He's no Houdini! Why Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders is so worried: He can't hide anymore from his crony capitalism and dismal record of words & votes against logic, common sense, financial accountability -and HB's future Quality-of-Life. The tide of change against him is rising, NOT fading. Vote for Kulin!

Contents below are a slightly-expanded version of an email I sent out last night to people all over Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, greater Broward County and throughout South Florida who care about cleaning-up one of the most incompetent and corrupt local governments in all of Florida, the City of Hallandale Beach.

He's no Houdini! Why Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders is so worried: He can't hide anymore from his dismal record of words & votes against logic, common sense, financial accountability -and HB's future Quality-of-Life. The tide of change against him is rising, NOT fading

Dear Friend of Common Sense in Hallandale Beach,

Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders is worried.
And he has good reason to be worried.
He's NOT an escape artist like Houdini, and his dismal and ruinous record in office is all around us! 
Right where we can see it.

Comm. Sanders knows that after six years of his consistently unsatisfactory performance in office, six years of his continually being shown as not only un-informed but also consistently
dis-connected from the legitimate concerns of the majority of HB residents and small business owners, six LONG years of his consistently being disrespectful of them while casting votes that've negatively affected them and their family's present and future Quality-of-Life, that the tide of change against him is rising, NOT fading.

Despite his recent (ill-chosen) boast in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he was perfectly prepared to stand by his record in elective office after six years, the reality is that Comm. Sanders CAN'T defend it. 
The unintended irony of this, of course, is that his record can also NOT be defended by his own supporters among the anti-reform Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew, or among City Hall's selfish crony capitalism crowd of friends. 
Friends who love being rewarded for being friends of the powers-that-be: with COHB and HB CRA dollars.

But then that only stands to reason, since despite six long years of opportunities to do so, Comm. Sanders himself has been unwilling to defend his own record and votes with anything even remotely resembling logic or reason. 
Not just at the time Comm. Sanders was casting his predictable Rubber Stamp votes, but unable even to explain those votes and policy views with any degree of persuasion or conviction in the minutes, hours, days or weeks AFTER he's cast those same votes against
common sense and financial accountability, often at the same time.

Most of us who have paid even the slightest amount of attention to what happens in Hallandale Beach and its neighboring cities know that Comm. Sanders has never had to publicly defend that woeful record of poor performance, despite how egregious many of Sanders' actions have been, whether in the area of his questionable ethics, uniformily poor
judgment, or even his failure to consistently show-up at public meetings fully-informed and prepared to ask cogent questions, as the HB community has a perfect right to expect of any elected official.

What's particularly galled so many of us is that Comm. Sanders has been aided and abetted in that effort by a largely pliant and sleepwalking South Florida news media, that, with a few rare exceptions, never wanted to directly challenge Sanders' myopic and upside-down world view, to say nothing of personally holding him and his ineffective words/votes to account for the reality of the abymally poor governance we see in this city no matter where we go.

Now part of that is because Sanders, even after so many awful years in office, always wanted to play the role of voice for the disaffected and forgotten in this community. 
As IF that could in any way be explained by his six years of ALWAYS voting FOR real estate developers, no matter how incompatible or harmful the individual project was to the nearest neighborhood or the city at large

And year-after-year, the local South Florida news media -with a few exceptions- has lacked the mettle, gumption and attention-span to directly and publicly challenge Comm. Sanders on that faux pose of his, though the facts are clear they could've clobbered him using his own words and votes whenever they chose on a whole host of issues.
But sadly for us, the news media has consciously chosen NOT to challenge and press Sanders to fully explain his strange utterings and troublesome votes up on the dais. 
That failure has only exacerbated the growing sense of frustration and alienation in this city among reasonable people who simply want it to be MUCH BETTER than has been allowed to be.

One of the few shining exceptions to this apathy by local South Florida journalists has been Local10's Glenna Milberg.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/video-local10s-glenna-milberg-examines.html
actsofsedition video:  Local10/Miami: "City's pricey purchase." 
On July 26, 2012, Local10 reporter Glenna Milberg went to Hallandale Beach to learn more details about the curious case involving Pastor and City Comm. Anthony A. Sanders' rushed sale of his and his wife's property at 501 N.W. 1st Avenue to the city in 2009 -when the city had ZERO written plans for what it would actually do with the property afterwards!- for about $89,000 more than it was actually worth. Sanders continues to stonewall Hallandale Beach taxpayers about the exact details of this deal as he has now for over three years, and he refused to speak with Milberg on Thursday. Outside of the city-owned property that the city now receives $10 a year in rent for, Mayor Joy Cooper's explanation was unconvincing for HB taxpayers. Three years later she continued to hem and haw when asked simple questions -and to defend the indefensible- as she still can't logically explain what the rush was to buy the property at a higher price, esp. if there was no definite plan in place. It was left to former Comm. Keith London -the only vote against the purchase and Cooper's re-election opponent in November of 2012- to again explain why this deal was so egregious from HB taxpayer's point of view. It's just one of the dozens of inexplicable and nonsensical things that I've personally observed with Hallandale Beach taxpayer or CRA funds under Mayor Cooper's reign since I moved here. Uploaded July 27, 2012. http://youtu.be/XlOgkrL9CWI


People like you and your neighbors who want policy arguments at HB City Hall to be over commonly-agreed-upon facts and the best way to make good ideas become a reality, the exact opposite of what we've had in this city for far too long, with Sanders always on the wrong side of both common sense and history.

Six years later, with Sanders continually failing to rise to the responsibility, and in fact, to be found wanting by the majority of Hallandale Beach residents, even among those in NW HB, Sanders knows that the real disaffected people in this city are the very citizens,residents and small business owners like you who for years have been made to feel like uninvited and unwanted outsiders at your own City Hall.

Forever being treated shabbily, callously or even publicly insulted, by both an autocratic mayor and a power-hungry city manger, as they and their bureaucratic minions continually tried to flip norms of public democratic participation on its side, so they alone could be
left alone to form this city in their own image(s).

Far too often, despite our best efforts to positively change the culture of entitlement and self-evident wrong-way driving up on the dais, we were forced to watch in silence as this happened, with Comm. Sanders sitting up on the dais totally oblivious to what was taking
place, and not at all interested in putting HB residents and small business owners first, not forever second to someone else's interests.

Since Comm. Sanders can NOT defend that abysmal record of his, naturally -along with his cohorts among the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew- he's eager to change the subject of this Commission race to something else, anything else -and distract voters from his own inability to make a positive difference for the whole community.
Year-after-year. 
Please don't let him get away with it again!

IF there were actually honest-to-goodness candidate debates and public forums in this city, venues where HB residents and small business owners like you could speak truthfully about their legitimate concerns and fears, without Mayor Cooper and City Manager Miller constantly interfering -or running to protect Comm. Sanders from his own words and actions on the dais- trust me, my good friend, HB civic activist Chuck Kulin, would be constantly reminding Comm. Sanders that he was running against HIM and Sanders' failed record for reasons that he'd only be too happy to enumerate and articulate, with facts and precision that make the case.

But now in the last 20 days, even after all of Chuck's hard work on his campaign, absent those public venues to directly challenge Comm. Sanders and his votes directly on the record, and the news media's reluctance to print or air what so many of us know about Sanders' record in a way that aligns with what most of us have grown-up thinking is reasonable to expect in an election campaign, Comm. Sanders is relying upon the friends and cronies of Mayor Cooper and the myriad businesses who deal with HB City Hall to finance him and run interference for him.

Anthony A. Sanders/Commission Seat No. 1

Qualified as of 6/19/2014

M4, M5 , M6, M7, M8, G4

People who are determined to keep this seat on THEIR side, opposing needed reforms and more meaningful public accountability and public input.

That’s why I need your help and am writing you now. 
Three weeks from this morning we'll all wake-up with the knowledge that the opportunity
to positively change things in this community has come and gone for another two years.
Do you want to wake-up feeling good that morning, energized and positive that this city can FINALLY start being the sort of place we can all take pride in, or, do you want to be suffering from a headache, knowing that things CAN and often DO get worse in this city
when consistently ineffective and inattentive incumbents are returned to their seats at City Hall?

If you want it to be the former and not the latter, please contact Chuck and offer to help him in this campaign however you can, doing what you can right now to show Comm. Sanders that he is going to be replaced by someone who can and will be a positive can-do voice for
you, common sense and financial accountability.

Chuck Kulin
1835 E. Hallandale Beach Boulevard, #130, Hallandale Beach, Florida 33009
Cell 954-804-2210 
E-mail ChuckKulin2014@gmail.com
www.chuckkulin.com/

It seems to me that we are so close to winning this pivotal seat, and so close to sending Sanders packing -but we can only get there when everyone looks themselves in the mirror and is willing to expend some time and effort in changing the dynamic and reality of this city.

There's now less than 20 days left.
What are YOU going to do?

Looks like Broward County is finally serious about recouping the millions in CRA funds that cities like Hallandale Beach have mishandled and squandered via incompetency and crony capitalism. Couldn't be clearer that HB City Manager Renee C. Miller still wants to keep stonewalling taxpayers!

Looks like Broward County is finally serious about recouping the millions in CRA funds that cities like Hallandale Beach have mishandled and squandered via incompetency and crony capitalism. Couldn't be clearer that HB City Manager Renee C. Miller still wants to keep stonewalling taxpayers!

A slightly-expanded version of an email that I sent out Wednesday afternoon to my In-Crowd
of concerned residents and taxpayers in Hallandale Beach and throughout Broward County as well as concerned civic activists around the Sunshine State, along with cc's to people in our state capital of Tallahassee whom I've communicated with in the past year, ostensibly, because they more than most people in the legistlature have a strong interest in this matter of CRAs, and Florida cities continually using them for purposes for which the enabling legislation was NOT intended, as my many previous blog posts on this subject and audits have made crystal clear.

Among the lucky recipients this time were: Florida CFO Jeff Atwater, outgoing FL Senate President  Don Gaetz, powerful FL state Sen. Jack  Latvala, and FL state Rep. Lake Ray, who is Chair of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.
-----
More soon on the blog on the subject of the scandal-plagued Hallandale Beach CRA, along with the EXCESS MILLIONS of tax dollars that have been and will be paid to a small number of the City of Hallandale Beach's highest-paid employees in pensions -including the past 3 City Managers: Mark A, Antonio, Mike Good & R.J. Intindola- which current City Manager Renee Miller still can't explain with a straight face.

Yes, more than TWO YEARS after Miller personally promised community activist Csaba Kulin in-person that she would give him the docs he sought from the city via Public Records Request provisions of Florida's Sunshine Laws, after the city had refused to fully comply with the law, just like the CRA funds issue, City Manager Miller can't and won't tell the truth and has refused to turn the germane public documents over.

Documents that would show who at HB City Hall made the decision on who would and would not be in the managament pension plan, and who decided that they'd be paid at a much-higher rate than they were scheduled to receive.

Or as it was then-described in the Broward Bulldog, "authorize the granting of retroactive retirement credit."

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/10/two-hallandale-officials-who-voted-for-generous-pension-plan-say-they-werent-told-true-costs/

Hallandale’s ex-top managers collect fat pensions from retirement plan they pushed a decade ago

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/10/hallandales-top-managers-collect-fat-pensions-from-retirement-plan-they-pushed-a-decade-ago/

Altered rules let ex-Hallandale city manager’s son-in-law join lucrative pension plan

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2013/02/altered-rules-let-ex-hallandale-city-managers-son-in-law-join-lucrative-pension-plan/

The city even had the audacity to claim to Csaba that it didn't even know who was a part of the pension plan! Really.

But then this is the same city that in 2011 had its CRA purchase land for use as a park at a price that was higher than it was really worth, but then this year, we were told repeatedly by Miller that having CRA funds used to fix/modernize the city's very poorly-maintained parks within the CRA district was NOT a good thing, and that citizens needed to vote in November for a Parks Bond issue instead.

This despite the fact that the HB City Commission has written the question so that any funds approved by voters in November could, in fact, be used for whatever purpose the City Commission wanted.

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/10/hallandale-beach%E2%80%99s-purchase-of-ex-congressman-deutschs-school-site-comes-with-hefty-repair-bill/

Which is to say, NOT used exclusively for Parks, as I have long argued was necessary in order to give HB taxpayers some degree of confidence that a yes vote would indeed be for what citizens at the ballot box intended. 

In essence, HB City Hall wants the Bond issue approved so they can create a new slush fund for themselves to continue their years of arrogant crony capitalism.

And, of course, as I've have commented upon many times over the 18 months since it was released, it speaks volumes about her lack of transparancy and accountability that Renee Miller still refuses to place the Broward IG's damning report of the city accusing it of "gross mismanagement" on the city's website -or even post the city's own response.

Yes, the "response" that HB taxpayers and the CRA had to pay for that was nothing but a complete whitewash of responsibility.

-----

HallandaleBeachBlog ‏@hbbtruth  

#HallandaleBeach still lying abt. its (invisible) oversight/accountability of $12.6M in CRA funds it mishandled :-( http://www.browardbulldog.org/2014/09/broward-to-seek-return-of-cra-tax-dollars-mishandled-by-cities-millions-at-stake/ … …

2:26 PM - 10 Sep 2014 · Details

Broward Bulldog

Broward to seek return of CRA tax dollars mishandled by cities; Millions at stake

By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org 

September 4, 2014 AT 6:35 AM

Broward will seek the return of county property tax dollars from city community redevelopment agencies that hoarded that money instead of spending it on projects to fight slum and blight that are ready to get underway, according to County Administrator Bertha Henry.

The county’s toughened stand follows recent findings by Broward’s Inspector General that Margate deliberately mishandled $2.7 million in CRA funds. It also comes amid fresh criticism about the way Hallandale Beach allegedly handled its community redevelopment funds.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2014/09/broward-to-seek-return-of-cra-tax-dollars-mishandled-by-cities-millions-at-stake/

#tonedeaf -Once again, Hallandale Beach's thin-skinned, attention-hog of a mayor, Joy Cooper, is saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time to frustrated Hallandale Beach residents, taxpayers & small business owners. This time, about increasing the minimum wage, despite the fact that as residents know only too well, far too many of the city's employees and contractors consistently under-perform and yet have no fear of repercussions they'd face anywhere else

Well, so much for starting the new week off in a good mood.
Today's New York Times should serve as a real wake-up call to those in the Hallandale Beach community who, counter-intuitively given the mountain of evidence to the contrary, have been content for years to simply look the other way regarding the lingering questions about Mayor Joy Cooper whenever any discussion occurred amongst straight-talking family members or out-of-town friends about how a city like Hallandale Beach, located in a great geographic location between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and next to the beach, has continued to be such a self-evident mess under her the past dozen years.

That a mean-spirited woman like Joy Cooper with such a demonstrated history of being completely oblivious to the reality of how poorly Hallandale Beach has been run for years under her ruinous anti-democratic reign, and how manifestly under-performing and insolent such a high percentage of the the city's employees have been and continue to be -including Dept. heads and key Administrators- is, admittedly, NOT news.

So that said, why should any of us who DO pay attention to matters hereabouts be the least bit surprised that Cooper is now publicly trying to draw attention to HERSELF by calling for a pay increase for those same employees, as well as the city's army of not-so-competent contractors -i.e Lanzo on NE 14th Avenue in the never-ending pipe/road project from hell; or the firm responsible for the city's third-rate website or the one responsible for the poorly-performing streaming of City meetings, often with no audio or picture for 30 minutes or more...?

More $$$ that Joy Cooper wants to dole out that comes from us -with her taking the bows and thanks- when what we should really be getting from HB City Hall is a long overdue refund and an apology. In fact, multiple apologies!

How truly out-of-touch with HB residents and small business owners is Mayor Cooper?

As if any of us needed more evidence to add to the mountain that's staring us in the face, the article below from today's New York Times shows us.
She wants taxpayers to be be paying more in salary to employees and contractors, Exhibits A and B in what is at the heart of this city's problems: incompetency and bad performance.

To give you a better sense of how true that is, I'll soon be sharing here -complete with fact-filled photos that leave no question about what the reality of the situation is- one self-evident example after another showing how months after I publicly chastised City Manager Renee Miller for about five minutes straight at the combined NE/SE/Beach Quadrant meeting at the The Hemispheres condominium meeting room over on the beach.
Very specific examples of how it's not just Hallandale Beach residents that have realized how phony Miller's high-minded rhetoric and claims to be a reformer were in 2012, but others in Broward County as well.

The short version is that I told Miller that her claims to actually welcome public/neighborhood input and ideas, were, based on the past two years of history, an exaggerated and self-serving lie, and one that her own staff now realized, too. 

Then told her that the proof that her own staff and Dept. heads were tuning her and her high-minded rhetoric from 2012, and having no problem at all in being publicly insolent to the community, with absolutely no fear of repercussions from HER, were precisely what happened to me and has happened to so many of you, belied by Miller's own unsatisfactory behavior/performance/attitude.

I publicly identified three people -including two Dept, heads: Schanz at Parks & Rec and Parkinson at DPW- whom I had contacted via email, both in September and in the weeks prior to the Quadrant meeting, re specific questions involving the HB Parks bond issue and some longstanding problems with the city's Mini Bus transportation system that directly and adversely affects riders.

Problems that the people in charge showed absolutely no desire to accept responsibility for or attempt to satisfactorily resolve.

It will come as no surprise to you that none of the three city employees responded as we'd have a right to expect, despite sending reminders to them that they had failed to respond.

(And that none of the self-evident problems was resolved either.)

And, of course, they've never responded to me in the weeks and months SINCE the Quadrant meeting, despite the fact that they were in the room when CM Miller specifically said that she expected better of her staff. And that, in the end, the person responsible was her.

Well, in most parts of the country, I'd have heard from one of the three in the days afterwards, but here, nothing from the three of them and Miller.

So, yes, it'll be another example of me having to pull off another embarrassing band-aid re HB City Hall's longstanding incompetency and bungling that the local press continues to ignore and that the public has had ENOUGH of to last them a lifetime.

In case you hadn't realized it, a dubious anniversary draws near.

The next few days mark exactly two years since a serious mistake in judgement was made and Rene Miller was hired as Hallandale Beach City Manager.

Despite plenty of people in town giving her the benefit of the doubt long after she proved how unsatisfactory she was to the task, including some of you, Miller has not only proven a compete fraud as to being a reformer and being willing to try new innovative ideas the public supports, she has in fact tried to consolidate her power at HB City Hall by hiring LOTS of cronies of hers from the City of Miami Gardens, her former employer, including the recently-hired new head of Personnel in HB.

Simply put, after two years of her NOT coming anywhere close to effectuating any of the much-needed positive attitude and performance changes among the city's army of employees, City Manager Renee Miller clearly can't be trusted any longer with OUR city's future.

Miller needs to be replaced as City Manager AFTER November's elections, where new faces on the dais will not repeat past mistakes and ignore the reality of perpetual dysfunction that HB residents, taxpayers and small business owners experience everyday.

A long overdue reality check needs to be firmly delivered at HB City Hall this November.

  

--------------

New York Times

Mayors Put Focus on How to Raise Wages for Lowest-Paid Workers in Cities

By SHAILA DEWAN

June 22, 2014

DALLAS — About one in five people in Hallandale Beach, Fla., live below the poverty line. Though it is a small city — 37,000 people, a horse track and a greyhound track — its mayor, Joy Cooper, bellied up to the table during a jobs committee discussion on Saturday among the nation’s mayors and fired off a few questions about raising the minimum wage, if not for the whole city, at least for businesses with city contracts.

“I want to make sure my employees are cared for properly,” Ms. Cooper said later. “I want to have a high-quality work force.”

Read the rest of the article at: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/us/mayors-put-focus-on-how-to-raise-wages-for-lowest-paid-workers-in-cities.html

On Wednesday night, Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper has to defend her freelancing, breaking of city's rules in order to help her friends at Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino with bldg. code fines they EARNED. Again! Her campaign contributors, Gulfstream Park, must really love her "Special Rules for Special People" form of advocacy, but why does she save her energy & love for a multi-million dollar company instead of insisting they follow the law and finally fix up their appearance problems?

Do you recognize this "temporary" facility at Gulfstream Park's south parking lot. No, it's not the Hindenburg 2.0's new air hangar. What you're looking at above, looking east, is the "temporary" horse barn being constructed on the south side of the Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino, below, and to the southeast of the Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex off U.S.-1/South Federal Highway, that is the center of an ethics controversy surrounding the rogue activities of a mayor in a city that has seen plenty of those -Hallandale Beach. September 27, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Local10: Mayor wants $52K fine against Gulfstream Park waived
No vote taken on waiving fine at Hallandale Beach budget meeting
By Bob Norman, Reporter, bnorman@Local10.com, and Ben Candea, Senior Web Producer, bcandea@local10.com
Published On: Oct 04 2013 06:13:16 PM EDT   
Updated On: Oct 04 2013 11:51:10 PM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/mayor-wants-52k-fine-against-gulfstream-park-waived/-/1717324/22282006/-/p0vivbz/-/index.html

Agenda for Wednesday night's Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting at 6:30 p.m.

http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2013-11-06-FINAL/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202013-11-06%2018-30.htm

Agenda item # 14E under City Business

E.    CONSIDERATION OF GULFSTREAM PARK PERMIT FINES FOR PERMIT #13-2881, GULFSTREAM TEMPORARY BARNS. (STAFF: DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES) (SEE BACKUP) (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

Consider this helpful Local10 video a helpful predicate for better understanding this blog post for those readers trying to make sense of it far from Hallandale Beach. 

Just a reminder, Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino is directly across the street from HB City Hall.

Local10 video: Mayor wants $52K fine against Gulfstream Park waived

No vote taken on waiving fine at Hallandale Beach budget meeting
By Bob Norman, Reporter, bnorman@Local10.com, and Ben Candea, Senior Web Producer, bcandea@local10.com
Published On: Oct 04 2013 06:13:16 PM EDT   
Updated On: Oct 04 2013 11:51:10 PM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/mayor-wants-52k-fine-against-gulfstream-park-waived/-/1717324/22282006/-/p0vivbz/-/index.html

On Wednesday night at 6:30, Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper has to defend her track record of having broken the city's own written rules of operation in order to help her friends at Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino in their attempts to get out of paying legitimate building code fines they were guilty of. Again!

The fact is that when it comes to building code violations, especially of the egregious kind,

Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino is a serial offender. They have been cited many times by the city and state and are currently paying fines everyday because of previous violations they are trying to avoid paying, despite lots of evidence gathered by both city and state officials. (Some of which is in the staff backup info above.)

But this is who the mayor is trying to defend while defending herself, and she still wants to stiff the citizens of this community and have them just swallow the fine, like it was an after-dinner dessert. 

But why should they?

Especially given that Gulfstream Park is a serial offender?

Mayor Cooper is legally and morally supposed to represent the citizens, taxpayers and small business owners of this community and put their best interests above all other interests, including her own. 

She actually takes an oath of office that requires her to faithfully obey the Florida Constitution and the laws of this state, swearing NOT to break its laws. 

She also is obliged to obey the laws, rules and ordinances of this rather imperfect city and one of them specifically concerns "Interference with Administration."

Mayor Cooper is NOT legally allowed to decide on her own personal or political whims to wear multiple hats, to abrogate her duties to the city and this community and then take sides against it by taking it upon herself to represent the financial interests of the city's largest employer in a matter -AGAINST the people of this very community who have
Gulfstream Park dead-to-rights and a reasonable expectation that the mayor of the city is NOT actively working against THEM. 

In this city with its current City Manger form of government, as opposed to a Strong  Mayor form that exists in many Northern cities, Mayor Cooper clearly broke the city's own written administrative code on interfering with the day-to-day operations when she began inquiring and asking questions and making demands of city employees.

The specific rules involved are located at the bottom of this email.

Mayor Cooper has no legal authority to help a third-party, Gulfstream Park, get out of

paying a fine from the city and the state and yet she tried to do both, even trying to have the  state's fine waived too until the city attorney told her that night that the city did not have the legal authority to do so.

Frankly, it was embarrassing that this even had to be said out loud.

There's a carefully-proscribed and written process for city commissioners interacting with city employees and it's one she did NOT follow.

But then she also did NOT follow common sense and did NOT show a commitment to integrity and transparency when she tried to have the HB City Commission waive the fine GP owes within mere minutes of her having told them about it at the end of a long September 25th night meeting, with no information for the confused members to read or think about, just Cooper's words and public admission of what she'd done.

That this matter was not on the agenda or opened up to the public to discuss was immaterial to Mayor Cooper-she wanted the fine removed ASAP.

But she was defeated in her attempts to circumvent the public's right -and city commission's- to know more about this matter in advance and in some detail that did 

NOT rely solely on her word alone.

Can you imagine such a preposterous thing as her thinking they'd vote on a matter involving tens of thousands of dollars AND that would set a very bad precedent based solely on what she said, with no facts or supporting evidence?

It's clear that Joy Cooper, quite literally, sees herself as indispensable.

But she is the mayor of a small city with a city manger form of government, not the mayor of a large urban city with a strong-mayor form of government, yet despite this difference and the well-understood written rules about what is and is not acceptable, she just keeps doing whatever she wants and dares anyone in a position of authority to stop her.

Cooper continues to show that she wants to make as many important decisions for the city (and everyone else) as possible, without adequate vetting and public disclosure.

As she tried to do on September 25th.

Her erratic and unprofessional behavior suggest to me that she is putting herself and the city on very thin ethical and legal ice thru her conduct and behavior, which would not be taking place with a competent City Manager at the helm.

But as little as I and most of the people I know think of mediocre and mendacious City Manager Renee C. Miller, whom we gave plenty of chances to actually be the reform person she claimed to be last summer in speaking to her in-person, but who has failed to be that person by even the slimmest of standards, even we don't think she'd allow Cooper to do all this if she was around.

So while the not-so-effective cat was away on maternity leave, the erratic, unethical mouse does whatever she wants to do and laughs.

Did you know that Mayor Cooper was actually dumb enough to claim at that very same City Commission meeting that some of the info discussed at these meetings she attended was "proprietary."

First, I doubt that was the case because the others involved can't be dumb enough to not know that Cooper can't keep a secret, and would feel the need to share the info ASAP just so she could pump her own thin-skinned and fragile ego.

Second, if the info was "proprietary" info, by placing herself there, anyone, like me or a TV reporter or another developer, could legally make a public records request for all the documents she was given and any notes she made, and Mayor Cooper would be on her own and have no ability to use the taxpayers wallets to defend herself.

It would be up to Gulfstream  to get their attorneys involved, not the city's problem.

Which is to say, taxpayers like you and me.

Absent a legal motion, the city would have no choice but to turn over the documents.

It's hard to believe but it's true that even after all these years, Mayor Cooper seems unable to grasp the fact that in her position, she is NOT entitled to be involved in any internal discussion among parties who will have business before the city and be in opposition to the city or other businesses in the area who would necessarily be disadvantaged by certain things being done for the first company.

She is NOT legally in a position to say what the city would or would not do, and yet she seems to keep doing just that, doesn't she?

And in the process, keeping the four other elected members of the five-member City Commission completely in the dark on important matters in this city.

That's NOT how a well-run city runs.

Not that the city is or ever has been anything close to a well-run city, but do the standards here have to continue to be this low?

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CHARTER OF THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH

ARTICLE III. - CITY COMMISSION

DIVISION 1: - ELECTION AND QUALIFICATIONS

DIVISION 2: - POWERS AND DUTIES

DIVISION 3: - VACANCIES  

DIVISION 2: - POWERS AND DUTIES

Sec. 3.05: - City commission; powers; composition.

Sec. 3.06: - General powers and duties.

Sec: 3.07: - Prohibitions.

Sec. 3.08: - Investigations.

Sec: 3.07: - Prohibitions.

 (2)   Appointments and removals. Neither the commission nor any of its members shall in any manner dictate the appointment or removal of any city administrative officers or employees whom the manager or any of his subordinates are empowered to appoint, but the commission may express its views and fully and freely discuss with the manager anything pertaining to appointment and removal of such officers and employees.

(3)    Interference with administration. Except for the purpose of inquiries and investigations, the commission or its members shall deal with city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the manager solely through the manager, and neither the commission nor its members shall give orders to any such officer or employee, either publicly or privately. Nothing in the foregoing is to be construed to prohibit individual members of the commission from closely scrutinizing by questions and personal observation all aspects of city government operations so as to obtain independent information to assist the members in the formulation of policies to be considered by the commission and assure the implementation of such policies as have been adopted. It is the express intent of this provision, however, that such inquiry shall not interfere directly with the ordinary municipal operations of the city and that recommendations for change or improvement in city government operations be made to and through the city manager.

(Ord. No. 1999-15, § 1, 8-17-1999; Ord. No. 2003-28, § 2, 11-18-2003; Ord. No. 2008-04, § 2 (3.08), 3-5-2008)

Sec. 3.08: - Investigations.

The commission may make investigations into the affairs of the city and the conduct of any city department, election, office, or agency, and for this purpose may subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony, and require the production of evidence. Any person who fails or refuses to obey a lawful order issued in the exercise of these powers by the commission shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or both.

(Ord. No. 2003-28, § 2, 11-18-2003)

ARTICLE VII. - OFFICIAL CONDUCT

Sec. 7.01: - Standards of ethics.

Sec. 7.02: - Personal financial interest.

Sec. 7.03: - Penalties.

Sec. 7.01: - Standards of ethics.

All elected officials and employees of the city shall be subject to the standards of conduct for public officers and employees set by general law and this Charter. In addition, the commission may, by ordinance, establish a code of ethics for officials and employees of the city.

(Ord. No. 2003-28, § 2, 11-18-2003)

State law reference—  Code of ethics for public employees, F.S. § 112.311 et seq.

Sec. 7.03: - Penalties.

Violations of ordinances or this Charter shall be punishable in accordance with the uniform fines and penalties set by general law.

(Ord. No. 2003-28, § 2, 11-18-2003)

State law reference—  Penalty for violations, F.S. § 162.21.

 I was going in a clock-wise direction as I shot these photos, which can be enlarged by right-clicking with your mouse while hovering over the individual photo.
All original photos on this page are by me and from September 27, 2013. (c) 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

These photos are all looking east at the "temporary" horse barn with condos in background actually over on State Road A1A and the beach.

Looking southeast from the same spot towards the City of Aventura park on the other side of the fence on NE 213th Street, where the kids and parents have absolutely no idea what's in store for them for the next entire year.

The photos below are all looking due north at the main grandstand, casino and  restaurants.