WITH AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ….
Dear Readers …perhaps I posted my Holiday Hiatus a tad too soon… especially after I had time to digest the Dec. 13, 2011 LBTS Reg. Commission meeting held last night… It was truly a meeting I wish I could let go by the wayside…but I cannot…If this is a sign of what is in store for us voters and taxpayers for the next two years we are headed for a rude awakening as a result…Judging from the public comments made by the candidates for seat 3 Mark Brown and Edmund Malkoon that seat is much more important than many realize… especially after they spoke up and after what transpired from the sitting commission on the agenda items that followed … Brown spoke about the $6,000 taxpayer dollars the town wants to put on a Caribbean party the night after the Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of the Beach event and gave his opinion that it was not the right move or use of taxpayer funds as well as asking the commission to hold back a little longer on setting a date for the east side of A1A downtown redevelopment project after reporting he’s heard some businesses are not all on board as well as residents are still not informed and this project should be done by getting it right the first time ….. Malkoon ‘s time at the microphone was “Team Edmund” in my opinion with what amounted to brown-nosing with faulty accolades to Comm. Vincent concerning Vincent’s role with two items on the agenda about permit fees being lowered and the FDOT singling Vincent out as the leader on these issues… HUH?… Revisionist history has a shortened time span these days more often than not…and that must be the case for Malkoon or he is just oblivious to the facts that the past 2 commissions in addition to other members on the present commission were involved in lowering permit fees…changing the building department …and in the A1A project… much ahead of Com. Vincent …. His recollection of Flamingo drainage is faulty as well …I do not believe the flooding was a Meet the Candidate Night issue in 2010 …Recent rumors abound that he is openly courting the CIC Furths and Carrs in a “Uniter” move of looking for votes…in other words he’s pandering for votes which is quite disturbing to say the least to this writer if these rumors are indeed true …If he is seated besides Vincent in 2012 we will have a two-fer in uninformed dais members making decisions … Also if it’s true he’s befriended Clottey’s pals who mysteriously stayed away from helping her for Halloween and a 2nd term…it’s a head scratcher that’s for sure!… Malkoon who is a longtime member of UOT and on record as a MPSC member for wanting two lanes on El Mar as well as a parking garage etc…etc… backed by the Furths and Carrs…that’s a hoot!… It went further off kilter with the vote of 3-2 to allow staff to put on this Caribbean party in Feb. that was presented by the new Asst. To The Town Manager…This was voted in the affirmative by Vincent/Clottey and Minnet… This party did not have to meet the same criteria as any other applicant would need as far time-frame and details for these three to hop on board..Never mind that they along with all seated on the dais were in the dark on the touted use of an “Ad-Hoc Marketing Group” that the Asst. To and the Town Manager said were used over several months and responsible for this idea…Never mind that the TM and the Asst. To The TM never said who those group members were and specifics were never asked by anyone on the commission…Never mind they have no idea who will be involved but state they will use Town staff for this party and using a local businesses liquor license without stating who that would be… Comm. Vincent who has become Jerry McIntee to Hoffmann as McIntee was to Colon…backing anything she does without regard to details …said he’s getting alot of “atta boys for events” and we need more!… No names of those giving him pats on the back just like no names from Clottey of whose making all the phone calls to her…Comm. Clottey was all the way out there on a multitude of subjects and it wasn’t a pretty sight …Comm. Clottey who has long been on the record for no extension of events beyond two days is suddenly on board with this alongside Comm.Vincent so she said…Ha!… Minnet was vote 3 …How sad …these 3 will vote to use $6 thousand taxpayer dollars to fill the hotels for a party planned in season when no data was asked for from any of them to show how many hotel patrons come to the Chamber’s Taste of the Beach event each year…and none of the three asked the Chamber’s stance on the party the night after theirs… Then to add insult to injury these same commissioners along with the rest of the dais chose to set meetings for the sewers and the impact to the hotels/condos and multi-unit properties in the south (there has been much going on behind the scenes with new pertinent information being brought forth that should change their new rate structure etc…) ….as well as the downtown review and decision in January rather than showing the candidates who are up for seat 3 the same courtesy they all enjoyed in 2008 and 2010 from the outgoing commissions of tabling these two very important issues until after the election!… Instead they are doubled up in Jan. along with the last month of campaigning for these two candidates which is crunch time as all these commissioners well remember … Bad move!…
Then there was the diatribe by Comm. Clottey that the Mayor allowed to go on far too long during her Commissioner comments… Clueless lives!… Clottey’s Comm. comment slams were straight from Marc Furth…No surprise who all those phone calls she says she receives arrive from ….. This writer got a heads up from John Thompson last month on Marc’s interest and concern over the districts and the charter and what was not carried out as a result of the referendum vote in 2004…. John did some looking through his extensive records and answered Marc…But John not forgetting the slights he was subjected to by many in town made it clear that his research was not for distribution to the Town or to be put in print without some agreed upon consultant fee received… It was quite the same dire straights as Clottey spouted so authoritatively in her allotted time …The details of John’s research, recall and his analysis are something I believe the Town should avail itself of as part of the process we need to follow.paying him as a consultant …..In a nutshell ….Yes, the vote in 2004 was for districts…Yes, the vote was for districts to end in 2018 and to back to candidates- at- large on the ballot and yes, there was once again something big lost in the translation by the time the Town codified it which puts a 2012 requirement of a needed extension by FAU in order to continue the districts to be unnecessary …Yes, we as a town would need to fix this district charter problem as we need to do with other such charter items not correctly codified and found by Cecelia Ward this next year in order to have it correctly reflect the voters will…and yes we will need a referendum before 2018 if we are to continue with districts again to be decided by the voters…But we have 2 more elections to do so…No doomsday scenario indeed!…Was Clottey in receipt of Thompson’s research which is certainly not in keeping with John’s stern warning of what Furth was allowed to do with his research? Did she share it or passed it on to the Town Manager?…Or did she just take Furth’s take on it and run with it on the dais?… As far as the zoning errors she spoke about and the referendum required for changes.to B-1 and B-1-A districts ..That too came from Furth …We hear he is all up in arms over the changes in conditional use parking allowed for Aruba Beach Cafe …Hmmm. … Why didn’t he come to the Nov. Quasi-Judicial hearing to voice any concerns?…We wonder if his buddy Jim was aware of the behind the scenes maneuvers that are surely meant to cause Jim’s wife’s business some upheaval if he were correct… We understand the Town was alerted and does not think there were any zoning infractions caused by the move to allow for the Conditional Use Application for Paid Private Parking in the B-1 and B-1-A Zoning Districts that was approved for Aruba last month… But…we also hear P + Z is going to be discussing B-1 and B-1-A this month so we’ll see if there is something to the charge after all?… Maybe Clottey who chose not to seek a second term needs to do everyone a favor and follow in Jerry McIntee’s footsteps and be MIA for the last few meetings of her term! … The two-prong contract/agreement VM Dodd had on the agenda deferred from Nov. 9, 2011 was not discussed in the right manner and ended up on pretty familiar scary Colon ground for this writer with a majority on the dais poo-pooing its need due to who the Town Manager is at the present time and again acting like they were in a stupor as to any future contract that would not be brought to them before it was finalized …I wholeheartedly disagree!… Policy should be policy no matter who the TM is and not based on the need depending on who the TM is… Look just a few months back all were spouting disgust over the sale of the water to Ft. Laud. and never seeing the final agreement… Look at other such agreements that resulted from direction given to a TM by the Commission but then never seen or heard about again until we found out the fallout we were stuck with as a result!… I believe the liaison program this commission has used over the past 2 years will either be severely curtailed or no longer allowed from the new ethics regulations not allowing commissioners to be a part of procurement decisions and this 2-prong plan would have given the commission that follow through they do get when it comes to 2nd readings but definitely not on all contracts or sales …This too was a bad move… I turned the computer off in disgust before the A1A debacle with Sea Ranch Lakes that carried over from the last commission meeting concerning the improvements on Sea Ranch Lakes village property … I was texted and called afterward that I had to see it… I did so online today and watched as Comm. Vincent went out of his way to be a “good neighbor” to SRLakes and their 11th hour decision to squash all A1A improvements including the bus shelter and I believe 5 sitting walls etc…Hmmm…..perhaps his bending over backwards was due to his wife’s growing up there?… I tend to side with Comm. Sasser and VM Dodd who were polar opposite on their take of the situation as they relayed the SRLakes Town Atty. cease and desist letter to the Town if any further improvements were carried out… They put SRLakes and what actually occurred in a proper timeline with the facts that made our “good neighbor” look not so neighborly but like the neighbor who wanted their cup of sugar back along with a new bag as well…. After much discussion and getting the story straight that SRLakes were well informed of what improvement were slated to be done and chose to pass on participating in them and showing no adverse reaction up until this point the commission decided to bag the improvements and put in a change order on the project as well as moving the bus shelter elsewhere in out town… My question is who pays for our staff and atty. time..Who pays for the change order etc…I think SRLakes should be the recipient of any of those bills at this point in time… Remember this is SRLakes and the Mayor who owns the bank property that was fast-tracked for paid parking some months ago…So again, who’s the “good neighbor” to whom?….
It’s my hope that some commissioner will realize what took place and what will remedy the actions taken at this meeting thus tabling the Jan. meetings until after the election and that voters will continue to watch carefully the two candidates running for seat 3 … We need commissioners who ask follow up questions…We need commissioners who ask for specifics…..We need commissioners who do their due diligence and do not just skim the backup happy to blindly follow the administration just because its easier on them and they happen to trust the present TM they hired…
I will break my self imposed holiday hiatus when I receive the 1st Treasurers Report to be turned in to Town on Friday Dec. 16th…and follow that up with the next one on Dec. 30th…
In my last post on the election I asked if there was any difference between these two candidates… I believe there is… and those differences are going to be more and more apparent in the weeks to come…
more to come….
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