“A lie can go halfway around the world before the truth can even put its pants on.” - Mark Twain
Two weeks ago and at a public meeting, resident Loretta Sharpe addressed the 2010 Census and Annabeth Karson implying that we did not get what we paid for. Her remark was responded to by Commissioner Amoroso who said we never got the Census Report. I would like to put the record straight regarding Annabeth Karson and her assignment and the work she did on the 2010 Census.
She was part of the Complete Count Committee that was responsible to get the word out to the different organizations and residents regarding the upcoming census count. Many obstacles were put in her path, one by a present sitting commissioner, Scott Maxwell. It was politics at its best or worst depending upon what side of politics you are on in this dysfunctional city. Those on the paver side were paranoid that she was going to get out there to compile lists of people who would vote the way she wanted them to vote. After all, she was a friend of Cara Jennings so what else could one expect or so they claimed? This was all fantasy, popycock and political smear.
She and Shauna Cooligan were appointed and were originally going to be employees of the city. Not to be. Maxwell had a hissy fit. It ended up going out on an RFP and Annabeth got the contract and the Complete Count Committee became an independent contractor and invoices were submitted as work progressed. Sharp had accused her of not turning in a bill and Amoroso confirmed that they "never got the Census information and he had to grab a report from the League of Cities." A final bill was NOT necessary by this Contract arrangement. All of the information that she and her committee had gathered was turned into the city, not once, but twice. On November 15, 2011, they were scheduled by staff to present a verbal report to the city commission. Click here for this presentation...go to 6-Presentations.
Their work was not to produce 2010 census figures…that is information the city would have received from the U.S. Census Bureau. Their job was to promote the upcoming Census and encourage residents to fill out the forms for the government so that we could get any money from the Feds to which Lake Worth was possibly entitled. The thought was that there were a lot of immigrants in the wings who were afraid to come forward and who needed to be counted. A flyer was produced that told people how important it was to fill it out. The overall count would determine how much funding Lake Worth would receive for health care, senior centers, road repairs, police, etc. I helped circulate those flyers to encourage residents to fill out the forms for the Census Bureau and the forthcoming Census.
Rachel Smithson, Susan Stanton's right hand gal, had put together a Power Point on the entire Complete Count Committee Report and the work that Ms. Karson and Ms. Cooligan had done from beginning to end. Before this was presented, Rachel left the city and eventually so did Ms. Stanton. The final report is somewhere at City Hall.
So, to have a commissioner say that we never got the information that we paid for is inaccurate. They were paid per a set price in the contract. I simply bring this up as there are some political people in this city and some "ethical" residents who want to reinvent the facts, sometimes at a cost of maligning someone’s character and reputation. And it seems that they do it for fun.
NO final bill—unnecessary
Information submitted
twice
Terms of the contract fulfilled
Terms of the contract fulfilled
Contract price paid.
39 comments:
Not saying you are right or wrong.... why wouldn't Karson appear before the commission to answer questions about the census she was paid to perform by the city?
I do seem to remember she was refusing to be interviewed. What was all that about?
She had already done that...didn't you click on the link?
She turned down the request since she had already given her report and a presentation in front of the commission. Enough is enough. Politics was into the playbill then and Maxwell was going after her with a vengeance. He is the direct result of many good and highly qualified people leaving this city like Rachel Smithson.
The bottom line is--she was being harassed.
Andy, you were never even at a meeting when this happened. I was! And you are very wrong about what you said about Annabeth. Since you publically stuck your foot in your mouth , you need to publically apologize to both Anna Beth and Shauna . You really need an attitude adjustment Andy. You have, basically, turned into a huge dick.(And not the good kind of huge dick, either). Please do this town a favor and DO NOT RUN FOR OFFICE AGAIN! Just stick to making a living in your shop and doing things for the down town merchants.
I am the first commenter above. I went back to click on the link. The report was not by Karson, it was by Margolis. It did not answer any questions that I would have asked. There was no power-point presentation that I could see, just the presentation with a note at the end from Stanton with her usual whine about how she couldn't make a right decision because everyone is against her.
But Stanton said our population had declined since 2000. So if she had the information, you know, the answers that people had questions to, why didn't Karson give them the answers.
Other questions I would have asked are:
How many hits to the website did you get?
Since I never saw any banners, buttons, stickers, pins, flyers or any of the media that was reported, could she show examples of each..... in any language?
Did she feel she got a complete count with all her efforts?
Lynn, if you feel that was a report that was worth what we paid to make sure we were properly counted, and we still declined, please help me here... what am I missing?
How much did we pay for this report? Wasn't it $30,000?
Whether she thinks that answering these types of questions are harassment is of little consequence.
After reading your link, I really think we got hosed.
Yeah, well that's your right. I happen to know they worked very hard to get the word out. They were treated like chit in front of the commission and Maxwell. It was disgusting. No one realized that the immigrants were moving on and thousands were out of here. Four years later, our immigrant population is still down and as far as I am concerned, that is a good thing. The bad thing--still no jobs for citizens.
There were a lot back in 2000 and it sure seemed like there were a lot in 2010.
So there was no report by Karson, let alone 2. There is no power-point that can be shown. The report was given by Margolis and we have no way or right to ask her to give a report.
That's because she already gave two?
So the reason Stanton stated we needed the $30K committee was because someone told her that we were "under-counted" in 2000. The illegals don't want to be counted and many others don't either because they are from canada, finland or haiti and don't wish to be included.
So they pick someone who is neither Mayan, Mexican, Hispanic, French Canadian, Haitian or Black American to go out and get these people to trust them.
I could care less what she spent the money on but would like to hear from her a report and answer questions from the commission about what happened and her impression of how we can do better in 6 years.
Seems like the attitude is on her end.
they did go before the commisison
A presentation was scheduled on November 15 and presented by staff because the Select Committee had already given their report to the city and their work was done. They had been treated less than human by Maxwell and their job was over.
Maxwell asked the city attorney to find out if the committee was compelled to present per their contract. Mayor Triolo said that they were. As it turns out, they were not.
Funny how some people site politics as the reason why the commission wanted to interview her? Politics and only politics is the reason why her and Shauna got the job in the first place. Very good observation anonymous that they picked them instead of a city volunteer advisory board the Community Relations Board at the time comprised of a Mayan, Mexican, Hispanic, Black American and Haitian who volunteered to do the job at ZERO COST to the city but the majority at the time who had employeed ak on their campaign to give a little pay for play payback to their friends. Request a public records request yourself and view the conditions of some of the receipts they submitted to the city for reimbursement including fees paid for translation the receipts handwritten on scrap paper. THank God those days are behind us.
Yes, thank God those days are behind us. The community Relations board was NOT allowed to take on this job...something to do with a statute as I recall. Even when they said that they would canvass the churches and inform them of the upcoming Census, they did not come through for the Select committee. They sat on their butts and did nothing.
As far as it being political, Maxwell (the most political guy around) made sure that it was not political by insisting they be fired and the city going out on an RFP. They got the bid because the only other group that applied was the community Relations board that was unqualified.
If you wanted to assist, you could have done so and used your Spanish to help out. You didn't. Let's get the truth out here.
The whole Loretta Sharpe/Maxwell gang dicked up the proceeding soooo much that the census almost didn't happen. By the time this group had to eat crow and hand it over to who was SUPPOSED to get it originally, much valuable time had been pissed away. Annabeth and Shauna did an amazing job with what time they had left. As usual Loretta Sharpe /Maxwell cost us federal money that we could have had , if not for their usual blind stupidity.
"Maxwell asked the city attorney to find out if the committee was compelled to present per their contract. Mayor Triolo said that they were. As it turns out, they were not."
So for $30,000, the commission should not be allowed to ask "her" to appear before them to give a summary of her findings or her activities?
How do you justify your support of this? Are you letting your hatred of Maxwell cloud your normally clear thinking?
I don't hate Scott Maxwell, anonymous at 10:09...far from it.
Ask Pam Lopez for a copy of the report unless she has deleted it like everything else. She already turned her report in. Why should she have come back to give a report when she was personally attacked.
This was right after this new commission was voted in and Scott became the world's biggest bully. Why would anyone want to come before him?
The report was already given. Do a public info request. And who in the hell does this Commission think that it is? COMANDIND PRIVATE CITIZENS TO APPEAR BEFORE THEM?!? This group of "Representatives" have forgotten that WE instruct THEM in what should be done, not the other way around. And I am sick and tired of private citizens being called out by NAME in meetings. This Commission should have to stand up and answer to the private citizens. I would like to see a town hall where ANY CITIZEN can ask this Commission ANY question, and the COMMISSIONER will have to STAND UP in front OF US and ANSWER TO US ! Katie Mcgiveron P.S. Mayor Triolo, take a break from banging that gavel at your favorite target, Mcvoy, and tell Loretta Sharpe to shut the fuc$ up when citizens are trying to speak during public comment
Dang, she got 30k for that, never saw her at my house, don't recall getting anything in the mail. Why ain't you pissed off about this, cuz she's your pal? Talk about wasted dollars!
So sorry you were missed as we tried our darndest to get to every scared little person in this city and all the misfortunates, disabled and those uninformed. This was not a mail campaign, anonymous...it was boots on the ground. Sorry you didn't volunteer to help on your street. They could have used your help.
You know what the WASTED dollars are: Maxwell going on all his various trips all over the dang place on taxpayer money and NEVER GIVING A REPORT. Throw in the rest of this commission.
how much was paid to Rachel Waterman is she working on the census at the same time the US Census was being taken and she was a supervisor for the US Census this would seem to be a conflict of interest
On July 2, 2011 or thereabouts, Rachel said:
I was hired by the Census to lead the Group Quarters Enumeration Process. The team I led finished with the highest quality rating in the district in the least amount of time (second only to one other office in GA). As such I was offered the position to lead the enumeration of the entire city of Lake Worth and beyond, supervising 178 local employees and accomplishing the entire door to door canvassing operation in less than 6 weeks. There was no connection with Cara.
HOW IS THIS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST? When she was working for the Census, she was not an elected official in Lake Worth. Are you grasping at straws to try and invent a case or just trying hard to smear someone?
if Rachel Waterman had Ben involved in a census for the federal government why did it have to be repeated for the City of Lake Worth what sent the federal census accurate seems like a waste of money
Sept 4 12:50 pm and 4:43 pm
I was at the meeting when both appeared before the commission to report the job was done. The link you question showed exactly the amount of work Annabeth and Shauna had to complete. It was a huge task that no one else wanted to handle. Both were highly energetic and highly qualified so they stepped up to the plate. They did not go door-to-door, as many still think; they were only responsible for organization. Upon completion, they had to report their step-by-step activity in writing to the city, which they did. When they were before the commission to verbally report, Maxwell ripped into them in a way I have never seen a sitting commissioner act. Red faced and for what seemed like forever, he intimidated and insulted these two women with continuous rapid fire questioning in a hideous explosive staccato tone like he was addressing two criminals! It was embarrassing to watch and I was ashamed he was a commissioner. I don’t know if he was having a very bad day, week, month or what, I just know it was horrible the way he spoke as a representative of the city. No matter how menacing and nerve-wracking his behavior was in a room filled with people, Annabeth and Shauna took it all without flinching and answered every question with respect. He was bullying with a holier than thou attitude. Really, it was awful. They probably would have been happy to go before the commission again with the written report but treated like this, would you? No mayor should have permitted this at a public meeting. And this was exactly how Maxwell ultimately treated Kathy Margolies and Susan Stanton. Commissioner Maxwell likes to think of himself as the smartest person in the room. We still see his ‘dark side’ every now and again. Hopefully he is learning you don’t look bigger when you TRY to make others look small. But unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to be on Maxwell’s ‘S List’. If it walks like a bully and talks like a bully; well maybe it’s a?
The truth is Annabeth and Shauna, two really good people, did only one thing ‘perceived’ to be wrong. They were and are friends with Cara Jennings. So, the beat goes on.
Annabeth cannot be smeared. She has more good character in her little finger than most people have in their whole being. Need something done, need food, need anything? Just ask Annabeth, she can and will help you.
what does Cara have anything to do with this report?
A Cara connection was in the minds of the bullies and meanest people in town.
Lynn you sure let emotions cloud the issue. How Maxwell and the commission treated these women is not relevant as to whether the report was presented or worth 30,000. I do think we have a terrible mayor and commission except for McVoy when he is not on a tear about us living like the 18 hundreds. Yes to Katie about the mayor and her gavel. All we need now is ditsy Dee and Loretta to face off.
They did the work they were assigned to do with a LOT of political delay. Whether it was worth it--I am sure that it was and so did the commission at the time but the outcome might have been even better if all the politics did not delay their effort. Who can say that buying $673,000 worth of transformers for inventory is worth it. The Commission thinks so but I'm not that sure. Who can really determine?
Thank you anon @ 4:11.
That was the information I was asking for and could not get. I must have missed that public shelacking by Maxwell but can imagine.
I still did not see the posters, flyers pins or other items meant to entice the illegals, legals and downtrodden to trust that we only wanted to count, not monitor them.
After your explanation of what happened, I don't blame them for not showing up AGAIN.
By asking for the rundown, it was not my intention to question their integrity.
lynn, this post and comments are very discouraging. i do not know if the city got its moneys worth, but lets move on to the really important things facing the city. all the ordinances that are passed do not carry much weight if you have the substandard employees we attract enforcing them. there is a high level of mistrust among citizens of our leaders. with that said ,we citizens are going to be asked to approve a 100 million dollar infrastructure plan. we sorely need this but who is going to sell this to weary citizens. i do not see anyone on the commission or in the administration capable of rallying our citizens to turn our city around. so sad.
I agree that we need to do something with our roads--pot holes are on nearly every street in the city which has virtually given up on them right now.
The only way they will convince the taxpayers to support $48 to $81 million on roads and developing the Park of Commerce will be through fear, lies or both. And don't forget an illegal banner or two--may be even a State Statute can be thrown in there for good luck. :)
9:22 I agree with you. Our Mayor seems so hell bent on enforcing the 2 minute rule at meetings that she appears oblivious to the speakers content. Our c.m. puts his head in his hands and laments about how slow gov. works. They will have a hard time convincing the voters who have to foot the bill to endorse this.
Lynn, we have unpaved roads and many streets are unlit. Fixing pot holes is temporary. I live east and have pretty good roads and drains etc. I do feel a responsibility to share in this plan even though it will be a significant burden. I just have little confidence in code. Have you ever called that department? Would you trust them with a project that will make or break this city?
This would be the Public Works Department, not Code, and yes, I would trust them completely because Jamie Brown is at the helm. They need to come up with a plan that makes monetary sense to the voters, perhaps take the Park of Commerce out of the mix. But to commit the taxpayers to a 30 year obligation bond to pave roads that in 30 years will have to be paved again, is wild! I would like to understand the plan(s).
Lynn the plan is available at city hall. I believe it would be under Mr. Waters.
Sorry--I should have been specific. I was thinking about the financial plan(s)...how much, how long, etc. and what route we would eventually end up with to present to the voters.
Lynn, For this plan to pass you would need significant neighborhood assoc. endorsement. The neighborhoods east would really have to get behind this since they will be paying the bulk. I want this to pass and allow us to rebuild our city hotel or no hotel. I just do not see the present administration able to pull it off.
I did speak with Ms. Karson and she confirmed my accounting... report turned in twice...her work was over.
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