Thanks to those who wrote or spoke up about the IG Ordinance
The following is copied from the Yes on Ethics website post entitled “Grassroots react negatively to Drafting Committee’s attempt to rewrite the Inspector General Ordinance”
Thanks so much to all who took the time to turn out Wednesday afternoon, February 9th, at the Vista Center. About 20 people from South Florida 912 and South Florida Tea Party attended the meeting with a sizeable group of other members of the public. There were also a few representatives from the cities.
Speaking generally in opposition to the large-scale rewrite proposed by League of Cities attorney Trela White, and generally in favor of the minor changes proposed by Inspector General Sheryl Steckler were June Perrin, Fred Scheibl, Iris Scheibl, Newbolt Wilson, Mike Lamayer, Jason Shields, Victoria Thiel, Bob Newmark for the Voter’s Coalition, Nat Roberts for the Economic Council and Suzanne Squire.
It’s possible that others would have spoken, but due to a change in the agenda, public comment was placed at the beginning of the meeting – an action which precluded any public comment regarding the day’s discussion. Several folks arrived later, assuming they would be able to speak at the end of the meeting. Representatives of the cities did not speak during public comment, but did submit questions specific to the IG Funding discussion later in the meeting.
The committee appeared unresponsive during the comments, did not thank the public, and went right into their discussion. They also did not acknowledge the emails sent by the public, many of which were also sent to us at support@ethicspbc.com. It should be noted that this committee has met three times before, with the mission to modify the existing ordinances so as to include the 38 municipalities in jurisdiction. Because of the attempt to rewrite rather than modify the ordinances, very little has been accomplished by this group to date, and it appeared that public scrutiny of their process was an irritant to some of the members.
Two significantly different ordinance drafts were submitted – one by Inspector General Steckler and one by League of Cities counsel White. The first discussion was about which draft to discuss. The ‘Steckler’ draft was fairly close to the original ordinance and is the one we would like approved. The ‘White’ draft is entirely rearranged, with phrases separated into different sections, purportedly for clarity and clarification. Unfortunately, it makes it next to impossible to compare with the original, and changes in spirit are evident throughout. There are many issues we have with the ‘White’ draft – however discussion didn’t get far enough to address those yet. Samples of both drafts can be found HERE. Ms. Steckler’s draft was selected for discussion, and the wording of “Sec. 2-422. Office created and established” was finally approved as written. An Applicability section will be written for the next meeting and added prior to this section. The funding subcommittee had three meetings and devised a funding methodology that was agreed to by members John Wilson, Joe Doucette, Mo Thornton and Iris Scheibl. After some discussion with the committee, as well as comments and responses to the city representatives who spoke, the committee agreed to the methodology and requested that the funding section of the ordinance be drafted by Assistant County Attorney Lenny Berger.
Debate has not even commenced to functions, authority, powers – nor many other major areas that will have heated discussion. The next meeting will be on Febuary 24th at 1pm and the committee will focus entirely on the Inspector General Ordinance with the intent of making faster progress by dedicating a longer period of time for the meeting. It is difficult to see how the committee will meet its specified goal of March 30th with so few meetings and so little progress to-date.
Vigilance will be required and we ask that as many people who can continue to stay focused on the progress of both the IG and Ethics Ordinances. Much of the effort expended over the last two years to insure independence of the Inspector General could be wasted if this committee is allowed to greatly change the substance and spirit of the ordinance.
All Things Hasner
Please join us on Wednesday, February 23rd as we hear from former Majority Leader Adam Hasner. He’ll share his insight on local, state and national happenings… with time for Question & Answer.
REC February 9, 2011 – The New Beginning
The fresh attitude in the air of the room was easily detected by all senses. Call it revitalized energy or quite simply, less resistance and a “moving forward” approach.
It was announced that Michael Bennett is now officially part of the RPOF will set his car on cruise as he rides up to the ‘Presidency Five’ in Tallahassee. Which, if anyone recalls, former Governor Crist had shot down any ability to have a real straw poll. This will be national news and there will be a actual straw poll this time around. No doubt, something to look forward to.
The REC now has Two (2) new energetic Membership Chairs. The North County will be covered by Marilyn Parnett and the South by Sue Snowden. They both passed the enthusiastic hat in an effort to collect dollars needed to reach out to possible proactive REC members.
Tonight, we added 9 new members to the REC last evening. Voters unanimously confirmed seating on all proposed six (6) Members of the Board on an individual basis. Congratulations to all of them. They were:
- Joe Budd – Assistant Vice Chair, Campaigns
- Anita Carbone – Assistant Vice Chair, Victory Offices and Volunteers
- Sherry Lee – Assistant Vice Chair, Candidate Recruitment and Training
- Philip Nicozsis – Assistant Vice Chair, Finance
- Marilyn Parmet – Assistant Vice Chair, Membership – North
- Sue Snowden – Assistant Vice Chair, Membership – South
Also passed without any resistance, we gave full support in suggesting a mandate for Employers to use E-verify for Employment eligibility. We passed this in an effort to serve as a bar of measurement to the other 66 counties falling in the REC umbrella acrossed the State of Florida. We hope they follow suit. For those unfamaliar with E-verify, this is a user-friendly system whereas the Employer inputs verified information from their already mandated I-9 Employment Eligibility Form.
In short, our evening was rather sweet, short and forward-thinking. We look forward to many more of those. It’s going to be a blessed year — with much effort and united attitudes.
Immigration Town Hall with Rep. Bill Snyder
Notice
Please mark your calendar
Immigration
Morgade Library – Salerno Road
5851 SE Community Drive
Stuart, Florida 34997
Wednesday – February 2, 2011
6 PM
Have you had the opportunity to hear Representative Bill Snyder speak on his upcoming immigration bill?
Do you have questions about the pending immigration legislation currently under discussion in the Florida Legislature?
If you want to know more and have questions, then this is a meeting you don’t want to miss.
Representative Snyder will discuss his proposed bill in detail at this meeting.
Join us for an informative, non-partisan program at the Morgade Library, Salerno Road, 6PM, Wednesday, February 2, 2011.
In order to ensure that as many folks as possible have their questions answered, we ask that you submit your questions in writing at the beginning of the meeting if possible. We will supply you with pen and paper.
Free of charge and open to the public.
MAP:
Friends and Patriots at the last debate in
Palm City we were out numbered 5 to 1.
Rep. Snyder needs our support!!
PS: The last event was standing room only.
Supporters who arrived late were left standing outside.
Please get there early so the naysayers are left outside.
Call To Action – Prevent the Weakening of the PBC Inspector General
The representatives of the municipalities on the Inspector General (IG) Drafting Committee are balking at the oversight role of the IG. The municipalities are saying that we, the voters, didn’t understand what we were voting for and that we simply didn’t want ‘pay to play’ activities by our elected officials. They are attempting to weaken the scope of the IG, saying that the IG should not be able to review and report on mismanagement or inefficiencies or to second guess the municipalities’ decisions in any way – when it is precisely those types of decisions that can ‘waste’ the tax-payers dollars.
ACTIONS
1 – Attend the Wednesday, February 9th meeting at 2pm at the Vista Center, Vista Center Hearing Room, 2300 N. Jog Rd (just northeast of Okeechobee Rd) – listen to the discussion politely, and when there’s time for public comment, please state that: you as a voter knew what you were voting for and that you believe that the ‘independent oversight of local government operations” is key to the IG’s role.
It is important that we have a large turnout at this meeting. Please make every effort to attend in person.
2 – Send emails to the drafting committee members stating that you support the scope of the IG as described in the original ordinance to “detect misconduct involving abuse, corruption, fraud, waste, inefficiencies and mismanagement” and that the same scope must now apply to the municipalities. The email addresses are:
REPRESENTING THE COUNTY:
| David Baker | david.baker@amrl.com |
| David Aronberg – Committee Vice Chair | aronberg@yahoo.com |
| Donna Raney – County Attorney’s office | DRaney@pbcgov.org |
REPRESENTING LEAGUE OF CITIES
| Kurt Bressner – Committee Chair | BressnerK@bbfl.us |
| Michael Bornstein | mbornstein@lantana.org |
| Trela White – League of Cities Attorney |
REPRESENTING OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
| Sheryl Steckler – Inspector General | SSteckler@pbcgov.org |
3 – “like” the Vote Yes on Ethics facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-YES-on-Ethics/104294449637067) so that you can see future action alerts or go to http://ethicspbc.com
4 – Send an email to support@ethicspbc.com with “I want independent oversight of local government” in the subject line.
Background:
In 2009 many of you worked very hard to see that an independent Inspector General was put in place for Palm Beach County, as well as Ethics Ordinances.. You stood up at County Commission meetings, you signed petitions, and you saw the Inspector General’s office get implemented. Then in November 2010 the people voted. An overwhelming 72% of voters wanted these ordinances and for the Inspector General’s scope to apply to all of the municipalities in the county.
The Charter Amendment called for a drafting committee consisting of representatives from both the League of Cities and the County, in equal representation plus the Inspector General for the IG Drafting Committee, and the Executive Director of the Ethics Commission for the Ethics Drafting Committee. The role of the IG committee is to write a new ordinance, using the original as a basis to incorporate the municipalities.
The Charter Amendment (http://www.pbcgov.com/countycommissioners/pdf/charter.pdf), in Section 8.3, defined the role of the Inspector General:
“The county shall, by ordinance, establish an Office of the Inspector General to provide independent oversight of publicly funded transactions, projects, and other local government operations”
The original IG ordinance (2009.049 – Sec. 2.422), stated that the office of the Inspector General was to “detect misconduct involving abuse, corruption, fraud, waste, inefficiencies, and mismanagement by elected and appointed county officials and employees, county agencies and instrumentalities, contractors, and other parties doing business with the county and/or receiving county funds.”
The IG ordinance drafting committee has spent 3 meetings now debating the wording of the Inspector General’s scope. The next meeting is to be held on February 9, 2011 at 2pm.
State of the State with PBC Chairman, Sid Dinerstein
The Republican Club of the Palm Beaches kicked off 2011 with our first meeting on January 26th with a group of enthusiastic members and their guests. It was great to see so many people staying involved in our local, state and national politics.
We were honored to be joined at our first meeting by local candidate, George Carter, running for Mayor of Riviera Beach. A graduate of Riviera Beach High School and Barry University, Carter served as director of the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina from 1990-2006. Since that time Carter has served as president of the Riviera Beach Maritime Academy.
Several of our members had an opportunity to speak with Carter who firmly believes in the economic growth of Rivera Beach, and the importance of educating our youth. Carter is working with Enid Atwater in coordinating his candidacy, and he is currently seeking volunteers for all aspects of the campaign. You can sign-up to help at carter4mayor.com. The election will be held Tuesday, March 8, 2011.
Our guest speaker for the day was Sid Dinerstein, Chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County. Sid spoke about the results and statistics from the 2010 election cycle, and gave a preview to the upcoming Presidential race. He commented on our new Florida state legislature and governor, and noted that this group will be closely watched by all as Florida brings forth its legislative agenda.
Sid also reminded everyone of the upcoming Lincoln Day Dinner on February 24th which serves as the Republican Party of Palm Beach County’s principal fundraiser. If you have not yet purchased your tickets, please do so as RCPB has tables at the event.
We were fortunate to have several books as door prizes donated by Col. Arthur DeRuve and several members and guests were the lucky recipients in our drawing.
We look forward to a great year as we round the corner on to 2012, and many thanks to all the members who brought guests to our meeting.
Join RCPB for Lincoln Day Dinner
Call Bette Anne to reserve your seat with RCPB 561-804-4591
Excellent Turnout for Veterans Event
The “Celebration of Freedom – a Salute to Veterans” was a rousing success, with a standing room only crowd and $2805 raised in the silent auction sheparded by Michele Poole
Special guest Congressman-elect (Lt. Colonel) Allen West made his first visit to the club after his resounding defeat of Democrat Ron Klein who ran one of the nastiest campaigns in South Florida, and was as excellent a speaker as ever. One of the rising conservative stars of the party (along with fellow Floridian Marco Rubio), the eyes of the nation are on Allen as he will be taking his place alongside the approximately 100 NEW members of Congress in January.
The entertainment was excellent, as local artist Madison McIntosh rendered the anthem and other patriotic songs to an appreciative audience, and the presenting of the colors by the Dwyer High School ROTC started the event with distinction.
The numerous veterans in attendance were recognized, and each was presented with a lifetime membership in RCPB.
Quite an event and it certainly raised the bar for next year. Here are a few pictures from the event:
For additional pictures, click HERE
November 10 – Salute to Veterans
Wonderful event! There was a great turnout, with $2800+ raised for scholarships in the silent auction. The talent was exceptional. Kudos to Lt. Col. Allen West, Congressman-elect – U S District 22 – one profound speaker and motivator – stuck to the message throughout the campaign; and to Chris Noel, USO star in the 60’s & 70’s in Vietnam; – great to see you darlin’.
Justin Sayfie Highlights October Lunch
I was out of town but Anita Mitchell sends this posting: The “Hot Off The Press” luncheon featuring Justin Sayfie of the award winning web site “Sayfie Review” was a big hit.
Often seen on FOX and formerly Jeb Bush’s speechwriter during his terms as Governor Justin brought insight and perspective to those attending . The timing couldn’t have been better as it was just a week before the election.
We have invited him back in the New Year. Stay tuned.
