Letter: The Record got government editorial wrong

Letter: The Record got government editorial wrong

Michael D. Wanchick
John P. Regan, P.E.
St Augustine, FL

Dear Historic City News readers:

We are jointly writing in response to The St Augustine Record’s January 27th editorial referencing the perceived relationship between St Johns County and the City of St Augustine.

We believe it mischaracterizes the positive working relationship our agencies have established in recent years, and that it unfairly and inaccurately portrays our working relationship in the minds of our residents, business owners and employees.

Many of the issues we work on together are complex, challenging, and impact the health, safety, and welfare of our communities. In the spirit of governmental transparency, the resolution of those issues often plays out in public, which takes an extensive amount of time and effort to resolve, and often involves compromise.

Rather than characterizing the process as a poor working relationship, the editorial could have referred to it as an example of governmental transparency and cooperation carried out during difficult economic times.

The list of examples in which St Johns County and the City of St Augustine productively work on together to efficiently and effectively provide services, programs and facilities to our communities is extensive.

Through interlocal and mutual aid agreements, we share law enforcement, fire rescue, emergency dispatch, emergency medical, emergency management and animal control services.

In addition, our residents and visitors benefit from shared 800MHz emergency response radio system, public library services, recreational programming and park facilities.

Our public works staffs also work together to address water, waste water, traffic management, and engineering issues.

We both recognize the benefits of shared economic development and tourism, and work together to ensure our historical assets, culture, dining and beaches continue to attract a record number of visitors to our area. The county’s amphitheater staff recently worked closely with city staff on the successful and safe Mumford and Sons concert, and both staffs are currently partnering to ensure successful 450th Commemoration events.

In a shared demonstration of open government, we even broadcast our board and commission meetings on the same governmental television station.

While St Johns County and the City of St Augustine may occasionally view issues differently, we routinely work together to find solutions to the issues confronting our communities in a mutually respectful manner.

We invite the public to attend our meetings, observe the working relationship in action and participate in the process firsthand to obtain a more informed view of the relationship.

Finally, on behalf of the county commission and the city commission, we would like to assure the community that the working relationship between St Johns County and the City of St Augustine is sound.

In fact, it could be viewed as a model of cooperation and coordination for other local governments.

We will continue working together to provide the highest quality of life possible for our residents.