No pay raises in 2019 for Federal Employees

4 Key Points Nobody’s Addressing About Trump’s Federal Pay Decision

"President Donald Trump announced he’s not granting the usual 2.1 percent pay hike for federal employees, prompting staunch opposition from many Democratic lawmakers.

In recent years, the Congressional Budget Office and conservative think tanks, the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, all produced reports finding federal compensation packages far outpace the private sector."  Nearly one in three federal employees — 32.3 percent in 2015 — are either union members or have jobs covered by an employee association contract.

We are all under the impression that employees in the City of Lake Worth get good employment packages. It has now been suggested by the Lake Worth Finance Advisory Board that the minimum wage be increased to $15.00 for Lake Worth workers. Also, there are some employees at the City who feel that those in the IBEW get preferential treatment by the City in wages, benefits, etc. in comparison to those represented by the PEU and PMSA.

Government employee salaries are good for the most part but federal compensation packages are more than generous. As of 2014, the federal government employed 2,711,000 people (excluding non-civilian military).

Read the article... that justifies and explains what the President has decided.

Finance Advisory Board

Seven years ago in 2011, this blog stated--

Meetings of the FAB should be productive not talk fests for board members. The Finance Department is on top of everything. This board is advisory and a total waste of time. It has no power. It has no affect. It can't even get desired information in order to come to an intelligent conclusion. The public can't get any back-up online. It is there to keep members of the Board busy.

Originally its objective was to rubber stamp city hall. Now the energy has shifted to question every little detail coming out of Finance or decisions made by this Commission. And certain people in this community want it to exist as it becomes more political as certain FAB members insist on discussing and hashing over personal agendas. The Fabulous FAB started off with good intentions. Unfortunately that's all the meat it had.

That was 2011. In the early years many members resigned like chair John Pickett,  Laurel Decker CPA,  Jennifer Marchal CPA, Ron Exline and Bill Thrasher. What has changed in 2018?

One thing the city did was fire the Chair, Richard Guercio...he had too many normal requests of staff although that was not the reason given.

After attending the FAB meeting Of June 4th, there was no back-up and now this board does not appear on the city's web site. (today 3 agendas appear on the web site)

Richard Guercio fired for alleged Sunshine Law violation

Last night, the city commission FIRED Richard Guercio

who was the chair of the Finance Advisory Board. I was wondering why Channel 5 was there.--

Read about it and see the video.

Go to 3:11:04 of the video

Lake Worth's Finance Advisory Board

Comment Up

Tomorrow night on consent agenda, will be ratification of two volunteers--one to the Tree Board and one to the Recreation Board.  One board that has been silent over the past 9 months has been the Finance Advisory Board.

Directly from the Lake Worth web site--The Finance Advisory Board was created and established to serve in an advisory capacity to the City Commission and the City manager. Its purpose is to promote transparency in the City’s Budget process and allow for additional citizen input on major financial decisions. The mission statement further states that the Board shall consult with and advise the CM and the City Commission in matters affecting the annual operating budget, capital improvement program and all financial policies.

Our Present Board

Members – Three Year Terms

Robert	Guyer	7/31/2016	District 4 Appointment
Jason	Robinson	7/31/2017	District 3 Appointment
Sherry	Schmidt	7/31/2016	Mayor's Appointment
Vacant		7/31/2014
Vacant		7/31/2015
Vacant		7/31/2015	Mayor's Appointment
Vacant		7/31/2016	Vice Mayor's Appointment

Nothing has changed in four years other than a totally impotent board, paralyzed by staff and lack of commission support.

The interim Finance Director states:

The last time the FAB met with a quorum was May 12, 2014.  Minutes of that meeting have not yet been approved since the FAB had not had a quorum present since then.  They also met in workshop format without a quorum present  on June 9, July 14 and Aug 11. No meetings have occurred since them.  Minutes from those meetings have not been approved since no meeting with a quorum has occurred.

It was just a few short years ago when this board was very active and enthusiastic.  The only thing that has changed within our city is the obvious--citizen input on important issues is not particularly wanted unless it is what the commission wants to hear. They sure didn't want to hear what the Electric Utility Advisory Board had to say about the impossibility of selling our utility to FPL.

Finance Advisory Board chair in Lake Worth recommends a FOR vote

So what's new?

Op Ed piece in Sunday's Post from the chair of the Finance Advisory board, a board that has always advocated the position of city Hall. Most all board appointments are political.

Billboard Blight and the "shuffling" of funds

Comment Up

Read here on Billboard fiasco

At the last Budget meeting, Finance Director, Steve Carr, stated that $700,000 from the billboard "settlement" would be used to balance the Budget. I don't recall the exact use. Through the years, we have had a lot of money that was transferred out, transferred from one account to another and no one has been able to connect the dots. In fact, we burned through $12 million dollars several years ago when we had different finance directors and approximately $3.5 million went "missing" from our beach fund.

The billboard deal was a deal from hell. In one way I blame the paranoia of the city that has been scared and petrified of anyone threatening a law suit and in this case, made a terrible decision to allow billboards into our city for a term of 20 years minus one day that was against our code. Instead of fighting it, the city capitulated. That city attorney is now gone.

The Clemens Commission dedicated the billboard "settlement" money to a specific use. Present commissions need to know this so that any use of funds can be discussed by the commission as well as the public and that transfers of large sums of money must be with the full history and knowledge of the commission. This should never be a staff decision.

On September 14, 2011 the Finance Advisory Board had a discussion on the proceeds from the Billboards and said that it wanted Staff to bring back the history of the Commission decisions on how to use the funds and then they would have more discussion on any use of funds.

We continue to have transparency issues. When it comes to hundreds of thousands and/or millions of dollars, staff needs to present ALL of the facts because commissions change every year as well as staff. It was promised under Stanton that each commissioner would get monthly financials in order to keep up with it all so that they would be able to compare line item discrepancies.

Instead of the reported $424,000 being taken from Reserves along with $100,000 from the Simpkin Trust, we are taking another $700,000 from a dedicated fund. That totals $1,224,000 of our cash to balance a budget in order to give back residents pennies on their electric bill.  What else is going on to balance this budget of which we are unaware?

Robert Waples on the Lake Worth Finance Advisory board

Robert Waples writes to the Lake Worth Commission--

Re: Finance Advisory Board:

To hear of Mr. Pickett's resignation is very much a harsh blow again to this very important board. What is even more disturbing is that this board is still struggling to become and receive its full potential.

As quoted in Mr. Pickett's Resignation Letter - "It has been abundantly clear to me for some time that this Board has been largely ineffective because we as a Board have not been allowed or able to serve either function. Despite the great efforts of City Staff, particularly Mr. Carr (who I believe is the best asset the City has), we have not, in my opinion, been granted access to financial information in a timely manner on various issues where we might have made a difference in City policy; rather, we often receive the information after policy has already been formulated or decided, effectively watering down any opinion we might have."

I am positive that all of you will agree that this board, if provided the tools in which to do and perform its function, could clearly and in detail deliver to the "Shareholders" of Lake Worth, we the taxpayers, a very clear and true financial picture and make recommendations with feed back from the share holders for a course and action plan. However, we the shareholders still remain in the dark with many of the financial woes of the city. I urge and plead with you, if part of the issue is man power then maybe, just maybe, we need to hire temps to perform some of the day to day operations while permanent staff can spend time pulling the resources needed by the FAB in order to perform and be effective as a board.

I may be way off base here and gladly will accept feed back but it will and still is my personal opinion that the financial woes are not glued to one factor of falling property values but a clear mis-management of funds, unnecessary spending and in some cases a lack of competitive bidding in the past regardless if that is from Staff or Commissions. As a Shareholder in Lake Worth, it would be my wish that this diverse and representative commission throw all the financial "chips" on the table and let's get to the bottom line regardless of what the picture is.

The FAB is a perfect avenue and vehicle in which this can be accomplished and I for one would love to see the city spend the temporary funds to make it happen.

Chair of Lake Worth Finance Board Resigns

Comment Up

Dear Honorable Mayor, City Commissioners and Acting City Manager,

When I first applied for the newly created Financial Advisory Board in early 2010, I had high hopes that the new Board would serve two functions I thought were essentially missing in Lake Worth: 1. The Board would allow a group comprised of every day citizens to have access to the arcane world of Lake Worth’s finances and, as a result, allow the public to have input the financial decision making of the City; and 2. The Board would be able to provide real and material advice to the Commission that would otherwise not be afforded to it, advice based on the collective experience and expertise of seven Lake Worth citizens highly practiced in the arts of business and finance.

It has been abundantly clear to me for some time that this Board has been largely ineffective because we as a Board have not been allowed or able to serve either function. Despite the great efforts of City Staff, particularly Mr. Carr (who I believe is the best asset the City has), we have not, in my opinion, been granted access to financial information in a timely manner on various issues where we might have made a difference in City policy; rather, we often receive the information after policy has already been formulated or decided, effectively watering down any opinion we might have. We then become an oversight Board, rather than an advisory one, and I do not believe that role suits either the purpose for which the Board was created or benefits the citizens of Lake Worth in general.

It is has also been extremely frustrating over the last two years to see a group of seven dedicated citizens commit incalculable hours of time and inordinate amounts of energy on a work product that has almost always been dead on arrival at the Commission level. Our Board is a comprised of a group of individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences who all have essentially one thing in common: strong success in business and finance. While I understand and respect that the Commission is in no way obligated to accept or heed our advice, I have always found it curious and unfortunate that over the last two years the Commission as a body has paid the Board or our advice little more than lip service. Any an all recommendations we seem to make usually seem to end up in the “receive and file” bin to be discussed no more.

Without trying to cause further consternation and debate, a prime example about what I am talking about is the issue of the proposed leases for the beach. Our Board, I believe, made solid recommendations to the Commission about the various tenants. Other than material in 500 plus page back-up, nowhere may those recommendations be found, nor were we asked to be heard about what we thought. If the Commission decided they didn’t like our thinking, they could have sent us back to the drawing board. Our Board, in my opinion, should have done the heavy lifting here; our Board should have worked side-by-side with the Commission and with Paul Snitkin or a similar representative to represent the City’s and the public’s interest and secure the most qualified and best tenants at the best price.. That is where our Board has value added. Instead……..

As a member of the Board, and as Chairman for the last six months, I realize that I have to accept some responsibility for the Board’s ineffectiveness. I have tried any method I could think of to change the way the Board receives information, the way it formulates opinions and gives advice, and the way that advice is conveyed to the Commission so that it may be heard, understood, and heeded. It is unfortunate that I have not been successful, for I believe that the Board, if utilized properly, could be of tremendous benefit to both the Commission and the citizenry of Lake Worth. As the new mayor and commissioner settle in, in my last act of advice, I ask that they work to find a way to use the Board so that everyone benefits. I sense, without actually knowing for fact, that the current members of the Board are frustrated by all of this that I have mentioned. I also believe, again without knowing for fact, that the conditions I have stated were the primary cause and reason for two members of the board to resign before their terms expired, and for two members, including our former Chairman, to not reapply to sit. I therefore implore the Commission to find a way to empower the Board and make it relevant, lest the Board fall further into the ash heap of Lake Worth.

There is an old saying in business that one should “lead, follow, or get out of the way.” I have recently started a new company that requires much of my time and effort. Given the hard work I see ahead for the Finance Advisory Board, particularly as it continues to work to find its niche and purpose in Lake Worth government, I feel the Board needs a member and a Chairman that can commit the time and effort to continue the journey and the struggle to be heard and to make a difference. I realize that can’t be me, despite my extreme reluctance to not finish what I have started. I have followed on the Board, I have led, and now I must get out of the way. With great wishes for Lake Worth, and tremendous thanks for the opportunity to serve, I hereby resign from both the office of Chairman of the Financial Advisory Board and from the Board.

Sincerely,

John Pickett

Bill Thrasher Resignation Letter

Typed in a gray-tone, even after clicking on the photo it is impossible to read.

December 2, 2011

Dear Mayor:

After consideration I hereby tender my resignation as a member of the Financial Advisory Board effective immediately. I appreciate the opportunity to serve the City and I hope that my tenure has been helpful. Thank you for your service to the City of Lake Worth. I wish you great success.

Respectfully,

William H. Thrasher

The Utility Game - Still a Contradiction

Comment Up
Last night the Finance Advisory Board met to go over 1) the electrical conversion and the Assistant Utility Director, Clay Lindstrom's Plan 2) The Fire Assessment and 3) a way for the FAB to examine city matters of financial importance before they go to the Commission. I left near the end of the discussion on item #2.

The Agenda items were re-adjusted because top departments were there. When I say "top," that's exactly what I mean. Becky Mattey, Utilities Director, is right under the city manager in salary, benefits and perks. Next there was Steve Carr, Finance Director, Clay Lindstrom, Assistant Utilities Director, Ed Fry, Manager of OMB and then Kathleen Margoles, Assistant City Manager. They were all there "just in case" and to be able to answer any of the FAB's questions.

Leeann Evans of the FAB wanted to discuss the possible sale of our Utility. One of the interesting questions asked by FAB member Bill Thrasher was, "What is the Utility worth?" No one could or would give even a guess--they had NO idea and if they did, they were staying mum. One engineer very familiar with the utility said, "Its worth around $25 - $30 million, with a lot of liability questions surrounding the power plant and its antiquated infrastructure. It has less than one-half of the meters and will eventually require a $25 million conversion, if for no other reason than to keep storeroom costs down."

Thrasher was all for spending this money if we keep our Utility. Mattey revealed that they are holding $5 million in inventory when in fact it should be at least half that amount. They will have a "garage sale" at some future date. When Pickett suggested that we were spending a lot of money, Mattey's reply was, "It's a big business. It's time to operate it as a business." It has been operating as a business, a very costly one to the rate payers. It should be operating as revenue neutral. All we know out here looking in is that the Utility is still the Black Hole. It just keeps spending and we just keep on paying. How many millions in inventory will they be selling off at pennies on the dollar?

And that's another thing. We were told that it is NOT a conversion. "It is a system upgrade. The problem is the system configuration, not the voltage," said Lindstrom. He further stated that he had designed bigger systems and this was "no big deal." Mattey agreed that our system had very little design to it and a plan was devised to ensure that reliability will be maintained so that we can move forward. It prompted the question from Pickett, "Any way to get rates down..are we stuck with a poorly designed system?"

What is the primary advantage of having your own municipal electric system? One expert in the Utility industry says: "It’s to be a not for profit entity. The owners, the citizens and ratepayers are to have the benefit of cheap reliable electric, not to have a cash cow to operate the rest of the city on. That is why they establish an enterprise fund to operate from so as to be independent of the burden of supporting the entire city budget.

A “normal” contribution for the utility is anywhere from 3 -6% of gross revenues to the general operating fund, I would suspect it’s (Lake Worth) closer to 20% if you looked at all the money taken for the utility. If you can’t operate the utility for the benefit of the customers as revenue neutral than there is NO reason to have it. You could attack business up the wazoo if you had the proper rate structure, but the greed of the leadership in conjunction with the incompetence has taken control away from the citizens. How about the concept of most households, live within your means, stop the spending."

We heard the Utility Director and Assistant say that all of this spending is in the ten year plan. Things could change but for now, we have $16,669,961.98 in restricted funds for the Utility upgrade. The Utility department predicts that we will need $22, 587,778 in today's dollars to complete the upgrade within the next 10 years. The FAB, Chair, John Pickett, asked for a complete run-down on costs to date. Where did the money go?

Last night was the first time we heard that it was Clay's plan. Actually Clay's plan back in April 2011 was presented by the Utility Director herself, Becky Mattey and people who heard the presentation insist that this Plan is a new plan, not the original.

Clay said that he devised this plan as if he were building a utility from scratch. Now, that is nice, if you don't already have a system and a plant in place. But since we have our own Utility, this seems rather extreme to say the least and definitely costly. I don't go buy a house and then decide to completely re-design it from scratch. That would be some sort of insanity, wouldn't it? The City expects us to spend almost $6 million more than we have left from the Bond money at today's dollar value. That $6 mil will be a heck of a lot more by the time this plays out...guaranteed.

There is still confusion on the Cost of Service charge that was $8.90 last year and then raised to $9.90 for this new Budget cycle that started October 1. Becky Mattey said that it was now $12.65 and that was approved by the Commission in a Workshop meeting. Please note, on August 16, 2011, the Commission voted to implement Resolution 33-2011 to raise the Cost of Service charge from $8.90 to $12.65. Also, there is a $12.50 cost for an Energy Rate and what we are paying per 1000 kWh, a small rate decrease from last year based on a Table provided in the Budget on page 70. On page 69 of the Budget, however, and to further confuse the public, the rates are listed as follows:

less than 500KWh: $11.30 per kw hours
exceeding 500kWh but less than 1000: $13.30
more than 1000kWh: $15.30

The $34.50 charge is for all those who do not use at least 179KWH of electricity says Susan Stanton. Mattey said that was around 2,000 customers during the season. So if you take 2,000 x 6 months (our Snowbirds are gone for at least one-half year) x $34.50 = $414,000. So the savings we are getting on the reduction in the public utility tax from 10% to 8% and the conservation charge from $2.60 per KwH to $1.95 is being made up by those who have turned off their circuit breakers, those truly conserving. It still does not explain the explanation in the Budget on page 69 that says we all will pay $34.50 minimum a month regardless of consumption.

It just seems that the Utility needs to come up with the real numbers and tell us how we will pay for all of the extra millions for any of this to work. Also I would like to see all of the changes from the first Plan to the one given to us last night to avoid confusion. Otherwise, those in charge will just drive us deeper and deeper in debt and closer to a real financial urgency.

Note: Sorry this blog is so damn long!

Finance Advisory Board

Comment Up
UPDATE
Now that the Budget has been set, taxes proposed as well as the millage, the Finance Advisory Board meets tonight 6pm at City Hall for the following discussion:

1. Internal Auditor Position--Only one member opposed
2. Golf Course Discussion
3. Trolley Discussion--Vote--5/0 to oppose trolley at this time
4. Billboard Money Discussion--wants to look into Commission decisions on how to use the funds and then bring it back for more discussion
5. Conservation Fund and Available Loans--5/0 in opposition to the Conservation Fund and vehemently opposed to a Loan Program. Wants to dissolve the Conservation Program in its entirety.

Everyone come on out. Listen, learn and ask questions. This is your time, as this Board represents you and reports to the City Commission.

A thought on the Finance Advisory Board

If you go to the City's web site and look at the page that lists all of the city boards, you will notice that the Finance Advisory Board is not listed. No surprise here. In fact it lists 14 boards whereas there are 17. The Board vacancy section has not been updated since August 23, 2010 and that pretty much sums up the importance placed on volunteer boards.

This Board has never had a staff secretary. Its meetings are never published. You can never get back-up to agenda items. It has been the step-child of volunteer boards. You have to wonder. This is a Board that could have been valuable. It always had three strikes against it.

On June 16th at 5:30, applicants for various board vacancies will be interviewed.

Finance Advisory Board Outcome

Comment Up
The Financial Advisory Board does not believe in a free lunch, at least not for Joe Taxpayer.

First of all, the meeting started out with Jessica Plotkin adding something to the agenda--she wanted elections of officers retro-active to April 7 when the FAB first met in 2010. There is no agenda online of this first meeting but the minutes were recorded. This discussion took nearly one-half hour.

If you make elections retro-active, Ron Exline was Chair during that period. Do we all pretend that one month never existed? It is a messy situation. Ms. Plotkin resigned her position before elections took place this year because it was of her opinion that she had served one year, a year is all that she is supposed to serve, and therefore she did not want to serve any longer in that capacity. At her insistence, as well as the determination of a calendar year being whatever the Board desired it to be, elections took place 34 days after the Board's original inception and election.

Because every FAB position terminates on July 31st in staggered years, (three spots coming up this July 31) having elections before their first meeting in August creates a shortage of eligible candidates to be elected as officers. The Ordinance says, The Board shall elect its officers for a term of one calendar year, not to exceed the member's appointed term. So, if you have elections in May, and a member's term comes up two and one-half months later, he can not serve as an officer. Hopefully they will get this worked out where it makes sense to everyone, not just some of the members.

The next item on the Agenda was also instigated by Plotkin--discussion of the revenue ideas that were generated from the piece of paper that floated around the chamber from hysterical people supporting the PBSO at any cost, some ready to give up their first born. The Commission did not want to deal with it as the City was in negotiations with the Sheriff and wanted all the info given to the FAB to do with it what it wished. So, the Chair read every single suggestion...all 42 of them. Discussion took nearly 2 hours. Some of what came out of it was:

• *Add 2 more billboards on I-95. I don't know the genius who thought up that one but it is even more disconcerting that some on this Board would even think this a good idea. Read about the Billboard Mafia.
  

• Raise taxes

• Raise fees...double the parking at the beach...double the decal permits (I can't comment on this--must be residents who never go to the beach)
  

• Close the library (probably a guy who only reads comic books suggested that one)

• Sell half of our golfcourse. Apparently many on the FAB loved that idea because they say the golfcourse is not making any money. In the minds of some, everything in this city must make money. I am really glad that these FAB members are not paid employees. If you market something right, it will make money. People come to Florida to play golf and we own our very own on the water. Right now we are re-doing the greens to make it more attractive to golfers. All you people who gripe that the place doesn't make money--go play golf and go eat in the restaurant. Let's get a marketing plan before these greens are redone.
  

• Have a fire service assessment put on our non-advalorem with every property owner paying the same fee/"tax" of approximately $250 a year. Poor and wealthy pay the same. Afterall, they say, we all get the service. Seems hardly fair to me. Now Allen West believes in a flat tax but even the poor would be off the hook on that. I mean, there are many people in poverty living in our city. This is a government service; it's not like going out and buying a television.
  

• Take the downtown out of the CRA. (I love that idea...the downtown has been the cash cow for the CRA to spend money in all sorts of wasteful and corrupt ways. There is no comparing this to owning our own Utility)
  

• Allowing heights (More density would put a strain on our infrastructure and resources, many of which are old and would need replacement costing the taxpayers multi-millions)
  

• Sell our utility company (That would be by vote of the citizens--we can't just go around saying sell our utility when we take over $10 million from it just to operate our city. We need the revenue because of out of whack pension benefits. We have two mayoral candidates now who are spouting that (Ramiccio and Maxwell) without thinking it through or giving us a plan)
  

*What was revealed from the meeting was the billboard money that the City finally collected. A little history--The original contract was for six signs for $2,310,000 for 20 years minus 1 day with payments to the city from Interstate Sign. Interstate assigned its rights to 3 of the signs and we received only $1,240,000 on the original contract from CBS Outdoor signs. Both these companies pulled their scam by suing us. A settlement agreement was reached on 7-3-07. The deal was a one-time fee of $150,000 per sign on the west side of I-95 and $200,000 per sign on the east side. Then, the Lease was assigned to CBS Outdoor, Inc. We received a total of $1,545,000 according to my calculations, a shortfall of $745,000. I was told that Ed Fry last night used a figure of $1.8 received on the billboards. This figure might include payments that the city is receiving but we never get any line item and we are never told anything about this money.

The money, instead of being deposited into the general fund, was put somewhere in the C.I.P...the "wishlist"--and no one can tell us where it is. So, whether it was $1.5 or $1.8 million, it is still a heck of a lot of cash to sell our soul to the devil. And the FAB thinks it worth discussing because it is revenue. Here, here. We know where it went but we have no idea what the city is doing with this money...money that was received from major blight to our city for 20 years and from companies that stormed the City insisting that billboards go up ignoring our Sign Code. The money could be long gone for all we know. It is too bad that we had such a weak commission at that time. This never would have happened with our present commission. Make that your assignment, FAB--find the money. While you're at it, find the $3.5 mil that was originally in our beach fund. Someone absconded with that on a switcheroo too.

One thing that was not brought up was the cause of our angst--Union retirement benefits. It was totally avoided and never mentioned. We must go to a Defined Contribution Plan, something member Bill Thrasher brought up last year. Perhaps when we get our own fire department, another thing not mentioned, retirement plans will be changed to where they make sense, not only for these depressive times but going well into the future. A government job should not be a give-away of public money and out of whack with the private sector, the very reason why cities are going bankrupt. Another thing that was clearly not discussed and the reason for the list to begin with--the high cost of the Sheriff. The root of problems always need to be weeded out and not ignored.

And to the Board: As you worry about how to get more revenue, I hope that everyone had a good time last night on that free dinner and dance on the taxpayers held at the golfcourse, the very same golfcourse that you dissed on Wednesday night for not making enough money and that you contemplated selling off. You should not reward yourself when the city is in a financial urgency.

This is why the City loses credibility. Raising taxes and throwing costs onto Joe Taxpayer is not okay when you can so easily believe that rewarding yourself is acceptable, no matter how small the gratuity may seem to you or how deserving you feel you are. You either take a stand on BS expenses or it's business as usual.

Alligator Killing Time

Comment Up

Tripp Ciocci is married to Jennifer Marchal. Jennifer was
a former member of the Finance Advisory Board
who had the good sense to resign.

Now, this is the photo I would have loved to have taken, or for that matter, had the guts to take. It reminded me of Alligator Hunting Season that runs from June 13 through August 15.

So, all of you blood thirsty people over 18 years of age who just love to kill something, hurry on down to Palm Beach County and get your permit that will cost $272 if you are a resident. We even have idiots who come from out of State. Their license costs $1,022. Let's sock it to those tourists. You will be allowed to kill two alligators but in designated areas so don't come to Lake Osborne where this photo was taken.

The Fabulous FAB

Comment Up

Everyone enjoys a good sunset

The Finance Advisory Board meets tonight 6pm, City Hall. On the agenda are the following:

1. Discussion of revenue ideas as presented by a politically motivated meeting at Compass and from a paper that was passed around at a city commission meeting. One suggestion was to get rid of the Office of Management & Budget. Ed Fry will love that one. Item Requested by Jessica Plotkin, member of FAB.
2. Discussion of the Capital Improvement Plan 2012-2017. Requested by Ed Fry, head of OMB.
3. Discussion of the revisions to the 2012 Budget Projection. Requested by Jessica Plotkin.

First of all, some of the revenue ideas were legit and I am rather sure that the Finance Department has thought of all of them other than the "far out" and nutty ones in order to keep the PBSO. The C.I.P. is nothing more than a wish-list. It is meaningless and a long range plan that constantly is changed. The FAB has no affect on the C.I.P. I don't know what they want to discuss about budget projections. Forecasts continually are modified and revisions made as information or situations warrant.

Meetings of the FAB should be productive not talk fests for board members. The Finance Department is on top of everything. This board is advisory and a total waste of time. It has no power. It has no affect. It can't even get desired information in order to come to an intelligent conclusion. The public can't get any back-up online. It is there to keep members of the Board busy. Originally its objective was to rubber stamp city hall. Now the energy has shifted to question every little detail coming out of Finance or decisions made by this Commission. And certain people in this community want it to exist as it becomes more political as certain FAB members insist on discussing and hashing over personal agendas.

The Fabulous FAB started off with good intentions. Unfortunately that's all the meat it had.

Citizen Insurrection by a handful of Malcontents

Comment Up

Yes, you really did have to be at the City Commission/Finance Advisory Board meeting last night held at Compass. The organizer of this meeting expected a bunch of people…didn’t happen. It was a meeting that never should have been called as it was done on bogus reasoning. It was nothing more than a political stunt of one angry political faction in this city to get its way again. ...average citizens who have been brainwashed by some who are offended by just about everything in this city. You name it, they just hate it.

These protesters who came to speak last night are part of a group that has been organized to protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion against our city commission and city manager. It is not their love for the Sheriff that rises them to this rebellion. That is only a means to their end. They successfully use Commissioner Maxwell to bring their platform forward.

To even think about ruining negotiations with the PBSO is despicable. To say that it is their freedom of speech to jump up and call a Commissioner a liar is only utter contempt and horrible behavior that no one should be subjected to whether it is a member of the commission or the public. After the Vice Mayor asked one resident to leave, she refused; the meeting broke and the Sheriff was called in order to escort her out of the meeting.

When I spoke, I was heckled from the very same group. You see, no one can have a different opinion. You never see anyone I know heckling them when they speak. It is always the other way around and last night the Vice Mayor took action. It is about time and I commend her for her actions. This group has been steadily getting more belligerent at every meeting and their behavior last night was shocking.

It is indeed a strange and frightening place when you can have an organizer from College Park who has incited her friends to interrupt and try to take over a public meeting because a commission makes intelligent statements and disagrees with their point of view. And they complain about anarchists.

Any of you who are calm, sane and want this city to be the best it can be with sincere negotiations with our PBSO and have them cut their exorbitant cost of services, you really need to start to attend city commission meetings and see first-hand how a group of malcontents are trying, once again, to rape your city. Speak out and be heard.