Letter: Commissioners doing business as usual during pandemic

Letter: County Commissioners are doing business as usual during a pandemic

Dennis Stewart
St. Augustine, FL 32092

Dear Historic City News Editor,

This is email I received from my County commissioner Jeb Smith in response to my email requesting clarification about the county commissioner’s meetings:

“The public will have opportunity to provide input. Email, written correspondence, and/or phone call. Technology will allow phone calls to be taken during the meeting, as well.”

The county commissioners are doing business as usual during a pandemic. This is in the hopes that the citizens will be too busy worrying about their jobs, having food to eat, and hopefully not getting the virus to provide any input to their meetings.

Especially meetings that will benefit the developers who will not have to worry about addressing concerns from citizens about rezoning and changes to the county’s comprehensive plan.

The Commissioners should stop all non-Emergency meetings, just like the city of Saint Augustine. They need to concentrate strictly on the health and well-being of our citizens.

When this virus has run its course, then bring back the regular county meetings.

What the county commissioners are doing is un-American and pretty darn sneaky.

P.S.:   I drafted this letter to you. Then I saw this attached picture from the Record newspaper, and that is just one page. Take a look at all those items that they want to pass through as quickly as possible. I cannot believe that your newspaper is not all over this. The courts are closed, so many other government agencies have shut down, to include the city of Saint Augustine. But our county commissioners have seen a Loop-hole to get all this done without anyone knowing about it.