What I pointed out during public comment (3/17)...

I think people thought that I would say something about Commissioner Jennings' "incident". I figured that I said everything I can through this medium and reach a lot more people, so I chose not to. What I did talk about was the need for transparency and trust in these times and one way to do that is to make sure the public has adequate notice of the meetings, knows what is going to be on the agenda at those meetings and has an opportunity to review the same back-up material that our elected have.

In fact, the Commission as a group was complaining about the material related to the fire department merger with the County being given to them last night at the meeting with no time to review. Commissioner Jennings suggested that it shows a lack of respect to the Commission that somehow their thorough review doesn't matter - but she voted for it anyway.

I pointed out that the agenda for this regular meeting last night (which had the 66% water rate increase, creation of a board that would limit the sheriff's authority, etc.) was made available at noon on Monday - the day before the City Commission meeting. Then, the announcement for the special City Commission meeting that was held at 4 p.m. yesterday came through an e-mail received at 3 p.m. This is clearly in violation of the City Charter that requires at least 24 hour notice and may be a violation of the Sunshine Law (looking into that now.) And finally, the add/delete wasn't available at all in advance of the meeting and was only available in the Commission Chambers - that's when the item regarding the fire department was added.

I asked if they don't have time to review the material prior to a decision being made, what about the public? How is this "open government?" In order to built respect of the residents of Lake Worth, you need to show them respect that their opinion matters.

Trust and transparency. We need to budget in time for general public review and have that be the unmovable object in the timeline - period.