FINAL APPROVAL ….
Dear Readers … On October 6, 2009 The Town received its “Permitted Project Final Inspection Report” from Broward County…..Quite a surprise how long it took …after the “Ribbon Cutting Ceremony” which took place on April 6, 2009… 6 months afterward…Hmmm…
This writer has written about this Town project for quite some time throughout the last year as we witnessed unilateral decisions being made in its appearance and use by the Town Manager…We saw so many unacceptable twists and turns…and not just with the aesthetics… We saw that a million dollar project end up costing approx. $300,000+….with a grant from Broward County that was extended multiple times…That grant money was received on Sept. 25, 2009 … (stating “We are pleased to enclose your first and final reimbursement check in the amount of $176,548.00” ….although, if memory serves the grant money has been off the financial monthly books for quite some time before the actual receipt of this check)….The permit application for this pavilion was made on 10/9/2008…and the project began prior to the county permits being received which brought forth some scuttlebutt when Broward County showed up and realized all was not in order…..Those permits were issued on 12/1/08… When looking into that after I received the tip…this writer found that the Town Manager and staff not only kept changes in the structure to themselves they also remained quiet on the length of the last extension received for the grant extended to Oct. 2009 allowing for the construction to take place after season, thereby alleviating the impact on business downtown,….In the aftermath with the many project pitfalls that arose…they too might have been taken care of from the outset….We could have actually seen the project well before the 2nd Colon approved rendition suddenly appeared on the job site …(it caused quite an uproar)…We could have had time to deal with the massive flooding problem from lack of proper drainage that the Town Manager we now know was informed of by the construction company early on…..We could have had a better plan in place for the turnabout and the grade of the road …..a problem also made known by none other than Marc Furth and Comm. Dodd as they spent time at that spot the summer of 2008 …We could have planned for the proper funds to be in place for lighting and better planing for the electrical…the showers and the myriad of setbacks that arose for one reason only…Town Manager Colon … The Mc-Furth “Gang” “protected” her from being held accountable for one debacle after another… In my opinion, they sat by and actively assisted her in the cover up of the plan changes in a way that they would never have allowed with the previous Town Manager……She wasted staff time and money to steer Comm. Dodd, this writer and others concerned away from what changes were readily available and suddenly brought forth after the Comm. Dodd “payback” runaround… Unfortunately for all of us, it was only the beginning of a disturbing pattern we have seen from this new government in our town with the new majority election win in 2008…… In this writer’s opinion, this pavilion project was the catalyst for there not being any real oversight from the Town Manager over anything McIntee-Silverstone-Clottey-Furth related…especially the McIntee- led VFD …. despite Ms. Colon’s early 2008 statements that she alone would be in charge of the oversight for the VFD and guaranteeing the voters that she had complete access to the VFD….She later recanted with some lame attempts of where the computer was located and hiding behind the VFD being a contractual vendor…(those blurry lines that became blurrier with each passing month)….Since the pavilion, the Town Manager has followed suit into other areas of unilateral decision making ….She has done so with an accelerated pace… charging forward with absolutely no regard to the perception and a total lack of concern for the consequences…to the Town or herself…How could she be so emboldened?… It’s all due to having in place her dais majority “protection” and of course her contract … which this writer uncovered as yet another unilateral decision made by the Town Manager that will come back to bite us all in the end…
So while we received the “Final Approval” for the Commercial Blvd. Beach Pavilion… it’s time to ask yourselves as voters…. what do you see with this project completion?…
What I see is the a frightening parallel ……between this pavilion and the present Town Manager-McIntee/Silverstone/Clottey majority on the dais… a shell of what could have been!…
In March 2010 do you want more of the same?
more to come….
Tags: Lauderdale By The Sea Beach Pavilion, Lauderdale By The Sea Commissioner Birute Clottey, Lauderdale by the sea Commissioner Jim Silverstone, Lauderdale By The Sea Commissioner Stuart Dodd, Lauderdale By The Sea Mayor Minnet, Lauderdale By The Sea Town Manager Esther Colon, Lauderdale By the Sea Vice Mayor Jerry McIntee, local government, Local Politics, Scoops
