Insulating the Commission
At the January 28th meeting, Commissioner Wollin differed with IRB resident Kelly Cisarik. During “Citizen Comments” at the beginning of the meeting, Cisarik requested that the commission reinstate its policy of receiving and filing quarterly financials, pointing out that they had previously voted not to continue doing so.
Wollin "lectured" Kelly about getting financials being a charter requirement taking issue with Cisarik's statement.
Well mama-pin-a-rose-on-daddy…guess what? Kelly Cisarik, again under “Citizen Comments” at the most recent commission meeting on February 10, came back to the microphone citing the following from the minutes of the August 14, 2007 City Commission meeting:
“Motion made by Commissioner Wollin, seconded by Commissioner Valery to approve Resolution No. 2007-88, amending Resolution No. 2007-35, Rules of Procedures for the City Commission of the City of Indian Rocks Beach, Florida; by deleting from the Consent Agenda the requirement that check registers and quarterly financial reports be received and filed by the City Commission. Motion carried with Mayor-Commissioner Ockunzzi objecting.”
It was actually Commissioner Wollin--herself--who made the motion that this requirement be removed from the Consent Agenda, which is a portion of the meeting specifically reserved for formal commission approval of items like meeting minutes, etc.
At the January 28th meeting, Commissioner Wollin differed with IRB resident Kelly Cisarik. During “Citizen Comments” at the beginning of the meeting, Cisarik requested that the commission reinstate its policy of receiving and filing quarterly financials, pointing out that they had previously voted not to continue doing so.
Wollin "lectured" Kelly about getting financials being a charter requirement taking issue with Cisarik's statement.
Well mama-pin-a-rose-on-daddy…guess what? Kelly Cisarik, again under “Citizen Comments” at the most recent commission meeting on February 10, came back to the microphone citing the following from the minutes of the August 14, 2007 City Commission meeting:
“Motion made by Commissioner Wollin, seconded by Commissioner Valery to approve Resolution No. 2007-88, amending Resolution No. 2007-35, Rules of Procedures for the City Commission of the City of Indian Rocks Beach, Florida; by deleting from the Consent Agenda the requirement that check registers and quarterly financial reports be received and filed by the City Commission. Motion carried with Mayor-Commissioner Ockunzzi objecting.”
It was actually Commissioner Wollin--herself--who made the motion that this requirement be removed from the Consent Agenda, which is a portion of the meeting specifically reserved for formal commission approval of items like meeting minutes, etc.
So, in view of the new info, once again Kelly Cisarik requested this policy be rescinded by the commission; once again she was ignored. Is being ignored preferable to being told you're wrong?
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the commission isn’t SEEING the financials, but it does mean they are not formally finalizing and approving the information--and have not being doing so for the last 18 months.
Is the fear of liability for certifying financial info that is flawed the reason the commission opted to discontinue approving this info as a Consent Agenda item? Is the commission’s desire for “separation of commission and finances” also what’s driving the charter amendment to make the City Treasurer reportable to the City Manager instead of serving at the pleasure of the City Commission? More on this later.
Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB
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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!)
4 comments:
What would Jefferson Think about the state of our local government?
If you read below some of his quotes about government and mankind, you would realize he would be disgusted by the last few years here in IRB.
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." hmm, we have not been well informed, in fact we cannot get answers to some of the most basic and important questions regarding OUR money. "I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way." Thanks to people like Nancy, Kelly and others who stand up and ask questions, often times being snickered at by the commission. " Information is the currency of democracy." Yea, not here in IRB! "Power is not alluring to pure minds." I will not even touch that one. "When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property." once again, not here in IRB..more like property of special interests. "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." We have no liberty here in IRB and the people (for the most part) fear getting involved as they will be blogged about by Leo and sneered at by the commission.
Is there anybody out there who cannot, in a shore period of time, find out exactly how much they owe on their home mortgage or car payment?
NOT the IRB City Commission. They raised sewer and solid waste rates 60% without knowing or publically disclosing the exact amount of money owed to the general fund; setting the interest rate and pay back period. Bottom line, we do not know how much of our sewer and solid waste bills is going for loan paybacks.
I don't believe there is any money owed and that this "loan" BS is a cover for building a huge cash reserve that can then be used for a large capital project or two, or three.
Lets see: build a library; buy land in the business triangle to build a retention pond so developers have a place to put their stormwater (instead of on their own property; do the same stormwater trick to support development on the AG Armstrong property; give money to the Art Center; and increase hours for the librarian.
Get ready to get fleeced again.
You should have reminded everyone that Mayor RB and former Commissioner Coppen also voted NOT to receive financial information.
RB because he to did not want facts to get in the way of his spending priorities. Jose because he frequentley let his personal vendettas trump his fiscal policy.
All of you are correct for different reasons. In times like this you do NOT raise taxes and fees. In a recent poll of cities who are coming up short on their budgets only 14% raised taxes, IRB was one of those. These small minded individuals who are padding the public coffers to fund such pet projects should be ashamed of themselves. RB is the ring leader, he wants a massive library to store his books and VHS movies, he fails to reprimand folks (with whom he agrees with) who yell rude remarks from the audiance while others are speaking (like mr A2K did from the last meeting), but RB will be the 1st to slam the gavel or reprimand you if he does not stand on the same ground as you the speaker in regard to an issue. All of these folks, especially TW & BV who ran their last elections on broken promises care only about their self image and special interests. Heck, what kind of favors will A2K get for selling a 59k study?
This is directly from Wollins website, what a bunch of HORSE PUCKY
My Campaign Pledge to You
As your Commissioner I will:
Remain open and responsive to your questions and concerns
..Oh yea, she has been very open and responsive to our concerns!
Stay on task to help lead our city forward in a positive way
Ensure open lines of communication between IRB citizens and city staff... maybe communication between herself and other commissioners and the city attorney but certainly not a good history of open communication with citizens.
Work hard to balance the needs of our city against the new reality of leaner budgets....hmmm hard work is to raise our taxes and raise fees, what a JOKE.
Protect and promote the harmonious working relationship that currently exists on our City Commission...KUMBAYA, my city, raise my taxes!
Watch over height and density zoning issues and fight to preserve our small town atmosphere.....that is why her sign is on the Armstrong/Publix property, what a FRIGGIN JOKE
Take action to ensure that our beautiful beaches stay that way
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