Town and Gown

Flagler College’s Town and Gown Advisory Committee recently released its first progress report, outlining accomplishments and highlights of the 2016-2017 academic year and future priorities.
The committee — an extension of the Town and Gown Task Force, which disbanded in June of 2015 after presenting its final report and recommendations — serves as a channel for representatives from the college and community to discuss mutually relevant issues that impact the campus and city.
According to the report, highlights of the committee’s work this past year included the establishment of a student-only online rental blog, in which students can inform one another about available apartments and interactions with landlords; the implementation of a reporting system to handle behavior complaints made to the St. Augustine Police Department or Flagler College; and the participation of the committee in the college’s new president selection process.
“The Town and Gown Advisory Committee has made tremendous progress as we try to bridge important issues that affect the city of St. Augustine and the Flagler College campus,” the committee stated in the report. “This year we are building on that momentum as we continue collaborating on several issues and priorities that will bring benefits throughout downtown’s historic district.”
Some of the committee’s continuing and future priorities include generating greater awareness of the college’s improvement plans, identifying new ways of engaging the community in college-sponsored events and facilitating discussions between the college and City and St. Augustine on the regulation of rental properties and future rental inventory.
Advisory committee members include residents Becky Greenburg, Susan Rathbone, Judith Seraphin, Clyde Taylor, Irene Arriola and chairman John Versaggi and Flagler College representatives Paige Armstrong, Dan Stewart and Laura Stevenson.
A detailed annual report on the Town and Gown Advisory Committee can be found here.