Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Blah, Blah, Blah, Grr, Grr, Blah
What a waste of four hours. Wow, did I just say four hours? And this is time that I can't, as they say, get back. Amazing.
Gosh, mused Tracy "Big Mama" Truppman, I wonder if the attorney has any thoughts about what to do about public comment, so we can, you know, be respectful of things like variance presentations, that shouldn't be kept waiting for hours. Hmm, Madame Mayor, said Rebecca Rodriguez, I'm wondering about-- I mean, just off the top of my head-- maybe putting public comment deeper into the agenda? How about that, attorney Rodriguez, you think of everything, gushed the grateful Big Mama. Except, of course, that Tracy had telegraphed this scheme a week or two ago, so we all knew she would jettison public comment until late enough that maybe not too many people would be there any more. Which is partially what happened. So slimy. Eww. Tracy continues on her campaign to shut out and shut down her neighbors, so they can't speak, and if they do, they won't get any response. But she's not just picking on us. She does the same thing to her colleague, Dan Samaria.
At one point, Dan wanted to discuss the still deflected matter of the illegally postponed March 5 meeting. Ah, just a minute there, Commissioner, said Rebecca Rodriguez. Your colleagues and the manager have all lawyered up over this, so it's unlikely (impossible) anyone will talk about it. You'll be talking to yourself. What would you say to, um, postponing this inquiry? Yeah, OK, surrendered Dan. They do have their way with old Dan Samaria.
Tracy heard about it, too, from several of her neighbors. Whoa, there! No, I'm not suggesting she cared at all. I'm just saying a number of her neighbors spit into the wind about Tracy and her ongoing assault on the Park and its inhabitants. Dan Samaria is increasingly beaten down, and he didn't get to present anything he had in mind. And Betsy Wise was way too bored to do anything but "concur" with whatever Tracy said. I didn't get the sense Betsy was actually listening, or heard, or cared, but she was always there at the ready with her concurring vote. The same exact thing went for Jenny Johnson-Sardella. She very clearly doesn't know what's going on, and she just takes direction from Tracy. Will Tudor is still out there, trying at times to seem relevant, but not really persuading. Tracy took the lead in voting against someone's shed. She didn't think it met items 1, 2, or 4 of the special questions. Betsy voted no, too, because she didn't think the situation met items 1, 2, or 4. Jenny couldn't agree to the shed, because she felt the applicants hadn't met items 1, 2, or 4. Will? Um, no, considering items 1, 2, and 4. See what I mean?
Essentially nothing got accomplished. The troupe bumbled around a variance and a special request to allow some allegedly anxious girl to keep chickens, but they very clearly don't know what they're doing.
Did anyone complain? Sure. But they got ignored, as usual. And Tracy had good old Mike Redmond, and good old Charlie Easton, to criticize anyone who didn't like bad, ineffective, and illegal government. Yuck, said Mike and Charlie. We hate complainers like that.
Did I mention what a waste of time this Commission meeting was?
It now occurs to me I should have described one other thing about last night's meeting. I should have talked about former Commissioner, and former Mayor, Roxanna Ross. Roxy Ross--Rox Ross, as she calls herself-- is unbelievable. She was an unbelievable Mayor, an unbelievable Commissioner, is an unbelievable former elected official, and is an unbelievable resident of the Village of Biscayne Park.
ReplyDeleteRoxy Ross, who is no longer an elected official here, who has a full time job, and who has, shall we say, "better things to do," is the smartest, most totally relevant person in a room like the log cabin. Roxy knows and understands what's going on vastly better, with more expertise, and broader scope and perspective, than anyone at the Commission desk. As embarrassing and non-functional as is our current Commission, they look so much worse whenever Roxy takes the podium, to inform, to expand, to question, and to scold. And the only thing the current Commission could possibly do to make themselves more foolish, and less relevant, is to ignore Roxy, or try to counter her, which is exactly what they do.
And Roxy-- bless her heart, as they say-- isn't trying to make anyone look bad. She's just there, trying to keep the ship faintly righted, and wishing only that the Commission would take the baton from her, and do what's in the interests of BP. But they're so jealous, and so angry, and so terrified, and feel so (glaringly) inferior, that they won't do it. It seems to me it was Betsy Wise once who tried to portray Roxy as the enemy of the people. And I realize Betsy is a creature of primitive aggressive reflexes, and has probably not given one millisecond of thought to Roxy and what she's about, but this is in fact the level of discernment and wisdom shown by our Commission. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY!!!
Anyway, Roxy was there again, notes and binders in hand, trying to give the Commission and the Village so-called "management" what it needs to make even a weak attempt to function adaptively. Which it predictably declined.
Fred, you are spot on about Rox. To the list of people that she makes look ill-informed, ill-prepared and just downright dumb: every attorney that our firm trots out to meetings. I must say, of all the attorneys who pulled the short straw and were forced to run a BP meeting this year, the junior attorney last night, Rebecca, was by FAR the most professional and prepared. She had actually done some prep before she came! However, Rox made her look like a college intern, too. Not that that was Rox's intent, but it's hard for any of them to look smart or thoughtful when Rox Ross is at the podium.
ReplyDeleteMac,
DeleteYou said that about Rebecca last night, but I was not impressed. Rebecca was very prepared to protect Tracy, and someone-- maybe Dan Samaria-- said Rebecca was clearly Tracy's attorney, not the Village's attorney. Many heads nodded, and I'm not sure yours wasn't one of them.
Tracy chooses these attorneys carefully, and with a specific purpose. Rebecca did not disappoint. The rest of the Commission did, though, as some, most prominently you, pointed out.
Fred
I agree with that assessment of our attorneys, but in all fairness, Rebecca had clearly read the entire agenda and was prepared to speak to it. Yes, I felt she was protecting Tracy, but in other matters she was prepared, and she was also professional and pleasant. She wasn't exactly Perry Mason, but she also wasn't nasty, which I felt Julia was when protecting Tracy by using the decorum rules as a weapon (which she read while trying to enforce them).
ReplyDeleteThanks Fred, Mac and other neighbors for the kind remarks. I am a stickler for details, to a fault (it ain't easy to live with, ask Chuck). I am a firm believer in fair application of the law and consistent process, especially in the public sector when other people's money funds operations.
DeleteI do agree that Rebecca appeared well prepared and anticipated arguments, mostly on Dan's item re: Tracy's behavior as Mayor, and somewhat on (what became marathon-length) variances hearings. But, as we've seen before, the Village Attorney was not prepared on two important agenda items of Village business:
1) GRUBBS debris removal contract: another faulty process (that may void a final action on the item)started last July. According to the RFP, submittals were to be tabulated by Committee the week of [Fri]8/10, but there is no notice, calendar note or minutes for such meeting. The 9/11/2018 Commission Agenda attaches scoring sheets dated 8/20/2018 (no notice, calendar note or minutes for an 8/20 meeting either) recommending GRUBBS. The Commission (me included, anxious to have a vendor in place 3 months into the 2018 hurricane season) accepted the recommendation and instructed staff to negotiate an agreement with GRUBBS. Understand that the Village twice before contracted with this company, so they didn't have to reinvent the wheel. Finally, 8 months later the agreement came back for Commission approval this week, but without a proper Resolution documenting the competitive bid process and other details (that will be important for FEMA if there is a claim during 5-years agreement). Village Attorney didn't take time to correct the shortcomings of the agenda item prior to the meeting (what with all the strategizing for Dan's item), nor was she up on the topic enough to walk Commission through a vote. So, we wait another month into into the 2nd hurricane season, without a debris removal contract. AND, don't forget, we don't have that pesky-FEMA-required monitoring contract in place either.
2) The last agenda item was a sketchy guesstimate on Solid Waste collection costs (for which the Finance Director was not even consulted) that developed into discussion of terms to be DEMANDED FROM (not negotiated with) WastePro. My guess is no one has looked at the WastePro agreement in a long time. The 5-year agreement ends 10/1/2019, and may be extended for up to 2 additional 5-year terms, BUT the Village was supposed to give written notice of its intent to renew at least 180 days before the end -- that was 4/4/2019. What are the odds that the Village gave any notice? Commission only started talking about the service in May when they had to set the special assessment, which BTW was also a questionable process. Let's not get started on that one, I've gone on too long already.
Does this sound like good oversight to you?
Oh Rox - there you go again - worried about all that "minutia"!! (Ok, hope everyone knows I am being sarcastic.....just parroting Tracy's chief flying monkey or as he's been called "Mr. Emoji Man")This commission (excluding Dan) and administration absolutely refuses to learn from their mistakes. That we are going into the 2nd hurricane season without those 2 signed contracts is irresponsible to say the least
DeleteAs for WastePro.....I guess it must have been a big surprise to all of them that this contract is up for renewal this year hence no RFP put out. Now we're told it's too late and no surprise to anyone who pays attention prohibitively expensive to come back in house. So, now we go into negotiations with WastePro in the worst possible position. They know we have nowhere else to go. But hey - they're so busy obsessing over decorum they just don't have time to actually govern!
Apples and oranges, Rox. Let's assume you are, as you say, a stickler for detail. I can tell you from observation and from personal experience that this fixation (OK to call it a fixation?) does not interfere with your functioning in any way. It does not slow down the process, and it does not prevent you from making decisions. All it does is result in very solid and reliable conclusions. And perhaps more to the immediately relevant point, it does not in any way deflect your focus from the essential topic at hand: the welfare of BP.
DeleteTracy is a stickler, too, and she's a stickler for domination. She is not independently concerned with details, or with quality, except coincidentally to the extent that consideration of either ensures her dominance. But once dominating, she has no other agenda. We have all seen that in a normal group/Commission setting, she is lost, unable to make rational and situation-related decisions about anything. But doing that is not her goal. So Tracy, who is not necessarily a stickler for detail, does in fact bog down the process, and fail to be able to decide, and is not oriented toward the welfare of BP.
We all watched this for the two years you were on the Commission with Tracy, and we have continued to see it since you did not run again, but you continue to offer perspective and insight. As Janey alludes to, not only does the current Commission not learn from its own mistakes, it also refuses to learn from you. And you offer no end of opportunities. But part of Tracy's self-focused fixation not only prevents her from bothering to listen to anyone else, but it also includes a specific, and well-founded, jealousy of you, which prevents her from taking proper advantage of what you still have to offer, and are still willing to offer.
Tracy, who thinks she won something, is a pathetic loser. And so are the flying monkeys, especially her girls, who add the weight Tracy needs to enable her domination.
Oh how I miss John Hearn!
ReplyDeleteWe were lectured last night from one of Tracy's flock that we need to be nicer. Here's what I think isn't nice. Significant amount of meeting time is spent on Tracy's decorum obsession even if that means public comments now taking SO much longer because we have to sit like good doobies in our seats until the clerk calls us up rather than standing in line and quickly following one after another. We have not one but three police officers in the audience one of whom sits at the dais looking rather intimidating. We can guess what he's there for but he certainly wasn't introduced and we weren't told what he's there for or how much it's costing us tax payers. Wouldn't our needs be better served with 2 of those 3 being out on patrol? These are the things our dictator in chief apparently considers priorities. What's not a priority? Hurricane clean up and monitoring contracts which are still not signed. She/they of course learned nothing from Irma. Also I guess it was a surprise to all of them that WastePro's contract comes up for renewal this year AND that the county has a tight deadline in September that all the numbers going on our tax bills (sanitation being one of those numbers) must be turned in to them. So....it was announced last night that there is no time to go out for bids to see if we might get a better deal with a different company. And it's WAY too much money to bring it back in house. So - we are now left in THE worst possible position in contract negotiating with WastePro since they know we have no other option. All this as we sink further and further into a dictatorship.
Since when does anyone need to be nicer? That's a dodge, to inhibit criticism of something very faulty.
DeleteTracy and her goons have accomplished absolutely nothing. And have caused disruption, and wasted money. And tuned out and blocked out their neighbors in ways I, for one, have never before seen from a Commission. Jacobs/Cooper/Watts wasn't remotely as bad as this. If I ever thought it couldn't possibly be any worse than them, or than George W Bush, I've learned my lesson.
What was interesting about the paid goon at the Commission table is that he didn't say or do anything. Two people went over their very tightly allotted time limit, and the only thing that happened was that Tracy tried to talk over them, to shut them up. But the goon just sat.
What a gross waste is this Commission. And an offense to this Village. All it is is domination and manipulation. And lying. And if it turned out Tracy found some surreptitious scheme to give Krishan the $5000 bonus no one else agreed to approve, then it's stealing, too. Anybody up for '20?
We cannot let her transparent tactics of intimidation work. Ethics now has BP under a microscope, and those meetings are recorded. Stay the course, keep speaking up.
ReplyDeletePS: If anyone read Tracy's backup docs to the email inquiry, any guess how long she spent on that? Can you imagine if that time was spent on "good" instead?
PPS: Where's the driveway ordinance?
I won't be silenced by this egomaniacal dictator nor her henchmen. I'm already working on next month's comments.
DeleteIf she/they spent time on good rather than vendettas just maybe we'd have put out that RFP months ago re: sanitation. Just maybe they could stop talking about how our codes need tightening and actually get it done. I'm so sick of hearing the BS about how bad our codes are as their excuse for granting these variances when they seem to have lost the driveway ordinance altogether. They may be fooling themselves but they aren't fooling the rest of us.
The interesting manipulation about public comment was that often, you can't predict what you might want to say, or if you might want to say anything. And when in the train of speakers you think what you want to say might fit best. All of that is destroyed when you have to sign up in advance, and be called when you might not be ready. The purpose of it, like making public comment later in the meeting, is to inhibit comment, including, as happened last night, that some people don't stay that long. Which is interesting, because in years past, Tracy would occasionally attend a meeting, unload her material, taking too long to do it, then leave without waiting for a response, and certainly not demonstrating any interest in the whole rest of the meeting, which was the part that wasn't just about her.
DeleteI already decided that I won't sign up for public comment at future meetings. I'll wait until it starts, then I'll go up and sign in so I'm last in line. She allowed that, so I'll take advantage of that loophole next time. Last night when I signed up, the first person on the list ended up being called up near the end. Someone manipulated that list so Tracy's flying monkeys could speak after her critics.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mike Redmond signed up first, then decided he didn't want to be first, so he was allowed to cross out his name, and sign in further down.
DeleteFlying monkey, indeed.
Good grief ......
ReplyDeleteYup, the new system certainly saves time and streamlines things.
It wasn't intended to save time or streamline anything. In one of her excuses last night, Tracy said the previous system "wasn't working." What it wasn't working to do is shut down non-Commissioner residents effectively enough. This new adjustment is designed to make further inroads into that goal, and it worked reasonably well.
DeleteAll this focus on Tracy, although well warranted, diverts attention away from the fact that our manager was totally responsible for ensuring that the Waste Pro issue was managed properly. He is incredibly derelict in his duties, and not just for this issue.
ReplyDeleteDan,
DeleteIt's really hard to argue with you, just as it's hard to argue with Mac about the same thing, because technically, you're both right. But here's why I don't simply settle there. Krishan, or anyone else who would be allowed to stay in the manager's office with Tracy on the throne, is required to do whatever Tracy says, which is often nothing, because Tracy doesn't want anyone to take initiative or accomplish anything. Tracy, with the blind and stupid support of her girls, will fire any manager who doesn't simply do what she says, and nothing, if she doesn't say to do anything.
Now, having said that, I would completely admit that Tracy chose Krishan for a reason. Krishan is a company guy, and it's his nature to do whatever he's told. He did that with Heidi, until he got too stressed out and developed sypmtoms, and he's doing it with Tracy. Krishan would never take initiative. If he did, or if it was Sharon Ragoonan, or Mark Kutney, or anyone, they would be slapped down, and if that didn't get their attention, they would be summarily fired. I still say Tracy fired Sharon for a few reasons, and including to make an show of her power. Firing Sharon was a message to people like Krishan. Do I wish Krishan had the organizational capacity and the wherewithal to stand up to Tracy, long enough to get fired? Sure I do. And it's not because I wanted Krishan to get fired. It's because I wanted him to be the right guy, and to do the right thing. But hey, he's got a nice, ample-paying job, and all he has to do is whatever Mama tells him to do. I get it. I don't like it, but I get it.
So I don't fault Krishan quite as harshly as you and Mac do. But I do know whence you're coming, and, as I said, you're not wrong.
Fred
I'm sorry to belabor, but I want to say again that it's in your opinion, and your estimation, that the manager was "totally responsible for ensuring that [WastePro] was managed properly," or that he was totally responsible for anything. You're not Krishan's boss. Tracy Truppman is. And in her opinion, Krishan is not responsible for anything, except to take dictation. Tracy didn't hire him to do the thinking. She hired him, because she likes underlings, and she needs people who can be made to take blame for her, which Krishan does without complaint.
DeleteLet me give you one very recent example. This week, the speakers' podium was moved to a very non-functional spot. I and others asked whose decision it was to move it. Krishan, who was the main person I asked (Roseann froze), eventually said it was a decision made by an alleged small group, which included Tracy, Krishan, Luis Cabrera, and someone else (maybe it was the attorney). Is it perfectly clear to you who decided to move the podium, and why they wanted to move it? Do you think Krishan had any issue about it, or reason to think about it or have an opinion? Or that Luis did? Or that some Village attorney did? This was not a quartet. Tracy doesn't function as a member of a quartet. Tracy is a soloist only.
Fred, it is doubtful that Tracy directed Krishan to carry out a poor or at least poorly documented hurricane debris contract process and to produce an inadequate resolution for adoption of it. Also doubtful that she told him to delay the Waste Pro contract process until it was too late to make a difference. These things simply point to incompetence on the managers part and they are not unique.
ReplyDeleteAt this point I can’t prove that Tracy directs Krishan to do anything, but I can point to things the Manager himself has not done or done incompetently. The very fact that you a-ledge that he would “take” orders from one member of the commission, should be proof enough to you as to his incompetence. Let’s start by resolving that problem and then hold our elected officials accountable for his replacement.
Dan,
DeleteI already told you that you are technically correct, and I could not disagree with your conclusion, that Krishan acts in a way that equals incompetent management of the Village.
And you can cling, if you want to, to the idea that neither you nor anyone else can "prove" Tracy gives orders, or that Krishan, or anyone else, takes them. If you were one of Tracy's lawyers, that would be the argument you would make.
So, if you just want to be technically right, you're technically right. But that doesn't solve the problem. If you and Mac, and anyone else who is dissatisfied, could get Krishan removed, he would be replaced by someone else who would either behave the same way, or get fired. Sharon didn't do anything wrong or inadequate or imperfect. She got fired for a few reasons. One was that she was hired by the immediately preceding Commission. Another was to send a message. It's very possible that another was she already interacted with Tracy in a way that made clear to Tracy that she didn't own Sharon. Tracy can't function without owning and controlling other people. I still wonder how she makes impotent and meaningless at least two of her Commission colleagues. And it was Harvey, too, before that. And Will for his first term, too. Are these people afraid of Tracy? Does she have something on them? Does she just dazzle them with her fast talk that includes various technical-sounding terms, so they actually think she knows what she's talking about and doing? Really, it beats me. I can make sense out of Jenny and Will and Betsy behaving that way. None of them knows the first thing about Biscayne Park, or its government, and none of them cares. Will is now trying to work up something that looks like actual curiosity and intention to approach things right. It's very tentative, though. But I did expect more from Harvey.
As for your first comment, Tracy would not have told Krishan she wants him to carry out a poor process for something, as if it was specific and deliberate. Tracy manages the Village herself, by herself. And she's not competent to do it. Krishan's role is to call someone to get a form (if Tracy didn't do that herself), go do some other task, tell someone they're either hired or fired, or maybe even make coffee. Tracy would not have told Krishan to delay anything. It was delayed, because it was not on her radar, and what's on Tracy's radar is all that counts. She wasn't thinking about it. Krishan did not delay it. Tracy did, and only because she didn't know about it, wasn't thinking about it, didn't really care, figured she'd finesse it later, or whatever else. Krishan is not to make himself useful, and therefore important, by telling Tracy she's overlooking a deadline about something. Krishan sits in his chair awaiting orders. If he doesn't do something, as you say, it's because Tracy didn't tell him to do it. If it's done incompetently, it's either because he didn't do it-- Tracy did-- or because she doesn't know the competent way to direct him to do it.
All I would ask of Krishan is that he say it isn't right, and tell Tracy she can't do that, and if she does, he'll quit. If you want to call the fact that he doesn't do that, for reasons of his personality make-up, "incompetence," then call it that. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change anything. And if you yourself hand-picked the most "competent" municipal manager in the world, and you had the power to install them as the manager of the Village of Biscayne Park, the result would turn out to be the same. Either Tracy would make clear she's not looking for anyone's opinion, and certainly not to be confronted for all she does wrong, or she'd fire them in a heartbeat, if they didn't back down.
Fred
And by the way, Dan, I have no illusions that under proper and permissive circumstances, Krishan would know what to do, and do it right. That has never been tested. Maybe if given a fair chance, Krishan would turn out to be verifiably incompetent on his own. I don't know. And neither does Mac, and neither do you. What we all do know is that we're getting a bad indication from the fact that Krishan won't stand up for himself or for the best interests of the Village. He'd rather keep his nice job and the person who just tells him what to do. And it's because that's who he is. The closest we see from him that looks like assertiveness is when he goes after Dan Samaria, but that's only because Tracy wants him to and let's him
DeleteIf Krishan were an employee in the private sector and his "boss" was doing his job for him or micromanaging him, then I would agree that he should be given a chance to demonstrate his ability to do the job correctly when he gets a new "boss." However, this employee works for the government with a Charter that gives him responsibilities and powers that he has a DUTY to use. And, that Charter protects him when someone tries to threaten his job. He has teeth that he could use if he could only find his balls.
ReplyDeletePS: What was the reason Krishan quit when he worked in BP several years ago? I've heard folks mention that he "couldn't handle the stress" of the job/boss, etc. Was that his official reason? And if so, could he be avoiding stress by just going along with whatever the mayor tells him?
ReplyDeleteAh, ye olde delicate question. I was on the Commission when Krishan left employment, and I probably have a bit more insight about it than would someone slightly farther removed from the dynamic. At the same time, I do not want to air other people's laundry, so I'm not sure what and how much I should say, especially here "in public." On the other other hand, you're asking publicly, and I don't know that I want to ignore your question. I should also point out that Heidi reads this blog-- I'm not sure if she stays on top of posts enough to keep up with comments after the original posting-- and I don't know if Krishan does. So tell me if you want a public answer to your question. The fact is, I mostly only know what two people-- Krishan and Heidi-- told me.
DeleteDo tell ..... I'd like to know why Krishan left the first time.
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