During Monday night's St. Johns City Commission meeting, Mayor Roberta Cocco abruptly resigned from her position, and on Wednesday, I got the chance to talk with her about her reasons for resigning.
"My integrity makes it very hard to vote on things, and do what's best for the residents, if I'm not informed," said Cocco.
I have been covering this story for the past couple of days, and Tuesday, I asked residents about what questions they have for Cocco. One of the main ones residents had was why she decided to resign.
I got to ask her more about the motivations behind her decision.
"When I ran for the commission, one of my points was transparency and open communication," said Cocco. "So when I heard that there were still some questions out there, I thought, good questions deserve good answers."
Cocco said most of the questions she asked were financially driven. She said those requests would sometimes take months for city officials to get back to her.
"When I realized that there wasn't a culture that was recognizing my curiosity and my questions, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to learn or make informed decisions," Cocco said.
While Cocco voiced her struggles and experiences, I also got a chance to speak with Vice Mayor Scott Dzurka for his input on Cocco's questions.
"I know Roberta felt a lot of hostility, and it's unfortunate she felt that," said Dzurka. "But I think we take away some lessons on this of roles and responsibilities for commissioners, for the mayor, and the staff that hopefully we can learn from."
Even though Cocco has resigned from her position, she wants residents to keep moving forward.
"I don't want the city of St. Johns residents to walk away feeling hopeless, frustrated or upset. Again, we have so much potential, and I would love that if out of this there was more engagement and involvement," Cocco said.
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