District 1 Town Hall Meeting Tonight

Our next town hall meeting will be held tonight, Tuesday September 29th at 6:00 PM at Beulah Elementary School, 6201 Helms Road, Pensacola, 32526.

Issues to be discussed this evening include:

--Growth Management, discussion on growth in NW Pensacola/Beulah area

--OLF 8/OLFX Land Swap with the Navy

--Traffic/roadway Improvements scheduled/contemplated for the area

--Budget Issues confronting the BCC (Including the Sheriff's Budget Issue)

--Jail Update

--Update on Mass Transit

--Library for District 1

--Beulah Fire Station Renovations

--Master Plan for Beulah

I look forward to meeting and hearing from interested constituents, and staff will be on hand to answer constituent questions as well.

Bi-Partisan Cooperation from U.S. Senators on Beulah Traffic Issues....

We received this letter today from the office of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D) Florida.  It is a joint statement of support signed by Sen. Nelson and Senator Marco Rubio (R) Florida.  This letter supports Navy Federal Credit Union's attempt to help with traffic issues in Beulah that are problematic for not only NFCU's employees--but also for citizens that live and work in the Beulah area.  I hope that this letter helps to cut through some of the red-tape and allows NFCU to help this part of Escambia County.  I'm very appreciative of the Bi-Partisan cooperation on this issue--and I am also very appreciative of NFCU's leadership for working hard to help!  See the letter, below.

Coffee With The Commissioner, 8-22-2017

Thanks to everyone who woke up early to attend this morning's Coffee with the Commissioner event at the Hardee's on Wilde Lake Blvd.

We had a great crowd of folks, and we discussed a broad range of issues--from the contentious budget to the trash outside on Wilde Lake Blvd.  We talked about the process for the county taking a roadway, we discussed who is responsible for cutting back vegetation that blocks "school zone" signs. We discussed street lights for Avondale, a traffic light at the Beulah Road/Mobile Highway Intersection, The Beulah Beltway project,  the OLF8 OLFX  land swap, and stormwater management issues.   We even  had several folks that just wanted to stop by to listen and say hello.

So, to all who participated, again I say thank you!

After hearing from all the folks in attendance, and after administrator Jack Brown spoke to the group, I discussed some upcoming projects for which I will advocate utilizing D1 discretionary funds:

1.  Shoulder improvements for Beulah Road, Klondike Road, Eight Mile Creek

2.  A Master Plan for Beulah

3.  A District 1 Library/Community Center/Senior Center

4.  An addition to the Beulah Fire Department to add bunk house and a kitchen facility.

5. Sidewalks on the west side

I reminded everyone about next Tuesday night's District 1 Town Hall meeting that will be at 6:00 at Beulah Elementary School.  I'm pretty confident we will have a good crowd for this upcoming meeting, and I look forward to it!

Budget 2017 Part II: What has Prompted the Attack on the BCC?

“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.“ Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions." S. Alinski

So I have gone into this budget with an open mind and with open eyes. I've done budgets for more than a decade, and the process so far as I can tell is moving along toward completion...... We have gone through a zero-based departmental review, and we have cut multiple positions and we have also shaved expenditures for outside, charitable entities (while not eliminating them entirely). Our employees are not slated to receive raises this year, and we are working on a plan to try to save money on our out-of-county inmate housing.  In short--we are trying to find ways to increase the ECSO budget.

But the process has now been made personal, regrettably.

I have stated that I want to work to see raises not just for LEOs, but also for dispatchers, corrections officers, EMT's, Fire Fighters, and Paramedics.  I value all first responders.  Would it be appropriate to find money for one group over the others?  I think not.

Although I have expressed a willingness to work cooperatively to find a compromise, this has been met with ridicule and condescension.

I have asked to meet with the sheriff after he initiated contact with me personally via a series of sarcastic text messages--and he has said NO.  I have asked him four times, in writing, and he has either ignored the requests, ridiculed them, or denied them by saying "I don't participate in futile efforts."

The sheriff has rebuked our Administrator's efforts to meet with him (as the BCC had directed) saying only "we'll see you in Tallahassee."  The sheriff has stated he will appeal his budget to the Governor unless the BCC fully funds his 8% year over year budget increase.  "All or nothing!" this is what we are hearing from the ECSO.

The BCC asked Jack to meet with the Sheriff to discuss a compromise......this (above) was the result....

(I personally do not believe such an appeal, if it occurs, will end successfully for ECSO should it actually be conducted; it is not like the People's Court where one side walks out with a verdict in a tidy, 30 minute process.....)  But this decision is totally up to the sheriff--it is his right to do this-I simply think working cooperatively to find a solution is the better route.

Maybe that is not possible this year though...

Lately, the BCC (and me personally) have been featured on billboards and on facebook videos--portrayed as people that do not value law enforcement, do not "like" the sheriff, do not understand the needs of the sheriff's office, and do not care about public safety.  We've been ridiculed, I've been called a "Bullshit Artist" on a radio program, been told I can't read, can't hear, don't "get it", can't find the nose on my face, etc. etc.

I truly want to work to make this year's budget work for everyone involved--but it's hard to do while

Budget 2017 Part I-The Lay of the Land

I've been a county commissioner for just over 8 months.  This is not my first trip to the budget rodeo, though.... been there and done that for a decade on the school board.  And we went through the recession and made tough choices when I served on that board-- we came out on the other side of the recession in 2011 and 2012 with bruises and cuts but otherwise we made it through.  In 2008-2009 we cut more than $40 million from the School District's budget-----2009-2010 was tough and 2010-2011 we got some relief from the Federal Government in the form of temporary stimulus money.  Through all of these ups and downs -- the school buses still ran, lunches were served, and students learned.  While I did not agree with every aspect of the budget decisions of those days, I'll say this:  Decisions were not always popular, yet disagreements were not personalized so far as I remember.

Fast forward to my new job as one member of the 5 person Board of County Commissioners.  It is dynamic, there are lots of moving parts, and we are responsible for setting the budget for not only our own organization, but we have a hand in setting the budgets for the other constitutional offices as well--to include the property appraiser, the tax collector, the supervisor of elections, the clerk of the courts, and the sheriff's office.  We have had initial budget workshops, multiple meetings, and administrator Jack Brown, as he is required to do, has presented the board with a balanced (tentative) budget.  The property appraiser's office and the tax collector's office budgets have statutorily dictated, formulaic budgets approved by State offices-so we exercise limited control over those budgets other than to fund them.  We have had no issues with those budgets, one is getting a very small increase (tax collector) and one will be receiving a modest increase of just over 4% (property appraiser).

The Clerk of the Courts and the Supervisor of Elections offices are both under our budgetary auspices and control, and both of these offices are receiving budget reductions this year of between 1-2%.  Neither of these offices is being funded for employee pay increases.  While nobody is happy-I have received no complaints from anyone (publicly or in emails) from either of these departments regarding their budgets for this year.

The Sheriff's office is a bit different. I'm still working out the best way to tackle this tough issue.  We work with the ECSO, based upon their budget request that is submitted yearly to the BCC, to fund their operations to a level that is adequate for them to carry out their constitutional, law enforcement functions.  For the past 5 years, the BCC has funded the ECSO with budgetary INCREASES averaging 4% yearly.  This has been adequate to allow for the BCC to fund the sheriff for 3% pay increases for deputies for the last 4 years running.  In addition to this, the ECSO has historically been the largest single recipient of LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) revenue--with the ECSO receiving $52+ million from this source over the last 10 year period.  This year, the ECSO has requested an 8% increase over what was requested and received last year.   8%!  This year, BCC employees have been

The Blame Game Part I

It is easy to place blame on others when things go sideways at any point within the criminal justice system

There have been lots of discussions in the county about how we can safely lower our jail's population to save taxpayer dollars, while simultaneously maintaining public safety as the highest priority.

I spoke with a panel of experts on the subject last month, and the video of that meeting is here.

I spoke honestly and candidly with the ACLU about this topic, and that video is here.

We have many individuals that linger in our jail for non-violent, low-level crimes, and we ought to be able to find a way to put such inmates on ankle monitors or pre-trial release to free up jail space for the truly violent offenders in our community.

But this requires teamwork.  More importantly, this will require that each entity that participates in this process works together---no chest beating, no grandstanding, and most importantly--no playing the blame game.

What is the blame game?

The blame game goes like this.  The police arrest the suspect, suspect is charged by the State Attorney and defended by the Public Defender.  Depending upon the severity of the crime, the suspect is either taken immediately to jail, released on his/her own recognizance, or the case is settled or not prosecuted by the State Attorney when it is brought before the judge.

The judges are the linchpin in the process--and they have the toughest job so far as I can tell.  The decisions they make can have life and death consequences---and Heaven forbid a judge gives a break to a seemingly non-violent offender who then while on pre-trial release re-offends with violence.  At this point it becomes "Open-Season" on such judges, and everyone piles on and the judges cannot respond due to ethics rules.

Recently in San Francisco, a young offender, with a prior felony arrest and conviction, was released just a week after being re-arrested for illegally possessing a weapon.  The judge in this case followed a locally developed protocol, but unfortunately she was given a faulty score which allowed this young man to go free.  Tragically, within a week this man committed a murder in conjunction with a botched robbery.  Now everyone in that case is in hiding and the public and the media want that judge's head on a stick.

Judges locally have been lambasted in the press for attempting to show compassion to offenders who show potential for turning their lives around.

Negative statements have publicly been made about judges that downward depart from State Attorney recommended sentences.

So, it seems that when there is no upside, no chance for rebutting inaccurate, false information about a case by judges when a jail release goes wrong--what chance do we really have to work with Judges that become the community's pinatas when a seeminly non-violent jail releasee commits a violent crime?

Let's face it:  It is easy for the Police to beat their collective chests and say "We arrested them multiple times--and the judges release them!"  (While simultaneously not mentioning that often the arrest and concomitant evidence becomes legally inadmissible due to procedural errors by such arresting officers)

It's easy for the State Attorney to "Throw the book at poor criminals" because that is popular and makes for spectacular, newsworthy press conferences when a harsh sentence is imposed.  (What is not discussed is the large number of cases the SA does not prosecute for a variety of reasons.  Another thing not to be discussed or even mentioned are the cases not pursued by the SA for various "reasons" some of which cases  focus on popular, locally elected politicians.  Even in cases where evidence of malfeasance in office is delivered on a silver platter--sometimes these cases never get properly investigated--they just get pushed aside--they simply do not make for good optics and nifty press conferences.....)

 It's easy to say the public defenders are overwhelmed and understaffed and are doing the best they can.

So there are a lot of things that are easy.  Playing the "Blame Game" is easy.  It is the status quo.

So how can we fix that?--we will discuss this in part II.

BCC's Jail Bid Award to be Protested....

The bid award for construction of Escambia County's new jail has been informally protested-- meaning the decision to ratify the board's action at last Thursday's COW will be stayed pending the completion of this protest process.  Step one is informal, with the director of purchasing and relevant staff hearing the facts of the case and the director of purchasing making a preliminary determination.  If the protest is dismissed at this level, step two (if the challenger wishes to appeal) involves hiring a special master to hear the case, with the special master's decision being brought to the BCC for their consideration/action at the next regularly scheduled meeting.  The BCC action on the special master's decision is the final step in the process, unless the losing party wishes to take the matter to circuit court--which is an option available after the BCC's process is completed.

Here is the email from the director of purchasing announcing the protest....

Notice of the meeting tomorrow (open to the public) is here...

Here is the email from Yates Construction protesting the bid award...