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| Most people don't want to know what goes into the sausage dog they are enjoying at the BBQ--because making sausage is messy, it's a lot like politics. |
The Escambia Board of County Commissioners recently settled the sheriff's budget appeal for 2018, and now that this is behind us, all of the transcripts of our 7 shade meetings related to this matter are a public record.
Yesterday afternoon, board members received the following email from attorney Alison Rogers:
"Commissioners,
Just a note to let you know that Jim Little of the PNJ requested and has now received copies of all seven of the Sheriff’s budget appeal shade meetings.
Alison"
So this means within the next couple of days, one or more news articles will appear, and more than likely some of the more choice exchanges from these transcripts will be published void of the context that generated the exchanges. In an effort to get ahead of this, I will be publishing all of these transcripts, in their entirety, so citizens can read them for themselves if they so choose--.
It is like the old saying, these deals are like "making sausage"--it's messy, stuff goes in, stuff comes out, and most people "don't want to know" how the sausage was made. The internal deliberations of the sheriff's staff will never come out--so in some respects this is not fair. But oh well, at least we got the deal done and we have a 4-year deal. Case Closed.
But because we are a public body, subject to open meeting laws, all of our private deliberations are now fair game for those who want to look. So I'm releasing the final three transcripts from March and April of this year. They are here, here, and here. Bon Appetit! (and full disclosure--I wouldn't publish these if they weren't going to be coming out in dribs and drabs void of context in the media in the days and weeks ahead...)
6 comments:
Thank you for posting this, I also think it is important as an informed citizen to look over the entire transcript and not rely upon a snippet of gossip. I respect what must go into having to make these decisions.
One takeaway is in Florida the Constitution places too much power in the position of Sheriff. That should be addressed as as whole through out the state. There are not appropriate checks and balances in place. Even here as a small snap shot, you think the public is giving you the BCC a snapshot of their opinion on social media. false. Most know this dept is corrupt and working with an inverse pyramid of pay scale and that their public out cry was nonsense. We were counting on you.
Will the Attorney General Pam Bondi be issuing an opinion about the LETF now that this is settled? Still don't see why this budget was approved after reading these transcripts.
If you notice the facebook site ( As you seem to think that's where public input comes in from) some one still thinks the commission is out of touch, with this sheriff deal -- obviously they didn't read the transcripts, no way I am getting on there with 6000 other idiots. (Or are they trolling so the corrupt cops come and silence us) But at the same time disappointed that you all paid in anyway and with your own words say it's political and want him out of your hair for four years concerned about re election even the county attorney knows it won't put more the the streets because of the climate of laziness and BLM and cops getting shot and Escambia so high crime rate, can't make it out of school... Even the commissioner with the most crime does not want arrests in his district..For crying out LOUD!! WTH?? Chip Simmons will be quiet too for his election. I need a hero!! Steve Barry understood it well. Some of us still read between the lines..but what do We do about it?? Emissary-- Mr Sunshine?? Give me a freaking break, where is Carl Haaisen when we need him?
Anonymous 2:21--If you read the transcripts then you know there was much thought, deliberation, give and take, and negotiation put into coming to a consensus as a board on how to settle this appeal. I think it is pretty clear from those transcripts where I stood; we should have gone with the first proposal that was signed--that was a better deal. I, too, hate that politics was injected but unfortunately that was important to some in the room, and politics does play into decision making when we are subjected to unfair and constant attacks online, on tv, on billboards, on the radio, etc. etc. This deal that was finally passed, as flawed as it is/was, still represents our best effort at a compromise. We worked hard to get a 4-year deal done for the men and women of the ECSO, not for the Sheriff. He will be gone in a couple of years but many of the men and women who will benefit from this deal will still be here--and I am glad they will get better pay. The men and women who work in the field and have to deal with the dysfunctional society we live in today--those who do that work deserve to be compensated better. And now they will be.
Yes the transcripts do make it clear and yes much thought was put into it and you Chairman Bergosh were the hero through out the summer. To watch how much politics DO come into play and the strong arm negotiations revealed are educational. It truly is an eye opener into the inner workings of what makes things tick. You definitely were for the first deal, to carefully read these and digest them is an education in government and yes politics. The more I learn the more complicated I see it is actually. I wonder many people take the time to ponder this or still just lash out with a preconceived notion. I also am sure you are learning things daily. It's easy to just take a side and stand your ground but it takes a lot of work to actually process all this. I was shocked that the other commissioners had not seen the W2 that you posted. Just goes to show the five are not all knowing -- all the time, so I may still provide a bit of input. Thank you for your work on this. I appreciate your tenacity..I hope the front line deputies WILL get compensated and vacancies filled for the ones on the street..Made a few admins and redundancies will atrophy but there are not checks and balances in that constitutional position which could be addressed at a higher level in Florida legislature in the future. And as we know opinions are like..well you know...lol "you know"
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