Eight years later and the City of Fernandina Beach today faces the exact same problems that confronted city officials back in 2015. In fact, all executive search firm Colin Baenziger needs to do is tweak the 2015 brochure and it would be ready to go to recruit the next city manager.
The top issues in 2015? See if these sound familar.
First and foremost, a divide in terms of goals and expectations exists between the City’s progressive and conservative residents. The latter are concerned about change – they see the growth in tourism and wonder what the benefit to them is. The former want to preserve and build on Fernandina Beach’s heritage and culture and bring new life to the City. In particular, some feel the City has been overly focused on the historic downtown area while the others see it as the critical piece that, if properly handled, will generate prosperity for the entire City. The differences have sometimes also manifest themselves in the desire for new development and for funding of projects.
The second challenge is a manifestation of the first and that is finishing the City’s waterfront. It has been discussed for 20 years and there is general agreement that it needs to be done. Differences exist, however, on how to proceed, and how to fund it.
The third challenge is infrastructure generally and stormwater in particular. The City needs to spend approximately $17 million to refurbish and upgrade the stormwater system. Again, there is general agreement that the work needs to be done. The question is, should the City wait and utilize a pay as you go strategy or bond the debt and fix the system. A number of the City’s buildings also need to be refurbished.
Then there's this kicker about the city's relationship with the county.
The City also hopes to improve its relationship with the County and to partner with it to optimize the use of resources. For example, the Fire Departments from both jurisdictions serve portions of Amelia Island and they do work together. Presently each department has a ladder truck stationed on the Island. These trucks are old and will need to be replaced. Further, very
few locations on the Island would require a ladder truck if a fire were to break out. Perhaps the departments could share a ladder truck instead of both investing, upwards of $1,000,000+ in new trucks.
The entire 2015 is available below to download.
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