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-----Original Message-----
From: George A. Makrauer Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2001 9:46 PM To: (E-mail List Recipients) Subject: Treasure Island should learn its closest neighbors ..... In response
to a growing number of comments and emails to me that, "Why haven't
we received a community email from you, recently?", here I go again.
Our
neighbor cities to the north and south show examples of improved city
government, which TI's City Commissioners ought to muster the wisdom
and guts to act on for our City.
The
Madeira Beach Commission fired their inadequate City
Attorney to replace him with a better mind, stronger mouth and new
face that could adequately advise them. True, their first hire
(who was from Tampa) could not maintain the distant schedule, and they
are finding a new attorney. But, what's key is they became dissatisfied
with paying for and getting the same-ole/same-ole legal pabulum in
face of newly changing times and challenges, which Madeira's Commission
found their old attorney could not satisfactorily address. The Madeira Commission mustered the guts
to speak and act publicly about what they and many of their citizens
had been saying privately for some time.
Treasure Island appears
to be satisfied with its own version of "legal same-ole/same-ole"
for about 15 years, which includes the duration of the entire Land's
End litigation, legal fee costs and $3-million+ judgment. When
I spoke with our City Manager in 1998 about improving Treasure
Island's legal services, he said,
"The City Attorney doesn't work for me. He works for the Commission."
There's growing public dissatisfaction with what one sees in TI's legal
counsel, that is, when he's present at a Commission or other Board meeting.
TI's history
of costly legal fumbles and litigation begs for improved legal service.
Keep in mind, TI's City Attorney "represents" not only Treasure Island,
but also other cities and other clients. TI is just a small
part of his practice. However, the TI Commission pays the
TI Attorney $36,000 a year in just retainer legal fees, alone, and
they -- excuse me, WE -- also pay the attorney's health and medical
insurance costs of $3,830.00 (according to page A17 of the new budget).
PLUS, according to the same budget page, WE will be paying an ADDITIONAL
$11,720.00 for legal "contractual services, travel and per diem (expenses)",
which also includes $1,220.00 for "dues and subscriptions".
How many private
sector businesses pay their part-time hired attorney's "health and medical
insurance", let alone his "dues and subscriptions"? Relatively
speaking, none. It's not important how, when, why, where and by
whom this practice began. What's important is that it, among other
aspects of TI's legal operations, ought to stop and be improved.
Only the Commission can stop it. Only a new, competent City Attorney
can improve it.
Our
southern neighbor, the St. Pete Beach Commission, has made
two major moves of its own in the last two months.
First, St.
Pete Beach removed its city manager for inadequate performance.
(The ability to count to "3" is the city manager's basic skill in a
5-member commission city... it was hardly a self-motivated "resignation".)
Second, from
the following article in the Sunday, October
7 St. Petersburg Times,
based on recent national and local economic uncertainties, the St. Pete
Beach Commission wisely imposed spending limits throughout all its city
departments. In addition, it convened its Finance and Budget Committee,
formed to protect and nurture St. Pete Beach's fiscal health.
Good work, St. Pete Beach!
Former Treasure
Island Commissioner and mayoral candidate Allan Sansotta proposed a
similar Finance and Budget Committee for Treasure Island as one
of his platform recommendations in his run for mayor two years ago.
TI City Hall wouldn't have any of it. But, since the 1999 election,
it's increasingly obvious to anyone who reads a TI property TRIM notice,
pays a TI Utility Bill or watches Cable TV-15 that Treasure Island ought
to have its own citizen-based Finance and Budget Committee.
All we have
seen and heard from TI's City Hall over the last 2+ years, with one
exception on the Commission (District-1's Stephanie Lavino) the Commission's Mission is
spend, spend, spend and raise all the taxes and fees they
can, and not once exercise any effort to control and reduce expenses.
Here's one
of the grossest example of unjustified and unnecessary waste.
It's the attitude behind the expenditure that's awful. Budget
page A-51 presents $62,970.00 of salaries, temporary help, overtime,
FICA, Retirement, Life & Medical Insurance, Worker's Comp and Causeway
Pass expenses to simply baby-sit the Sunset Beach Pavilion this fiscal
year. Instead, ALL those expenses could be eliminated by installing
video or web cams at the site and having their monitors viewed at the
Police Department Dispatcher's Desk, which is staffed 24 hours a day,
every day of the year... a suggestion made to Chuck when the pavilion
was first opened a couple of years ago.
But, no.
The City Manager is against it. He naively states such common
surveillance cameras, used all over the free world to provide public
safety, are actually an intrusion on personal privacy and personal freedom.
That's absurd, as the September 11 attack on the US has amply demonstrated,
since it's resulted in a huge increase
in the purchase of surveillance equipment all around the world.
He'd rather hire two people with expensive total costs of salary and
benefits to do what a simple camera or two can do at almost negligible
cost. It reflects bad fiscal management and negligent
lack of concern about reducible, needless expenses.
========================================
There
are really only two potential courses of action to address these problems...
if the majority of Treasure Island taxpayers and voters really care.
One is to
hold a public referendum in the next election for a new ordinance requiring
the City to put any new tax or fee increases on the ballot for public
approval in order to implement them. (In principle, I'm against
that move, but that discussion is for another email.) Point is,
I don't know of a more effective way to make the point to TI's elected
and appointed public officials that more and more people here are mad
as hell and don't want to continue taking it any more. They would
be forced to exercise responsible fiscal controls.
The
other action is, by way of the
2002 and 2003 elections, to throw
out of City Hall the rascals who persist with their "let them eat cake" attitude,
and who continue to not listen to the loud and clear message
that people in Treasure
Island are furious with the increasing
tax-and-spend and tax some more actions of City Hall.
Or, let them stay in City Hall, if they change their attitudes and behaviors,
now.
City
Hall could take an introspective look, make the changes themselves,
and bring us all together by representing and implementing what voters
say they want. As it is, the reason many people do NOT call
or email is because, as you can hear several say during Commission
meetings and workshops, "It doesn't do any good to call. They're
going to do what they want, anyway." The first simple step and
important indicator would be for the Commission to change its schedule
of meetings and special workshops to 7:00 pm in stead of in the mornings.
With so many TI residents working during the day, it's virtually impossible,
if not just reasonably impractical, for citizens to show up for 9:30
am meetings.
George Makrauer
Isle of Capri
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