July 9, 2010
Dear St. Augustine Shores' Residents:
This is a plea to all of you to get involved in what's going on in your very own backyard.
Many of you hear bits and pieces about what is going on in our community and you're probably not sure what to believe and perhaps are even confused by all that you hear. You may not even care. You are unfortunately the majority.
On the second Thursday of every month the St. Augustine Shores Service Corporation Board of Directors meet at the Riverview Club at 7:00pm. I encourage you all to attend at least once. This will offer you an honest glimpse of what is really going on in the community and how much the board cares (or doesn't care) about you, the residents.
At last night's meeting I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of new people of which it was their first attendance and I think they had their eyes opened. Many times during the meeting the woman next to me expressed complete shock at how poorly the board itself interacted and she asked me if this is always the way it is? I encouraged her to keep listening.
When it came time for resident input and comments, a lot of the residents' questions were met with blank stares by the President (C.E. "Gus" Kouremetis) and given no answers. When one resident asked why there was a Police Officer in attendance she received no answer. When she pressed further she was told it was for "Our Protection". Protection from what? She then inquired as to why we needed protection and was concerned that perhaps there was a danger within the St. Augustine Shores. She was told "no, he was hired by a private citizen". Why? The president said he was moving on to another subject and an uproar from residents in attendance demanded to know what was going on. There was never a direct answer.
It's unfortunate that the President of our board cannot put his own personal agenda and feelings aside in order to listen to ideas to help the community. Under his leadership, which I personally feel is ineffective at best, his actions, or inactions may very well be the downfall of The St. Augustine Shores. This, coupled with the constant "passing of the buck" and not taking responsibility for missteps, mistakes, et al, does not bode well for our community. Any way they want to spin it, they'll spin it… so be it, however, time will tell and the truth will come out.
Our faithful, public servants, the St. John's County Sheriff's Department, are called to our community quite often, and many times to the Riverview Club. Why? It's called wasting County monies, resources, and time. It's called paranoia of a few as a ruse to keep information from being given to the community. What information is so damning that all of this is necessary?
I know what it is, and it is ugly, deceitful and may border on criminal. Our sheriff's department should be able to do their jobs without being called to our Riverview Club to sit and watch people bicker, they should be out protecting our community.
So, I again beseech you to attend just one single board meeting and see for yourself how your community is run and where your hard-earned dollars are going. I don't know about you but every penny I earn matters to me.
If you care to know more, have a concern, or wish to get additional contact information, please email me at: toyc34@yahoo.com.
I know that I may receive emails from those that have a personal interest in keeping things "the way they are" or "under wraps" but just know that I will turn over anything deemed threatening and harassing to the proper authorities and I am tech-savvy enough to figure out from what computer it originated from. If you have something to say, please do so in a respectful, constructive and adult manner. Thank you all for reading.
Kristin Thomas, Contributing Writer
Click the above image to listen in
