Candidate Q&A: James Antun

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.JamesAntunFernandinaBeachCityCommission/

Email: antun91@yahoo.com

Phone: 516-547-5309
 

CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE

General information

I am 31 years old. My schooling includes a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology from the University of Cortland, NY. After graduation, I proceeded directly into graduate school at New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) in Seneca Falls, NY. This is where I eventually met my wife and business partner. At NYCC I studied my Doctorate of Chiropractic and dual-enrolled the latter two-thirds of my time in school to earn a Master’s in Human Anatomy & Physiology Instruction. I graduated from the Chiropractic program with honors while maintaining a 3.5 GPA in the master's program. In addition to these qualifications, I maintain an active license in the state of Florida, which requires 40 credit hours of continuing education every two years. This rigorous educational foundation paired with guidance and mentorship from several individuals within the chiropractic profession, as well as mentors with many other specialties provided my wife and I the knowledge and support that has allowed us to flourish in our business. Due to our success, we have been blessed to be able to purchase a home on the island and start our family. Our beautiful daughter Scarlet is now just over 3 months old! I am the youngest of 3 siblings, and my older brother is an island resident as well.

I have lived on the island for 6 years now and owned a home within the city for nearly 3. Prior to owning our home my wife and I have also rented a home for one year just a few blocks away from where we now live.

Have you ever ran for/held public office before?

This will be my first time running for public office, but past experience in leadership includes serving one year as Vice President, and an additional year As president of the Fernandina Beach power referral group. This group currently has no less than 40 local small business owners and/or key employees. Additionally, I am a graduate of the 2019 class of leadership Nassau. This class offers a broad overview of all the elements that make up not just our city, but Nassau county as well.

What part of your career or life experience do you believe gave you the skillset to be a City Commissioner?

I believe the life experience that I have which is most relevant to this job is the combination of my skills in business ownership, my athletic background, and my peripheral education which provides an analytical mindset that will offer nothing shy of prudent use of our city taxpayer dollars, and sound-mind decision-making when it comes to applying policies and procedures that affect city residents and businesses within the city.

What made you want to run for office?

I was motivated to run for office due to severe frustrations with excessively delayed permitting for the construction of the space that is now home to my second business endeavor (Personalized Performance). What was most frustrating about this experience was the countless hours and the unfortunate need for legal measures to resolve this issue. We incurred the cost of an attorney and discovered an inconsistent application of city policies compounded with use of city code enforcement resources connected to a personal agenda. Based on my experience and feedback from others to support this not being an isolated incident I want to instill a level of accountability and consistency in these policies in order to ensure that no other business owner suffers the delays that I did.

What do you feel are the biggest problems facing Fernandina Beach?

I think the biggest problems we have are the lack of more efficient long-term planning strategies when it comes to our budget, which leads into the frustrations we have discussed over the previous candidate forums including completion of the sea wall, repairs and maintenance of downtown as well as city hall, and maintenance of our parks/recreation centers. Simply put, if we cannot maintain what we have we certainly don't need to be adding more unless it is a revenue generator!

Now that the marina has received a payment to pay off an accumulated cash deficit, do you think the marina can be financially self-sufficient?

I do think the marina can be financially self-sufficient as long as boat slips are priced accordingly for market value, and revenue from the oasis marina company offsets its cost to the city.

What changes do you think the City can make to help the golf course become financially self-sufficient?

I believe some changes to consider for the golf course include cutting our losses on Top Tracer for the time being, and utilizing the structure as a covered driving range. Additionally, I mentioned in the golf course candidate forum that I would like to see a feasibility study of converting 9 holes of the city course into a par 3 executive course. I believe this would be a short-term loss financially that can yield long-term gains based on three critical facts

1. A broader demographic of city and county residents will have easier access and be able to play golf more often;

2. reallocation of extra land due to certain holes being shortened can free up land to be dedicated to conservation;

3. less course to maintain leads to an immediate reduction in maintenance fees.

How could the City Commission improve its relationship with the Board of County Commissioners? OHPA?

I believe the city commission can foster a better relationship with the board of county commissioners simply by having a more frequent and routine method of communication to foster greater collaboration. Currently, there are no standing meetings between city and county officials, and I would be a proponent of hosting a quarterly meeting between city and county commissioners.