St. Johns County Administrator Joy Andrews | St. Johns County
Published on January 22, 2025 at 10:36 am
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When she became chair of the St. Johns County Commission in December, Krista Joseph promised to shake up the status quo. That’s exactly what she tried to do Tuesday when she moved to fire the county administrator.
At a county commission meeting, Joseph moved for a vote of no confidence against County Administrator Joy Andrews. The move failed when Joseph was unable to muster the four votes necessary to fire Andrews.
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Joseph said Andrews’ leadership had been unsatisfactory during the county’s botched rollout of its new solid waste provider last year, as well as in 2023 when Joseph pushed St. Johns County to adopt stricter tree preservation guidelines.
The county administrator doesn’t pass policy the way elected members of the County Commission do, but she serves as a liaison between the County Commission and the county staff.
Andrews was hired in 2023 at a salary of about $300,000.
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Last October, after two sitting county commissioners lost their seats, the board passed a measure that protected the county administrator’s job from moves like Joseph’s — raising the number of votes needed to remove a county administrator from three to four.
Joseph was the lone dissenting vote against that move.
Joseph suggested the rule change was evidence that Andrews is in league with the development community.
“I think it’s clear: to continue to protect developer interests above residents’ interest, which is what she has been doing,” Joseph said. “She has shown that she is not competent on decisions that impact our everyday lives.”
Joseph ultimately only received two votes for her move, with recently elected County Commissioner Ann Taylor joining her and County Commissioners Christian Whitehurst, Clay Murphy and Sarah Arnold voting against the measure.
Whitehurst said he was shocked and disappointed Joseph was blaming what he said were policy decisions — the fault of the County Commission itself — on the county administrator.
Andrews, Whitehurst said, worked her way up through county departments before taking the job as county administrator and has continually shown her qualification for the job.
“She has worked morning, noon and night, six and seven days a week for the better part of 18 years serving the people of St. Johns County professionally and with a lot of courage, in some instances,” Whitehurst said.
Joseph said her reasoning was professional, not personal, but Arnold said she wasn’t so sure, arguing that the county is in “the best hands possible.”
Even though Joseph’s measure failed, she said she will continue to hold Andrews accountable because she “expects more” from the administrator.
