If last Tuesday’s City Council meeting was any indication of what the future holds, it promises to be a long four years with ol’ “Buckle up” Burnette wielding the gavel. When it was Ted Noftall’s turn at the podium Mayor Burnette was clearly not happy to call his name and was just as clearly not…
Masci Corp is in trouble in Port Orange again, or perhaps I should say, still. City Manager Jake Johansson has sent a Notice of Intent to Debar to Leonel Masci, President of Masci Corporation, informing Mr Masci of his preliminary determination that cause for debarment has been found. Mr Johansson’s action seems to follow from…
Back in 2014, then-Councilman Dennis Kennedy used those words to describe the sorry state of grass mowing by the City of Port Orange and the frustrating inability of Public Works to get a private contractor hired for the job. The Public Works director at the time, Mary Anderson, presented the following data to Council showing…
Before every meeting of the Port Orange City Council, the City Clerk reads the following words: “The City Council of the City of Port Orange is committed to maintaining civility in public and political discourse and expects the public to do the same.” While I suppose the definition of “civility” can be debated somewhat, the…
Every year millions of dollars in Drainage Fees are collected by the City of Port Orange but we don’t know how they are spent. Every year potentially thousands of taxpayers are owed rebates on their Drainage Fees but we can’t claim them. Why not? Because the Manager always has more important things to take care…
Answer: Those Who Have Something to Hide. The grievance hearing in Public Utilities is apparently not going smoothly. The long-term head of our award-winning water plant wants to have his grievance recorded while the Public Utilities Director refuses to put his words on tape. While I have always thought a full and comprehensive account of…
Maybe Manager Jake Johansson didn’t fully explode at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night but he showed definite signs of a meltdown! At various times during the meeting he was lectured by Mayor Green, Councilman Ford and Councilman Burnette. Even the usually mild mannered Councilman Bastian was showing his exasperation. Ted Noftall, of course,…
The Daytona Beach News-Journal did a good job of hiding Ted Noftall’s actions on behalf of a Port Orange citizen while at the same time painting the City Manager, Jake Johansson, as a good Samaritan. See http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20151212/NEWS/151219852/101042/NEWS0401?Title=Port-Orange-retiree-s-3-000-water-bill-prompts-city-to-explore-options for the story. In actuality, Jake “the Snake” Johansson only moved off the dime after he was prodded…
Since Ted Noftall pointed out another of their water-billing snafus, staff at the Finance Department has been scurrying around in typical CYA fashion justifying its heavy-handed policies. It seems the City had been billing J&M Moving and Storage (Ted’s business) at a 1″-meter rate instead of a 2″-meter rate since 2003. When the City’s…
Well over 200 people walked the Port Orange bridge this past Saturday evening to show their support for America’s veterans serving in Afghanistan. The Port Orange walkers were joined by similar groups in Ormond, Daytona and Flagler as part of a two-county event organized by Debbie Kruck of the Ormond Strong group. The local contingent…
The last City Council meeting was scary for anyone concerned about open and transparent government in Port Orange–scary not for what was said but for what was not said. Among the items brought before Council for their approval were two studies for the Public Utilities Department that totaled close to $1 million! They were listed…
Caution!! Do not try this “two pie charts method” of accounting anywhere in the real world–you’ll get laughed at (at best) or maybe even arrested. Can you imagine a business owner giving his accountant two pie charts and telling him that they represent his income and expenses for a $37-million operation? Ted has been asking…
Councilman Bastian, Shortly before you made the motion at the July 28th meeting to allow a property tax increase of over 6.9% next year, a lot of lip service was paid to the plight of taxpayers in the private sector. Mayor Green and Councilman Burnett observed that private sector wages have not recovered much since…
At the last City Council meeting, Public Utilities Director Andrew Neff seemed confused about why the multi-million dollar meter replacement program has not resulted in more revenue (see video). The answer provided by our highly-paid consultants, Burton & Associates is lame at best: Subject: RE: Impact of Meter Replacement Program Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015…
We all know by now that the berm was first modified and then deleted entirely from the Dunlawton Drainage Project under very murky circumstances. We all know that Quentin L Hampton designed the project, administered the contract and inspected the work of Masci Corp so they knew exactly what was going on. We also know…
Who will finally be the scapegoat for Quentin L Hampton’s and Mayor Green’s berm fiasco? Manager Harden, While taxpayers are appreciative to finally receive the information contained in the just released Bolderjack, Halsema Et al, forensic review of the Dunlawton Ave Drainage Improvements Project their report is incomplete in at least 2 regards …
Once again the taxpayer has been cheated. We’ve paid for competent and professional oversight and gotten more grade school recordkeeping! The Nuremberg trials are widely regarded as the most important of the 20th century. The unequivocal rejection of the Nuremberg defense ” I was following orders ” or ” my boss told me to do…
The following excerpt from last Tuesday’s Workshop shows Bob Ford speaking up for building the berm to keep Dunlawton Avenue from flooding. A berm which, by the way, we have already paid to have engineered and permitted and was removed from the project in a backroom deal involving the Mayor, the Quentin Hampton engineers and…
Why the Scare Tactics? Dear Manager Harden, At last Tuesday’s workshop, discussion regarding removal of the berm from the Dunlawton Avenue Drainage Project continued on the rather bizarre path it has taken lately. I’m referring to the quasi-legal advice being given by engineers in support of the berm removal. Andrew Giannini, PE with Quentin L…
Interim City Manager David Harden finally coughed up a copy of the Investigative Report on who knew what when and who talked to who else about the berm deletion. Pretty entertaining reading……………………………… Scroll Window 5 Pages [google-drive-embed url=”https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5B9MyuH07RaTDZITWdEY3Mxd1E/preview?usp=drivesdk” title=”Freddie Takes The 5th.pdf” icon=”https://ssl.gstatic.com/docs/doclist/images/icon_12_pdf_list.png” width=”100%” height=”800″ style=”embed”]
