INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The three city managers gathered to talk shop last week, sharing their own experiences and unique insights into how their cities function with the Taxpayers’ Association of Indian River County.
Vero Beach City Manager Jim O’Connor, Sebastian City Manager Joe Griffin and Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker clued the organization in to what they each are working on to help the Indian River Lagoon and address other issues.
O’Connor told the audience that electric and personnel matters continue to top his list of challenges facing the City of Vero Beach.
“It bleeds into our relationship” with the city’s neighbors, he said of the electric utility. The City is facing a lawsuit from the Town of Indian River Shores while the Indian River County government also looks to extricate the unincorporated Vero Electric customers from the utility’s territory.
Nutrient discharges into the Lagoon, vacation rentals, Code Enforcement, and the budget are also top-of-mind for O’Connor.
For all the challenges Vero Beach faces, O’Connor said, it has had its share of successes, pointing to a vibrant 14th Avenue, which attracted thousands to the monthly Gallery Stroll. Ocean Drive, too, is seeing improvements as the City has worked to better delineate customer parking – more shoppers means more revenue for the business.
“We have a lot of things going for us,” O’Connor said, adding that the biggest thing is Vero Beach’s brand – if it weren’t good, Disney wouldn’t have attached it to its resort.
“I’m the new guy on the block, city manager-wise,” Griffin said. He’s served the least amount of time as city manager of the three but has been with the City of Sebastian for just shy of a decade.
He said one of the surprises he discovered when taking the top city post was that a third of his time is spent handling personnel issues.
“I was one of the guys on the other side,” he said. “I didn’t understand why government is so slow.”
“It’s very time consuming,” Griffin added. “And you’ve got to get it right.”
For Nunemaker, personnel is perhaps a lesser stressor – there are just 30 employees.
“There’s no place to hide,” he said. “You either work out or you get worked out.”
As city manager, Nunemaker said he gets to help shape the future of the city, making a difference at the local level – where officials can be and are held accountable.
O’Connor, Vero Beach’s city manager, quipped, “I’m just waiting to hear from Jason that Fellsmere needs a beach and an assistant city manager!”
He was referencing the recent spate of annexations the City of Fellsmere has completed – the largest in recent history being the Corrigan Ranch property which now extends the city’s southern border to not-quite State Road 60.
Members of the Taxpayers’ Association peppered the city managers with questions, including what they’re doing to help heal the Indian River Lagoon.
All three have been working on ways their cities can help to improve the lagoon.
Griffin said his city has been installing its own baffle boxes near the lagoon to help cut down on nutrients being discharged into the water.
“It’s an incredible investment,” he said of the $60,000 price tag per baffle box.
He is also working with the city’s finance department to identify and earmark seed money that could be used to leverage grants for more baffle boxes and similar projects.
Griffin said that for all the City of Sebastian is doing, the Florida Department of Transportation needs to be involved. He explained that the bulk of the stormwater run-off into the lagoon comes from US 1 – an FDOT road.
“FDOT has to get on board,” Griffin said. “They have to step up.”
Nunemaker said his city has enacted a $4 a month stormwater utility fee, which is being used to help with securing grants. The city will soon have a rate study done for the utility, which Nunemaker expects will show the need for a minimal increase.
That increase, he said, would create “political capital” and could be used to pave the city’s roads, which would improve stormwater run-off quality.
The city, too, has been acquiring property that will ultimately be used for stormwater retention.
O’Connor said the City of Vero Beach has been tackling the issue in a multi-pronged effort. The City is working on improving its stormwater and waste water treatment plans, increased street sweeping, and procuring large baffle boxes that filter stormwater run-off before being discharged into the waterways.
The City, too, is working on what it calls a STEP system to help septic tank homes connect to the City’s sewer system.
O’Connor and the others were also asked about negotiations with the railroad, seeking to get more rail crossings due to the project planned by All Aboard Florida.
“Railroads don’t negotiate,” O’Connor responded, adding that the City has considered closing some crossings instead of adding. Closing crossing would save the City some money, he said, while adding crossings would only increase the City’s expenses in terms of maintenance and liability.
Nunemaker was asked specifically about the city’s annexations and how it plans to handle its future growth.
Nunemaker said it is a shame that Fellsmere continuously is linked to Palm Bay and Port St. Lucie – two cities that grew too big too fast but under completely different rules and regulations.
Development must still go through the city’s planning processes and will be required to live up to the agreements struck when they were annexed. For Corrigan Ranch, that will mean setting aside large pieces of property for conservation and green space as well as signing over required rights of way for future roads and a potential Interstate 95 overpass.
“It’s not a free lunch situation,” Nunemaker said of the annexation agreements Fellsmere has inked.
