District IV – Northeast Florida Branch

Description

The Northeast Florida Branch, comprising seven counties in northeast Florida (Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns), traces the roots of its founding to 1975, when its “founding fathers”, Bill Bryant, Stan Nodland, George Knecht, and Al Kinard and others established the branch, backed by the support of the City of Jacksonville and began holding informal meetings to encourage everyone to get involved in branch activities.

These early actions eventually led to the anticipated result, with the Chapter formally accepting the Branch as an integral member on April 26, 1979. The Branch has grown to include members from all the northeast counties, including the corporate community. In the mid-1980’s, the increased support from the private sector was recognized by alternating the Chairman position, public and then private, which only strengthened the community ties with APWA. Currently, the Branch may not be the biggest or the most affluent, but it is tight knit and provides much support to the members.

Northeast Florida Branch Scholarships

The philosophy of the branch is to support construction, engineering, public administration career fields and continuing education for public agency employees. The Northeast Florida Branch assists individuals pursuing a public works career because education and training assistance fosters the continuation of high-level skills and professionalism that is the foundation of public works. Scholarships can be applied to both career development programs and college programs, covering costs for tuition and fees at accredited colleges, licensing, training, certifications, Florida Public Works Institute or Florida Public Works Academy. The application period closes in December, and scholarships are typically awarded in April. Contact apwaneflorida@gmail.com if you have questions about the qualification of your particular area of study, training program, licensing fees, certifications, etc.

APWA Scholarship

This year the NE Florida Branch was pleased to award seven scholarships to applicants from the City of Jacksonville Beach to continue their education in public works fields. These scholarships will help the recipients with additional training and certifications to allow their growth in public works. Many of our scholarship recipients this year will be using their awards to reach their next operator certification milestones. Keep up the good work!

Scholarship Recipients 2025

Alex Rang, City of Jacksonville Beach
Cheyenne Hale, City of Jacksonville Beach
Tavaris Warren, City of Jacksonville Beach
John Lamberti, City of Jacksonville Beach
Ja’Kobi Robinson, City of Jacksonville Beach
Roni Abu Eid, City of Jacksonville Beach
Phil Brown, City of Jacksonville Beach

Branch Events

Check out the Future Events section below to get the detail on upcoming socials, seminars, and other events.

March 12, 2025 the NE Florida Branch Hosted its annual equipment road-eo at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center. With 56 participants representing 7 municipalities, this was the largest event to date. Our Public Works guys and gals wrangled yellow iron in events including basketball, cornhole, tripod, raise the bar, and obstacle course to name a few. We’re proud of our individual winners and our all-around winners who will be representing the NE Florida Branch at the APWA Florida Expo in April 2025!

Individual Winners

Basketball – Michael Huss, Town of Orange Park
Obstacle Course – Bryce Dukes, St Johns County
Raise the Bar – Freddie Badger, St Johns County
Tripod – DJ Blake, Nassau County
Cornhole – Michael Huss, Town of Orange Park
Vack-it-ball – Kenneth Thornton, Nassau County

All-Around Winners

1. Michael Huss, Town of Orange Park
2. Chris Ingraham, St Johns County
3. Brad Allbritton, Clay County
4. DJ Blake, Nassau County
5. Freddie Badger, St Johns County
6. Kristopher Gilbert, City of Jacksonville (Alternate)