Letter: Outside boundaries of trust

Dear Editor:

Recently I attended the St. Johns County Budget Hearings at the Bartram Trail Library.

At the conclusion of the meeting another meeting took place in which our County Attorney would attempt to answer some questions about the recent decision of our Commissioners concerning the Hopewell Baptist Church construction on Roberts Road in the Julington Creek area.

After two plus years of hearings and the church filing three law suits against the county, a settlement was negotiated by the County Attorney and accepted by the full Commission without providing adequate notice and input from the residents of the 1st District upon whom this burden will so heavily fall.

As an interested resident of the county, I was eager to have an opportunity to hear firsthand why our commissioners would decide, on a matter of such wide and deep concern, to move forward without giving the citizens to whom they owe their first duty, an opportunity to express their view of the proposed settlement.

It was obvious that news of the meeting had been released to the church as so many of their members were present against only a minimal contingent from the residents of the county.

I accept the Commissions position that this decision falls within the bounds of the law. Unfortunately, it falls far outside the boundaries of trust that citizens expect of their elected officials.

Additionally, there remain a great many questions unanswered that can seriously impact the economic and subjective quality of life of the residents of the 1st District.

The Commission owed its first duty to the citizens of the county who will bear the brunt of this development and they should have fully briefed and heard all points of view. After all, their voices had been echoing in the chambers of the Commission many times prior to this day.

The voice of the residents of the county should have been of primary importance to the Commissioners, unfortunately they were not. In this you have a failure of trust.

The construction of a church facility in itself is not the central issue at hand. Rather the concern of the NW residents and me, as a citizen of the county, is that our elected officials are demonstrating again, that they are willing to place themselves into a situation where they are managing the residents and manipulating the community.

Leaders are entrusted to lead, not to manipulate. One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes a crisis.

Alan Kelso
St. Augustine