Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
If you blinked, you missed it.
In what proved to be an overly optimistic scenario in which one of the four candidates running for Seat 1 on the Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) would have won better than 50% of the votes cast in Tuesday’s election, the FBCC advertised its annual reorganization meeting for the next day, Wednesday, November 6, 2013. By the time it became apparent that a new commissioner could not be seated quickly, both because of the need for a runoff election and official certification of the election results, it was too late to provide adequate public notice to cancel the advertised meeting.
So, in what was probably the shortest FBCC meeting in history, Mayor Sarah Pelican called the meeting to order, City Clerk Pro Tem Kim Briley called the roll, the mayor led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance, and Commissioner Pat Gass delivered an invocation. Mayor Pelican announced that the reorganization would be postponed until the December 17, 2013 meeting, the last regular FBCC meeting of the year. She adjourned the meeting.
The total time elapsed was less than 5 minutes, probably closer to 2 minutes.
November 7, 2013 10:47 a.m.