Waterview Tower Part 2
If you read the story “Waterview Towers Vs. City of WPB you were told there may be other documentation available, and indeed there were. I have received copies, anonymously, and making them available to the readers interested in the story. (Read Chase letter here)
The first section is a 2 page letter from Palm Harbor Hotel, LLC C/O Chase Enterprise, written by Cheryl A. Chase to the residents of the Waterview Towers Accompanying the letter is another 5 page letter referred to as “Myth vs.Truth” where Ms. Chase attempt’s to bring her view to the residents.
If I wanted to write a letter to frighten and intimidate people, this is the type of letter I would write.
There are 12 myth’s listed and I ask that you read them carefully. Millions of dollars are involved in this venture.
A few of my observations are listed below.
Myth 1. Commissioner Mitchell wants to justify using city funds to help fund the cost of a new garage for PHH.
Myth 2. If I understand correctly a new garage is going to cost 12 million dollars, and PHH is willing to pay 1 million. So who is paying the remaining 11 million? I sincerely hope my tax dollars are not to be used.
Myth 3. PHH states they were requested to not speak directly to individual owners, and they complied. If they complied who are these letters from?
Myth 4. PHH wants to build a 75′ hotel, but the city wanted a 92′ hotel.
Myth 8. Easy enough to prove. Mr Pinsky had another meeting at city hall at 9:00 AM. Mr Pinsky, former husband of Commissioner Mitchell, is a registered lobbyist with the city, and must sign in when he attends any meeting. Commissioner Mitchell can prove a conference call buy showing proof by way of her phone.
Myth 12. My personal favorite. PHH states as truth: “The city has unlimited funds to fight development challenges and law suits” In the short time residents have kept track of city’s losses concerning law suits either settled or awarded the total amounts to 2,879,415.00. There are 2 other lawsuits involving the city, along with Waterview Towers, the taxpayer can look forward to funding the Chapel by the Lake, and Rybovich Marina. You good with that?
On Oct.18,2014 Board of Directors responded to Ms. Chase letter and can be read here.
2 More City Giveaway’s
45th and Haverhill St.
The city owns a piece of land which is located on 45th and Haverhill Rd. The city toyed with the idea of selling it as a spring training ballpark, which if you thought about it would never really happen, and in my opinion, it did get Parkside Commons off the fence and made an offer to the city for $14 million dollars.
Richard Pinsky, along with Harvey Oyer are the lobbyist for Parkside Commons, and Mr. Pinsky was previously married to Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell.
Claims have been made that the property has been used as a dump for construction debris and tires for the last 30 years, and after Hurricane Wilma (2005 ) was used to dump vegetation. I have lived in this area for 29 years and within a mile of the site. I have never witnessed it used as a dump, I have seen a tire on the edge of the property where someone threw it. You can see a tire on most vacant lots in WPB. The vegetation from Wilma was definitely placed on the site. How much of that remains today after 9 years?
Here’s the part I am having difficulty with understanding. It’s written, “The developer would clean up the site and develop the park more cost efficiently than the city could, then would turn the park over to the city.” I have questions.
Has the city ordered a study to see if the statement above, made by the lobbyists is accurate? Can the developer do it more cost effectively?
Out of the 14 million to be paid, how much is the developer to be paid for the clean up and building of the park? I heard the figure 10 million.
If I didn’t maintain my property, the city code enforcement would be on me with violation notices, they would come in and bring my property up to code, and it would cost me a small fortune. Actually I’m OK with this. If I allow my property to fall into disrepair, I am affecting my neighbors and their property values. Why mention this? Another question: Why did the city allow city owned property to become so run down. They had years to clean up and keep the property presentable. Failure by years of previous leaders, and maintained by present leaders.
The city has the equipment and manpower to clean the land, why doesn’t it? If that’s not feasible, why not bid it out?
We have witnessed the city’s planning and parks and recreation department in action, and I would not be happy with the city planning the park. Why not bid it out and compare prices.
Would that not please the developer, lobbyist, Mayor or Commissioners. Would they have an aversion to saving the taxpayer tax dollars?
The residents would be happy to see the jobs spread around, maybe to minorities and women orientated businesses. Start planning with the residents wallets in mind.
“Tent” City Property
If you are reading this far the story will seem familiar to you only because you have read it before, up above, the 45th. & Haverhill city story.
The tent city site almost lost to John Textor’s Digital Domain, along with taxpayers gift of 2 million dollars, which Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell moved heaven and hell to make sure happened is back on the market after Mr. Textor declared bankruptcy, and the city spent thousands of dollars on court fees to retrieve the land. To my knowledge no attempt has been made to recoup taxpayers 2 million dollar gift to Mr. Textor.
Good news! The land has increased in value and was last appraised at $14.2 million dollars.
Bad news! The McCloskey Group,who is represented by Commissioner Mitchell’s former husband, Richard Pinsky, has offered the city $13.5 million to build a medical village.
Worse news: The McCloskey group request an incentive of $8.5 million from the city for creating jobs. Really! How long is government going to use the excuse “it will create jobs”?
as a reason to give away city land, with perks, to developers.
There is a humorous side to this story, and here it is.
After The McCloskey Group have been in conference with the City’s CRA for over a year, the proposal has been sent out for bid, with a 30 day response time for other suitors. Really, who do you believe is going to receive this sweetheart deal? You OK with that?
Waterview Towers Vs. WPB
On Oct.14, 2014 the City Commissioners met and authorized approval of settlement for three (3) lawsuits filed against the city. The total amount was $240,775.00, which when added to previous lawsuits will bring the total for the last 3 years to $2,810,665.00 in taxpayer dollars. The city isn’t done wasting your money.
Because the city cannot follow the rules they themselves set, on building height, density, and set back, three (3) more lawsuits have followed. It appears residents are fed up and not going to take it any more and appear ready to fight back. The new suits are: Chapel by the Lake, Waterview Towers, and Rybovitch. This story will focus on the Waterview Towers Vs. City of WPB, and you will be kept updated as the story progresses.
The cast of character’s are as follows:
Rick Green, Development Services Director, is a member of “staff” who recommends approval of developments such as Chapel by the Lake, Rybovitch, and Waterview Towers.
Ana Maria Aponte is the City Urban Designer.
Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, elected in March 2002.
Richard Pinsky, a Registered Lobbyist in West Palm Beach, and former husband of Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell.
My understanding of the situation is the city (taxpayers) owns the land that the Waterview Towers, which is located on Flagler Dr. along with the Palm Harbor Marina and the piece of land they want developed as the Palm Harbor Hotel. Previous commissioners voted that 2 pieces of this property were to be made commercial (Marina and Hotel) and one residential. (Waterview Towers)
The city gave a 99 year lease to Chase Enterprise who built the Waterview Towers, and to entice people to buy, placed into its documents that nothing over 4 stories was to be built next to the Waterview. Good incentive to purchase.
Now the developers want to build an 8 story hotel, and next to the hotel a 3 story garage, and the city, true to form want the developers to have their way. Now what to do with that pesky documents that say’s nothing over 4 stories. What to do, What to do?
There is a rumor going around, with people in the know, that Chase Enterprise has joined the fray, and there supposedly are letters going back and forth, for which we are trying to get copies. They must be informative because we can’t beg, borrow, or steal them. We will continue trying, and if they do exist we will continue this story.
We obtained a copy of a letter written by the Board of Directors to keep Waterview residents informed of a meeting held on Sept. 19,2014 between city employees, city commissioner Mitchell, and Richard Pinsky. Please click here to read the letter.
Who is Len Fintzy?
Len Fintzy is the President of City Watch, a western community organization, PAC (Political Action Committee) which was founded by Mr. Fintzy. He resides in Riverwalk, located west of Florida’s Turnpike. These gated communities are refered to as the “western” communities. Mr. Fentzy has announced his intention to challenge Commissioner Keith James seat in District 4. As reported in the PB Post Mr. Fintzy has been unanimously endorsed by City Watch, the PAC he created. So basically Mr. Fintzy endorsed himself. What the Post doesn’t mention is sitting commissioner Keith James, and challenger Alex Augustin were never interviewed by City Watch. Talk about the fix being in. You OK with that?
Mr. Fintzy is a personal friend and supporter of Kimberly Mitchell, and has publicly stated that Commissioner Mitchell is like a daughter to him. I will offer examples of just how close they are.
Mr Fintzy and his wife, as a guest of Commissioner Mitchell, joins her for the annual Chamber of Commence breakfast. It’s interesting to know that Mr. Fintzy does not reside in her district. It should come as no surprise that the taxpayers picked up the $80.00 dollar tab for breakfast. You OK with that?
On March 6,2013 there was a meeting held in Riverwalk, and the city listed the meeting as “Riverwalk Neighborhood Meeting” This meeting went unnoticed by residents who try and keep up with the city’s shenanigans. If a resident had noticed, and wanted to attend, it is questionable if they would have been allowed in as this is a gated community. As it turns out the March 6th. meeting was closed to the general public, your name had to be on an entry list to attend. You OK with that?
On Nov.4,2013 at a Special City Commission meeting Mr. Myles Schack spoke before the city commission and below is part of his statement:
“My name is Myles Schack and I am the Vice President of Riverwalk Homeowners Association and I also serve on the city’s Advisory Board. On March 6th of this year, the mayor and city commissioners attended a workshop at Riverwalk and the focus of that workshop was the sharp decline in Riverwalk’s lake levels and the failure of the vast water treatment plant to deliver 10 million gallons daily of reclaimed water, in order to hydrate the city’s wetlands re-use site and help recharge the aquifer.” If Mr. Schack had not attended this meeting and spoke out, residents would not have been aware this meeting took place. You OK with that?
A resident attending the meeting immediately requested the minutes of the March 6th meeting and was told by the city clerk that the meeting was not a city meeting so there are no minutes Unhappy with the response she wrote City Attorney Claudia McKenna and again requested the minutes. Ms. McKenna, true to form, wrote back and requested the resident “call her and she will explain” See nothing in writing. The resident who inquired never received an answer. The western communities are so important to the mayor and commissioners that they travel to them, and saw no reason to inconvenience River Walk by having them travel to city hall. Are you OK with that?
People running for office in WPB court River Walk’s “City Watch” for their endorsement because the western residents have a strong voting Pac and their precinct is on their premises and white residents turn out to vote. River Walk writes a column with
recommendations on how their residents should vote.
After the death of Commissioner Bill Moss Commissioner Mitchell along with city commissioners had her friend Shannon Materio appointed to replace him until the next election. The election between Shannon Materio and Gregg Weiss was on and “City Watch” gave their endorsement to Gregg Weiss. After a call from city hall it appears Mr. Fintzy wrote to residents and said although “City Watch” had endorsed Mr. Weiss, he personally was voting for Shannon Materio. You OK with that?
In 2013 both Commissioner Mitchell and Materio made their intent known that they would seek another term as city commissioner’s. Residents were anxious to learn if their seat would be challenged. A few names were mentioned, and we became very hopeful.
At the city’s September 25, 2013 Budget Meeting (held shortly after Commissioners Mitchell & Materio made their intentions known) Mr. Fintzy stood and addressed the residents and commissioners and made the announcement that City Watch was proud to endorse them both for reelection. Mr. Fintzy endorsed both candidates before learning if and who might challenge them. So if by some miraculous miracle St. Peter came down from heaven and announced he would seek the commission seat He would have been out of luck. Please, tell me you’re not OK with that.
Commissioner Mitchell, in my opinion, runs the city of West Palm Beach, and along with Commissioner Materio, who never strays far from Ms. Mitchell’s opinion, and nearly always vote’s with her is her second vote. If Len Fintzy is elected he will be her third vote on the dais, and then there will be no stopping them. They will run the city as they see fit. There will be no stopping the WPB Charter School, no stopping outsourcing of city job’s, no stopping outsourcing of city water, and developers will have the keys to the city. There are 2 active lawsuits (Chapel by the Lake, and Waterview Towers) with millions to be spent because the city can’t follow their own rules concerning building height, density, and set back. They constantly allow 5 lbs.of crap too be placed in a 2 lb bag. Are you OK with that?
Again, my opinion. One of the biggest mistake residents made when voting was to allow city wide elections. I am not comfortable with the western communities choosing who will represent me in district 2. Without city wide elections commissioners would be forced to work and represent their districts, or be booted from office. They would have no need to meet secretly with western communities and discuss their water problems, or cater to them because they know the west will allow them to keep their city seat. If there was a way to motivate black voter, who outnumber the white voters we could take our city back. Any ideas on how to accomplish that would be appreciated. I hope your OK with that.
HUD, James & Redemptive Life
Once again the city of West Palm Beach has made the PB Post with the story on the front page, above the fold, and it concerns Commissioner Keith James and the Redemptive Life Fellowship Church, and the Redemptive Life Urban Corp. This story, along with many other’s show city officials and their many blunders that cost taxpayers and the poorest of the poor are the ones who suffer and pay the price for their inadequacies. Here is the list of players: HUD (Housing and Urban Development), Deputy City Administrator Dorritt Miller, City Commissioner Keith James, former Internal Auditor Imogene Isaacs, Harold Ray, Leader of Redemptive Life, and Mayor Muoio.
Long story short: HUD gave the city of WPB millions of dollars to be used for low income housing. Meaning the poorest of the poor. The city, in turn gave the millions to Harold Ray, Pastor of Redemptive Life. Here is where it all fell apart. The city did minimal follow-up, did not receive, or lost records and documentation. Who is in charge of the housing dept? Deputy City Administrator, Dorritt Miller, making over $200,000.00 a year in salary and “perks” and couldn’t be bothered to follow up on millions of Federal dollars.
Internal Auditor, Imogene Isaacs, worked for the city for 22 years, loved her job, and was very good at it. The Internal Auditor is the only department that does not report to the Mayor, but reports to the City Commissioners. Ms. Isaacs while auditing HUD and Redemptive Life found irregularities, and brought it to the attention of City Commissioners. In other words she did her job. The report was “leaked” to the PB Post who wrote a story on the results. Ms. Isaacs was “blamed” for the leak at a confrontational meeting between Ms. Isaacs and Commissioner James. On April 9, 2012 Commissioner James wrote a memo to Ms. Isaacs, which I invite you to read and pay particular attention to #3. (Click HERE to read the memo.)
After Ms. Isaacs received the memo, she resigned along with the entire audit committee members.
On Sept. 8,2014 the PB Post wrote an excellent editorial, and I invite you to read it here. It is self explanatory. See: Working poor could suffer in HUD settlement
PB Post reporter Pat Beall who has written about HUD & the City and continues to investigate has written an excellent story which explains many facts. I invite you to read the story here. See: Official: HUD talk wasn’t conflict
Commissioner Mitchell questions why the city has to pay HUD 3 Million dollars when it was Redemptive Life who received Federal funds. DUH The money was given to the city, the city gave the money to Redemptive Life. The city is responsible for the funds. A better question for the commissioner to ask is why wasn’t Dorritt Miller more responsible with Federal dollars, and why does Mayor Muoio allow her to continue on staff?
It appears Redemptive Life is in financial trouble, so what are the chances of the city recouping 3 million dollars? I have a suggestion. According to the PBC Property Appraisers office Redemptive Life, Pastor Harold Ray has a home with a market value of $667,960.00. Start there.
Who Is Steve Hoffman?
Steve Hoffman is one of WPB best kept secrets. Mr Hoffman has worked through four mayor’s, Graham, Davis, Frankel, and Muoio. His job description is Grants Compliance Officer for the City of West Palm Beach. Mr. Hoffman is responsible for tracking the dollars spent against grants received, and to insure all money is allocated, in the time frame allowed. I will offer one example of the city’s ineffectiveness to do this job. HOME grant.
On May 23,2014 the Internal Auditors meeting was held. In attendance were:
Sylvia Moffett City Commissioner, Chairperson
David Rosenstein Mayor’s Designee Committee Member
Len Fintzy Member-At-Large Committee Member
Harvey Caspari Member-At-Large Committee Member
Peter Camacho Member-At-Large Committee Member
The committee members listed above are all volunteers who dedicate their time in an effort to assist WPB to become a better city. Also present were Commissioner’s Robinson & James, Roger Strout- City Internal Auditor, Jeff Green -City Administrator, Michelle Sias-Director of Finance, Michael Fetterman -Marcum,LLP (Outside Auditor’s) These are the main players present at the May meeting.
Here are a few highlights from that meeting.
Commissioner Robinson made mention of HOME funds which totaled $709,942.00 and questioned if these funds were pending, or did the funds have to be returned.
Mr. Green responded he hoped the city would not have to return the funds.
Mr Caspari made a request to obtain the schedule to see how much of the expenditure was made against the awarded grant amount. Mr Strout mentioned that he requested the information from Steve Hoffman and to date has not received it. Commissioner Robinson stated he has been waiting 2 years for this information, and gave an example of a grant for a bike patrol worth $110,000.00, and because the money went unspent, the city lost the funds.
Mr Hoffman supposedly has completed the grants report, but wants administration to review it before presenting it to the Audit Committee. Really?
Mr. Strout requested that the finance department forward to the Audit Dept. and Committee members a copy of Mr Hoffman’s report before the next Audit Committee meeting. Mr. Green, city administrator agreed to this request.
Mayor Designee, David Rosenstein indicated that “the Internal Auditor is remiss in not pressing management to comply with his request in a timely fashion. The root cause for the delay is lack of people, but he must get his requested information in a timely manner to avoid fraud.”
Now here is where this writer is confused: What action does Mr. Rosenstein suggest Mr. Strout do in order to receive reports needed to do his auditing job, when Commissioner Robinson has been requesting this information for two years.
What is written above was taken from the minutes of the May 23,2014 meeting and approved at the July 18,2014 meeting by the Committee Members.
No meeting was held in June and Commissioner Moffett suggested the audit meet every other month instead of monthly. The committee members want to keep it monthly.
Now we jump ahead to the meeting held on July 18,2014 The people listed above were present at this meeting also joined by Dorritt Miller, Deputy City Administrator. This meeting was hot!
The city’s Grants Compliance Officer Steve Hoffman was requested in May to attend the July meeting, to answer to non compliance of grants. Mr. Hoffman was a no show and finance director, Michelle Sias told the committee members he was on 2 1/2 weeks vacation. Audit committee member, Harvey Caspari was not pleased with that answer and requested his displeasure be placed on record.
Commissioner Robinson also voiced displeasure saying he has requested grant compliance information since 2012 and to date, has not received the information. The commissioner continued to say, administration decided not to give grant information to commissioners and abruptly left the meeting, saying, he had 8 months left as a city commissioner, and he intends to continue coming to audit meetings when his term expires and then he left the meeting stating “I know where all of bodies are buried”
If Commissioner Robinson has information concerning city business, is it not his duty to the residents to expose wrong doings? He has already stated he is not seeking another term, so what has he to lose? He should give residents a fighting chance to remove, from the city, leaders that fear what will be exposed.
The Auditor’s May 23, 2014 request for the Finance Department to forward to him, copies of the grant manager’s report and bank reconciliation records from finance before the next audit meeting, was not met. Deputy Administrator, Dorritt Miller summed It up as a miscommunication between departments.
City Auditor insisted he was clear and have the two e-mails to show, and offered to resend them to the Finance Dept; but Ms. Miller said there is no need for e-mails when the departments are across the hall from each other and the auditor can just walk to the department for request. My interpretation of her comment is for God’s sake don’t leave a paper trail for some nosey resident to request a PRR or it can become a case for he said-she said. Always a good idea to back up statements with a paper trail.
David Rosenstein, Mayor’s Designee, suggested City Auditor Roger Strout adjust his number of yearly audit’s to a more reasonable number. I suggest Mr Strout, who has 30 years in the business realizes what he and his staff can accomplish if he was to receive much needed, requested information from departments to complete his audits.
Marcum ,LLP the city external auditor reported the city has not done a monthly bank reconciliation in the past year. This means the city has not balanced it’s checkbook with bank statements. Who runs a city like this?
The city places a lien on residents who don’t pay their water bills, and it is then placed on their county tax bill for collection. The problem is residents who have paid the bill have not had the lien’s removed, and residents are up in arms because it is two years later and they want relief. The city is fixing the problem. People are working Sat. 7/19 and 7/26 in an attempt to bring the records up to date. Who runs a city like this?
Some good news from the city: On Monday July 21 it was reported the City’s (employees) hot line to report cases of Fraud, Waste, Abuse of City Resources or Questionable Activities will be up and running. Reporting is to remain confidential.
WPB Needs Katherine Waldron
Dear Members,
We are proud to announce that we are heartily endorsing Katherine Waldron for West Palm Beach City Commission District 2, in the March 10, 2015 election.
It is our organization’s goal to help ensure transparency,integrity and ethics within our local government. Katherine Waldron has earned the endorsement of WPB Watch because she exemplifies the type of commissioner we hope to have representing our district as well as our city as a whole.
Katherine’s ability to provide her time and significant efforts to the job of commissioner adds to our strong endorsement. Our residents deserve a committed commissioner with the business, political and community background that Katherine has as well as the ability to commit the time our city deserves from our commissioners.
We encourage you to support her in her campaign and to vote for her on March 10, 2015.
Sincerely,
WPB Watch
P.S. Remember that the rules for absentee voting have changed and registration for absentee voting has to be renewed after two main election cycles. You can visit the web site of the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections to check your absentee voting status
Introduction
Katherine Waldron is a former Sprint executive, founder of Gamxing® Inc., and the mother of three adult children. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and, recently, her MBA from Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Katherine came to Florida in 2002 and became a full-time resident of West Palm Beach in 2005. Except for a brief stint in San Diego to co- found her online compliance training company, she has been a full-time resident since then.
As a resident, she has been very active in the community. Her accomplishments include founding ACTION PAC, a downtown political action committee; accepting a mayoral appointment to lead volunteer efforts for the 2010 Coleman Park Revitalization project; serving as president of her downtown condo board from 2007 to 2011; and most recently assuming Directorship of the Premier FC Foundation and maintaining membership of the Palm Beach Premier FC Advisory Board.
Katherine has raised funds and served as a board or committee member of various non-profits including the American Cancer Society, the Palm Beach County Florence DeGeorge Boys and Girls Club and ElderHelp Services. She has volunteered with the Palm Beach Preservation Foundation, the American Red Cross and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She was appointed by County Commissioners to the Citizens’ Committee on Airport Noise from 2008 to 2011.
In 2013 she established the east coast operations of her company, Gamxing® Inc., in West Palm Beach.1
Katherine enjoys living in this wonderful city with so much character and a great deal to offer residents and visitors alike. As City Commissioner, she hopes to continue the great efforts already underway in addition to developing new initiatives to ensure West Palm Beach remains the world-class city it is today.
1 Gamxing™ Inc., a software compliance training company, is headquartered in San Diego and has east coast operations in West Palm Beach. Gamxing™ has three U.S. patents pending and one international patent pending.
WPB Charter School = They never learn.
The Sun Sentinel newspaper has written an excellent investigative report on Charter Schools. If you aren’t sure where you stand on the City of West Palm Beach attempting to open a Charter School I recommend you read the story in the Sentinel for a real eye opener. (See: Florida’s Charter Schools – Unsupervised, part 1 and part 2);
The city has submitted an application, and Mayor Muoio, and 5 City Commissioners, Robinson, Mitchell, Moffett, Materio, and James are the “Founding Team”
The “Founding Team” will appoint the “Board of Directors” who will have authority and control over the school and will consist of Mayor Muoio, and 5 City Commissioners, Robinson, Mitchell, Moffett, Materio, and James. Can you see where this is going?
Of course the Board of Directors will be required to take the “Four-Hour Initial Governance Board Training Course” then they will have the education necessary to run the “West Palm Beach Municipal Charter School” (WPBMCS) You good with that?
(The Mayor of course has some real experience running a school. See: AFTER LAWSUIT, PARENTS PRAISE NEW SCHOOL THE FAMILY WAS REIMBURSED $110,000 and SCHOOL MUST PUT DISABLED GIRL IN CLASS )
WPBMCS is the brain child of Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell who has been moving this forward with as much enthusiasm as she pushed another school forward named Digital Domain, which was a complete failure, and cost the taxpayers two million dollars which was a taxpayer gift to John Textor, founder of DD, but I suspect that figure to be much higher, considering the effort by city staff, city attorneys, and attorney’s from out of state, hired by the city to initiate a lawsuit to get back the “tent city” land also donated to Mr. Textor which was valued at ten million dollars, and we were this close too losing it.
In my opinion WPB has had multiple failings in both projects and city departments, to name a few: Waste Water Treatment Plant (37 million) Open Sky Police Radio (5 million) and 5 years of supporting the “consortium” so add approximately 2 million to that figure, and we still don’t have a system up and running to insure police safety. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is looking to the city to recoup millions of dollars misspent, or not properly allocated. The city has been embarrassed by news reports of departments not properly supervised, such as Housing and Community Development (HCD) Human Resource Department (HRS) Parks and Recreation, and the city hires consultants to over see the problems. What do these departments have in common? They all report to Deputy City Administrator Dorritt Miller. Why can’t the mayor see the problem? You OK with that?
The city mayor/commissioners constantly circumvent the city’s master plan by ignoring building height, density, and set backs, which has caused residents to file 2 lawsuits against the city. The residents voted, twice, to set the limit of 5 stories max. on the “Old City Hall” site. The mayor/commissioners are floating 8-10 stories. You OK with that?
Commissioner Mitchell has shown a desire to “help these poor kids” receive a good education. She wants the school located in the North End. Now would be a good time to mention the poor kids in the North End, the majority are black children. Please take the time to read two stories previously written on this site. “WPB slow to keep school children safe“, and “Holiday’s not so happy for all WPB residents.” Every taxpayer dollar placed into Charter Schools is taken from public schools. In my opinion this is not to educate children, but to help fill the treasury. The governing body of WPB has failed to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and are not fiscally responsible, and this latest project will fail because of the inept administration who put themselves in charge to run it. You OK with that?
They Won’t Stay Gone.
It appears once again the residents lose due to the irresponsible running of the city by Mayor Muoio.
It’s a shame that Claudia McKenna’s services to the city, was so unreliable that the city commission hired their own attorney, again at taxpayer’s expense, to give them advice, on an as needed basis because they didn’t trust the advice they received from the City Attorney.
Claudia McKenna’s contract with the mayor is not in the best interest of tax payers and any public money spent by elected officials is supposedly for the benefit, and best interest of residents. Every failure of the city for the last twelve years or so has happened under Ms McKenna’s legal watch.
Ms. McKenna should have advised the city about Digital Domain with all of the evidence of failure available on any computer search engine. Google would have told the story of John Textor and Digital Domain, and saved the taxpayers well in excess of 2 million dollars.
Ms McKenna sat on that dais as the mayor and commission violated the First Amendment rights of public speakers, by turning off the microphones, having residents removed by the police, commissioners voting to remove residents from public meeting, and the mayor even threatening residents with arrest, simply for mentioning a commissioner by name, without Ms. McKenna once intervening.
Ms McKenna advised the city commission that it was proper to refund $7,325.00 to Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell for her abuse of power in her Comcast issue. The Office of Inspector General, which investigated the issue, and found it to be improper. On Sept. 27,2013 the OIG wrote their 4 page letter to the Mayor, and outlined their reason for their finding, with a recommendation 1: “The city commission should be re-presented with all of the facts in order to make a determination as to whether or not the reimbursement of legal fees totaling $7,325.00 to Ms. Mitchell met the legal standard.” 2: “If the city commission determines that the legal standard for reimbursement was not met, the City should move to recoup those funds” Mayor Muoio’s response was one line We will take it under advisement. To hear more on this issue, please read the story found on this web-site titled “WPB Officials Disrespect OIG” Hear City Attorney Claudia McKenna, challenge the OIG, and spend over 42 minutes saying absolutely nothing over and over again. Also take the time to listen to Commissioner Keith James, who is up for reelection in March 2015. He feels he owe’s no one an explanation, including the OIG. All 4 commissioners, Robinson, Moffett, James, and Materio, said they voted for reimbursement because they were following City Attorney McKenna’s advice. Listen to them and judge for yourself.
City Attorney Claudia McKenna led the charge against the OIG in a lawsuit, in my opinion to cripple Ms. Steckler’s budget and halt investigations. The lawsuit is still ongoing, but maybe with Claudia McKenna’s supposed retirement things will change now that there’s a new sheriff in town.
Ms. McKenna’s duty was to advise city officials and protect the city from liability and in my opinion, she was derelict in her duties as a city attorney. What benefit does the public receive from paying Claudia McKenna $4,800 per month? I see no bebefit at all.
HUD asking city to return $1.3 Million.
The Mayor of WPB has guided the city back into the limelight with a story in the PB Post with headlines that read “City on hook for HUD’s $1.3 million” Read the story HERE.
Once again Mayor Muoio has let down the residents she say she’s committed to helping, who are among the folks most in need of help, with her irresponsible leadership, placing people in management positions who constantly “drop the ball” and for reasons known only to Mayor Muoio continue to leave them in their position to do further harm to the city and it’s residents, with no consequences.
The WPB HCD (Housing and Community Development) have had eight full or part time directors in eight years, who have lasted approximately one year. The city constantly had major problems with HUD and this is just one more repeat of the problem, with HUD asking for repayment of funds the city neglected to spend on poorer neighborhoods. If the money wasn’t spent where intended, where was it spent?
With a recommendation from Deputy City Administrator Dorritt Miller, who oversees the HCD dept; suggested the mayor hire an outside firm named Community Redevelopment Associates, and they were given a three year contract with option for two more. The mayor fired them after two years, and my bet is on another lawsuit for Breach of Contract. The city is now nine for nine, managers and years worked.
Dorritt Miller, Deputy City Administrator, is the person the managers of HCD reports too, and Ms. Miller reports to the Mayor. With that said, why are managers resigning or being fired after one year of service, and Ms. Miller remain’s at her post. Soon there will be a number ten, and before they are even hired bet’s are being taken on how long they will last.
The PB Post in the last paragraph of the story reads “It’s not entirely clear whether the city will have until mid-June or early July to make its final arguments. Although the letter notifying the city of its 30-day window to respond is dated May 19, it was not received by the deputy city administrator until late last Friday.” Why didn’t the Post identify Dorritt Miller as the deputy city administrator, and is it possible the letter was received on May 20 or 21 but wasn’t stamped by the city until May 30. After all the city is notorious for changing dates on documentation.
I addressed the problem of Ms. Miller at the May 27,2014 City Commission meeting and mentioned if Ms. Miller wasn’t bringing these problems to the mayors attention, in my opinion, she should be replaced. If she is bringing them to the mayors attention, and Mayor Muoio does nothing about the situation, until the PB Post writes a story, then the mayor should be replaced.