Lake Worth's Finance Advisory Board - Commentary

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From inception, the Chair has said that he was only to be the conductor driving the train…that the agenda was to be formed by the members to discuss and pursue issues that were important to them relative to the Budget. It was his intention to allow the Board to go where they pleased without any manipulation from him. I thought this was a good approach as I have seen other City Boards with Chairs that bring every Board member around to their way of thinking by out talking them and manipulation.

There have been problems with this Board from the beginning. It was formed on April 7, 2010 during Budget preparation in order to assist. Half of the members wanted to meet once or twice a week even suggesting Saturday meetings while the others wanted to meet once a week during Budget and thereafter when there was something to discuss at the regularly scheduled meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.

Although the Board has always had good intentions and has been enthusiastic to tackle its job, one member asked last night, “What have we accomplished?” They have not been able to advance and have been stopped by the lack of information, the lack of interest by the City Commission and the lack of cooperation from the city overall in order to get the data to make decisions. The liaison, who is magnificent, and departmental heads have been very helpful giving up their time to explain their departments and answer questions. But here it is once again, Budget time, and this Board has not been allowed to be engaged.

The original intent of its formation, that of assisting in the Budget and giving recommendations, has been distorted and changed during this last year. Its mission is that of advising the City Manager and the City Commission in matters affecting the annual operating budget, capital improvement program and all financial policies, not anything else.

The Finance Advisory Board gets to look at documents after they have been produced and have no chance to give recommendations such as the Amended Budget that came out this year. Frustrations have grown and human nature, as it is, needs to put the blame on someone. The Commission has told them that their primary goal should be revenue sources and reduce waste, but the Board gets side-tracked.

The appointment of Chair Exline has been controversial from that first meeting when one member nominated someone else after Exline was nominated. It did not go according to their desires. It caused a little friction as I believe there should always be solidarity. It is a constant personality problem; a Chair who is laid back and wanting to proceed by procedure and rules and the other being extremely assertive and aggressive wanting to discuss and place items on the Agenda that are not really in the pervue of the Board although interesting. And to be blunt, a few members have little patience with the Chair who is elderly with a hearing disability and who wants to meet only when the Board has something to meet about. They want a new leader.

Another blunt observation-- no matter who is elected as Chair, this Board will not be any different or effective. You can demand any amount of financial data you choose, it doesn't mean you will get it or that the City will be all of a sudden, cooperative.

The staggered terms for all members end on July 31 every year. The best thing to do is to have elections at the first meeting after July 31 every year. The Board would then be on a 365 day year beginning August 1, a fiscal year rather than a calendar year.