The League of Women Voters of Manatee County Government Committee observes Manatee County Commission meetings for items of interest to citizens and the League and notes adherence, or lack of adherence, to good governance procedures and the Sunshine Law. The following are the major points from the board’s regular meeting on 5/28/2024, observed by Coleen Friedman.
Link to Agenda and Meeting Video
[Note: After the retirement of Mike Bennett, James Satcher was appointed Manatee County Supervisor of Elections by Governor DeSantis. Therefore, currently there are only 6 County Commissioners.]
Invocation – Reverend Brock Patterson, Longboat Island Chapel
Pledge of Allegiance – Chelsea Busch, Manatee County 311 Operator
Items pulled from Consent Agenda – None
Presentations/Awards/
Selected Citizen Comments for future agenda items
Selected Commissioner Responding Comments:
Approval of Consent Agenda with no public comment, 6-0
Note – Included in Consent was Item #18 Execution of Agreement No. 24-R083613CD Operational Support Services for Piney Point Treatment Plant and Deep Injection Well; and Adoption of Budget Resolution B-24-059. Action Requested - Authorize the Purchasing Official, or designee, to execute Agreement No. 24-R083613CD with Chemical Injection Partners Florida, LLC for Operational Support Services for Piney Point Pretreatment Plant and Deep Injection Well at a unit cost of $24,000.00 per million gallons per day treated and injected into the Deep Injection Well.
Additional Information/Background: The Agreement staff presented to the Board of County Commissioners is for a unit price of $24,000.00 to be paid to the Contractor per million gallon per day (MGD) of water treated and injected into the deep injection (UIC) well. The estimated cost of the initial term of the Agreement is $7,824,000.00 based on the estimated volume of water to be treated and injected during the initial term of the Agreement. The initial term of this Agreement is for two (2) years with the option to renew for an additional eight (8) one-year periods, not to exceed a total of ten (10) years. Budget Resolution B-24-059 appropriates $1,304,000 in the General fund for the Piney Point Operations account key for contracted participation of the Deep Injection Pretreatment Well operating costs.
Item #42, Community and Veterans Services - Authorize submission of 2024-2027 Analysis of Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing Choice
Amanda Warner, planner from Wade Trim, presented. Wade Trim is a consulting group who worked with the county to complete a required 5-year analysis of the county’s support of the Fair Housing Act. From the summary document:
Public consultation has revealed that fair housing issues and contributing factors identified in the draft AI report include a lack of fair housing education and awareness, lack of quality affordable housing, geographically concentrated areas of race, ethnicity, and poverty, enforcement of fair housing laws, and fair housing complaint activity. The AI report also includes an analysis of fair housing data, an assessment of fair housing issues and contributing factors, an identification of fair housing priorities and goals, and recommended actions to support goals specific to Manatee County.
Actions recommended to address the identified Impediments include:
No questions or comments from the public or commissioners. Motion to authorize submission of the report passed 5-0 (Bearden not present)
Regular Agenda Items of Interest
James Satcher, Supervisor of Elections, presented the request for a budget amendment to transfer $841,340 from reserves in the General Fund to the Supervisor of Elections (SoE) budget. Satcher began by describing the “most important election of our lifetimes” will require expanded safety and security which includes hardware and software, expanded ability to audit 100% of races, expanded accessibility for voters with the addition of satellite SoE offices in Lakewood Ranch and Parrish as well as anticipated budget overruns. He stated that Manatee County currently has the lowest-cost SoE in Florida. In addition, many neighboring counties are using more current audit software.
Vigorous discussion ensued, including discussion of the age of the County’s equipment, voting by mail, and the budgets of other SoE offices. Kruse expressed a number of concerns:
Satcher alluded to overall security and then said he didn’t want to go on the record with specifics. He stated that cybersecurity improvements were needed, because a confidential report had been shared with the governor by the federal government. [NOTE – data that Satcher is presumed to be referencing was sent to the FL Division of Elections from a “concerned citizen” who used a program called “EagleAI” to compile the information. This information was shared with all FL SoE offices. NBCNews.]
Kruse said that there was more information needed for the Board to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and the request is premature, saying if the system isn’t broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed. As Kruse began to state additional points, Van Ostenbridge interrupted to bring the item to a vote.
Motion passed 5-0.
Public Comments:
Motion to approve the budget amendment passed 4-1; Kruse voted no. Ballard abstained due to conflict of interest.
Item # 47, Property Management – contract for sale and purchase for Emerson Point Expansion
Charles Meador, Property Acquisition Division Manager, reviewed the timeline of the consideration of this 94-acre property, including the role of ELMAC, and noted that the hope is to have the state buy back this parcel through the Florida Forever fund with a county lease. The current price to the county is $15.5 million. Contracts are signed; closing is to take place in July.
No comments from commissioners or the public. Motion to approve passed 6-0.
Link to Good Governance Guidelines
Rahn continues to seem flustered about when he needs to open items for public comment prior to calling a motion and has difficulty during the voting process. The delays interrupt the flow of the meeting and can be confusing to observers.
There were observable comings and goings of commissioners at this meeting, with several absences for votes.
Given the number of issues identified during the review of the 2024-2027 Analysis of Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing Choice (Item #42), the commissioners should have discussed the issues, findings, and follow-up plans on the recommendations.
As usual, updates were made to the agenda after the original was posted, on Friday and early Tuesday, both after public comment was closed. In addition, the Online Link to Updates to Agenda disappeared, making it impossible for citizens to know what changes had been made to the original agenda, and when. In addition, details of the SOE’s budget request were removed from the county website before the Board meeting began on Tuesday.
Given the cost and importance to the community of Item 18, Execution of Agreement No. 24-R083613CD Operational Support Services for Piney Point Treatment Plant and Deep Injection Well; and Adoption of Budget Resolution B-24-059, it should have been a Regular agenda for discussion in the sunshine.
The commission has again approved significant taxpayer dollars without proof of need, viability studies and, if there is public input, it is ignored. These expenditures include $4 million for a Veterans Park, $1.25 million for a preliminary design criteria package for an Island garage and now $841,340 for the Supervisor of Election for the last half year.
Despite comments to the contrary, The League of Women Voters, both Republican and Democratic political parties and many independent groups support vote by mail. It is a proven safe and effective voting method.
Beardon raised his voice repeatedly in the discussion on the SoE request. The commissioner should make factual points in a civil tone.