Good for the Gander – Good for the Goose
from: Ted Noftall
Hank and Pat,
In an earlier e-mail I protested mightily about the Manager’s office pimping for promoters by arranging secret meetings where
The whole expectation of such meetings is to reach a consensus in private and do a show presentation for the public at a later date.
I objected to secret meetings in the case of Riverwalk and I object no less now in the case of the YMCA .
If the YMCA has something they wish to pitch to Council representatives, those representatives should absolutely listen to that pitch – in public, take comments from the public, and then make their decision in public.
Council needs to be better than this. They need to tell the Manager he is wasting his time arranging secret meetings as they have no intention of attending such meetings because of their commitment to
The bedrock premises of Sunshine regarding the decisions of elected reps — which is, the public in an open meeting, shall be able to see when decisions are made, AND how those decisions are made.
Ted
From: Rivera, Cynthia [mailto:CRivera@port-orange.
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 4:45 PM
To: City Council
Cc: Kisela, Greg
Subject: Meeting with YMCA – Teresa Rogers
Mayor and Council:
Teresa Rogers with the YMCA would like to meet with each of you next week. She is available the following dates/times. Please let me know if the following schedule would work for you.
Tuesday, July 30
9:30 a.m. Drew Bastian
10:30 a.m. Don Burnette
Thursday, August 1
2 p.m. Bob Ford
3 p.m. Mayor Green
4 p.m. Dennis Kennedy
Cindy Rivera
Executive Assistant to the City Manager
From: Ted Noftall [mailto:Ted@TedNoftall.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 9:59 AM
To: ‘Pat Nelan’
Cc: ‘Kisela, Greg’; ‘Ben Talluto’; suzblonz@aol.com; ‘Hank Springer’; Bob Ford; Dennis Kennedy; don@amlsfl.com; Drew Bastian; Mayor Green
Subject: PIMPIMG FOR PROMOTERS
Pat,
You are not missing a darn thing. These by invitation only meetings are violation of the spirit of Sunshine and they need to stop now.
It was bad enough when the former Manager was arranging private meetings between Council and the Riverwalk Promoter at City Hall, but our new Manager is now doing so at the Promoters offices. If that location is acceptable is his private yacht acceptable also ??
If the Riverwalk Promoter has something he wishes to pitch to the Council representatives and CRA members they should absolutely listen to that pitch – in public, take comments from the public, and then make their decision in public.
The bedrock premises of Sunshine regarding the decisions of elected reps is that, the public in an open meeting, shall be able to see when decisions are made, AND how those decisions are made.
In this instance we are childishly expected to believe that the Manager has arranged 7 separate meetings with the Promoter during which no decisions are going to be elicited, AND no information on which decisions could be based is going to be shared. This is such bullshit.
The whole expectation of these meetings is to reach a consensus in private and do a show presentation for the public at a later date.
Because the Mayor is conflicted out with this Promoter any vote to proceed with anything will have to be made on a 3-1 basis. It may be reasonably assumed that Councilman Burnette will support the Promoter, and that Councilman Kennedy will support anything the Mayor really wants. But that is only 2 votes…… meaning either Councilman Ford or Bastain will need to sign on for this taxpayer rape to be consummated.
Councilman Ford has made principled decisions in the past and it is time for him to make another one, AND that is he will no longer violate the spirit of our Sunshine laws by attending private meetings where the city administration is PIMPING for a particular Developer or Promoter.
Ted Noftall
—–Original Message—–
From: port.orange.us@gmail.com [mailto:port.orange.us@gmail.
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 8:45 AM
To: Ted Noftall; Henry Springer
Subject: Sunshine Law
Ted;
Am I missing something here or is this just a legal way to circumvent the Florida Sunshine Law?
They use to call it “Smoked Filled Back Rooms” Do they now just call it ” Schedules” ?
Good morning Cindy,
Schedule look fine.
Thanks
Chris chris@ lacour andcompany.com
From: Rivera, Cynthia [mailto:CRivera@port-orange.
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2013 5:56 PM
To: City Council; Ben Talluto (tallutob3@bellsouth.net); suzblonz@aol.com
Cc: chris@lacourandcompany.com; Kisela, Greg
Subject: Meetings with LaCour
I have the following schedule set up for next week. If the dates/times are not acceptable, please let me know.
Wednesday, July 17
Time Name Location
9:00 a.m. Ben Talluto LaCour Office – 220 Charles Street
10:00 a.m. Mayor Green LaCour Office – 220 Charles Street
11:00 a.m. Suzette Blahnik LaCour Office – 220 Charles Street
12:00 p.m. Bob Ford LaCour Office – 220 Charles Street
Thursday, July 18
Time Name Location
1:00 p.m. Drew Bastian City Manager’s Conference Room
2:00 p.m. Don Burnette City Manager’s Conference Room
4:00 p.m. Dennis Kennedy City Manager’s Conference Room
Thank you,
Cindy
Cindy Rivera
Executive Assistant to the City Manager