Rep. Janet Adkins listens to pros and cons on proposed OHPA charter changes

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Reporter - News Analyst

October 13, 2015 4:05 p.m.

Even with an extra half hour, Florida State Representative Janet Adkins was not able to break the impasse between the Ocean Highway and Port Authority (OHPA) and local citizens over the need or advisability of changing the OHPA charter, first crafted in 1941.

About 40 people, including representatives of WestRock, Rayonier Advanced Materials and the Nassau County Economic Development Board (NCEDB) attended Adkins’ meeting in Fernandina Beach City Hall on October 13, 2015, to discuss citizen-initiated proposals to change the OHPA charter. Originally advertised to last 1.5 hours, Adkins extended the meeting an additional 30 minutes to complete a section- by-section review of the existing charter and proposed changes. Another similar meeting to take public input on this issue is scheduled for October 14, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in Callahan Town Hall Chambers.

Adkins devoted the first half hour of the meeting to citizen input. Twelve speakers took advantage of the opportunity to express concerns and opinions. Most of the concerns were rooted in fears over future port expansion plans, possible exercise of eminent domain over private property, the role of Kinder Morgan as the OHPA’s de facto port manager, lack of clarity on the true port goals and plans for the next 5 years, and what appeared to be broad and unprecedented powers that would allow the OHPA to bypass municipal, county and state laws to further its ends.

Christine Corso: charter changes will not affect port bond status.

On the other side of the issue, WestRock and NCEDB representatives urged caution in making changes that could have longer-term negative consequences for the community as well as existing and future industry and business.

Drawing on her experience in banking and financial matters, local citizen Christine Corso advised Adkins that in response to a question raised at the Nassau Delegation meeting, OHPA Charter changes would have no effect on current bond placement, because the bond letter of credit has been guaranteed by Wells Fargo.

Michael Harrison speaks with Rep. Adkins and Carol Hays before the meeting.

Old Town resident Michael Harrison said that at the strategic level, there is confusion over just what the problem is in the community. He said that there is fear on both sides of the issue. He cited what he termed a “dysfunctional operating agreement that earlier ceded authority to the Kinder Morgan operations manager at the port. He asked for an audit by a “responsible state authority” into the relationship between Kinder Morgan and the OHPA.

Laura DiBella: "We don't need to fight; we need to collaborate."

Laura DiBella, NCEDB Executive Director asked, “Why are we fighting? The situation should not have devolved to this. We don’t want to fight—we need to collaborate.”

In response to DiBella’s question local resident Tom Cote-Merow replied that the term “fight” comes into play because of threatening emails emanating from OHPA toward citizens’ requests for changes.

Adkins, who was flanked at the dais by OHPA Chair Richard Bruce and Frank Santry, the local attorney who provided the draft charter language changes on behalf of the citizenry, allowed Bruce to make opening remarks.

left to right: Richard Bruce, Rep. Adkins, Frank Santry

Richard Bruce

Bruce spent fifteen minutes explaining the nature of “Special Districts” under Florida law, referring the audience to the state Department of Economic Opportunity website for further amplification. He also recapped OHPA accomplishments over the years since its inception, including the Nassau County portion of state highway A1A, the Yulee tradeplex, and improvements within the city of Fernandina Beach to include street, utility and safety improvements.

Adkins said that while she has heard the frustrations and fears of the community, she also agrees that the OHPA through its charter is an important tool for development that benefits the community. She opined that much of the problem with the proposed charter changes is a result of poor communication. She stressed that it is important to rebuild the trust between the OHPA and the citizens.

Frank Santry

In a brief opening statement, Frank Santry explained that the charter review was conducted for the purpose of bringing balance between the OHPA and local government and the community. He said that many of the examples Bruce had cited as positive OHPA projects were decades old and that times have changed. He indicated that the community has no interest in damaging the port, but it seeks to put some restraints on what read as relatively unrestrained powers in the charter.

Adkins proposed that she, Bruce and Santry go through the draft revised charter and after each change indicate whether there was agreement between the sides to make the change, no agreement, or possible change with more discussion. Bruce stressed that he could not speak for the OHPA, but could only express his own opinion.

The trio read through about two dozen proposed changes with almost no agreement on any specific proposal. Areas where it seemed that there might be some agreement included: mandating a port manager to be employed by OHPA; removing beach casinos as a possible OHPA venture; restructuring language to eliminate confusing language regarding condemnation procedures for parks; redefining oil refinery to exclude petroleum products while allowing for the possibility of agricultural oil refining.

Bruce and Santry once again debated the question of the constitutionality of being able to limit cargo or passengers going into and out of the port. While Bruce appeared to be concentrating on the cargo itself, Santry suggested that his language spoke to limiting the type of facility that would be needed to handle such freight—such as a large cruise ship. He allowed that whereas a cruise line might be able to decide its own routes, if its destination was not able to handle a passenger vessel with more than 500 passengers, that in itself would be a limiting factor.

Santry also made other suggestions relating to the port’s impact on the city of Fernandina Beach. He proposed that the port’s truck traffic be limited to 186 one-way trips daily and that rail be limited to 36 one-way trips per day. Bruce admitted that regulation of such activities was “way over our pay grades,” because of complications presented by both the railroad and trucking industries.

Rep. Adkins:  No one wants to harm the port or Nassau County.

After concluding the first pass through the proposed charter revisions, Adkins stressed that no one wants to harm the port or Nassau County by making decisions that have unintended consequences.

She said that for changes to the Special Act to be considered by the State Legislature in the 2016 session, the Nassau Delegation would need to approve a final draft at their meeting on December 7, 2015. She said that January 12, 2016 is the last day on which a local bill may be filed, but that time frames for advertising the item publicly must also be met by that time.

Other than the next meeting in Callahan, it was not clear what the next steps would be to work out differences among the parties.

Editor's Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne's many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.