Gastesi Suggests Sewer Deal Isn't So Smelly

State Will Cover Entire $50 Million Should Scott Approve Deal
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  March 29, 2012

Roman Gastesi was kind enough to spend some time recently at the Sugarloaf Homeowners Association, along with Monroe County Commissioner George Nuegent.  At the presentation before approximately fifty conerned citizens, Gastesi elaborated on the most recent sewer funding initiatives.

After having seen news coverage that the State's proposal may have only been intended to cover the first year of the proposed $50 Million dollar bond issue, which ultimately may have left Monroe County holding the bag, Gastesi assured residents that the entire bond issue will be backed by the State for the full duration.  The intention appears to be to use real estate doc filing fees to cover the subsequent years payments.

This was good news to many, whose concerns still centered around special assessments that will still need to be administered along with estimated sewage hook up fees.  However, the plan did seem feasible, with precautions being taken to allow for the project to back track should any funding source evaporate.

While there still seemed to be many potential pitfalls to the entire funding obligation, risk to County government exposure did appear to be minimized in the event of any set back such as voters not approving an extension of the dedicated sales tax. All eyes will be on Governor Scott who could strike the proposed $50 million bond issue from the budget in he coming days.

Campaign for Clerk Hitting High Gear

The campaign is beginning to move into high gear, as we have already enjoyed one forum with more to come soon!  Check out the video on the campaign website at www.mattgardi.com.

Also find out what people are asking, and read and/or watch Matt's responses! When possible, I will always include the responses from forums of my opponents as well.  ASK MATT a question yourself!
Check it out here!

Also, see what people who know Matt have to say about him!
Check it out here!

This campaign for Clerk of Courts is essential to each and every one of us, take the time to find out why by visiting my constantly updated website! I hope it provides you the information you need to make an informed decision when you cast your vote.
www.mattgardi.com

www.mattgardi.com

Paid for by Matt Gardi, Republican, for Clerk of Courts

Mortgages Pledged to Multiple Trusts

More Evidence Exposing Banks Sold the Same Mortgage Numerous Times
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  March 20, 2012
Whether you are being foreclosed on, have just paid off your mortgage, purchased a property recently, or wonder why your pension fund is under funded, this ought to concern you greatly!  Gary Victor Dubin, a Hawaii Foreclosure Defense Attorney recently analyzed the contents of three WaMu Mortgage Loan Trusts.  These are the trusts that securitized mortgages are sold to.

Some mortgages appear to have been sold as many as SIX times!  You can read the full report "Securitized Distrust" by clicking here.  Of note is this little gem...

It’s no wonder that the Wall Street MBS scheme collapsed. Last night we ran a random audit on WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Mortgage Loan Trusts. One loan was found in 6 different trusts, another loan was found in FIVE trusts’ original SEC loan level data, 39 were listed in 3 trusts, and 503 were listed in two separate trusts.

The winner so far is a NEW YORK condo, loan number WaMu loan # 714934858, appeared in 6 DIFFERENT trusts from May through November 2006…

Folks, I have discussed frequently the reason Banks have had to flood our Clerk's Office and land records with fraudulent documents to prove they own a mortgage.  It is because they defrauded investors when they securitized the mortgages and destroyed any record of them... including the original notes and mortgages.

This effects everyone.
 - If you just paid off your mortgage and feel happy about that Satisfaction of Mortgage that is on file, you may just find another investor coming out of the mess with a claim you still owe them the mortgage.

 - If you just bought a property, and think you have title clean and free, you just may find out there is a lingering mortgage or two...or six, hanging over your head!

 - If you are being foreclosed on, you might just be losing your house to the very same entity that defrauded your pension fund with Mortgage Backed Securities that contain multiple pledged mortgages!

 - If you have just watched your home value plummet as a result of diminishing confidence in title histories, ultimately effecting our tax base, and the revenue of every public agency in the Keys, you can thank the banks!


This isn't just an anomaly, this is wide spread, systematic fraud.  We are all victims.

www.mattgardi.com

Paid for by Matt Gardi, Republican, for Clerk of Courts

This Friday on the Naked Conch Hour - Attorney Maggie Gutierrez

Joining me this week, Friday, March 23 at Noon on the Naked Conch Hour is Attorney Maggie Gutierrez, HARC Commissioner, Secretary of the Monroe County Bar Association and former Assistant Public Defender, (www.mykeywestlawyer.com) on board to discuss a host of issues, from current HARC items, to mortgage fraud, and foreclosure defense.  Hopefully we will have some time to cover other topics such as indigence status, and the vital role the Public Defender plays in our community, and how best to provide public resources to support the mission.  Tune in!

Watch live on Naked Conch

or

http://www.konknet.com/

Does the State Sewer Deal Stink?

Arrangement Might Leave County Holding the Bag
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  March 15, 2012

Lost in all the hopeful rhetoric surrounding this year's anticipated sewer funding that has left so many local officials patting each other on the back is the discussion of what happens...next year.

To my understanding, those numerous officials who brought their entourages up to Tallahassee recently to do what I frequently refer to as the Tallahassee Two Step, are celebrating the fact the State is willing to pony up the first year's funding of a $50 million dollar bond issue.  As Ryan McCarthy of the Keynoter recently reported, the Legislature has included $4.8 Million to fund the first year of the bond issue in this year's budget.

So, while all our local officials are elated, and feel vindicated that the expense of sending so many folks up to Tallahassee for the final crunch of the budget process was not just a glorified trip to hold hands and sing Kumbayah, I am left wondering where will we stand next year at this time.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for exploring every alternative to fund the completion of the sewer projects, but I have always maintained that perhaps we should not be so idealistic, and we, along with the State need to extend the mandated time frame for completion again.  That timeline needs to be stretched at least until funding is available on a pay as you go basis from the State, not by incurring more debt.

While the State is ponying up $4.8 million this year, I want to know what happens when our entourage of elated local deal makers come back empty handed next year.  What happens after they travel to Tallahassee, and spend days using the latest app on their iPad to locate restaurants to dine with other important deal makers in a frenzy of self aggrandizement and then the State says no to additional sewer bond funding??

Guess who is on the hook for the rest of the $50 Million dollar bond issue?  Yeah, you guessed it, you and me.  Ever wonder how those things happen that result in some government official saying, "We couldn't have seen this coming, we need to look forward, deals we made in the past are water under the bridge."

Ultimately, locally we may be stuck with an ongoing need to fund this $50 million dollar bond issue to the tune of $5 Million per year.  That's when you'll hear about all the dire cuts that will need to be made to essential County services unless we implement some new creative tax, like expanding the gas tax, or a toll booth on US 1, on increasing the sales tax, and on and on and on.

     

Naked Conch Scoops Key West Citizen by...TWO MONTHS?!?!

NC Covered Schools Outstanding Half Million to FEMA in January!
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  March 6, 2012


The Key West Citizen rolled out an article today covering the fact that the Monroe County School District owes FEMA almost a half million dollars as a result of over funding they received for hurricane Georges clean-up.
This just goes to prove that Naked Conch is your one stop source for up to the minute breaking news, we covered that here on our blog, ohhh, sometime around January 10!!!


I guess we can expect to see some coverage by the Citizen of the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of missing inventory at the Health Department, and questionable oversight at the Clerk's Office we have been covering here at Naked Conch... sometime in May?!?!  We look forward to it! 

www.mattgardi.com

Paid for by Matt Gardi, Republican, for Clerk of Courts

County Inventory Investigation Needs Expansion

Results of Public Records Request Raise More Questions
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  March 3, 2012
It was refreshing to see the effect of this blog.  Only minutes after I posted a blog entry here on Naked Conch about my unanswered public records requests dealing with County inventory issues, I received a response from the Clerk's office.  Unfortunately the response only raised more questions.

What I received was a PDF document which included a variety of documents in response to my request for "The last two years of Monroe County Inventory Reports for the Monroe County Health Department as prepared by Mitch Hedman."  If you recall, Hedman is the former County employee in charge of inventory.  He filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office in Sept 2011 suggesting he was being asked to resign after discovering $250,000 in missing inventory at the Health Department.  It is important to note that the inventories Hedman tracked were comprised of items over $1,000, not the iPhone and iPads that are at the center of the latest inventory scandal, which are below the value level to be tracked by the County.

To review the entire document I received click here.  To say it is a bit confusing is an understatement, but let's take note of the most significant items contained within.  Page 20 is an email dated October 6, 2009 from Bob Eadie, Administrator of the Monroe County Health Department, to Kevin Madok, Hedman's direct supervisor at the Clerk's office.  In this email,  Eadie explains how tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment may have been improperly disposed of, and that he is requesting authorization to dispose of them as assets after the fact.  He assures Madok that...

We have adopted procedures that will prevent the disposition on public assets without proper authorization.

To be fair, most of the equipment seemed very old and worthless, (at least at the time it was discovered unaccounted for) and Eadie provided a document illustrating that a large quantity of equipment had been recycled the year before.  Regardless, things should be good going forward, right?

Check out Page 12.  Less than a year later on July 19, 2010, Andrew Bulla, Office Operations of the Monroe County Health Departments, emails Mitch Hedman and states...

As we discussed after a thorough search of our facilities from Key Largo to Key West a few MC tagged assets did turn up However the majority of the MC tagged assets have not been found.

Wow.  The majority of tagged assets??  But Bulla goes on to comfort Hedman.

After these missing assets are deleted from the inventory records future MCHD asset audits should prove exemplary.

Didn't we just hear that the year prior?  Once we just fill out some paperwork on all this missing stuff, we should be able to maintain a better accounting of whatever is left. This time the equipment appears to be valuable, useful and extensive.  This email gives complete credence to Hedman's concerns about the Health Department's inventory.  You would think that two years in a row of massive amounts of missing inventory might be cause for concern.  Also of note on this page was what seems to be an oddly compiled email exchange that seems to paint the picture Hedman was OK with this, which he wasn't.  Please note, Bulla's email is dated July 19, 2010 with a subject of  "RE: Missing MCHD Assets."  This email is pasted directly above one from Hedman as if Hedman was replying to Bulla.  But Hedman's is dated July 15, 2010 and has a subject of  "RE: from Andrew."  The tech guy in me thinks that it might be difficult to reply to an email that won't arrive until four days into the future.

One wonders what the need was to paste such emails together to create such an impression.  Also note the strange quote at the very top of the page from Mary Vanden Brook which says, "One suggestion: add the present value as zero or close to it."  


Page 12 is so strange, I include it here by itself for your review.

As I mentioned, more questions than answers.  Add to that, Page 11, which appears to be a 2010 inventory close.  Apparently, by August 5, 2010 there was only a small $29,258.12 worth of inventory unaccounted for over the past two years.  Does this include the "majority of tagged assets" that weren't found, and had a deletion request at the "next BOCC meeting?"  Why leave any unaccounted for inventory other than to create the appearance that it is only $29,258.12 if anyone asks questions?  If you are zeroing the books with a massive asset deletion request in July, why not zero the books?

Also, look what else shows up on Page 11, it seems to start a list of unaccounted for equipment from Tech Services, subtotaled at over $15K, apparently continuing onto the next page...not included.  You know Tech Services, the department involved in the most recent inventory scandal.

Let's not forget that as I mention on a previous blog post, Mitch Hedman made a complaint to the State Attorney that he was being asked to resign as a result of trying to expose these discrepancies.  Another question is who would want to put pressure on an employee to resign that was doing the right thing, and why?

For comparison sake, I have probably endured at least four County Inventory audits as the IT Director at the Public Defender's Office and the State Attorney's Office.  Admittedly it's a challenge, with changing staff, laptops and radios, and staff with equipment in the field.  But with the diligence of Mitch Hedman, and his predecessor Mike Miller, every single piece of equipment has been accounted for under my watch.

Why were these issues allowed to exist?  More questions than answers...more questions than answers.

www.mattgardi.com

Paid for by Matt Gardi, Republican, for Clerk of Courts

Trimming Back the Tree Commission

Citizen Acknowledges Down's Fight
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  March 1, 2012
Today's Citizen ran an article about community activist Sandra Down's open challenge to the City of Key West regarding reigning in the City's Tree Commission.  Downs, who has been on a crusade to inform the public of just exactly how the City Tree Commission has been functioning, was recently fined $5,000 for removing a tree for a customer in an emergency situation, with a permit pending as per regulation.

Downs argues that the Tree Commission has become a revenue raising arm of City government that has over stepped it's bounds and authority, and she is calling on City officials to reign them in.  Of note is the fact that public record of the meeting in which Downs was fined has seemingly been deleted or destroyed, adding fuel to the fire.  For detailed coverage of the entire story, blogger Sloan Bashinski has been covering the events in detail at http://goodmorningkeywest.com/.   I would do the entire story injustice if I tried to summarize the detail with which Bashinski has been covering it, I recommend you take a look.

The most glaring truth in today's Key West Citizen's article was this little gem...

Some local landscapers said they agree with Downs' assessments but would not speak for attribution, citing fears of reprisal from city officials.

Folks, when people are afraid of their government to the point that they fear retribution that can affect their livelihood, we have a real problem.  All City Officials should be concerned and consider Down's claims with the utmost of seriousness.  Regardless of the outcome of any appeal, or the validity of any particular fine, when public records get destroyed and the general public fears retribution from the long arm of government...Houston, we have a problem!

I look forward to having Sandy Downs and Sloan Bashinski on the Naked Conch Hour on KONK Friday March 16 at Noon!  Tune in then!

County Inventory Scandal Erupts - How High and How Wide?

Was it the result of a contested election, and a few yet unanswered Public Records Requests?
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  March 1, 2012


I have often written about the benefits of a contested election. Aside from giving the voters a choice, a true contest creates accountability and scrutinizes the manner in which an agency is being run, or the way an incumbent has conducted themselves.


In today's citizen we read about an investigation being launched by the State Attorney into the possibility that County IT equipment was being sold to County staff. Allegations suggest that former Information Services Director Lisa Druckemiller, who retired abruptly on Monday, may have sold iPads and iPhones to staff that included County Administrator Roman Gastesi, Technical Services staff member Hank Kokenzie, and possibly even County Commissioner David Rice.


Really? So aside from the fact that these individuals may have purchased deeply discounted equipment directly from the County Information Services Director without raising an eyebrow, why is it that this is just coming to light now, and who is responsible for the oversight of such equipment?

www.mattgardi.com

Paid for by Matt Gardi, Republican, for Clerk of Courts

Oddly enough, just last week on February 22, being a Candidate for County Clerk, I filed a couple of Public Records Requests with County Clerk Danny Kolhage. Some of my interrogatories centered around staff, and salaries, but some were very specific about inventory reports, specifically surrounding the Health Department and the chain of command responsible for inventory. So what prompted Matt Gardi, Candidate for Clerk to ask such questions?


A few days before during lunch I happened upon a gentleman named Mitch Hedman, whom I knew to be involved in County inventory. I was surprised to learn he no longer worked for the Clerk's office, the reason for which was due to the fact he claimed he had been asked to resign after finding a shortfall in inventory of close to $250,000. He mentioned there were serious issues with a few select departments that he brought to the attention of superiors.


I found this shocking, as I always knew him to be extremely diligent, and that clearly the Clerk would respect his analysis. He stated that he also reported it to the Office of the State Attorney, and to the Florida Attorney General, however nothing ever went anywhere with either complaint. He told me he only offered me this information if it would be helpful in my campaign, whereby I might be able to contrast my concern for accountability against that of my opponents. There's that ol' contested election effect again.


I went directly to the Investigator at the State Attorney's Office whom I was told handled the complaint, and sure enough, Hedman had called the SAO in September of 2011. Investigator Chris Weber's notes indicated that Hedman was concerned about being asked to resign for highlighting $250K in missing computers at the Health Department. Weber said he provided Hedman with information about Whistle Blower protection and suggested to Hedman that he put more specific details in writing so that it could be reviewed for a potential investigation. Having never heard back, Weber considered the matter closed.


So, needless to say, both as a citizen, and a Candidate for Clerk I was concerned and wanted to find out more about inventory issues at the Clerk's Office. On February 22nd, I composed those previously mentioned Public Records Requests, and sent them directly to County Clerk Danny Kolhage via email. I also sent a similar request to Robert Eadie, Director of the Monroe County Health Department. To date, I have not been provided a response from either one of them. I have however, been provided information in response to a separate Public Records Request to County Clerk Danny Kolhage that had to do with staff and salaries, a request that I sent AFTER my initial request regarding issues with inventory.


So now, over a week later, with no response to my Public Records Request, according to the Citizen article, County Administrator Roman Gastesi suggests, County staff brought the matter to the attention of the State Attorney's Office on Monday.


What staff, and why now?


I shared my information with State Attorney Dennis Ward, and Chief Investigator Mark Wilson, and while they declined to share any information with me due to the fact it is now an open investigation, I encouraged them to broaden the scope of their investigation.


As the details emerge about the players involved we might gain a better understanding as to why certain things may have been overlooked at the Clerk's Office. Could it be that my Public Records Request hit a little too close to home and shook the tree enough to expose this latest escapade into questionable backroom behavior? While I can't prove that, it does certainly give one pause as I wait for the responses to my unanswered Public Records Requests about other substantial inventory issues.


Either way, this clearly illustrates the benefits of a contested election, the effects in this case having exposed a potential lack of accountability in an office that appears to have been run well for decades....by a revered public official who hasn't had to run in a contested election for years.
_________________________________________
Coming soon to Naked Conch, reasons why another election needs to be contested, the Office of the Public Defender. Any takers?