I am publishing Warren Winshesters letter dated Thursday Feb 24 that he sent to Tammy Vock, City Clerk and Ed Bierschenk for her to pass on to all members of the council.  Too bad we are not getting any of this information in the Press Journal. BG

—– Original Message —–;

From: WINCHESTER, WARREN

To: Vock, Tammy

Cc: ed.bierschenk@scripps.com

Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 5:30 PM

Subject: re: Letter of Council member Turner re Boards and commissions

Please distribute to all council members, along Ms. Turner’s letter, if it was not previously copied to them.

In response to Ms. Turner’s letter of 2/18/2011, and the Clerk’s letter of the same date, I seriously doubt that a majority of the Council approved the tone of the Clerk’s letter, and it is not the sort of letter Ms. Vock would send without direction.  It says without saying, that effective April 5, council intends to fire  all members of the Utility Board, planning and Zoning Board and Finance Commission. I’ll sure miss the pay!

 I recognize that workshops have been held. The first was immediately before Christmas and the 2/1/2011 was after a long and extensive Council Meeting, that was not of a time certain. Too much of this appears to be taking place behind closed doors, with ZERO public input, and in a manner which permits Council to control all appointments, and with the full possibility of directing the output of the theoretically independent boards.

 Single council members should not be making changes to any ordinance unless publicly distributed to the press and approved by a majority of the Council. There is no indication that any of Ms. Turner’s memos on Chapter 2 changes went to other council members before the 2/1/11 meeting, or they ever discussed her latest revisions of Chapter 2. unless 3 members approved these changes which occurred after the latest workshop, simply placing them in the back up material for an 11 page ordinance, which impacts every volunteer in the City, is wrong. In addition, she is bypassing the responsible charter officer and directing subordinates, which is presumptuous to say the least.

 I repeat that:

 -having individual council members appoint members to boards is purely political and dangerous. If you owe your seat to the sponsorship of a single person, then decision making is compromised.

- because terms of council members are two years, with 3/2 rotation, the boards theoretically, would have to be reconstituted every year, just as council is. that means little permanency, and no “corporate memory. I question whether an appointee could legally serve after a council member’s term ended, even if that member won re-election, without being re-appointed.

-politicizing the boards has no public benefit. it only gives power to individual council members, over and above what the charter permits. Our planning and Zoning and Utility Boards are the best examples of why all boards need to serve at the will of a majority of council, and for extended periods.

-most grievous is the Clerk’s memo/letter of 18 February, which in effect tells all commission and board members, their terms are going to end sometime “soon”, at an unspecified date. This presumes that you are going to change the ordinance, which doesn’t even get a final public hearing until 4/5.

-directly appointing members of the P&Z would permit 3 council members to control, and with subterfuge, direct P&Z decisions. I would point out that Vero Beach today, is the result of dedicated volunteers who could not be compromised and were beholden to no elected official. They have served at the will of a majority of several councils, and with longevity. The same is true of other boards.Your plans would change all that. That does not mean that normal end of term changes should not be made, just that every one serving should have the support of a majority of the council.

-finally, a “thank you” from Ms. Vock, though appreciated, rather than from the mayor, is in poor taste and inappropriate. While I appreciate Ms. Vock and have known her for over 25 years, she is not a person who would behave so carelessly. she is a lady of integrity, class and style and should never have been used in this manner. Asking her to send out such a memo is simply crass.

 -likewise, accusing staff of undermining council when it is obvious most of you are not familiar with the charter or the legislative process, is totally unprofessional behavior.

 -these actions are not about good public service or transparency, they are about power and control.

Volunteers currently work only for the council as a majority body. such a memo should at a minimum, have the signature of the mayor, and then only after at least 3 members have approved the action. Passing around changes out of the public view, and changing a draft after a workshop, does not meet the issues of transparency which were promised. such non-transparent actions and secrecy could just as easily be used to circumvent the Sunshine statute, and may already have. 

I thank you all for listening, and my hope is that you will at least make a majority decision before firing all your volunteers. You will likely not have a Utility or P&Z after the implementation of this action. Once again, as in the case of totally botched termination of mr. Vitunac, council takes action without thinking, without adequate legal advice, and without the simple graces of leadership by example. In the same meeting you decided to terminate mr. Vitunac, you praised the advantages of written performance evaluations. You had a perfect opportunity to place him on written probation, bring him back in 6 months, and then take action in a manner that did not embarrass you or add costs to the taxpayer. You flunked leadership #101!

It goes without saying, the City does not have the financial ability to hire expertise members of the Utility Board bring to us at no cost. Nor can you replicate the history and corporate memory of the P&Z. Everyone thinks they are financial experts so that should not be a problem. What you should do with all new members is to insist that they sit through the Budget workshops in July. You should remember also, that despite some people’s ideas that government should be “run like a business”, government exists as a collective body to provide services which Business can’t. Some parts of public business should be treated as “business”, like selling the Power system which has been totally mishandled. it is a travesty that you spend all your time in firing people, yet you’ve not had the first workshop to sort out your options or to define what you want to sell. This is the most important issue you will face and so far, you’ve given FPL all the advantage.

Thank you for reading. I’d pleased to talk to anyone who disagrees with my perspective.

Warren W.

Correspondence from Warren Winchester