Citizen calls for civility at FBCC meetings

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Reporter - News Analyst

Chris Bordnick addresses FBCC.

While it is not unusual to see members of the public rise to voice comments, criticism and critiques of proposed city actions at Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) meetings, it is quite unusual to see a member of the public rise to defend the commissioners, their motives and actions, when controversies arise. And yet that is exactly what Chris Bordnick did at the January 17, 2017 FBCC meeting.

Using his three minutes of allotted speaking time during public input, Bordnick said, “I’ve been to all these meetings, and I was surprised at the last meeting [the workshop on Centre Street improvements held on January 10, 2017, and covered by the Fernandina Observer]. Although I really appreciated the discourse and the public getting so involved in what’s going on in this community, my generation and the generation I came from was brought up a different way. You show respect for elected officials. You show respect for each other. When your time is up, you stop talking. You listen to the whole issue, instead of jumping the gun.

“I don’t believe that you are the Evil Empire, and this is Star Wars. I don’t believe that everything you bring up is to destroy this town. I believe that you took office to help this town. And people can jump up and down; they can yell and scream all they want. But change is going to come. It already has. This isn’t the 1800 Fernandina. It’s different now, and it will be.

“But unless people are willing to listen and discuss it openly instead of being a bunch of Facebook Warriors—over this horse issue, and this driving on the beach issue. And now they are off the agenda because of public pressure. Are you kidding me? Don’t tell me that driving on the beach doesn’t have environmental impact. And I am the most right wing conservative person there is. I am not an environmentalist. But I know logic says that when oil leaks on the beach, it can cause problems for the environment. The same thing—just because you’ve never had anybody hit by a train downtown doesn’t mean you can disregard public safety in that regard.

“Those people who had that outburst owe YOU an apology—that’s number one. Number two: I moved here a year ago. I vacationed here like everybody else. We hit the base of the bridge—and I had lived in Atlanta for 20 years—and I said to my wife, ‘That’s a pretty amazing place, don’t you think?’ She said, ‘Yes, let’s move there.’ Now my wife is a tenured professor. Got back to Atlanta, painted my house and put up a For Sale sign. Sold it five days later and moved here. My wife had no job. She got a job two weeks after we began living here.

“So when everybody gets stressed out at my house you know what she does? She looks at me and says, ‘Guess what? We live on an island!’ Remember that. Every morning I drive to Seaside Park and watch the sun rise. And every night I sit right out here and watch it set. Because I’m a fisherman. People need to realize that there are bigger fish to fry. You live on a damn island!”

Bordnick left the podium to scattered audience applause.