A Story that Must Be Told: Part I

Allegations have been made that a large group of volunteers were very
recently forced to resign from ECFR.  Disturbingly, it appears as if
ECFR personnel initiated unsolicited contact
with the volunteers' employer to express "concerns" for the safety
and well-being of these volunteers.  This led to a mass exodus of
capable and qualified volunteers.

"I am not into politics, I just want to serve the community while I am here.  What I am sharing with you are just the facts and so that's why I'm sharing them with you--because some things have happened that are not right and some of the other volunteers suggested I share this information with you and administrator Gilley." said the young man across from me with whom I had spoken over the telephone the day before..  "It's not right what they have done, and hopefully by letting the policy makers and the administrator know about this-- the issue can be fixed for the next group of volunteers." he said.

This young man, who asked to remain anonymous, will be leaving Pensacola this month.   He has been here over the last 11 months in training.  While here, his goal was to serve the community during his down-time as a volunteer firefighter with ECFR.  "Not only was I able to become certified between April of 2019 and September of 2019--I was able to get dozens of my counterparts to sign up to volunteer as well." he stated.  "I really enjoyed running calls with ECFR--let me be clear about that." he stated emphatically.

Beginning in September, upon his certification, he began to volunteer at Station 7 in Ferry Pass.  He was running calls and really enjoyed the opportunity to serve in this capacity while here.  "My family is out of state so instead of just going home each day after work, I wanted to do something for the community and becoming a volunteer firefighter was a great fit" he explained.

But this great situation came to a screeching halt in early January.

"Something changed and me and all the guys I recruited to serve with me were told we had to resign."

I asked, rhetorically, why?  Why in the world would ECFR try to push dozens of young, physically able and motivated volunteers to resign?  Why would they do this when we see on TV, in the PNJ, and online the trope of "we don't have enough volunteers" and "volunteers are not reliable?"

Then the young man went on to detail some cringeworthy anecdotes about the way he saw volunteers treated as the relationship soured between the paid firefighters and the volunteers.

"We would walk into (station 7) and be like 'hello gentlemen' and the career firemen that were there would not even look at us, they wouldn't even acknowledge our presence--maybe they might grunt-but they would not even look up at us." he stated.  "It got to a point where we didn't feel welcome or appreciated.  At one point, I was told I could not drive one of the vehicles, even though I had become fully qualified and was permitted to do so.  A supervisor with ECFR heard me on the radio and called down to the station to say 'you can't drive that vehicle.'   My volunteer chief went to bat for me, and they had it out over the phone.  It was pretty shocking and by the time they got it figured out and that I was entitled to drive this vehicle--I just wanted to go home for the day at that point."

"Several volunteers put in for transfers to other stations, but these requests were flatly denied."  he stated.

"I watched other volunteers, ones that are fully certified, be told they could not ride on trucks with the career crews." he said.

Eventually, many of the men that had volunteered did resign--but this particular young man would not.  That's where the story gets particularly concerning to me.  "Personnel from ECFR called my employer and my boss's boss to include the safety officer and expressed concern for my 'safety' if I continued to volunteer for the county on my 'free time.'"  he stated.  Then, I saw some of the same men who pushed out all my volunteers get on the news and say 'we are short on personnel'--which is total BS." he stated.

"I did not just do this without any thought at all---I had permission to do this from my direct supervisor.  But the fact that they called a higher-up to suggest me and my peers not volunteer--that was just too much to let slide-so that's why we are talking, that's what I want you to know before I leave.  I'm not in a position to challenge the higher-ups that are my bosses--but someone should find out why ECFR called them--I mean--riding a motorcycle to work is more dangerous.  Scuba diving is more dangerous.  There are a lot of things that are a lot more dangerous that me and my peers do."

"Will you look into this and fix it for the next group of volunteers?"  He asked me as we finished lunch.

Yes is the answer to that question.

Janice Gilley has been made aware of this incident, she has met and spoken to this individual, and she has engaged appropriate staff to launch an investigation into this matter.

Coming up in part II--other serious allegations of mistreatment of volunteers and a total curtailment of training opportunities that are preventing able and willing volunteers from earning certification to volunteer with ECFR.   All of this will be explored in depth, and we will get to the bottom of this.

Tomorrow Morning is our 31st Coffee with a Commissioner Event!

Tomorrow morning we will hold our 31st Coffee with a Commissioner event in District 1.  The public is welcome and encouraged to attend!

Tomorrow morning we will hold our 31st Coffee with a Commissioner event at 6:30 AM at the McDonalds Restaurant in District 1 at 5 S. Blue Angel Parkway, Pensacola Fl 32506 .

These  meetings allow for constituents to interact, ask questions, and provide feedback to me and staff in an informal, non-structured setting where all topics related to the county are open for discussion.

It is also a good opportunity for staff and I to provide updates on specific projects that are underway in the county--including budget issues, and other matters of importance.

With staff present at every coffee event we organize--we have been able to solve many minor issues for citizens on the spot.  Maybe we can help you, too.

We begin promptly at 6:30AM and we typically go an hour.

Also, I video the meetings so that those who cannot attend can watch the video of the meeting on facebook live.

I look forward to seeing you all there tomorrow morning

A Guest in our Neighborhood's Retention Pond...

Bell Ridge Forest in Beulah had an alligator in the retention pond on Sunday.  FWC will be coming out to remove and relocate him...

I got a text message early yesterday morning from a concerned resident of our subdivision Bell Ridge Forest in Beulah.  I get a lot of questions and comments from residents and citizens as a County Commissioner--but this one was a first!

One text message, partially in jest, said

"We have an un-welcomed guest in the holding pond.....alligator.  Any idea who I can call within the county to get it removed?"

"Another resident sent this  "Have you seen the 6-foot alligator at our duck pond?  What should we do about it?  Go look at it."

Obviously these are a native species in our area--but this time of year and in this location it seemed kind of odd.  15 years living in this subdivision and I have never spotted an alligator in our pond.  Several residents, myself included, went out to look at this alligator and take pictures.

I emailed Chips Kirchenfeld and Janice Gilley at the county about the issue.  I heard back very quickly and the information was given to the residents.  FWC hires trappers that will come in and remove/relocate nuisance alligators--they are the entity that needed to be contacted

I anticipate at some point later this morning or today the trappers will come to the neighborhood to remove the alligator--estimated by one resident who took close-up photos to be between 5-6 feet long.

Hopefully they'll take him someplace where he can live out the remainder of his days--safely away from people in neighborhoods.

We are Going to #OpenOurBeach

With Thursday's vote to move forward with funding $228,000.00 for construction from the County's TDT funds (Tourist Development Tax)--we are finally moving forward with the construction phase of the project that will eventually enable us to---- finally----- #OpenOurBeach at access #4 in Perdido Key!

After 7 long years and lots of gnashing of teeth, obstructions, delays, and threats--we're finally doing what we said we would do for the citizens.

It was great to have a unanimous vote to do this--even in the face of feckless, specious arguments from two persons at the meeting who gave disingenuous, opaque reasoning for holding off on doing this.

The time for holding off is officially over.  The time for action is now.

Next up--completion of a report from UWF's Haas Center illustrating the nexus between this project and tourism--which will allow for the use of these hotel tax dollars to construct this access.

After this, an affirmative vote of the Tourism Development Council (TDC) will be required for expenditure of TDT monies in support of this project.  I preferred to eliminate all uncertainty and to fund the entire project utilizing LOST funds that we have generated from the recent sale of nearly 100 acres of OLF 8 to Navy Federal Credit Union.

But the board did not support this and instead we will go the TDT funds route and see how far $228,000.00 gets us toward completion of this access.

Once completed--this access point will accommodate 34 parking spaces and provide a "Mobi-Mat" walkway from the parking lot down to the dunes which will allow access to the water by emergency vehicles if/when necessary.  These Mobi-Mats also allow access to the beach for/by citizens with disabilities that find themselves confined to a wheelchair.

And last but not least--the opening of this access point and development of this site will insure that the sensitive areas of the dunes system on the property are properly fenced off with signage added describing the protected wildlife in these areas and advising visitors to "keep-out" of these areas.

Right now, no such signage or fencing exists--- and folks currently trample all over the dunes unobstructed, leaving rubbish, disturbed dune vegetation, and disturbed habitat in their wake.

For 7 long years this pristine, 330 foot of Gulf access has been kept from the citizens that bought it--behind a locked gate and "no trespassing" signs.

But with Thursday's vote--that all changed.

And once open--this parcel and the adjacent 200' of beach owned by the Crab Trap restaurant will combine to give area citizens a brand new 500+ foot beach area to utilize free of charge.

This is a fantastic win for all citizens, what a profound turn of events this is.

We are now going to #OpenOurBeach!

Another Layer of Scrutiny Is Needed

Is there another layer of additional scrutiny that we can apply to folks who construct infrastructure to insure the county and residents don't have big bills to pay and problems years after such infrastructure is constructed?  The answer is YES. 

One of the things I mentioned in last Thursday's Committee of the Whole Meeting was that we need more scrutiny applied to the projects that are built and that we allow to be permitted.

I was pleased that one of my counterparts agreed that this is necessary.  It is necessary.

We need to enforce our codes and be fair to builders---and we are---but we have to make sure all ordinances are followed and things permitted are built as designed.

Otherwise, we will continue to have unintended consequences that homeowners and the county will have to address.

From stormwater ponds not built according to the way they were designed and permitted, (look at the issues in Beulah last week) to lift stations that fail costing residents hundreds of thousands of dollars, to platted subdivisions that are not graded according to plan and cause flooding on surrounding properties--we are racing from crisis to crisis fixing these issues that are symptomatic of a larger problem:  insufficient oversight and scrutiny of the projects that are permitted once they are built.

I recently had lunch with a contractor locally who has a well-regarded, established company doing construction and maintenance throughout the southeast.  He has about 60 employees and his company is wildly successful.  "Jeff, we build a retaining wall and we follow the rules.  We get the permit, we build it as it is designed--but nobody comes to verify that we built it according to the specifications of the engineer of record.  It just gets signed off, and nobody comes to look at it.  They would not even know what to look for if they did come out" he stated flatly.  "The county should make the engineer of record on these projects sign an affidavit stating they inspected the project after construction and that it has been built according to the plans." 

I like that idea, and we are going to look at doing just that.

1. County staff scrutinizes plans to insure they meet code.
2. Approval is sought and obtained to construct
3. County inspects items built
4. Engineer of record signs off that what was built matches what was submitted to county
5. If post construction-issues arise based upon faulty/flawed construction--builder and engineer of record will be called to task

The problems that we are facing today are self-inflicted.  We have allowed things to be built, land to be cleared, and subdivisions to be platted where the grading plans have not been followed--and now we are scrambling to pick up the pieces. When we have to come up with solutions for homeowners who have faced tremendous issues with improperly constructed infrastructure in subdivisions that affect nearby homeowners-this is problematic and it should NOT be a regular, recurring situation.

Sadly-----it has been.

So we have to do better.  And we will.

I'll be bringing a plan to address this issue.

How Will We Pay to #OpenOurBeach ?

Beach Access #4 has been locked and off-limits to the public for the last 7 years since the county paid just over $3Million to acquire this parcel for habitat conservation and public access.  We have done the work, we have the plan, and I have identified a source to complete the project.  It is time for us, finally, to #OpenOurBeach.  

Some folks have speculated on the "how" question.

Now that the Restore Act Project has been pulled back, in order to use restore act funds to #OpenOurBeach at Perdido Key Beach Access #4 we would have to start from scratch, build a new project, vet it, take public comment, and re-submit it to the US Treasury.  That could be an option, but that would take too long.

We could always seek to utilize TDT funds (hotel tax monies)--however that would also be a circuitous process, as the law changed in 2018 and now any infrastructure-related expenditures of these funds require a study indicating the tourist related impact necessitating the expenditure.   Additionally, the law requires that the local Tourist Development Council bless any such expenditure.  So this could happen, but again it would be a long process.

General fund dollars could always be used--but even I would not support expenditure of general fund dollars for this project.

So this really leaves few options for this funding.  LOST IV is already overspent for the first 4 years and there are no residual funds from LOST III that could be used.  This I confirmed with the budget and finance office yesterday.

But after going through multiple sources and scenarios, I finally came to a funding source that is available, unallocated, and ready for utilization.

"These funds would be an allowable source to fund the Perdido Key Beach Access Project"  Said attorney Alison Rogers yesterday evening when I asked her about this funding source in particular.

"There are more than enough funds there to do this if the board directs it" said Stephan Hall when I asked him about this specifically in my weekly conference call yesterday evening.

I intend to discuss this funding source this morning during our Committee of the Whole when we discuss this project.

We will #OpenOurBeach!

Thursday: An Update on the Progress to #OpenOurBeach

Condo Owners near the County's 330 foot parcel of Beachfront property in Perdido Key next to the Crab Trap Restaurant love to use our beach as their own "private" beach.  They even advertise it!  Now that we're going to #OpenOurBeach--this group of condo owners is doing everything they can to try to stop us.  They like it just the way it is, because it is a comfortable status quo for them.

This Thursday morning we will have our monthly committee of the whole meeting.  This week one of the items on the agenda is a 15 minute item from Tim Day in Natural Resources about the current status of our plan to #OpenOurBeach access point in Perdido Key next to the Crab Trap.

This 330' parcel directly the Gulf of Mexico was purchased by the county 7 years ago for habitat protection and public beach access.

But special interests have fought us tooth and nail over the last several years as the county began the plans to finally open this site to the public.  They have fought us in court and as the county ran this project through the development review process.

The entire sordid history of this can be reviewed here

The backup for this Thursday's discussion is empty.  What I fear is that those who are opposed to opening this access, along with their acolytes, will attempt to "scare" the full BCC into paralysis on this project.  They will urge us to "wait" to build this access until "the court case is finalized." (this could be pushed out forever in an attempt to stymie the opening of this access to the public)

I am of the belief that we don't have to wait.  We have checked the boxes and we have done our planning.  We have a nice sketch of what we can build and we are ready to go.  So I asked our attorney about what it is that could potentially shut us down, and the conversation went a little something like this:

JEFF B:  "Absent a dispositive ruling from the circuit court (i.e if there is another judge rotation, or no action is taken, or the plaintiffs push this out with additional motions or requests for continuance-- and the case is just languishing there) -----is there anything preventing the county from moving ahead with construction of the improvements provided we follow the DRC process and settle/resolve any appeals from that process.  Or to put it another--- way: Is there anything in either of these processes that would prevent us from moving forward with construction of the improvements prior to the final dispositions of any appeals to the circuit court?"

ALISON R:  "At this time, there is no requirement that we stop.  Anything we do is at our own risk.  The DRC was last Wednesday and there is a 15-day window for a potentially aggrieved party to appeal that to the BOA.  They haven’t appealed it yet.  There is some concern about other parties (such as environmental groups) becoming interested in what is going on there, but that is speculative at this time.  They might be more interested in federal causes of action."

JEFF B:  "That is what I thought.  So, if we let the court process and other outside interested parties’ potential suits work their way out on one track, and we build the access on another track, ----- wouldn’t it take a judge’s ruling to force us to remove improvements once we had completed them and opened the access point?  Wouldn’t that be the only mechanism any aggrieved party would have at that point, once the access was built?"

ALISON R:  "Or an injunction prior to completion"

JEFF B:  "A hypothetical:  If we built it out and it was being used by the public prior to the final disposition of the case (s) in circuit court, and if after it was open the judge ruled in favor of the condo owners and against the county----------would the access park have to be shuttered pending an appeal or could the park remain open while the county’s appeal of the judge’s ruling went forward to the first DCA?"

ALISON R:  "I think most likely that would be true.  It is possible that some unexpected order or outcome could happen, but almost positive it would stay until final resolution."