BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Keystone Heights Mayor Nina Rodenroth spoke to scouts from Troop 185 about city government at the Keystone Beach Pavilion on Tuesday, April 9.
Around 45 Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, along with 25 parents and guardians, attended the session. The mayor showed the group a video about what mayors typically do.
She then told the scouts about her background and how she became involved in local government, introduced City Manager Charlie Van Zant and City Clerk Stephanie Silva to the audience, and showed attendees a slide of her fellow city council members.
“So, basically, the last time I checked, 1,547 is our population,” Rodenroth said of her 1.2-square-mile municipality. “I want to say within that group we have about 326 children, 12% of our population is age 65 and older, and the median age is around 36 years old. So that’s a pretty young city, I think, overall.”
The mayor then focused on the policymaking roles she and the council fulfill compared to the staff’s day-to-day responsibilities.
“Charlie and Steph run the city day to day,” she explained. “When the power goes out, they’re the ones who seek help. When we have a hurricane, they initiate the request to get support from the governor.”
Rodenroth reviewed some recent actions by the council, including erecting no-parking signs along a city street after a business owner complained that parked cars were blocking his entrance.
She also talked about the city’s purchase of the China Chef Restaurant and its plans to convert the parcel into open space and parking.
Rodenroth also discussed city ordinances, focusing on rules that govern behavior at the beach park. She added that although one ordinance prohibits skateboarding within the facility, she caught a teenager violating the rule right before the scout’s meeting and informed him of the prohibition.
The mayor then took questions from the scouts and their parents, fielding inquiries about the cost of the China Chef acquisition, the city’s environmental issues, how officials balance freedom of speech with the need to correct misinformation on social media, whether Half-Moon Lake will be impacted by the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project, and how to be a good citizen.
Rodenroth wrapped up the meeting by giving each scout a medal and certificate for participating in the event.
