Tomorrow, 630p, (Tuesday, June 16), the BP commission will
hold a "special" meeting in an attempt to complete our agenda from two
weeks ago. If we pull this off, we'll sorta be caught up on OLD agenda items,
although we still won't have accomplished much of anything progressive for the
village. #babysteps #exerciseinfrustration
Tomorrow night's agenda includes some important if
not-very-sexy topics, so I hope to see a full Zoom room. Pour a glass of
something, log in from home, and stay informed. Watch your elected officials
live, in action. And, voice your opinion during public comment as well.
Remember, your comments are NOT limited to topics on this agenda. You may speak
freely on anything that's on your mind related to village business.
Here's a quick rundown of tomorrow's agenda:
TRASH
We are setting the assessment rate for next year for trash
services. We set that rate, which is part of the taxes we all pay to the
County, which is then handed back over to us to pay our vendor. So tomorrow
night, "trash" will be on the agenda again, this time as it relates
to how much you pay for it. Note that at the last commission meeting, we
instructed the village manager to lay out all options to us at the August 4
commission meeting: in-house collection; bids from as many waste companies as
possible; piggy-backing onto the contract of another city. The manager had
originally told us he could do that done for the July 7 commission meeting, but
we gave him until August to make sure he has ample time to get a full
presentation of options ready for us. We also instructed him to get the RFP out
(public request for contract bids, as required by law), and tomorrow night
we'll hear if he got that done in the past two weeks or not.
MANAGER'S REPORT
I've proposed a new reporting system from the administration
to residents and the commission, which takes less time and creates less burden
for them while also holding them accountable to completing their own goals each
month. This is my attempt at helping the village to get more done ... more of
the important stuff that everyone agrees upon in advance. (Read my full
proposal on the link below.)
POLICE CHIEF CONTRACT
Commissioner Dan is requesting that we have a contract for
the police chief, "to inspire confidence in the Department as an
effective, community-based policing organization." We will discuss that
with the chief and possibly make a determination. (Read Dan's full proposal on
the link below.)
VILLAGE CALENDAR OF RESPONSIBILITIES
This one's mine as well. The village often misses contract
deadlines and all sorts of important matters across departments because we have
no structure to remind staff, residents and the commission in advance. (Very
odd to be involved in an organization with no structure, not even a calendar of
what’s happening around here and when.) Without advance reminders (which should
all be public in government), we rush into last-minute decisions (waste
contract, staff insurance, drain cleaning, you name it). I am proposing an
online calendar of all of these important tasks, along with reminders weeks and
months in advance, in an effort to get things done well, on time and in full
transparency to the public. (Read my full proposal on the link below.)
CONSTRUCTION SITE REQUIREMENTS
This item is being proposed by Commissioner Rox and pertains
to how construction sites are managed in BP. (Read Rox's full proposal on the
link below.)
OTHER REPORTS
The manager will report back on topics that will include:
CITT funding (that's the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the County is
asking us to give back because we can't show how we spent it on road repairs
and other transit matters); FEMA update (that's the hundreds of thousands of
dollars we're still trying to get from the federal government from Irma
clean-up); drain update and the recent flash floods in the village; other
topics from the public and commission, plus whatever else the manager wants to
report.
WHAT'S MISSING
We were originally scheduled to discuss Mayor Ginny's
proposal to reapportion the pay of electeds: less money for the mayor and more
for commissioners. That item is missing from the final agenda, so I'm not clear
on what happened to it. That may end up being discussed tomorrow as well.
Please note that this special meeting will start at 630p,
not 7p as reported by the interim manager in his weekly video report last
Friday. See the attachment below for the full agenda and back-up docs,
instructions for joining via Zoom, and notes about registering to speak at
public comment. I've been told that this will be the last meeting held solely
on Zoom. In July, the commission starts meeting in person at the log cabin
again, although it's unclear if the meetings will also be Zoomed and if virtual
participation will be permitted. I've asked that the commission discuss that
tomorrow night.
https://www.biscayneparkfl.gov/index.asp?SEC=A482E78D-C7CA-4E86-BD0D-AA20BD7CDAEB&DE=96571345-C85F-47D8-8BB9-C9369A7096A8&Type=B_EV
You put me in mind of an old joke. Is "in action" two words, or one?
ReplyDeleteThe INTERIM manager can't get the time of the meeting right, while he's doing his version of reading from his own script (and glancing furtively around at who knows what), and we expect him to solicit and organize a group of waste removal applicants, and the costs of doing this ourselves? On what planet...?
I didn't vote for Dan Samaria for Commissioner, and it was for a very superficial and simplistic-sounding reason: he refused to take part in a public debate. He then spent two years sounding like a functional Commissioner, given abundant support. But now, he's back to the kind of person who's afraid of public debates. We still pay Luis Cabrera, and we pay him what we paid him before. He still comes to work here. I have no indication that he is not respected, whether or not he has a new contract in place. In fact, if Dan's theory is that it is a contract that represents a basis for respect of a police chief, then we have the wrong police chief. Please let this be one of the agenda items that gets postponed, so we can make room for an urgent discussion of getting a new PERMANENT manager. I agree with Rox's/Sharon's proposals for construction sites, but we can't even enforce our own long-established codes (which include having Commissioner Will Tudor build himself an approved parking surface, and use it), and this is not as urgent as finding a new PERMANENT manager.
And who's supposed to operationalize your tickler system for reminding administrative staff, Commissioners, and non-Commissioner Village residents? David Hernandez? He doesn't even carry out his own responsibilities, let alone reminding other people of theirs. Can I rest my case?
For David and Amy Raymond to have spoken out the way they did at the last commission meeting should have been a wake up call to the new obstructionist majority. It takes a whole lot to get the Raymonds pissed! But sadly, I don't see any one of them capable of the necessary introspection. This new commission had pretty much been given a mandate......the community wanted us out of the stagnation of the last 3 years. Instead all we got was "same song, different day."
ReplyDeleteThe excuses given for not moving forward with the manager search would be laughable were this not such a depressing matter. We have NEVER gone this long without initiating the search process. And spare us the Covid-19 excuse. That's going to be with us for the foreseeable future and we'd better learn to fully function with it going on. North Miami didn't let it stop them from their search and hiring of their new manager. I emailed the entire commission they day I first heard about that. Dan's response to me was "Good For them". I responded back it sure was good for them to have a fully functioning council and city. Good for their residents unlike us.
Since Dan seems to think it's important to get to know David longer to see if he is the right one for the position I emailed Dan to ask if every candidate will be given the same opportunity to have months as interim manager. Ya gotta play far with everyone.
Just handing over the most important job in our village to someone who has never been properly vetted for the position - especially with all the major issues we have going on - is such an incredible disservice and smack in the face to this community.