An ordinance to increase penalties for  meter violations from $15 to $25 and illegal parking from $25 to $35 goes to a public hearing before the City Commission Monday.

   "Parking violations have remained $15 for meter violations and $25 for illegal parking since 2006," City Comptroller Mark Litzinger wrote in a memo to commissioners.

   "Contrary to some opinions, this is primarily about managing parking and not new revenue sources, he wrote. "The estimated annual incremental revenue from the proposed increase is $55,000."

More resident parking 

on Avenida Menendez

City commissioners Monday will consider extending resident parking spaces from 18 to 23 on the south end of Avenida Menendez.

"This particular parking zone was created in 2005 with twenty three (23) spaces but was reduced to eighteen (18) in 2007 based upon utilization," Public Works Director Martha Graham says.

"Because on-street spaces on Marine Street were removed to allow emergency vehicle access in 2014, staff is requesting to reinstate the original allocation to meet the demand due to the lost on-street parking spaces," she says. 

The proposed St. Augustine Shipyards Planned Unit Development returns to the City Commission Monday seeking a realignment "so that the access to Arapaho Avenue is further east from the Intersection of Arapaho Avenue."

Business neighbors to the access to the project fought successfully against some road closures amid concerns of whether the Florida Department of Transportation would be installing traffic signals on US 1 just south of the SR 207 signals.

The shipyard project proposes a dry boat storage marina with 300 slips, 90,000 square feet of retail/commercial space, and 23,000 square feet of marine service uses. The St. Augustine Children's Museum has signed on to be part of the waterfront complex.

The City considers Mr. Seraphin's claims to be completely meritless.

A month after a labor attorney for St. Augustine responded to claims that former 450th marketing strategist Charlie Seraphin was illegally fired, there's been no further word from Seraphin's attorney.

Wayne L. Helsby, an attorney with Allen Norton & Blue in Winter Park, wrote that "Seraphin was in fact considered a "professional consultant" and not an employee of the City" and "the contract provided that 'the Agreement may be terminated by any party on thirty (30) days prior written notice to the other parties.'"

Seraphin's contract was terminated in October by City Manager John Regan after an exchange of emails with mayoral candidate Nancy Shaver, questioning her resume and marital status. Regan said "The civil service side of municipal government is a-political (unbiased)" in justifying the termination.

City Attorney Isabelle Lopez says of a deadline for Seraphin to sue, "Depending on the cause of action, all lawsuits have a statute of limitations; a deadline, so to speak.

Read the city's attorney's complete letter here.