Published by former Mayor George Gardner March 21 2015
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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Street hosts program
is taking applications
Endeavor to, in cooperation with the County and in accordance with all applicable local regulations, provide trained staff, dressed in period costumes, to greet and provide off-site assistance to visitors within the City's Historic Preservation District. Such staff will be referred to as "On-the-Street-Hosts" and will provide visitor assistance no less than four (4) days per week weather permitting.
Tourist Development Council contract for $160,000 in city visitor center funding, December, 2013
 The city is moving forward with a plan to provide period-dressed on-the-street hosts in the historic district.
It was outlined in a 2013 Tourist Development Council contract for $160,000 in visitor center support, but delayed as the city worked "to develop some sort of street presence that will not violate the City Code," Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield says.
"Our current plan is to start slow - on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays - until we get a firm grip on what we are doing," Burchfield says. "We will also be hiring individuals who will not be dressed in period garb but will be identifiable on the street as an information host.
"All hosts will be trained on their responsibilities and duties and supervised by City Staff at the VIC (Visitor Information Center)," he says. "I do believe a mix of period dressed hosts with those not period dressed will be most beneficial to the visitors.
"The hosts will be part time and start at just below $11 per hour with parking in the garage provided. They'll provide information just like our hosts do in the VIC. As a part-time employee, no host will work more than 24 hours a week."
Find the standard employment application form here.
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We're a Preserve
America Steward
City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt and his team of volunteer archaeologists have been designated a Preserve America Steward, with a thank you from First lady Michelle Obama "for all that you do to care for our Nation's important historical resources."
The recognition will be noted at a 4:30 reception before Monday's City Commission meeting.
"The Americans who came before us built this country on the strength of their hopes, hard work, and perseverance," the First lady wrote. "Now you are using those same qualities to help share our history with today's Americans and those of tomorrow."
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City revisiting street
performer ordinance
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Assistant City Attorney Denise May will present research to commissioners Monday on Street Performer/Vendor ordinances in Key West and Miami Beach, as well as a lottery plan developed here in 2009 before the City Commission opted to ban all activity along St. George Street.
"In the City's research to the (St. Augustine) ordinance of 2009, there was a plan for a "Permissive" ordinance which incorporated much of what the Key West ordinance contains in allowing for specific "boxes" along St. George street from Fort Alley to Cathedral," May writes in a memo to commissioners.
"It anticipated 27 predesignated spots along that street but it would only utilize 9 at any one time. They were to be rotated weekly and lotteries were to occur on a weekly basis for the upcoming week. There were some prohibitions on what could be used or not used and all must be contained within the space.
"The boxes were to be 4x4 or 16 square feet but other than that there were no further definitions on how close to curbs or other permitted performer/artists. This is because the spaces were to be defined, color coded, and laid out in advance."
The attorney found a number of regulatory similarities among the three cities - Key West, Miami Beach and St. Augustine.
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 Seawall cost overflow
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Bidding for a bayfront connectivity project from the Municipal Marina park to the new seawall is almost double the $240,650 authorized by the City Commission two years ago, General Services Director Jim Piggott explaining in a memo to commissioners city staff "had gone through numerous iterations of plans.
"After reviewing the low bid that the city received, and after we eliminated several portions of the project, the city is still short $180,500 plus a $50,000 contingency to complete this project that would strengthen the weak link to help prevent downtown flooding," Piggott writes.
Options, he suggests:
1. The commission could authorize the additional $230,500 from city storm water fund reserves.
2. The remaining $180,000 from the original budget of $240,650 could be used to add sidewalks and only connect the bayfront.
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Mayor to revisit 450th contracts
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Rebuffed by her colleagues two weeks ago, Mayor Nancy Shaver Monday will repeat her request that city hall's 450 office contracts and procedures be reviewed.
Under Mayor and Commission Comments at the end of the agenda is "Discussion of 450th contract compliance. This agenda item, placed by Mayor Shaver, is to have a discussion on contractual policy review and compliance for 450th contracts. Items for discussion include, but are not limited to, resources (cost & time) to conduct such a review."
She suggested an audit of 450 funds at that previous meeting to avoid embarrassment, but Commissioner Leanna Freeman immediately responded, "I'm not embarrassed," and Commissioner Todd Neville said future monitoring makes sense, but he didn't favor going back.
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Looking for the Lost Chapel
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 Where exactly was the Franciscan chapel at Tolomato Cemetery?
Florida Public Archaeology Network's Kevin Gidusko visited the cemetery with his Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) equipment, and Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association (TCPA) President Elizabeth Duran Gessner reports "We think we're getting close.
"If you want to know more about it, come out and visit us today (11 to 3) and ask us where we think it was. Or just look at those little red flags on the cemetery grounds ...and wonder."
Gessner says "it was not located where the current Varela Chapel is, because that piece of land was bought in 1853 specifically for building the chapel. And looking at the maps, it seems that the chapel was not even in the center of the (earlier) Indian village. The de la Puente maps of the 1760s show it as a little northeast of the center of the modern cemetery, and one map shows it with another structure joined to it like an ell - this may have been the belltower joined to the chapel.
"So the long and the short of the story is that we're looking for any trace of the bell tower. But ...GPR to the rescue!"
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St. Augustine's missions
172 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
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From the blog of Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association (TCPA) President Elizabeth Duran Gessner.
Flagler College will host a conference on the Yamasee Indians April 17-18. Sign up here: http://yamaseeconference.weebly.com/.
 As all Tolomato fans know, this cemetery was originally a "refugee Indian mission." After British Colonial Governor James Moore of South Carolina wiped out the Florida mission chain in attacks over a several year period, mostly notably 1704 and 1706, the few surviving Indians were brought into St Augustine and settled in five different villages, which were served by the Franciscans from what is now the St Francis Barracks.
We know the locations of three of them: La Leche, La Punta and Tolomato, but there are two others in what is now Lincolnville whose exact location is unknown.
The villages were small, and Tolomato was probably the largest but nonetheless had fewer than 100 people or so in its heyday. They were mostly Guale Indians who had actually first been moved over a century earlier, during an Indian rebellion on the Georgia coast near their original home, and had spent almost 100 years living on a river that was known, of course, as the Tolomato River, which runs past today's Guana River Preserve.
They were attacked by Moore and, in 1706, the Spanish governor issued an order calling the Indians into St Augustine. Tolomato was located at one of the west-facing city gates, near the redoubt where the cannons were, and was a safe location - although at least one of the Tolomato Indians was killed in the 1740s defending the city against another wave of British-allied Indian attackers.
Two maps of St Augustine, the first by the Spanish engineer Juan Elixio de la Puente in 1764, and the other by the British engineer Moncrief in 1765, show Tolomato at the upper right, outside the city walls and near the Cubo Line that went along today's Orange Street.
We have virtually no other visual or archaeological records of the missions, except for a 1726 mention of a wooden chapel with a four-story stone bell tower at Tolomato. When the British arrived in 1763, the Spanish citizens, including the Indians, went to Cuba and abandoned their properties.
The British used the chapel for firewood but they left the bell tower, and in describing his journey through Florida in the 1760s, the naturalist Bartram mentions the tall but narrow (about 20 feet on each side) bell tower.
It stood until somewhere between 1793 and 1800, when it was taken apart so that the stones could be used in building the current Cathedral. One of the blocks of stone fell on the vault or grave of Fr. Pedro Camps, the Minorcan priest, and crushed it, leading to his reburial at the Cathedral in 1800.
Tolomato Cemetery is among 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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