Commision Meeting

The commission meeting of October 8, 2013 held at the North Bay Village Elementary School at 7:30 pm was a mixed bag of politics; absurdity, rhetoric,  bullying and good decision making. Welcome to North Bay Village commission meetings, just a regular day in the neighborhood. Commissioner Wendy Duval was out and very much missed, without her at the meeting, things are just lopsided. Mayor Connie Leon- Kreps, Vice Mayor Eddie Lim and Commissioner Jorge Gonzalez appear to have a very robotic and cookie cutter mentality that at times makes you wonder how they can possibly agree on all the issues that come up. I will not bore you with the Commissioners’ report filled with grandstanding and political speeches.

Our Interim Village manager was deservedly promoted to permanent Village manager. Mr. Frank Rollason is committed to shrink the budget where possible. He promised to continue working hard and to negotiate contracts that are more favorable to the village’s financial needs.  The village manager pledges to not leave any stone unturned to accomplish this difficult task. I believe he is capable and willing to do a great job for North Bay Village.   Good Luck Mr. Rollason! We are counting on you.

Commissioner Chervony proposed a resolution prohibiting the expenditures of funds for unbudgeted capital improvement projects, unless they are of an emergency status. Non emergency unplanned expenditures would have to wait to be included in the next year’s budget. I was pleasantly surprised when Vice Mayor Lim voted in favor. However, with Commissioner Duval out and the Mayor and Commissioner Gonzalez voting against it, the resolution went nowhere!   The Village manger expressed willingness to exercise constraints and was committed but explained that the commission needs to do the same.  

The Budget Oversight Board was finally formed and the members appointed. However at one point it appeared that another month was going to pass by without the appointments. After downsizing the requirements from 7 members to 5 members and getting rid of some ridiculous educational requirements or its equivalent in experience, Commissioner Richard Chervony and Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps engaged in a long discussion as to how it was best to pick the members.  Commissioner Chervony suggested that since the board consisted of five members that each commissioner and the mayor pick one. The mayor wanted to continue doing it the old way, were each commissioner votes in 5 members then the votes are counted. Commissioner Chervony’s way was too difficult for the mayor to understand or perhaps not to the mayor’s liking. The cookie cutter mentality prevailed.   Qualified, key residents that attend just about every meeting were overlooked and left out of both boards; purposely! Never the less we finally have a Budget and Oversight Board and a Community Enhance Board.

Congratulations and good luck to:

Budget Oversight Board Members:	Community Enhancement Board:
Robert Breiner Maria Haviland Temante Leary Myra Perez Oliver Pfeffer	Doris Acosta Odalys Becerra Andreanna Jackson Benjia Morgenstern Diana Quintero

 

Commissioner Chervony proposed a resolution recognizing October as an anti-bullying month in an effort to acknowledge and heighten awareness about the serious issues and negative effects of bullying.  The Mayor, Vice Mayor and Commissioner Gonzalez could not just accept it as presented by Commissioner Chervony.  They recommended expanding it to adult bullying as well; a novel idea but not the intended concept. What do you think? Should adults have been added to Commissioners Chervony proposed resolution?  Here is some information obtained from the internet.

National Bullying Prevention Month

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National Bullying Prevention Month is a campaign in the United States founded in 2006 by PACER's National Center for Bullying Prevention.^[1] The campaign is held during the month of October and unites communities nationwide to educate and raise awareness of bullying prevention. Traditionally held the first week in October, the event was expanded in 2010 to include activities, education, and awareness building for the entire month. National Bullying Prevention Month is recognized in communities across the United States, with hundreds of schools and organizations signing on as partners. Face book,^[2] CNN^[3] and Yahoo! Kids^[4] have supported the month through media outreach and dissemination.

PACER developed the initial campaign National Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week in response to the need to raise awareness of bullying, as it was historically viewed "a childhood rite of passage" and believed that bullying "made kids tougher", when the reality is that bullying has devastating effects such as school avoidance, loss of self-esteem, increased anxiety, and depression. PACER reached out to the community through partnerships with education based organizations such as National PTA, American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association to provide schools, parents and students with resources to respond to bullying behavior and to begin the shift of societal acceptance of bullying to social change of addressing the issue through education and support. PACER disseminated nationwide press releases through the partners and media channels, encouraging a call to action to educate the community about their role in bullying prevention, which provided the groundwork for the campaign to be consistently recognized as an annual event.

There is more to come, stay tuned....Vice Mayor Eddie Lim wants to terminate the Business Development Board or start over with new members. Today I officially resigned and step down as Co-Chair of the BDB effective immediately.  

The commission passed an ordinance that will renew the franchise agreement with Peoples Gas System to provide natural gas service for North Bay Village. The agreement needs to be renegotiated because it was not as favorable as once thought. The actual moneys returned to North Bay Village are obtained by surcharges that are paid by North Bay Village TECO gas consumers.  In returned Peoples Gas does not pay for permit charges that are pulled when doing work in North Bay Village.  TECO’s gas wins, North Bay Village loses.   Our Village Manager Frank Rollason promised to look into this matter and will report back to the commission.

Honestly opinionating

PUTTING NORTH BAY VILLAGE FIRST

Mario Garcia

October 9, 2013