As the St. Johns River Ferry Commission nears completion of its transition for ferry operations, it has found itself in negotiations with the City on how much support it will receive.
City Council member John Crescimbeni, who chairs the commission, was notified by Tom Goldsbury, City Public Works engineer and commission liaison, that the public works department would no longer serve the commission after the end of the year.
The correspondence, a Nov. 27 email, was discussed at Monday's commission meeting.
"The reasoning behind that was that the transition would occur by the end of the year. At that point the commission would have taken over control from the (port). That was the initial thinking, although I think that will extend beyond Dec. 31," said Jessica Deal, Mayor Alvin Brown's Council liaison.
Deal said she discussed the move to pull Goldsbury from the commission with City Chief Administrative Officer Karen Bowling and Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Cleveland Ferguson III, who agreed Goldsbury should continue to serve the commission until March 31.
Legislation creating the commission received Council approval May 8. The transfer of ferry operations from the port to the City was proposed after the Jacksonville Port Authority's board of directors voted Feb. 27 to stop operating the service.
The legislation was presented to provide the commission a year to find funding and develop a plan for the ferry's sustained operation.
Commission members ap–peared surprised when they found out they were expected to hire Goldbury's replacement when they had not yet secured ferry funding beyond its initial year.
"I don't think it was ever considered a temporary thing. It was a long-term solution when it was proposed to us. It really took me by shock when I read that email. We have a lot of volunteers in here giving their time to keep this alive and the City steps away from the table?" said commission member Aaron Bowman.
"I don't recall anything in our budget about a position within the commission. This is a City asset and I thought the linkage between the City and the commission would be through City staff," commission member Rich Redick said.
Deal said initial conversations led the mayor's office to think its involvement with the ferry would be temporary.
"Because the City is lacking resources right now, there was a hope that the commission would be able to (provide an answer as to) how are you going to make this viable long term. That was my understanding and the mayor's understanding from conversations with Councilman Gulliford," said Deal, referring to Council member Bill Gulliford.
Redick agreed that a staff position may be considered in the long-term plan, but City support was still needed.
"We are still in the short term and the short term is until Sept. 30, 2013, ergo if there is temporary assistance from the City in the form of someone from Public Works, then that would proceed through Sept. 30, 2013," said Redick.
The mayor's office didn't see its involvement extending that way, according to Deal.
"That's not the intent, but we can certainly continue to have discussions," said Deal.
Crescimbeni said he planned to further discuss the issue.
"I think we can get this worked out," said Crescimbeni.
@photojoe71
(904)356-2466