St. Augustine's Native American history and archaeology endangered by bank, law firm, craven Commissioners

UPDATE: Received a telephone message on February 19, 2018 from the EVP from the bank; he indicated that Coastal Banking Corporation is both concerned and investigating. Earlier today, I wrote to Environmental Sciences, Inc.(ESI) archaeologist BRENT M. HANDLEY, who wrote the flawed 2003 report, requesting ESIs recusal. Stay tuned. Here's my February 22, 2018 e-mail to ESI Vice President and Archaeology Division Director BRENT M. HANDLEY:


-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: bhandley
Sent: Thu, Feb 22, 2018 8:10 pm
Subject: ESI's recusal is required due to ESI's flawed 2003 report on Red House Bluff Native American archaeological site and false statement to State of Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation

Dear Mr. Handley:
1. I am writing to you about Environmental Science, Inc. (ESI) and its proposed role in 2018, and its flawed 2003 study, on Red House Bluff (Whispering Creek), site of a 3000-4000 year old Native American archaeological site.
2. Due to ESI's low-quality work, and ESI's apparent erroneous, material misrepresentation of facts to a Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation officials in 2006, you and everyone else at ESI must recuse yourselves from further work on this project.
3. Mr. Handley, you will kindly recall that I interviewed you in 2006 and published an investigative article in Collective Press about the flawed report that you wrote. Afterwards, you then allegedly spoke with Bureau of Historic Preservation’s Laura Kammerer, misstating to her that Red House Bluff involved was only an Indian "shell midden" (seashell disposal pit).
4. Mr. Handley: You are an advocate for developers, a hired gun. You lack a Ph.D. As ESIs top archaeologist, you are in no position to recommend to the Nation's Oldest City and its ABD City Archaeologist, Ms. White, how to preserve and protect our precious cultural resources at Red House Bluff.
5. ESI’s materially false and misleading "shell midden" claim or theory is disproven and utterly contradicted by ESI's own 2003 report, which you wrote.
6. Your ill-advised 2006 "shell midden" statement was in fact, both false and "ridiculous," as UF's then Interim Anthropology Chair Dr. Kenneth Sassaman told me at the time. He noted that he word "shell" does not appear in ESI’s report. The facts are well-nigh irrefragable.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2018/02/st-augustines-native-american.html 7. Please call me to discuss, or kindly write me to confirm ESI's recusal. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com

UNJUST STEWARDS INDIFFERENT TO NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY?
Watch February 12, 2018 meeting video here (items 8A1 & 9B1 & 9B2)

For nearly 20 years, the developer-dominated government of the itty-bitty City of St. Augustine, Florida has mismanaged Red House Bluff, a significant 3000-4000 year old Native American archaeological site on the west side of Lewis Speedway, just north of St. Augustine High School. 
Why it matters:  Just north of St. Augustine High School, bordering Lewis Speedway, there's a 3000-4000 year old Native American archaeological site. 

It is likely a burial place of a cacique, shaman or chief, according to Dr. Kenneth E. Sassaman, Ph.D., whom I interviewed in 2006. After I sent it to him by Federal Express, Dr. Sassaman reviewed at my request a flawed developer's contract archeologist ESI report on the site.   St. Augustine sells itself as Our Nation's Oldest City.

St. Augustine City leaders are understandably focused on Spanish colonial history but don't give a fig about preserving and protecting 12,000 years of our Native American history.

They are not unlike ethnocentric or racist officials elsewhere, in Florida, Alabama and other states, who have used Native American archaeological sites as fill for roads and bridges, and look the other way when speculators developers destroy archaeology.

Buried treasures reflecting Spanish history are valued. Native American history, NO.  The technical term for this insolent insouciance is environmental racism.

This same City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir) during 2005-2006.  We, the People won on that one, but racism still persists among certain City officials, it would appear.

The City of St. Augustine 's racist mismanagement of Native American archeology continued Monday night, on Lincoln's Birthday, when Mayor Nancy Shaver gaveled me, then apologized twice, for not recognizing me to speak on it.

The 3.06 acre park enacted in 2006 disappeared, because the Planned Unit Development (PUD) expired. May we have it back, please?

My concerns -- and those of Betty Jean Kalaidi and adjoining landowner Diane Mills -- were then essentially ignored in their rush to pass flawed legislation on the fly.

There was no project pending.

No deadline.

Only a small bank (COASTAL BANKING COMPANY), with an overbearing, demanding corporate lawyer (ELLEN AVERY SMITH), from a dodgy Jacksonville law firm (ROGERS TOWERS) with a long history of flummery in front of St. Augustine and St. Johns County officials.

Some St. Augustine City Commissioners asked good questions, but in the end, they rubber-stamped Rogers Towers law firm's embarrassing last minute law-writing. The issue will come back after review by Florida State officials.

While I asked Mayor Shaver, just before the meeting,  to vote delay the votes and get more information, she rudely said to me, "Good f***ing luck with that!"  How gauche and louche.

Likewise, Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline told Diane Mills the issue was a "done deal," discouraging Ms. Mills from even attending the hearing.

That is what we call "a chilling effect."

We'll just see about that, Mayor Shaver and Commissioner Kline.

Since the 450th, and winning so many national honors, St. Augustine is being held to higher standards than we were in 1999.

We're on the world stage now.  Mismanagement of archaeological and historic resources is bad for business, and a stench in. the nostrils of our City.  Here's a brief history of the City's flummery, dupery and nincompoopery on the Red House Bluff archaeological site:

In 1999, the 13 acre Red House Bluff property was acquired from Judge Richard O. Watson's family by a firm owned or controlled by alleged fraudfeasor ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD, then a disbarred New York lawyer who left town in 2010 (returning once a month) and has since gotten his license back.

The property was annexed into the City in 1999.

Robin Nadeau and I both saw ROBERT GRAUBARD kissed then Vice Mayor Susan Burk on the lips during a recess in the Commission meeting on June 11, 2007 (day of a vote against ruining Fish Island with a 1200-foot boat dock and condos)(Fish Island is now protected by Northeast Florida Land Trust conservation easement).

On June 11, 2007, during a recess in a St. Augustine City Commission meeting, in a nearly-empty City Commission room, ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD walked halfway across the room. City Commissioner Susan Burk walked across the room. He leaned over and kissed her. The two once dated. Burk never recused herself from voting on GRAUBARD projects and investments.

No City Commmissioner ever answered my question at Commission meetings about any "agreements, understandings or relationships" with GRAUBARD.

GRAUBARD bragged in bars that he controlled Burk, funded her campaigns, and that she did what he told her to do.

Susan Burk was then the law partner of current Commissioner Leanna Sophia Amaru Freeman.

When Ms. Freeman was elected in 2008, she took Burk's place on Commission, and Freeman told The St. Augustine Record they agreed on "everything."

As I wrote on this blog in 2007:

"Now it can be told -- reform County Commission Chair Ben Rich was right -- the speculators were "worse than the worst carpetbagger.' ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD is a landraping scalawag now caught in a web of his own lies GRAUBARD's kind of "government relations" require Federal Grand Jury subpoenas.

No Future Land Use Map (FLUM) designation was voted on the Red House Bluff (Whispering Creek) property during 1999 or in 2000-2017, even though Florida law requires a FLUM designation be voted upon annexation.  Nearly twenty years went by.

Wonder why?

WILLIAM BARRY HARRIS 

St. Augustine City Manager 1998-2010

(Now working for Sheriff DAVID SHOAR)

City Manager WILLIAM BARRY HARRIS -- and other corpulent, compliant, St Augustine City officials -- did what they were told for years by this brilliant, devious, clever lawyer, ROGERS TOWERS partner GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE:

GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE 

(1951-2013)

Redhouse Bluff speculator ROBERT MICHEL GRAUBARD's lawyer was the former Mayor of St. Augustine Beach, lawyer GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE, then a partner with ROGERS TOWERS. McCLURE was later fired for embezzling a fee he claimed was a "gratuity."

ROGERS TOWERS filed a Bar complaint, Florida Bar documents establish, with no action taken.  (McCLURE claimed he took gratuities from clients, not fees).

[It was GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE who helped the FBI catch and arrest former Republican County Commission Chairman Thomas G. Manuel on bribery charges in 2008.  In 2013, McCLURE died of cancer.  After he was diagnosed, he apologized to St. Augustine Commissioners for lying (about alleged Catholic Church support for alcohol consumption at The Treasury, a wedding venue in the former bank building next to the St. Augustine Cathedral Basilica).  The video was not working, but there is an audio tape of this unusual apology (the only time this sneaky corporate lawyer ever was known to apologize for misleading a government entity for his developer clients.]

In 2003, a contractor archaeology report was prepared for GRAUBARD's group by another ROGERS TOWERS law firm client, the consulting firm of Environmental Sciences, Inc.

Conflict of interest?

Intentionally inadequate archeological work?  You tell me:

• There was no trench test.  
• Test holes were dug only every 50 meters instead of closer, a breach of the standard of care. 
• The flawed study erroneously said the site was in Duval County, giving other incorrect background 
• The flawed study was designed not to find anything, like so many bought-and-paid for contractor studies.
• Secrecy contaminated the entire process.
• The study was never shared with St. Augustine City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt.
• The study stayed in the hands of City Manager WILLIAM BARRY HARRISS'  flunky, Planning and Building Director MARK ALAN KNIGHT.  
• This was a badge of fraud.
• MARK KNIGHT was later fired by City Manager John Patrick Regan, P.E. for reasons that have never been disclosed, with both KNIGHT and Regan claiming to be bound by an illegal nondisclosure agreement, a contract violation of public policy in violation of Restatement of Contracts, Second, Section 178).
• MARK KNIGHT represented developers before City Commission and Boards after his firing, illegal practicing law without a license.  
• No one ever told MARK KNIGHT to stop practicing law without a license.

Disgraced, fired former St. Augustine Planning and Building Director, who encumbered that position from April 18, 1998 until he was fired on May 22, 2014 (kept on the payroll until he retired on August 22, 2014).

The flawed 2013 ESI Red House Bluff study's author, BRENT M. HANDLEY, is now its Senior Archaeologist and Vice President:

Brent M. Handley, MA

Vice President 

Education: M.A. Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 2000 B.A. Geography/Anthropology, University of Southern Maine, 1993 ESI Office: Jacksonville, Florida Email: bhandley@esinc.cc

Brent M. Handley 

Brent Handley is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) with years of experience in academic research and cultural resource management projects.

As ESI’s Senior Archaeologist, Mr. Handley’s specialties within the field of archaeology include prehistory, zooarchaeology, human osteology, and cemetery identification and repatriation.  Previous cultural resource management projects have included cultural resource assessment surveys, monitoring, test excavations, and block excavations in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. These projects have been successfully completed for clients such as the United States Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, United States Navy, Army National Guard, USDA-NRCS, National Park Service, and the Department of Transportation, as well as private companies and public utility companies.

Speculator ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD halted the ESI archaeological work before it was completed, and future steps outlined in the report were never accomplished.

Then, on January 9, 2005, a date that will live in infamy without a Future Land Use Map designation,  Commissioners Susan Burk, Donald Crichlow, Joseph Boles and Errol Jones voted 4-1 (Mayor George Gardner dissenting), to allow a Planned Unit Development to be built for condos and a strip mall.  The PUD included a 3.06 acre park coinciding with Native American archaeology, and $50,000 toward the park.  (Ordinance 2005-38).

JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR.

(Credit: Hans Holbein the Young and Greg Travous)

ERROL JONES said to SAPD in 2012, upon his first of many arrest for domestic violence, "Do you know who I am?" (This led Commissioner Freeman to quip to fellow Commissioners before a meeting that she was having her badge amend to add, "Do you know who I am?"

DONALD W. CRICHLOW

New York speculator ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD hired the archeological consulting firm of Environmental Services, Inc. (ESI), which dug widely spaced holes on the land in 2003 and found large quantities of pottery and over a kilogram of long bone fragments in a 306 square meter rise.

Then the work stopped, despite ESI’s recommendation for further investigation. The long bones were never chemically analyzed to determine if they were human. A state form was filled out claiming only animal bones were involved. The developer sidestepped the issue of possible Indian graves.

ESI concluded that Red House Bluff involved possible "prehistoric land altering activities" and a "largely intact cultural resource associated with the Late Archaic and Late Woodland periods," a time period that spanned 2000 years before Christ was born to 750 A.D.

ESI concludes, "Two dominant cultural concentrations, the Orange and St. Johns, yielded cultural concentrations that can contribute significant new information toward the better understanding of these periods in Northeast Florida." ESI concluded that the site is potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and should be preserved. If preservation is not a viable option, then additional work would be necessary to determine eligibility status."
The project avoided archeological or wetlands scrutiny by state and federal officials until after it received City Commission approval in 2006. The Florida Archeological Site Form was filled out unconventionally in 2003 Three questions on whether the site is eligible for inclusion in local or national historic preservation listings are answered not with an X in a box marked yes or no, but with a notation, "Insufficient info."

A box checked on the form answered that bones found were animal, not human -- but no faunal chemical analysis was ever performed to determine the answer.

ESI typed on the unsworn form, "Phase I investigation revealed a moderate to high density artifact concentration south of Red House Branch. Pottery associated with the Late Archaic through Late Woodland [Periods] were recovered from intact strata. The potential for additional work to produce significant information is high."

The form also reiterates that "Further work is recommended." No further work was ever performed.

Dr. Kenneth E. Sassaman, Ph.D.

University of Florida

Hyatt and Cici Brown Professor of Florida Archaeology

Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology

• Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1991
• M.A., Public Service Archaeology, University of South Carolina, 1983
• B.A., Anthropology, University of Maryland, 1979

In 2006, when I interviewed him for The Collective Press, University of Florida Anthropology Department Interim Chairman Dr. Kenneth Sassaman, Ph.D.,  was surprised that there was no Phase II.

The’s state archeological form requires no signature or oath. How many government forms have you ever seen like that?

ESI’s 2003 consultant's archeology report was never sent to the state by the consultant or Graubard. Graubard is also the developer of Conch House Marina Resort condominiums, refusing to tell the St. Augustine Record names of out-of-county investors.. (It turned out one of his partners was a convicted felon serving time in a federal prison, later prosecuted for working on projects in violation of U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons rules).

Interviewed by me for The Collective Press in 2006, Florida's Bureau of Historic Protection (BHP) and Bureau of Archeology had no immediate comment on what steps might be taken.

After I contacted Robert Handley in 2006, the ESI study author, Handley then spoke with BHP’s Laura Kammerer, misstating there was only an Indian "shell midden" (seashell disposal pit). ESI’s shell midden claim is contradicted [by ESI's own report and "ridiculous," sayid Dr. Kenneth Sassaman (noting that the word "shell" does not appear in ESI’s report).

Dr. Sassaman told me in 2006 that the long bones found in the 306 square meter rise on the property and surviving long bone fragments in sand are consistent with an Indian burial site for an honored tribal member (chief, shaman, lineage head or elder). This fact must now trigger laws protecting human remains and may explain why a park was deeded to the City.

Dr. Sassaman said in 2006 that further study is required. "I wonder why they didn’t investigate that rise a bit more -- it could be human ... it’s a business -- there are constraints upon how {ESI] operate[s]."

If funding is available, UF may send graduate students to investigate, Dr. Sassaman said in 2006. It needs to happen. Now.

In 2006, Dr. Sassaman said what [ESI] recommended triggers the next step, which will include controlled test pitting and mapping, examination of layering, identification of other features present -- like pits, post holes, houses and mortuary remains. Dr. Sassaman said that if the work was for a wetlands permit, the developer just can’t stop work. The new work will help the state determine what mitigation is required.

In 2006, City Archeologist Carl Halbirt told me that, outside the ordinary course of business, he was never provided the ESI report by the City Planning and Zoning Department, of which his office is a part. Halbirt said then that the Indian village was known 20 years ago, but that there has still not been a thorough archeological investigation of artifacts that range in age from "4000 years ago to roughly 1000 years ago."

As I wrote in 2006, "Florida's Republican Governor Jeb Bush and Legislature starved archeological and historical agencies for funds. In today's political climate, historic Indian villages can easily be obliterated by developers."

"That happens quite often," then state archeologist Andrea White told me in 2006. Ms. White is now our St. Augustine City Archaeologist.

Compared to construction, paving over a site is often "the best thing you can do," Ms. White said in 2006. Limited imaginations sometimes confound, confine and cabin government officials’ options -- few think outside the box in the system in which they have worked for so long.

Of course, even the ESI report suggests that there are third and fourth options -- listing on the National Register of Historic Places and protection by the National Park Service (NPS) -- as was done with the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (1924) and NaNa (2004). NaNa is an ancient 60 foot sand dune in American Beach. NaNa was added to the NPS’ Timucuan Preserve under legislation sponsored by Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla) and supported by the late African- American activist MaVynee Betsch (the "Beach Lady"), preserving part of the traditionally African-American vacation community encroached upon by developers of Amelia Island Plantation.

The U.S. Government, State of Florida or City of St. Augustine may legally use eminent domain for public purposes. In 2005, St. Augustine Historical Architecture Review Board (HARB) Chair Dana Ste. Clair proposed using eminent domain in a case where a landowner wanted to raze an historic home on Marine Street.

In 2006, Mayor George Gardner told me and CP that the City's January 9, 2006 approval of a Planned Unit Development could be reconsidered, but that only one of the City Commissioners who voted in favor of it could make the motion under Roberts' Rules of Order. Mayor Gardner said, "Our city is all about history and we are all very sensitive to any archeological site" and that such sites help "to fill in the blanks in our history." He said he was "confident that staff archeologist Carl Halbirt" now "will do it the right way... I appreciate that you were able to pick up on this and bring it to his attention... it might not have occurred otherwise... as with most laws and regulations, enforcement depends on us as residents of the area to make officials aware when these things occur... to make sure
the right thing is done."

On January 9, 2006, NO public speaker supported the project and six were opposed (including Diane Mills, Debra Andrews, David Thundershield Queen and this writer).

David Thundershield Queen
1952-2009

Attorney Debra Andrews represented neighbor Diane Mills, an adjoining resident who opposed the development. Attorney George McClure (Rogers Towers) represented Graubard.  My efforts to obtain comment from Graubard, Andrews and McClure were unsuccessful.  Andrews seemed ineffectual at the hearing, and she did not pursue an appeal.  Sad.

Ms. Andrews’ and citizens’ videotape and photographs were unshared with the television audience (for "technical" reasons, the City staff claimed). This is flummery.

The city's pro-developer procedures -- in 2006 and in 2018 -- were neither fair nor balanced.

The process is Kabuki theater.  It generates more heat than light.

The developers nearly always win.McClure in particular has been blasted by then Folio Weekly Editor Anne Schindler (now with First Coast News). for threatening even less desirable uses of land to get his client’s way.

Pro-developer government lawyers and other public officials cave in at the slightest threat of developer litigation, while rarely rejecting proposals outright and rarely negotiating with any firmness.

Developer attorneys are unsworn and permitted the last word. Citizen time is artificially limited. Citizen questions and concerns are unanswered.

Developers are in control. In 2006, they were destroying the character of the Ancient City daily, moving faster than a speeding dump truck.  Twelve years later, they're still doing it.

Sometimes a lot gets missed -- seaside splendor and historic structures. In 2006, the Ancient City’s Commissioners failed to protect a six acre wetland and a 4000 year old Indian village and possible burial site of a tribal chief or elder.

Asked to reconsider at their January 23, 2009 meeting, the City Commissioners did not ask a single question or make any comments or make any motions or take any vote.

Then in 2009, 2010 and 2016, ROGERS TOWERS obtained several PUD amendments for its successive speculator clients. On one of them, then-Director MARK ALAN KNIGHT of the Planning and Building Department claimed in a memo that it passed the Planning and Zoning Board by 3-3 vote.  Actually, under Robert's Rules of Order, a tie vote is a rejection.  (Ordinances 2009-12, 2010-28 and 2016-14).

In his memo, MARK KNIGHT misrepresented the tie vote as passage, and no one caught it.

Likewise, MARK KNIGHT's understudy and successor, DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM, has misrepresented tie votes as a "technical denial."  No, a tie vote is a denial.  St. Johns River Water Management District lawyers likewise misrepresented a tie vote on Holmes Blvd Extended as supportive, when a later letter confirmed that SJRWMD goes by Robert's Rules0.

An ugly strip mall was built at the front of the property, but no condos were ever built.  This was at a time when The New York Times reported there were 500,000 unoccupied condos in Florida.  Speculators failed.

Later PUDs for Red House Bluff rubber-stamped by incurious Commissioners were for hundreds of beds in assisted living and nursing home complex.

Speculators failed again.   Except for the strip mall, the site remained unimproved.

The PUD expired.   The park requirement went away.  At an earlier meeting, only one Commissioner, historic preservationist Nancy Sikes-Kline, seemed to care about losing our park.

Mayor Shaver  seemed to think we have enough parks.  No, we don't, Mayor.

Commissioner Roxanne Horvath seemingly salivated at the prospect of $50,000 from the developer.

Then on February 12, 2018, Lincoln's Birthday, NO ONE voted against RODERS TOWERS and its new client, a smallish bank,  COASTAL BANKING COMPANY(CBC), which acquired the property in foreclosure.

Our City government is woefully inept and has delusions of adequacy when. it comes to negotiations with large organizations, whether franchisees, vendors or history-destroying, wetland-destroying clear-cutting "developers," or COASTAL BANKING COMPANY (CBC), owner of Red House Bluff.

The hopelessly provincial itty-bitty city government has a wretched record.

The City of St. Augustine is a lickspittle for anyone with money or perceived power.

It's record is of bowing and scraping before anyone with money (whether borrowed, stolen or leveraged) whether Florida Power & Light, Old Town Trolley/Historic Tours of America, Comcast, Flagler College or the Who's Who of international business and organized crime investing in St. Augustine real estate.

So it came to pass that on Lincoln's Birthday, February 12, 2018, another date that will live in infamy, four Commissioners voted 4-0 to pass on first reading three ordinances on Red House Bluff, without adequate research, without questions being answered, and without sufficient facts to justify decisions.  (Commissioner TODD NEVILLE's absence excused; he was absent due to influenza).

ROGERS TOWERS partner ELLEN AVERY SMITH (right) 
(with "The Collector" Hotel Owner, dodgy lawyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, center 
and fired former Planning and Building Director MARK ALAN KNIGHT, left)
ELLEN AVERY SMITH
Florida Bar No. 122874
Rogers Towers, P.A.
100 Whetstone Pl Ste 200
St Augustine, FL 32086-5775
Office: 904-824-0879
Fax: 904-825-4070
Email:
eaverysmith@rtlaw.com

So in 2018, ROGERS TOWERS and the CBC bank wanted ESI to be involved AGAIN.   Despite ESI's shoddy work, and the fact that ESI is a ROGERS TOWERS client, ELLEN AVERY SMITH wants it to "update" its prior shoddy work.  SMITH was ethically-challenged lawyer GEORGE McCLURE's understudy 

In fact, her ROGERS' TOWERS initial draft of the Future Land Use Map amendment (proposed Ordinance 2018-2) actually said that ESI and the City Archaeologist would "jointly" decide on how much land goes into conservation easement with St. Johns River Water Management District (which sometimes hires ESI and apparently has no archaeologist of its own).  That provision was deleted.   Commission did not postpone discussion until another meeting, instead allowing ELLEN AVERY SMITH to fiddle with the draft while Commissioners discussed another item (residential parking).

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, INC. (ESI) is a ROGERS TOWERS client.

COASTAL BANKING COMPANY (CBC) is a ROGERS TOWERS client.

Yet another conflict of interest?

Some of ROGERS TOWERS retainer agreements (like the one submitted to the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County by ELLEN AVERY SMITH) provide that each ROGERS TOWERS client waives all conflicts of interest with all other clients, known and unknown, present and future.

ROGERS TOWERS, like the American Petroleum Institute was described by Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold, appears to be "the switchboard of the controlling companies."

How can we expect independent archaeological investigations from ESI, a ROGERS TOWERS client?

At the Lincoln's Birthday meeting, no one followed my suggestion of inviting the University of Florida to partner with the City in exploring the archaeology of Red House Bluff.  Wonder why?

When convenient, the City "partners" with UF.

When a bank wants to coverup bad decisions, it runs and hides.

Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

BOTTOM LINE: Our City's archaeology is endangered  by speculators, bankers, corporate lawyers, supine City staff and somnambulistic City Commission.  

On a day when the City's highest award (La Florida Award) was bestowed upon our esteemed retired City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt, City Commissioners were stunningly inept in dealing with archaeology.   

Our new City Archaeologist, Andrea White, was in Louisiana for Mardi Gras).  No one moved to table the motions until she could be present and answer questions.  Thus, ROGERS TOWERS monopolized the discussion, and public discussion was kept to a minimum, as it has on this priceless archaeological treasure since 1999, nearly 20 years.

Longtime City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt (1990-2017), 
with Andrea White, new City Archaeologist, hired in 2017.  

Ms. White was in Louisiana for Mardi Gras when the future of Red House Bluff was ineptly discussed on February 12, 2018.

Enough.

As the character "Josh Liman" said on The West Wing, "We get to overthrow the government every two years."

During the meeting recess, Ms. Kalaidi shared dissatisfaction with Commission, yelling at me and saying that "everybody knows" I am "Mayor Shaver's boy."  No, Ms. Kalaidi, I am "Nobodys boy."

If our St. Augustine Mayor and Commissioners won't protect our history, why elect any of them to anything?

And if The St. Augustine Record won't report the news, why trust it?  

NOTHING appeared in the Record's story about the meeting, though Record reporter Sheldon Gardner attended, typing copious notes.   Six days later, the Record printed a mere 96 words:

• Commissioners moved a few ordinances to second reading that will assign land use, zoning and archaeological zone designations to the former Whispering Creek proposed development on Lewis Speedway north of St. Augustine High School. The site includes Native American artifacts. The development did not come to fruition and is now in the hands of a bank. The agreements provide for protection of the artifacts and an updated study of the site to see if more protection is needed – an archaeological investigation was finished in 2003. The ordinances will come back to the commission for further review.

As photojournalist J.D. Pleasant told me in 2005, "If you want something covered up in St. Augustine, tell the Record!)

Watch meeting video here:

8. Ordinances and Resolutions - Public Hearing Required. 
Ordinances - First Reading. 
8.A.1.Ordinance 2018-02: Assigns the Residential Medium Density/Mixed Use designation and amends the future land use map for approximately 13.6 acres to the parcel known as PID #102820 0009 as more fully described in the legal description attached. (D. Birchim, Director, Planning and Building).

Ordinances - Second Reading.

9. Ordinances and Resolutions - No Public Hearing Required. 

A. Ordinances – First Reading. 

1. 9.A.1.  Ordinance 2018-03: Rezones approximately 13.6 acres from Planned Unit Development (PUD) to Residential General office (RGO) for the parcel known as PID #102820 0009 as more fully described in the legal description attached. (D. Birchim, Director, Planning and Building). 
2. 9.A.2.  Ordinance 2018-04: Creates a new Archaeology Zone III-E for the parcel known as PID #102820 0009 as more fully described in the legal description attached. (D. Birchim, Director, Planning and Building)

Ironically, the owner of the property is not even a big bank.  It has less than one billion dollars in assets.

Here is Coastal Banking Corporation's Ethics Policy:

Coastal Banking Company Ethics and Business Conduct Policy
General
The people of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates believe that honesty and integrity are at the foundation of our business and all of its activities. Business without this ethical foundation is not the kind of business we want to be in. Business with this ethical foundation improves and strengthens all that we do.
Our business philosophy is built on the application of honesty and integrity by our directors, officers, and employees in all that we do. This Ethics and Business Conduct Policy is intended to communicate and reaffirm these principles to our directors,officers,employees,and other interestedparties. It governsthe actions of Coastal Banking Company, its affiliates, directors, officers, and employees including the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief AuditExecutive,andanyotherpersonsperformingsimilarfunctions. ThisEthics and Business Conduct Policy also governs relationships with current and potential customers, consumers, fellow employees, competitors, government and regulatory agencies, the media, and anyone else with whom Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates has contact. All of these relationships are essential to the continued success of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates as a leading financial services company.
Ethics and Business Conduct Policy:

• Requires the highest standards for honest and ethical conduct, including proper and ethical procedures for dealing with actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships.
  
• Requires full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in the periodic reports required to be filed by Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates with governmental and regulatory agencies.
  
• Requires compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
  
• Addresses potential or apparent conflicts of interest and provides guidance
  for directors, officers, and employees to promptly communicate those conflicts
  to Coastal Banking Company.
  
• Addresses misuse or misapplication of property and corporate opportunities
  of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates.
  
• Requires the highest level of confidentiality and fair dealing .
  
• Requires reporting any illegal behavior.
  

Conflicts of Interest
A “conflict of interest” occurs when your personal inte rests interfere or appear to interfere in any way with the interests of Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates. You are expected to avoid all situations that might lead to a material conflict between your self-interest and your duties and responsibilities as an employee, officer, or director of Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates. Any position or interest, financial or otherwise, which could materially conflict with your performance as an employee, officer, or director of Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates would be considered a conflict of interest. Additionally, any position or interest, which affects or could reasonably be expected to affect your independence or judgment concerning transactions between Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates, customers, suppliers or competitors, or otherwise reflect negatively on Coastal Banking Company would be considered a conflict of interest.
Confidentiality
Any nonpublic information of Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates, employees,customers,andsuppliersisconfidential. AsaCoastalBanking Company director, officer, or employee, you are trusted with confidential information. You are to use such confidential information for the business purpose intended. You are not to share confidential information with anyone outside of Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates, including family and friends, or with other employees who do not need the information to carry out their duties. You may be required to sign a specific confidentiality agreement in the courseofyouremploymentwithCoastalBankingCompanyoritsaffiliates. You remain under an obligation to keep all information confidential even if your employment with Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates ends.
Public and media communications involving Coastal Banking Company must have prior approval by the CEO of Coastal Banking Company
Corporate Opportunities
Using confidential information about Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, customers, consumers, or suppliers for personal benefit or disclosing such information to others outside your normal duties is prohibited.
Title 18 U.S. Code, Section 215, makes it a criminal offense for any Coastal Banking Company or affiliate employee to corruptly solicit for himself or herself or for a third party anything of value from anyone in return for any business, service or confidential information of Coastal Banking Company; or accept anything of value (other than normal authorized compensation) from anyone in connection with the business of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates, either before or after a transaction is discussed or consummated.

Directors, officers, and employees are prohibited from the following, except as otherwise outlined:

• Personally benefiting from opportunities that are discovered through the use
  of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates’ property, contacts, information,
  or position.
  
• Accepting employment or engaging in a business (including consulting or
  similar arrangements) that may conflict with the performance of your duties or
  Coastal Banking Company’s or its affiliates’ interests.
  
• Soliciting, demanding, accepting, or agreeing to accept anything of value from
  any person in conjunction with the performance of your employment or duties
  at Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates.
  
• Acting on behalf of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates in any
  transaction in which you or yo ur immediate family has a significant direct or indirect financial interest.
  Receiving Gifts - There are certain limited situations in which you may accept a personal benefit from someone with whom you transact business, such as:
  

• You may accept a gift of nominal value, such as an advertising novelty, when
  it is customarily offered to others having a similar relationship with the customer or supplier. If you have any doubt about a particular situation, you should consult your manager.
  
• You may not accept a gift which has more than a nominal value or which is not customarily offered to others. You may not accept money. If either arrivesatyourhomeoroffice,tellyourmanagerimmediately. Appropriate arrangements will be made to return or dispose of what has been received, and the supplier or customer will be reminded or informed of Coastal Banking Company’s gift policy.
  
• You may accept a gift of value if the benefit is available to the general pub lic under the same conditions that are available to you
  Giving Gifts – There are certain limited situations in which you may give gifts.
  

• You may not give money or any gift to an executive, official, or employee of any supplier, customer, or any other organization if doing so would influence or could reasonably give the appearance of influencing the organization’s relationshipwithCoastalBankingCompanyoritsaffiliates. Youmay, however, provide a gift of nominal value--such as a Coastal Banking Company or affiliate advertising novelty--if it is not prohibited by law or the customers’ known business practices.
  
• Gifts from officers, employees, or directors to other officers, employees, or directors of Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates may be given when such gifts do not appear to divide the loyalty of the individual receiving the gifts or do not require reporting to the IRS under current demimus rules. Such gifts must be pre-approved by the CEO of the Coastal
  Banking Company affiliate.
  

With management approval, you may give or accept customary business amenities, such as meals and entertainment, provided the expenses involved are kept at a reasonable level and are not prohibited by law or known customer businesspractices. Suppliers,includingCoastalBankingCompanyand affiliates, frequently find it appropriate to provide educational and executive briefings for customers. It is appropriate to provide or accept some services in connection with this type of activity, such as transportation, food, and lodging, if you have management approval.
Insider Trading
It is both unethical and illegal to buy, sell, trade, or otherwise participate in transactions involving Coastal Banking Company common stock or other securities while in possession of material information concerning Coastal Banking Company that has not been released to the general public, but which when released may have an impact on the market price of Coastal Banking Company common stock. It is also unethical and illegal to buy, sell, trade or otherwise participate in transactions involving the common stock or other securities of any other company while in possession of similar non-public materialinformationconcerningsuchcompany. Anyquestionsconcerningthe propriety of participating in a Coastal Banking Company or other company stock transaction should be directed to the CFO of Coastal Banking Company.
Extensions of Credit and Personal Transactions
Coastal Banking Company may extend credit to any executive officer, director, or principal shareholder of Coastal Banking Company only on substantially the same terms as those prevailing for comparable transactions with other persons or that may be available to bank employees generally as permitted by and in accordance with Regulation O of the board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. All directors, officers, and employees are expected to demonstrate the ability to properly manage their personal finances, particularly the use of credit.
Personal transactions are to be performed at arms length only and in such a manner that any similar customer transaction would be performed. Directors, officers, or employees are expressly prohibited from posting any transaction on their own accounts.
Outside Business Relationships
Before agreeing to act as a director, officer, consultant, or advisor for any other business organization, you must contact your immediate supervisor for guidance.
Directors must disclose all new directorships or potential directorships to the Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors in order to avoid any conflicts of interest and to maintain independence.

Coastal Banking Company encourages civic, charitable, educational, and political activities as long as they do not interfere with the performance of your duties at Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates. Before agreeing to participate in any civic, charitable, educational, and political activities you must contact your immediate supervisor for guidance.
Employees who are considering outside employment must contact your immediate supervisor for guidance. Employees in some positions of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates are prohibited by law from holding outside employment. Managers will review outside employment requests for personal conflicts of interest.
Fair Dealing
Each director, officer and employee should undertake to deal fairly with Coastal Banking Company’s and affiliates’ customers, suppliers, competitors, and employees. Additionally, no one should take advantage of another through manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information, misrepresentation of material facts, or any other unfair-dealing practices.
Employees must disclose prior to or at their time of hire the existence of any employment agreement, non-compete or non-solicitation agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar agreement with a former employer that in any way restricts or prohibits the performance of any duties or responsibilities of their positions with Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates. Copies of such agreements should be provided to the CEO of the affiliate to permit evaluation of the agreement in light of the employee’s position. In no event shall an employee use any trade secrets, proprietary information or other similar property, acquired in the course of his or her employment with ano ther employer, in the performance of his or her duties for or on behalf of Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates.
Employees may serve as fiduciaries for members of their own families. With respect to any other person, employees may not seek or accept appointment to any fiduciary or co-fiduciary position without the written approval from the CEO of the affiliate. Due to the danger of customer misunderstandings, potential liability to Coastal Banking Company, its affiliates, or its employees, and inherent conflicts of interest, such approval will not normally be given.
Employees should not directly or indirectly accept bequests under a will or trust if such bequests have been made to them because of their employment with Coastal Banking Company or its affiliates.

Protection and Proper use of Coastal Banking Company Property
All directors, officers, and employees should protect Coastal Banking Company’s properties and assets and ensure their efficient and proper use. Theft, carelessness and waste can directly impact Coastal Banking Company’s profitability, reputation and success. Permitting Coastal Banking Company or affiliate property (including data transmitted or stored electronically and computer resources) to be damaged, lost, or used in an unauthorized manner is strictly prohibited. Directors, officers, and employees may not use corporate, affiliate, or other official stationery for personal purposes.
Compliance with Laws, Rules and Regulations
This Ethics and Business Conduct Policy is based on Coastal Banking Company’s policy that all directors, officers, and employees of all affiliates comply with the laws and regulations governing banking and corporate activities. These laws and regulations include, but are not limited to those of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve, FDIC, Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations, and other laws and regulations pertaining to bank holding companies.
While laws and regulations prescribe minimum standards of conduct, this Ethics and Business Conduct Policy requires conduct that may exceed the legal standard.
Reporting of Illegal or Unethical Behavior
This provision implements the complaint handling provisions of the Sarbanes/Oxley Act of 2002. Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates recognize that customers must have faith and confidence in the honesty and characterofitsdirectors,officersandemployees. Inadditiontotheimportance of maintaining customer confidence, there are specific laws that outline the actions Coastal Banking Company must take regarding any known, or suspected,crimeinvolvingtheaffairsofCoastalBankingCompany. Withregard to financial affairs, a bank must make a criminal referral in the case of any known, or suspected, theft, embezzlement, check/debit card kiting, misapplication or other defalcation involving bank funds or bank personnel in any amount.
Fraud is an element of business that can significantly affect the reputation and successofCoastalBankingCompany. CoastalBankingCompanyandits affiliates require its directors, officers, and employees to talk to supervisors, managers, or other appropriate personnel to report or discuss any known or suspected criminal activity involving Coastal Banking Company, affiliates, or their employees.

If, during the course of employment, you become aware of any suspicious activity or behavior including questionable accounting or auditing matters, you must report violations of laws, rules, regulations or this Ethics and Business Conduct Policy to EthicsPoint at 866-297-0224.
Reporting the activity will not subject the employee to discipline absent a knowingly false report. All calls to the Hotline are anonymous and confidential and will be reviewed by the Board of Directors.
Administration and Waiver of Ethics and Business Conduct Policy
All managers are responsible for promptly reviewing this Ethics and Business Conduct Policy with their subordinates each time a new revision of the Ethics and Business Conduct Policy is published and with each new employee on the first day they report for work. The Ethics and Business Conduct Policy is also available on the Coastal Banking Company web site at www.coastalbanking.com
Managers are responsible for obtaining a signed certificate from each new officer and employee ensuring the officer and employee has received, read, and understoodtheEthicsandBusinessConductPolicyandwillcomplywithit. In addition, Audit and Compliance is responsible for annually reaffirming this Ethics and Business Conduct Policy with all directors, officers, and employees by obtaining a signed certificate that each director, officer, and employee has received, read, and understood the Ethics and Business Conduct Policy and will comply with it. The signed certificate is a condition of continued service and employment. The provisions of the Ethics and Business Conduct Policy are included in the Coastal Banking Company Employee Handbook.
Directors, officers, and employees of Coastal Banking Company and its affiliates are expected to follow this Ethics and Business Conduct Policy at all times. Generally, there should be no waivers to this Ethics and Business Conduct Policy; however, in rare circumstances conflicts may arise that necessitate waivers. Waivers will only be considered by the independent members of the Board of Directors of Coastal Banking Company. Any waiver and the grounds for such waiver by directors or executive officers shall be promptly disclosed to stockholders in the Coastal Banking Company’s annual proxy statement.
Known or suspected violations of this Ethics and Business Conduct Policy will be investigated and may result in disciplinary action up to and including immediate terminationofemployment. ThispolicywillbeavailabletothepubliconCoastal Banking Company’s official website.
Approved March 17, 2005

Thomas Flournoy

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, 

Coastal Banking Corporation

1891 South 14th Street

Fernandina Beach, Florida 32034

36 Sea Island Parkway

Beaufort, S.C. 29907

904-221-2917

904-321-5617 (fax)

tom.flournoy@cbcnationalbank.com

Reuters reports Coastal Banking Corporation's leadership:

CBCO.PK on OTC Markets Group

21.20USD
16 Feb 2018

Change (% chg)

$0.00 (+0.00%)

Prev Close
$21.20

Open
$21.20

Day's High
$21.20

Day's Low
$21.20

Volume
600

Avg. Vol
12,394

52-wk High
$21.20

52-wk Low
$15.99

SUMMARY

Name	Age	Since	Current Position
Michael Sanchez	63	2016	Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer of the Company and Bank
Charles Wagner	42	2016	President, Director
Ladson Howell	69	2016	Lead Independent Vice Chairman of the Board
Thomas Flournoy	59	2016	Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
William Horn	62	2011	President - Banking Division and Executive Vice President of CBC National Bank
Brynn Stensrud		2015	Executive Vice President
John Adams	53	2017	Director
Christina Bryan	67	2005	Independent Director
Mark Heles	62	2008	Independent Director
James Holden	52	1999	Independent Director
Robert Pinkerton	70	1999	Independent Director
Edward Wilson	60	2005	Independent Director
Marshall Wood	65	2007	Independent Director

»