Weekly comments from Dale Martin

Dale Martin
City Manager
Fernandina Beach
September 2, 2016 1:00 a.m.

Let me conclude my summary of training at the recent Florida League of Cities (FLC) Conference, held in Hollywood, Florida from Aug 18-20. This annual conference provides training, educational, and networking opportunities for local government officials. According to FLC officials, approximately one thousand municipal officials participate at the annual conference.

Following the lengthy session related to ethics, open meetings, and public records, my next workshop was oriented to newly elected or appointed officials. The session was a primer of Florida government, from the municipal level to the state level. After serving as a municipal official for approximately twenty years, it was still enlightening to learn of key differences in Florida from the states in which I previously served. With no county government, partisan local elections, and New England town meetings and referendums, local government in Connecticut (where I came from) has pretty much nothing in common with Florida; Michigan, where I spent my career prior to my five years in Connecticut, has very similarly structured local governments.

Off topic to a small degree, this introductory session reminded me of the value of a former project, a Citizens Academy. I developed this short series of classes to introduce local residents to the organization and function of local government, since, for a variety of purposes, local government is not widely taught to students (children or adults). For each class session, I had a department director review the function and operations of the department: the City Treasurer described the budget, the City Clerk reviewed records and voter registration, the Public Works Director showcased water and wastewater operations, and so on. At the conclusion of the sessions (about six or so), the title of “Citizen” was bestowed upon the graduates. Perhaps given a little more time, it might be interesting to revitalize such a program here.

The final session of the first day of the conference was an orientation to the conference itself- conference center layout, key personnel, training highlights, service opportunities, and FLC officials. After that session, I wandered through the vendor exhibits and surveyed possible services to assist the City- solid waste collection, engineers, benefits administration, lighting, heavy equipment, etc.

Friday started with a session again related to Florida’s Sunshine Laws. It appears that a movement is growing to amend the Sunshine Laws due to recurring cases of abuse, especially when seeking attorney fees. In many instances, the requests for information are not necessarily intended to obtain information, but to otherwise trigger a violation of the Sunshine Laws, resulting in a monetary penalty. While I have yet to experience such abusive efforts, I am still surprised by the sheer number of public records requests filed with the City (and the expectation that everything else is immediately dropped to fulfill such requests). The City Clerk’s staff deserves strong praise for their efforts to organize and complete those requests.

The first general session of the conference was opened with comments from Mayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando. He hauntingly recounted the traumatic events of the Pulse nightclub shooting on June 12. He shared with the other municipal officials key moments and sincere suggestions on how to handle a situation that he hoped no one else ever had to encounter. Mayor Dyer kept the hundreds of attendees somberly spellbound.

The first keynote speaker of the conference was Mr. Mark Halperin, an author, editor, journalist, and political commentator. He offered intriguing insights for the November election, doing a fair job of keeping to the middle of the road during his comments. Mr. Halperin was informative and actually pretty confident for the future of the country. A key facet of his comments was that no matter who wins the Presidency, the newly-elected President will have to work with Congress to accomplish any goals- meaning that Congress will likely serve as a meaningful balance to the victor in November.

A Friday afternoon session discussed the opportunities associated with the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program. This program, under formal consideration by the City Commission, allows energy improvements to be financed through an assessment on the property’s taxes. Several private providers support the program. The information provided during the session was not much different than what has been previously provided at City Commission meetings.

Other sessions during the conference discussed the recruitment of young people to government service, the formation of the Florida Constitutional commission, the role of the City Attorney, a relatively routine FLC business meeting, and two final speakers representing the National League of Cities and a vocal and, in her words, opinionated commentator.

I had the opportunity to sit casually and speak with several other officials from around the state. Most of those officials were familiar with Fernandina Beach for one reason or another. Since my familiarity with Florida cities is still somewhat challenged, it was very easy for me to ask about other communities.

The conference was educational and enjoyable. I hope that City Commissioners can participate in future conferences to gain a better understanding that things are never quite as bad as they seem when you learn of issues elsewhere in the state. Thank you for the opportunity to represent the City of Fernandina Beach.