2005 KeyNoter Editorial – Lesson Learned?

Posted on May 19, 2016 by M_Blank

lobbying-161689__340I’ve been searching around in Jeb Bush’s recently released emails.  There’s a lot of fascinating stuff about the Florida Keys sewer projects.  During Bush’s term as governor, the Keys were in turmoil over who would control the sewer projects.

In 2005, then Rep. Ken Sorensen introduced a bill calling for an elected board for the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority (FKAA).  The bill made it through the House and the Senate before being vetoed by Gov. Bush.

I moved to the Keys in 2004, and began working for the Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District (District) in 2005.  The District had been formed a few years before by joint action of the FKAA and the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).  It’s hard to believe sometimes given the county’s more recent actions, but it’s true.  Here are the documents to prove it.  Years later, the county would use the formation of the District as an excuse to short-change Key Largo taxpayers on wastewater funding.  That’s pretty messed up, isn’t it? Continue reading →

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District, Village Personnel Shake-ups

Posted on May 18, 2016 by M_Blank

beach-16698__180Update #2:  I’m told that Castle actually will not be acting as Operations Manager.  That position will not be filled.  Castle will act as a “technical advisor”.  Interesting.

Update:  Received image of newspaper article.  Link to image is provided.

I scanned over the Free Press this morning – a weekly habit.  There were two items of interest.

Adams out as sewer plant manager.  Let me start by saying that Adams was not the “sewer plant manager”.  He was the Operations Manager.  He didn’t just run the sewer plant.  He also ran the collection system, and all the technical support activities needed to keep it all running smoothly, including asset management, maintenance, etc.  And also coordinating administrative support activities involving operations – financial, purchasing, personnel, customer service, etc.

It looks like the sewer board is replacing Adams with long-time consulting engineer, Weiler Engineering.  That is a smart move.  Ed Castle will be the individual from Weiler stepping into that role.  Castle was involved in the design and construction of the plant and the collection system.  He knows exactly how it’s supposed to work.  He knows what to look for when it comes to emerging problems.  He’s not only a licensed Professional Engineer, he is also a licensed wastewater treatment plant operator.   Continue reading →

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The “Gang of Three” Vindicated by Reality?

Posted on May 17, 2016 by M_Blank
david rice campaign poster

David Rice campaign poster.

There was a comment on an article over at the Blue Paper that referenced the “Gang of Three”.  Hoo boy.  Do not get me started!

Too late.  I’m started.

If you really want to be accurate about it, there were two “Gangs of Three”.  There’s the Spehar/McCoy/Nelson (later Di Gennaro) gang and there’s the Neugent/Rice/FKAA gang.  It’s no accident that the communities who broke free from the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority (FKAA) to do their own sewer projects, were financially punished by the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).

Well, if I really want to be 100% accurate about it, having the FKAA do your sewer project is its own form of punishment – as the folks in Cudjoe Regional have discovered the hard way.    It’s less financial punishment and more other types of punishment.  You know what I bet its like?   I bet its like being stuck in a job with a horrible boss.  Or having a creepy, incompetent plumber in your house that refuses to leave.  Or maybe some combination of the two.  Shudder. Continue reading →

Posted in Bubba System, Conflict of Interest, Wastewater | Leave a comment

The “Super-Lobbyist”

Posted on May 17, 2016 by M_Blank
profit-1139073__340

Oh don’t bother reading it.  Just sign on the bottom line.  It’ll all work out, I promise.

Once in a while, I’ll draft a post and then I don’t publish it right away because the timing isn’t so great.  The story of the “super-lobbyist” falls into that category.  I thought it best to wait until after the veto period ended before publishing this one.

I think we’re all aware of the sleaze and skeeze in politics, especially Florida politics  and more especially Keys politics.  Perhaps not on a detailed nuts-and-bolts level, but we know it goes on.  We see situations that just don’t look right.

We know this is damaging.  And we know it is costly.  In most cases, it’s impossible to put a real price tag on it.  But when it comes to the Keys wastewater projects, we know it has cost Key Largo taxpayers $26 million. Continue reading →

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Carruthers and Single Member Districts

Posted on May 14, 2016 by M_Blank
carruthers campaign poster

Good campaign poster, right?

I wasn’t going to post about this because I already discussed Murphy’s very similar comments here.  But dammit, I just can’t help myself.  Carruthers wrote a letter regarding single-member districts.  She opposes them, of course.

The letter epitomizes the empty, dishonest rhetoric habitually spouted by the county commissioners and certain upper level staff.  It’s full of the same baseless, self-congratulatory, ego-inflating garbage contained in most county documents.  Every single communication is like a promotional brochure for a sleazy pyramid scheme.

I’m going to re-print Carruthers’s letter here and take it apart piece by piece.  I expect the same arguments to be repeated over and over again.  As baseless as those arguments may be they become “conventional wisdom” if not vigorously, immediately and repeatedly challenged. Continue reading →

Posted in Bubba System, Single-member Districts | 2 Comments

SMART Districts in the news

Posted on May 13, 2016 by M_Blank
Sylvia Murphy Campaign Poster

Murphy’s campaign slogan.

Update:  Carruthers is very worried about single-member districts.  Here’s her letter in the Blue Paper.  (I couldn’t help but comment.)  It’s a repeat of Sylvia’s bogus arguments.  Have you noticed that the only people who vocally oppose single-member districts so far are the county commissioners?  Interesting that.  

There’s a very good article about SMART Districts on KeysNews.com today.  Currently county commissioners are elected at-large, that is by voters county-wide.  The SMART Districts PAC is proposing that commissioners be elected by voters within their own districts.

PAC member, John Millhiser, had this to say.

The current system prevents voters from electing commissioners who best represent their individual district, according to Millhiser.

This is so very true.  Carruthers Emergency Services Surtax (ESS) proposal is one very recent example.  This proposal would have been damaging for working folks Keys-wide, but especially in the Key West area with its high proportion of renters.  Would Carruthers have even considered such a proposal if she were directly accountable to the voters in her district?  The fact that she proposed this in an election year just demonstrates how secure she is in pursuing policies that hurt the majority of her own constituents. Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Elections, Single-member Districts | 3 Comments

Jeb Bush Emails In Searchable Database

Posted on May 12, 2016 by M_Blank

I think I mentioned this earlier as part of another post, but I think it needs its own spot.

Jeb Bush’s emails from his time as Florida’s governor have been made public.  The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR) put them into a searchable database.  It’s fascinating stuff if you’re into that sort of thing.  There’s lots about the Florida Keys sewer projects.

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County and FKAA – Off the Rails

Posted on May 12, 2016 by M_Blank

train wreckUpdate:  I had a chance to review the complaint.  There is no gravity adjacent to the properties.  Post has been corrected accordingly.

Note:  I was actually coming back to edit this post.  On re-reading it, I thought it was too “ranty”.  It turns out that it had already gotten a lot of hits (by Real Poop standards) so I’ll leave it be.  I was extremely annoyed by the attitude and this was my immediate reaction.  Monroe County government at work.  Ugh.

I saw this item on KeysNews.com this morning.  It’s really not funny at all for the property owners involved, but the “partnership’s” reaction made me laugh/cry/vomit.  The “partnership”, of course, is Monroe County and the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority (FKAA).  The two most bubba-tastic government entities on the face of the planet.  (Other folks might throw Key West in there, too.  I won’t argue.)

The “partnership” characterizes the suit as being “frivolous and without merit”.

I don’t know the particulars of this specific case, but I do know that the “partnership” has not been open and honest in their dealings with the public.  The fact that this lawsuit was filed at all, along with the many that came before it, is a reflection of the “partnership’s” mishandling of the sewer projects in general, and the Cudjoe Regional project in particular.  The public is justifiably angry.  Whether this lawsuit succeeds or fails will not change these indisputable truths.  Even if the “partnership” wins, they’ve already lost. Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Cudjoe Regional, FKAA, Wastewater | 2 Comments

Stock Island Grand Jury Report

Posted on May 11, 2016 by M_Blank

lobbying-161689__340Updated to include one very critical piece of information. Jeb Bush made public his emails from his time as governor.  The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR) put them into a searchable database.  There’s lots of stuff about the Keys.  Reading through it reminded me of something.  Comm. Rice’s wife, Mary Rice, served on the FKAA board at around the time of the grand jury report.  It stands to reason that this would have impaired Rice’s ability to act impartially.

End of update.

Cudjoe Regional, of course, isn’t the only county sewer project to go horribly wrong.  Long before Cudjoe Regional, there was Stock Island.  Strangely enough, the modestly priced Stock Island project drew the attention of the State Attorney’s Office.  And not in a good way.  A grand jury report found the county’s handling of the project to be negligent.  Comm. Neugent and Comm. Rice were among those calling for a grand jury investigation of the project. Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Bubba System, Financial Condition, FKAA, Monroe County, Wastewater | Leave a comment

“Wacky” Cudjoe Regional

Posted on May 9, 2016 by M_Blank
wacky captain kirk

This is what my face looks like when “wacky” lands in my inbox.

This presentation by a Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority (FKAA) staffer fell into my hands.  This was actually shown to a room full of utility professionals at the January South Florida Utility Council (SFLUC) meeting.  It’s a truly amazing document in a lot of ways.

For one thing, it’s a tacit admission of the obvious.  The Cudjoe Regional wastewater project is a failure on many levels.  It costs way too much.  It was poorly handled from a public relations perspective which resulted in a multitude of lawsuits and unhappy customers.  I’m astounded to see someone from the FKAA actually come right out and say so.  If someone from the county actually admitted it, too, I’d probably die of shock.  I don’t think that’ll ever happen though.  The county is too committed to living in an alternate reality. Continue reading →

Posted in Cudjoe Regional, FKAA, Wastewater | Leave a comment