Nassau County Independent reports Port admits PR problem wants meeting to explain

Mary Maguire

Nassau County Independent

www.ncflindependent.com

November 25, 2014 2:49 p.m.

Editor's Note: Nassau County has another news blog available to interested readers. Mary McGuire, a reporter who covers the Nassau County beat, launched her own website on  October 13. Please visit NC FL Independent website and subscribe.  We thank Mary for allowing us to post articles related to the Port of Fernandina and a recent port authority meeting.

Board members for the Ocean Highway & Port Authority for the Port of Fernandina defended their right at the Nov. 12th meeting to pursue new business opportunities, but they admit they have a public relations problem.

The board wants to explain the Port’s role in economic development, which they say is important to the financial health of the community, and they have asked their attorney to set up a public meeting with the City of Fernandina Beach. No date has been set, but the Port’s administrator Joanna Cason said Monday that it is likely to be held in January.

The board is concerned about the recent public outcry over its management company’s unannounced plan earlier this year to ship coal through the port, which they have previously said took them by surprise too. But they said they are also puzzled by what seems to be a growing public effort to hamstring business and job growth. There was also talk at the meeting that the opposition is the start of an effort to have the Port shut down so a bicycle trail can move in.

What follows is an unofficial transcript of this conversation. Not all of the words were captured from the audio recording. Board members do not identify themselves.

“This is an issue the city has to address.”

“It’s a political issue.”

“We’d appreciate you looking at the legal issues.”

“Talk about these things at the meeting.”

“Bring in other people that are involved in economic development to speak or do what they do.”

“Doesn’t state law supersede local authority?”

“We need experts who can handle issues on safety and legal issues…things like LNG (liquid natural gas).

“The public is up in arms…”

(There is about one minute of unintelligible conversation here.)

“There was an outcry initially. …It hasn’t been coming to the Port. That said, they want clean energy. Where does the clean energy come from? Probably from a coal plant somewhere in Jacksonville. Clean energy from methane products which is clean and a natural resource….(people say they want). I’m not quite sure what they’re wanting out of us. To me it’s kind of turned into a personal thing about the Port and not what’s good for the community. And I’ve been told by (at least two people) we want a bike trail through that area and that they’re perfectly fine with shutting down the Port of Fernandina. This will put people out of work. they could lose their house, their cars, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So what’s the problem here? I’m not sure it’s clean energy. They want to shut down the Port of Fernandina and put people out of work.”

“They think there are 59 people on the dock at Kinder Morgan. They don’t understand the economic impact of echo effect. …suppliers, drivers. (Impressive numbers about jobs and economic impact are cited here from Ports in Georgia, including 360,000 jobs and $6.8 billion in impact.) We’ve got an education problem with our public. We can fix it. We’re sales people. We can do this. We have brains and meet with the public. We have to try.”

“We need to educate the public.”

(It sounds like a joke is made about educating the public about bicycles and there is laughter.)

“Be sensible about it. There are so many things that aren’t facts …on social media.”

The conversation among the board stops here to allow the new Executive Director of the Nassau County Economic Development Board to speak. Laura DiBella replaced Steve Rieck, who retired, on Oct. 1st. DiBella told the Port board that she identifies with its recent public relations problem.

“People don’t understand my role,” said DiBella. “We view ourselves as the educators for what is happening in this county. We’re more than ready to (help) outline why we’re here. And why you’re an integral part of this community. I look forward (to working with you).

DiBella is told that she is part of the Port board’s staff now and she is asked for a photograph that can be posted on the website. She is told that the board will meet with her individually and sunshine laws are mentioned.

“We’ll get you filled in.”