Rich Lorraine Was First

The other night, a few friends and I were discussing Tom Francis’, who is an excellent investigative reporter, latest post and past posts by Tom and Elgin Jones, about the Deerfield Beach Mango Festival. We were trying to remember when the amount the city donated to the festival and the accounting of the receipts was first questioned. We knew it was Rich Lorraine who first tried to get the city to account for the funds, and we decided it was over 6 years ago, perhaps as long as 9 years ago.

Recently Francis wrote: “I've been stymied in my efforts to get an answer to the question I put at the bottom of this mammoth post from yesterday, about the Deerfield Beach's Mango Festival. Namely, why did the city cut the Mango Festival a check for $36,000 in June 2008?” (http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/11/mango_festival_deerfield_finances.php)

Elgin Jones, a bulldog of a reporter who has aired many a scandal wrote in September, 2007: “We are still gathering the facts, but it appears that income the city generated from the popular Mango Festival may have been kept in a separate account, in violation of accepted accounting practices.

City Manager Mike Mahaney acknowledged he had heard of some type of ‘enterprise’ fund in which income from several events was held. Mahany said that may not have been part of the regular budget process, but added that he is not exactly sure what has taken place. The Mango Festival has its own committee, which is separate from the city. However, the proceeds and donations that go to the city have not been accounted for, and there is no indication of exactly how the money has been spent or where it went.

This is yet another example of the lack of oversight of city operations that was commonplace in the administration of former City Manager Larry Deetjen. Some sources are referring to this money as being in a “slush” fund that has been maintained in a secret account connected to the parks and recreation department’s budget, but that has not been confirmed, at least not yet.” http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?Itemid=98&id=479&option=com_content&task=view

And, here we are in November of 2009 and it has not been “confirmed” by now either. Rich Lorraine was equally as frustrated in his attempts to get an accounting, as Tom Francis, and I assume, Elgin are, but investigating the Mango Festival finances is proving to be a Sisyphean task.

Credit to Bill Ganz for raising the question yet again during budget talks, but he was only able to get a small portion of the records, and, it seems, there are no more to get. So, where do we go from here? No records mean no culpability, no proof that things were straightforward and no proof that they were not.

With young men like this, Deerfield Beach may have some hope for the future.

At last night’s commission meeting a couple of delightful young men stole the show. Christopher Chisholm received a certificate of recognition for putting out a fire in a city truck. He took his few minutes to thank his fellow workers, supervisors and his parents in a most charming and self effacing way. If you didn’t attend the meeting, you should go to the city website to view the video of this young man.

A young man of 14, (I didn’t catch his name) with the group of fisherman protesting the proposed ordinance to ban all fishing from the beach, was a delight. His poise speaking before a room full of adults was impressive. His plea to allow him to continue to fish for food for his family, and continue this worthwhile spare time pursuit swayed the commission I am sure.

In contrast to the two outstanding young men, Sylvia and Peggy got into it again. Sylvia wanted to name the Aquatic Center after Vince Kendrick who is recovering from a kidney transplant, and not expected to return to work. Peggy reacted, saying all he did was his job, for which he was paid, whereas she, Peggy, was the one who did all the work getting the swimming pool built; and then went on to question if anything should be named for city employees. It got hot for a bit with Sylvia wanting to know if Peggy wanted the pool named after her. Peggy backed off from saying that in so many words, but the intent was there. Peggy was instrumental in the pool’s success, but I guess knowing it was a job well done isn’t as good as having your name on a plaque. She sort of gulped when she realized that she, in fact, is a city employee.

Joe Miller, had a question he wanted to ask, but when he was called on after the Sylvia/Peggy scuffle, he sat back in disgust and waved a never mind.

Last week Joe had a district 1 meeting which was well attended and informative. Good going Joe. Don’t let the turkeys get you down.

Good Idea Angelo!

Pembroke Pines’ Vice Mayor Angelo Castillo wrote (about the school board, but it applies to all government) in the Sun Sentinel:

“ …let's take elected officials out of the procurement process. Nobody elects School Board members based on their procurement prowess; they are not qualified to carry out that function, which is best handled by staff. The job of elected officials is to safeguard the fairness of the procurement process not to meddle in who gets what contracts. Make it clean. Open the doors to competition. Get elected school board members out of the contract selection business.These steps will go a long way toward improving education in our community and restoring public trust in the Broward County School District.”

What a great idea Vice Mayor Castillo, if your suggestion was in effect in Deerfield Beach we would not be anticipating a lawsuit about the selection of the Pier Restaurant contract.

Let’s change all contract awarding, city and county and school board, to that method. Who better to know what group should run a restaurant, or redesign a pier entrance then the professionals we hire to run our departments.

Let the commissioners have the final vote, yes or no, on the choice, but let the pros do the selection. Who would you want to pick a contractor, Charlie DaBrusco or Sylvia Poitier? George Edmonds or Peggy Noland?

Can you see Charlie saying, Oops, I got the names of the restaurants mixed up! I want Handleman, which one is his? As Sylvia did, or, I thought we were going with the 1-8 numbering, I didn’t know about the 35% - 35% - 30% weighting thing!, as did Peggy, the first week which pushed the selection off to the next meeting, resulting in the closing the restaurant and losing money.

The weighting was clearly spelled out in the selection criteria of the RFP. Staff wouldn't have missed that. They would have done the correct weighting for the various sections, financial, insurability, experience, etc. They would not have chosen based on who they like personally. They are the pros; they should be the ones to choose, the commission sets the criteria in the RFP, the staff carries out the selection. Let's make that happen.

Hear! Hear! — Kudos to Jeff Sayles from a reader

Reaction to: Back In Business, Idiots, and Ethics - 10/23/09)
(http://www.deerfieldbeachusa.com/

Hear! Hear! — Kudos to Jeff Sayles from a reader

Some members of the ad hoc committee to review the ethics code of Deerfield Beach sagely nodded agreement when one member quoted the Model Code of Conduct for Court Professionals which begins with a preamble:

“SERVICE TO THE JUDICIAL BRANCH IS A PUBLIC TRUST. THE FOUNDATION OF OUR SOCIETY RESTS, IN PART, ON THE ABILITY OF THE CITIZENS TO WISELY JUDGE THE VALUE OF OUR COURTS AND TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE INTEGRITY OF THE JUDICIARY . . . .

CANON 1: AVOIDING IMPROPRIETY AND THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY IN ALL ACTIVITIES . . . “

It is interesting to note that those committee members who cited this canon stressed more than once ONLY the second clause of this statement. One of them also spoke of modifying our ethics legislation so that it is good for the commissioners. Another member drew reference to her manner conducting of her business as a justification for lowering the barriers in this code.

Are there different acceptable ethical standards between entertaining clients of a business for profit and those standards that must be maintained in a position of trust by elected representatives of taxpayers? This committee seems to say PERHAPS so. I suggest that they say DEFINITELY so.

The commission and this committee should be exclusively focused beyond the vague “…avoidance of APPEARANCE of impropriety in all activities. . . “? Avoiding ANY impropriety — real or suspect — is surely what’s best for the entire city — including those elected and employed to conduct its business.

Those who work hard and make sacrifices of time are to be commended for their public service NOT rewarded beyond the contracted stipend or salary. They are elected or employed NOT anointed! Their sacrifices in fulfilling the duties to SERVE for which they sought election or employment do NOT entitle them to privilege.

The Ethics Code section discussed notes all possible relationships to any person elected or hired to do business for the city and refers ONLY to certain aspects of that business. One member feels that personal rights are being abrogated by such barriers. This certainly may be the case in some instances — we cannot legislate against greed. The reality of that greed as we see it manifested today day after day is strong proof that a more stringent warning with strict enforcement is a necessity as a deterrent.

Such restriction should and MUST be considered part of the job description for our elected and employed officials.

Rather than taking a stand on ethics that will be best for the city, this committee seems to be slowly but surely moving toward mutual conciliation that will result in lowering the barriers to possible misconduct — a disservice to seeking the highest standards as well as a disregard for realities from what is happening now, and to times in our past.

One committee member, when addressed after a meeting as an able negotiator, demurred and referred to himself rather as a mediator. This was countered by underscoring the difference between the two. It is a meaningful differentiation and either course is premature with this untried legislation, is it not?

So sad

Sad, pathetic, that is the description of last night’s (Tuesday) commission meeting. The commissioners spent $15,000 on a retreat to come up with a “vision” that amounted to an agreement that the commission meetings were not run well and people didn’t respect one another. I could have told them that for free. Nothing has changed, I present exhibit #1 to support that finding:

On Agenda Item - General Item #20 except for Bill Ganz they would have included the entire list of legislative priorities from the League of Cities with our Deerfield Beach list, sight unseen.

Sylvia, said in addition to our ten items we should include the L of C’s list also as they always have a good one, Peggy asked the city attorney if they could include it. Bill put a stop to that, saying he would not vote to include anything he had not read. Good going Bill. Joe Miller agreed they should read it first. Duh!

(WRONG, Sylvia, the League of Cities is not always our good buddy, for example they were trying to repeal the County Charter and eliminate County oversight of the cities. So if one city wanted to build something the next city didn’t want near them there would be nowhere to appeal. Who knows what else they want that would not be good for Deerfield Beach?)

Then came the discussion about what to do with the area of the city around the Dixie Flyover which is slated to break ground in late January. That is what was supposed to be discussed, but Sylvia went off on a tirade about hiring local contractors and would not believe that the city has NO control over the project as it is completely run by the MOP. Bill explained it very carefully to her but no dice. Marty Popelsky volunteered to go with her to the MOP, but said that the local contractors to be used for the flyover are local to Florida, not Deerfield Beach. All the commissioners understood this but Sylvia. Watch the video at the city website, reality TV doesn’t get much better than this.

Then the vote to decide on the pier restaurant was messed up, see Tom Francis’ take on it in his New Times post http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/10/deerfield_beach_pier_lease_poitier.php
During the meeting Mayor Peggy Noland made sure the whole city knew she was ready this time, unlike two weeks ago, she had the bidders ranked 2 ways and was ready to choose either way they decided to go, she did her homework. Unlike Sylvia Poitier, shown in the video post on Francis’ blog. In spite of having had 4 weeks to review she was not ready and messed up her choices which were done on the spot while everyone waited.

It ended up with her changing her vote after the restaurant was picked. She was seriously confused and was unable to grasp the difference between two similarly named “Pier Grills”. I would not be surprised if the losing bidder takes legal action. At this point Peggy loses her temper and says enough, stop it, we look like a bunch of idiots, the vote was called, and Sylvia kept interrupting and Peggy kept saying “Excuse me Sylvia you don‘t have the floor!” over and over. Sylvia then asks the city attorney if the mayor can stop her from talking at a commission meeting and is told, “Yes”. Sylvia then left the room.

All during the retreat veiled references to Sylvia’s behavior at meetings was discussed, then at the end they finally named the problem and said she was the problem. Two weeks ago during the commission meeting Sylvia seemed especially foggy, she, at one point, asked is Crystal Lake in Deerfield Beach? Huh? Last night she acted very confused also, and not too sure what was being discussed. Perhaps her blood sugar is off; perhaps she is not sleeping well, perhaps …. Well whatever, she is no longer an asset to the commission and should take time off and get help or resign, now, at once.

Up until last night the commissioners humored her, that seems to have ended. Perhaps they will take action.

Disturbing Complaints from City Hall

I am more and more disturbed by what I hear from City Hall these days. The Commissioners, especially the Mayor, do not seem to realize that the City Manager is the one who deals with the employees, not them. They set policy, but the manager carries it out.

Which means that when Mayor Noland calls up a department head and directs him/her to do something, or yells out from the dais that a department head in the audience should do such and such as soon as possible, SHE IS VIOLATING THE CITY CHARTER!!

Why does she do this? She says she is impatient and doesn't want to wait. Then she says she doesn't want to step on any toes, but she is walking all over the charter with hob nailed boots. Unless it is a safety emergency, in which case the police should be notified, she should learn patience.

There is a reason for chain of command, and commissioners who order employees around and/or yell at them are setting a very bad example, creating what might be called a hostile workplace and they should STOP IT NOW!!

I hear from inside city hall that the Mayor is on the employees cases frequently. If an employee gets mad and files a grievance it could cost the city a bundle.

Have it out with the city manager if you have a problem, but stay away from the employees. Wouldn't it be embarrasing if they wind up in front of Crist's new grand jury, perhaps he should base it in Deerfield Beach.

Joe Miller, at the Embassy Suits "retreat" said that perhaps they should have a workshop to learn what is in the charter, good idea Joe. Here's a little preview:

PART I CHARTER OF THE CITY OF DEERFIELD BEACH, FLORIDA

ARTICLE III. LEGISLATIVE

Section 3.06. Mayor and vice mayor.

(a) Mayor. The mayor shall preside at meetings of the commission and shall be recognized as head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes; by the governor for purposes of military law and civil disaster; for execution of contracts, deeds and other documents except as otherwise provided in article IV; for service of process; and as the city official designated to represent the city in all agreements with other governmental entities or certifications to other governmental entities, but shall have no administrative duties except as required to carry out the responsibilities herein.

Section 3.09. Prohibitions.
(3) Oversight of administration. Except for the purpose of inquiries and investigations, the commission or its members shall deal with city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the city manager solely through the city manager, and neither the commission nor its members shall give orders to any such officer or employee, either publicly or privately. Nothing in the foregoing is to be construed to prohibit individual members of the commission from examining by question and personal observation all aspects of city government operations so as to obtain independent information to assist the members in the formulation of policies to be considered by the commission and assure the implementation of such policies as have been adopted.

It is the express intent of this provision, however, that such inquiry shall not interfere directly with the regular municipal operations of the city and that recommendations for change or improvement in city government operations be made to and through the city manager.

You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm tellin' you why.....

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/10/12/daily34.html?s=du&ed=2009-10-14&ana=e_du_pap

Modified: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 1:40pm

Crist calls for grand jury to investigate public corruption


Citing a recent rash of crime involving public officials, Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to empanel a statewide grand jury to investigate the matter.

In his petition, Crist said that after consulting with local law enforcement agencies as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there is “good and sufficient reason” to investigate criminal activity “among local and state officials acting in their official capacity.”

Such an investigation would run the gamut from bribery and prostitution to crimes involving drugs.

And while the investigation would not be limited to any particular part of the state, Crist requested in his petition that a judge from one of several circuits, including Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach County, be appointed to oversee the grand jury.

Crist’s announcement follows recent indictments of Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher, and Alan Mendelsohn, a prominent Hollywood eye surgeon on public corruption charges.