Board bids farewell to chairman

Clay Commissioners said goodbye to outgoing Chairman Wayne Bolla during their Nov. 9 meeting. Bolla completed his second, four-year term at the end of the session, hitting the term limit set by the county’s charter.

Reading from a proclamation, Commissioner Betsy Condon said Bolla was first elected to represent the Oakleaf Plantation area in November 2014.

“In his first term,” Condon said, “he championed many causes, including major road improvements in the Oakleaf area, diversifying county revenue sources to fund neighborhood road projects, a Welcome-to-Clay-County monument sign, revisions to the sign ordinance, a business licensing program and business development plan and changes to the animal services ordinances among many others.”

She added that during his second term, Bolla continued to advance traffic and drainage issues and worked with the board to modernize the land development code.

“Under Chairman Bolla’s leadership, Clay County received legislative appropriations for three key projects, including jail expansion, the SWEAT program, and the Northeast Florida Greenway Trail,” Condon said. “He also led the effort to secure additional funding to cover inflationary costs in the bonded transportation program, ensuring these critical infrastructure projects will be completed as designed.”

“Chairman Bolla has been a valued leader in our community and has served the residents and visitors of Clay County very well during his tenure on the board of county commissioners as chairman in 2017 and 2022,” she continued. “He is a strong believer that it’s not about us, but what we get done together that counts.”

Bolla’s wife, Mary, the current school board chair, read a tribute to her husband.

She said that Wayne first entered politics by running for a seat on the school board in 2004 while Mary was still a teacher.

“You were on your way,” Mary said. “Katie and I finally remember getting petitions signed at a meeting at Orange Park High School where they were discussing, of all things, the potential for the First Coast Expressway.”

Mary added that she had to remind her husband of his name during his first campaign speech and that the school board has not been the same since Wayne served on the panel.

“You were criticized for asking questions and applauded for not being a rubber stamp,” she said. “But truly the best experience was handing (son) Chris’s diploma at his graduation from Ridgeview High after one term on the school board.”

Mary said that after ending his service on the school board, her husband realized a 30-year dream by sailing his home-built boat across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean.  

“Once you brought the sailboat back to the St. John’s,” she said, “it was time to look at your next opportunity to serve the community. You approached running for county commissioner with your industrial engineer’s mind, and with a little help from your friends, you visited pretty much every voter in District 2 to let them know you had their backs.”

“Mr. Chairman, thank you for your service to Clay County,” she continued, “and to the many people who have reached out to you for help, whether the help was for a pothole, a driveway, a gully, building a new trail for hiking and biking, concerns about flooding or growth, an opportunity for a paved road or simply a person who wanted to be heard. You listened, you responded, and you helped because you truly cared. Well done, Wayne.”