By: Kate Kimmel
Facing an April 1 exit by its private marina operator Alliance Marine, Fernandina Beach commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to shift marina operations in-house through a budget amendment reallocating contract funds to city staffing.
The amendment reallocates $332,330 from the Alliance Marine contract to cover salaries and benefits from April through September, with marina employees remaining in their positions while transitioning to city payroll.
Under the approved amendment, $130,000 is allocated for the combined salaries of three full-time employees, $110,000 for seven part-time employees and $10,440 for one seasonal or temporary position. The remaining funds cover benefits and associated employment costs.
City Manager Sarah Campbell told commissioners that Alliance notified the city on Jan. 29 that it no longer wished to operate marinas it does not own, providing an April 1 termination date.
The city awarded a five-year marina management contract to Alliance Marine — then operating as Oasis Marinas — in December 2020, following a decade of management by Westrec Marina Management.
Alliance recommended reassigning the contract to U.S. Marina Group, but Campbell said the timeline left little opportunity to vet a new operator or issue a request for proposals.
“Because of the timeline, it is my strong recommendation that the city take over those operations,” Campbell said. “Just the duration to do an RFP and secure a different firm would take a lot of time.”
Campbell said city staff had already begun preparing for a transition, consulting with the city’s comptroller on budget impacts, human resources on benefits, information technology staff on software integration and Deputy City Manager Jeremiah Glisson on operational logistics.
“I feel very confident in our staff’s capability to bring this in-house in the next 27 days,” Campbell said, adding that marina employees support the move.
Marina Manager Chris Ferguson and several marina employees attended the meeting, including Nate Parsons, who said he has worked at the marina for eight years and has long favored city-run operations.
“We have folks in this community that can run this marina. We support the city taking over, and we’re gonna do everything we can to work with all you guys,” Parsons said to commissioners and staff.
Commissioners were presented with alternative options, including reissuing the contract or seeking new bids, but Campbell said neither was feasible before April 1. Commissioner Joyce Tuten said the city had received several unsolicited inquiries from private operators, but agreed that assembling a new public-private partnership in that timeframe would be difficult.
The transition comes as the marina prepares for a major redevelopment, including the demolition and redesign of Brett’s Waterway Cafe and the marina operations building later this spring.
“With the crazy upheaval that’s about to go down over there with the removal of Brett’s, I think that in-house is great,” Tuten said.
Commissioner Tim Poynter, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said he was concerned about adding city staff positions and questioned whether the city could generate the same level of revenue as a private operator.
“I’m not a big fan of adding headcounts onto city staff, and I never have been,” Poynter said. “I do think that private companies can do a better job of generating revenues than a city can.”
Vice Mayor Darron Ayscue seconded Poynter’s opposition to increasing city staff headcounts, but countered that the marina operates as an enterprise fund and should be self-sustaining.
“If you have an enterprise account that is intended to fund the employees, that’s kind of a part of it,” Ayscue said.
Campbell noted that before it was dissolved last year, the marina advisory board had recommended bringing operations in-house. Glisson presented the termination situation to the Waterfront Advisory Board on Feb. 23, the members of which unanimously agreed that the switch to in-house operations would be most practical.
Commissioners approved the budget amendment with Poynter opposed.
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