Commission wants Lake Worth residents to be Fairy Godmothers

Comment Up

$500,000 Needs Analysis Study-- With $500,000 already invested in the Park of Commerce (half was a grant), the commission now wants to spend the following on Phase 1 (Phase 1 of the Park of Commerce is estimated to take 1 to 3 years at a cost of $5,546,000---yes, that's MILLIONS) that will be coming back to them for a vote in January:

$349,930 on a city representative (consultant) to oversee the phase I of the project plus travel, per diem and other living expenses. This is a 2 and one-half year contract.

$644,120 for engineering, design and construction part of phase I. This too is a 30 month contract.

You readily can see that once this is approved, we will have spent $1,244,000 which includes the $250,000 we spent on the Needs Analysis.

We were told on Tuesday night that much of the money has been set aside for the Park of Commerce from money we got from the bogus billboard fiasco settlement that has $700,000 remaining. When I think about what this city did with the billboard company and not standing up for our laws, it makes me sick. We got a check for $1,240,000 for that "settlement" but the original amount we were to receive was over $2 million. This fund has been raided through the years (just like our original beach fund) and money used for other purposes other than for what it was intended.

At the June 19, 2007 meeting residents spoke to the billboards settlement but the then Mayor, Jeff Clemens, said he wanted the money because then we wouldn't have to worry about several million when we decided to build our community center. The idea of a new City Hall complex was his dream as it is city manager Michael Bornstein's. The money from the billboard suit was specifically earmarked for a new city hall project and was to be deposited into the CIP for that purpose.

Whether this or any commission approved the transfers of dedicated funds for something other than for what it was intended is serious.  Nothing should be that easy when it comes to transferring money here and there. This is how we have "lost" millions through the years. The commission needs to be held accountable and responsible for  money and ask all the necessary questions, not easily agreeing with staff.

The commission also needs to explain why they are spending this amount of money on their development dream as the tooth fairy may reject the entire infrastructure cost, not just the POC, (could be close to $98 million) at the polls, even if it gets that far.  As Peter Timm said, it might very well be more money wasted for plans to sit on a shelf.  This is not what responsible leadership is. We are not talking about hundreds of dollars; we are talking about over one million. Perhaps they should be writing Santa a letter.