The League of Women Voters of Manatee County Government Committee observes Manatee County Commission meetings for items of interest to citizens and the League and notes adherence, or lack of adherence, to good governance procedures and the Sunshine Law. The following are the major points from the board’s regular meeting on 3/12/2024, observed by Maureen Dardinski.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Link to Agenda and Meeting Video
Invocation – Pastor Benjamin Bruce, Harbor Life Church
Pledge of Allegiance – Robert De Pol
No items pulled from the Consent Agenda by Commissioners.
Presentations/Awards/Proclamations
· Presentation of the March Employee of the Month to Susan Montgomery, Transit Planner, Public Works for great customer service.
· Presentation of the Team Award to Brandy Wilkins, Bond Coordinator and Jenny Ference, Planning & Zoning Tech, Development Services, who created a new digital process for bonds which increased efficiency of administration and improved communications and information sharing. The project which took 5 years to complete.
· Presentation of the Team Award to Bridget Dalpe and Nancy Fitzgerald, Brandon Buechner and Pat Hussey, Recreation Coordinators, Sports and Leisure, for their hard work and good Customer Service for the county parks, especially G.T. Bray.
· Presentation on Community and Veterans Services Handy Bus Wraps. Communications and Fleet worked together on this project. A total of 4 buses will be wrapped with a patriotic design. The purpose is to alert Veterans to available services.
Proclamations:
· designating April 2024, as "Child Abuse Prevention Month" in Manatee County, Florida.
· designating March 17-23, 2024, as "National Surveyors & Mappers Week" in Manatee County, Florida.
· designating April 8-12, 2024, as "Public Works Week " in Manatee County, Florida.
· designating the month of April 2024 as “Water Conservation Month” in Manatee County, Florida.
· designating March 17, 2024, as "St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church Day" in Manatee County, Florida.
· designating March 18-22, 2024, as "Government Finance Professionals Week" in Manatee County, Florida.
Selected Citizen Comments for Future Agenda Items
· Pat Simmons reported that bus stops and some sidewalks are not accessible to wheelchair users, that the new Lakewood Ranch Park has a wheelchair ramp without room for the user to turn around and the need for an Advisory Board to work on issues for the disabled.
· Carol Felts wanted a system to keep track of citizens’ requests from future agenda item comments.
· Stephanie Pearson (veteran) spoke of the need for the commissioners to provide housing and other services for female veterans. She gave statistics on the increase in suicides in this population and asked for a memorial for this group in the upcoming Veterans Park.
· Glen Gibelina brought up the special permitting done for the Beruff project and the defunding of Veterans projects like immediate transitional housing. [NOTE – when Commissioner Rahn began to respond to Glen about the Beruff project, the Interim County Attorney advised that this was not the time for a dialog.]
· Andra Griffin said that Commissioners are blocking citizen comments and citizen participation in the community by taking away phone in comments, disallowing citizens to have water in the Chamber, removing comments from social media, etc. She noted that she had wanted to take the bus to this meeting but the schedule was difficult to locate and confusing.
· Matthew Nadeau said he would like a community garden with fruit trees and a dog park put in at the park on 75th and 9th Ave NW.
Selected Commissioner Comments:
· Kruse made a motion to bring back call in comments. He then said phone comments should be brought back until there was a motion to turn them off and it should not have been a decision made between one Commissioner and the County Attorney. No one responded to his comments or seconded his motion.
· Van Ostenbridge noted, regarding Ms. Simmons comments, that Route 41 is administered by Florida Department of Transportation. He went on to say that Commissioners have directed staff to work on the citizen-initiated issues of land clearing, advisory boards, and citizens academy. He noted that the bus wraps are a method to provide services to Veterans and comments on parks that are being worked on.
· Ballard shared that a community garden at Elwood Park has just been completed, others at Sylvan Oaks, John Marble Park and Bennett Park are coming, and that there will be a Food Forest at East Bradenton Park. Citizens are needed to take leadership roles for the gardens.
· Satcher asked that citizen Pat Simmons be given extra time to comment due to her speaking impediment.
Approval of Consent Agenda with no public comment, 7-0
Regular Agenda Items of Interest
Item #53 - Appointment of Residents to the Infrastructure Sales Tax (IST) Citizens Oversight Committee
Sheila Mclean, County CFO introduced retiring IST member Cathy Woolley who talked about the purpose of the tax and the many things it funded. Cathy mentioned that, unlike now, initially there was 1 representative from each district, and one from each at-large commissioner The tax raised $320 million at first and now raises over ½ billion dollars. The County maintains an online tool enabling citizens to view the current status of every project.
Nominations were made by the Commissioners from the eight (8) citizens who applied for five (5) open positions on the IST. Kruse nominated Bruce Stamm and Allen Morrell (returning), Van Ostenbridge nominated George Nicolopoulous, Rahn nominated Andre Rousseau Pegues, and Ballard nominated Richard Hagenbach. There was a voice vote for each nominated candidate and all were appointed. There was no Public Comment.
Item #54 - Emerson Point Preserve Land Acquisition Update
County Administrator Bishop gave an update on the property: the land was originally appraised at $12 million and reappraised for $14.6 million. The owners want $15.5 million. Van Ostenbridge, Satcher, Bearden, Rahn and Ballard all spoke in support of moving forward with the land acquisition. Van Ostenbridge also mentioned he did not want to set a precedent of paying more than the appraisal and there was no guarantee of commitment from the state. He then made a motion to direct the County Administrator to move forward with the acquisition and the motion was seconded by Turner. Interim County Attorney De Carlo asked that the motion be amended to state that the contract for this would come back to him for review and then be brought back to the Board of Commissioners. The motion was amended to include that language. [NOTE - See Commitment Letter from Florida's DEP Division of Land Services]
Citizen Comments - 12 citizens spoke in support of the land acquisition. [NOTE – there were 198 citizen comments in support of the purchase submitted online which are included as part of the agenda materials.]
Approved 7-0.
GOVERNANCE
Link to Good Governance Guidelines
The agenda was posted timely with one update on 3/8/2024.
Rahn appears unsure of his role and the Rules as Chairperson. For example, during citizen comments for future agenda items, a citizen wanted to make a comment in case there would be no vote/action on item #54 which was listed as a Report/Update. Rahn was unclear, even though it was a regular agenda item, which allows for action. He finally indicated there would be action on the item after the Report/Update. Rahn also engaged in dialog with a citizen during comments on future agenda items and was advised by the interim county attorney not to do this during this part of the agenda.
Side conversations by Commissioners during citizen comments create tension between Commissioners and citizens and shows disrespect to the citizens who have taken part of their day to comment on something important to them.
Satcher asked that citizen Pat Simmons be given extra time to comment due to her speaking impediment. This shows consideration of a special need.
Although Van Ostenbridge said that Commissioners have directed staff to work on citizen issues brought up during Citizen Comments "Consideration for Future Agenda Items", he was only addressing a small number of items and not all those proposed by citizens. There is no way to see all items citizens suggest for future agenda items or to track whether they are going to be followed up on and when.
The interim county attorney was appointed at a Land Use meeting. Appropriate planning would be to recognize the years of service at the last meeting of the prior County Attorney and appoint the interim attorney during a regular Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Click here or information on how to phone or email the commissioners.
1 comment on this item
Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.
sandy
Kruse also asked that public comment be reinstated on social media. That decision made by the administrator. It is a policy issue that should be voted on by the BOCC and not implemented by the administrator. It should be brought back as an agenda item to the Board if they want to turn off and in the meantime should be allowed. There is a policy statement on the social media page. They may delete certain comments but not shut it down.
Friday, March 15 Report this