Here’s The Scoop…LBTS 4/14/09 Commission Meeting (4/20/09) …#1…Way Off Track….No July 4th Meetings Required…
April 20, 2009 by Barbara
I JUST DON’T LIKE THE TRACK WE’RE ON…..
Is anybody else tired of certain local elected Town officials always “riding the rails” on the issues?…
Whether it’s “whitewashing” Florida Ethics/Election Commission reports….that did find “probable cause” but offered a “slap” on the wrist to go forth and not do it again…or a lucky change in State Legislation that prevents investigators from charging those being investigated with what was not contained in a complaint, and again provides them another “slap on the wrist” for it being the first such act… or these 4th of July committee assertions made that there is no Sunshine violations because there have been no meetings……
Nope, no meetings…So says Comm. Silverstone who pretty much informed the voters he turned the whole 55+ thousand dollar event over to Marc Furth and said words to the effect of …” I trust ya man…Let me know if you need anything”…WOW, do you feel the love?…
With that Marc went out on his own to seemingly “strong-arm” the Marchelos brothers…offering them a paltry $5000 for the Pier with a side offer that the Pier owners would then receive the “green light” to have an event in their own parking lot…Besides said Marc, according to Louis Marchelos, I’ve already got a contract with a company called Melrose, so if he didn’t hear back from Louis and Spiro…his (Marc’s) “plans would go forward and it has”…AHHH…
Well wait a darn minute, on St. Patrick’s weekend Marc Furth had a fireworks display company…. calling just one…because as he stated later on at the podium “I didn’t ask for more than one, it’s not my job to get bids”……HUH? (Isn’t that what he just did?)…He tried to make a deal on his own with the Pier owners, and knew he had a meeting set up with the company, 10 days later along with the Vice Mayor, the Fire Marshall and Assist. Town Manager Olinzock…HMMM…
This “group” according to Furth walked the El Prado event site perimeter…did all the locations of the buildings and discussed in detail exactly where the fireworks would have to be done. They talked about the fencing, everything to be successful….A meeting..(but there have been no meetings, Right?)…And Co-Chair Silverstone was not informed or invited along?…The Town Manager knew, and according to Marc was going to take the paperwork he provided to the Town and use it to bid it out to the previous Town fireworks vendor along with another to obtain the 3 required bids… YIKES!…
The Town Manager and the Assist. Town Manager knew of this company, long before putting on the April 9, 2009 RFP on the Town board, with a 2 day website posting appearing on 4/14/09. This writer previously posted that Assist. Town Manager Olinzock in a Landscaping bid meeting on the 16th and the Town Office Specialist in an e-mail received on the 17th of April stated no RFPs or contracts for fireworks display had been received by the Town!….What gives!…
With Marc Furth’s well- known quiet demeanor, this writer felt again that familiar “twisting of the screw” similar to the Town Manager’s more visceral response when “cornered” about the pavilion mess-ups…both turning the “onus” on the questioner by giving ultimatums whether it is closing down the project or calling “trust” into play …Taking the spotlight off the process….It is the process…that is what is being questioned…and rightly so…
What it comes down to in my opinion, is “de-railing” the issues…instead of just playing by the rules…posting meetings and letting anyone come…. As Marc said, last year when they had meetings “every time” it was because “other people were involved in the group”…Precisely the reason for the meetings last year and precisely the reason for no meetings this year…Interestingly though, a letter sent out to CIC members is said to include a meeting for the group on Mon. 4/24/09…where the CIC will discuss the 4th of July…HMMM…a meeting!…Safe bet it will not include “other people”…Enough said…
A Google of the company Melrose Pyrotechnics (link below) looks like this is a top notch vendor…but…you are talking about cutting down the fireworks in cost…number of shells ….shell size…and the time between shots count 10 seconds…then count 10 seconds and so on and so forth…10 seconds is alot of time between shoots…and that is what the backup indicates…a 20-25 minute show with 4′ shells …10 seconds apart event….
Think about the location…right in the middle of town…with a 280 ft. football size area that will be uninhabitable to the north/south and west….”a large cordoned off area of the beach” Marc said…Even farther if the night is windy according to the previous requirements in previous years on the pier… ..and a brigade of officers/ firefighters to keep the crowds at bay…all around…including traffic control…
My problem with this all… It is still the taxpayer’s money…whether it is $40 thousand or $80 thousand…and maybe just maybe …the majority of the residents…would prefer to have the money go for fireworks…rather than an afternoon event…( This decision is really quite amusing when you look back at the comments by Cristie Furth at the post 2008 July 4th committee meeting…when she stated she wanted less fireworks…a bigger afternoon event… and threw Jerry Sehl overboard for Peanuts Wick…Did she get all three? )…
The “other people”…. if allowed…. may agree with everything already planned by the Furths…or they could also decide they want to kick in the big bucks for both….if only they were allowed an open meeting…
But with what we saw today…that train has already left the station….
The Furth Connection…for Fireworks…link below….
http://www.melrosepyro.com/home2.asp#pop
more to come….
