Commissioner Sikes-Kline must expect to win election

While attending the recent Florida League of Cities annual conference, 10-year St. Augustine City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline accepted an appointment to the 2019 Fiscal Year Transportation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, signaling her apparent expectation to remain in office for four more years.

There are no term limits in the city charter, so Kline is seeking another four-year term which would give her 14-years in office, if she is re-elected.

When you think of her interest in local government, she will be remembered for transportation issues and preservation.  Although, she recently ignored preservationists by voting to allow the authentic confederate memorial to be tampered with.  She voted to allow signs to be directly attached to the 139-year-old artifact that invoke inflammatory images of racism and racial supremacy.

Kline’s interests are more about political power and influence these days.  Her new committee appointment is one of five standing legislative policy committees which review proposed bills to be considered by the Florida Legislature.  Then, through the Legislative Policy Committee, the annual “Legislative Action Agenda” supported by the Florida League of Cities is developed.

So, her participation, assuming she survives her own political challenge November 6th, will be less about engaging her interest in transportation issues affecting St. Augustine and more about engaging political lobbying and legislative efforts on the part of the city’s paid advocacy organization in Tallahassee.

Sikes-Kline’s work on legislative issues related to St. Augustine and St. Johns County earned her recognition by the Florida League of Cities during the most recent legislative session as a “Home Rule Hero” — that had nothing to do with solving the nagging problems of city residents with substandard-grade streets and ignored mobility deficiencies.