Who Will be SRIA's Next Executive Director?

 

The Santa Rosa Island Authority met last week to pick their next Executive Director. 

Current Executive Director Paolo Ghio is retiring. 

The SRIA had a pool of 64 applicants from which to choose.

The final three candidates that comprised the short list had credentials that far exceeded the minimum including  MPA's and executive level governmental management.

It was briefly suggested that the pool of applicants be re-opened so that a larger number of these applicants could answer 3 questions instead of the final 7 being asked 22 questions.

District 2 Commissioner's Aide Jonathan Owens submitted his resume and was not selected, and did not make the short list.  Other local applicants were also in the mix, many of whom did not make the final cut either.

The selectee that was eventually picked from the top three candidates was initially notified--however it has since been determined that the vote was flawed.  Apparently-to advance any candidate forward the selectee must have at least 4 votes.  Apparently, of the 5 members that voted--this threshold was not met somehow.  

The SRIA will now have a special meeting next week to once again vote on a selectee for this position from the final three applicants.

Fixing the Lease Renewal Process on Pensacola Beach

.....As discussed at our last meeting and also at our joint meeting with the SRIA--this Thursday we will start the discussion on formulating a uniform practice/policy for renewing leases at Pensacola Beach. 

As we all saw and heard from property appraiser Chris Jones's presentation last month--there are a lot of inequities between residents in terms of who pays taxes, who doesn't, and who has market-rate lease fees and who doesn't.  

There are lots of problems with the way the leases have been written-lots of inconsistency where taxpayers were treated very poorly---including the disastrously bad renewal recently of a huge condo complex where  the lease fees--- for these posh $750,000K-$1.5Million Dollar Gulf-front condos--will be a mere $185 dollars a year on the land portion of the tax bill!

This was a great deal for owners of that condo complex--but a horrible deal for the true owners of all the land--Escambia County Taxpayers.  Too late to fix that one.....

So to prevent deals like that from ever happening again to Escambia County Taxpayers--I asked our attorney to draft some potential guidelines  topics of discussion for the board related to lease renewals going forward that the BCC could codify into a policy that would standardize the lease renewals.

This will all be discussed this Thursday at the committee of the whole.  See the very intelligent initial ideas in the six slides below:

Pensacola Beach and the BCC: Reasonable Topics for Discussion

Tonight's joint meeting of the Escambia Board of County Commissioners and the Santa Rosa Island Authority is a meeting where, hopefully, reasonable topics can be discussed rationally and reasonably.  I called this meeting so some important, pressing issues could be discussed and also so  that a sense of where individual Commissioners and Authority Members are on these issues can be known.  Leases and renewals, Roundabouts, parking, and the toll booth---Are these reasonable topics for discussion?

I certainly believe they are and I look forward to the dialogue.

1.  Leases and lease renewals:  there are disparities and inequities among and between lease holders on the beach.  Some leaseholders pay taxes on the land and the improvements and lease fees, some pay tax on the improvements and not on the land (but they pay nominal lease fees and a beach fire MSBU), recently an entire condo complex of 93 units renewed their leases (lease fees) for essentially $280 dollars per year per unit--which is significantly, dramatically below market value.  The taxpayers were not treated well at all in that instance.  So what is reasonable here?  I think it is reasonable for the BCC to set some rules for renewals going forward so the taxpayers are treated fairly as these leases come in for renewal.  These $150 yearly leases were designed to incentivize beach development--and that has now happened.  Now it is time for market rate lease fees on new renewals, and  I will suggest that we require a few things of those interested in renewing their leases going forward....

--No master lease renewals? (lease renewals with individual property occupants only--not with master lease holders that charge sub lessees a margin over their cost)--is this reasonable?
--Individual leases to be renewed?  Should individual renewal leases carry either new language stipulating they become a perpetually renewing lease (that requires payment of ad valorem taxes on land and improvements and no lease fees) OR language delineating these individually as  99-year leases with a current, market rate lease fee on land payable yearly to SRIA (in an amount not less than what ad valorem tax on such land would be) and ad valorem taxes payable on improvements--and no lease fees to SRIA.?  Would this be reasonable?
--All leases to be recorded with the clerk.  Is this reasonable-- It is not happening now but I think it is reasonable to expect this going forward.
--Any other stipulations that make sense and are reasonable to guide the actual renegotiation of these leases?

2.  Parking--should we consider carving out some prime parking spots at the casino beach lot (perhaps 50% of the lot) for premium paid parking?  (with 50% of  casino beach and lots outside the beach core remaining "free parking")  How much more parking should we build and where?

3.  Toll Booth--should we make it fully automated, in stages over a two year period?  Should we reduce the cost to $.50 cents and make up the difference with the parking fees?  Should we remove the toll altogether and make 75% of the casino beach lot a paid lot to achieve the same revenue as the toll booth would have generated if we remove the tolls altogether?

4.  Roundabouts--do the residents want these--or would making the toll booth automated or removing the toll booth altogether alleviate the traffic to the point where roundabouts become unnecessary?  Do residents actually want the roundabouts?  Is this reasonable to ask?

I look forward to some interesting and hopefully reasonable conversations at tonight's meeting.