THE SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS IN TOWN HALL….
Dear Readers … I made a trip into Town Hall today to take a look at the back-up materials for the November 10th Regular Commission meeting… I received an e-mail prior to my arrival from PIO D’Olivera that one of my public records requests was ready for pick-up…Upon arriving I asked for it, and found a few others were ready as well… One was the request shown below for the “Cone of Silence” (prev. post)… I made it after the Town Manager accused the commission of not following the “Cone of Silence” she said they were presented with in documents received in January… She was quite forceful in her admonishment toward them for their total disregard of following this rule…In fact Jimmy-boy Silverstone followed suit like a good puppy dog.. … I was told the next day that no “Cone of Silence” was included in this Parking Citation Processing RFP… and found it did not…I then went on to see it did not exist in the Town purchasing manual and we had no ordinance on the books as other municipalities did for enacting it into their bid process…Thus the e-mail below…
………………………………………
PRR
Thursday, October 29, 2009 2:11 PM
From:
“Barbara Cole”
To:
[email protected]
Steve, I am making a public records request for the “cone of silence” the Town Manager spoke about at the 10/27/09 commission meeting.
She said it was given to the commission in documents on ethics in Jan. 2009.
I can find no such item in the minutes for either Jan. meeting.
I can find no Town Ordinance online at the Town website.
I can find no “cone of silence” provision in our RFP bid packages.
I can find no “cone of silence” in the Town Purchasing Manual definitions or RFP procedures.
Please acknowledge this request.
Please let me know if the cost will be more than $20.
Thank you, Barbara Cole
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Asst. Town Clerk Nikki Smith gave me the “Cone of Silence” request …and after I paid for it I looked at before going through the back-up notebook…Imagine my surprise when what I received was a Feb. 24, 2009 agenda item backup 16f. from Comm. Dodd “Discussion and /or action concerning the Miami-Dade code of ethics ordinance”… Well, it was the same ethics ordinance denounced by the “Gang”…and as it states in the minutes “There was no more discussion. No action was taken.”…In the Miami -Dade ethics ordinance is contained the “Cone of Silence”… (pgs 13-15) …BUT… we never adopted it, we never discussed the “Cone of Silence” and it had no bearing on the ethics item at hand!… What a joke!… The Town Manager chastised the commission on Oct. 27th for something buried within another town’s backup!… I asked Nikki Smith, employee of the town, why she would give me this?..She answered I wanted something on the “Cone of Silence” and that was all she had. I replied that I was looking for the Town’s “Cone of Silence” I said I know what the “Cone of Silence” is…. I said to Nikki Smith, Town employee, but we [town] have no such “Cone of Silence” in our purchasing manual. She said no. I said WOW!… I then said I guess I’ll just keep writing about this stuff….And Nikki Smith, Town employee said as she walked away “I guess you will, you’ve go nothing better to do.” I replied that her response was unacceptable. [for a town employee to a taxpaying resident]….I’ll just chalk it up to trickle down from the Manager!…
Will the Town Manager be called on yet another “dressing down” of the commission on the dais?…
Why does Jimmy-boy Silverstone follow her so blindly…and why does he say he does his homework when it’s so obvious he does not!…
Will Comm. Clottey still say she does her job very well despite all the “constrictions”?…
Still rating her a 5 Vice Mayor?….
Watching the “Gang” justify this latest action of the Town Manager …. Outstanding!…
It’s clearly time to put a lid on it…
more to come
Tags: Lauderdale By The Sea Asst. Town Clerk Nikki Smith, Lauderdale by the sea Commissioner Jim Silverstone, Lauderdale By The Sea Commissioner Stuart Dodd, Lauderdale By The Sea MIA "Cone of Silence" for ITBs/ RFPs, Lauderdale By The Sea Town Manager Esther Colon, local government, Local Politics, Scoops
