History IS Important

History does it for me.

As our city staff and Commissioners are constantly changing, we need a chronological history of events/transactions pertaining to everything in our city so that we do not repeat the same mistakes. Everything in our history, whether it is the electric, the water, the beach, the casino, our parks, etc. is important to the next action or vote. If our administration and elected officials understood the history of the landfill, as an example, and that we had paid over $2 million to close it in 1993, they would not have voted to give up our land for $1,000 a month to virtually destroy it and now possibly get us into another lawsuit.

Even Trela White, attorney for most of the cities that owe us bucko bucks on the sub-regional sewer system, complained about the turn-over of staff and Commission as part of Lake Worth’s problem. Turn-over is serious, however, if you do not have people willing to learn about the past, we will be doomed to repeat all of the failures. If we have others who continually say, let’s move on and think about today and the future and believe that bringing up the past as "negative," we will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

I really do expect people to become experts in their jobs and that is not too much to ask.

If Staff knew that our Ordinance on BAC zoning only allowed for 7,200 sq. feet of retail, maybe there would not have been a financial projection for 10,430 sq. feet on the first floor alone at our Casino. The 2^nd floor is projected at 4,470 sq. feet of ballroom, 2,500 sq. feet for rooftop and 5,000 sq. feet for an anchor tenant, probably a restaurant. The FAB will not worry about this even though they did not approve of the “concept” of the Plan; they approved of the Plan as presented.

We also don’t expect the Commission to simply change Ordinances because they don’t like them or because they do not fit into their scheme of things. This zoning NEVER should have been changed to begin with and we should have been allowed to vote on the land-use and zoning change. Why are people trying to change our beach park to a commercial enterprise?

Next, we had $3 million in our Casino Beach Improvement CIP. According to the latest budget by the City Manager, we now have (see Chart 13) $936,188 in the Special Revenue Fund called Beach Fund. Is this the same account? There was NO money in this account in years 2009 and 2010. As money has been transferred here and there for many years and account numbers change with no one understanding the “wheres or whys,” no one can tell me where the money went. We want a complete audit of the Casino Beach Improvement Fund. The Finance Department has wiped away our history here. If other departments used Casino funds that had nothing to do with the Casino, they should pay the money back.

This is why it is so important that the commission get monthly Financials so they can be on top of all accounts.

By understanding what has happened in the past and the current situation in Lake Worth today, those in elected office as well as city staff can better understand and make informed decisions in the future.