New Year’s Day is long past, but the political pyrotechnics continue to flare on the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners.
Citing her absence during last August’s garbage collection fiasco and handling of a tree-saving initiative, Board Chair Krista Joseph on Tuesday proposed a vote of no-confidence in County Administrator Joy Andrews.
The bid failed by a tally of 3-2.
Joseph argued that Andrews committed municipal malpractice by vacationing in China as the county handed over trash collection duties to new contractor FCC.
Their disastrous debut was plagued from the start by missed pickups, strewn trash and a chorus of resident fury.
“A vacation is not something that an experienced county administrator with a major contract about to commence should take when there may be operational issues,” Joseph said.
She compared the Sino-sojourn to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass vacationing in Ghana as fires ravaged her city this month.
While she said she wasn’t equating the infernos to St. Johns’ rubbish woes, Joseph said “there are parallels.”
“Just as Los Angeles residents are holding their leaders accountable for poor decisions that led to much greater vulnerability of homes and wildfires, we too must hold our leaders accountable for poor decisions that residents have to live with every day,” she said.
Joseph said Andrews, upon her return from China, counseled against using all available resources to quickly pick up uncollected trash because residents would get used to timely service “every single time.”
Joseph highlighted her $300,000 in annual compensation, a package she said is among “the highest in the state.”
“Residents expect and deserve the highest level of service and they are not receiving it,” she said. “I do not believe that Joy Andrews’ performance justifies keeping her in the job.”
Joseph also accused Andrews of purposefully “stonewalling” a discussion of tree-preservation measures at an October 2023 meeting.
“Her behavior that day and since regarding discussion of tree regulations is unacceptable and not reflective of the desire of voters,” she said, asserting that Andrews skews in favor of developers.
Board commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst fiercely defended the administrator, asserting that Joseph’s campaign was rooted in “personal” animus and policy disputes.
Acknowledging that they both voted in favor of the ill-fated switch to FCC, Arnold and Whitehurst argued that Joseph’s ire should be focused on them.
“Come at me,” Whitehurst said. “It’s my fault. I’m responsible for my votes. But Joy Andrews did not influence my votes. These are policy decisions that you disagree with, and I respect that. But don’t take it out on Joy.”
Arnold echoed that stance. “In my opinion, St. Johns County could not be luckier to have a person of her caliber, her experience, her education leading us into these challenging years,” she said. “I just think that we’re in the best hands possible and it seems very very personal.”
A handful of public speakers who stuck around for the late inning drama were split on whether Andrews should retain her post.
With commissioner Ann Taylor signaling her support for Joseph’s measure, the deciding vote rested with newly installed panelist Clay Murphy.
While generally perceived as an ally of Joseph and Taylor, Murphy broke ranks.
“I would agree with Commissioner Whitehurst and Commissioner Arnold that the bullets belong at you and not at Ms. Andrews,” he said. “I am somebody who feels that it would be unwise at this time to make a move of this magnitude. So I won’t be supporting this recall.”
Just moments after the dramatic vote, the agenda abruptly moved on to a routine report — from the visibly shaken county administrator herself.
“This is actually a very difficult moment for me to give a report,” she said after taking a moment to compose herself. “I’m going to be as professional as I can be.”
Having barely survived her own personal storm, Andrews reviewed the county’s preparations for punishing weather set to touch down Wednesday.
22 Responses
That doesn’t surprise me about Murphy, he sits on the fence. Andrews was groomed for the job after working in county administration office for about 10 yrs. She wrote her contract four months after BCC appointed her. Very lucrative to include monthly per deim for car, retirement payed by county, and a yearly pay raise of 12%.
How do you plan a vacation when a new contract is upcoming? Who does something like that! She should have been fired for the anguish she put our County residents through. Did three Commissioners forget that? She was responsible for administering a change that was made by her superiors. That’s what she was getting paid to do.
I have to agree with Board Chair Joseph. It is the County Administrator’s responsibility to make sure that the transition would be smooth for the residents of the county. The fact that Commissioners Whitehurst and Arnold had voted for the change is irrelevant. The decision had been made and Ms. Andrews was responsible to implement the change.
I agree with Commissioner Joseph. I think there may have been some back door deals to save this person’s job. She is overpaid and should have been on the job for the transition period of the new garbage collection contract. In my opinion she needs to be replaced along with anyone else that is a tool of the developers. The people spoke in August and we will speak again in the next primary. As for Whitehurst, he should be reminded he only won by less than 800 votes and in my opinion if it wasn’t for the illegal fake voter guide he most likely would have lost.
Thank you Krista and Ann for being the voice of the people. Clay needs to do what he was voted in to do. Protect the taxpayers!
Exactly!
Agree. Watch the new incoming national leadership. If the department leaders don’t oversee and carry out directives and decisions, they will be the ones to go, not the policy maker. Local politics, not business. Since much was invested in grooming her for the position, perhaps a remedial lesson that includes a contract adjustment is in order.
Disappointing vote by Clay Murphy. I hope this is not a harbinger of things to come. Ann Taylor is absolutely right.
Ms Joseph and Ms Taylor have had it “out” for Ms Andrews since before the election. Ms Andrews is more intelligent than they both are, makes more intelligent decisions, has the County running extremely well, has kept expenses down while the implementing the decisions that have been forced upon her by the board which includes Taylor and Joseph, has more guts to make those tough decisions than anyone I know, and still comports herself with dignity and grace. St. John’s is lucky to have her and will be lucky to keep her. Joseph and Taylor should leave, not Ms Andrews.
You can’t be serious. Joy Andrews is controlled by developers. That’s why the four developer-funded commissioners passed an ordinance making it more difficult for the new slow-the-growth commissioners to terminate her job, and they did it right after two of them were voted out! What kind of “tough decisions” are you referring to? Andrews’ decision to sabotage the 14 proposed tree protections (which included reducing clearcutting)? She advised commissioners to vote against them, promising the tree protections would be addressed in the Comprehensive Plan. Total lie. She never addressed them. Why should we pay her a $300,000 salary to lie to us? And to have our trees destroyed? And to not have our trash picked up while she’s vacationing overseas? In China.
Oh BS. Nobody takes a vacation at the onset of a refuse contract with a new company! The entire plan was botched with the company unfamiliar with streets and pick ups. That is all on Ms. Andrews even if she is a friend of yours.
Agreed. The decision to switch to FCC was a bad one and rests on Commissioners Whitehurst and Arnold. The implementation of the new service and the oversight of what turned out to be a fiasco rested solely on the Administrator’s shoulders. She abandoned her post. Kudos to Commissioner Joseph and Commissioner Taylor for their courage in once again standing for what they believe is honorable and right for the people of St. John’s County. Shame on Commissioner Murphy for not standing for the same, as we voted and believed in him to do. Joy Andrews is overpaid and not meeting the expectations of her job. In any other business, she would be fired. We, the people of St. John’s County, expect our elected officials to serve our best interest, and not to spend our hard earned tax money on an administrator who is not respectful of where her salary comes from. Furthermore, what on earth was she doing in China? Has anyone addressed the China aspect of this? With everything going on in our world at this time, and considering China is perhaps our country’s greatest enemy, what on God’s green earth is that woman doing visiting China? Perhaps we need to be taking a harder look at Joy Andrews.
In my opinion the Commissioners’ job is policy and decision making which they did with the best information available – which they accomplished. Expecting them to oversee implementation of the contract is not appropriate. While I appreciate Arnold and Whitehursts’ willingness to accept responsibility in defense of Andrews it seems to ignore the fact that she is responsible for operational activities and should have been present during such an important transition.
I appreciate Chmn. Joseph’s actions – hopefully it will heighten Ms Andrew’s perception of her responsibilities.
Transparency in our County government is so needed. The October 31 BOCC special meeting in 2023 brought very qualified, experienced Administrator applicants to the table. But alas, our taxpayer funds to conduct this search were wasted. Joy Andrews – a long term County employee was promoted from within. Her huge compensation package is record breaking for an inexperienced, NON elected employee of this county. That vote to protect her was passed by the outgoing, voted OUT, development friendly commissioners. They made sure to protect her by changing the votes needed on the Board to get her out. What does that tell you?
I agree there were some problems when the transition to the new recycling company took place but by October those problems had been
resolved and since then I haven’t heard about
any other problems with the recycling. Some
people just love to complain.
People “love to complain”?? There were 10,000+ complaints according to News4Jax. And the complaints have not stopped. We heard that recyclables are going into the trash truck from neighbors at a Palm Valley Community Assoc. meeting a week ago. And FCC won’t even cover all of their trucks, so trash flies out and creates a blight in our county. Please don’t belittle residents in your defense of an incompetent, $300,000 -per-year county administrator.
Joy Andrew’s has been stellar in her job. The criticism is unjust. She could not foresee the issues that arose after the transition of haulers. She is an excellent administrator. Can’t say the same for the commissioner Joseph. She just seems to want turmoil and looks for it at every corner.
Commissioner Joseph voted alone against changing haulers. If other commissioners had voted with her, that would have prevented a lot of turmoil! You’ve got it backwards.
I am so happy that Andrews has been exposed. Knowledge is power! Now we the people can move forward with this information, and take our feelings to the ballot!
You get what you pay for in trash service. The cheapest bid does not get the job done . Get a real trash company not fly by night cheapo group.
Transparency is the key to a better governing body. There must be someone like Joseph to let the people know what is going on in the county government and what is going on within the board. The compensation package Andrews has means that she must do what she needs to do to serve the people.
SJ County levels of service have diminished since Joy Andrews became Administrator. Her salary is enormous and her actions in times of adversity are poor.