Poynter states port position and offers final thoughts prior to runoff election – Corbett silent

For those who want Poynter to win, they have to do one simple thing—VOTE.
A run off election doesn’t always reflect the wishes of the community. It reflects the individuals who are interested enough to get their candidate voted in. Simply put, make that extra effort to VOTE and encourage all your friends to vote . The election is Dec 9th 7am to 7pm. You can also go to the Historic Court house ( 2nd fl ) and early vote as well as go to The James S Page Complex in Yulee. These two locations will give you a mail-in ballot that you can fill out and hand back to them. These locations will not be open for voting on Dec 9th. This is not considered “early voting” however. You will receive a mail-in ballot, fill it out and they will accept it.—-go figure, gotta love the City. If you are still on the fence, ask yourself—-are you happy with the way the City has been going? Just remember to vote. The next few years are going to be critical to our City. We need leadership. We need the local charities supported. We need to do something about the 30 year embarrassment of the waterfront. We need to stop talking and get of the dime and get some stuff done.

Tonight, the City Commission, in their infinite wisdom, voted 3-2 in favor of port expansion within the Historic District. Commissioners Corbett, Gass and Pelican voted in favor giving continued support to the port’s expansion. A second vote will take place most likely in January,2015. If you have strong feelings concerning the port “creep” that these Commissoners support, please vote in the runoff election this Tuesday, December 9th between Charlie Corbett and Tim Poynter. Mr. Pointer is a voice of reason and does not support, as does Mr. Corbett, port expansion into the Historic District. I urge everyone to consider this important issue and cast your vote accordingly.

Mark, just to clear something up. If anyone calls the City and asked about early voting they may be told ” there is no early voting “. This is technically correct. You can go to the Court House downtown or to the James S Page Complex in Yulee and they will give you a (mail in ) ballot that you can fill out and hand in right there. Hard to explain the difference between this method of voting and ” early ” voting but there is a lot of legal mumbo jumbo dealing with the wording. So to make it simple—you can ( and please do ) vote early at the Court House or in Yulee using a mail in ballot which they will provide you and than accept. Sounds crazy but this is how it works.

I think it my civic duty to point out that the Planning Advisory Board voted to approve the rezoning. Is anyone asking for the heads of those individuals?

I also think it is my civic duty to repost Charlie Corbett’s remarks concerning the the port, the firefighters union, his opponent in the upcoming, etc.

Charles Corbett‎Amelia -> Island Fernandina Beach Yulee Network
I have consistently read what I honestly believe in my heart, is biased journalism. Journalism, much like running government, is a messy business. This is undeniable. I follow the papers and the internet closely, and my choice to respond or not respond to publications, questionnaires and surveys is always a conscious decision made based on what I believe are the merits of the reporting quality of those publications. In pure form, un-biased journalism is a beautiful thing. It wields the power to expose truth to the public that they may otherwise never see.

It is very rare for me to write an editorial such as this one. I can honestly say my reluctance to do so is in very large part, a deep belief that the media doesn’t care to publish what I write anyway. Today, one more time, I will challenge this theory.

As the election draws to a close I have to tell you what I believe to be true. Whether you believe it or not is a decision you will have to make for yourselves. I will also circulate this on Facebook for everyone to see. As you are reading this you are seeing my piece. I don’t intend to debate with others, or debate on the merits of the choices I made as commissioner. I believe I have a strong record, and I stand by it.

I made choices that were not always popular. I campaigned on the promise to put at bay the massive debt that had been taken out by the city. I campaigned on traditional small government values, accountability, and I said I would shoot straight with you on what I think. Here are those thoughts:

1) The Port of Fernandina – My family has been here for decades. I grew up here. I have remembered and been part of the historic downtown Fernandina before many of you even knew this place existed. Everyone’s opinions and thoughts are important. In one form or another, the Port of Fernandina has been part of our small island’s culture and history since before Florida was part of the union. I believe that it is important for the Port of Fernandina, and its governing body, the Port Commission, to listen to what of all the people who live here have to say, not just a certain group of them. The port is part of Fernandina as much as American Beach or The Palace Saloon. We should continue to focus on responsible management of the Port. While the process to that place is not perfect, it must continue.

I received a very gracious thank you note from Faith Ross recently after meeting with her and others at the coffee shop where we spoke about the city’s finances, and the port. That letter is a matter of public record. I replied to her, and echoed the same statements as above. We need the Port and the citizens of the historic district to both have a spirit of cooperation in accomplishing what needs to be done to keep a correct balance between the port and the residents. I won’t always see eye to eye with everyone on how we accomplish this, but am confident we can accomplish it nonetheless.

2) Taxes and expenses – I have read pieces from certain published literature that referenced the raising of taxes. I’m going to give this to you in the numbers. In the fiscal year 2010/2011, when my opponent was commissioner, the tax rate increased +10.5. In fiscal year 2011/2012, it was raised +10.07.

My first year of commissioner, it has been published that taxes were raised +15.95, with my opponent being the no-vote. Well, if a politician voting to not raise taxes when he is up for re-election is a shock, you have been under a rock. He felt fine about tax increases the previous two years. It should be noted that despite the fact he voted no, the electorate saw the self-service of this and voted him out of office all the same.

Last year we adjusted the rate +3.3, and then in 2014 reduced taxes -2.2. This is the FIRST reduction in the past half-decade. This also coincides with the goal of having replenished the reserves depleted by previous commissioners during the forward-debacle. During the tenure of my opponent, the reserves were drained to below the state recommended minimum. In his previous election year my opponent also voted nay on raising the franchise fee, only to flip-flop on that position and vote in favor of raising the franchise fee later from 5.05 to +6.00. I voted not to raise the franchise fee.

What is also true is that I am not a fan of financing the future of Fernandina out to banks –despite that they transferred money between accounts, to give the impression of more uncommitted cash-flow, in order to secure this “historically low interest rate.” Historically, what wound up being the case, was that that commission took that money to have a slush fund, and had no concrete implementation to fulfill most of the construction projects that this money was supposed to finance.

The result? The result is that the money sat in an account untouched every month – except for the interest of approximately $20,000.00 we paid on our “historically low interest rate.” I’m not an anti-progress commissioner. Despite the fact that I took flack for it, I was the swing vote that supported actually using a small amount of this money, when appropriated the correct way, to fund the expansion of the Fernandina Beach library. Just some food for thought though to those of your still reading; If we had waited till the correct time to borrow what we ACTUALLY NEEDED, (money for the train depot and the library), we could have saved $20,000.00 (which despite a historically low interest rate – is a LOT of money), and most likely paid a lower origination fee for it.

Fiscal responsibility, and sound financial planning trump quick loans every time. While we’re on the subject of taxes, I’ve always wanted to address this seat tax business. My opponent may like to say he “paid all the taxes he was required to pay,” but that doesn’t change the fact that he practiced a double standard by making multiple claims about what type of restaurant he was to both local and state governments. First claiming your restaurant is a “take-out” and then claiming it is full service to get a 2COP beer and wine license is a double standard. They have a word for that. It’s called a lie. So as the current commission takes the heat and settles the impact-fee lawsuit, let us remember that fee was originally a brain child of my opponent himself. Further, it was one which he foxed his way out of paying. When we discuss taxes, not only did the base tax rate increase during his tenure significantly more than it has since I took office and we paid down the debt, he was largely responsible for the largest “fee” increase on businesses in the history of Fernandina Beach.

The Fire Union: First, let me say I have tremendous respect for first responders. It is one of the most difficult situations you can be in outside of military service. However, I’ve got to tell everyone I was pretty surprised when in October, the fire union (which had not officially endorsed at this time, though they did later), hosted a candidate meet and greet for my opponent and Ms. Lentz, while leaving both Commissioner Pelican, Roy G. Smith, and myself out. Further, this e-mail was sent from city e-mail, and as such at taxpayers’ time and expense. This is quite unusual, but not the first time the city fire department has shown a liking for Ex-Commissioner Poynter. During his previous tenure, he was the ONLY employee of the City of Fernandina Beach to use his job to get a discounted physical by taking advantage of a service offered to our local first responders. Now, I’ve heard rumors from members of the community that if Tim gets back into office, he’d like to take advantage of his office to call for dismissal of Joe Gerrity over the fire department incidents. Is that the price of endorsement perhaps? While I remind you that this is rumor, it is difficult to decide if this is the actual case.

In conclusion, the truth will set you free. I would be grateful for your support on December 9th, so I can continue to work to make Fernandina Beach once of the best places to live.

“Something in between” is what everyone wants. Most people in this city don’t have to imagine the smells of the working riverfront. Some people remember the fish processing plants where the shrimpers and commercial fishermen sold their catch. Some people remember the terrible smell of the Pogy Plant. Most reasonable people know that those two industries, along with the paper mills and our deep water harbor, are what made this island into what it is today. A lot of people, like myself, don’t want to see our nose cut off to spite our face. There has got to be a balance. I’m sure to the retiree crowd tourism seems like the best thing since sliced bread. Tourism is a cruel, cruel, mistress. Low wages. Seasonal work. No benefits. No retirement. No job security. It’s all rainbows and sunshine if you made your money else where and moved to Fernandina later in life so the money you’ve already made will go farther. But for those of us born and raised here, we have seen the passage of time and the loss of emphasis on the good paying jobs. We can’t all be real estate agents and t-shirt shop owners. Some of us don’t want to sacrifice 2-3 hours of our day in commute time to Jacksonville so we can afford to live on the island where we were born.
The Port doesn’t have a mind of it’s own. it doesn’t need a cage. It’s run by the elected officials on the OHPA. The Port is not going to turn into Chernobyl simply because two lots they already own are made available for parking or office space.
There has go to be a balance. The rising tide of tourism lifts most boats. You need the Pelicans and the Corbetts and the Gasses to balance out the interests of the wild eyed profiteers and the small town people of this community. The small town feel is one of the reasons people move here. Where is that going to come from if my generation gets priced out of our own hometown?
I’ll tell you what Mr Poynter thinks about that last bit; he thinks we should move and make way for the people with more money. That’s no vision for the future. that’s a vision for an investment portfolio.