Bear Trap Part III

 

The legal saga over a 401(a) plan's "legality"  will eventually be settled.  But for the clerk of the court and comptroller--either outcome produces a pyrrhic victory so far as I can tell.....

As I discussed via multiple blog posts way back in June  and August, respectively, of last year--the ratcheting up of legal wrangling back and forth by the Clerk's office really does not help the Clerk's case.

It's simple.  The 401 a plan is either legal for commissioners--or it isn't.

And a judge will decide this.

And then we can all move forward---- as the legality of the plan is and aways has been the seminal question that needs to be answered so far as I am concerned.

Meanwhile--a bona fide contract approved by the Escambia BCC has been terminated by the clerk (constructively) via her failure to uphold the terms of it by the withholding of payments stipulated within said contract.  That's what my issue is and has been from the beginning--I don't take the plan at issue but I jealously guard the powers, rights, and responsibilities of this board, just as constitutional officers like the clerk guard their powers, duties and responsibilities under statute.  The passive allowance of this unilateral decimation of a bona fide contract of the BCC by the clerk  is bad  precedent to set, outside the purview of the clerk, and in very poor form if----as many believe-----the contract and stipulations as to 401 a payments are in fact legal.

But again, that is now in the hands of  one judge and a bunch of lawyers, and now even more lawyers(with new lawyers signing up recently to jump on the clerk's side churning up legal bills, fees, costs and $$ invoices the clerk will likely ask us to pay--not unlike orcas and sharks churning the bloody water feeding on a decaying whale carcass  out  at sea....it's an ugly display.  Meanwhile-the legal team the county is utilizing has provided their service pro-bono).  

So yes the legality question will get worked out--some lawyers will churn fees and costs others are

Jail Issues Front and Center this Week

With the ongoing media spotlight on the jail, and in the wake of a congressional letter of inquiry on the matter---issues at Escambia County's Correctional facilities will take front and center stage this week.

The letter, addressed to the administrator and the sheriff, will be answered by administrator Wes Moreno this week.  The sheriff has already submitted and made public his response.

Yes, as illustrated in the pictures I have previously submitted in earlier blogs and am attaching to this post---the conditions within the old jail are unacceptable.  Yes, these are human beings and must be controlled in custody and care of our staff within safe and sanitary conditions.  Sleeping on the ground next to a stinking, leaking overfolwing toilet is something I never thought I'd see in Escambia County--I doubt you'd even find this in most third world countries  (see below)

Sadly, this condition is a reality.  Here.  Not in Guatemala, Honduras, Chad, or Eritrea--here, in Escambia.

And mold and filthy, non-serviced and maintained ductwork--to boot.  (see below).

So no,  I'm not interested in spending another nickel, not one red cent, on the old jail.  As I was directly quoted saying in Sunday's paper--I want to demo that facility and forget it ever existed.    Because it is past the point of salvage--and to attempt a temporary fix would be akin to using a band aid on a sucking chest wound.  Too many decades with feckless maintenance and care, and too many liabilities if we keep it open.  Mold.  Need I say more?

So we MUST move forward with that jail in the rear view.  ASAP.

To that end, our administrator will be bringing a plan for the board's consideration this week at our Thursday committee of the whole  (COW) meeting to do the following:

1. An action plan to, as quickly as practicable,  to move personnel and inmates from the areas where facility conditions are borderline unacceptable within our corrections department.
2. a plan to enact a near-term strategy to harden other existing county owned corrections facilities to safely allow the movement and relocation of all prisoners out of our old jail and into acceptable new buildings/spaces.
3. Utilize the $9 Million we (BOCC) have allocated toward old-jail repairs to quickly implement #1 and #2 above.

 

Additional guidance and information, as well as the way forward, will be discussed between staff, the board, and the administrator at the board’s committee of the whole meeting this Thursday, March 10^th at 0900.

Public Beach Access # 4 Opened Today!

 See the video of the event here, below, followed by a photo gallery of the event.  Today was a great day for Escambia County!

Photos below:

The Old Jail Must Come Down.....It's Time

It's time to demolish the old jail.

The cat is out of the bag now.  The old jail must come down.

I made quite a lot of noise about the unacceptable conditions in the jail two weeks back.  And the local media picked up the story from my blog and ran with it.

Now everybody is talking about it.  

But where are the members of the BCC on this subject?  

In listening to my counterparts on the board yesterday at the meetings on this topic--it is apparent that the sentiment of the majority is that we demolish the old jail and move forward with Administrator Wes Moreno's evolving plan to house inmates temporarily in other facilities which we are in the process of upgrading to accomodate this move.

Our new jail can hold 850 inmates. (Probably a hundred more than that with some minor adjustments)  The Road Prison can hold 200.  The county's work release facility on Fairfield Drive can hold another 400, and a facility we own and are in the process of taking back, a state work release facility on L street, can hold another 150.

That adds up to 1600-1700 capacity--and our average daily "census" of prisoners in Escambia County is 1500 or so.

With this as the scenario--we can move the existing inmates out of the unacceptable, third-world conditions of the old jail--and I'm not going to vote to spend another dime on anything at the old jail.  We have $9 Million earmarked for repairs to the old jail--but in the condition that facility is in at the moment-$9 Million won't add up to a drop in the bucket of what is needed to bring that facility back to useability.

It has simply been allowed to deteriorate due to poor maintenance for decades.

So now it's time to move forward with the new plan, empty the old jail, and demo it.

Then we can determine the long-term fix which will more than likely include bonding the cost(s) of constructing a planned "expansion" wing on our new jail.

County's "Resign to Run" Ordinance Passes Unanimously

Escambia County's Resign to Run Ordinance passed unanimously tonight--with Commissioner Doug Underhill making the motion to adopt and also voting "for" the passage of this ordinance.  And no citizens, not one, spoke in opposition to this ordinance's passage.

This evening at the BCC's regular meeting an ordinance was passed which addresses employee participation in elections for the County Commission.

Although the topic has generated no interest among the public--it had elicited much conversation from insiders, partisans, at least one (1) facebook chat/fanboy site, and entertainment radio talk show host Andrew "Tallman" McKay.  He, Tallman-McKay- even threatened to come to our meeting and "scold" us for even bringing such an ordinance.  He didn't show up to speak, though.  Nobody else did either.  Nope--no keyboard warriors, no Tallman Mckay, nobody.

And now the item has moved forward.  

The reason there was no pushback from anyone so far as I can tell, and that nobody spoke to the item at tonight's public hearing is  because such ordinances are ubiquitous in Florida. And everywhere else around America to boot.

But the truly amazing thing was this:

The motion to approve the ordinance was made by County Commissioner Doug Underhill.

Not only did he (Commissioner Doug Underhill) make the motion to approve the ordinance--he also voted "yes" on the item-which subsequently passed unanimously 5-0. 

Help Wanted!

This chart, above, was provided to commissioners late last week by staff.  It shows the stark challenges we face with staffing multiple county departments......

Late last week HR Director Crystal Dadura sent commissioners the above table and additional information on vacancies throughout the county.

This report will be coming to commissioners monthly going forward.

Like so many communities, cities, counties and industries nationwide--we are hamstrung by a HUGE number of vacancies.

And as you can see from looking at the table above--this is impacting multiple county departments.

Next month, March, we are going on the offense to combat this issue, with an advertising campaign aimed at recruiting citizens to come and work for the county.

The item is on this week's agenda.

I look forward to its approval.

We'll Finally, After Nearly 9-Years, #OpenOurBeach Next Friday at 9:30!

A brand new, free public beach access point in Perdido Key will open one week from today--more than DOUBLING the County's current Gulf-Front, free access footprint on Perdido Key---It's a great day for Escambia County!

It was a dog-fight and a battle to get this done.  

Lots of credit goes out to my counterparts on the BCC (3 of them) AND lots of folks who fought with us against a very comfortable status quo that existed where nearby condo owners accessed and used the county's beach but residents who OWNED this land were shut out behind a locked gate and "No Trespassing" signs.  

But with determination and lots of pushing--even through litigation---we shattered that status quo, got to work, and  got this done!  

At 9:30 in the morning one week from today we will finally #OpenOurBeach at Beach Access #4 in Perdido Key!

.....The county will issue the below press release later this morning on MyEscambia.com 

Click HERE to View in Browser Perdido Key Beach Access #4 to Open on March 4 Escambia County will host a grand opening ceremony for the new Public Beach Access #4 at 16470 Perdido Key Drive on March 4, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. The new beach access will be open sunrise to sunset and features a permeable concrete parking lot with 35 parking spots, an ADA-compliant AccessMat dune walkover and educational signage about protected wildlife. The site will add an additional 300 feet of public beach access on the western side of Perdido Key, adjacent to the Crab Trap restaurant. Escambia County District 1 Commissioner and Chairman Jeff Bergosh, who represents Perdido Key, stated: “A lot of folks have worked very hard for eight long years to see this project come to fruition—and on March 4th --this beach access will finally be available for public use! A HUGE thank you goes out to all the staff and citizens who worked to make this day a reality! This new access point will allow us to more than double the existing amount of free public beach access on Perdido Key for all the citizens of Escambia County to enjoy—which in and of itself is a remarkable accomplishment. But this is only the beginning of the work our office plans to pursue to create more free access points on Perdido Key for our citizens’ use in the years to come. I look forward to aggressively moving in that direction—but in the meantime, I look forward to utilizing this newly completed beach access #4 very frequently-- along with all the citizens of Escambia County—and it will be open just in time for Spring Break! This is a great day for Escambia County!” The site was acquired in 2014 in part with a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide public beach access and conserve critical habitat for threatened and endangered species. It was the former site of the Sundown Condominium which was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The original concrete pad and building debris were removed in the summer of 2020 and the prior parking lot’s shell base was reutilized for the new public access. Funds for construction were provided by the Tourism Development Tax (TDT). The site is also home to designated Perdido Key Beach Mouse habitat and the site will be managed in accordance with the Perdido Key Habitat Conservation Plan. Fencing will prevent pedestrian and vehicular trespass into protected habitat areas, while signage will educate visitors about threatened and endangered species that utilize the site, including beach mice, nesting shorebirds and sea turtles. Escambia County would like to thank the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and US Fish and Wildlife service for their cooperation in the acquisition and development of the project. For more information, please contact the Office of Community and Media Relations at 850-595-1647 or email cmr@myescambia.com.   Community and Media Relations Phone: (850) 595-3476 Email: cmr@myescambia.com After Hours Media Line: (850) 595-1647 You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive alerts for MyEscambia.com. Click here to unsubscribe from email alerts. Florida has a very broad public records law. Under Florida law, IP addresses and both the content of emails and email addresses are public records. If you do not want your IP address and the content of your email or your email address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in person. Escambia County is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities to facilitate participation in county meetings or other county services, programs, or activities. For information or to make a request at least 72 hours before the scheduled meeting or other county activity, visit myescambia.com/ADA or call 850-595-4947. Home to more than 300,000 residents in northwest Florida, Escambia County is the westernmost and one of the oldest counties in the state. The mission of Escambia County government is to provide efficient, responsive services that enhance our quality of life, meet common needs, and promote a safe and healthy community. With nearly 1,800 employees, we pride ourselves on being the perfect climate for everything - building a business, raising a family and enjoying recreational pursuits. Picture-perfect white sand beaches and clear, emerald Gulf waters draw millions of vacationers to Escambia each year, especially to Pensacola Beach, named the #4 Top U.S. Beach in 2020 by Tripadvisor. WalletHub ranks Pensacola, Navarre among best 2021 beach towns to live (pnj.com).