If you haven't already seen it....tell me that is not intentional, insulting, and in your face. That's what you get when they know the majority of Americans are more concerned with who is on "Dancing with the Stars."
Showing posts with label Government Waste. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Government Waste. Show all posts
Craig Cates Believes in Cash Crapin' Unicorns
Federal and State Money for Channel Widening Study Doesn't Cost the Taxpayer Nuttin' Honey
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - October 7, 2012Recent public debate regarding the costly study to widen the harbor channel leading into Key West has stirred up many lines of reasoning. Barely visible in the proponents' silty cloud of verbal discharge was this turd articulated by Key West Mayor Craig Cates. (Someone should inspect the lock on his Y valve.)
According to an article in the Citizen (See Here), Cates stated, "I am in favor of doing the study if it doesn't cost the taxpayers any money," and "I don't see a down side if it doesn't cost us anything."
Vogel's Rhetoric Slowly Sliding Down Slippery Slope
Ohh-Oh! Here it Comes.
The Real Return of our Suspender Superhero
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - October 1, 2012We've heard all the rumors, and all the chatter and intonations...Vogel and Kohl are in cahoots. We were charmed by the first debate between the post primary State Attorney candidates (AKA Love Fest - See Here) Write-ups in the local media echo the common theme of how they adore each other's ethics, and will never speak negatively of each other. But Vogel denied a pre-arranged deal, right?
Guest Post: Hire Higher
Why not, it's not the School Board's money?
- Naked Conch - Posted by Larry Murray - September 18, 2012Editor's Note: Larry Murray nails this one home. Hey, It's great we're not hiring entrenched Bubbas at the School District, but do we really need to pay hay day wages to a new employee without testing the market with more reasonable compensation. Also, Larry is as brevity challenged as yours truly, but hey, we're not paying for print media and killing trees, so think of it as saving natural resources!
Not only has the District hired a new Purchasing Agent, it has hired an experienced one, taking someone previously with the Sheriff’s Department. There will be no need for training, no learning curve to get up to speed. Coming from the Sheriff’s Department, the new hire arrives with both general experience and a knowledge of governmental purchasing, a decided asset. I look forward to good things coming in the purchasing area.
Broom Boy Bridges' Backtracking Betrayal
Commissioner Jack Bridges Shows his True Custodial Qualities
...Big Difference from Big Talking Candidate Bridges
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - September 9, 2012
For those of you who may not remember the election of 2010, or may not want to remember, allow me to take you on a short trip down memory lane.
Now we find that as an elected Commissioner, "Broom Boy" Bridges is doing a 180 on us.
Linda Gottwald Speaks About the Record of SUFA
...and the Treatment SUFA Received From an "Appreciative" County
EDITOR'S NOTE: During my recent campaign for Clerk, I had the pleasure to get to know Linda Gottwald of SUFA, as the issue was one that had come up at numerous forums. Linda was persecuted by an out of control abusive County Administration with ulterior motivation, and the public was only privy to the information those same administrators disseminated to the press. As a result, our County is exposed once again to legal action, and justifiably so. Until the cronies at the top are held accountable, we will continue to reward the best performers with this same "appreciative" treatment. Below is one exchange Linda and I enjoyed.From Linda;
When SUFA assumed the contract, we re-opened the Big Pine shelter ( a relatively new structure that had been sitting empty and unused for years). We also started a low cost spay/neuter clinic, especially for the feral cats of the middle keys. (the same cats the feds are spending thousands of dollars with useless studies and forums on - with their budget, we could have had the population completely sterilized by now)
SUFA opened both shelters on weekends, doubled the hours the Marathon shelter was open and held annual animal law seminars for the state attorney, MCSO, and anyone who was interested. We hosted the annual Animal Hero banquets. We started the PAL program for troubled kids so that they could work with animals, promoted the anti-chaining law for Monroe County. We had the highest adoption rate and lowest euthanasia rate in the County and spent thousands of dollars building a cage-free enclosures for the cats and fences so dogs could go outside. All on our own initiative and nickel, using donated funds.
GUEST POST: Sweeping Gentile Under the Rug
Performance Outweighs Being Held Accountable
- Naked Conch - Posted by Larry Murray - September 2, 2012I was disappointed, though not surprised, to read the report here on Naked Conch that Andy Griffiths is waffling on the issue of Ken Gentile and his fraudulent claim to be a Florida licensed CPA. Courage of one's convictions is not a commonplace amongst politicians and Griffiths is no exception.
Three months have passed since I raised the issue of Ken Gentile and his fraudulent claim on his application that he was a Florida licensed CPA and his continued use of "CPA" with his signature on numerous documents. Purportedly, the School Board had its attorney, Dirk Smits, conduct an investigation well over a month ago. That there was an internal investigation has never been confirmed and certainly no report has been publicly presented to the School Board.
Grand Jury iPad Report Released
Naked Conch Makes Full Report Available
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - August 23, 2012After months of speculation, the scandal that broke in late February of this year reaches it's crescendo. In this post election release, names are named and recommendations made. Is Naked Conch vindicated in it's long standing suggestion that the County has no accountability when tracking assets? (Enjoy video here.) Does the report uncover the gory details of the Clerk's mismanagement and cover up of such? (Refresh your memory here.) Or is it much ado about nothing? You decide...take the poll below the report.
"Just Enough to Get By" Attitude of Local Government Needs to Change
Clerk Enters Discussion of Access to Online Records
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - August 4, 2012What do you call the person who graduates last in Med School?
Doctor.
That is the attitude that permeates so many of our local government officials. If it is not an obligation, or requirement, why do it? Let's do just enough to get by. I say we can do better.
Recently Clerk Danny Kolhage entered the fray of the debates between Clerk of Courts candidates because he wanted to correct the “level of misinformation” circulating. I thank Mr. Kolhage for offering his perspective.
County Commission - No One is Watching the Asylum
Comical Case of "Who's On First?" Illustrates Clerk Gastesi Commission No One is Responsible for County Property
Kiss Your Assets Goodbye
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - July 23, 2012
On the day when the headlines screamed of Lisa Druckemiller's indictment, you would think that the County Commission would err on the side of caution when presented with the prospect of missing property.
Was MCSO Public Website Used for Campaign?
Large Campaign Photo Appears in MCSO Internal Newspaper Available on MCSO Public Website
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - July 14, 2012
One could say I was splitting hairs on this one, and in fact I had previously not thought it worthy of a post. However, as Kay Thacker implied yesterday in her guest post, perhaps the long arm of the law is being used as a strong arm of the Sheriff's campaign. Add that to the recent MCSO Koval disciplinary conspiracy, and the public records shenanigans Bill Grove experienced in exposing wasteful MCSO spending, and one feels fairly justified in holding the department under a public microscope during this campaign season.
Clerk to Close Courts - Other Solutions Exist
Or...what would never happen if Matt Gardi were Clerk!
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - June 27, 2012A recent article in the Key West Citizen (Found Here) discussed the fact that in response to a budget crisis, the Clerk of Courts intends to close the Courts on Fridays at 3pm. This is to make up for a State funding shortfall of $210,000.
That's great, so the solution is to reduce service to the public in an already overwhelmed and back logged court system, versus finding other efficiencies and cost savings.
I'm a CPA, You're a CPA, We're all CPAs...Why not?
So much for professional accreditation, right?
I mean while we're at it, I'm an MD too.
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - June 21, 2012
What was I thinking? All caught up in this career thing, when all I needed to do was pick one. I mean after all, it is simply some paper work and a couple of bucks, right?
GUEST POST: Cudjoe Regional Sewer Assessment
- Naked Conch - Posted by Daniel R. Dombroski - June 2, 2012
June 2, 2012
Dear County Commissioners,
I read with great interest the article in this week’s News-Barometer that stated in November the homeowners within the proposed Cudjoe Regional Waste water system will be notified that they will be taxed an additional $5,700 onto their property taxes for their sewer assessment. First of all, I want to make it clear that I am for the sewers and wish that we all were doing more to protect the fragile environment in the Keys. However, I have to voice my displeasure over this assessment fee. I believe, that when the County first announced the goal of constructing sewers in the Lower Keys their claim was that the assessment fee per home would be no more than $2,500. Home owners in the Cudjoe Regional system will be paying over twice the amount of money than their fellow home owners paid in other areas built first. Why is this? How can the County justify that a owner of a multimillion dollar home on Shark Key, which was not even included in the original plan to have sewers in the Lower Keys, pay half the amount of a sewer assessment fee than a person who might own a trailer in Big Pine Key. “Come on Man”- this to me not only seems unethical but is down right immoral. Why are we being left to be responsible for the delays and underfunding issues that have hampered this project on a local and state level and that we, as homeowners, had no say in nor control of. Is there anywhere else in the Keys where there is a disproportionate tax levy for sewer assessments solely based on which homes were assessed first or last? I do not think so. Then why is this disproportionate tier level of assessment tax being considered for the Cudjoe Regional System? It just does not seem fair to me that those who were first on line, or were allowed to cut into the line, should pay less than those who had no choice other than to be placed on the back of the assessment line.
I know that when the County Commissioners were discussing the possibility of putting a toll on US 1 in Key Largo the argument against it was that it would be unfair since it would levy a disparate monetary burden on the citizens of the Upper Keys because the residents of the Upper Keys would most likely have to pay the toll more often than the residents of the Lower Keys. Well, please explain to me how this is different.
I realize the argument will be made that the majority of the current County Commissioners were not elected officials when some of the prior decisions were made about the sewers, funding and the previous assessment costs. However, the current elected County officials were involved in establishing the cost of this current assessment fee for the Cudjoe system and they also have the power to act upon and correct an inequitable financial burden being placed on the backs of residents of the Cudjoe Regional system. This could be done by reassessing areas that have already paid their assessment and make this a fair and balanced tax for all.
Thanking you in advance for your response.
Daniel R. Dombroski
29135 Camellia Lane
Big Pine Key, FL 33043
Sheriff's Office Snared in Their Own Roadblock
MCSO Creates Roadblock to Public Information, Forced to Show Cards
Candidate for Sheriff Bill Grove Exposes Aircraft Fuel Folly
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - May 24, 2012
Satirical Summation
Grove: What are the annual fuel costs for your airplane?
MCSO: We would have to copy and add up all the receipts, it will cost you $150.
Grove: You can't just give me a number?
MCSO: There is no "Total." $150, please.
Gardi to MCSO: You mean your award winning finance department can't provide a line item on fuel costs...even to the Sheriff?
Less than two hours later...
(During which time Becky Herrin emails administrator Mike Rice and asks..."Does this change anything?")
MCSO: Ohhhhh...you wanted a total. Now we get it. Ooops, we had forgotten to give you the line item report of fuel costs. How silly of us. Here it is, no charge required.
Conclusion: MCSO intentionally created a challenge to obtain information which ultimately illustrated that the Sheriff jet sets around in an effort to get on a new reality TV show called, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Taxpayer Funded Agency Administrators."
OK folks this all gets back to that transparency thingy again. Let's start with the press release coming out of the Grove Campaign.
Sheriff Candidate Cries Foul Over Fuel
- For immediate release - May 18, 2012 Grove for Sheriff Campaign
Bill Grove, candidate for Monroe County Sheriff has cried foul over the MCSO’s release of records relating to fuel costs of the department’s aircraft.
What started out as an exploratory effort to examine the practicality of the Sheriff’s Office use and maintenance of its own aircraft has exposed what Grove describes as a, “less than good faith effort,” on behalf of the MCSO in providing the information.
“You would think that asking for the annual fuel costs of the plane would be a simple request,” Grove suggests. But as it turns out, he was at first given a scattered replied provided by MCSO Administrator Mike Rice detailing gallons purchased, mixed with other dollar amounts. Grove pressed on for weeks in an email exchange with MCSO’s public relations specialist, Becky Herrin, to obtain a simple, dollar amount on an annual basis.
Herrin eventually explained in an email, “There is no "total" available. We would have to make you invoice copies, and you would have to total them up.” She referenced an email from Rice explaining such detail, that also suggested “The cost to gather these records, including staff time and copies, will be approximately $150.”
Grove paid the fee to obtain the records, along with other charges for a total of $200. Shortly afterwards, he mentioned the issue to Matt Gardi, a candidate for Clerk of Courts, himself an advocate of ease of access to public records. Gardi queried Herrin with the following questions;
1) Does this mean that the MCSO finance department has no way to easily provide a line item on the aircraft's fuel costs?
2) Does this also mean that if the Sheriff himself were to pose the exact same question to his finance department that it would consume $200 worth of labor and material resources to get such an answer?
Coincidentally within two hours of Herrin receiving Gardi’s email, Mike Rice realized he had failed to provide a report in his first response, and emailed Grove a line item report of the aircraft’s annual fuel costs.
“It was one way or the other,” Gardi states, “either the MCSO couldn’t provide a line item which would indicate they have a terrible accounting system, or they were intentionally obfuscating and attempting to dissuade Grove from obtaining the information. As it turns out it was the latter.”
Having seen the incredibly quick response to Grove, Gardi asked for any email exchanges between Herrin and Rice during the two hour period. Herrin provided Gardi with an email wherein she forwarded Gardi’s questions to Rice 10 minutes after receiving it and asks, “You were going to send me something for Bill..Does this change anything? See below...” (Click Here to See Email.) Rice then replied detailing his epiphany of forgetting to attach a line item report weeks earlier.
Grove was refunded his fee but still voices objections to the intentional deterrence MCSO created with their behavior.
“This flies in the face of the intent of Public Records laws,” suggests Grove. "This incident clearly shows the way the administration of the Sheriff's Office is less than transparent with regards to how they spend our money.” "Shortly after I began asking about the plane the MCSO website is changed." "Now the website no longer says agencies reimburse them for use of the plane, because that just has not been done." "The Sheriff's Office flies their own private aircraft all over the place and they don't want the public to know about it." "Fuel cost over the last four years average $65,000 dollars a year and the total reimbursement from other agencies during those four years is less than $1200.00."
Well, in an odd way I guess that's pretty transparent. It's transparent that the MCSO was giving Grove the run around, and attempting to discourage his requests with unreasonable fees.
Florida Statute 119.07 (1) (c) states, "A custodian of public records and his or her designee must acknowledge requests to inspect or copy records promptly and respond to such requests in good faith." FS 119 also provides for a $500 fine for violations, and it becomes criminal when those violations are intentional. Quick, someone call...the Sheriff!?!
But now let's take a look at just one example of the jet setting. (Please see here.) This is what the MCSO provided Grove as representing the only reimbursements the Sheriff's Office has received for use of it's aircraft. These are requests for reimbursement, by the MCSO from FDLE for use of the aircraft to transport the Sheriff to Medical Examiner's Commission meetings, mostly held in Sarasota for only a few hours. It also includes reimbursements for meals, car rentals and lodging. The reimbursement is calculated on the average mileage rate the State pays for use of a personal vehicle, but does not illustrate the true cost of flying the plane on these junkets.
Now one might argue that using the aircraft is less expensive, which might be true provided the Sheriff went only for the meeting and returned that day. However, in almost every instance you see an additional expense for a rental car, meals, lodging, and the proverbial canary in a coal mine...the pilots lodging. Yes, because as you see on some of these documents it states "Pilots reserved own rooms." I'm sure these pilots didn't spring for these rooms on their own, (You and I did.) and that detail is simply not included here. That's not even mentioning the pilot's pay. Again, most of the time these trips appear to be for meetings that only lasted a couple of hours.
So what alternatives did the Sheriff have? I have a sneaking suspicion he may have been able to find a white Crown Victoria somewhere in the department and driven. That's just a hunch, as I seem to recall seeing a few of those around the Keys. But as someone who has protested Agency Administrators' frequent travel to such meetings and conferences in general, I might suggest that he could have been an advocate of attending the meetings via teleconference or the web, such as any private sector company would do. This would eliminate the need for the plane, the pilots, the meals, the lodging, the gas, etc, altogether.
Again, this is just one example of the aircraft's use that Grove was able to find. Who knows how much the MCSO would want to charge to find out the true cost and purpose of each and every flight that makes up the $65,000 annual fuel costs. The MCSO references the fact that they only paid $500 for this plane, but what is it truly costing us? Kudus to Bill Grove for digging into this.
Save the Teachers! - Divest from Fannie Mae
What would you rather invest in, our kids, or a failed quasi-federal boondoggle?
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - May 10, 2012
Would you prefer to invest in our kids and teachers, or invest in a failed banker led company in conservatorship, whose assets are comprised primarily of the most toxic mortgage backed securities, whose liability covers an ocean of underwater mortgages, and who could not even be in operation if not for billions in bailouts?
Well you, my dear friends, are increasingly investing in the latter, while sticking it to the teachers and our children.
That's right, according to a recent report (See Here) I obtained from the Clerk's Office, the County, (you and I) are invested in Fannie Mae for close to $50 MILLION Dollars. In fact, over half of our County investments totaling close to $130 Million bucks are tied up in GSEs, or "Government Sponsored Enterprises," private companies backed by our tax dollars. (That means, they get the profits, we get the losses.) In fact, we are seemingly increasing the percentage of our portfolio placed with GSEs.
But meanwhile, back at the School District, we are facing a $6 million dollar shortfall and teacher layoffs. Recently School Board member Andy Griffiths has been discussing a huge reduction in bond payments that will free up close to $1 Million per month of capital outlays in October of 2015. But no one, including Andy, has offered any type of stopgap measure to get us from here to there in the interim...aside from the novel idea of a tax increase, of course.
So, if you think about it, dollars we HAVE, are invested in failed companies that need dollars we DON'T HAVE to operate. (Essentially federal debt we are saddling our children with.) In the meantime, resources we allocate to those very children being saddling with federal debt are being cut back. We have essentially created student loans for grade school kids, while providing them with less of an education. Seems like we could do better if we put the 1st graders in charge.
Here is my solution. We divest from Fannie Mae, and use some of that money to refinance the School's bonded indebtedness. We extend the terms of the debt, reducing the cost of interest to the school system while reducing their payments, and actually allow for an INCREASE in the rate of return on the County investment as opposed to what Fannie Mae offers. As voters, we allow for more of the millage to be redirected from capital to operational so that we can fund the current operating shortfall.
This would not cost the taxpayers anything, replenish our fund balance, and eliminate the need to layoff teachers.
However, this is not intended to let the administration and school board off the hook for their failed leadership. It's time to "Right Size" admin. That's right, it's great that we can pay these wizards boatloads of cash when times are rosy, but when the tide goes out, their boats should sink first!
We need to cap all administrative pay at $90,000, and eliminate all pay and benefits to the school board until the ship is righted. If these wizards can't accept this reduction for the good of our children, then let them leave, and leave quickly. There will be countless talented individuals from throughout our community that will step up to the plate out of dedication to the kids and our community, a type of motivation that is needed now more than ever. We no longer need placeholders, we need people that perform.
We can talk about potential teacher reductions, or teacher pay cuts, but with the mindset of whether or not it is truly feasible or warranted. But certainly not in the context that Superintendent Jara does, suggesting he is only NOW "right sizing," coincidentally when we have a $6 Million dollar shortfall, and not last year when he suggested we had "cut to the bone."
Before we cut teachers or their pay, we must remember we already did last year. Those furlough days you heard about were simply a way for the district to say, "You don't get paid for Holidays anymore." That came right out of teachers' paychecks. Also, if we need to talk about pay cuts for teachers, we need to talk disproportionately about pay cuts for admin. Whether it's a bigger drop in the bucket or not, administrators need to feel a greater pain from their own failed leadership!
Inventory Debacle Rises to the TOP!
Sick of the Fraud and Obfuscation? Yeah, me too!
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - May 5, 2012
Folks, today in the Citizen is a nice little article from Timothy O'Hara about some additional equipment that has gotten up and walked off. Again this is a drop in the bucket, and as I am sure you are aware more than likely the result of our pursuit of the inventory issues that we have been doggedly following here on Naked Conch.
You can read about my saga, the resistance of releasing information, and the character assassination that has gone along with my efforts to find the truth in numerous posts here on Naked Conch. Simply do a search for the word "Inventory." The most recent synopsis can be found in my post County Inventory "Whack-a-mole!
What is most disturbing about this latest "revelation" is how it came about. According to the article;
"Deputy County Administrator Debbie Frederick told technical services workers to file Tuesday's police report after the Clerk of the Circuit Court Office conducted an audit and asked about the missing computers."
Seriously? So on Tuesday, May 1, our heroes at the Clerk's Office push for filing a police report as a result of an audit they just conducted?!?!
So I guess when Property Clerk Mitch Hedman pushed Lisa Druckemiller for this very same equipment a year ago in an email dated May 26, 2011 (Here - Look for the laptops for Alchemy training that add up to the dollar amount in O'Hara's article.) and then again in an email dated July 25, 2011 (Here)... oh and then yet again on August 8, 2011 (Here) that it just wasn't good enough for Danny Kolhage to ask for a police report to be filed and/or have Druckemiller answer some questions. But it was good enough for him to pressure Mitch Hedman the guy exposing it to resign. (Here)
This goes along with all the other issues Hedman was bringing to light at the Health Department, and the Fire Department. Oh, but now we have this intense audit that brings only these four laptops into question when there are literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of other inventory Hedman was exposing by being a diligent hard working effective public servant protecting our tax dollars!!!!
Give me a break! Hedman deserves a huge round of applause, and compensation for doing his job and suffering the consequences of exposing the machine. Do you ever wonder why it is that a completely unqualified Druckemiller rises to the very top in our system, while someone like Hedman who respects being a public servant is pushed out the door?
The reasons for that is ultimately worse than the theft itself. It's people in positions of authority protecting the perpetrators and discouraging hard working public servants through intimidation. It's power players that aren't forth coming with public records requests that are intentionally obfuscating and preventing the public from gaining access to the truth.
Folks, it's time we read between the lines to reveal the answer to the questions on all our minds...how could this have happened? How? I'll tell you. Because the people at the very top, the very top, not only condone this activity, but protect it. These revered people that never do anything wrong are equally as culpable, and we keep electing them.
That is how it happens. End of story.
The reasons for that is ultimately worse than the theft itself. It's people in positions of authority protecting the perpetrators and discouraging hard working public servants through intimidation. It's power players that aren't forth coming with public records requests that are intentionally obfuscating and preventing the public from gaining access to the truth.
Folks, it's time we read between the lines to reveal the answer to the questions on all our minds...how could this have happened? How? I'll tell you. Because the people at the very top, the very top, not only condone this activity, but protect it. These revered people that never do anything wrong are equally as culpable, and we keep electing them.
That is how it happens. End of story.
County Inventory "Whack-a-mole!"
Hot Potato Inventory List Gets Tossed Around Again
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - April 26, 2012A straight answer from the Clerk's office regarding the inventory issues I have been covering here on Naked Conch reminds me of the maze of mangrove channels behind Mud Key. But let's cut to the chase.
First, the list showed up in a response from the Clerk's Office to a request that I made for the Health Department's inventory reports. After a go around with Health Department Director Bob Eadie, it became apparent that aside from the over $250,000 worth of equipment that Eadie cleared his books of with mass deletion requests, that this additional list was not the Health Department's.
With additional requests pending for Tech Services, and the Fire Department's inventory reports, I added the follow up questions (See Here.) of, "If not the Health Dept's, then whose equipment was on this list?" and "Why was it added into the middle of the Health Department's Reports?"
The first red flag is that Hedman, a dedicated employee felt compelled enough to file a complaint with the State Attorney for some odd reason. From my experience working with Hedman he proved himself to be a dedicated and proficient County employee who was diligent in his work duties accounting for inventory. Gleaned from all my public records request, it would appear that it was his efforts that began to bring several agencies into line and correct for their poor inventory management. To add to that assessment, in an October 14, 2010 letter to Clerk Danny Kolhage, Fire Chief James Callahan writes;
"I would like to personally apologize for the difficulties and our delinquency in completing our annual capital inventory, as well as our inability to resolve and reconcile previously noted discrepancies. I would also like to commend Mitch Hedman for his diligent patience and assistance with helping to resolve the issue."
Sounds like Hedman was a straight shooter, who was doing a good job to me. So why was he being forced to resign only days after sending our mystery list to the Fire Dept? Also, who was putting that pressure on him to resign? Hedman worked for County Clerk Danny Kolhage.
Further, why is this list being buried, and showing up in an assortment of odd places, and why I am being fed convoluted email exchanges versus concise reports detailing an annual reconciliation of inventory? Is this how the Clerk's Office maintains their inventory records? If so, we have a huge problem that could easily explain the ease with which the iPad scandal was perpetrated.
Finally, why won't the Clerk's Office respond to my direct questions as to whose inventory this represents, and what is the significance of the list of over $150,000 of equipment? On April 20th I again asked for additional clarification from Danny Kolhage and he has yet to respond. (See Here.)
As I have said before, in terms of value, this makes the iPad scandal look like a drop in the bucket, and County administrators should be jumping at the chance to offer explanations instead of intentionally confusing the issue. People only do that when they have something to hide.
Transparency, and Those That Obstruct it!
Candidates Echo Common Call - Show us the Money!
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - April 17, 2012
Hometown PAC put on another great event last night at Salute in Key West, providing the opportunity for candidates running for all offices to expose themselves... figuratively, thank goodness! Throughout the evening one common theme seemed to weave itself through the fabric of campaign rhetoric, and it was that of transparency.
Last night as a candidate for Clerk, I promised to work to place every County agency's line item budget online. Taxpayers deserve convenient fingertip access to see how every last penny is being spent. But I was not alone, as numerous other candidates referenced prying open budgets and providing the public access to financial documents.
This was great to see, considering the theme of this very blog Naked Conch is "Exposing the Keys, one shell at a time!" The call has to continue, and the public should be just as vocal as the candidates. This extends beyond budgets and finances, to inventory accountability, and even just being responsive to public inquiries.
The dark ages of deterring the public from gaining access to how their own resources are being allocated needs to come to an end. Administrators should not feel comfortable in charging for their own time to answer a simple public records request, such as I wrote about here when the Health Department did just that. (See Here.)
Nor should administrators feel comfortable letting public records requests languish without an explanation, as the Clerk's Office has been doing regarding providing me with inventory reports. (See Here and Here.) Especially after the County Inventory Clerk filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office about being pressured to resign as a result of trying to expose inventory issues! (See Here.) This was before the iPad scandal erupted. Go figure, no leaders can call for the abusers to resign, but somehow the guy trying to expose the problems back in 2011 was pressured to resign.
Part of transparency is being comfortable committing to answers in writing, and not using the old, "Give me a call, let's talk," as I wrote about when the Public Defender's Office did that in response to my inquires about statements Rose Enright made before the County Commission. (See Here.) Neither candidates, nor the public, should fear the ramifications of a well connected political machine being turned against them for making simple inquiries as to the allocation of the public's resources.
Questioning why we are paying rent for waterfront property (See Left) of the Public Defender is not an attack, or mean spirited. Neither is wondering why we are expanding that rental property when staffing has not increased, and the Key West attorney case counts are tremendously lower than Upper Keys offices where there is literally empty office space. This doesn't just constitute how much money is being spent, but also how taxpayer resources are being allocated. Is it fair to Public Defender clients in Marathon that their felony attorney handles three times the caseload of that of Key West attorneys? (See Here.) To date, Public Defender Rose Enright has refused numerous offers for her to come on my show on KONK broadcasting and discuss these issues. However, she freely admits before the County Commission to gaggles of laughing approval, that she is "working on the Sylvia Murphy lounge in her office right now." With taxpayer dollars of course, I guess that is transparency of some sort.
But again, it's great to see more candidates joining me to beat the drum of transparency, let's hope it continues. We need to move into a new age of enlightenment of the public to reduce the incidence of scandals such as the recent iPad debacle. Government administrators need to know that thousands of eyes from the public are easily observing the manner with which they run their agencies. Only then will we have true accountability to the taxpayers, and you don't need to be a CPA to tally those benefits!
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - April 17, 2012
Hometown PAC put on another great event last night at Salute in Key West, providing the opportunity for candidates running for all offices to expose themselves... figuratively, thank goodness! Throughout the evening one common theme seemed to weave itself through the fabric of campaign rhetoric, and it was that of transparency.
Last night as a candidate for Clerk, I promised to work to place every County agency's line item budget online. Taxpayers deserve convenient fingertip access to see how every last penny is being spent. But I was not alone, as numerous other candidates referenced prying open budgets and providing the public access to financial documents.
This was great to see, considering the theme of this very blog Naked Conch is "Exposing the Keys, one shell at a time!" The call has to continue, and the public should be just as vocal as the candidates. This extends beyond budgets and finances, to inventory accountability, and even just being responsive to public inquiries.
The dark ages of deterring the public from gaining access to how their own resources are being allocated needs to come to an end. Administrators should not feel comfortable in charging for their own time to answer a simple public records request, such as I wrote about here when the Health Department did just that. (See Here.)
Nor should administrators feel comfortable letting public records requests languish without an explanation, as the Clerk's Office has been doing regarding providing me with inventory reports. (See Here and Here.) Especially after the County Inventory Clerk filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office about being pressured to resign as a result of trying to expose inventory issues! (See Here.) This was before the iPad scandal erupted. Go figure, no leaders can call for the abusers to resign, but somehow the guy trying to expose the problems back in 2011 was pressured to resign.
Part of transparency is being comfortable committing to answers in writing, and not using the old, "Give me a call, let's talk," as I wrote about when the Public Defender's Office did that in response to my inquires about statements Rose Enright made before the County Commission. (See Here.) Neither candidates, nor the public, should fear the ramifications of a well connected political machine being turned against them for making simple inquiries as to the allocation of the public's resources.
But again, it's great to see more candidates joining me to beat the drum of transparency, let's hope it continues. We need to move into a new age of enlightenment of the public to reduce the incidence of scandals such as the recent iPad debacle. Government administrators need to know that thousands of eyes from the public are easily observing the manner with which they run their agencies. Only then will we have true accountability to the taxpayers, and you don't need to be a CPA to tally those benefits!
Superintendent Unable to View Line Item Budget
Could that be the reason we bounce from one financial crisis to another? Ya Think?
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - April 10, 2012
School Superintendent Jesus Jara took his dog and pony show to the Sugarloaf School yesterday evening for the second of five presentations to discuss the current fiscal year's budget challenges. After a powerpoint presentation in which he outlined previous years' budget reductions, discussed the habit of depleting reserves over the last few years, and offered the expected solution of eliminating FORTY teachers, he then turned the discussion over to the approximately sixty people in attendance.
What ensued in this quest for suggestions from the public could only be described as searching for a needle in a haystack...blindfolded. Let me tell you, finding needles by grasping at straws makes their discovery a bit...shall we say...painful. For instance, when accused of not having to pay for health insurance, Jara was quick to respond that he pays his own, however, there are still a few individuals in the system that don't contribute at all. When asked to eliminate supplemental pay for administrators, Jara suggested that they had done so... well except in a few small instances. When asked to reduce salaries in administration, Jara suggested that even reducing the pay of the top forty-four administrators would not solve the budget dilemma.
What seemed lost in the discussion to me was a clear explanation of how exactly we are spending our money. When challenged to explain how the money spent last year grew from an approved $78 million, to an actual $83 Million, Jara's response was a bit vague and confusing. Which begged the question, why isn't the public presented with a line-item budget, which would include last year's approved, last year's actual, and this year's proposed line items? That way, thousands of eyes could pour over the details, and perhaps those members of the public wishing to contribute ideas or suggestions for cost savings, could do so with all the information in front of them. Why can't we see exactly what Superintendent Jara looks at when he develops his proposed budget?
Apparently we can, and we do.
As shocking as it may seem, what is provided to the public is all that our School Superintendent has to look at as well. There is no comprehensive, collective line item budget or financial software that is available even to our School Administrators.
A few weeks ago I had a discussion with School Board Member Rob Smith-Martin whereby he expressed his challenges to obtain financial information. Last night I asked School Board Member Andy Griffiths if he could obtain a line item budget, and he said that he could, made a gesture that it is a huge stack of paper, and suggested that it wasn't easy to obtain.
So I asked the question to Superintendent Jara, why can't the public view a line item budget online, referencing as an example the ability to possibly see which administrator was being payed supplemental pay. Jara was quick to suggest he could and would have supplemental pay posted online in the morning. But I pressed on, I wasn't looking for an isolated response to an item found as a result of pulling my bloodied hand out of the haystack, I want to easily peruse the budget and see all the needles without having to discover them by sense of touch.
Again, Jara was quick to suggest that that is all available as well, and quickly pulled up what would be used at an upcoming School Board Budget workshop. However, what he displayed was still fairly generalized categories, and I pressed him to show me from the list a few examples such as who is getting supplemental pay, and how much a specific software costs. He admitted that he couldn't but suggested that I could find the technology budget on line.
I then stated that what I really wanted to see was exactly what Jesus Jara is able to review when he makes his proposals, I don't want to be forced to hunt and peck for information in a thousand different places, some of which I may or may not know exist. That's when I was given the bombshell. That is the ONLY way our school financial information is available, even to administrators. Jara suggested there was not an existing comprehensive budget system or document, and that creating one would cost $500,000, and we simply don't have the money.
That is like saying, "Hey, there isn't a steering wheel in this car, but we can just keep pressure on this accelerator thingy and we'll get someplace." Jara ultimately admitted that the $500,000 estimated cost associated with development of a system to consolidate a comprehensive budget would come from capital funding, a funding source that wouldn't strain the general fund annual budget, but appeared to still throw his hands up in the air as if it was impractical.
As I was leaving, a couple of members of the school audit and finance committee suggested that I should keep pressing for such a solution, as it is something that has frustrated them as well.
As a candidate for Clerk of Courts, I have said that transparency is a key element of my campaign. Placing agency line item budgets on line, available to public scrutiny, is one of the ways I would strive to develop that atmosphere of transparency. While I realize the Clerk's Office has no dominion over the School system, perhaps that is something that School Administrators should consider implementing as well, especially if they are taking the dog and pony show on the road seeking public input.
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - April 10, 2012
School Superintendent Jesus Jara took his dog and pony show to the Sugarloaf School yesterday evening for the second of five presentations to discuss the current fiscal year's budget challenges. After a powerpoint presentation in which he outlined previous years' budget reductions, discussed the habit of depleting reserves over the last few years, and offered the expected solution of eliminating FORTY teachers, he then turned the discussion over to the approximately sixty people in attendance.
What ensued in this quest for suggestions from the public could only be described as searching for a needle in a haystack...blindfolded. Let me tell you, finding needles by grasping at straws makes their discovery a bit...shall we say...painful. For instance, when accused of not having to pay for health insurance, Jara was quick to respond that he pays his own, however, there are still a few individuals in the system that don't contribute at all. When asked to eliminate supplemental pay for administrators, Jara suggested that they had done so... well except in a few small instances. When asked to reduce salaries in administration, Jara suggested that even reducing the pay of the top forty-four administrators would not solve the budget dilemma.
What seemed lost in the discussion to me was a clear explanation of how exactly we are spending our money. When challenged to explain how the money spent last year grew from an approved $78 million, to an actual $83 Million, Jara's response was a bit vague and confusing. Which begged the question, why isn't the public presented with a line-item budget, which would include last year's approved, last year's actual, and this year's proposed line items? That way, thousands of eyes could pour over the details, and perhaps those members of the public wishing to contribute ideas or suggestions for cost savings, could do so with all the information in front of them. Why can't we see exactly what Superintendent Jara looks at when he develops his proposed budget?
Apparently we can, and we do.
As shocking as it may seem, what is provided to the public is all that our School Superintendent has to look at as well. There is no comprehensive, collective line item budget or financial software that is available even to our School Administrators.
A few weeks ago I had a discussion with School Board Member Rob Smith-Martin whereby he expressed his challenges to obtain financial information. Last night I asked School Board Member Andy Griffiths if he could obtain a line item budget, and he said that he could, made a gesture that it is a huge stack of paper, and suggested that it wasn't easy to obtain.
So I asked the question to Superintendent Jara, why can't the public view a line item budget online, referencing as an example the ability to possibly see which administrator was being payed supplemental pay. Jara was quick to suggest he could and would have supplemental pay posted online in the morning. But I pressed on, I wasn't looking for an isolated response to an item found as a result of pulling my bloodied hand out of the haystack, I want to easily peruse the budget and see all the needles without having to discover them by sense of touch.
Again, Jara was quick to suggest that that is all available as well, and quickly pulled up what would be used at an upcoming School Board Budget workshop. However, what he displayed was still fairly generalized categories, and I pressed him to show me from the list a few examples such as who is getting supplemental pay, and how much a specific software costs. He admitted that he couldn't but suggested that I could find the technology budget on line.
I then stated that what I really wanted to see was exactly what Jesus Jara is able to review when he makes his proposals, I don't want to be forced to hunt and peck for information in a thousand different places, some of which I may or may not know exist. That's when I was given the bombshell. That is the ONLY way our school financial information is available, even to administrators. Jara suggested there was not an existing comprehensive budget system or document, and that creating one would cost $500,000, and we simply don't have the money.
That is like saying, "Hey, there isn't a steering wheel in this car, but we can just keep pressure on this accelerator thingy and we'll get someplace." Jara ultimately admitted that the $500,000 estimated cost associated with development of a system to consolidate a comprehensive budget would come from capital funding, a funding source that wouldn't strain the general fund annual budget, but appeared to still throw his hands up in the air as if it was impractical.
As I was leaving, a couple of members of the school audit and finance committee suggested that I should keep pressing for such a solution, as it is something that has frustrated them as well.
As a candidate for Clerk of Courts, I have said that transparency is a key element of my campaign. Placing agency line item budgets on line, available to public scrutiny, is one of the ways I would strive to develop that atmosphere of transparency. While I realize the Clerk's Office has no dominion over the School system, perhaps that is something that School Administrators should consider implementing as well, especially if they are taking the dog and pony show on the road seeking public input.
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