PB: Jan. 7, 2013 Council Meeting Quick Bites
by SDM
ReVolt
Despite a valiant effort by staff, the village council wisely heeded SDM and others by tabling the purchase of two Chevy Volts until more information could be gathered.
The odd part of the discussion came when staff explained that when charging stations were installed in the new village hall this circumstance apparently meant that the village policy would be to purchase electric vehicles. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.
SDM Says: Bravo council members. Thinking carefully before you act almost never results in harm.
The Beat Goes On
In less pleasant news, the council approved the contract for the Corradino Group. SDM says less pleasant because the discussion of the item bolstered the argument for granting the contract to Corradino despite the circumstances.
What surprised SDM was when Village Manager Ron Williams lavished praise on Mr. Corradino for his role in securing the grant funding for the Safe Routes to Schools program. According to Mr. Williams, the village apparently would not have received the grant had not Mr. Corradino spearheaded the grant application.
SDM Says: Next time village staff claims credit for securing grants, which they did often during the last budget cycle, some intrepid council member ought to inquire whether the staff had anything to do with getting the money.
Subscription Television
There were several notable comments made at last night’s meeting, which SDM intends to document in future posts. But the words of Communications Dude Bill Kress take the cake both for outrageousness and for how little impact they had on the council’s debate.
SDM didn’t note the precise moment Captain Kreepy made the comment so all SDM can post is a paraphrase. During his introduction CK said that he did some research on village cable tap channel WBAY’s viewership. He said WBAY had approximately 100 viewers. He went on to note that these hundred souls were more than could fit in the council chambers. No lie…he said it and SDM guffawed thinking the item had to be dead at that point.
But noooooo…
Vice Mayor Dubois announced that he was willing to invest in another year of WBAY programming regardless of the obvious fact that essentially NOBODY watches the channel.
Former President Ronald Reagan famously chided Congress in 1985 by noting that instead of building Metrorail it would have been cheaper to buy every rider a limousine.
Too bad the Vice Mayor didn’t apply Mr. Reagan’s simple mathematical formula to the funds budgeted for WBAY.
SDM Says: Palmetto Bay intends to spend about $1,000 per viewer on its self-aggrandizing cable channel, which is certainly enough to buy every viewer both a cable subscription and a new television.
Coming Attractions: Tune in later this week for SDM’s analysis of a very important and refreshing council debate on the role of government in Palmetto Bay.
Kindly clarify something for the uninitiated. I thought WBAY was the only way to watch council meetings live, or to review them later, a channel the Three Amigos resisted until the the bitter end, because they did not want their incompetence viewed in action, or preserved for posterity, If not, then what is WBAY’s purpose.
[SDM Note: Palmetto Bay streams live its meetings AND plays them live on WBAY, Channel 77, which is only carried by one cable network at this point. Replays of the meetings can be found on the village website.]
100 viewers? I wonder if that information is provided to all the potiential sponsors? Does anyone out there really believe that someone will invest in mitigating the costs of this ego station?
This writer watched at home last night as did you SDM and I was horrified by what I saw. My personal highlight or low light of the evening was watching our Parks Director give a outrageously poor presentation to the council about buying $65,000 in lawn maintenance equipment and another $50,000 or so in chemicals so that the Village could replace the vender who currently charging about $150,000 a year to maintain the ball fields. I have never heard of a complaint against the vendor nor do I know who it is.
The Parks Director read a poorly prepared speech about the benefits of buying the equipment and hiring new staff to maintain the ball fields and determined that it would be cheaper and better. Neither will be true. The presentation had left out many variables and facts and painted the idea as a money saving enterprise when instead it will cost the Village Tens of thousand more and we will get less.
I know a little about maintaining sports facilities and it takes a professional. The right amount of fertilizer, weed killer and water amongst many other chemicals will be used. Mowing a ball field is different then mowing your yard. The parks director says we are hiring 2 twelve dollar an hour guys to do this. First it will take those two guys and a much higher paid grounds keeper to do the job right. Second we now need to maintain the equipment, which will break regularly.and transport the equipment from park to park so we will need a trailer and truck to do this. This will be a fiasco. One year from now we will have dead and dying weed infested ball fields. I’m going to take pictures now to prove my point next year.
Bottom line is, we will pay more and get less. Forget about the Parks Director recommending this. Why did the Council approve it? One more mess the taxpayers will be paying for many years to come, thanks to our council.
Agreed.. at least DuBois had the smarts to vote no on this. The fact that Fiore and Schaffer didn’t follow suit is discouraging.
SDM how about creating a spread sheet for all council votes. On the left side two lines or less about the item. Then across the top put the names of the council members and SDM. Then record how each voted and how you would have voted. I would be interested in seeing where conflicts between council members occurs and get an independent outside opinion from SDM.
The Herald’s take:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/08/3173071/palmetto-bay-council-starts-2013.html
About every 3 months there is a new lawn service mowing at Coral Reef park, maybe Mr. Williams has hired & fired everyone willing to business with him and Palmetto Bay.