Snapshot: Monday city commission meeting

A wide-ranging agenda for Monday’s City Commission meeting includes a public hearing on an ordinance to regulate short term rentals, a strategy to reduce aggressive panhandling, the process for selecting a new city clerk, and three new residential parking spaces along Shenandoah Street.

Commissioners will also consider two resolutions; the first supporting direct transfer of state land to the National Park Service for a Castillo orientation center – without a city obligation.

The Castillo center resolution is an effort to persuade the state Internal Improvement Trust Fund to transfer a quarter-acre of state land in the Colonial Spanish Quarter without requiring the city to repay the state for the land.

The second resolution addresses downtown postal service – without a distribution center.

The resolution, if adopted, will express support for a downtown post office in response to concerns that the entire post office facility, currently located on King Street inside the city, might relocate to the Ponce de Leon Mall, located on US-1 outside the city.

City officials envision the Post Office relocating only the regional distribution center and its trucks while maintaining counter service and boxes downtown.

Police Chief Loran Lueders will brief commissioners on ideas to deal with aggressive panhandling.

City Manager John Regan will report that four internal (city staff) applications and numerous external applications have been received to succeed City Clerk Karen Rogers, who retired in July.

The proposal on short term rentals is for registration with the city and a limit of less than 20 at a gathering.

The Mission of Nombre de Dios hopes that the commission will approve the addition of a dozen city artifacts to the exhibits in its new museum that will open September 4th; during Founder’s Day ceremonies. The “temporary loan” request for early Spanish period artifacts will be presented during the regular meeting tomorrow night.

In his letter to City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt, Mission Director Eric Johnson said the museum “will consist of exhibits which tell the story of the founding of St. Augustine and the eventual missionary effort that followed. The artifacts identified . . . will assist in enhancing that story.”

Photo credits: © 2010 Historic City News staff photographer