The country may have to wait two more months to swear in a new leader, but not the county. It’s change in leadership occurs this week.
On Nov. 18 St. Johns County Commissioners-elect Ken Bryan and Mark Miner will be sworn in and the new Commission will hold its reorganization meeting.
What should the county expect from its two new commissioners?
"We have a lot of work ahead of us," said Bryan. "Everyone is on board and working together."
Bryan said his plans are to get a good commission staffed so the whole community is covered with representation from the board. He wants to work on funding issues and making sure the commission can address them, which he said was going to be a tremendous challenge.
Miner said he felt the commission really needs to work on creating new revenue for the county.
"We need to focus on doing what we can for job creating and well planned community growth," he said.
Miner thinks the commission should reevaluate its processes regarding commercial growth, particularly impact fees for commercial developers.
"We need to look at how we are doing things in St. Johns County and compare it to other counties," he said.
He also hopes to see more consensus building between the commission and the Cultural Council, the Council on Aging, and the Airport Authority.
"We have a lot of different entities here," said Miner. "They should come together to work on common issues."
Bryan said in the week following the reorganization meeting he plans on starting a citizens advisory council — a bi-monthly opportunity for citizens to talk to him to find out what is going on with the commission.
"It’s not going to be a griping session," said Bryan. "It will be a beneficial meeting where citizens have direct access to a commissioner."
Bryan and Miner have different opinions about whether Gov. Charlie Crist should fill indicted former commission chair Tom Manuel’s District 4 seat.
"I hope that the governor makes a move on that," Miner said. "Ponte Vedra deserves to be represented."
Bryan said it is very early in the investigation and the governor should leave the situation as it is.
"Everyone will be covered and any issues they have will be addressed," he said. "My district butts up to District 4 and I have put the word out that to community groups to let them know that I will be available whenever they need."
Bryan said he spoke with Miner at Veteran’s Day celebrations earlier this week and both are looking forward to serving on the board.
