Comment Up
Politics sucks. We never know who to trust, who is telling the truth, or who is pulling the wool over our eyes. It is not just at the national or state levels. So many deals are cut out of the
Florida Sunshine Law that was first enacted in 1967. We have the same problems right here in our little city.
We talk about transparency all of the time. Everything needs to be conducted in the Sunshine and the city commission must be informed about anything that affects policy as it is they, as a body, who make the decision and will direct the city manager to pursue.
Commissioner Mulvehill became aware of Mr. Bornstein's meeting with
ERM regarding the $18 million, 100 acre
Snook Island project and asked him about it. It was a meeting without the knowledge of the city commission. From what I could gather, City Manager Michael Bornstein scheduled a meeting with ERM that included "friends of his for 27 years," in order to find out two things:
1. If he could
terminate
the agreement for Phase II of the Snook Island Project which consists of:
Snook Islands Phase II
0.45 acre oyster reef
0.74 acre red mangroves
7.17 acres seagrass
Bryant Park Wetlands Restoration
0.06 acre oyster reef
0.44 acre red mangroves
4.54 acres of seagrass
He found out that he
could not because the agreement was already signed. In fact, the equipment was
also on site.
2. He wanted to find out
about building up to a 50-slip Marina in Bryant Park. He was told he could not. Apparently he was trying to bring back to life or explore the possibility of bringing back to life, the plan that Warren Newell drew up several years back and where his plan was presented at the Golf Course. Newell was "booed and hissed" for his suggestion. In 2008,
"Newell’s 15 years as a public servant came to an end as he was sentenced on public corruption charges."
Tuesday night, while giving his explanation and why he was not transparent or candid with the city commission, Bornstein mentioned the
Gulfstream Hotel. Sources say that Bornstein said we "can't make any money off the waterfront
with all these environmental projects." Our partners in the Phase II are the PBC Department of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) and the Florida Department of Transportation. He further stated that he was trying to tie in the Gulfstream Hotel (private property) with a public marina. It is the belief of some politicians, especially Republicans, that agencies such as the EPA and those mentioned above, get in the way of business and making money.
If our former city manager, Susan Stanton, had conducted business in this fashion and kept anything this important from the commission, or had gone off on her own trying to formulate policy to try and terminate Phase II of the Snook Island project, Scott Maxwell would have come down on her like a Mack truck going 100 mph and she would have been fired on the spot. Tuesday night self-proclaimed Republican Scott Maxwell was silent and wanted to immediately adjourn the meeting.You have to wonder if he and the rest of the trio knew.
This, as so many things are, will be swept under the rug. It all depends on the politics of the moment and who owns the majority.
