I skipped writing about the last meeting of the Shoreacres City Council but I did attend. It was pretty much the same as last night’s meeting, very contentious between the citizens that attended and those that sit behind the bar and serve as Aldermen. There was a positive and I should have taken a photo. Alderman Bo Bunker was back in his chair after his recent hospital stay.
I’m not going to be quite as detailed as in the past – you can check the city website for official minutes. There just aren’t enough hours in the day right now.
5.0 Council Reports and Requests
Mayor Webber – he attended a meeting about the two plans to protect the area from hurricanes, the so-called “Ike Dike” and “Centennial Gate” projects. He described it as not very informative and hopes to have someone do a presentation at City Hall for residents.
6.0 Citizen Comments
Kay Pickett – Mrs. Pickett wants to serve on the Parks and Recreation board. She noted that the terms of the current members have expired and they haven’t met in over four years. She didn’t think that, given the lack of meetings, someone from the current board should serve on the Miramar restoration project advisory committee. She also noted the overall problem with all committees having members whose terms have expired. One thing I thought was interesting that she pointed out was that two committees, the Planning and Zoning committee and the Board of Adjustments each have the same members but a different person chairs them.
Phil Yovino – At the previous meeting, Mr. Yovino told about his dog Harley being attacked by a vicious German Shepard that had gotten out. His dog was severely injured and at the time was head to Texas A&M to see if his life could be saved. Unfortunately, he informed us last night that Harley didn’t make it. Mr. Yovino urged the city to enforce current registration laws about pets and presented council a form that he hopes will be given to all new residents and residents when paying their water bills. He thinks that this will help the overall environment in the city and make pet owners more aware of their responsibilities.
Charlotte Wells – Mrs. Wells started off by saying that she was unhappy with the overall activities of the council and had a laundry list of items that she wishes council would address. Some of the items she mentioned were speed bumps on Miramar, losing the elementary school, not balancing the budget, the various problems with the police department, the city administrator’s evergreen contract, possible violation of the open meetings act, lack of code enforcement, uneven enforcement of heavy trash pickup guidelines, the loss of the flood insurance discount, and putting obstacles in front of citizens getting information from the city. She also excoriated Mayor Webber for not being responsive to her calls.
7.0 Administrative reports
City Administrator Stall gave the financial report – you can read it on the website. The most important thing is that we lost the Public Works Director, David Sutton. Mr. Sutton found a higher paying position.
8.0 Business
8.2 After considerable discussion from council and citizens, Kendall Pickett was added to the Miramar Shoreline Advisory Group as the representative from the East side. No applicants applied from the Central and West blocs of the city. Council is hoping that someone comes forward during the next two weeks for these positions – if not, they will consider revising the makeup of the board, adding more East side representatives.
8.3. No action taken because the contract wasn’t ready.
8.4 After considerable discussion from council and citizens, no action was taken on the attempt to codify charges for Public Information Act requests. Alderman Bunker commented that he had listened to the concerns of the citizens and will consider changes to the proposed ordinance over the next two weeks.
8.5 After considerable discussion from council and citizens, no action was taken on Alderman Schnell’s attempt to broaden the pay range on the lower end of the scale for the Public Works Director position.
8.6. The Mayor nominated and council approved the appointment of Scott Tuma to the Planning and Zoning Commission Position 4.
Election
As a reminder, this Friday, February 28th at 12 noon is the last day to file for the upcoming City Election on Saturday, May 10th.
These are the candidates that are listed on the city website as having filed as of this morning:
| MAYOR Vote for None or One |
|
| Candidate | Ron Hoskins |
| Candidate | Rick Moses |
| Candidate | |
| ALDERMAN AT-LARGE Vote for None, One, or Two |
|
| Candidate | Mike Wheeler |
| Candidate | Richard Adams |
| Candidate | Paul R. Croas |
Commentary
There seemed to be a lot of hostility between the council and citizens on almost every item last night – that is my impression, others might view it differently. I am happy that Alderman Bunker was willing to listen to our concerns about 8.4 above and pull it back for a couple of weeks, if not altogether.
It gets old going to these meetings and having council fighting with citizens and citizens fighting with council. Some members of council seem to have disdain for citizens, particularly females – that is my observation after attending almost every meeting since this council was seated. And some citizens seem to have disdain for members of council and certainly the city administrator. We need to remember that we are all citizens of a very nice community and if we do, perhaps the atmosphere at the meetings will improve. I’m not pulling a Rodney King here but it would be nice to move forward.
In that light, I noticed that one of the residents, Cody Bunker, is having a Bible study at Circle Park this Thursday, February 27th, at noon. There is no better way to build or strengthen relationships than to study the Bible together.