Submitted by Evelyn C. McDonald
Volunteer Reporter
On Monday night, the County Commission approved the library Interlocal Agreement with the City of Fernandina by a vote of 4 to 1, after an extensive discussion of issues raised by Commissioner Kelley. Kelley and Commissioner Edwards were not at the previous meeting.
County attorney Hallman had sent three documents to each commissioner – a marked-up version of the Interlocal Agreement, that agreement with changes incorporated, and the proposed lease agreement. A copy of the contract between the City of Fernandina and Marand Builders, Inc., the selected contractor.
Commission Chairman Leeper asked for a motion to approve the agreement as presented and entertained public comment. After one citizen had questioned the costs, Commissioner Holloway asked that Bill Flynn provide information on the Friends of the Library commitment to the project. Flynn stated that the Friends had committed $400,000 to the project, which was to be put into an irrevocable escrow 15 days after the city signed the order to proceed to the contractor. He also said that the Friends were prepared to spend $300,000 additional for overruns, furnishings, and to cover the cost of shifting books during the construction.
Commissioner Leeper then said that he believed all questions had been answered. At that point, Commissioner Kelley said he had concerns. His first concern was that between the county and the city, only $1.2 million was available and the project was estimated to cost $1.5 million. He said he appreciated the Friends’ plan to fund the rest but pointed out that the county could not compel the Friends to live up to their offer. He was also concerned about cost overruns and said that there had already been one and he expected others. He said he did not want the county to be embarrassed by some financial problems in the future that might result for cost overruns and delays in completion which might force the county to contribute more money.
Kelley’s next issue was that Mr. Hallman’s email had included six items of concern, which he did not believe had been addressed in the Interlocal agreement. He mentioned one item – that there was no completion date for the project hence the contractor could take five years if he wanted. Mr. Flynn indicated that a date of 360 days had been specified in the city contract, which had been provided to the commissioners.
Commissioner Kelley said because of these concerns, he could not support signing the Interlocal Agreement. Commissioner Boatright asked Kelley if he was going to make a motion to pull his $300,000 from the project and move it to the general fund, effectively stopping the project. Kelley replied that when elected, he had promised to keep the money to support the library project and had no intention of reneging on his promise but that he felt the agreement was “incomplete.” Kelley recommended that the commission “slow down and do it right.” He suggested a meeting between the county officials and the city officials to resolve all of the issues.
Commissioner Leeper said he believed it had come down to a question of trust. He felt that the city commission and the Friends of the Library were in agreement and he trusted that they would fulfill their commitments.
Commissioner Edwards ask about the status of the six items mentioned by Commissioner Kelley. Attorney Hallman indicated that some were dealt with in the Interlocal agreement. Specifically, the city contract has been made part of the agreement so that the city cannot make a material change without the county’s approval. He said that the agreement states that this is not a joint project, and that the county has no responsibility except to provide $600,000. The city will cease to pay the county for the library (over $51,267 a year) once the library is complete. He further added that nothing in the agreement binds the county to continue to operate the library nor constrains it from relocating the library at some future date if needs dictate. The issue of furnishings will be taken care of by the Friends contribution. Edwards asked if it was clear that the county was paying no more than $600,000 and Hallman said that was correct.
Commissioner Kelley had one final issue. He questioned the legality of the agreement, specifically whether the county could pre-pay rent 20 years in advance. He asked if the Clerk of the Court had been asked for his opinion. Both Hallman and Leeper said that the information had been sent to the Clerk’s office over a week ago and so far there had been no response. Hallman said to his knowledge there was nothing prohibiting actions described in the agreement. Commissioner Kelley expressed reluctance to go ahead without the Clerk’s opinion.
Editor’s Note: Information received from Shannon Shaw, attorney for the Clerk of Courts rejects the charge that the Clerk did not respond. “Chairman Leeper and Commissioner Boatwright mistakenly stated that the Clerk’s Office did no respond to inquires by the Attorney as to the Clerk’s position on the proposed contract,” according to Shaw. An email string sent to the Fernandina Observer showed a response to County Attorney Hallman’s question as to whether the Clerk would agree to the originally 20 day payment term.
Commissioner Holloway then asked Dawn Bostwick, County Library Director, if she had statistics on usage at the Fernandina library. She said that over 31,000 library cards had been issued as of the end of last year. There were over 253,000 items in circulation during 2012. Holloway asked about traffic and she said that there were between 400 and 500 people a day using the library.
Commissioner Leeper then announced that he was turning the gavel over to Commissioner Holloway so that he could make a motion. He moved that the interlocal agreement and its attachments be approved. There being no further discussion the motion was approved with Commissioner Kelley voting no.
Editor’s Note: Evelyn C. McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach in the fall of 2006 from Maryland. She is a minority owner of a small management consulting company in Maryland. Although semi-retired, she continues to do work for the firm.
Evelyn serves on the Dean’s Leadership Council for the Carpenter Library at UNF, the Arts & Culture Nassau Council, the Amelia Island Book Festival Board, and the Curriculum Committee of the Center for Lifelong Learning.We thank Evelyn for her contribution to the Fernandina Observer.
November 5, 2013 3:51 p.m.
Thank you for this thorough coverage of the meeting — it is very helpful to know the discussion. I am glad the money is forthcoming. It has been a long road and I look forward to the wonderful library that will result for all of us.
Congrats to Bill Flynn, Dawn and FOL as well as Joe, Tammi and other City staffers that kept this moving forward. Seems Steve and Pat have a common family trait of never having enough time or having enough information to make a decision and things keep getting putting off. Glad to see this is moving forward.