Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Sustainability in Lake Worth

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A little over a year ago, the Director of Community Sustainability, William Waters, hired the following people:

Dolores Key as economic development manager.
Karen Vaughn, as Lake Worth's planning and preservation manager.
Sergio Madera as community planner
Kelly Christensen as preservation planner.

Karen Vaughan tendered her resignation and is now living in Redlands, California, a city of 68,747. There was something very strange about that resignation. Sergio is also moving back to California and his last day is July 19th.

That's 50% of the planning department's new hires who have resigned within a little over one year of employment. Did these people get an exit interview?  HAS ANYONE asked why they resigned? Not too sustainable.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard one reason was sexual harassment and th4e city is covering it up.

Anonymous said...

Employees aren't talking under threat of their jobs.

Anonymous said...

They resigned because this city is not at all interested in preservation, and it shows. It must have been hard for these professionals to see preservation standards trashed by the Preservation board and by this City Commission again and again. I'm surprised William Waters is still there.

Anonymous said...

They probably couldn't stand working with those nut jobs on P&Z and Historical preservation and the loud mouth on S, Palmway,,,They would be enough to drive any one out of here. The stuff they approved is a disgrace. Allowing that garage to be built is even a bigger disgrace. Blame it on the P&Z and its policies, not McVoy.

Anonymous said...

The city did not listen to these folks, or care one wit about preserving anything. The commissioners are small-minded little people and do not understand that we are living in a historic community with valuable historic buildings. They honestly do not get it.

Anonymous said...

What garage? I almost hate to ask...

Weetha Peebull said...

Who said Code Enforcement wasn't
a Revenue Generator? Gotta "EARN" over 1/2 Million PROFIT to PAY
Workers - look at the obscene $$$.
Only 6 of 22 dept salaries
add up to OVER $400,000.00

1. William Waters
$51.69/Hr 120K/Yr + Benefits

2. Dolores Key
$33.51/Hr 70K/Yr + Benefits

3. Karen Vaughn
$34.08/Hr 71K/Yr + Benefits

4. Sergio Madera
$22.52/Hr 47K/Yr + Benefits

5. Kelly Christensen
$21.45/Hr 45K/Yr + Benefits

6. GIS Planner (Inventory)
$24.76/Hr 51K/Yr + Benefits

Over 1/2 MILLION DOLLARS when you
add in 16 MORE Salaries + Benefits

FYI: Taxpayer funded to
ENFORCE Voluntary Compliance

Yes we have a problem - Insanity
is doing the same thing over and over to solve it. The Unintended Consequences are much more harmful to the people. Bottom line is there is No Money to be made where the real problems exist and just do the math to see what Punishment (Revenue Generators) must be administered to just "Break Even" on Pay Checks!

Double UGH!

Anonymous said...

2 unsubstantiated accusations of sexual harassment and 2 fairy tales about the commission or volunteer trashing everything.
Maybe you didn't hear the news. That garage that was built in Mcoy's district wasn't approved by the P&Z there was some kind of loophole. Mcoy can be blamed because he stuck his head in the sand and CHOSE to ignore it the whole time it was being built.
But you all keep making your false accusations and telling all your little lies because that's what keeps you breathing.

Lynn Anderson said...

Thanks, Weetha. Now we know perhaps why Sergio is leaving. He's not making enough money.

Anonymous said...

Oh, now we will blame Mcvoy for the garage. This owner got approvals. It is totally the city's fault for not having the ZIP. Mcvoy could not stop it even if he had wanted to. Where was the rest of the commission? Hiding their heads in the damn sand too and never asking any questions.

Anonymous said...

@ 3:42-----keep your head in the sand.

Anonymous said...

Make it 3 because I heard the sexual harassment claims too. Also heard the mayor knew about it too.

Anonymous said...

You can take Deliores Key off the list as well. She is the city's webmaster and working out of City hall. No longer in Me. Walters dept and no longer doing economic development.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Weetha, but $45 K for a professional job that requires a minimum of a Bachelors degree is not obscene. It's not even good. Throw in having a pretend pirate as a boss and you wonder why people are leaving?

Anonymous said...

These are pretty good salaries, esp. when you add in generous benefits (a LOT more generous than we're getting in the private sector!!) and consider that Kelly was young and Sergio was, well...I don't think his degree was from a top 50 school. I'll just say that.

Lynn Anderson said...

California pays better but then the cost of living is much higher. California is nearly a bankrupted state with every other person on welfare or some sort of assistance. This is a state where the 50% of the people are paying for all the rest and in a state with high income taxes, now at 13.3%. I moved back here from California and I can say that I would prefer Lake Worth any day of the week--just not the slum, blight and the crime. In California, you have to make so much more money just to pay the bills. People don't retire to California. We have it all in our little city. Calif has the same problems but they are magnified there--drug cartels crossing the border as an example and gangs in some of the major cities.

Anonymous said...

weetha, i guess the costly studies and exorbitant consultant fees do not factor in to your conclusions. 8 million to build the casino which produces a negative flow of 500 thou. a year also escaped your scrutiny. was delray, boynton and lantana so much smarter that all they have between them is a quaint little restaurant on the beach in lantana. we built a castle for everyone to enjoy except the citizens of l.w. who pay for it, and cannot afford to enjoy it. whichever commission approved the money pit on the beach should be in hiding.

Lynn Anderson said...

The Casino is the best thing that was ever decided for our city other than the Reverse Osmosis Plant and kicking Greater Bay off our beach.

I would suppose that you think spending $11 million on infrastructure at the Park of Commerce and having all of the property owners pay for it is a "good thing." We don't even own that property but we do own our beachfront. As such, it is our obligation to pay for the infrastructure to rebuild OUR casino. The nearly $2 mil was factored in the CIP.

The Casino has not yet been opened even for one year. Many tenants were late in their opening. Let's give it a chance. People are coming there in droves. it will be successful as an enterprise.

All those who were against our casino being built will be in hiding one of these days and holding their head in shame for all the negativity. Even Maxwell who said he would never go there was there on the 4th! That's a STEP.

Anonymous said...

i am a retired cpa and stand by my remarks. the city will never make money on the casino, and it will be a drain on our utility fund for years to come. why did you sidestep my other observations? most would agree that my thoughts have a lot of merit. also, i did not say one word about the park of commerce, as i have not studied the plan. lastly, people go in "droves" to nba games, but most teams lose money. i do not mind being critiqued by people armed with facts, but your remarks to me are emotion driven.

Lynn Anderson said...

Thanks for your input even if you want to remain anonymous.

I will say this--the very first line of defense is to ridicule the other opinion and say that it is emotionally driven to totally "put down" the other side of the argument. Don't buy it.

You speak in generalities and provide NO facts but give your opinion condemning me as emotional. Why not come to the meeting tonight and find out from the finance director what his opinion is. Would that have any merit?

Anonymous said...

234567%^&*()
2 million on studies and consultant fees the past three years is a fact. the words of the finance director are crafted to be full of the party line, optimism. i will close with telling you a simple trick. inflate revenue projections knowing that they are pie in the sky because when answers might be demanded the city is administering the next years budget and having meetings on the budget after that. plus, there are new commissioners that want nothing to do with anything an old majority had their fingers in. anyway having three budgets swirling helps cities operate sort of a shell game. be nice to me and i will answer your questions. state govt and federal govt works much the same way.

Anonymous said...

I guess 11:21 expects LW to attract ivy league grads...for $45K a year...to live and work in a slum. Typical, want the best of everything but don't want to pay for it.