KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE GAME…
#1-Commissioner Comments….with BC-commentary…1/28/09….in response to Commissioner Dodd…(previous post scoops & LBTS agenda/meetings categories…)
VM….”I’m very sad you have so many problems with how well this town is run. I think this town is run really well. I think the town staff is doing a phenomenal job and I think we should stand behind our staff and support them and if they make mistakes highlight them.”
BC…”Highlight them”…is what Comm. Dodd did….in his Commissioner comments…
VM…”I don’t think we should micro mange any part of this government or any part of the contractors for this government.”
BC…the BSO Fire Department might be letting out a big “guffaw” about this one…
VM…”I have to respond which is unfortunate , Steve would you run the vote for July 8th please. At the last meeting this was garbled. It never came across plus I’ve had several people say they didn’t understand it . This will clarify it. This is the question of why there were no bathrooms at the pavilion. ( The video was played…not shown on T.V. just the sound)…Thank you Steve that clearly indicates this whole commission knew there were no bathrooms going in the construction of the pavilion. We have another video that goes back further (the 9/11/07 video…previous post scoops & LBTS agenda/meetings categories)I’m not gonna run it right now. It’s clear we all knew.”
BC…the July 8, 2008 video does show a vote for the contract and does show the Mayor saying no bathrooms. It also shows Comm. Dodd asking about the extension and the grant amount. with the Town Manager answering the amount …and that we have the extension. What was not done at that meeting was the Town providing the commission with the date of the extension…more than a full year…which would if revealed might have changed that vote. The reason the bathrooms were removed were due to time and money constraints. …The Town knew we now had both. Also to choose the 7/8/08 consent item was amusing to this writer as it was on that day that the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection approved the pavilion..per the post in Town Hall. It clearly stated the FDEP permit expired July 8, 2011 along with the following direction/description of the pavilion…’ You are granted final authorization to proceed with construction/or activities authorized by this notice. Authorized work MUST CONFORM TO THE PROJECT DESCRIPTION, APPROVED PLANS, all conditions of chapter 62-B-33…. ‘PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Construction of OPEN PAVILION with Seaward trellis, other structures, activities, excavation with full placement.’
BC…Why was this approved plan…approved rendering not provided to the commission?…If it was not the same as the rendering the Town included the next month in Town Topics…why did the Town Manager not put in the correct rendering in the next issue of Town Topics?….so Vice Mayor Thanks for choosing the July 8,2008 meeting for the 2nd attempt to “run interference”…for whomever made the drastic change in the pavilion’s appearance….
BC..the video not shown was the Sept.11,2007 (previously posted scoops & LBTS agenda/meetings category…FUNNY ALERT..Ocampo’s concern with the Forbes design…THE ROOF…what is left of the Forbes design…THE ROOF!…
VM…’We now have a pavilion being built that 40 – 45 days done away from being done. Why are we wasting the town’s time by going back trying to say who said, she said, what said, they said? It’s a work in progress. It’s almost done. Let it die. Let the town move on. Let the staff move on with their business.”
BC…Double standard response for Oriana’s biggest critic…GreenFest…former administration…etc…etc…etc….
VM….”Now Commissioner Dodd has brought up the Palm Club and he said something that I think is way way way out of line. Because any organization in this town is suing us or may be suing us or threatening us with a lawsuit cannot effect the way we govern that organization. It has to be balanced and it has to be fair. You cannot say and I quote “I am not sure why we are bending over backwards to help Palm Club when the last thing I heard they were inundating the town staff with requests of information in regard of a possible lawsuit against the town.” That’s got nothing to do with us trying to seek to heal wounds bring the town together. ”
BC…Are you 15 story north side proponents listening?…(previous posts scoops/LBTS agenda/meetings categories…letter/responses Comm Dodd/Town Manager)…
VM…”If we can get federal money to build their sewers everybody up here is pushing green green green green. We have one place in town with septic tanks. We have a chance to get federal money to change that. To make them sewers. Green folks, that’s all I’m hearing from a lot of people. This is truly greening our town.”
BC…And Sea Ranch Lakes…not our town…but septic between Palm Club and the south…HMMM…
VM….To say that because of lawsuits we shouldn’t do that or try and take advantage of funds out there just makes no sense to me.”
BC…What does the Town Attorney say…for the sake of the rest of the town …being pre- litigation…with a property that is still a part of the Bert J Harris group?…The Palm Club still being a “party” to that action used to be a “non-starter” for the then Commissioner McIntee…pre-election campaign mode….
VM….”Commissioner Dodd asked how did all those people get here? I thought I told them, but I’ll tell you again. I had a meeting at 9:30 or 10:30 in the morning on the day of the commission meeting with the complete board of directors of the Palm Club. I walked into that meeting . You can call anyone of them up. I said folks I don’t know if this is gonna work I don’t. If they’ll get the money, but it’s a shot. It looks it’s a good shot to me and I got information from some people up north about it. The person that told me was in the running for state senator in New York State but he got, didn’t get it. Okay. But the bottom line is that it was a hopeful journey that maybe we could get these sewers for nothing and we already generated paperwork. So why not go for it? So that’s the way it was.”
BC…Did they…”already generate paperwork”? The Manager’s response says otherwise…..
VM…” So why were all these people here? Because the board of directors took it upon themselves and asked their residents to come down. Commissioner Dodd said they had a right to speak. I don’t remember any of them spoke.Go back at the meeting. I don’t think any of them came up to the dais and said one word. Maybe they did. I don’t remember . And the other. What are we trying to suppress? An opportunity to get funds. Are we trying to attack it before we let it run its course? Why are we making the town jump through hoops for something that no promise were mad? Just the hope and would it solve the last major green problem I see in the town. Now I think that the palm Club people had aright to come here and say whatever they wanted.”
BC…”Athena Boys” are you listening?…..What an campaign selective statement…by the Vice Mayor YIKES…
VM….” As far as the town knowing about it. Esther got a call that morning from me saying what do you know about “in the shovel earth”. She said dot…dot…dot…I said okay. I’m gonna go to the Palm Club see if I can get a meeting. I’m gonna bring it up on the agenda and then please put something out to the other commissioners. As far as I know I got a sheet in box that said there was something about “in the shovel contract”.
BC…So which is it…the VM says he called Esther that morning…(Esther is usually not in first thin in the morning…did he call her at home?…then he says he went at 9:30-10:30 to a board meeting at Palm Club…but he says he told Esther in the morning call he was going to “see” if he could get a meeting…he says he asked her about the shovel (completely wrong title)…and said “okay”…he then asserts at the meeting on the 23rd and again in this statement…either on the 23rd…Esther was already putting a grant together when he called her…or in these comments “there was already a in the shovel contract”…a point the Manager says in fer 1/28/09 response to Comm. Dodd counter with “I informed him that I did NOT submit a request to the state because of possible conflict.”…WOW!…
VM…” Now nobody forced this dais to put it on the agenda. I brought it up and I said under point of order I’d like the opportunity to put this on the agenda and amend the agenda because I think it’s very time sensitive and the faster we go after this grant the better chance we have of getting it. Now there’s five people up here. It wasn’t any claim of emergency. There wasn’t any claim of doom and gloom. Look if we get this in we might have a shot. I presented to the dais. The dais voted for it. They could have voted it down. So those arguments are very weak Commissioner Dodd.”
BC…With a “packed ” room…no heads up to the reasons…stated emergency or not..but the apparent assist from the Town Manager…it would never have been turned down as the Vice Mayor “set it up”…
More of the Vice Mayor’s comments…to follow ….(fire department…Deputy Chief)
Tags: LBTS Agendas/Meetings, Local Politics, Scoops
