Category: Government

Vicky Oakes, St Johns County Supervisor of Elections and friend to Historic City News, informs our readers to be prepared for the first deadline in the 2020 Election cycle.  Eligible voters must register to vote or change party affiliation not later than February 18th to receive a ballot in the Presidential Preference Primary Election on…

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Historic City News’ long advocated position that state law unreasonably protected a monopoly in the area of publishing public notices is finally gathering support in Tallahassee; finding that this could be the year governments are no longer required to post public notices in newspapers.

St Johns County Property Appraiser Eddie Creamer reported this week that his office now has another intelligent tool to protect local taxpayers from homestead exemption fraud through a new partnership with the private data-mining company, The Exemption Project.

In a unanimous show of support to improve the quality of life for residents over the business interests of property owners looking to maximize the return on their real estate investments, the City of St Augustine passed three ordinances regulating short-term rentals last night.

Governor DeSantis expressed some trepidation Wednesday about a Senate proposal that would create a public-records exemption for sensitive information about members of the House, Senate and Cabinet, their spouses and children.

After about 16-years of volunteer service on the Planning and Zoning Board of the City of St Augustine Beach, its chairman Jane West and vice-chairman Elise Sloan have resigned their highly visible positions; leaving the board that advises the Commission on a variety of development matters without their seasoned leadership.

The latest move to recover about $800,000 in embezzled funds from local taxpayers and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Benevolence Fund at the hands of Sheriff David Shoar’s Director of Finance, Raye Annette Brutnell, came Wednesday this week when Shoar brought a civil lawsuit against Brutnell in the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court for St…

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Florida currently has 1,159 exemptions to its open government laws.  Every exemption makes government less transparent.  Historic City News is tracking 114 Bills during the 2020 legislative session that will either create new open government exemptions or extend current exemptions.