Published by former Mayor George Gardner
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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From left, Commissioners Todd Neville and Nancy Sikes-Kline, Mayor Nancy Shaver, Commissioner Leanna Freeman, and Vice-Mayor Roxanne Horvath.
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St. Augustine City Commission
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And now we have some business to attend to.
St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver
Nancy Shaver took the gavel Monday as St. Augustine's 119th mayor and Todd Neville as a new commissioner before a packed Alcazar Room at City Hall, after oaths of office and acknowledgements quickly turning to the evening's two business items - election of a vice mayor and discussion of the enabling resolution.
Commissioner Roxanne Horvath was elected vice mayor, Shaver commending Horvath "for her grace and tenacity on the vision project."
The enabling legislation which governs commission meetings, relatively unchanged for years, revisited some former ideas and brought forth some new ones:
Meeting start time and duration
Proclamations
Agenda publication
Public comment
Changes will be incorporated into an enabling resolution for commission adoption at the January 12 meeting after required legal notice.
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Hypolita reopening
A Hypolita Festival Friday, beginning with a brief ribbon-cutting at 4 pm, will recognize completion of the first leg in the current Downtown Improvement District project also including Spanish and Treasury streets.
Officials promise performances by local entertainers on outdoor stages at Hypolita and St. George Streets and on Hypolita Street as well as merchant specials, discounts and giveaways to liven the area until 9 pm.
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Click for our web page
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New procedures for
Commission meetings
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A 3-hour meeting time limit, proclamation receptions, early agenda publication, and clarity for public comments took 20 minutes of discussion in the 53 minute session.
Meeting start time and duration
Mayor Shaver proposed for discussion starting meetings at 6 pm, allowing more residents to attend, and a 3-hour meeting time limit "because, as Commissioner Horvath has pointed out, quite frankly your brain gets tired."
The traditional break for commissioners' meal would be eliminated.
Commissioner Leanna Freeman argued against the 6 pm start - "I've seen more participation at meetings and workshops during business hours. We're an early community, to go to bed."
Meetings will continue to start at 5 pm, with a 3-hour time limit and no commission break.
Proclamations
Shaver suggested proclamations be condensed into single meetings - the second commission meeting monthly - with a reception and photo opportunities a half hour beforehand, an adjustment accepted by commissioners.
Agenda publication
 City Commission agenda has traditionally been published on the Thursday or Friday before a commission meeting.
At Shaver's request for earlier publication, Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield and City Clerk Ali Ratkovic worked out a new format, explained by City Manager John Regan.
"The agenda deadline will be on Thursday, two weeks before a commission meeting, and publication the following Tuesday, providing seven full calendar days to review it before the meeting."
The commission agenda is carried on the city website under Your Government/Commission Meetings, along with agenda backup material and minutes of previous meetings.
Public comment
The mayor began the enabling legislation discussion with the comment, "Citizens ... would like more ability to participate."
After considerable shuffling of areas of public comment procedure, commissioners agreed the public comment period at the beginning of commission meetings will include three minutes to comment on any agenda item as well as general comments, while public hearing comments remain at three minutes.
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Quotable
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 I am humbled by the honor and responsibility of leading this City we call home, delighted to be a part of such an able team of Commissioners. Our choices on the meeting processes last night aimed at citizen participation and transparency are a great start and highlighted smooth teamwork.
St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver
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It's beginning to look a lot like ...
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The lights are lit and the community is ready for the holidays with a collection a seasonal favorites opening Saturday.
The St. Augustine Christmas Parade steps off at 10 am from the Mission Nombre de Dios, along the bayfront, Cathedral Place and Cordova Street.
St. Augustine Winter Spectacular is presented at 2 pm and 7 pm at Lewis Auditorium as The Dance Company of St. Augustine takes us on a young girl's journey during the holidays.
Different scenes provide a full production including ballet, tap, jazz, modern, acrobatics, kick line and musical theatre numbers.
Advanced tickets online $15 and $20, at the door $20 and $25, if available.
www.staugustinewinterspectacular.com
The British Night Watch begins at 7:30 pm from Government House, around the Plaza, through the historic district to the City Gate and back for official greetings and caroling. The British (in St. Augustine 1763-1784) will encamp at Francis Field throughout the weekend for drills and revelry.
St. Augustine Orchestra with the St. Augustine High School Chorus offers The Gift of Music Friday, December 12, at 8 pm in the Lightner Museum.
The program will open with A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson and include several movements from the beloved Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky and other holiday favorites including The Christmas Song, concluding with The Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah.
Tickets $20 adults, $5 Students with ID, and free to Children 12 and under, available online or at the door on the performance night.
www.StAugustineOrchestra.org
34th Annual Regatta of Lights at 6 pm Saturday, December 13, presents a colorful parade of boats in the bay north of the Bridge of Lions, reflecting the maritime roots of the Oldest City.
Hosted by The St. Augustine Yacht Club, it will feature sailboats, sport-fishermen, trawlers, shrimp boats, and many other vessels, decorated with the festive lights of the holiday season.
Judging categories for private vessels under and over 25 feet and for commercial.
www.staugustineyachtclub.com/regattaOfLights
St. Augustine Community Chorus presents A Festive Spanish Christmas in the Cathedral Basilica Saturday, December 13 at 7:45 pm and Sunday, December 14 at 1:45 pm.
Look for Spanish dancers and classical guitarists with accompaniment by the Jacksonville Concert Artists, Spanish carols and the angelic voices of the St. Augustine Youth Chorus.
The audience can join in on the Hallelujah Chorus and traditional Christmas carols.
Adults $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $5 Student tickets available at Music Matters, Carter's Jewelry, Flowers by Shirley, Herbie Wiles Insurance, The Print Shop, Southern Horticulture and online.
www.staugustinecommunitychorus.org
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Castillo considering fee hike
A fee increase from $7 to $10 is being considered at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, to "not only enable us to keep pace with inflation and other rising costs, but it will continue to fund the many critical historic preservation and public service programs that give the Castillo and Fort Matanzas one of the highest visitor satisfaction ratings in the National Park System," says Superintendent Gordie Wilson.
Wilson welcomes comments for or against through December 12 by email to casa_tel@nps.gov.
"The National Park Service allows us to keep 77% of the money we collect from entrance fees," Wilson says. "At the Castillo, we use this revenue for a variety of historic preservation, repair, and maintenance projects.
"This revenue also helps subsidize our interpretive and historic weapon firing programs, as well as the ferry operation at Fort Matanzas National Monument."
Valid Federal passes like the Senior Pass, Access Pass and other America the Beautiful annual passes would continue to provide free admission.
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History's Highlight
'They Seem a Noble Race'
280 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
St. Augustine was founded at a Timucuan Indian village in 1565. Bands of Indians both traded with and harassed early settlers in the 1600s, and joined defenders and attackers of the young settlement in the 1700s. Osceola, Florida's best known Indian leader, was imprisoned at the Castillo during the Seminole War in the early 1800s, as were western Indians in the late 1800s. 
"They seem to be a noble race," Pedro Menendez remarked in notes to his king, Philip of Spain, after his first encounter. Fishermen, hunters and farmers, he would later report. "They possess human physical characteristics, but were clothed only in loincloths of animal skins, their hair done in topknots, and their flesh covered with tattoos."
He learned that the tattoo colors and arrangement indicated rank within the tribe.
Early garrison officers reported these Indians were so quick that they could wait until the flash of an arquebusier's weapon, then dodge into the woods, and each could unleash four to five arrows in the time it took a Spaniard to reload.
Uneasy peace with Indians marked the first 300 years of St. Augustine. Survival of the garrison had to be laid in great measure to divine providence. When the English corsair Sir Francis Drake raided virtually defenseless St. Augustine in 1586, Indians living in the area snuck into the abandoned town and took anything of value they could carry. After Drake burned the town to the ground, the Indians returned with the townspeople and helped them rebuild..
Florida's Indian population was estimated at 350,000 in 1513. Warfare, slave trading and especially disease dropped the number to almost none in the 1700s, but it swelled again in the early 1800s as northern settlers forced Indian migration to this virgin area rich in fish, game and farmland.
These scattered bands were not, at first, united, but came to be called as a group Seminoles, or wild people, by the whites.
Eventually joining forces to hold their homeland, the Seminoles engaged the young United States in its longest and most costly Indian war, a war to remove them to the west. That war was never won, simply declared ended by the American government.
St. Augustine's Castillo de San Marcos, renamed Fort Marion when the U.S. took over the territory in 1821, was prison to numerous captured Indians during the Second Seminole War of 1835 to 1842. Among its prisoners was Florida's most famous Indian leader, Osceola. (In 1942 the original name, Castillo de San Marcos, was restored by an Act of Congress.)
In the late 1800s, many leaders of the plains and western Indian tribes were moved here, away from their tribes out west - Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Chiricahua Apaches.
The Indian confinement at St. Augustine and its Castillo play a major role in U.S. history, as it was here that Army Captain Richard Pratt began an Indian education program which led to new Indian policies and the establishment of the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.
Image: Lithograph of the Timucua greeting the French, from Theodor de Bry, Grand Voyages (1591)
Excerpts from The Indians in St. Augustine Bedtime Stories. Click for further information on this fascinating historic series.
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The St. Augustine Report is published weekly, with additional Reports previewing City Commission meetings as well as Special Reports. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and a former newspaper reporter and editor. Contact the Report at gardner@aug.com or gardnerstaug@yahoo.com
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