Q: Do you have the details for your March listening event yet?
A: Yes, I will be at the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library on Monday, March 26 from 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. to listen to my constituents and answer any questions. If I can’t answer something, I will make a note of it and find out for the questioner. Also at this listening event will be one of the brand new FCC Environmental Services waste pickup trucks, plus handouts for the kids.
Q: What can you tell us about the new waste management company recently selected to serve St. Johns County?
A: We recently changed from Republic Services to FCC Environmental Services. I had actually voted against it, but after meeting with the management of FCC, I found they’re very competent and I was impressed. They will begin operating in our area later this year with brand new trucks that have a special compartment for cardboard boxes. They explained that 36 percent of the garbage they pick up is cardboard boxes, so now if you put cardboard boxes out on garbage day, they will be loaded into a special part of the truck, away from the rest of the garbage. FCC is also trying to rehire some of the Republic Services employees, after they pass background and drug tests.
Q: At a recent Board of County Commissioners meeting, you made a point to recognize the St. Johns County Utilities Department’s re-appropriation of operating budget funds. Can you explain why?
A: Neil Shinkre is the new director of the utility department and he is doing a really good job. He’s thinking ahead with his budgeting and retaining employees by offering higher education opportunities, which increases their skills and salaries. And he’s not asking for more budget to do this, but is more efficiently using funds he has. I’d actually like to see a TRIM rollback this year [where the amount of taxes paid by homeowners remains the same as the previous year] and the first step is to do things like this in our county’s individual departments.
Q: Can you address the medians along A1A?
A: The medians have been a topic for years and years in Ponte Vedra Beach. They contain these tall palm trees, which are majestic but are not native. Unfortunately, the grasses in between have always been messy. Recently we cleaned this up and are planting grass temporarily in the medians, so that things are clean and green for THE PLAYERS. We can’t do any major work until after the golf tournament, but we do plan to include possibly some peanut plants or other native vegetation as a groundcover. I’d like to see some flowers for sure, but we do have to select plants that don’t require a lot of water since there is no irrigation system in the medians.
Q: Do you have anything else to share with District 4?
A: Over Super Bowl weekend, I had the opportunity to serve as a judge for a Chili Cook-Off at American Legion Post 233 in Palm Valley, off Wilderness Trail. I met the new commander and was very impressed with their plans to rebuild and expand their main gathering area.
Q: What is the best way for our readers to contact you?
A: Readers can email me at bcc4kjoseph@sjcfl.us or call me at (904) 679-2620.
