An Axe to Grind?

"How do you delay the construction of the border wall if you are opposed to President Donald Trump’s policies?

It turns out to be very easy for the losing bidder, the Texas-based Penna Group company. CEO Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga is protesting a contract award and this forces the Government Accounting Office to do a review. What is the CEO’s stated goal. You have to read it to believe it."

Read about it... and the loser CEO who is opposed to the wall. He has family in the United States that are here illegally but says he is for border security.

Lake Worth Neighborhood Road Program - Spreading the wealth around

When does all this road work begin?

Tonight and part of the 19 items on the Consent Agenda, we get an inkling as to when the work might begin--the engineering firms have been selected in the non-mandatory pre-bid meeting.

District 1
$358,445--Mock Roos & Associates

District 2
$355,269.38--Matthews Consulting & Baxter Woodman Company

District 3
$493,460--Kinley-Horn & Associates, Inc.

District 4
$442,880--Chen Moore & Associates, Inc.

$1,650,054 GRAND TOTAL FOR DESIGN SERVICES
or 4.125% of the total contract

Bid Submission Deadline Day / Date: April 13, 2017

 Time: 3:00 PM

 Location: Financial Services City Hall

 7 North Dixie Highway 2nd Floor Lake Worth, FL 33460

Waste Management to be Awarded Roll-Off Container contract with Lake Worth

Comment Up

Does it ever make you wonder why the City of Lake Worth just never can seem to manage anything it has its hands on...never makes a profit?

Now it's demolition and construction debris pick-up. The city admits they just can't handle it but they want to retain the right in this three year contract to pick some junk up themselves and will hang on to one of the two roll-off vehicles and multiple containers of each size that they own. Usually when they outsource like they did with our Fire Department, they gave away everything...one truck ended up in Haiti.

The city says that it would be in their best interests to execute an exclusive contract with one provider for these services--they're losing money doing it themselves. As displayed in the chart below, the City has consistently run this operation at a loss since it began in 2011.

Waste Management will be awarded the contract, the very same company that has been picking up our recyclables since 2008. One good thing, Southern Waste Systems did not win the bid, the company that dumped all sorts of construction debris on our landfill, some of it toxic.

Remember in the last election when John Szerdi took $1,000 from various Southern Waste System companies and Commissioner Amoroso took $450 from Jet Port II LLC? Through the years, they have given to various candidates and we all can use our imagination as to the reasons.

City owned property in historic district available for sale

Click here for the surplus property information. The value of the property sounds like it could be a steal.

Lake Worth - Sold on Siemens

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Last night, Commissioner Ryan Maier read an e-mail from Mario E. Motta, M.D. regarding the Siemens contract sent to the local chapter of Dark Skys.

Mario E. Motta, MD is past President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, which publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, (the world's most prestigious medical journal). Dr. Motta currently serves on the American Medical Association's Council of Sciences and Public Health. He is a cardiologist at the North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts, and a recent President of the Massachusetts Medical Society (2010). He was elected to serve on the Council of Science and Public health of the AMA, serving in his forth year. Also, he is currently serving as president of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. (AAVSO). He has been very active in the battle on light pollution for many years, and currently a board member of the IDA (International Dark Sky Association)

Medical effects of light pollution

The following is correspondence from Dr. Motta to the Dark Sky Lake Worth chapter upon review of the Siemens contract along with his comments:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mario Motta
Date: Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 8:30 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fwd: Siemens contract

• There is no analysis in this, simply replaces existing, whether overlit or not, with equivalent amount of LED light.

• Lazy contract with no work or engineering analysis at all.

• Your city deserves better.

• Siemens acts like the experts, and town managers are easily fooled by them.

• This is just a sales contract for profit, with no work behind it at all, you should be appalled.

Mario

Nothing fazed this commission last night. After all, Hector Samario of Siemens has been walking around city hall for 14 months--they were all brainwashed. Last night, the commission was sitting on the dais with a big S (stupid and sold) on their foreheads. Siemens was discussed at the end of the night, a strategic move by the city to eliminate much of the public who had left earlier. Their minds were already made up. The commission would not allow a workshop on it (the mayor said we already had loads of past discussions) and residents had only 2 minutes to talk on three relative items on the agenda that normally would have been 6 minutes of public commentary. Not one resident spoke in favor of the $23 million commitment over 15 years.  To the city administration and four commissioners who voted for it, it was as easy as spending someone else's buck at the Dollar Store.

I still have a million questions that were never brought up nor answered.  The city, essentially, will be in a break-even situation. Siemens?  Who knows--they're not talking about the millions they will be making off our city. I would think that in any contract, you would know all the details and let the public know what the monetary details are. 

With rebates and tax breaks that Siemens will get and the steady climb of electric rates, more and more people believe that Solar is the answer. Even Maxwell, after knowing the electric rates would go up, voted for the Siemens contract. We were sold by a smooth salesman. And we have no idea what's in store for us as Siemens will use sub-contractors--we could have shoddy installation, poor customer service, hidden fees and cost over-runs, a possibility that was brought up by one resident last night.

Once again, this is all about getting pesky issues off the city manager's plate, a commission that is paranoid that we can't progress because of lack of money and a sales pitch that is probably too good to be true. Time will tell. Now we can go on to the next contrived crisis and farm out our casino complex.

Correcting the Myth

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To correct the bully blogger blaming certain past commissioners for a gas line that we pay for in the amount of $64,000 a month,  I have posted this in order to get the facts out there again.

The gas line was installed for the explicit purpose of the generator that was originally Enron that went bankrupt in December 2001.

Please read my blog entitled Reply to the other guy on gas line--The Noodle Mentality. This explains the matter.

Our attorney did not require a performance bond should the project fail. We all know what happened to Enron. We were a part of FMPA and when we gave notice to exit FMPA, they did not honor their agreement to pay for this gas line.

It had nothing to do with the commission. They have no control over a corporation going belly-up. We can blame it on bad legal advice and another lousy Lake Worth contract.

Lake Worth hires Lobbyist

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I was wondering why Richard Pinsky was at our last city commission meeting but as I had to leave after one hour to attend another meeting, I did not learn the reason until lately. Lake Worth just hired lobbyist, Richard Pinsky to represent them in Tallahassee. The contract pays him $2,000 a month from October 1 until May 31, 2015 and dated September 24, 2014, not to exceed $25,000.

Back in October 2010, I wrote about Richard Pinsky and his involvement in Shanon  Materio's BACPAC. He gave $1,000 to Businesses Aligned For Change Political Action Committee which was founded by Shanon Materio, co-owner of McMow Art Glass on North Dixie Highway in order to support "business friendly" candidates or those they felt were on their side of issues. You always need to follow the money. Pinsky is the former husband of West Palm Beach City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, a good friend of Shanon Materio who is a good friend of the Lake Worth commission.

Read about Richard Pinsky... who pushed a land buy in West Palm Beach. And you have to wonder where lake Worth is getting all the money to do the following when they essentially told us during the general obligation bond potential money grab that they had NO money.

So now we have Tallahassee lobbyist, Richard Pinsky and a Washington D.C. lobbyist, Alcalde and Fay out of Alexandria, Virginia who we hired in April for $5,000 a month plus expenses. 

Also,
The Palm Beach Post reported that Lake Worth will be spending the following:

• $6 million to upgrade Boutwell Road in the 313-acre Park of Commerce. (Where's that $$ coming from?)
• $4.8 million to improve Lake and Lucerne avenues to meet the Americans With Disabilities Act.
• $3.7 million to upgrade sidewalks, roads and water utility equipment near Barton and North Grade Elementary schools.
• $700,000 to help city code officers demolish or board abandoned buildings.
• Regulation of sober homes.

Termination for convenience - Chamber of Commerce

City Manager, Michael Bornstein, has prepared a letter of termination of the contract with Palm West Chamber of Commerce. This is on the Agenda tonight under New Business.

Via Facsimile Transmission (with confirmation of receipt) and hand-delivery
Palms West Chamber of Commerce, Inc.,
d/b/a Central Palm Beach County
Chamber of Commerce
Attn: Wayne Burns, President/CEO
501 Lake Avenue
Lake Worth, FL 33460
Facsimile: (561) 547-8300

RE: Termination for Convenience

Dear Mr. Burns:
Pursuant to the Agreement between the City of Lake Worth and the Palms West Chamber of Commerce, Inc., d/b/a Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce, the City of Lake Worth hereby provides its notice of termination for convenience. The Agreement shall be terminated on September 30, 2014.

Sincerely,
Michael Bornstein,
City Manager

cc:
City Commission
City Attorney

Information Alliance and Lake Worth 2020

Remember that call you received the other night from the marketing research firm, Information Alliance out of Utah,  trying to squeeze you into a box on age, race, own or rent, how you're going to vote? This is what it cost the City for the call. I can't get a copy of the contract/agreement yet...working on it.

Lake Worth Electric Utility

Comment Up

The city is going forward with obtaining a true value of its electric facility...

Request for Letters of Interest

Click here

PROJECT TITLE: RFP 13 - 14 - 402 Fair Market Value Analysis of the Electric Utility System
SUBJECT: Evaluation of Proposals by responsive firms to the aforementioned solicitation
PURPOSE: To discuss individual committee members’ evaluations and selection with the intent of award of RFQ
DATE: Mon day – July 28 , 2014 TIME : 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM LOCATION: City of Lake Worth City Hall Conference Room – 1 st Floor 7 North Dixie Hwy Lake Worth, FL 33461

List of proposers

Reply to the other Guy on Gas Line in Lake Worth

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The guy with the noodle just wrote a blog on the natural gas line that leaves out some vital facts. He tries so hard but opens mouth and inserts foot...cute graphic though. An example of his foot and mouth disease is making stuff up because of his blind and fierce loyalty to the present commission. He once again attempts to re-invent the wheel (revisionism) and twist the narrative--the facts...and trying to find blame and putting it anywhere but where it should be.

The truth of the matter (from an expert in the field with expertise on Lake Worth Utilities) is as follows--his remarks are in quotations:

"The gas line he is referring to was installed for the explicit purpose of the generator that was originally Enron that went bankrupt in December 2001. (Those were the days of Ramiccio followed by Romano as well as present day commissioner, Scott Maxwell, the one who made the motion to eventually go with FMPA). The main problem was that the attorney for LW never requested a performance bond to protect the interest of LW should the project fail as it ultimately did." The site lease was signed by Robert Baldwin, Interim City manager and four other top executives of the City.

"When LW entered into the All Requirements agreement with FMPA, they (FMPA) paid the cost of the gas line as part of capacity payments for the standby generation at the LW power plant." To further explain, the site lease with FMPA gave them the right to build new and more efficient quick start units at our site to improve generation reliability. They also were to pay for our natural gas supplier, Florida Public Utilities, for the gas line supplying fuel to our plants. They did this up and until we gave them notice to exit. These unpaid costs went into a legal dispute.

Five years ago, FMPA's legal counsel appeared before the city commission and began tightening the noose around our necks when they heard we were leaving FMPA. He talked about their involvement with building two nuclear facilities in Levy County. The city did not want to pay for two nuclear power reactors that were going to cost $17 billion dollars. Once we gave notice to exit FMPA, it played hardball and stuck us with a $60,000 a month bill for a natural gas line. The gas line runs from the Turnpike to our power plant.

So, FMPA screwed us on the gas line charge the entire five years we were exiting All Requirements but Lake Worth, petrified of lawsuits and forever acting like a deer in the headlights at even the mere mention of  a lawsuit, cried foul. If FMPA replied with a resounding "get lost" and the City folded, we the people were not told about any decision or outcome.

Have they been able to offset the lost revenues from FMPA?  The utility department is not talking about these lost revenues. One can't say LW Utilities has a very good track record with providing facts and trust, so to provide us with public information isn't exactly transparent. As a guest blogger wrote last year, "If the new costs under the contract with Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) are integrated into the cost the ratepayers are now getting as of October 1, 2013, what is the cost difference between what LW is/was and the fully loaded cost to purchase a megawatt of power from FMPA and the new cost to purchase that same megawatt of power from OUC? That question has never been fully explored or explained" and this commission never asked.

In January 2014, the LW commission began its relationship with OUC after interviewing many power suppliers. "They entered into the new agreement for purchased power from OUC in addition to losing about 4 million dollars annually for capacity credits."

Florida Public Utilities is upgrading new pipes and gas lines in three separate phases in the alleyways throughout Lake Worth,  Phase I consisted of 26,000 feet of line. All of it should be completed in the Fall of this year.

City goes out on RFP for landscape maintenance at the Lake Worth beach

Comment Up

Juan Ruiz gave a good presentation last night on our beach park property.  One thing that came up was our landscape maintenance--

Lake Worth Beach Complex Landscape Maintenance
LS-BC-13-14-121
PURPOSE
The City of Lake Worth is soliciting bids from qualified bidders having the required experience in commercial lawn maintenance in accordance with the scope of services stated herein. The scope of service to be performed will consist of all services necessary for complete, year round commercial landscape management operations at the City‟s Beach Complex.

GOALS OF THE PROJECT
To maintain the Beach Complex grounds at a level comparative to other local first class recreational operations and consistent with levels expected of other City facilities and grounds.
BACKGROUND Located on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the newly reconstructed Lake Worth Casino Building and renovated Beach Complex officially opened to the public on March 1, 2013. It has quickly become the new travel destination in South Florida. The complex features a new oceanfront park, restrooms and picnic facilities which complement the William O. Lockhart Municipal Pier.

EFFECTIVE CONTRACT DATE & TERM
The effective date of the contract to be awarded pursuant to this IFB is anticipated to be October 1, 2014. Unless earlier terminated, the initial contract term shall be for three (3) years with optional two (2), one year renewal periods. The awarded contract will include a provision for termination by the City without cause upon thirty (30) days written notice.

Trees within the Beach Complex shall be maintained as follows:
A. Pruning - All trees shall consist of the removal of dead and/or broken branches; suckers or sprouts from ground level up to 15‟ in height as necessary for protection from wind, pests, and appearance. Proper pruning techniques shall be approved by the City.
B. Irrigation - All trees shall be watered to provide adequate moisture for proper growth.
C. Removal and Replacement - Successful Bidder shall inform the Facility Supervisor whenever damage occurs to trees. Successful Bidder shall be responsible for removal and replacement of any trees damaged by carelessness, neglect and improper maintenance practices of Successful Bidder, its agents or employees.

Quote of the Day - U.S. Postal Department

“The Postal Service should consider Accenture for suspension or debarment and review existing contracts to determine whether the contracts warrant termination. This action would protect the Postal Service’s financial interest from unethical, dishonest, or otherwise irresponsible supplier practices.”

~ U.S. Postal Department's Inspector General

on Obama's  website contractor "sucking so bad that even the postal department wanted to fire it last year.

PBSO costs in Lake Worth

Comment Up

Under New Business 12-B, is the Law Services Agreement with PBSO. We went through the budget cycle and the budget that was finally approved had a total cost figure of $15,057,583.  That's the cost for policing out of a total operating budget of $29.516 mil. Tonight there will be a 4th Amendment action item involving policing effective for FY 2013/2014 and FY 2014/2015.

The Sheriff’s Office had originally proposed a 2% increase ($242,000) this year and a 3% ($370,000) for next year. The city says that after several negotiating sessions with the Mayor, City Attorney and City Manager, the Sheriff agreed to NO increase for the next 2 fiscal years.

We also engage the Sheriff for six special events throughout the year along with requests to have one or more at commission meetings or board meetings which is an extra cost. In order to meet FODT standards, crossing guards have been increased from 10 part-time to 22 part-time. We are told that there are 5 vehicles patrolling and on call at all times.

Photo by Lake Worth Sun

What the city doesn't give in the backup is an explanation on the difference in the Budgeted amount and the Contract price. The difference between the total $15,057,583 (budget for all Police costs) and the $12,100,000 (contract with the Sheriff) is:

• $2,791,353 of Police pension costs for the former Police Department employees

• $161,240 of utility and maintenance costs on the Police Building (which the City agreed to pay in the original contract)

• $5,000 additional to the Sheriff for enforcing local ordinances. (Need detail)

In the Executive Brief it states that residents in the community have been very satisfied with the law enforcement services provided by PBSO and the positive impact they have had in addressing criminal activities in the community. Who are the very satisfied?  And what positive impact? The PBSO are PR specialists but reducing crime can't possibly be one of the reasons why they are so revered as the bad guys have no fear and crime persists.

We pay $1,008,833 a month for PBSO and no matter how you slice this cake, policing really costs us $1,254,799 a month and $114,073 a year (which includes the 22 part-time crossing guards) for each PBSO person assigned to Lake Worth. The question is, for all that money and the uncontrollable costs that take 69.49% of our operating budget, do you feel safer? Are we making a dent in crime?

Lake Worth's Policing

Comment Up
A dwindling cash pot, demanding public safety unions and violent crime were threatening Lake Worth when it turned to the sheriff’s office for help.

Running the city departments was getting too expensive: Pensions and benefits had become a problem, and the commission was facing pressure from residents and political activists to fix it.

In its haste to address the city’s crime problem, the commission voted to enter a contract with the sheriff’s office, despite warnings the deal was too expensive and the city should bargain for a better contract. The measure passed on a 3-2 vote in 2008.

Read more... on the tumultuous merger and the facts.

Programs Bring People to Pools

Comment Up

Sally Welsh said that last night--programs bring people to pools.

We learned at the Friends of the Lake Worth Pool meeting last night that there is a contract with ECAC swimming, a company that leases our pool. This was unbeknown to most of the public and never mentioned at a city hall meeting. Actually the City of Lake Worth calls it a "License Agreement."  The fee structure is as follows:
$1,500 a month until membership reaches 60
$1,800 a month until membership reaches 100
$2,200 a month thereafter

The contract is 8 pages long and the Contract gives them a non-exclusive limited license to use and occupy our pool from August 1 to October 31, 2014.

We are guessing that because this city commission voted to allow the city manager to make decisions for amounts under $25,000 a year, a decision I totally disagreed with, the thinking was that the mayor did not have to sign this contract. In the past, the mayor on previous commissions always signed contracts.  The one with ECAC was signed by Michael Bornstein. Even the city attorney's signature was signed off by a third party.

What our charter says: The mayor shall preside at meetings of the commission, shall be recognized as head of city government for all ceremonial purposes, by the governor for purposes of military law, for civil emergencies, for service of process, execution of contracts, deeds and other documents...

No News is BAD News

Comment Up

Usually they say that "No news is good news," but this is not the case with the City of Lake Worth that seems to have a policy of keeping anything important or considered "bad news" close to the breast. The public is the last to know under this administration that would rather tell us about light weight things like raft race building on July 4th while Rome is burning and adjourn its meetings by 8:30pm or we have to be insulted by a commissioner who threatens to leave the room if anyone disagrees with him.

The City (for this revelation, the City Manager uses the Finance Director as the official spokesperson "fall guy") says that nothing fraudulent had been done regarding its loss claims that were submitted to FEMA. The line that will be used and one that we need to swallow, will be staff incompetence...we can't find the receipts. We hear that line way too often these days especially when it involves MILLIONS OF missing DOLLARS from the past. But how do they know it's that simple? How do we know, as an example, that some staff at the utility were not padding the losses and claims to FEMA by charging some of the 26.4kv electric upgrade to them?  Two sources have told me that was a strong possibility/probability at the time and when asked then about that very thing, the response by a member (not the chair) of the Electric Utility Task Force was, "That's just good business."

Who will be held accountable? Will it be the taxpayer, the very guy from whom they continue to withhold information?

Department of Homeland Security - Office of Inspector General

HURRICANES FRANCES and JEANNE
Recommendation #1
: Instruct the State to remind the City that it is required to comply with Federal procurement standards when acquiring goods and services under FEMA awards (finding A).

Recommendation #2 : Disallow $385,890 (Federal share $348,775) of unsupported project costs (finding B).

Recommendation #3 : Disallow $38,390 (Federal share $28,792) of ineligible labor costs (finding C).

Recommendation #4 : Disallow $21,289 (Federal share $19,160) of ineligible costs for activities covered by insurance (finding D).

Recommendation #5 : Disallow $8,570 (Federal share $7,713) of ineligible costs for small project work not completed (finding E).

Recommendation #6 : Disallow $16,105 (Federal share $14,495) of ineligible costs for nondisaster activities (finding F)



REPORT on findings below
"We discussed the results of our audit with City, State, and FEMA officials during our audit. We also provided a draft report in advance to these officials and discussed it at the exit conference held on August 15, 2012. City officials agreed with findings C and E and partially agreed with finding B. They also said that they will continue to research documentation to resolve finding D. However, City officials disagreed with finding A and said that they plan to appeal if FEMA disallows the costs. Their comments, where appropriate, are included in the body of the report. FEMA and State officials withheld comments pending receipt of the report."


HURRICANE WILMA
Recommendation #1
: Disallow $6,998,095 of ineligible costs claimed for contracts that were not procured in accordance with Federal requirements unless FEMA decides to grant an exception for all or part of costs as provided for in 44 CFR 13.36(c), and determines the costs were reasonable (finding A).

Recommendation #2 : Instruct the State to remind the City that it is required to comply with Federal procurement standards when acquiring goods and services under FEMA awards (finding A).

Recommendation #3 : Disallow $476,455 of unsupported project costs (finding B).

Recommendation #4 : Disallow $180,626 of ineligible cost for activities covered by insurance (finding C).

Recommendation #5 : Disallow $8,624 of ineligible costs for small project work not completed (finding D).

Recommendation #6 : Disallow $18,732 of ineligible labor costs (finding E)

La Joya Village

Comment Up

The Electric Utility Advisory Board approved of this purchase so I guess it's ok?:

On tonight's agenda is for the commission to authorize a Purchase Order for three pad mount transformers from Gresco for a total cost of $31,005. The Purchase Order is for three Cooper Power 150k VA 3 -phase pad mount transformers to be used at the LaJoya Village development. The cost of $31,005 will be reimbursed by the developer.  When?

As I am totally against rentals on the railroad tracks and this project in general, it's nice that the city is so helpful and has gone out on a bid on behalf of the developers.

Michael Bornstein One Year Anniversary in Lake Worth

Comment Up

Serving at the pleasure of the city commission who serves at the "pleasure" of the public, City Manager Michael Bornstein has been employed with the City for nearly one year. He was voted in as City Manager on March 29, 2012 and his contract began on April 16, 2012 for a term of three years with an option of an additional term of two years.

Mr. Bornstein was awarded a base salary of $135,000 a year plus all sorts of fringe benefits: 12 sick days, 15 vacation days, 10% of salary to a retirement plan, $1,000 towards insurance, full health insurance and full reimbursement for various seminars and conferences, dues and subscriptions, cell phone and air time along with $500 a month for his personal automobile. 

According to his contract, the City is to review his base salary on an annual basis around April 1. There is no mention of an annual review but we are to assume this will be done as the Vice Mayor, Scott Maxwell, made a public spectacle out of giving the former city manager an annual public review, (lynching) the first time a public review had occurred. Surely there won't be selective discrimination. We are also sure that all the trees being cut down to a pulp in this city without his knowledge won't be held against him.

We shall soon find out if Mr. Bornstein will be treated differently than was Susan Stanton. He already is as far as the door and lock to the executive offices.  If you recall, Scott Maxwell also made another notably weird and unusual public demand of Ms. Stanton that was meant to harass and belittle, ordering her to keep her door opened and unlocked so that every Tom, Dick and Harry crazed person could enter her offices at will. This was done as soon as he was on the majority dais.

A  new state law back in 2011 imposed fines of up to $5,000 on county and municipal officials, and even threatened them with removal from office if they enforced firearms and ammunition restrictions other than those spelled out by state statute. Stanton complied with the ill-thought out demand that was a real threat to hers as well as staffs' safety by the then commission (Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso) but was fired a short time later. Bornstein now has two-way glass on the doors; the door is locked at all times.

Trash, a dirty business

Comment Up

Trash is not transparent and neither are some commissions.

Just a few months ago, Palm Beach County awarded trash contracts to four companies. Two of them were Republic Services of Florida and Southern Waste Systems that will have the southern and western portions of the county, with Southern Waste Systems also handling the Glades communities.

Today, Republic Services agreed to pay $111,811 to PB County's Solid Waste Authority to settle a dispute on dealings perceived as shady for improper trucking of trash in Broward County. Republic also agreed to stop delivering trash to facilities not owned by the Authority. This was all to beat the Authority out of $42 a ton for dumping fees. Read more.

Republic is a large national corporation and Southern Waste Systems is privately owned and local.  In 2011, Southern Waste Systems was awarded a contract for Broward's trash business through a sub-contract deal with Republic. "We are really excited about the partnership on this contract with Republic Services and to have city staff and commission support on the collaboration," said Charles Gusmano, President and CEO of SWS and Sun Recycling. 

In spite of pulling a fast one in the past on the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Beach County commissioners still awarded them a contract in February.

And, in spite of Sun Recycling dumping all sorts of questionable debris on our landfill, (They were supposed to remove it and our landfill was to be in the same condition in which they originally received it.), this entire matter of the landfill has been swept under the rug. The Lake Worth Commission was all set to award them another contract for roll-off services on March 19.   After the roll-off contract was removed from the Consent Agenda because of some public out-cry as well as the commission's desire to end all meetings early (can you imagine the time that would have been wasted for public speaking and everyone in the Osborne community showing up to voice their horror?), we have not heard a word about this new contract.

Is this just another example of the lack of transparency in Lake Worth--the mindset that the public has no need to know? As public meetings are getting shorter and shorter, we have to wonder what is going on out of the Sunshine. The mayor and vice mayor were both absent from what has been described as the shortest meeting in history and opine that they missed a meeting allowing them to go home early.