GET DUMBER RESIDENTS

How to Push Through a 60% Increase

We have some really smart people in this town. I came to that conclusion seated in a folding chair in the IRB City Hall Auditorium at the August 28th Commission Meeting. I watched citizen after citizen approach the microphone and cogently explain his/her outrage over the proposed 60% rate increases in our sewer and garbage rates. These weren’t just “venting” irrational statements, but a string of facts, figures and cites of law that apparently fell on deaf ears.

The rate increase sailed through—5 to 0—as predicted. Once again, no explanations were given and no answers provided as to how $1.1 million of our tax monies were “loaned” to the Sewer and Solid Waste Funds, over a period of years, without the required City Commission approval. Only Commissioner Torres, the new kid on the block, expressed any interest whatsoever in getting at the truth.

Citizens made the following points:

--Rising costs in IRB are forcing people out.

--IRB doesn’t have a budget problem; it has a spending problem.

--Notice to the public was improper; keeping the amount of the increase from the citizens was unconscionable and in conflict with the spirit of the Florida Statute requiring such notice.

--The Solid Waste Fund shows only a 10% deficit over a few years yet the increase approved was 60%.

--The City is operating illegally by loaning monies between funds--loans that have gone over 12 months, without commission approval and without a required referendum vote.

--The reserves in the Sewer/Solid Waste Fund were apparently spent which violates our City Charter.

--The commission recently re-upped the City Auditor’s contract for another two years, yet they now claim their information was flawed, choosing instead to rely on information of an auditor who "just happened" on the scene.

--New sewer and garbage rates include repayment of $1.1 in unauthorized loans/transfers with no legal evidence to support this requirement.

All five commissioners voted FOR the 60% increase. None asked for an investigation into what and who brought this town to its financial knees. The fear of many citizens is that monies are being amassed to afford library expansion, improvement of parks and other non-essentials at a time when our citizens are financially challenged. If there was ever a time to get involved in your local city government, that time is NOW.

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

KEYS TO THE BULLDOZER

Another EARful from Don House

[The City of IRB Comprehensive Plan is the overall master plan our city’s future development. The State of Florida Department of Community Affairs requires all local governments to review and update their comprehensive plans every seven years. The review process is referred to as the EAR, which stands for Evaluation and Appraisal Report. Our comprehensive plan will then be amended in accordance with the adopted EAR. The comp plan is one of the most important documents in keeping IRB a small-town, family-oriented beach community. Participation from the public in the EAR process is strongly encouraged to safeguard against the addition of amendments that could possibly open the door to big developers.]

From Don House:

The other night I bumped into IRB Mayor R.B. Johnson on the beach and we talked about a few things. The following is an overview of info I e-mailed to the commissioners concerning our conversation. We talked about the big changes proposed in the EAR. These changes are downright scary to me. R.B. questioned what I was talking about since nothing had been mentioned in the joint City Commission/P & Z workshops. How did we miss it?

Well, at the P & Z public hearing on the EAR, comments were made by consultant Debbie Love and Interim Manager Danny Taylor so that I asked specific questions. My first question was under the phrase ANCILLARY NON-RESIDENTIAL can a business put its parking lot in a residential area? The answer was YES. This phrase appears in all land classifications and is part of the current "parking in the rear is best" thinking.

After one of the CC/P & Z workshops, Debbie Love and I were talking and she said whenever possible the city should put the parking in the rear. In the A2K/USF drawings, all the parking was in the rear. A few weeks ago, Commissioner Terry Wollin said that what was in the A2K/USF drawings could never happen in IRB because the city doesn't have room to park in the rear. With the verbiage that is proposed in the EAR--everything changes.

The other question I had concerned the part of the city west of Gulf Blvd. The change proposed here totally changes that area and allows commercial retail in every single property west of Gulf Blvd. I asked specifically if under the new rules I could open a Beach Rental shop at my little house. The answer was YES. It seems that as an ANCILLARY use to my residential house I can have a retail business without any special permission. This would destroy this part of our city.

I agree with R.B. and question how we could have missed these proposed changes. The "unintended consequences" of these seemingly innocent phrases could be monumental. As I read the EAR, I kept looking for the keys to the bulldozer. I have come to the conclusion that the EAR isn't just the keys--but the entire bulldozer. Could it be it is time to just update the data included in the EAR and not change the rules?

Don House
IRB Planning & Zoning Board Member

ARE THE QUESTIONS TOO TOUGH?

Duty To Provide Answers

[You are strongly encouraged to attend the City Commission Meeting on Thursday evening, 8/28/08 at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Auditorium, for the FINAL READING of the sewer/solid waste rate increases. This is your opportunity to express your views about continually rising costs in IRB.]

Thursday, August 28th at 7 p.m., is the SECOND and FINAL reading for the sewer/solid waste rate hikes in Indian Rocks Beach.

A 60% increase for both services was approved 5-0 on first reading. There is no reason to believe that Thursday night’s vote will be any different. And still, we have no answers to pointed questions.

Why are there no answers? Why has no explanation been offered as to how loans/transfers were made over a period of years without charter-mandated commission authorization—and without the commission even being aware of their existence?

Shouldn’t the men and women that we, as a community, chose as our voices be as eager for these answers as we are? Should they not care about what happened to our tax monies as we do? And, if they already know the answers, what's the big secret? The questions are not tough:

1. When did the first transfer/loan occur and what was the amount?
2. Who authorized the first transfer?
3. Why management letters accompanying the year-end financial reports (CAFR) indicate “all is well in paradise” if that was not the case?
4. Is there a legal requirement for repayment of these so-called loans?
5. Was malfeasance involved?
6. Were ad valorem tax dollars spent without a required referendum vote?

IRB’s Sewer/Solid Waste operations are owned by all of US, its citizens/customers. Whether or not we are entitled to an explanation about what is inherently ours shouldn’t be an issue. Why has this commission adopted a "let’s-just-move-on" attitude instead of procuring information on our behalf?

A review of our council-manager form of government in IRB provides a clue as to whose duty it is to respond to our inquiries. With this form of municipal representative government, an elected city commission has overall supervisory authority and is responsible for making policy, passing ordinances, voting appropriations, and exercising primary control over the budget.

The commission appoints a city manager to supervise operations and to implement policies adopted by the commission. It is the city manager’s duty to be responsive in providing day-to-day public services to citizens. Commissioners are there to make sure the city manager does the job.

So, it’s actually Interim City Manager Taylor who should be answering our questions. And when he can’t or won’t, then it is up to the commission to compel him to do so.

In a perfect world, strong commission leadership gets combined with the strong managerial experience of an appointed manager…which fosters citizen activism and encourages open communication between citizens and their government. That’s the theory anyway.

Several years ago, in a letter to the editor of the Belleair Bee regarding perceived arrogance of a previous commission, IRB resident Ralph Montgomery said of former Commissioners Palamara and Carmody: “They have forgotten that they are, in fact, servants of the citizens of Indian Rocks Beach.” Somehow I can’t see either one of these two sitting back and NOT demanding answers to these serious financial questions. Can you?

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

HOUSE FIRE

Don House’s Response to Ralph Montgomery’s Editorial

[Don House and Ralph Montgomery both wrote editorials to the Belleair Bee—one week apart—dealing with the subject of the USF/A2K/Gulf Boulevard Study. To read both editorials, click on the links under the “Interesting IRB Reading” heading in the lower right-hand column of this blog page. Below is House’s rebuttal to Montgomery’s comments.]

I have never before written to this blog. But, time is critical and I hope it can help set some facts straight and get to the truth.

Recently there was an editorial by Ralph Montgomery in the Belleair Bee challenging my comments about the A2K/USF Study, the E.A.R. amendments to IRB’s Comprehensive Plan and their repercussions for the city. If the writer had been at the A2K/USF Study workshop, he would have heard all five commissioners ask Trent Green from USF just which citizens he had been listening to. Don't take my word for it. If you are concerned about the future look of IRB, do two things:

1. Go to City Hall and ask to see the drawings presented by Trent Green for the A2K/USF Study. Ask to see the Gulf Blvd/12th Avenue intersection, the Gulf Blvd/Walsingham intersection, and the plan for the Business Triangle showing the view from the new marina to the Gulf.

2. Then ask Interim City Manager Danny Taylor if, under the proposed wording "ANCILLARY NON-RESIDENTIAL" in the E.A.R. amendments being proposed to our “master plan, a business can put its parking lot in a residential neighborhood. (The answer is YES, by the way!)

I'm not making this stuff up. Ralph Montgomery is a long-standing member of A2K and as such, to paraphrase a line from Hamlet, "The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks."

Don House
Indian Rocks Beach

PENNIES FROM IRB HEAVEN - Part IV

Consultants, Consultants and More Consultants

(This is the last in a four-part blog posting on spending by your local IRB government. Be sure to scroll down and read Parts I, II & III, if you haven’t already!)

IRB might well be on the verge of financial meltdown. The consultants, by contrast, look to be doing quite well.

Yet another consultant feeding at the IRB trough is urban planning consultant and Associate Professor Theodore Trent Green, R.A. Green’s group, from the School of Architecture & Community Design at the University of South Florida, was hired to develop an overall plan to guide future development of Gulf Boulevard and the Business Triangle. The project was funded partially by Action 2000 and partially with our IRB tax dollars.

Unlike Burton’s well-prepared utility rate study, the USF Study reeks of sloppy work and way-off-the-mark preliminary conclusions. That’s unless you’re in favor of taller buildings with virtually no Gulf Boulevard setbacks and a huge parking garage. (Top photo is an actual drawing from the preliminary presentation!)

The cancellation clause in this contract should have been exercised the first time this group taped white sheets of paper with magic marker writing up on the walls of City Hall. ($55,000 sure doesn’t go as far as it use to!) But, instead of deep-sixing the study and putting the savings back to a severely anemic bottom line, the commission sent Professor Green back to the drawing board.

Some residents are baffled by how the initially disastrous plan could have resulted from information gleaned from citizen interviews, public workshops, etc. Who the hell in this town would have told these consultants: “Make the buildings taller, turn Chic-a-Si Park into a large parking garage and oh…by the way…we don’t need no stinking setbacks on Gulf Boulevard?” Could big developers be driving the bus on this study as many surmised all along?

The fact that the commission (fortunately!) didn’t buy into Professor Green’s initial recommendations speaks volumes about the wastefulness of this expenditure. Is Green developing a plan of what IRB “wants to be” or a plan setting the most prudent developmental direction for the City? If it’s what we aspire to be as a community, shouldn’t WE have been able to set the direction ourselves? Would just some re-tooling of our building codes have done the trick without the need for an outside expenditure?

Throwing good money at a consultant you don’t plan to listen to doesn’t seem all that prudent. If the research thus far truly supports the preliminary plan presented some weeks back, shouldn’t that be THE FINAL ANSWER? When it’s all said and done, there won’t be many IRB taxpayers too happy about having funded a piece of “research” that merely justifies letting big developers finally have their way in IRB?

Even if USF’s plan turns out to be the absolute panacea. What businesses and property owners in IRB do you know who can currently afford to implement his recommendations? How far outdated will the $55,000 plan be by the time the move it forward?

Let’s face it, “a plan” usually does mean change. One can assume that Green and his group aren’t being paid this kind of money for someone to draw IRB just as it is. But, when it comes right down to brass tacks, do residents in IRB really want change? If “change” means risking the loss of the small-town charm envied by every other beach community from Sand Key to Pass-a-Grille, there probably won’t be many takers.

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

(Note: If you'd like to comment on this posting, simply click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of the article and follow the prompts. You may comment anonymously if you'd like. Or, you can always e-mail your comments to irbeheard@cmdinc.net and we'll post them for you!)

PENNIES FROM IRB HEAVEN - Part III

More Consultant Fingers in the Pie

And so the consultant roll call continues. Another member of the "IRB Army Corp of Consultants”--a company that WAS chosen publicly--is Burton & Associates. Burton was hired to perform a Revenue Sufficiency Analysis for Sewer/Solid Waste Funds. The purpose of this $30,000+ “FY 2008 Utility Rate Study” was to tell the City what it SHOULD BE charging its residents for garbage and sewer.

Burton’s report is very well done and user-friendly. Top notch work professionally presented. But, shouldn’t the rate calculation for enterprise funds that are designed to be self-supporting be fairly simple?

TOTAL COST OF PROVIDING THE SERVICES

divided by

TOTAL NUMBER OF RESIDENT CUSTOMERS

No spreadsheets. No bar graphs. Just simple third-grade addition, subtraction and division. It’s only when the “shuffling” of monies between funds, “mystery” loans/transfers and other financial tomfoolery come into play that a high-priced consultant is required to set the bar. According to Burton & Associates Vice-President Burnham, IRB now needs his company to perform a similar analysis---EVERY TWO TO THREE YEARS! Aye aye aye!

IRB even has consultants for its consultants. Burton’s group was hired to prepare a rate study and Rob Garner/GCSC was engaged to make sure Burton was working with the right financial information! New consultants seem to pop up regularly leaving commission meeting audiences shrugging shoulders, shaking heads and scratching various parts of the anatomy as to how we’re affording all these “experts.”

Some of these consulting companies get “signed on” without even so much as a casual mention publicly. For instance, most commission meeting goers knew nothing about the guy contracted for the unpleasant job of telling us that the town is on the verge of bellyupski until he stepped to the microphone and unleashed the news. This gentleman was hired in open view for another much less significant task, but the go-ahead for the “bigger kahuna” happened behind the scenes. Why all the secrecy? Didn’t the citizens demanding answers and criticizing the commission for “doing nothing” deserve to know that “something” was in process?

At the risk of redundancy…where in the wide, wide world of sports is all this dough coming from to pay this bevy of consultants if IRB is in dire straights?

Nancy Obarski

Beach Trail/IRB

(Note: If you'd like to comment on this posting, simply click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of the article and follow the prompts. You may comment anonymously if you'd like. Or, you can always e-mail your comments to irbeheard@cmdinc.net and we'll post them for you!)

WHAT IRB MEANS TO PART-TIMERS

It’s Not Just About the Voters

Those who vote in IRB seem to get the most attention. But, lest we forget those snowbirds who roost here every winter.

IRBeHEARD sadly acknowledges the passing of Robert Henry (75), a Beach Trail “snowbird” who, along with wife Lori, made IRB his winter home for many, many years. Bob of Queensbury, NY spent his last winter here after being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer.

According to Mr. Henry’s obituary as published in the Glens Falls, NY Post Star “Bob and Lori spent many years at Indian Rocks Beach in Florida which they called 'Paradise' where they established many wonderful friends to whom they referred to as their second family. Bob was an avid New York Yankees fan. He lived life to the fullest and his greatest moments were on the golf course, fishing on the beach or watching the sunset and simply hanging out with family and friends.”

So, those of you who were fortunate enough to know Bob and those of you who missed out, raise a glass toward the sunset tonight and celebrate the life of one great individual who, with a choice of anywhere in the world, chose IRB as his second home.

COPS CHOPPED

IRB Police Reduction

Would Crabby Bill’s decide to quit serving seafood? Would T.J.’s change their menu to Ethiopian food? Would Indian Rocks Beach, aka “The World’s Safest Beach,” cut their police protection?

That was, in fact, the consensus of your City Commission at a Budget Workshop on August 21st. Three levels of police service were proposed. Commissioners Valery, Kennedy and Wollin favored the most drastic reduction. Only Mayor Johnson and Commissioner Torres went for the modestly reduced plan. NO COMMISSIONER chose to keep our police protection as is. (By contrast, the budget for the library sailed through with nary a question. Near the end of the meeting, Commissioner Wollin did ask what would happen if the librarian’s hours were reduced, however, none of her colleagues chimed in and no consensus resulted.)

Well-placed letters, phone calls and e-mails go a long way in making your feelings known about the proposed reduction of police protection in IRB. Safety is not an item that should be “bargained” away in order to keep other, less essential, items in the budget. Your voice in support of our cops is sorely needed at this time. Even if you never speak up about issues in town, we hope you’ll make an exception for this most important one and support the men and women who put their lives on the line every day so that we can continue being “The Safest Beach” in the world.

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

PENNIES FROM IRB HEAVEN-Part II

How Many Consultants Does It Take?

Do you remember the old adage: “It takes a village?” Well, in the case of IRB, it takes a village…OF CONSULTANTS…to run the village. (Does that then make us the village idiots?)

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Garner and Milestone and Burton, oh my. Just how many consultants does it take to run IRB anyway? And the more important question: WHERE IS ALL THIS CASH COMING FROM TO PAY THIS BEVY OF CONSULTANTS?

Meet the consultants…

The Government Consultant Services Group (GCSC)
Robert R. Garner, CPA, CMA/CGFO

Initially, Rob Garner’s company, GCSC, was hired to hold a $750 Budgeting 101 Workshop to familiarize the commission with the budgeting process. If Commissioner Wollin’s Belleair Bee comment is any indication, at least one commissioner slept through Garner’s class. “That’s when the drive to roll back taxes took hold with a commission bent on reducing taxes at any cost, depleting our reserves,” Wollin said. This commissioner, anxious to blame the situation on a previous commission, totally ignored that the current problem in IRB’s Sewer and Solid Waste Funds has NOTHING to do with a shortfall in ad valorem taxes calculated via millage. In fact, when you stop to consider that the General Fund of our tax revenues was solvent enough to loan our enterprise funds over $1 million (unbeknownst to us!), the millage rate was probably just fine—or possibly even a little high—even with the rollback. If the millage rate had been set too low, girlfriend, there wouldn’t have been any funds to borrow! With a 60% sewer and garbage rate hike looming, shouldn’t this mean that several hundred thousand dollars per year will now be freed up to cover other expenses instead of being used to prop up the enterprise funds? Is the proposed millage rate increase over and above the “raise” the General Fund will enjoy, once the enterprise funds are self-supporting? Is a pool of money being amassed to fund library expansion, park renovations and other things that’s shouldn’t even be on the radar screen in these tough economic times?

As a follow-up to the instructional workshop, Garner was apparently hired to produce a report on the financial condition of the enterprise funds. This $2,000 expense resulted in the “Garner Report,” which, for the first time, projected an unbelievably grim financial future for IRB. No one has yet to explain away the discrepancy between Garner’s claims and management’s statements as to the condition of our enterprise funds.

Garner:
“In summary, the funds had only one year out of seven with a positive Operating Income (2001 for Sewer Fund and 2006 for the Solid Waste Fund). This negative trend in financial performance is also reflected in a decreasing cash balance, to a negative balance, requiring a cash infusion from the General Fund to provide liquidity.”

IRB 2005 Comprehensive Accounting Financial Report (CAFR):
“The City has no general obligation debt outstanding and enterprise funds operate WITHOUT DEBT.”

“Many factors point to a positive long-term financial outlook for the City…”

Less than three years later IRB is crying poor-mouth. During the same time that Garner concludes the enterprise funds were upside down, the City’s take was that they were operating debt free! Where is the nexus between these statements?

At the request of the City, fees for additional projects were also quoted by Garner:
1. ’08-’09 Budget Facilitation - $5,000
2. Revenue Diversification Study - $4,000
3. 100 days of Financial Management Consulting - $5,000

Just how many of the above three projects were actually awarded to GCSC is anyone’s guess. The subject of Garner's contract has yet to pop up in the public purview at commission meetings. Some citizens wonder how the requirement for obtaining a bid has been circumvented since the Garner expenditures at least appear to be getting into RFP (Request for Proposal) stratosphere.

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

Links to the City’s Web site for all reports cited above:

Analysis of Enterprise Funds/Garner:
http://www.indian-rocks-beach.com/documents/Report_to_The_City_of_Indian_Rocks_Beach_Sewer.pdf

Utility Rate Study/Burton:
http://www.indian-rocks-beach.com/documents/IRB_URS_Final_Report_08-4-08.pdf

2005 Comprehensive Financial Accounting Report (CAFR):
http://www.indian-rocks-beach.com/documents/CIRB_CAFR_9-30-05.pdf

PENNIES FROM IRB HEAVEN-Part I

What Happened to “Negotiate” not “Litigate”?

The word is that IRB is in severe financial straits. However, one would never get that impression by listening to the money being spent commission meeting after commission meeting. In fact, if you didn’t know better, you’d swear that IRB’s coffers were overflowing with cash!

First, there is the money IRB has wrapped up in ridiculous lawsuits. And, there’s a new one soon to be added to the litigation expense roster. A resident who sued the City over a dock permitting issue has recently dropped his damages claim. You’d think that would be good news EXCEPT this now means that IRB will be footing the bill for its own legal fees. Up until now, IRB’s insurance carrier was picking up the tab.

There’s the $20,000+ that IRB has spent chasing the former City Manager Al Grieshaber to recoup an estimated $14,000 that IRB paid him and now wants back! (That case is evidently now set for a jury trial—ca-ching, ca-ching!)

The Whitehurst Avenue dispute, involving IRB’s southern boundary, continues to be a financial drain. Nearly $30,000 has been spent by the City as the instigator of this quiet title action. IRB rebuffed a proposal by this property owner several years ago, which would have given IRB use of land at that location which we’ve NEVER had use of before. In fact, no IRB resident (or anyone else for that matter!) has ever set foot on the land that IRB would have gained access to. Plus, the property owner even agreed to beautify our beach access (the only one in IRB that isn’t!) at his own expense. Instead, IRB has opted to dump money into this sinkhole--with no end in sight--while the Whitehurst Beach Access continues to resemble some third-world country.

If you haven’t added it up yet, that’s $50,000 in lawsuits alone! Be sure to check back on IRBeHEARD for Part II: “How Many Consultants Does It Take?”

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

FAY FIZZLES

Fortunately

At some wee hour this morning, I thought I dreamt that the Pinellas County Emergency Director's instructions were to enjoy a nice summer day today. If the definition of a “nice summer day” is to haul heavy patio furniture, grills and plants back to their original locations—then a nice summer day it shall be in IRB! Look at it this way, it’s a great opportunity to sweep your porches and decks and celebrate the fact that they ARE STILL THERE for sweeping.

Better safe than sorry, I guess. But my personal fear is that being so cautious will cause widespread “crying wolf” complacency when the time really comes for action. Schools and government offices are closed today; nearly every other Tuesday event is also canceled.

Fay provided an excellent opportunity to evaluate the skills of local and network meteorologists to predict the storm's path and intensity. My vote of confidence goes to Chief Meteorologist Denis Phillips on ABC Action News/Channel 28 (Bright House/Channel 11) who said—THREE DAYS AGO--that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the storm path curve in around Naples. Must be the suspenders that make him so smart.

The “nice summer day” remark by emergency officials was made at the same time a mandatory Level A evacuation was lifted shortly after 5 a.m. this morning. To the surprise of many neighbors, this evacuation included us here on the barrier island. I, for one, can never remember a mandatory evacuation ordered so early in the game in IRB in my decade+ in IRB…especially in view of a storm that was never predicted to gain more strength than a Cat 1. Some even thought it to be some sort of communications error.

Do you think that emergency personnel were too reactionary in dealing with T.S. Fay? Or, are you just as happy for the “dry” run?

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

FAY'S WAY

Tracking the Storm

Where will Fay go? Will it be a tropical storm or gain strength and become Hurricane Fay? Here are some links to Web sites for monitoring the progress of the storm and you are urged to do so!

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml

Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/

Boat U.S. Hurricane Center: http://www.boatus.com/hurricanes/tracking.asp

Strike Probabilities:

http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/cgi-bin/StrikeProb?city=stpetersburg

Weather Channel Web site: http://www.weather.com/

Web sites for other storm-related information:

Pinellas County Emergency Management: http://www.co.pinellas.fl.us/bcc/emergency/

City of IRB Web site: http://www.indian-rocks-beach.com/

Be sure to stay tuned to local RADIO and TV outlets, too!

BROKEN RECORD

Same old people saying the same old things

Commissioner Valery, at the August 12th meeting, expressed his feelings about hearing “the same old things from the same old people” at commission meetings. This comment totally ignored the words of a very well-spoken woman who doesn’t regularly attend. She came to the podium to say that she runs an international business with 160 employees and does business all over the world—and she’s never seen tax increases like what's being proposed ANYWHERE.

Yes, there is a group who attend meetings regularly that has been, unfairly or not, labeled as “complainers.” Since when is pleading for answers considered complaining? Is this just another ploy by our five elected officials to keep from answering the very pointed questions of many more citizens than just those who regularly attend commission meetings?

Let’s see…We can’t get answers about how $1.1 million of our tax dollars were apparently misappropriated. We are denied public records and forced to pay for any record that takes longer than 15 minutes to locate. Consultant after consultant keeps happening on the scene, yet we can’t seem to determined how or when these folks were hired—and by whom? Things that normally would have been workshopped and discussed in public appear on agendas out of the blue and pass unanimously—5 to zip--few questions asked.

All we want are answers to our questions. If the end result is the same—then so be it. But at least answer the questions of the growing numbers of concerned citizens who don’t attend meetings--for whatever reason. Are they too busy? Do they not care? (Not even a possibility in IRB!) Or perhaps, it’s the IRB Fear Factor at work? (“If I dare to disagree will I be denied permits, red-tagged for code violations, etc.?”) Would the commission rather only see those who agree with them in the audience? If so, why not just eliminate "Public Comments" entirely and be done with it.

There is frustration on both sides of the dais. It came to a head at a recent social event when one citizen asking for answers got a nose-to-nose F%*# you!" from one commissioner. Whether the anger stems from knowing the answers but not wanting to share them or from flat out not knowing is anyone’s guess. I hate to think that politics are making us forget that we are--first and foremost--neighbors. That, in and of itself, should be enough for the commission to consider clueing us in.

If asking for answers is considered complaining. Could not providing answers be considered stonewalling?

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

P.S. We do urge more folks to turn out for commission meetings—regardless of your political leanings. It’s a crucial time for IRB and maybe if the commission sees some new faces, that might make a difference.

IRBUST-a-GUT

IRB CITY CHARTER OR CHARMIN?

Wiping Up the Mess

How could the commission ignore the pleas of already financially strapped IRB residents for tax relief? These are not strangers; they are neighbors and friends—who these five commissioners were ultimately elected to represent. Some commissioners cited their “duties” to effectively run the city as mandated by the City Charter as their reason for supporting a millage increase.

What is this “City Charter” anyway--that gets referred to so often? The IRB City Charter is the document in which general policies for city operations are spelled out. If you’ve never read it, it is Part 1 of the Indian Rocks Beach Code of Ordinances, which you can access online. (Link provided at the end of this posting.)

There is one oddity about the City Charter in IRB: It seems rather selectively embraced. The commission violates it out of one side of their collective mouths and then uses it as their shield on other, more convenient, occasions. Some commissioners, who voted to “put the bicycle pump to” the millage rate, allegedly out of deference to the Charter, have ignored the fact that the loans/transfers which have (supposedly) necessitated this increase are a clear-cut violation of the charter in and of themselves!

Per the charter, the responsibility for the authorization of loans lies squarely with the commission, yet no documentation has ever been provided to show that these transfers/loans from our General Fund were ever authorized by ANYONE. And, that includes the last few months, with the current commission fully aware that enterprise fund subsidies continue month after month.

When Commissioner Wollin recommended firing City Finance Director Marty Schless some months back, her reasoning was that he had failed to provide certain financial reports to the commission as mandated by the City Charter. What about this same commissioner’s “YES” vote (along with Commissioners Valery and Johnson) to, in essence, give IRB resident Virginia Armstrong a life estate usage of a public beach access—a clear charter violation under Section 10.7 of the City Charter:

Section 10.7. Real property interest. No real property interest held by the City of Indian Rocks Beach which provides public beach access, parks or recreational lands, or administrative and support facilities for city government, shall be sold, traded, given away, vacated or alienated in any way except after referendum approval of electorate.

Since the City Charter is something that only gets respected when it suits the occasion, perhaps printing it on Charmin might be more apropos. (And that's Charmin---not to be confused with the other "Scharmen"--who we all know and love!)

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB

IRB City Charter: http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=12039&sid=9

WERE THERE LOANS OR NOT?

Illegal Loans/Transfers--Fact or Fiction?

For those residents already struggling to make ends meet, it’s tough to imagine the cost of living in IRB getting much higher. But, when your TRIM notice lands in your mailbox, that’s when the rubber meets the road and imagination turns to reality.

At the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, July 22nd, all five commission members voted unanimously to hike next year’s millage rate (property taxes!)—well above last year’s rate and even higher than the millage rate recommended by the Acting City Manager. One Commissioner, Bert Valery, even suggested a rate .2 higher than the approved tentative rate of 2.2! Would someone please mind telling me where my thinking has gone astray--

IRB, at past millage rates, has had enough money in the General Fund to be able to “prop up” both the Sewer/Solid Waste Funds, for who knows how many years, to the tune of well over $1 million. Assuming that Sewer/Solid Waste rates will now be hiked enough for both of these enterprise funds to now be self-supporting, no additional loans will be needed from the General Fund for those purposes. Shouldn’t that mean that we have just “freed up” an additional $300,000 per year in the General Fund to run the City, even if the millage rate remained flat?

Is anyone else (except me!) starting to think that the reason no good answers have been provided for how these transfers/loans occurred is that they DIDN’T HAPPEN AT ALL? Maybe that’s why the audit reports for the past so many years didn’t mention a problem—because there wasn’t one? Could this “oh-no-we’re-nearly-bankrupt” scenario have been contrived in order to bilk IRB residents out of additional tax dollars to pay for librarians, library expansions, protect the sea oat signs, useless Gulf Boulevard planning studies—and a bunch of other equally unnecessary “crap”?

We’ve all patiently waited for answers for months now. None came. My request of the City to provide the date and amount of the first transfer from the General Fund to the Sewer & Solid Waste Funds has been virtually ignored. If we, as taxpayers, can’t get answers that make sense, perhaps it’s time for the State of Florida to try its luck. I, for one, am hoping that former Commissioner Coppen lives up to his word and has already done the dirty work.

Nancy Obarski
708 Beach Trail, #B

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GATSBY'S GREEN LIGHT

Classic Green Flash

The last three paragraphs of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes reference to “the green light.” Was he referring that elusive “green flash” that sunset watchers everywhere yearn to see? Are we so fascinated by it for the same reason Fitzgerald’s Nick was—because it signifies each tomorrow as a new beginning. In the words of Fitzgerald…

“As I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . . And one fine morning---

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

WHERE OH WHERE IS THE CITY CALENDAR?

Where Oh Where Can It Be?

Once upon a time in a quaint, little old, “solvent” beach town called Indian Rocks Beach, citizens could access the City Calendar of upcoming commission meetings, board meetings, etc.

In today’s IRB, that seems no longer an option. The month is nearly half over before the calendar of public meetings ever gets posted. Is there a technical issue at work here or does your commission not want you to know the dates and times of meetings where you might learn that:

1. Your property taxes are GOING UP?
2. Your sewer rates could INCREASE as much as 80%?
3. Your garbage rates could INCREASE as much as 60%?
4. NO PUBLIC INVESTIGATION into the illegal loans/transfers responsible for these increases has begun (or has even been publicly discussed or placed on an upcoming agenda for discussion!)?
5. Your current commission has made no attempt to STOP these illegal transfers, now that the illegalities have been made public; they continue as you read this blog?

The "unveiling" of the preliminary results of the USF Planning Study (A2K), held on July 22nd at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon, was a last-minute surprise. Once again, July’s calendar hadn’t been posted on the Web site. And, even when it finally did appear, the title of the meeting was “CC Work Session” with no mention of the subject matter. Anyone who attended the presentation could probably provide a plausible reason why the meeting wasn’t advertised better. Possibly the commission didn’t want you to see that your tax dollars have partially funded a planning study that involves a recommendation for taller buildings that sit right on Gulf Blvd.; the current 25’ setbacks are a foregone conclusion? And, Chic-a-Si Park is converted into a large parking garage! Although…"Chic-a-Si Parking" does have a certain ring to it…doesn’t it?

Needless to say, the Budget Workshop, scheduled for this Thursday, August 7th at 7:00 p.m., doesn’t appear anywhere on the City Calendar yet. What doesn’t your commission want you to know this week?

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/Indian Rocks Beach

NOTE: The City Calendar can be accessed by clicking on this link: http://www.indian-rocks-beach.com/calendar.pdf. With any luck at all, August will finally be posted by the time you click on it. As of the date and time of this posting, however, last month (July) was still displayed!

IRBeHEARD I-Witness Weather

Check out this photo of a waterspout taken by Gordon Obarski in the 700 block of Beach Trail on Friday, August 1st!

How about blogging in with a suggested caption for this photo? Here's one to get the ball rolling: "What sucks worse than $1.1 in illegal loans?"

Now your turn...