Showing posts with label Broward Inspector General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Broward Inspector General. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2017

Want to see history made before your eyes? Long-overdue financial accountability & oversight starts tonight in Hallandale Beach re CRA: "Let's see where the money went" That's what I've been saying/writing for years...

Want to see history made before your eyes? Long-overdue financial accountability & oversight starts tonight in Hallandale Beach re CRA: "Let's see where the money went" 
That's what I've been saying/writing for years...

History gets made tonight and for a change, it's GOOD news for Hallandale Beach's long-beleaguered taxpayers and Small Business owners.
See Keith London's email below

ICYMI: Where did Millions of Hallandale Beach CRA dollars go? Years later, HB taxpayers still want answers, and the #FL state legislators responsible for preventing a much-needed JLAC audit of the HB CRA at the time still DON'T want to publicly talk about it. Seems like déjà vu, no? 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Keith London
Date: Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 2:30 PM
Subject: "Let's see where the money went"
To: David

 
David,
 
With a new year comes new responsibilities.
During 2015-2016 fiscal year, our city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) did a budget amendment (cut) of $7.4 million in order to balance the budget of approximately $15.5 million dollars – my question is: Where Did the Money Go?
We will be discussing/voting on a first-ever CRA forensic audit 7:00 PM, Monday January 23, 2017. 
Here is a link to Mondays CRA agenda item 10B:
DISCUSSION OF CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FINANCIAL OVERVIEW. (SPONSORED BY HBCRA BOARD OF DIRECTORS)
The CRA board of directors\ city commission must provide accountability for your tax dollars and I want to ensure we are doing everything to “provide a dollar of services for every dollar of tax revenue” either by the city or the CRA. This is why I believe an audit is imperative. We need to know how much monies are in the account and provide the highest level of services to our residents, taxpayers, and visitors. 
See below for an article from the Florida Bulldog for more information.
Keeping you informed, 
Vice Mayor Keith London
-----
 
 
The new majority on the Hallandale Beach City Commission will seek the first-ever forensic audit of all expenditures by its troubled Community Redevelopment Agency for the past five years, including finding out why $7.4 million had to be cut to balance the agency’s budget this fiscal year.
 
Current Vice Mayor Keith London and Commissioner Michele Lazarow had been frustrated in seeking such an audit by the previous commission majority headed by Mayor Joy Cooper.
 
The November city commission election resulted in London and Lazarow gaining the backing of new City Commissioner Anabelle Taub. Cooper was reelected, but failed to gain another commissioner to back her and her ally, Commissioner Anthony Sanders. They’re expected to vote on the audit, aimed at determining whether any wrongdoing occured, later this month.
 
“Let’s see where the money went,” London said. “We are going to get to the bottom of this.”
 
The new commission trio already has flexed its power in a remake of city hall.
 
It was responsible for the ousters of City Manager Daniel Rosemond and City Attorney Lynn Whitfield, and replacing them with long-time South Florida government administrator, Roger Carlton, and a new city attorney, Jennifer Merino. Merino was general counsel for the Broward Inspector General’s Office, which investigated and severely criticized the spending practices of the city’s CRA four years ago.
 
“It’s time to clean house of the city manager and the city commission … the collusion,” Lazarow said.
 
Now the new commission majority will be seeking answers about the spending of the much-troubled CRA.
‘We need to find out’
 
“We need a full forensic audit [of the CRA],” London said. “We need to find out about the $7.4 million, and we need to know what we have left.”
 
London was referring to last August when city commissioners, who are also directors of the CRA, were forced to cut $7.4 million from the proposed $25.9-million CRA budget for this year after being told by the city administration that the agency had counted land purchases by the agency as cash.
 
At that meeting, then City Manager Rosemond said an “adjustment” had to be made — the city commission had no choice but to approve the budget cut.
 
Prior to that, London said the city manager had given commissioners assurances that cash was available to the CRA, only to learn that the value of the city-purchased land by the CRA cannot be counted as cash.
 
Both London and Lazarow lobbied for a forensic audit of expenditures at that time, but lacked a third vote. The commission instead voted to seek a forensic audit that delved only into CRA land purchases.
Making matters worse, London said, Rosemond later came back and told commissioners that he was unable to engage any firm willing to conduct the forensic audit of land purchases — and, therefore, no firm was hired.
 
That all changed, however, with the November city commission election. Lazarow was reelected, along with newcomer Taub. London was not up for reelection.
 
Now in the majority, London said he wants audit to cover CRA spending back to 2012, the first year city commissioners established a separate funding account for the agency.
 
“We need to know what we have,” he said.
 
“We have to inquire about the $7.4 million,” said Lazarow, adding she plans to back London’s request for a forensic audit when he brings it up for a commission vote. Taub, who was not available for comment, is also expected to back the request.
 
City co-mingled CRA funds
Prior to 2012, the city had co-mingled CRA funds with city funds. That practice started in 1996, when the CRA was established under state law. The agency has been funded through property tax increases in the CRA boundaries.
 
It was only when the Broward Inspector General’s Office began its probe and issued a scathing report that some changes were made, including separating CRA-collected funds from other city tax revenues. Florida Bulldog had reported about questionable loans to local businesses and land purchases through the CRA nearly a year before IG investigators descended on city hall in April, 2012 seeking records and questioning officials as the probe became public.
 
After a 14-month investigation, the Inspector General’s Office in 2013 stated the Hallandale Beach CRA had “grossly mismanaged” millions of dollars in funds between 2007 and 2012. It found $2.2 million in questionable expenditures by the CRA, including inappropriate loans and grants to local businesses and non-profits, as well as the improper use of bond proceeds.
 
Before and after that report, London asked for a forensic audit of agency funds, but was outvoted by his commission colleagues.
 
Mayor Cooper denied the city had done anything wrong. The city commission majority at that time then ousted the agency’s recently appointed CRA executive director, Alvin Jackson, who won praise by the Inspector General for efforts to improve the CRA.
 
The city commission, over the objections of London, placed the agency once again under the direct management of the city manager. Except for Jackson’s short tenure, city managers have had full control of the CRA since 1996, during which the agency failed to keep adequate records, including changing loan and grant policies in violation of existing rules.
 
Both London and Lazarow said they are pleased with the new appointees, in particular Merino, 36.
 
“She has knowledge of our city,” said London, referring to Merino’s work with the agency that investigated the city’s CRA.
 
“Merino has a history [with the city],” Lazarow said. “She has been watching our meetings.”
 
Carlton, 69, has held several key positions with public agencies, among them: Miami Beach city manager (1992-1995), executive assistant Miami-Dade county manager (1977-1981). 
 
 
 
Paid political advertisement paid for and approved by Keith S. London
Keith London for Hallandale Beach City Commissioner, Seat 2
613 Oleander Dr
Hallandale Beach FL 33009-6531 United States




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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

#Ethics in government still matter to some of us in #Broward County -why we need Tougher #EthicsReform: excerpts from my written comments to 2014 meeting of the Oversight Committee for the Office of Broward Inspector General under John W. Scott; the useful examples of the #HallandaleBeach CRA, Joy Cooper, Renee Miller, Shevrin Jones, Lisa K. Aronson

#Ethics in government still matter to some of us in #Broward County -why we need Tougher #EthicsReform: excerpts from my written comments to 2014 meeting of the Oversight Committee for the Office of Broward Inspector General under John W. Scott; the useful examples of the #HallandaleBeach CRA, Joy Cooper, Renee Miller, Shevrin Jones, Lisa K. Aronson 

What follows are selected excerpts from my written comments to the 2014 meeting last Thursday of the Oversight Committee for the Office of Broward Inspector General, via the group's liaison, Kevin Kelleher.
I will have more excerpts posted soon, as I had two other short pages full of facts and anecdotes that I want to share with you that I felt the Oversight Committe really ought to know about before Broward General John. W. Scott spoke and answered their questions, since he would NOT answer the questions about his Office's performance and resolve to improve when they were sent to him directly.

 Recent useful predicates for understanding this matter are, in reverse chron order:






   
------
December 4, 2014

Dear Mr. Kelleher:

I'm writing to you today in your capacity as liaison to the Oversight Committee for the Office of Broward Inspector General.

Since I will be unable to appear in-person at this afternoon's meeting, I am sending my comments to you via email, with this being the first of three emails documenting my concerns.

I want to make sure that my voice, as well as the voices of other concerned residents of Broward County, have the opportunity to continue to push-back and call-out the stealthy, frequently anti-democratic and very antagonistic actions taken by so many elected public officials, who for some reason persist in thinking that they are beyond the reach of both the law and society's norms.

At last year's annual meeting of the Broward IG Oversight Committee, I spoke in some detail about some of the matters that I was most concerned with involving the evolving structure, operations and public outreach responsibilities of the Broward IG's office. I noted specific areas that I believed the office was deficient in and called for much-needed improvement in those areas IF it wanted to truly satisfy Broward County's much-beleaguered citizenry's very strong interest in seeing unethical behavior investigated, pulled-out by the roots and fully-prosecuted.

I said that in my opinion, IF the Broward IG's Office wanted to continue to maintain the public's trust, the area that most-needed tangible improvement was the allocation of adequate resources and personnel to public outreach in cities that were being formally investigated, so that the public would know with certainty just what WAS and was NOT being investigated, and how the public could best assist the office with respect to perhaps gathering additional relevant facts and evidence, to say nothing of context.

The latter was something that, to my astonishment, was NEVER done in Hallandale Beach in 2012 and 2013 when the Broward IG was investigating the longstanding Hallandale Beach CRA scandal involving tens of millions of dollars, since in my opinion, it would have produced a LOT more useful information and context for the IG's Office to peruse and consider.
In my opinion, they barely saw the the tip of the iceberg.

As someone who was frequently the only member of the public attending those early morning meetings years ago of the appointed Broward County Ethics Committee, someone who actually videotaped many of them so that I could later describe in accurate detail what had transpired in those meetings, esp. with respect to which appointed member was consistently voting FOR meaningful ethical standards and thresholds and which appointed members had consistently tried to obfuscate, misdirect or otherwise water-down any serious effort to hold people with power, influence and opportunity to account, I take what happens with the Office of Broward IG very seriously.

I don't think I or others need to apologize for wanting to make sure that the will and best interests of the Broward citizenry is represented as often as possible, NOT pushed to the side of the road by self-interested politicans, government employees and outside groups, esp. ones with zero public oversight like the Broward League of Cities, a group that STILL clearly wants its member cities and officials to have as low a threshold as possible, to meet and carve-out exceptions to common sense -as if common sense was something that we'd been enjoying too much of over the years, instead of its opposite.

Obviously, many of these individuals and groups would very much like to keep their perks and the trappings of the pay-to-play culture that had long flourished in Broward, and want to un-do the very small, positive things that have FINALLY taken place.
Sorry, that ship has sailed!

Despite my fact-filled warnings and anecdotes last year to the IG Oversight Committe and the public attending that meeting about the reality on-the-ground at Hallandale Beach City Hall, that same corrosive attitude and anti-citizen culture I described then persists from top-to-bottom at HB City Hall.

As my other emails today make clear, there has been no let-up by Mayor Joy Cooper and City Manager Renee Miller since either the April 2013 issuance of the IG's damning report on the Hallandale Beach CRA scandal that involved tens of millions of dollars, or, even since Mr. Scott and the Chief Counsel's own descriptions last year of the sorts of foolish and entirely self-serving gambits and attempts at misrepresentations engaged in by those women and the city.

Right down to Mayor Cooper intentionally sending her inaccurate letter and account of the facts to everyone scheduled to attend last year's IG Oversight Comm. meeting
That is, everyone BUT the IG's Office itself.

Yes, it was hard not to see that desperate and pathetic effort for precisely what it was. A shameful effort to obfuscate and blame others for their own unethical behavior and lack of proper governance, due diligence and meaningful oversight for SO MANY YEARS, which is just how I described it last year since that's precisely how the majority of Hallandale Beach's best-informed residents and Small Business owners see it

Despite his office having my contact information from my previous email over the years, after my testimony before you last year, here's the totality of what I heard back from Mr. Scott and his staff: NOTHING.

Nothing at all.
Not one phone call and not one email about about any of the useful suggestions that the Committee, any member of the public who testified, or that I made myself to tangibly improve the Office and the public's support of it.

It's important that members of the Oversight Committee fully understand one thing.
As someone who has followed this ethics and enforcement issue closely from the beginning, more than 99% of the county's populace, I strongly support a pro-active person in a leadership position at the Broward IG Office.

I am NOT wedded at all to the idea that Mr. Scott gets to keep that position indefinitely if he continues to ignore the advice and counsel that the Committee and the public gives, but which he and his staff seem to have no intention of taking and implementing.

Frankly, I'm sorry that I can't be there in-person to say that in front of Mr. Scott so that he can know how thin the ice is that he is on these days as far as I and many other civic activists are concerned.
If he is to succeeed, he has to be MUCH MORE accountable to the public and get outside of his current comfort zone.

I mean at what point do you insist that someone who is stubbornly refusing to adapt and evolve to the circumstances -and engaging in what is, ultimately, self-defeating behavior- that they have had their
opportunity and that the time is right to make a change?
And it's not like I'm the only one who thinks this, even if I'm the only one willing to say it publicly today.

There are many hundreds of concerned people throughout Broward County and up in Tallahassee who know how important establishing this IG Office is in the larger scheme of things.
People who know that it's very important thet the Office succeeed, and yet because of what I have learned and experienced first-hand -and shared with them- they wonder what's really going on, too.
Why so little apparent effort to improve and make things better?

The residents of this county need the office, we do not need necessarily the person in office now.

I should also mention that in the view of many people, including myself, having the office physically located where it is, in Tamarac, does NOT properly serve the long-term interests of the public, since it is not convenient to either Downtown, 1-95 or Tri-Rail. It's almost as if they are a collection of old historical parade floats being stored in a warehouse, and are wheeled out once a year -like today.

I'd be remisss if I didn't close by again emphasizing the importance of the Committee strongly urging the the Broward IG's Office to wake-up and smell the coffee about their current failed communication outreach to the public, whose support it so desperately needs.
It continues to be so inadequate to the current task and when you combine their elementary and unsatisfactory current use of Social Media, it almost makes the whole enterprise comical.
But nobody's laughing, certainly not me or other concerned Broward residents who see how for themselves everyday how much current ethics laws need to be strengthened, NOT weakened.

DBS, 11-year Hallandale Beach resident

----
Below are just three recent examples of many dozens that I could choose from throughout the area that amply demonstrate that things have NOT changed for the better regarding elected officials adhering to the spirit and letter of the ethics law throughout Broward County since last year's Oversight Comm. meeting, which I attended and spoke at.

Whether it's the matter of lobbyists who are elected officials lobbying other city's elected officials, complete compliance with the ethics rules, or simply elected officials actually paying attention to what the Broward IG says and does, these are some rather self-evident examples that MUCH MORE work needs to be done in changing the pay-to-play, "special rules for special people" political culture of Broward County, via City of Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper, City of Coconut Creek Commissioner Lisa Aronson and FL State Rep. Shevrin Jones.

The latter represents the part of Hallandale Beach that was the epicenter of the longstanding HB CRA scandal, and admits that he was NOT paying any attention to it at all, despite the millions of dollars involved and the years of wasted opportunities it represents.
That certainly explains a lot of what we see with our own eyes:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: DBS
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 12:17 PM
Subject: Hallandale Beach Mayor's latest example of revisionist history, re Broward IG; I'll be writing something about this on blog over weekend and will be highlighting her self-evident lies and mis-truths

Hear the latest from the woman who told the Broward IG's office that the campaign aide of hers that filmed her appearance and testimony at their office was actually an attorney.
But wasn't, of course, as we heard from the IG himself at last November's annual IG Oversight meeting in FTL that I attended and testified at.

The very meeting where Cooper's name was mentioned more frequently by the IG and the Oversight Board than any other individual's, and NOT in a positive way.
Joy Cooper just can't help lying, even about small things.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
OIG's recommendations should be opposed
Joy Cooper , mayor, Hallandale Beach
April 27, 2014

Last week the a task force meeting was held to review the OIGs recommendation to establish yet another new position of ethics czar and establish a Broward Commission on Ethics to centralize ethics opinions.

I have written before about my objections to the OIG recommendations. It is akin to having the jury, judge and executioner in one position. Currently there is a state Commission on Ethics paid for by our tax dollars. There are also State Attorney's offices around the state to prosecute violators.

Having gone through an investigation that was prompted by a former commissioner and candidate, I understand how centralized power and the current system can be utilized for political reasons. To create another layer of government that would duplicate the work of the county attorney, every city attorney and state Ethics Commission and State Attorney's would be an ineffective use of our taxpayer dollars.

A vote was taken by the taskforce to support the OIG's recommendation with a 3-2 vote. The separation of the two offices was included. The problem is this action nor the creation of yet another layer of government does not address the root problems that prompted the OIG's report; a poorly written ordnance.

Rather than wasting more taxpayer dollars over and above the $3 million-plus for the OIG's office, the ordinance needs to be amended. With or without the establishment of the czar and commission, the County Commission needs to clarify the poorly written sections of the ordinance that were mentioned in the OIGs report.

Every elected official should have the ability to due process. The current ordinance provides a safe harbor clause that provides there is a fair and equitable process for all elected officials. The County Commission should work with all the stakeholders to amend the ordinance before spending another tax dollar.

Joy Cooper, mayor, Hallandale Beach
-----
Broward Beat
Attacks Begin in County Commission
Race
By Buddy Nevins 
April 18, 2014
The gloves are off in the five-candidate race for an open County Commissionseat in North Broward.
In what is the first attack in the campaign, former Commissioner *CharlotteRodstrom* of Fort Lauderdale branded Mayor *Lisa Aronson* of Coconut Creekan enemy of ethics reform.
Aronson and Rodstrom are both vying for the seat now held by long-timeCommissioner *Kristin Jacobs*, who is term limited after 2014 election.There are three other candidates.
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.browardbeat.com/attacks-begin-in-county-commission-race/


-----
excerpt from my email of Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 3:04 PM, titled, More proof -as if needed- that Broward's state legislators AREN'T paying attention -State Rep. from area where most of wasted HB CRA millions were mis-spent, now publicly claims to know nothing about the issue, or the efforts to get a JLAC audit.

My comments are below the email I received this afternoon.

---------- Forwarded message ----------






 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, given how open Shevrin Jones is about now acknowledging NOT knowing anything about this important issue of longstanding public interest and controversy in Hallandale Beach, and within the district he represents, do you want to bet that he also never got around to reading the Broward Inspector General's damning report from last April either, re the lack of official oversight by Mayor/Chair Joy Cooper and the HB City Comm./CRA Board?

The Broward Inspector General’s final report that labeled as “gross mismanagement” the way millions in tax dollars by Hallandale Beach were mis-spent and the lack of attention to detail and lack of common sense oversight by Mayor Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew.
The detailed report that said that Cooper & Company have shown a “basic misunderstanding” of what’s gone wrong."
Yes, the IG final report that never appeared on the city's website, along with the city's own response because Mayor Cooper wants to keep everything about that matter on the down low?

Guess Rep. Jones also never heard about the collective attempts of myself and so many others for months to get that much-needed independent JLAC audit to find out where the millions really went, and why none of the many elected officials and highly-paid city officials at Hallandale Beach City Hall who were/are directly responsible for the ingrained and palpable culture of perennially looking the other way, obstinate stealthiness and craven crony capitalism, were ever properly punished.

Given that, I guess Rep. Jones still doesn't know what we do, 
That many of the people who are most personally responsible for that scandal -the wasted million$ and lost opportunities to really put a dent in the self-evident problems- are STILL drawing paychecks from Hallandale Beach taxpayers.
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Saturday, November 29, 2014

#Ethics in #SoFL - Updated news & observations re December 4th meeting of the Oversight Committee for Office of the Broward Inspector General; @BrowardIG

The email below, sent out yesterday afternoon, is a follow-up to my post of November 17, 2014 titled, Because #Ethics still matter to some of us in Broward County; re upcoming December 4th meeting of the Oversight Committee for Office of the Broward Inspector General
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2014/11/because-ethics-still-matter-to-some-of.html
-------
November 28, 2014
1:00 p.m.

Per my last email to many of you, and as you can see below, I heard back on Thursday morning from Philip Shailer, Chair of the Oversight Committee for the Office of the Broward Inspector General, which will be holding its annual meeting next week:

Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.
Broward County Governmental Center,
Room GC422 (County Comm. Meeting Chamber)Fort Lauderdale Florida 33301

Purpose of Meeting:
(a)   As required by the County Charter, the Committee will review the Inspector General’s Annual Report and evaluate his performance; and,
(b)  As required by the Charter, the Committee will determine whether to renew the contract of the Inspector General or to solicit new candidates.

The Committee's liaison is "Kelleher, Kevin" <kkelleher@broward.org>
who is the Director of Human Resources for Broward County.

I know that writing persuasive comments isn't necessarily everyone's thing, or even at the top of their list for things to do this particular holiday week, especially if you prefer shopping to writing.

But that said, IF you are considering sending the Oversight Comm. an email with your own comments about the sort of job you think the Broward IG's Office is doing, whether good or bad, or have constructive suggestions of your own -like me- for what you think they OUGHT be doing better or more of, I'd appreciate it if you'd consider bcc'ing me your particular thoughts.

NOT for public discussion or publication -unless you specifically want me to and give me permission to use your remarks before the meeting- but rather so I can accurately gauge what other people around the area are thinking these days regarding the IG's Office and whether it's performing as well as Broward's long-beleaguered citizenry needs it to.

Since I already know that I won't be able to attend that meeting in person, I'm sending my comments -via "Kelleher, Kevin" <kkelleher@broward.org> -
by Noon next Wednesday, the 3rd, to give everyone on the Committee plenty of time to adequately review them and incorporate those concerns into their own myriad questions and queries of the Broward IG (John W. Scott), the IG's Chief Counsel and any elected officials or city attorneys who choose to speak in person at the meeting.

Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that just like last year's annual Oversight meeting -which I attended and spoke at, as did Keith London- most of the people in the room will be elected officials or former
elected officials who are directly associated with the Broward League of Cities.

That group, which receives substantial taxpayer dollars from cities and towns all over Broward County in the form of dues and other fees -but with precious little enterprise reporting on what happens to the money afterwards- has been the nexus for years of a consistently anti-citizen mindset and anti-taxpayer agenda that's been fighting hard for LESS OVERSIGHT of elected officials and government employees and their interaction with lobbyists, businessmen, vendors and other third-parties in Broward.
Yes, even while the latter group continues playing the role they have for so long down here -unofficial intermediaries and campaign fundraising "friends" and bundlers in what's long been Broward's pay-to-play culture.
Precisely what we DON'T need more of!

Plus, it's not like we can trust them to be honest enough to actually write down in the written visitors logs at City Halls around Broward when they visit each other to figure out what their next move is to
try to frustrate the public's will, "Strategize on how to avoid compliance with Broward IG and state statutes."

Here's an except from my November 9th email of last year, written shortly after the 2013 Oversight Comm. meeting, which as I recall it, only the South Florida Sun-Sentinel bothered to actually cover in person:

"It was also NOT a good day for the anti-IG Broward League of Cities and their hardcore and permanent crew of longtime apologists and paid consultants throughout the county, who continue to want to allow themselves the freedom to continue to misrepresent what's really going on with ethics in this county and what the IG's Office is doing, but also continue using municipal taxpayer dollars to pay attorneys to tell them exactly what they want to hear, instead of simply following the spirit and letter of the law."

"Or as one of the learned members of the Oversight Comm. put it, it seems like Broward cities love using taxpayer dollars to "shield" themselves, but there's no reason for that to continue any longer."

By the way, if you didn't already know, I'm reliably informed that Mr. Shailer is, in fact, the former Broward State's Attorney. I'd mentioned that fact many years ago to some of you in a 2011 email
account of what was going on with the effort to create an IG-like position, but, somehow, I came to forget that important fact myself in the intervening years.

In going thru my notes about last year's Oversight meeting, I happened to come across a sad reminder of what we all heard about a year ago this very week, though some of us suspected this all along.
It concerns the antics of Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper and her longtime pal, state Senator Eleanor Sobel -never a friend of ours- and Sobel's successful efforts to completely thwart, undermine and BLOCK Hallandale Beach citizens' efforts to finally get to the financial truth about the longtime incompetency and corruption surrounding the HB CRA via an audit by the Joint Auditing Comm. in Tallahassee.

As we know, the last thing that Mayor Cooper wanted was to have a team of professional investigators with a nose-for-numbers looking at the extant CRA records -the few that exist- to see where the tens of millions of dollars really went buh-bye -and under what circumstances-
since Cooper's been in office the past ten-plus years, with worse-than-zero oversight from HB City Hall, with her personally micro-managing everything from A to Z. 
BADLY.

Broward Bulldog
Two senators short-circuit Legislature’s plan to audit troubled
Hallandale Beach CRA
By Willliam Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org
NOVEMBER 26, 2013 AT 6:13 AM
http://www.browardbulldog.org/2013/11/two-senators-short-circuit-legislatures-plan-to-audit-troubled-hallandale-beach-cra/

Yes, the longstanding HB CRA scandal that current state Rep. Shevrin Jones wrote to me earlier this year in a Twitter response that he had NEVER heard anything about the problem. Really.
This, despite the fact that,
a.) it was as well-publicized as it was over several years, and
b.) was chronicled by the Broward IG in his damning report, and,
c.) took place almost entirely in HIS legislative district.
Yep, it's the Army's classic definition of SNAFU!

Free Advice Dept.: I say the following as someone who:
a.) likes to save money,
b.) share news, and
c.) who loves Scandinavia
Due to scheduling conflicts, last year I missed seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland on my way back from my nine-day trip to Sweden, via side trips from Reykjavik.
On Wednesday afternoon, I got word via an email from Norwegian Air -which started flying out of Hollywood Ft. Lauderdale Int'l Airport a year ago this week- is now offering non-stop flights to Oslo from $217 one-way.
IF you want to catch the Northern Lights this year, you can take one of their flights and connect via beautiful Oslo to Tromsø for only $332 one way.
That's ridiculously CHEAP!

Plus, Tromsø is actually farther north than any part of Iceland is.
REAL Northern Lights.... for a pittance
Just saying... if the Northern Lights are on your bucket list...

Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth,  https://twitter.com/hbbtruth
https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: PhilShail
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 11:31:09 -0500
Subject: Re: re Dec. 4th meeting of the Oversight Committee for Office
of the Broward ...
To: hallandalebeachblog@gmail.com
Cc: kkelleher@broward.org


Sorry I was unable to respond sooner.

As I know you observed from reviewing the Agenda, at the upcoming  meeting
members of the public wishing to do so will be invited -- indeed,
encouraged -- to address our committee.  Also, in that you would like
to  have us
receive viewpoints and issues in advance, to give us additional time to  digest
them, I would suggest that you send all such queries to  Kevin Kelleher.

By copying Mr. Kelleher on this e-mail, I am requesting that he  promptly
forward everything he receives from you and others in this regard to  all
committee members.

I rather doubt that any member will give you a substantive response to
matters you raise, as we don't operate other than as a committee at
duly-noticed  public hearings; but you can rest assured that all of us
will have read
and  considered anything that you send, and will address those things at the
meeting  to the extent warranted or advisable.

I hope that you and yours are enjoying the best of this Thanksgiving  Day.

Sincerely,

Phil Shailer


In a message dated 11/21/2014 4:23:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
hallandalebeachblog@gmail.com writes:

November  21, 2014
4:20 p.m.

Dear Mr. Shailer:

On Monday I contacted  Kevin Kelleher to find out when the upcoming
Oversight Committee meeting  for the Broward IG Office would be held,
below.
I heard from Mr.  Kelleher soon thereafter as to the date, time and
location, and subsequent  to that, also heard from someone that you'd
be the point person of sorts  for public comments submitted prior to
the Dec. 4th meeting.

At that  point I forwarded my original email and the Kelleher response
to some  people and civic groups around the County and South Florida
about that upcoming meeting, as well as some of the policies we are
concerned about in  order to make sure that the Broward IG Office has
both the resources and  energy it needs.
Later, I blogged about some of my concerns.

At some  point over the weekend or early next week, I'm planning on
writing some of  those same people and civic groups and suggesting
some possible areas of  discussion.

Given this area's long-prevailing political culture and  the
strong-willed opposition to almost everything the IG Office does among
many Broward elected officials, municipal administators and
attorneys, as well s the principal taxpayer-subsidized non-profit
group that's the public face of their adversarial approach towards
citizens,
taxpayers and the entire notion of someone being able to independently
monitor their actions and behavior -especially where I live in
Hallandale Beach- it's important to me and this area's future that
concerned citizens speak forthrightly about precisely what is  needed
now, and face that public opposition head-on.

Given that, I'm  writing you today to make sure of something before I
started that  communication train going. Would you prefer that
citizens and other  interested parties send their comments to you via:
a.) Mr. Kelleher's  Broward.org email,
b.) to you via the email address above, or,
c.) to  some separate official email address, since the comments would
be considered public?

Also, is there a specific time deadline that you and  the Commitee
would like comments to be submitted by to ensure that you and the
other members have enough time to carefully review them and be able
to include some of their concerns?

Just want to make sure that I get  the facts right!



----------  Forwarded message ----------
From: 
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 15:27:11  -0500
Subject: re upcoming meeting of the Oversight Committee for Office  of
the Broward Inspector General
To: "Kelleher, Kevin"  <kkelleher@broward.org>
Cc: Bertha Henry  <bhenry@broward.org>

November 17, 2014

Dear Mr.  Kelleher:

I'm writing to you today in your capacity as liaison to the  Oversight
Committee for the Office of Broward Inspector General.

I  would like to know when and where this year's meeting will take place
so  that I can make sure that my voice, as well as the voices of  other
concerned residents of Broward County, have the opportunity to  continue
to push-back and call-out the stealthy, frequently anti-democratic  and
very antagonistic actions taken by so many elected public  officials,
who for some reason persist in thinking that they are beyond the  reach
of both the law and society's norms.

At last year's annual  meeting of the Broward IG Oversight Committee,
I spoke in some detail about  some of the matters that I was most
concerned with involving the evolving  structure, operations and public
outreach responsibilities of the Broward  IG's office.
I noted specific areas that I believed the office was  deficient in and
called for much-needed improvement in those areas* IF* it  wanted to truly
satisfy Broward County's much-beleaguered citizenry's very  strong interest
in seeing unethical behavior investigated, pulled-out by  the roots and
fully-prosecuted.

I said that in my opinion, *IF* the  Broward IG's Office wanted to continue
to maintain the public's trust, the  area that most-needed tangible
improvement was the allocation of adequate  resources and personnel to
public outreach in cities that were being  formally investigated, so
that the public would
know with certainty just  what* WAS* and was *NOT* being investigated, and
how the public could best  assist the office with respect to perhaps
gathering additional relevant  facts and evidence, to say nothing of
context.

The latter was something  that, to my astonishment, was *NEVER* done in
Hallandale Beach in 2012 and  2013 when the Broward IG was investigating
the longstanding Hallandale  Beach CRA scandal involving tens of millions
of dollars, since in my  opinion, it would have produced a *LOT* more useful
information and context  for the IG's Office to peruse and consider.
*In my opinion, they barely saw  the the tip of the iceberg.*

As someone who was frequently the only  member of the public attending
those early morning meetings years ago of  the appointed Broward County
Ethics Committee, someone who actually  videotaped many of them so
that I could later describe in accurate detail  what had transpired in those
meetings, esp. with respect to which appointed  member was consistently
voting *FOR* meaningful ethical standards and  thresholds and which
appointed members had consistently tried to obfuscate, misdirect or
otherwise water-down any serious effort to hold people with power, influence
and opportunity to account, I take what happens with the Office of Broward IG
very seriously.

I don't think I or others need  to apologize for wanting to make sure that
the will and best interests of  the Broward citizenry is represented as
often as possible, *NOT* pushed to  the side of the road by self-interested
politicans, government employees  and outside groups, esp. ones with zero
public oversight like the *Broward  **League of Cities*, a group that *STILL*
clearly wants its member cities  and officials to have as low a threshold as
possible, to meet and carve-out  exceptions to common sense -as if
common sense was something that we'd been enjoying too much of over
the years, instead of its opposite.

Obviously, many of these individuals and groups would very much like to
keep their perks and the trappings of the pay-to-play culture  that had long
flourished in Broward, and want to un-do the very small,  positive things
that have *FINALLY* taken place.
*Sorry, that ship has  sailed! *

Despite my fact-filled warnings and anecdotes last year to the IG Oversight
Committe and the public attending that meeting about the reality
on-the-ground at Hallandale Beach City Hall, that same corrosive  attitude
and anti-citizen culture I described then persists from  top-to-bottom at
HB City Hall.

There has been no let-up by Mayor Joy Cooper and City Manager Renee Miller
since either the April 2013 issuance  of the IG's damning report on the
Hallandale Beach CRA scandal that  involved tens of millions of dollars, or,
even since Mr. Scott and the  Chief Counsel's own descriptions last year of the
sorts of foolish and entirely self-serving gambits and attempts at
misrepresentations
engaged in  by those women and the city.
Right down to Mayor Cooper *intentionally*  sending her inaccurate letter
and account of the facts to everyone scheduled to attend last year's IG
Oversight Comm. meeting
*That is, everyone BUT the IG's Office itself.*

Yes, it was hard not to see that desperate and pathetic effort for
precisely what it was.
A shameful  effort to obfuscate and blame others for their own unethical
behavior and  lack of proper governance, due diligence and meaningful
oversight for SO  MANY YEARS, which is just how I described it last
year since  that's precisely how the majority of Hallandale Beach's
best-informed
residents and Small Business owners see it

I look  forward to hearing from you soon about that upcoming meeting.
Mr. Smith,

The next Inspector General Selection and Oversight Committee Meeting is currently scheduled for Thursday, December 4 at 2:00pm in Room 422 of the Broward County Governmental Center, 115 South Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale Florida 33301.

Should you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kevin
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