Former Fernandina Beach Commissioner Arlene Filkoff’s Farewell Address

Retiring Fernandina Beach City Commissioner Arlene Filkoff left office last night, December 17, 2013.  She took the unusual step of delivering a farewell speech before leaving her seat to her successor, Johnny Miller.  The Fernandina Observer joins many other community voices in thanking former commissioner Filkoff for her three years of service which also included a term as mayor.  Her parting words appear below.

THOUGHTS ON LEAVING OFFICE

I thought a long time about what I wanted to say tonight.  I also heard from many others about what I should say tonight.  I couldn’t say some of those things.  I hope that what I’ve decided to say resonates with at least some of you.

The first thing I want to do is thank the City staff for all of your hard work and dedication in a goldfish environment.  I only thought I knew how difficult it must be to do your job.  I have a much greater appreciation for that now.  As a citizen, I feel extremely comfortable that you all have my best interest at heart and I leave office with much more admiration than I had before.

When we run for office, we always think we know what the issues are and what we would do about it.  Then, if we truly want to be of service to the public, we take the time to get the facts and we make decisions based on those facts, not on what someone who helped elect us wants us to do.

If we ignore the facts based on political philosophy, then we don’t deserve the honor of serving the public.  It is our responsibility to reach out to the public to inform them of the facts.  And if they won’t listen, we still need to make the most informed decisions, even if it means we aren’t re-elected.  Otherwise, we make the good old boy form of government a reality.  Like when we ignore time-honored tradition because other politicians tell us to do so.  Or when we don’t take the time to educate ourselves before we vote to satisfy a campaign promise that we made without knowing the facts.  Or when we choose to participate in public humiliation of colleagues or staff because that’s easier than making well thought out decisions.

It falls heavily on the commission to make the best decisions for all or as many as possible.  Always with the future in mind.  We need to spend a lot more time talking about what we want than we spend talking about what we don’t want or redoing what’s been done.  Our taxpayers want to believe that money is being spent productively, not thrown away to satisfy political agendas.  They don’t want to hear that we waste as much as 150 thousand dollars on work done by a prior commission just because some don’t like the project; and then quibble about paying to clean up the trash after our City’s signature event.

The place we live in is a wonderful place due 100% to those who came before us, not us.  Commissioners have to think about those who come next and next and next when we make decisions.  That job isn’t anyone else’s, just the commission’s.  Your friends will not always understand it and they might even refuse to take your calls.  They gave you the job.  They didn’t choose to do it themselves for a reason.  I wish the commission  a future of sound, informed decision making and I wish the community a government it deserves.