Port Orange City Council Q&A | News-JournalOnline.com
Port Orange City Council Q&A
Published: Monday, August 18, 2014 at 10:04 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, August 18, 2014 at 10:04 a.m.
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The candidates: The District 1 race features incumbent Bob Ford, a former Port Orange police chief who was elected in 2010; Sonya Laney, a CPA who serves on several city boards; and Jim Meadows, a businessman who served on the council from 1996 to 2000. The District 4 seat is up for grabs after Dennis Kennedy said he was taking a break from 
politics. The field includes four political newcomers: John Junco, owner of a construction company; Larry McKinney, the former president of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce who now runs his own business consulting firm; retired Port Orange police Lt. Scott Stiltner; and Newton White, a Publix employee and citizen activist.
NEWTON WHITE
The races: All council seats are elected citywide and are nonpartisan. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the two leaders will face off in the Nov. 4 general election. Council members serve four-year terms and are paid $13,600 annually.
Following the resignations of six department heads, including the city manager, what is needed to attract and keep quality leadership?
Ford: Recent resignations appear related directly (or indirectly) to recent failures in city fiscal controls. Hiring the right leadership will be the key to future success. Recruiting efforts should focus on finding a city manager and finance director with a proven track record demonstrating financial accountability.
Laney: Effective leadership is a top-down thing. Effective leaders not only set policy, they set tone. Effective leaders have high expectations matched by equally high levels of support for management. The City Council should perform as a board of directors and not interfere with management of the city.
Meadows: You need to have a good committee with diverse backgrounds to hire a good city manager. That gets you the leader who can then pull together a management team because they really have their finger on the pulse of the city. Department heads don’t need to be afraid to ask for money for projects that benefit the citizens.
Junco: The majority of these people left because of the disharmony between them and activists within our city. We need to maintain quality trained people within a positive working environment between our department heads and City Council. We need proper and continued training as well as trying to hire from within if they are qualified.
McKinney: Professionals, just like businesses, need stability and consistency in government in order to make the best decisions. Bad decisions have been compounded by secrecy, scapegoating and personal agendas of appointed and elected officials alike. In addition, the City of Port Orange has outgrown its systems and technical procedures and so we need the kind of employees with expertise to take us where we want to be, not where we are now.
Stiltner: The city must focus on hiring experienced leaders for vacant department head positions. We need leaders that will embrace a renewed focus on efficiency and accountability within their departments. All department heads within the city must have a commitment to providing a quality level of service for our residents while being conservative and responsible with the taxpayer dollars they are entrusted with.
White: I trust our dedicated and skilled staff is well capable of stepping up during our interim period. Moving forward, the city needs a dynamic manager that can build a team and make the changes to transition our administration and operations to modern efficient standards. The majority of council must stand to give clear direction rather than a discussion that is open to interpretation.
Should Riverwalk developers receive tax incentives to complete the development?
Read more via Port Orange City Council Q&A | News-JournalOnline.com.
I’m afraid that Mr Junco would be Dennis Kennedy version 2.0
Meadows: To avoid this you just need an oversight by the department heads. You need a paper trail that you can track. We need a team that works together to make sure the checks and balances are intact. And you need one person to be responsible for that team.
hank comments: Weren’t we there, did that and it did not work. department heads? team working together? one person responsible? That didn’t work for us. Meadows wants to return to the days of blissful ignorance. — hank springer
Ford and Stiltner will make a difference. I also like Newton White and believe him to be honest and transparent.
Newton “Skip” White is like a tomato, he needs to ripen up a bit – maybe in time for him.
What’s up with Mr. Ford? Let’s raise the salaries for administrators we have not even hired? What about the salaries of those who have held the City together despite the turnover in management and turmoil in policies and lack thereof. If we don’t invest in the bottom foundation the top will always crumble. The blue collar is the backbone of America. Think about it.
Why has Ford been flip flopping and slip sliding away lately? Maybe too many orange infused olive oil brownies or is he simply getting old and senile? Say what you mean and mean what you say, don’t say whatever is convenient depending which way the wind blows. Would anyone care for another orange olive oil infused brownie, and by the way, I just had another random contradictory thought that just crossed my mind I would like to share? LOL!
It is the orange infused olive oil brownies, they will do it to you. I have been intrigued by some of your earlier remarks in an earlier blog, what do you think Council should be focusing on. best,
You are so correct POE. Raising the salaries of the top administrators is an insult. The true issue is that the city should raise the salaries of the general employees. They are the ones cutting the grass, sweeping streets after parades, filling potholes and doing whatever it takes to run the city day to day. Many of the general employees have certifications that are equally as important as employees in other departments. Yet the general employees are treated as second class citizens in Port Orange. I hope the city wakes up and starts to show some parity and respect for the general employees. But, favors are expected when special interest groups support certain candidates. Citizens should beware of who they vote for. We need some change on that council.
Bob Pohlmann
By the way I agree with you on the need to address salary inequities among all Port Orange employees — since you are taking a shot at me, let me ask a respectful question…how come you didn’t do this the last couple of years while you were on Council? best, the other Bob
Mr. Ford,
Thank you for the clarification on your position.
Hello Mr. Ford. I was always supportive of the general employees and mentioned many times publicly, and in shade, the need to increase their salaries and institute some parity with other departments. I believe you do also. As you can tell, my biggest beef is with what I believe to be an attempt by the unions to get their people elected to council seats. I do not know their motives but I suspect with union contracts expiring, they may be asking council to approve contracts that will not be beneficial to the taxpayers. I wish livable wages for all employees with reasonable benefits. I believe generous benefits of the past have been curtailed and would hope new contracts follow that pattern. We can’t go back to the old 2002 and 2006 contracts. And yes, I did vote for the 2006 contract but times were much different then.
I am fine with fire and police unions supporting my opponent in 2012 as I would suspect. But when other unions also supported my opponent, that was tough for me to swallow, hence my disapproval of union supported candidates.
This would be a great opportunity for you to agree whether or not the current benefits should go back to the old levels of 3% yearly multiplier and retirement at 20 years of service with 60% of their salary for life? I suspect you know that was unreasonable.
Good luck to you and good health to you and your family.
Not sure which one of us is the other Bob
Bob Pohlmann
Bob,
Nice to hear from you. The math you have is a little off. There were 20 steps at 2.5 %. Sometimes a cola based on the March CPI. A $10.00 entry level would gain 50% in salary over 20 years. $15.00 or so at top out perhaps a little more with the compounding of the increases. The General Employees Union did not ask for a defined benefit program. It was simply offered to all General and Civil Service Employees by the City. Defined Benefit was not originated in a Union Contract. In fact it did not even appear in a Union Contract until the City needed to raise some money for the other pensions. They increased the employee mandatory contributions even though they were already significantly higher than the other pensions already. They lowered the multiplier for all and the benefits further reduced for new hires. Thankfully the pension is well funded. The pay steps were removed and that was the mistake. They have some adjustments to make. If not mistaken you felt our employees wages should have been in the top 3 in the County. We are in the bottom 3. The old recipe worked and made Port Orange a very desirable respected community. With this came elevated property values thus more income. Win Win Win. I hope they can figure it out. The level of service Port Orange offered made it what it was when at the top. Services cost money but the increased property values offset the investment in the care and safety of the citizens. I think the health of the pension plan speaks for itself. Nice to see the 2 Bobs’ in agreement on something.
It is a reference to a decision we made a year ago. The City Manager narrowed down the field to two candidates, one of the candidates, an engineer, had been quite successful in bringing improvements to a Florida Utility, the other candidate had been forced out from another utility after an investigation. I urged the City Manager to hire the successful engineer. The City Manager said but the Engineer wants more money than the other candidate. So, he hired the less expensive and somewhat troubled candidate. It was not a good decision, sometimes you get what you pay for. best,
If you hire an outside Utility Director, the only way you will get a good one is if the City Manager utilizes Public Utilities middle managers and senior technical staff to assist in the selection. In the past round Utilities staff also highly recommended the engineer candidate after conducting facility tours with him and also highly recommended against Jason Yarborough, Kisela rejected their advice and did what exactly what he wanted to and placed us in a deeper mess going forward.
Senior staff recommended technical and engineering assessments from the FRWA on the meter replacement program, reuse lakes, and 5531 compliance at the reuse plant. The CM was not interested in discussing it and simply went his own way and did exactly what he wanted. He has rejected every suggestion or attempt that qualified utility professionals within our organization tried to propose to holistically resolve problems, but instead set the city up for a future of catching a fallen knife. He now conveniently works for Destin and his assistant will conveniently work for Melbourne. I believe Mr. Woodman quite honestly and intelligently broke this down for anyone who is honestly interested in understanding the truth in laymen’s terms.
Hopefully Mr. Harden will be much wiser and not display abject disrespect and disdain for public utilities senior technical staff that have the institutional knowledge and competency to dig the city out of this mismanagement debacle going forward and start our citizens realizing millions of dollars of lost revenues that have been thrown away for many years now.
If there is no one internally that is deemed respectable or suitable by the manager or city council to fulfill the role of Utility Director, at the very least the council should insist that the permanent external selection is made by the city manager in conjunction with the participation and technical advisement of senior public utilities staff. If you are able to harvest an external candidate that knows the nuts & bolts of utilities, has good management skills, has good people skills, and above all is a person of character then the existing senior technical staff & middle management will be able to embrace that kind of leadership, and conversely that kind of leadership will have the wisdom to harvest the ideas, skills, and talent of our existing staff in order to dig us out of this hole permanently.
You make excellent sense, and that is the way all top administrative positions should be hired. I will recommend to the New City Manager that we involve senior staff in the vetting of candidates. best,
Right on Bob!
Ford was hot on the campaign trail at last nights meeting.
Everything he said was geared toward getting re elected. He covered a topic in every district.
Bob,
Thank you for your support and understanding. I hope everyone does their homework as well prior to voting. This is our chance if we want to change our direction going forward.
What scares the hell out of me is: at the last council meeting Mayor Green said out loud that a couple of good old boys had called him seeking the Utilities Director’s job. Was he having a senior moment or just trying to jerk us around?
Gary–I heard the same thing and it scared the hell out of me too. Is the mayor already negotiating with a new PU director? How did the rest of Council let this slide? Seems like the mayor has already taken the lead in the selection process and the rest of Council is shuffling obediently along behind. The mayor also said that the people he talked to wanted to know if “we are in control of the City” because they “have some concerns.” Who is “we?” The Council’s “we?” The Mayor’s “we?” The Royal “we?”
Mike Gardner
618 Ruth St
Port Orange, FL 32127
386-527-1959
manddgardner@cfl.rr.com
I guess the mayor is looking for someone as public utilities director that he can personally control that is literally willing to turn a blind eye to the reality of all the half assed solutions and unsolved problems in public utilities and is committed to not digging up any of the” DIRT” metaphorically speaking.
Do you mean someone that will work towards restoring upper management to a we are family mentality of the old days, that works hard at shutting the activists down, keeping internal employees from communicating malfeasance & misfeasance to the citizens & council, not listening to technical staff but instead throwing millions of dollars worth of poorly thought out projects to consulting engineers & contractors, hiding these mishaps effectively & insulating management & the city politic from accountability, and effectively shutting down open and transparent governance?
That sounds like exactly what the mayor and his remaining management team need. Do you think we should all support the mayor in his crony search and selection process? If you support the mayor in this endeavor than in respect to him saying that the people he talked to wanted to know if “we are in control of the City” because they “have some concerns, we need to prepare the way for his crony and make sure open and transparent government and activists are shut down so that Green’s new selection doesn’t have to fear any potential accountability issues.
Is this what we want going forward? Do we want a return to the ignorant bliss of the ostrich mentality? Not if anybody with any character left has anything to say about it!
right on jacko!
“We Are Family!” theme for one years port orange family days business bonazza. – – hank springer
He is too far gone to realize that even if joking, this is not the time for his humor.
Outside hires may be best for many of the vacancies.
Mayor Green is out of line considering our form of government and it is the council’s fiduciary responsibility to their constituency to neuter him.
Mayoral Powers
Mayors are bestowed varying degrees of responsibility and authority across the nation, especially depending on a city’s form of government.
These responsibilities may include:
•Serving on the city council;
•Voting in council meetings;
•Assigning council members to chair or serve on committees;
•Appointing citizens to serve on advisory boards or commissions;
•Preparing the annual budget; Receiving the annual budget developed by chief administrative official or city manager; and
•Making an annual report to the council.
Weak or Strong Mayors
Cities in the United States are sometimes characterized as having either “strong” or “weak” mayors. The term is not a judgement of effectiveness, rather it distinguishes the level of political power and administrative authority assigned to the mayor in the municipal charter. In practice, there is no sharp category that distinguishes between “weak” and “strong” mayors, but rather a continuum of authority and power along which cities are spread. However, the designation of “weak” and “strong” are useful in showing the variations in mayoral authority that exist.
Most “strong” mayors are in the mayor-council form of government, and are directly elected by citizens to that office. Most “weak” mayors are mayors in a council-manager form, and are elected from within the city council.
Characteristics of a “strong” mayor:
•The mayor is the chief executive officer, centralizing executive power.
•The mayor directs the administrative structure, appointing and removing of department heads.
•While the council has legislative power, the mayor has veto power.
•The council does not oversee daily operations.
Characteristics of a “weak” mayor:
•The council is powerful, with both legislative and executive authority.
•The mayor is not truly the chief executive, with limited power or no veto power.
•The council can prevent the mayor from effectively supervising city administration.
•There may be many administrative boards and commissions that operate independently from the city government.
Thankfully, he does not have veto power nor the power to appoint department heads.
I shudder to even think of that in Mayor Green.
Hopefully peer pressure from the City Council will reign him in (eventually) He has two years remaining and virtually nope hope of reelection should he even consider such.
At that point in time (two years down the road) we will likely be faced with Mr. Burnette aggressively seeking the position. Thus he will want Green’s endorsement and will kiss his ass for the next two years.
King Green should stay entirely out of the hiring process. We have an interim C/M with 23 years of experience under his belt. I think he can handle it without King Greens input.
Quite correct Margaret, but as you know he does feel he wears the Royal Crown and has complete control. In reality, he is one vote of five. With that said it is the duty of the other four council members to reign him in.
He is getting so senile or a lack of formal education that he cannot even conduct a meeting properly, pronounce names correctly nor treat constituents with ANY respect.
He thinks he wears the royal crown but in reality he is a royal anus portus.
I think we need to do an FOI and obtain a copy of the city manager’s and mayor’s charter of rights , responsibilities, and powers. I am sure people like Hank Springer, Ted Noftall, and Mike Gardener are capable of meticulously interpreting this charter of rights and powers.
Once this is done, in conjunction with honest employees that know all the inside corruption that is transpiring and the usurpation of authority that the mayor is perpetrating within day to day operations, we should insist that the other members of the city council intervene in behalf of their constituency and oppose the mayors meddling in the affairs of the day to day management of the city. This is if their are members of the council that are not complicit in all this!
The mayor has accused certain members of the council and citizen activists of interfering in the day to day operation of the city because of their support of open and transparent government, but the mayor is the only elected city official that orchestrates control over day to day operations via entrenched cronies and team players within the organization. These are not neccesarrilly competent employees that are trying to educate the honest councilmembers and activists about the organizational malfeasance and misfeasance that exists within the city. These are self entitled coconspirators with the vicars of obfuscation and special interests who have cut themselves sweet deals by being Allen Green team players.
Once we fully understand the city charters powers and identify that the mayor does not abide by them, activists need to clearly identify this to council members and demand that they put an end to this. The employee associations should be made fully aware of any abuses of power so they can also exert their power to put an end to it. Everyone knows about what is going on in Texas right now with governor Perry and we do not want any abuse of power that the citizens elect to give our public officials and legal fiduciaries in Port Orange to mirror that abuse of power.
Political abuse occurs when politicians subvert the political process for the purpose of self-aggrandizement. This form of abuse may include political repression that subjugates the populace, enslaving citizens through unjust economic exploitation, or seizing property from citizens under authoritarian powers of the state. Political abuse often involves the unethical or illegal granting of favors to reward political supporters. Conversely, when directed against citizens, this form of abuse may also result in the repression of political opposition. Political abuse likely occurs in all countries, with influence peddling endemic to almost all societies.
Corrupt politicians engage in a variety of politically abusive behaviors in nations around the world. Influence peddling is one of the most common forms of political abuse, and typically involves a politician agreeing to support or oppose legislation in exchange for receiving favors that violate ethics laws. Another form of political abuse may occur when a political leader levies various sanctions against opponents. This may involve exclusion from certain types of employment, being excluded from college admission, or being publicly vilified as an enemy of the state.
This may involve exclusion from certain types of employment, being excluded from college admission, or being publicly vilified as an enemy of the state.
This sort of sounds like what Burnette did to Ted Noftall with mayor Green’s support.
Government Abuse of Power At All Levels of Government In America Is Widespread and Expanding
February 5, 2011
The self-correcting features built into our constitutions (separation of powers, checks and balances, etc.) have long ago been circumvented or ignored. Many government officials now frivolously disregard any legal limitations on their power, since as long as anybody remembers they have been able to do so with impunity. The courts are supposed to enforce constitutions, but judges and justices are employed by the same entities as legislators and other officials, and thus are driven by similar incentives and generally have similar mindsets. There currently is no process capable of peacefully reining in government abuse.
The only way the trend toward expanding tyranny can be reversed and our lost liberties restored is through the restoration of accountability in government. To accomplish this goal, we must replace the current incentive structure with one that rewards performance by government employees consistent with peaceful private interests.
Unlike the Business Times that thinks citizen committees are the route to take, a better route is to establish law firms to sue the state as the AG’s office whose job is supposed to protect the citizens of the state from abuse including abuse from State employees more often then not defend the State employee even when the State employee is acting outside their authority and the citizens of the state are left footing the bill not only for the employee’s salary and benefits, but for their abusive bad behavior.
Everyone might be entitled to a defense, but not everyone should be entitled to a defense paid for with taxpayer monies. Want to cut down government abuse . . . do what they do . . . send them a bill.
Read more: How to reduce government abuse of power | San Francisco Business Times
How to Report Local Government Abuse
Government needs oversight at all levels, and there are many organizations that can assist in making certain abuse is minimized. While we should be able to trust our elected and appointed representatives, sometimes abuse happens. From the ACLU to Freedom Forum to TaxWatch, there are multiple non-profits that will help root out corruption in government. In addition to non-profit groups, local media can be effective in reporting abuse within the government. Have a question? Get an answer from a lawyer now!
Instructions
1. Contact your local media to report the issue and hold government officials accountable. Television and newspapers are great resources for fact finding, as reporters are trained in getting answers. Carefully document the issue and verify the facts prior to contact.
2. Access public records via local laws and the Freedom of Information Act to obtain proof of suspected abuse. Many states have laws that allow citizens to obtain copies of documents including meeting minutes, budgets, travel records, expenditures and more.
3. Locate and contact political groups in your area. Often they will have means to rally media attention or legal support with evidence of abuse. You can check the Internet or local yellow pages under political action committees and locate the group most appropriate to help publicize the abuse.
Who’s watching the City Council watch us?
Who’s watching the City Council watch us?
We are seeing watchful eyes at both the Federal and State levels of government; however at the local levels of government the misuse or abuse of government is running unbridled. There are over 230 million personal computers in our country of over 300 million people. No newspaper has ever attained that kind of circulation. http://www.CityCouncilWatchdog.com allows that type of watchful eye.
For far too long we have allowed the local policy makers to determine how we live and what we do, and how we do it in the guise that they know what’s best for us. Enough is enough. It’s time to tell the City Council to ‘get their hands out of our pockets’. It’s time to limit their insatiable fiscal appetite for government. We’ve seen it happen on the national level with the emergence of the Tea Party, and we’re seeing it at the State level. Now it’s time to see it on the local level. It’s time the local government manage the city as a business rather than a part-time hobby. It’s time they listen to their constituency.
When ordinances are passed that can’t be enforced, then what’s the purpose. When dollars are spent, that don’t need to be spent, then what’s the purpose. When a referendum is passed for term limits and local representation on a geographic basis and we hear that the City Council didn’t have enough time to prepare for the change how does that show accountability on their part. Time and time again the wishes and needs of the citizens are shelved, bypassed or overlooked. Enough is enough.
How did it get to this point? Well the answer is incrementally; little by little like erosion. If the City Council thinks no one is watching, then basically they have free reign to do as they please. And that’s exactly what they have done for the most part without accountability. Citizen tax payers are so busy either trying to make a living, making ends meet, or trying to have a life that little time is available to watch City Council decisions, actions, or in most cases their inaction.
So what sources are available to learn about local government action or inaction? Well, we have the local newspaper but newspapers are dying. The Naperville Sun announced today that the paper will reduce publishing from six days down to three. We can watch the local TV station and read the scroll, but that’s boring and monotonous. We can watch the Council meeting on TV, but so much is missed by not being at the meeting live; like a Councilman dozing off, or another Councilman looking bored, or the fact that they can’t even start the meetings on time. So attending meetings is great, in fact in many ways it’s almost like entertainment. The only downside is that they can take two hours of actual meeting content and turn it into four hours of circular conversation by repeating themselves over and over without adding anything constructive. You can also see the meetings on line, but it’s not easy to navigate the website to locate and view meetings.
Now don’t get me wrong, all of these sources for information are better than nothing, so we encourage you to learn as much as you can from as many sources as possible in order to get a real feel for what’s happening locally. The more we learn about local government in the form of the City Council’s actions and decisions, the more amazed we are that anything gets accomplished.
A quote attributed to the late Speaker of the House Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. in 2003, that “all politics is local”. If this is true, and we believe it is, then what happens locally is of utmost importance to us, and it’s vital that we keep a watchful eye on those who make decisions that affect our daily lives locally. That is our primary purpose and we intend to do exactly that. An informed citizenry is a necessity for good government. With 230 million computers and over 300 million people, much can accomplished not only on a State or National level, but also on a local basis. This is neither a conservative nor a liberal idea; it is an American idea and one that is needed and welcomed by millions of Americans of all political persuasions.
Yes, that’s exactly what Ted Noftall is doing, keeping an eye on the city council, making them accountable for what they are doing, and looking out for the citizen’s best interest. You can obviously see that mayor Allen Green, vice mayor Don Burnette, and councilman Dennis Kennedy do not like Ted doing that. We are all thankful that Ted continues serving the citizens of Port Orange in spite of these opaque politicians.