Thirty one applicants were scheduled to interview for the CRA tonight. Jeff (Frankel) Clemens called off the interviews at the last minute. Several applicants showed up expecting to be interviewed just to be greeted by a posted flier on the front door of City Hall that the interviews were canceled. Some applicants never even received notice of their interview. Staff had to hustle to try and reach all applicants by phone only thirty minutes before the process was to begin.
Declared as political maneuvering by Commissioner Jennings, the Mayor disagreed stating that he didn't realize that the terms were NOT staggered until today...that they should have been staggered years ago. If I knew it, how come he didn't? Commissioner Golden said that due to the turmoil over the past three years, she would like to see the CRA under the City Commission--that the Board is making a lot of decisions on a lot of money and did not even want to talk about staggering appointments.
Several members up for re-appointment have been lobbying and complaining behind the scenes. The entire Commission should have been the body to cancel these interviews, not the Mayor. I swear he's taking lessons from Lois Frankel.
The entire matter of the CRA and its future will be discussed within the next 30 days if not sooner. So the Mayor's attempted coup, to ensure that his favorite members are retained on this Board, was turned around on him. Because of this, there might very well be NO CRA in just a few weeks or under the control of the Commission as an Advisory Board only. One thing we do know, if Commissioner Jennings gets her way, there are several present Board members who will be ousted. Guaranteed.
There are 3 on there that should go. Why did the Commission allow the mayor to do this? Did they say anything at the meeting to lambast him or just take his crap.
ReplyDeleteI ,along with 31 other people applied to the CRA in good faith. I wanted to help my community and the residents in it.I missed a night class to attend my interview. People closed businesses to come to the interview. I'm sure that lots of the applicants rearranged their lives to attend. I received a call From Valerie at 5:00 as I was headed out the door to city hall. Who gave Valerie the authority to start calling people? This was political maneuvering at it's lowest.To save the positions of a few "old Cronies " who's CRA terms are ending, the REST of the applicants were treated like used Kleenex. Lake Worth citizens deserve better than this !! Katie Mcgiveron
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