Residents urge Dunedin to preserve Hammock Advisory Committee as city outlines committee consolidation plan

Dozens of residents urged the Dunedin City Commission on March 5 to preserve focused volunteer oversight for Hammock Park as city staff described a plan to consolidate some advisory committees.

Several residents, including Matt Horvath and representatives of Friends of the Hammock, said the Hammock Advisory Committee has vacant seats and a ready volunteer pipeline and asked the commission to halt any immediate merger. "Each of you have a petition in front of you with a 190 signatures, 65 of which are people who are volunteering that wanna be on the committee," Matt Horvath told the commission. Jefferson Cox read a letter from Carrie O’Brien, president of Friends of the Hammock, into the record urging adoption of an interim plan to appoint members to the Hammock Advisory Committee while consolidation is evaluated and recommending measurable success indicators and an automatic rollback provision if priorities are diluted.

Why it matters: the Hammock is described in the meeting as an ecologically sensitive 90‑acre green space and watershed adjacent to neighborhoods; residents said concentrated local stewardship and volunteer management matter for conservation, volunteer programs and habitat protection.

Staff response and process: City Manager Jennifer (speaker 10) told the meeting that staff have proposed consolidating some boards and committees to reduce administrative burden (the proposal would reduce the number of advisory bodies from 26 to 21). She emphasized the difference between a workshop and a final decision — "workshop, there's never any action that is taken at a city commission workshop," — and said no consolidation resolutions have been drafted or adopted. The manager said staff plan to meet with affected committee liaisons, to seek input from committees and the public, and to avoid having people immediately lose their seats through the proposed approach; she suggested holding an advertised Hammock Advisory Committee workshop and said an interim plan could restore functionality while the broader consolidation process moves forward.

Public concerns and recommendations: residents asked staff to reopen the volunteer pipeline, accept new applicants for vacant seats, and ensure that any merged committee retains a clearly stated mission and a specific point of responsibility for Hammock Park priorities (stewardship, education and volunteer coordination). Several speakers asked that consolidation proposals include quantitative metrics and a condition to reconstitute a stand‑alone Hammock Advisory Committee if those metrics are not met.

Next steps: city manager said staff will consult commission liaisons and affected committees and will not bring resolutions for adoption until all input is gathered. The interim approach discussed by staff — appointing members while the consolidation work proceeds — was described by Friends of the Hammock as acceptable provided the city adopts concrete success indicators and communication protocols.