I have lived in South Ponte Vedra Beach, just a few steps from Vilano Beach since 2007. I observed the dredging to deal with erosion that has occurred over the years and noted the lack of long term success.  My husband was a Coast Guard Officer and we lived on the coasts of CA, TX, VA, and FL (Jax), and I have never seen an attempt to control erosion like what we do here.  I started attending the Port Waterway and Beach meetings to better understand the logic and research for this approach.  After a few meetings, it became apparent that if I really wanted to make any impact on policy, I needed to be a member of the PWB Commission.  After examining the three seats vacant, I concluded that I could make the greatest impact by replacing the incumbent commissioner in Seat 1.  I am currently walking the neighborhoods and learning that residents do not feel their concerns are beings addressed.

My name is Matt Brown, and I'm running for reelection to the St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District. I've served one prior term, and am currently the District chair. I hope to continue my tenure with the District in a second term, building on the work both myself and Commissioner West have done to expand the District's support for conservation-focused projects within our community.

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Local sailor and business owner Melanie Sunshine Neale earned her US Coast Guard 100 Ton Master captains’ license before she got her drivers’ license. She grew up living aboard her family’s 47’ sailboat, cruising up and down the East Coast and through the Bahamas for nearly twenty years while being homeschooled. Melanie captained and crewed on various boats while working her way through college, then bought and lived aboard her first sailboat while attending grad school in Miami.

She’s an author (her books include memoirs Boat Girl and Boat Kid), regular contributor to various magazines, a freelance editor, and has worked over the years as everything from boat detailer to bait shop clerk to college professor to educational administrator.

After 10 years in the corporate world, following a layoff and divorce, Melanie began a career as a yacht broker. In 2020, she opened Sunshine Cruising Yachts, located in the working waterfront district of Riberia Street. The company brokers vessels locally and across the globe, and is now the largest local seller of used cruising sailboats.

Melanie is a single parent, former homeowner in St. Augustine South, and lives on her 43’ sailboat with her daughter, a student at Sebastian Middle School, and various animals. She's running for this role simply because she's tired of talking and is ready to make a difference. 

I am the Commissioner with the most experience on the Port Board.  This will be my 4th term.  I was on the board when we voted to be the  sponsor of the effort to open of the Summer Haven River.  And I've supported the effort through the years and still do.  I want to continue to serve the District by promoting boating safety, and to work hand in hand with the Sheriff's Marine Division and that of the City of St Augustine and St Augustine Beach.

My first priority would be to increase education of the public regarding our natural resources and the importance of the legacy we have to preserve clean water, our estuaries, marine life, natural science applications, as well as commercial and recreational resources.

Second, I would review our budget and funds available to be sure that our priorities are appropriately funded.

Third, I would like to increase the courtesy and respect within the board itself.  After attending months of PWB meetings, I have come to understand the argumentative and confrontational attitude of one board member.  This makes it difficult for the Board to reach consensus on issues.  This same confrontational attitude makes it difficult for the board to gain support for projects, funding, cooperation, etc.  It was after observing this month after month, that I decided I needed to run for Seat 1, where I believe I can make a difference in how the board works together in the future.  As the former principal of Nease High School and Fairfax High School (Fairfax County, VA), I have had years of experience in communicating positively and accomplishing goals.

My main priorities during a second term will include:

Continuing to promote conservation-focused projects within the District. We've recently committed to funding beach crossovers for the entire City of St. Augustine Beach (replacing the damaging cut-throughs currently in use) and the County's Genovar Tract boat ramp project (which will include a significant conservation component, and perhaps more importantly, prevented the property from being clearcut for a highrise development). I want to continue on this trajectory with more projects of this type.

Soliciting a wider pool of potential funding applicants from within the local scientific community. I have already spoken with scientists at Flagler College and the GTM-NERR about funding studies within the District, and look forward to advancing those proposals to the funding stage soon.

Attempting to repair the agency relationships that have been damaged during our unnecessarily contentious and uncivil previous four years. The incessant ranting and recriminations by one commissioner have poisoned our working relationships with nearly every government and agency partner the District has. We must repair those relationships if we want to continue to do good work in the future.

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My focus locally is on economic growth within the marine industry (specifically training and job creation), preservation of the working waterfront and the city’s maritime heritage, accountability, and intelligently planned and managed access to our natural resources.

First I would work with my fellow Commissioners to expand the district down to the Flagler County line including land west of the Intracoastal Waterway.  The Port District was created by the Florida Legislature in 1937 when most of that land was uninhabited.  As the years have progressed this area has become much more populated.  It is right that these properties help support the Port District through their tax base.

Second, creating and maintaining public boat ramps.  Many times we partner with the city or the county on these projects.  I value the working relationship we have with both.  We also work with the Florida Inland Navigation District  (FIND) to help fund various marine projects.

Third, Erosion is an ongoing problem on out beaches.  Sometimes we brainstorm with city and county officials on the best way to protect our beaches.  We have a good working relationship with the Army Corp of Engineers.  Often when the beaches erode, public walkways to the beach are damaged.  Finding solutions to prevent erosion and maintaining public walkovers is a priority.

The board works cooperatively with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the City and County Law Enforcement, the County Board of Commissioners, the Florida Inland Navigational District (FIND), etc. to channel resources for the benefit of the citizens of St. Johns County. 

We could improve on education for our constituents and visitors on our water resources, pollution, water safety, protecting and preserving our legacy of water resources, etc.

We could also improve on our meetings of the Port Waterway and Beach which are not publicly accessible in real time.  Meetings are open to the public, but at 3 p.m. during the workweek makes it difficult for concerned citizens to provide input or see how meetings are conducted, topics of discussion, tone of the meetings, etc.  There is an audio-recording of meetings posted on the website after the meeting, but there is no way to know who is speaking from the recording.  My goal would be for these meetings to available to the public by live streaming, zoom, etc. so our concerned constituents will be able to see and hear the meetings and provide input in real time.

At present, I think the District has been remarkably good at being receptive to funding requests from new, non-traditional applicants. For a nearly 100-year old district that has spent the vast majority of its history doing not much more than funding dredging operations, I've been impressed with our willingness to pivot to new project types, including scientific studies, beach access/dune renourishment projects, and more.

In terms of improvement, I think the District could do two things better: 1) advertise itself as a potential partner for groups and agencies within our area who are looking for support for waterway-related projects, and 2) better utilize technology to facilitate public access to District resources.

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There has been a focus on beach access, and funds were recently approved for an extensive project providing an access point. Dredging has been and needs to be a priority, and I would support the purchase of dredging equipment so that the city would not have to hire and pay outside contractors for what could easily be done locally, hiring locals, and done with less of an environmental impact than the current dredging projects have had. We also need to find ways to make our city more welcoming and accessible to visiting boaters, who spend money in the city but often pass through because they don't have access to dockage or facilities.

I believe our working relationship with our government officials is what we do best.  Each government agency has a time as part of our agenda to express their wishes and concerns at each of our monthly meetings.  The maintenance of order in our meetings is very much needed.  One of our commissioners, Sandra Flowers in Group 1 is often the source of divisive comments and outbursts is is often called out of order.  Hopefully she will be replaced by Linda Thomson in the general election.

Again, education is critical.  We can accomplish this through school programs, integrated curriculum, field trips, academy partnerships, etc.  In addition, cooperation and connection with local commercial marine activity will help us to focus together on our mutual goals.

Without careful attention to environmental protection, there will be no commercial and recreational activity in our district. If we allow our water quality to continue to degrade, our shorelines to be developed and to erode, our dunes to be trampled and bulldozed, etc., there will be no commercial fishing and shrimping industry, no boaters seeking access to our waterways, no visitors to our (disappearing) beaches, and no economic activity. A focus on conservation is a focus on the underlying economic health of our region, and I believe strongly that the District should take no action that it cannot first explicitly justify in environmental protection terms.

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Education is the key to this. I would promote more education on how to conserve and protect, how to boat and use the waterways and beaches cleanly and safely (safety is near and dear to me), and would also promote activities such as clean-ups and anything that gets locals out on the water for the good of the environment. I would also push for things like the purchase of the land surrounding Fish Island Marina basin and its conversion into an environmentally friendly multi-use marina owned and operated by the city...preserving this land and not turning it into another "high and dry" facility owned by people that don't have local interests in mind. Local education and training = local jobs and industry for people who care about their local waterways.

A representative of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation  Commission (FWC) attends our monthly meetings and gives us a report of activities under his/her jurisdiction.   Also, we have an engineer with Taylor Engineering that attends our meetings and makes certain that environmental issues, protection of our natural resources is taken into account with any marine project such as river restoration and dredging, to name two.

We have an obligation to our public to ensure that they understand the mitigating effects of sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding.  This again is a matter of education. Our district should focus on educating our constituents about these critical issues.  Working with science curriculum specialists at the county and state level, we can increase the awareness and understanding of these concerns for our youngest citizens.

Our community is under existential threat from sea level rise, and every public body, including the Port District, should be doing everything it can to help mitigate the coming crisis. To that end, I fully support District funding of projects aimed at sea level rise mitigation, especially those involving living shorelines/return to nature, and will continue to invite funding requests from potential project sponsors during a second term.

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To the point where we can, we should play a role in this. Owning and operating a dredge would be a huge step in this direction. Outside contractors just want to do a job and be paid for it...whereas locals care about the long-term impacts of these projects and how they impact the resiliency of the seashore. 

The Port Commission is not a very public body.  I believe that if we were more visible to the public, then we could demonstrate how, through our efforts and the efforts of all governmental agencies, certain adverse weather or natural events were either overcome or improved by the work of our organizations working together.