Fernandina Beach proclamations and board appointments: November 21, 2017

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Reporter - News Analyst

November 22, 2017:  10:11 a.m.

Airport Advisory Commission member Coleen Baker

Coleen Baker listens as Mayor Robin Lentz reads Proclamation.

Ms. Coleen Baker recently resigned from the City’s Airport Advisory Commission, where she served as an Ex-Officio Member since June 2011. On behalf of the Fernandina Beach City Commission Mayor Robin Lentz expressed the city’s gratitude to Ms. Coleen Baker for more than six years of service during which she demonstrated leadership, hard work, and advocacy of aeronautical planning programs and activities, which have dramatically enhanced aviation opportunities for residents of the City of Fernandina Beach.

Lentz delivered the Proclamation of gratitude that read in part, “Ms. Baker was steadfastly relied upon to provide knowledgeable, educated, honest and direct communication and recommendations to the City of Fernandina Beach City Commissioners and other airport constituents and professionals. Ms. Baker’s professional and specialized contributions to the Airport Advisory Commission helped shape the exciting future of the City of Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport.”

Baker expressed her gratitude to the city and appreciation for being able to serve with other Airport Advisory Commission members to enhance the municipal airport.

The Journey Church’s efforts to help those affected by Hurricane Irma

Paula Selleck (l) coordinated The Journey Church's Hurricane Irma relief efforts.  Kara Bellar stands behind Mayor Lentz.

On behalf of the city and its residents, Mayor Robin Lentz thanked the members of the Journey Church for their community service to help residents in the wake of Hurricane Irma. She praised the work of the 326 Journey Church members who volunteered over 1,836 man-hours, completed thirty-one work projects, and helped 1,033 area families in need of disaster relief.

The Proclamation read in part,“Before and during Hurricane Irma, The Journey Church opened its doors to support displaced evacuees (including pets), Nassau County Emergency Management, the American Red Cross, individuals with special needs, and first responders, who were unable to return home or who didn’t have power and needed a dry, safe place to temporarily call home; and after Hurricane Irma, committed and steadfast members of The Journey Church mobilized to assist City and County residents with meal support, child care, home repair projects and clean up tasks ranging from debris removal, placing tarps over damaged roofs, drywall, carpet, flooring, and furniture removal, as well as other household items destroyed by flood waters.”

In thanking the city for the recognition and “the opportunity to serve such a wonderful community,” The Journey Church spokeswoman Kara Bellar singled our church member Paula Selleck as the person who coordinated efforts for Hurricane Irma assistance.

City recognizes opioid crisis

Mayor Lentz acknowledged the nationwide problems with opioid addiction. In delivering a city Proclamation calling attention to the problem, she reminded residents that the local community is not immune from the crisis, having experienced a 60 percent increase in Fentanyl deaths in Nassau County since 2012 and forty-six overdoses in the Baptist Nassau Emergency Room alone in the past year. She acknowledged the damage the opioid crisis has done and will continue to do in our community, state and nation, and via the Proclamation asserted that the City Commission will support the concerted efforts of emergency services personnel, medical practitioners, and organizations like NACDAC (Nassau Alcohol Crime Drug Abatement Coalition) to treat the causes and this terrible epidemic.

NACDAC received Proclamation from Mayor Lentz. Pictured (l-r) Karen Clark, Deborah Babin, Karen Albert, Mayor Lentz

Following the Mayor’s reading of the Proclamation, NACDAC Outreach Coordinator Deborah Babin delivered a brief presentation outlining the problems opioids present to the Nassau County/Fernandina Beach community. She reported that Nassau is one of the top five counties in the state for prescribing opioids. While the local problem is growing, there are very limited treatment and intervention options. Heroin is the most prevalent drug problem, but since August, Fentanyl related deaths have increased dramatically.

“This is in our community and affects more than just the users,” Babin said. “We will see many more overdoses and deaths in Nassau County.”

In 2016, NACDAC formed a Heroin and Opioid Task Force composed of representatives of health, law enforcement and community representatives, in an attempt to keep the problem from worsening by educating the community. They are training drug prescribers, conducting public information forums, and training people to use NARCAN to reverse drug overdoses.

Kerry Albert, Director of Prevention for NACDAC, and Karen Clark, Director of Financial Resources, also spoke. NACDAC is looking at ways to bring more dollars into the county to help with drug intervention in the schools as well as more outpatient services. For more information on NACDAC and opportunities to get involved or seek assistance, visit their website: https://sites.google.com/view/nacdac/home

Board appointments

Fernandina Beach City commissioners unanimously approved the appointments and reappointments to city advisory boards listed below:

• Board of Trustees of the General Employees Pension Plan: Steven Herbert
• Code Enforcement and Appeals Board: Marlene Chapman, Gail Shults, Henry Byrd
• Golf Course Advisory Board: Jane Paige (Women’s Golf association representative)