Fallen Redwood.........Something Not Revealed is NOT Something UnKnown

If the redwood falls in the forest and nobody is shown the video--trust me it still made a loud, crashing, and violent noise as it fell...... 

There is a saying we have all heard.....  If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it make a sound?

Obviously the answer is simple:  Of course that redwood made a loud, crashing sound as it fell....

But if nobody wants to know about it, and nobody was there to hear it, and nobody is shown the video-- it is easy to sell folks on the idea that it made no sound---- right?.

Answer:  NO

I purposely, late last Friday on a holiday weekend, submitted paperwork to run for re-election to  my current office on the board of county commissioners.  I love my job and I thank God daily for his blessing bestowed upon me that has allowed me to serve my neighbors in District 1 first on the school board and now on the county commission.

But I also do have one eye on our local schools. I worry about the direction we are going.....

Just two weeks ago, a poll was conducted regarding the position of school superintendent for our local public schools.  I did not request this poll, nor did I pay for it.

I did not publish the results once I got them two weeks ago, BUT neither  did anyone else.

I'm publishing them right now though.  Right here, right now, below.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY BY CLICKING "READ MORE" BELOW, LEFT..

Lack of Follow-Through on Board Action and Votes Part I: Two Issues, Separate but Uncannily Similar

When the Board of County Commissioners makes a vote, the action behind that vote should be respected, and the action should be taken as quickly as possible.  That is the way a normal board functions.

Even if the vote is fractured, once the vote is taken, the vote is the vote.  That's the way our representative form of government works in our Constitutional Republic.

Look no further than the Kavanaugh confirmation from just yesterday.  A fractured, broken U.S. Senate took a vote, a nomination barely passed, and yet Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in a mere two hours later.  Say what you want about the brokenness of DC--but once that decision was made, it was consummated at light-speed.

Because that's the way it should work--even if you are a politician on the losing end of a tough vote...

And I know what it feels like to be on the bottom of a losing vote.  It's no fun.

When I was on the school board for many years, I was on the bottom of a lot of votes.  For example--I voted against our brand new middle school being built in Beulah, because I knew we didn't need it  (we have excess capacity district-wide at the middle school level and a decreasing overall enrollment-trend in Escambia's public schools), and we needed another elementary school in Beulah, not a middle school.

I also knew this would result in busing students from way outside of Beulah into Beulah--and I supported (and still support) neighborhood schools, not social engineering and busing of students from miles and miles away to meet enrollment demographic targets.   I lost that vote, and that middle school was built.  And everything I predicted would happen, did happen. C'est la vie.....

But at least that action went forward.  A vote was taken and the action moved forward.

Because in order to function, once the vote is taken --board action must be respected and enacted forthwith!

Now that I am on the Board of County Commissioners,  I see issues where previous board votes, action, and direction are not being honored but rather they are being delayed, watered-down, and/or drastically modified after critical votes have been taken.

Obviously, the board can change course if they so choose.  This is a given and it comes with its own set of problems (i.e. if the board changes course abruptly, on multiple fronts, at multiple times--the board could appear to be wishy-washy, indecisive,  or even feckless) This is not good.....

Two issues I can think of (both of which were voted on and funded multiple times before I even joined the board) that illustrate this phenomenon are the public beach access at Perdido Key and the Jobs Creation Project at OLF 8.

Perdido Key Beach Mouse Habitat and Public Beach Access ---property was purchased in 2013 for $3.1 Million dollars with the purpose of creating protected beach mouse habitat  AND for providing Public Beach access.  To  date, the board's vote on that matter has not been followed;  we

Marlette Manipulation 6.0: Reptilicus Ridiculous....

Andy Marlette from the PNJ has a cartoon out today that I believe is based upon a story from last week where a snake was rescued at Pensacola Beach.  Initially, it could not be identified.  Eventually, it was identified as a rattlesnake.

So today, he published a cartoon with a play on that story and I was featured on it as well, with some unflattering descriptions. Within one week's time, I'm lampooned as two separate animals.

I'm just trying to cut through the BS and get a public beach access opened, and for that I'm featured in a cartoon?!?

  I think there are better ways to do this cartoon if we want to talk about snakes, so I went ahead and re-did his cartoon to make it much more apropos.

Who can identify the real beach snakes of Escambia County?

What Do Other Medical Examiners Around the State Make?

We've been paying our Medical Examiner nearly 3-times what the average Medical Examiner in Florida makes.....this is ending

This evening the BCC will vote on a stop-gap spending plan to fund our Medical Examiner (ME) for an additional 60 days.

This stems from some recent tension between the counties of the First Judicial Circuit and the the ME's office over pay for our Medical Examiner, which a recent audit revealed was nearly $800,000.00 per year under our previous arrangement.

Last week, the ME threatened to abruptly shut down operations over this pay issue.  So we are working a temporary solution until we complete the circuitous process to bring a new ME aboard--which requires the Governor to approve based upon some statutory requirements.

We're being asked to fund a little over $60,000.00 dollars tonight (which equates to two months' worth of payment toward our 46% share of the ME's Circuit-wide salary budget [nearly $900K] under the previous salary arrangement)

Okaloosa County voted Tuesday NOT to do this.

Instead, Okaloosa County agreed to fund its pro-rata share of a reduced salary level of $450,000.00 total circuit-wide.  Okaloosa's two month share under this proposal is just under $20,000 dollars.

Tonight I plan to follow suit with Okaloosa County and move we fund just two months' worth of our share (46%) of the same $450,000  salary level--$34,500.00 (over and above our 2-month share of the fixed costs.)

If we fully fund the percentage based on the previous salary level, in essence we will be subsidizing Okaloosa County; they would be receiving the same services at a much lower cost--which I do not support.

The 20 Judicial Circuits in Florida

The Medical Examiner, under the current structure makes nearly $800,000.00 yearly, which is too high for a public servant making a public wage.  This salary is DOUBLE the salary of the President of the United States, and 5 times what our Superintendent of Schools makes.  It is 4 times what our State Attorney and our County Administrator make.  It is too much.

Public employees should make a public wage, not private sector wages.  When someone from the private sector comes to work for the public sector, the wage is lower (e.g. Lawyers that make multi-million dollar salaries in private practice make just over $200,000.00 to serve as Federal Judges, The Governor who made Millions yearly in the private sector makes just $140,000 yearly in salary as the Governor of the state.)

This is public service, paid for by taxpayers.

And, as illustrated below, the average Medical Examiner statewide makes but a third ($285K) of what our ME has been making in salary.  This is going to change, we have to fix this, and I believe we will.

The average ME in the state makes about $285,000.00 yearly.  Ours up here in the panhandle makes nearly $800,000.00 per year...

Traveling Car Sales Drawing Scrutiny from Established Local Dealerships

I've been told there are travelling car salesmen setting up temporary, fly-by-night car "lots" at University and Cordova Malls, undercutting local dealerships and dumping "lemons" in our community to unsuspecting buyers.  Time for the BCC to look into an ordinance on this like every other Florida County already does....

I received an interesting call today from a local car dealer.

Apparently, there are groups of car salesmen from out of state and from South Florida coming up to Pensacola and opening temporary, short-term car sales operations in our local mall parking lots.

"Jeff, these groups are coming up here and dumping cars on our citizens and skipping town" he said, somewhat exasperated.

"Many of these cars are defective, and once these folks leave town, the buyers get stuck with these cars.  I have seen this, cars with bent frames and cars damaged in the floods." he continued.  "Locals bring this in to our dealership, and we often have to give them the bad news--the car is a salvage and not repairable"

In our conversation, he told me most, if not all, other counties in our state do not permit these sorts of fly by night sales.  He said he would send me additional information and I told him I would support some regulations to curb these sorts of practices, if such ordinances are not in contravention to state law.

I did not know this was an issue, glad I got the call.  If we need to put a stop to this, I'll bring an ordinance to do so very quickly. 

We don't want lemons being dumped in Escambia County!

What Will OLF 8 Master Planner Come Up With?

What will this big field look like, what will be built here on this property.....we will soon hire a planner to help us with this...

This Thursday, the Escambia Board of County Commissioners will be voting on a staff-developed RFP for hiring a firm to master plan OLF 8.

The draft of the RFP criteria is pictured below.

I'm primarily interested in the economic component and achieving highest and best use for the taxpayers.  I'm also going to lobby for inclusion of our current Triumph Application as a part of the RFP so the planner knows we are in the running for $30 Million if we can simply create a minimum of an additional 700 good jobs with this property.

Should be a good discussion Thursday, glad we are moving this forward.

CLICK THE RED "READ MORE", BELOW LEFT, TO VIEW PAGES 3,4, and 5

On WCOA this morning

I'll be on WCOA later this morning discussing public beach access and the recent issues surrounding the salary dispute between the Medical Examiner's Office and the four counties of the First Judicial Circuit.

Listen to the podcast here.