It's Official: We're Out of the Lawsuit--the Other 4 Escambia County Commissioners Are........Underhill Remains in the Litigation, Though

It's official, it's now been put into an order signed by Federal  Judge Casey Rogers.

The other 4 Board Members are out of the lawsuit over Commissioner Doug Underhill's public records.

Attorneys for Commissioner Underhill did not file anything in response to this past January's board adopted settlement agreement with the plaintiff, apparently, and subsequently the judge in the case entered an order.

Good.

See the Order from yesterday afternoon, below.

How Did the Beulah D1 Townhall Audience Feel About Various Topics?

Instant "Polling" of a town hall audience:

Yes, it is probably completely unscientific.

Yes, it is probably not statistically valid at all.

Nevertheless--It does give me a sense of where those that are concerned about local issues are leaning on particular topics of interest to District 1 Escambia County Residents.  

And there are some striking commonalities between the audience responses in both of my recent town halls.  

--100% agreement on term limits for all politicians.  

--100% agreement on Sheriff as person who should run the jail.  

--100% agreement on economic development as a valuable function of the county commission.  

--100% DISAGREEMENT on the statement that "The Pensacola News Journal"  is in step with our community's values....

Lots of areas of agreement.

So, even with the structural shortcomings of such an instant opinion poll--there is value in it and there is a viewpoint that I glean from these sessions.

With that in mind-----see the below sheet for how the residents at the Beulah town hall last night felt on each topic:

Florida Power and Light Representatives Speak at Last Night's D1 Townhall in Beulah

Although it is an issue that the Board of County Commissioners does not control--I know citizens are frustrated and concerned about the rate hikes from Florida Power and Light.  I've received irate (and that is the censored version) phone calls and emails from constituents I serve wanting answers and information.  

So I invited representatives from Florida Power and Light to attend last night's District 1 townhall in Beulah.  And Rick Byars, Becca Boles, and Sandy Sims from Florida Power and Light came and discussed this very issue at length with the citizens and staff who attended the town hall.

For those who missed the event or who are interested in seeing the questions and answers, the video of the town hall is linked, below.  (FPL rate discussion begins at minute 35:00)

On "Real News with Rick Outzen" later this Morning on 1370 WCOA-the Area's #1 News Talk Station!

I'll be the 7:30 guest this morning on the area's #1 news talk station, 1370 WCOA and the morning drive's #1 rated morning news program--"Real News with Rick Outzen"

I'll be the 7:30 AM guest later this morning on the area's #1 rated news and information show in the morning drive hour--"Real News with Rick Outzen" on 1370 WCOA--the area's #1 local news/talk radio station.

Topics to be discussed will include a recap of last week's meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, upcoming events of interest to county residents, and the District 1 Town Hall meeting this evening at 5:30 PM at Beulah Middle School.

Tune in live later this morning  OR

Catch the podcast here (once it is released it will be posted)

Going to County Jail: Facility Condition is Unacceptable and Will Be Addressed

As I enter my 6th year as the District 1 member of the Board of County Commissioners--I have now had multiple visits to our Jail.  Our new one, and the old (but still utilized) one.

Yesterday, I went to jail again.

I spent nearly three hours there, touring the facilities with a number of staff members.

I went to phase I and II of the old jail, and then we walked through the new facility.  All over it.

Given the recent focus on safety, facility, and staffing issues--I felt it was past time to go and look over the situation again, firsthand.

While we have concentrated on and continue to work on the personnel side of the jail woes issue--it is past time for us to focus on the maintenance and facilities side of the problem.  Because what I saw was and is, in a word, unacceptable.

From mold growing on walls in multiple rooms, to cracked floors leaking and fixtures coming out of the walls, to cracked windows that have gone unreplaced, to a rustic and odd "McGuyver" roof leak system that is failing in multiple rooms, to a sink that has had the hot water running, I am told, nonstop for a year that goes unrepaired.

"Tickets are put in to maintenance, then they are closed and come back as 'having been repaired' --yet the problems are not fixed" stated one of the escorts when I asked why these issues had not been addressed by maintenance crews.

The only good news is that the worst areas that I saw, with the worst of the worst conditions, are not currently occupied by staff or prisoners.  But there are areas occupied that are substandard, borderline unacceptable.

In our brand new, $142 Million Dollar jail--one of the three elevators is already inoperable, the pipes are leaking like a sieve, and we have significant issues already brewing that are apparently not being fixed.  This cannot be the course we take, lest we have what we now see with our last facility.

The original jail was built in 1981.  Phase II in 1984.  Both are in an absolutely abyssimal state of repair at the present time so far as I can see.  If I had my way--we would immediately demo that structure and start plans for a new wing for addition to the new jail.

But it isn't that simple.  

We don't have that luxury as we simply have too many prisoners; our new correctional facility cannot accommodate the 1500 or so prisoners we have day in and day out.  It can hold just over half of that number.

And there are other issues as well.

We have a brand new jail that has several pods complete and ready for use--but due to manpower shortages, they are not being utilized currently.  You see, at the old jail the efficiency with respect to guard to prisoner ratio was and is better than twice as good juxtaposed with the new facility--meaning the old jail takes less staff to operate than the new, modern, expensive facility.

And that is diametrically opposed to what the board members were told as the new facility was being designed.  All of us requested design for efficiency--less staff and fewer FTE's to operate.  We all wanted efficiency. What we got was, well, less than half as efficient as the OLD jail.  More on that later in a follow on post.

But it's not all bleak, and there are some bright spots.  Our intake area and sallyport are first rate.  We have technology that scans new prisoners for contraband, and it works.  We have a dog I met named Spartan who is specifically trained to sniff out electronics and contraband.   And finally, we have people--lots of good people that work at this facility and care about it.  These are the bright spots.  But, unfortunately, there are problems, too.  Lots.

So who is to blame for this cascade to facility failure?  The easy targets would be the current staff and administration.

But they inherited a problem that has been percolating for, apparently, 3-4 decades.  Staff turnover and attrition has exacerbated the problem over the last 10 years.  It has festered.

So the blame has to fall on us--the elected commissioners.  We have to own it.

And we have to solve it.  

And we will.

That is going to start with some frank, behind the scenes conversations with staff about our maintenance program at this

facility over the last 20 years.  Why have tickets been allowed to be closed when the problems at issue are not solved?  Who allowed this?  We can spend a fortune in taxpayer money on building something nice--but if it is not maintained properly it will not last and will end up costing more in the long run.  Someone will have to provide me an explanation about this maintenance ticket churning.

And then it is going to require an action plan to fix these issues immediately and appropriately so that the usable portions of our large and aging facilities can be occupied once again.  And so that areas that are currently occupied but are in a deplorable state of repair can be, at a minimum, remediated to a point where occupation of such spaces isn't akin to a punishment of our staff.

I'm meeting with staff tomorrow and this topic will be an intense area of my focus going forward.

Action plan, cost, timeframe to operability.  

That's what I want, that's what I'll demand from staff.  

And to the corrections employees working through this facility's dysfunction I say this:  You have my sincerest apology for this, thank you for your service to our community, and I promise you there is going to be change.  It's coming.

more to follow.

What Questions will I Poll the Audience With at Tonight's Town Hall Meeting?

As I typically do during my town hall meetings, I ask the audience their opinions on various topics of interest to the citizens and constituents of Escambia County.  Not necessarily scientific, It is always very interesting.  Here are the questions, below, that I intend to ask at tonight's D1 Townhall in Beulah.

Facts about the County's Franchise Fees.....they're Capped and Have NOT been Increased in Nearly 30 Years

The county charges utility providers franchise fees.  The rates have been static for nearly 30 years.  The fees are charged to utility providers in exchange for such providers' use of the various public rights of way needed by these companies to service their customers.  This practice is ubiquitous throughout the state and in counties throughout the country.  Moreover, it is an important revenue source for the county.

Unlike the city of Pensacola--our County's rates are derived as a percentage of the utility commodity utilized by the consumer--currently 5% of the bill, capped at $10.00.

The rate paid by utility consumers within the city limits of Pensacola are 6% of the utility commodity utilized--without any cap on the total amount.

This distinction is important.

It means, in a nutshell, that the recent utility bill spike in FPL bills that is hurting individuals is much more acute in the city of Pensacola---as their franchise fee increases proportionately as the bills increase (according to staff familiar with this matter)---whereas in the county this fee is capped at $10--regardless of how high a bill gets we are capped for a residential customer at $10.

In 2012, the county commission attempted to raise the, at that time nearly 20 year old,  franchise fee cap by 50%--from $10 to $15 dollars--which would have raised a considerable, additional amount of revenue for the county as it continued to struggle to pull out of the Great Recession.

That 2012 initiative failed by a 2-3 vote, with Grover Robinson and Marie Young voting for the increase, and Commissioners White, Valentino, and Robertson voting no.

Read the 1994 Escambia County Franchise Fee agreement here.

Read the 2012 agenda item, suggested revision, and vote tally here