THIS DESERVES A SUN- SENTINEL AD?….
What’s wrong with this picture?….
In today’s Sentinel…Employment ads…LBTS has put in an ad for a Tennis Instructor…on a contractual basis…with a minimum of 2 years experience and strong interpersonal skills…Here’s the “kicker”…’USPTA certification is preferred’…certification for Tennis…but not necessary for VFD Sea Doo water rescue? (see previous VFD post ) YIKES!…applications are available at Town Hall..
A look online at the Town website also shows this opening along with the previous employment Sentinel ad for a Public Safety Center Swimming Pool Lifeguard..for the VFD swimming programs…
http://www.lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov/
BC- Now let’s get this straight … We do not advertise for Town department heads in the Sentinel……We do not advertise for firework RFPs in the Sentinel…But we do advertise for recreational contractual positions?… After season, and after we sat through the “Tennis People” uniting to say we only have 2 courts and any expansion of allowing more tennis people would impede their time on the courts?…HMMM….
As we approach the 2010 budget workshops… (dates to be set on Tuesday night 4/28/09 at the Regular Commission meeting)…readers may recall last year Vice Mayor McIntee making the motion that passed 4-1 to increase the recreation budget from $25,000 …doubling that amount…This increase along with all the other McIntee/Colon led expenditures we have seen over the last year beg for questions to be asked about what these “special” purchases and”special” projects added up together are… vs employing qualified lifeguards on our beach. We purchased 2 VFD-ATVs with all the “bells and whistles”, a 3rd VFD firetruck because the Manager said we must as a matter of “policy”………although after this Town purchase we found out that “policy” was flawed…. We do not own all of the public safety equipment in Town as the Town Manager insisted we did when authorizing/ backing these purchases. In fact the VFD recently bought a 4th firetruck themselves along with a Sea Doo and trailer and under direct questioning from the dais the BSO Police Chief informed us we do not own the 26 police cars as we all thought we did ..We own 4 leaving the Town Manager to “sheepishly” concur…We threw money out ($56,000) to continue the paving, curbing and sewers at the end of Seagrape Drive which still makes many wonder if we paved a large portion of private property due to that paving going all the way up to a resident’s garage door! Just this week blacktopping was done on a portion of Tradewinds…while we still endure flooding throughout the area and many of the neighboring streets were much more impaired structurally than this one road…(but this road brought forth a new voter)…Other purchases… …from the “biggie” …the Public Safety Center ….with no “offset” in the sale of the warehouse that still sits unsold…no questions asked….no Manager “reports” given…to the ridiculous…light pole banners that will be replaced one year later…to the tune of $12,000…..etc…etc…etc….
These implemental expenditures certainly do add up…and when you add them up…what could the total sum have better been used for?…
Besides the incomprehensible practice of when we do and do not use the Sentinel for advertising…it is astounding to this writer how and when we spend monies on various whims and perks…They happen throughout the year… on Consent Agenda with “sweeping” passes…to assure the expenditures with no questions being asked…
So maybe once more it is time to ask for what was ignored last year around this time…(previously posted on this site from the 1st budget workshop)…
June 2008…
‘Finally…..
this commission at some point during these meetings …should direct the Town Attorney and Town Manager to put into place for next budget season…. a residential budget review board…as offered up recently by resident Bob Eckblad…’
BC- It never happened!….No surprise…
Note…One interesting “find” New Commissioner and “Accountant ” Jim Silverstone put this on the agenda himself May 23,2006 for a “Citizen Budget Committee”…of course that was in the days long before BFF Comm. Silverstone became just a “McIntee 2nd” on the dais!…
more to come…
Tags: local government, Local Politics, News, Scoops
