Demanding civility of the Commissioners? The public never gets treated civilly. This is going to be good. The spiteful Commissioners will not stand down even though a dose of respect might be in order. As Commissioner Barbara Jordan said:
“They're trying to pull a coup, we can make it backfire.''
Threats are unbecoming Barbara. We should all be polite, even as we deliver harangues to staff and belittle the public.
Do you want to see how people are treated by the Commission? Just go to this video clip: DeFede: Natacha Seijas Is Downright Mean. See our government in action. Maybe you will side with the Mayor on this one.
By the way, everyone in Miami should watch this video. Everyone!
(Pictured: Natacha Seijas)
11 comments:
I don't think SOME of the commissioners know how to be polite. This is going to be one long stand-off. I think we need a marriage counsler.
Upper level staff makes more than $200,000.00 a year. The fact that they can't take hard questions from time to time seems a bit silly, doesn't it? The problem is that some of the Commissioner are getting to the bottom of some boondoggles, and the fact that a recently departed ACM, Roger Carlton is now a COS, maybe Burgess, Alvarez and crew weren't going to be ready with such short notice to respond to questions that were directed on point, without the need for cross-examination that is so often required.. Why? Because staff is and has always tried to keep as much as they can under the lid of scrutiny.. So what do you do, stonewall, stonewall, lie, and stonewall some more. They make me sick!
Those budget committee hearings are a joke.
The commissioners take the Mayor's recommendation, and say "Oh no... we're not going to cut that, no way. We're going to add that program back into the budget"
But then they don't say where they are going to get the money. The truth is, cuts need to be made, and they're not willing to identify where to make them.
Accept for a couple of commissioners, like Gimenez and Sorenson, the others don't understand the concept of a balanced budget. They want to add this and add that and direct the adminstration to add funding for all their little pet programs, but fail to identify the concurrent cut in another area.
Typical commission directive: "Mr. Manager, I want you to give X community group $1 million..." then nothing. Not where to get it from, not what other program(s) should be reduced by $1 million.
Worst of all, the commission is a prime example of "do as I say, not as I do". While the adminstration is cutting it's staff and reorganizing. The commission is trying to add to it's staff.
The Mayor is proposing a 15% reduction to the Office of the Mayor and a 15% reduction in the Manager's Office.
Want to bet the Commission doesn't reduce their staff?
Last Anon:
I agree with most of your comments. Most of the Commissioners, with the exceptions of Gimenez, Sorenson and sometimes Jordan (when she is not influenced by the king maker Natasha), have no idea what a balanced budget is, or what goverment operations are.. Actually, out of that bunch, Gimenez has the most credibility, look at how he left the City of Miami, and check its financials now after years of Manny and Joe mucking things up...
Although you are generally correct with respect to the remainder of the BCC (most have over-inflated staffs, district offices, etc.) that still does not excuse the Mayor (who is paid close to $200 K) Manager (who is paid close to $400 k) and upper level staff (most of which are paid $200 k) from skipping this process, however difficult it may be.
This is a public county, a governmental entity. We essentially elect the board of directors in the Commission. The budget is prepared behind closed doors, and the budget process is the only way to bring at least a portion of it out before the public for scrutiny.
I for one am sick of having two managers since the strong mayor form of government passed. There is no County Manager any more, and yet we are paying one $400 K to do what the MAYOR is supposed to do right now.. I know its off topic, but, Burgess has to go...
So, Anon, as you can see, I don't totally disagree with you, IMO, however, having to field difficult questions from individuals who may make things even more difficult is no excuse... They took the jobs, they weren't forced to take them, that is part of their job, they should do their duty and stop the crying!!!
I understand what the last 2 anonymous writers are getting at.
However, the commission can still go ahead and set their priorities and pass a budget without making it a freakin' public inquisition, purely for the cameras to try and build their own credability as being fiscally conservative.
All most of them care about is their own personal projects. The only reason they are thrashing the adminstration this year, is because the administration now works for the mayor and does not have little side negotiations with the commissioners to grease the process by giving commissioners some money for their friends in order to buy their vote on the budget.
That's how it happened before Alvarez took charge. Now its time to cut and they don't like it.
Alvarez' reaction may have been a knee-jerk reaction, but I think he means well, what he tells you is what he feels, which is more than I can say for some of those 13.
If you have good intentions, I can overlook you making some mistakes. But if you have bad intentions, I will have no time to cow-tow to your abuse.
This is a democracy and the public has the right to be informed, since we contribute by paying our taxes and voting to be represented.
Miami-Dade county now has a strong mayor, so I think the city manager's job also should change to allow the mayor to do the job he was ELECTED to do.
The commissioners should understand a few things - they are an ELECTED body, there to represent THE PEOPLE, there to do their civic duty as PUBLIC SERVANTS, and the must be POLITE.
Milly Herrera
Hialeah, Florida
Anonymous wrote "The Mayor is proposing a 15% reduction to the Office of the Mayor and a 15% reduction in the Manager's Office. Want to bet the Commission doesn't reduce their staff?"
Any alleged reduction by the Mayor or Manager is illusory. Nearly the entire government, over 30,000 strong, is under the direction of the Mayor and Manager. They might say their immediate staffs are 15% less, but the truth is those staff members are merely shifted to other departments and other parts of the huge budget. Nothing changes but the index codes and the table of organization.
The BCC does not have same luxury to shift 15% of their staff to other BCC departments because, other than the Commission Auditor and the County Attorney's Office, there aren't any BCC departments.
Incidentally, thanks to the ill-advised boycott of BCC budget meetings by Alvarez, I actually expect a very sizable increase to the Commission staff with a commensurate decrease on the Mayor/Manager's side, especially budget and communications staff.
Two can play
Uh... the Countywide Table of Organization has 1,200 fewer employees under the Mayor's proposed budget, than last year's budget. How do you like those apples?
And don't kid yourself, whether the Mayor boycotted the meeting or not, the commission would have increased their budget and communications staff. They're just going to use the boycott as cover. Two months ago, they increased the Office of the Commission Auditor (they're budget office) from 19 to 32 positions.
You've got to love the BCC's idea of communications. Spend money to buy print and radio media time to counter, what they feel are mis-statements about them. Thanks Chavez, opps, I'm mean Commissioner Moss.
By the way, how's the Chamber Gazette (errr - Pravda) comming along? The BCC spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to print their version of the World Weekly News.
I don't always agree with Carlos but I do think he is doing a decent job.
However he gets way too much credit for turning around the finances of the City of Miami.
Due credit should be proffered to the OVERSIGHT BOARD that kept finances in check and brought the City back in line.
My only regret is that they were disbanded far too early, allowing Manny and his tribe to disrupt a good recovery.
Anonymous wrote, "Uh... the Countywide Table of Organization has 1,200 fewer employees under the Mayor's proposed budget, than last year's budget. How do you like those apples?"
In fact, the Countywide Table of Organization is ALWAYS overinflated. There have always been more than 1200 vacancies at any given time that no one intended to fill. It's a way for departments to pad their budgets. And its good that Alvarez is starting to clamp down on that scam.
The fact remains that if any people actually will need to go to meet the so-called 15% goal of that office, staff will be merely shifted to other departments and other parts of the huge budget. Nothing changes but the index codes and the table of organization. Since the announcement, 2 ACMs were made interim directors of departments while remaining as ACMs. That will show as a reduction to the Manager's office when it really isnt.
And I agree the Chamber Gazette is real amateur hour stuff. Looked like a high school publication.
All great comments.
Millie, I've always agreed with your views, keep up the great work.
I wish the other Millie from West Dade had made it to District 10.
I also commend our "Strong Mayor" and his staff. C4R #1 !!!
Now, all we need is for voters to wake up and get the "Term Limits" on the ballot.
8 IS ENOUGH !
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