Wednesday, January 21
Prior to the last election, many residents literally begged for a Town Hall Meeting. The commission, for whatever reason, promptly decided against it--effectively "staving it off" by saying they would consider holding one after the election. Needless to say, one never transpired.
So, the IRB Homeowners Association has, once again, picked up the ball the City dropped and scheduled a Town Hall Meeting for Wednesday evening, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Auditorium. Some have insinuated that sponsoring a Town Hall meeting is somehow not in keeping with the Homeowners Association’s raison d’être of uniting residents. What better vehicle is there for bringing residents together than holding a long-overdue group meeting chaired by an impartial moderator?
Resistance by this commission to schedule a similar event themselves speaks to the secrecy by which this current group has operated over the last two years. This resistance in addition to the implementation of a more-restrictive Public Records policy has served only to further hamper the efforts of residents to obtain public information they have a right to. If it takes a City employee more than 15 minutes to dig up the records, the resident must personally foot the bill for the staff member’s time in order to gain access to the information. The new rules also apply to the commissioners themselves. The folks who are your "mouths" in our local government, in essence, voted to limit the amount of information they have access to, at a time when financial misdeeds cry for more answers.
The bottom line is that the upcoming Town Hall meeting is a much-needed, positive step toward lifting the veil of IRB secrecy and returning openness to our local government here in IRB.
How do you feel about the Homeowners Association holding a Town Hall Meeting? Will you attend?
Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB
Prior to the last election, many residents literally begged for a Town Hall Meeting. The commission, for whatever reason, promptly decided against it--effectively "staving it off" by saying they would consider holding one after the election. Needless to say, one never transpired.
So, the IRB Homeowners Association has, once again, picked up the ball the City dropped and scheduled a Town Hall Meeting for Wednesday evening, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Auditorium. Some have insinuated that sponsoring a Town Hall meeting is somehow not in keeping with the Homeowners Association’s raison d’être of uniting residents. What better vehicle is there for bringing residents together than holding a long-overdue group meeting chaired by an impartial moderator?
Resistance by this commission to schedule a similar event themselves speaks to the secrecy by which this current group has operated over the last two years. This resistance in addition to the implementation of a more-restrictive Public Records policy has served only to further hamper the efforts of residents to obtain public information they have a right to. If it takes a City employee more than 15 minutes to dig up the records, the resident must personally foot the bill for the staff member’s time in order to gain access to the information. The new rules also apply to the commissioners themselves. The folks who are your "mouths" in our local government, in essence, voted to limit the amount of information they have access to, at a time when financial misdeeds cry for more answers.
The bottom line is that the upcoming Town Hall meeting is a much-needed, positive step toward lifting the veil of IRB secrecy and returning openness to our local government here in IRB.
How do you feel about the Homeowners Association holding a Town Hall Meeting? Will you attend?
Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB
5 comments:
Kudos to the HOA!
Commissioners Ockunzzi, Palamara, Carmody and Pinero held town hall meetings or special meetings on a regular basis to get citizen input and clear the air (they even listened to the citizens). Remember the multiple meetings on the Publix, undergrounding, dune preservation zone, property tax policy, reclaimed water, redevelopment, etc.
This crowd only wants input from their elite friends.
I wonder what the "not-so-fab-five" will do to try to limit real discussion on the issues facing IRB. Maybe they will turn the power to the building off right before the meeting.
I'll go, but I want police protection.
Rumor has it that Cookie is too busy to attend and Bert will be "out of town". I guess they only want to listen to their A2K cronies and don't want to hear what the regular folks have to say!
To bad the HOA had to cancel this event because the majority of the loser Commissioners did not want to attend.
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