. Smith made the motion to have the county create the ban, saying medical marijuana is still illegal at the federal level and that people would still be able to get medical marijuana under the ban.
Ed Slavin said; "Constitutional amendment supported by 73% of St. Johns County voters, more than voted for Donald John Trump."
ReplyDeleteYes, Don The Con only got 26% of all eligible voters. 43% BOYCOTTED the farce election.
I wouldn't wave the "free at last" banner until the new management is determined and under contract.
You can smell the 'privatization' scam all the way to Tallahassee.
http://fountainofbaloney.com/index.html