A City Council committee is looking for funding to continue the St. Johns River Ferry service, but no one has stepped up to offer the money.
“We have to look at other options to operate the ferry,” said committee Chair Bill Gulliford.
“From a legal standpoint, what is another vehicle that could be used to operate the ferry? Unfortunately, I haven’t found any city agencies, independent authorities, the state or anyone else that has raised their hand to say, ‘Oh, may I? Please let me.’ It’s just not there,” he said.
The Council Ad Hoc Committee on Funding the St. Johns River Ferry met for the first time Thursday to begin the funding search.
The Jacksonville Port Authority board voted Monday to end its operation of the ferry Sept. 30, citing an annual subsidy of nearly $700,000 in operating costs and a recent engineering report that much more is necessary to repair deteriorating infrastructure at the ferry’s docks.
Council members Gulliford and Ray Holt serve as co-chairs of the committee. Council members Greg Anderson, Lori Boyer, Doyle Carter, John Crescimbeni and Matt Schellenberg also serve on the committee.
Gulliford identified two issues that the committee will address — who will end up owning the ferry and who will be responsible for operational and maintenance costs and capital improvement costs.
Government and ferry supporters are trying to find new funding sources.
In addition to supporters of the St. Johns River Ferry, JPA board member John Newman, port CFO Michael Poole and port Senior Director of Governmental and External Affairs Eric Green represented the port at the meeting.
Chief of Staff Chris Hand represented the mayor’s office, and representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw and state Rep. Janet Adkins attended.
Citizens and business leaders have presented reasons to continue the ferry.
Aaron Bowman, former commanding officer of Naval Station Mayport and now director of business operations for BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards, said his company would lose productivity without the ferry service.
“The ferry allows us to assign workers to different jobs we have in the area without much hardship on them. We lose the ferry, we lose about 30 minutes of productivity from those workers daily,” said Bowman.
Tourism and eco-tourism were other reasons speakers cited for continuing the ferry.
“The ferry is very important to Mayport Village. If it is not there, then Mayport Village becomes a dead end,” said Michelle Baldwin, president of the Mayport Village Civic Association.
Ferry Task Force Chairwoman Elaine Brown provided a list of people and organizations needed to discuss funding options:
The mayor’s office, the Florida Department of Transportation, the JPA, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Tourism, Visit Florida, Floridians for Better Transportation, the Tourism Development Council, JAX Chamber and local, state and federal legislators.
“(Brown) brought up a good list of people who should be at the table to discuss the future funding of the ferry and we will be more specific on the invitations for the next meeting,” said Gulliford.
He said he was disappointed with the lack of participation of the Florida Department of Transportation, considering Florida A1A is a state highway and is linked by the ferry service at Mayport.
“I think they have shirked their responsibility with this issue,” he said.
The Council committee also asked for more information about the land given to the port when it took over operation of the ferry in 2007.
The committee requested that Steve Rohan, of the Office of General Counsel, explain what will happen to the land if the port discontinues the ferry service.
“This is a passionate group, but we are also taxpayers,” said Brown. “We’re not trying to dump something in your lap that we feel is not viable. This is not only viable, this is needed. It affects the Navy, Coast Guard, commerce and certainly tourism.”
The committee will meet Thursday at 4 p.m. at City Hall.
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