A Few Good Questions ...

From phosphate applications and impact fees to lawsuits and police department scandals, there were a lot of big stories in Manatee County this week. Citizens should be raising several questions.

School Impact Fees

Last summer, the Manatee County School Board, sensing that public resentment was threatening the passage of a desperately needed sales tax, reversed itself and agreed to make developers pay impact fees again, rather than tying them to the fate of the vote. They still voted to slowly phase them in at 50, 75 and finally 100 percent annually.

In December, the board seemed to respond to public outrage over developers continuing to get public subsidy and voted to accelerate the second year collection from 75 to 100 percent. Many citizens are wondering why the Manatee County Commission has yet to take up the matter. First, there was some confusion as to whether School Board Resolution 16-08 had been transmitted to the county. When it had been determined that the school board did transmit the resolution, I asked the county when it would be voted on, so the 90-day clock for implementation could begin ticking.

It would have been bad enough if one of the bodies was simply dragging their feet to buy their developer friends more discount-impact-fee time, but the county says that in light of the recent renewal of the sales tax, school district officials have asked them to postpone a public hearing on the resolution until after their impact fee study can be reviewed by their impact fee consultant.

I hope this doesn't mean they are reconsidering whether they'll actually need the higher impact fees (or impact fees at all), now that the public is on the hook for around $25 million a year in additional taxes, as well as the new bonds the board just approved. Readers may remember that I warned voters that nothing would prevent the board from doing exactly that once they had a guaranteed revenue stream for the next 15 years, and that the whole shift on impact fees may have been political theater.

If you want to let school board members know that you think developers–who already pocketed close to $70 million in abated impact fees from 2009-2016–need to pay 100 percent of the proposed fees and pay it now, click here and email them.

Mosaic's Stay

On Monday, the Manatee County Commission was once again bombarded by citizens telling them what their staff wouldn't. Namely, that they have every right and reason to deny phosphate giant Mosaic's application to rezone land in order to expand the company's mining operation in Duette, to include an additional lake of toxic waste the company benignly calls a clay settling pond. The meeting was a continuation from the previous Thursday, when so many citizens showed up to give comment that they finally had to continue it.

Monday's meeting didn't start until 10 a.m. but was an even more impressive show of public opposition, featuring many of the most educated and experienced voices opposing the application. At around 5:30 p.m., the last of the commenters had finally spoken. Rather than a quick Okay, we heard you loud and clear vote to deny the application, the BOCC decided to continue it again when they will have board discussion and the vote. Rather than doing that at the next land use meeting, which was conveniently scheduled for Thursday, it was pushed all the way until February 15.

Why? Because Mosaic said Thursday wasn't good for them. It could be that they–and the commissioners who love them–would like some time to pass between the onslaught of public opposition and presented data that would make it so hard to vote in favor of the rezone with a straight face. Don’t let that be the case. Click here to email your commissioners and let them know what you think of expanding phosphate mining in Manatee County.

BPD Scandal Gets Some Sunlight

Two former Bradenton Police Department employees were finally arrested for stealing money from the property and evidence room–at least 20 grand. The public didn't find out until last September that the department was investigating the theft, even though it appeared on the notorious web bulletin board Leoaffairs.com a year earlier, which meant the entire department and some of the public already knew.

By the time it went fully public, the fact that longtime husband and wife employees Jake and Cynthia Zaagman had done it was the worst kept secret in town. Still, as predicted, nothing came out until long after the November election for mayor. This raises several red flags. Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston was running against Warren Merriman, a former deputy chief who'd been fired after being convicted of what amounted to an administrative oversight.

Merriman was put on administrative leave in September of 2014, right after he'd made hay over the department not doing what was needed to keep its accreditation. Emails show Merriman warning former chief Michael Radzilowski, who retired in February of last year, that unannounced property room inspections had not been performed by Mr. Zaagman as required and sounding the alarm that their accreditation was at risk. Instead of investigating the property room, 18 months was spent exhaustively investigating whether Merriman was paid for details he hadn't attended and had on-duty officers working at his house.

In the end, Merriman maintained his innocence and fought the charges, though he was ultimately convicted of a single count of petty theft for leaving a detail at McKechnie Field early and still getting paid for a couple of hours that he wasn't there. He lost the election to Poston in a three way race with the cloud of his conviction hanging over his head and not much known about the property room scandal.

One has to wonder whether the investigation took so long so that the scandal did not only follow the election's conclusion, but also Merriman’s hearing with the FDLE, during which he lost his certification. If it was widely known in September of 2014 that money was missing, why was an investigation not opened until after Melanie Bevan was hired as Radzilowski's replacement in late January of 2016? Prior to that, Jake Zaagman had already voluntarily taken a demotion out of property and evidence, and just after, his wife was allowed to "resign," though sources in the department say she was escorted off the property, the way it happens when someone is terminated.

Was the scandal going to be brushed under the rug? Merriman says he was offered a chance to have the investigation against him dropped if he resigned. Was that deal offered to either of the Zaagmans? Chief Bevan certainly didn't help frame the whole matter as an independent, unbiased investigation, as she campaigned for Poston's re-election. When Merriman ultimately leaked the property room scandal to the press late last September, Chief Bevan accused him of playing politics in a way that threatened the integrity of the investigation and the public trust of the department.


We'll probably never know exactly who knew what when, but the whole thing stinks. One thing's for sure: Chief Bevan now has the difficult task of regaining public trust for the department.

Kinnan's Lawsuit Thrown Out

Legendary Manatee High football coach Joe Kinnan's lawsuit against the Manatee School District and some of its employees was tossed out by a judge this week. In the suit, Kinnan claimed that his 10-day suspension for violating several district and FHAA rules was the product of a ruthless witch hunt by former Superintendent Rick Mills, who was being directed by board member Karen Carpenter and former board member Julie Aranibar.