Confidence in Council Competency …… Should The People Have Any ?

Good afternoon Council,
Do each of you have a good understanding of what the City Attorney and City Manager do all day ??   You should, because as elected Councilmen you are charged with the direct supervision of each of these individuals.
If you have such an understanding would you please explain how the YMCA  RFP was released in complete contravention of Florida Statute 287.055 ??
In any  explanation  so you will need to answer  — if the City Attorney:

• *   is required to review all RFP’s over a certain amount such as this one estimated at $1.3 million before they are issued

• *   performed a review of the YMCA  RFP  before it was issued

• *   shared any advice on this RFP with the Manager, and what was that advice .

• *   is required to share her advice with Council

Over the past year you have each captured some good one line-ers regarding the need for competency so confidence can be regained.
Let me re-direct those one lin-ers and ask:
Should  the people have any confidence in your competency when it comes to supervising the Manager and the Attorney ??. 
AND
Has your competency  improved from a year ago when neither of you  [  Drew excepted as he  had not yet  been elected ]  had  a clue that your former Manager with the aid of the City Attorney was arranging  a hush hush sweetheart retirement agreement with the disgraced Finance Director??.   [An agreement which you have all professed you would have opposed had you been aware of it before the fact.]
In light of the YMCA  RFP debacle  the answer is likely a resounding NO to both questions.
Council  needs to conduct a thorough inquiry as to what happened with this RFP and answer once and for all if corners are being cut through non-compliant RFP’s  and incomplete Pro-Forma’s  in an effort to cram and jam this project.
Council also need to enact immediate reforms within the City Attorney’s and require that:

• *  the attorney and her staff be required to account for their time utilizing commonly available billing software.

• *  clear lines of communication be established disclosing that all legal advice shared with the Manager also be shared with Council.

I realize this is difficult for some of you  but you all need to come to realize that needed reform and inquiry,  must come from Council.   It is simply not good enough to say to Margaret or Greg …..” you need to do better, or be less secretive, or do a better job reporting “
 
Ted Noftall

From: Ted Noftall [mailto:Ted@TedNoftall.com]
Sent: Friday, November 01, 2013 10:18 AM
To: ‘Kisela, Greg’; Margaret Roberts (mroberts@port-orange.org)
Cc: Bob Ford (rford37@cfl.rr.com); Dennis Kennedy (dkennedy@port-orange.org); don@amlsfl.com; Drew Bastian (db2070@cfl.rr.com)
Subject: Full Cost Accounting for YMCA RFQ
Good morning Greg, and thank you for taking the time to answer my questions as you have.
The last thing I would request of you is a ‘full cost’  accounting of what this YMCA  RFP debacle has cost Port Orange taxpayers to date.
Please note I am requesting the ‘full cost’ and not just the  ‘variable costs’  of this RFP.   If full costs were required  for the goose last week  [when the Mayor told the Utilities engineer that he did not want to listen to his whining that the City would have had to find something for him to  do for 40 hours a week anyway,   and thus his time didn’t need to be charged to the clean-up/ monitoring costs for a particular contractor]     then full cost should be afforded the gander this week.
The City Attorney’s   review and legal opinion on an RFP  estimated to cost  $1.3 million taxpayer dollars  [ whose release in total non-compliance with  State Statute could have exposed the City to legal challenge and further ridicule,  and as it is has cost thousands in wasted expense]    is most un-clear  even after your attempts to clarify same in several e-mails now..
You should know that it is for that reason that I will be writing Council requesting that they conduct a thorough inquiry  of The City Attorney’s performance  to establish;
*  if a legal review of the YMCA  RFP was conducted prior to its release,
* the legal advice arising from that review if any,
* and  what action was taken upon that advice.
 
Ted Noftall