Csaba Kulin brings some common sense perspective to the Hallandale Beach City Manager search debacle of Wednesday night

What follows is a copy of an email from this morning from my friend and Hallandale Beach civic activist, Csaba Kulin, to the Hallandale Beach City Commission, responding to their truly jaw-dropping performance Wednesday night, the subject of my last post.
He watched the commission meeting via the Internet.
http://fl-hallandalebeach.civicplus.com/index.aspx?NID=717

In case you forgot, the cc recipient below, David Jove, is the HB city attorney.

Here's what was supposed to be discussed:

http://fl-hallandalebeach.civicplus.com/files/2010-09-15/Staff%20Reports/00005963.htm

CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA

MEMORANDUM

NR10-043

DATE: September 07, 2010
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Nydia M. Rafols Sallaberry, Deputy City Manager
SUBJECT: Agenda Item – Discussion of Hiring a City Manager – CAD# 017/10

Pursuant to City Commission’s adopted schedule on the subject, Colin Baenziger, with Colin Baenziger & Associates, will be presenting to the City Commission the list of semi-finalist candidates for the position of City Manager during the September 15, 2010, Regular City Commission Meeting. Furthermore, Mr. Baenziger has advised staff that he will be available on September 16, 2010 to meet with each Commissioner to answer and discuss questions the Commissioner(s) might have regarding the semifinalists’ information. Finally, it should also be noted that per the adopted schedule, the City Commission should receive the semi-finalist materials on September 14^th. Staff will be forwarding these as soon as they are received.

In the meantime, should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

NMR

-------
Here is Csaba's email:

Mayor Joy Cooper
Vice Mayor William Julian
Keith London
Commissioner Dorothy Ross
Commissioner Anthony Sanders
cc Mr. David Jove

Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 12:40 PM
subject Agenda item 7A, Hiring of City Manager

Honorable Mayor, Vice Mayor and Members of the City Commission,

I am very disappointed in the way the selection process was conducted and the way it ended.

I was very optimistic at the beginning that a reputable firm was hired to conduct a search for a new city manager, decided on the qualifications of the applicant, identify a certain number of applicants meeting those requirements and the Commission deciding the best person for the job.

Once the above process started, the job was posted in newspapers and other sources a "CONE OF SILENCE" should have been imposed on each and everyone on the Commission. This is the procedure in every other contract the Commission or the City intends to enter into. It is the only fair way and legal way to treat all applicants equally in the process till it is time for the Commission to make a decision on finalists and eventual hiring.

That not the way the process played out. First, the Commission changed the qualifications required to apply from having a masters degree to "preferred" to have one to suit one applicant. At that point the job postings should have been repeated. Some applicants may have decided not to apply due to the master's degree requirement.

The second point is, from the very beginning all through the process there was praise of one applicant from all of you. Recently when the Commission hired a new auditor I did not hear you constantly praising the then current auditor. There was a "cone of silence".

My third point is that during the September 15, 2010 City Commission meeting Agenda item 7A said "discussion of hiring of city manager". That is not what transpired. Your Honor, you started out with a statement that in a nutshell said that you decided that you want to hire Mr. Antonio and let us stop the process and hire him. How is that fair to all the others who took the time, effort and money to apply. If you took that approach to selecting an auditor, I would think the City would find itself in court.

Now I just wait for the "other shoe to drop" and see the Commission to give Mr. Antonio a contract like Mr. Good had with a large increase in salary. Just for comparison sake, Cuyahoga County in Ohio (over a million residents) looking for a new County Administrator (manager). The salary is $175,000.00. Salaries in Florida should be lower than up North due to the nice weather year around and much lower in a city of about 38,000 residents.

I hope each and everyone of you look at the fairness of the process and ask yourself if you think it was the best this City Commission can do? How can you be sure that you hired the best applicant you had? The process was so tilted to one way that we may never know. There is always going to be a question as to what if?

I know, you are going to argue that hiring a city manager is different from hiring an auditor, but in honesty, is it?

I intend to bring this issue up during the public meeting and ask our city attorney if this process conformed with the letter and the spirit of the law. Please do your research ahead of the time I will ask the question.

Sincerely,

Csaba Kulin

President, Fairways North, Inc.

VP, United Condominium Associations of Hallandale Beach

Luis Paredes of UCA of HB on Wednesday's City Hall meeting re Mike Good's future as City Manager of Hallandale Beach: We're mad as hell...

June 2, 2010 photo of Hallandale Beach City Hall by South Beach Hoosier

Earlier today, I and many other concerned Hallandale Beach residents received the following impassioned email from Luis Paredes, the President of the United Condominium Association of Hallandale Beach, UCA.

Luis has been one of the leaders in the community's fight against the incompatible Diplomat LAC proposal that would've made the Quality of Life here and in nearby Hollywood infinitely worse in the short-term and long-term; the fight against the city approving the shoe-horning of a Charter high school into a single-family HB residential neighborhood that would actually have had very few Hallandale Beach students attending it; and, the much larger fight against the longstanding anti-democratic policies and self-evident incompetency, cronyism and corruption at Hallandale Beach City Hall under the current Joy Cooper & Mike Good regime.

I called Luis this afternoon and received his permission to run his email here -with a little tinkering for space considerations- so you all can see another concerned HB resident's perspective.

This is actually something I plan on doing much more of in the future on this blog, and had originally considered initiating in January, since there are SO many more people in this community vehemently opposed to the ruinous/myopic actions at HB City Hall then the apologists of it would have you believe.

For many of the apologists and acolytes in the local area of the business-as-usual approach, with few questions asked and little-to-no public accountability -save Comm. Keith London- like the entire self-serving HB Chamber of Commerce crowd and Alexander Lewy, the latter of whom who aspires to be a Rubber Stamp come November, it's both a coping mechanism and a revenue stream.
A golden goose -with taxpayer dollars- they want to see continue, with NO questions asked.

Not that the Miami Herald has been paying any attention to any of this in a way that even approximates what journalism textbooks once preached, since the folks at One Herald Plaza consider Hallandale Beach -and most of Broward County- as terra incognita.

The overwhelming evidence presented before us every day as news consumers is that Herald management, reporters and columnists continue to focus their time and energies on serving residents and readers located in Kendall, Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Cutler Bay, Wynnwood, and, of course, Calle Ocho and Cuba.
They simply don't care what happens here. And it shows.

Where's the twice-a-week Broward County-oriented columnist?
There isn't one, even as the existing Herald columnists overwhelmingly continue to focus their columns on the concerns of the half-dozen or so favored South Florida communities -and Cuba- in the Local & State section of the newspaper, to the dismay of the majority of its remaining readers.

As has been suggested to me many times -after I already thought of it when first starting this blog three years ago- perhaps if thru some tectonic plate shifting, Hallandale Beach was moved to Cuba, they'd have more of an interest in covering it.
Sadly, all too true.

June 2, 2010 photo of public notice at Hallandale Beach City Hall regarding Wednesday's meeting there regarding the future of Mike Good as City Manager, by South Beach Hoosier


--------
UCA of Hallandale Beach; I AM MAD AS HELL AND ....
Luis Paredes
Saturday June 5, 2010 10:14 AM

Good day all, we hope you and your families are doing well.
Hey Snow birds, we miss you and we know your here with us in spirit :)
You're never forgotten and you are always one of us. All for one and one for all.

It's time to say and tell them, "I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!"

UCA urged and requested that the Special Commission Meeting about City Mgr. Mike Good on June 9th at 1 PM be moved to 7 PM to allow more public participation -UCA was denied.
The reason we were told NO was because Mayor Cooper had an early morning flight the next morning. Is this just another coincidence or a upcoming set up?
Help us understand how only one agenda item for the meeting could not start at 7 PM?
The Vice Mayor (Julian) was willing to head the meeting but was told NO.

People, Mike Good is about to be fired or asked to resign and June 9th is his day for a public hearing for the commission to decide.
From what we understand, Mike Good will have his attorney and the city will have theirs to discuss in a public forum.

City Commission Chambers
400 S. Federal Highway
Hallandale Beach, FL 33009

UCA says, "It's not only Mike Good's day in court, IT'S OUR, THE PEOPLE'S DAY IN COURT!"

Let them all hear from you via email or attendance in this meeting why you are MAD AS HELL AND YOU ARE NOT TAKING IT ANYMORE.

What have and have to pay for today is a by-product of Mike Good and Mayor Cooper's doings no matter how sweet she puts it on in the Sun-Times.

Don't let Mike Good walk away with a BIG PACKAGE as some on the commission may want it.

If you don't know here are some reasons why and what Mike Good and Mayor Cooper has left us with to deal with everyday.

If you have your own, share them with UCA and we will make sure everyone reads them too. (UCA will not use your name unless you provide us permission.)

NOTE: UCA has copied every commissioner on this email so that all you have to do is a COPY & PASTE on your email with your response to them.

UCA URGES YOU TO PLEASE DO SO.

OUR VOICES MUST BE HEARD, FINALLY, JUST AS THEY WERE WHEN WE WERE UNITED AGAINST THE DIPLOMAT AND WON.

JOY COOPER <jcooper@hallandalebeachfl.gov>;
DOROTHY ROSS COMMISSIONER <dross@hallandalebeachfl.gov>;
ANTHONY SANDERS onevision4life@aol.com; BECJULI@aol.com;
Keith London <londonshow@bellsouth.net>

Our taxes have increase because... 30% plus increase in water and sewer rates in 2009.
Our 4.2 square mile city has more city employees as compared to other cities.
Mysteriously unknown contracts such in the case of Kessel and Mike Good.
Mike Good's resignation in 2008 and then re-hired shortly after with a very HEFTY pay out paid by the city. That year he was paid over $400,000,
Mike Good's attendance record of 50% as reported by newspaper,
Annual your tax dollars paid to the Sun-Times by the city for publicity of a few in power.

The city budget has doubled since 2000, increasing over $48,000,000.
City's debt has increased 20 times, now over $38,000,000.
City has one of the highest sanitation fees in all Broward
BUT has the lowest service levels.
Commission favors, commission seats, land and back door deals, what's/who's next?

If you want to read more we urge you to click on this link PLEASE.
www.changehallandale.com

Recent example sent to UCA: A HB Sergeant who just got promoted to Captain with a big city fanfare of congratulations, and pictures, also gets a huge raise in pay, which will reflect on his pension for life, and not to mention that enormous D.R.O.P. check, announced that he will be leaving HB and move to Georgia to work for Law Enforcement there.
Does anybody realize what we just did?
We bumped up his pension and DROP check and sent him on his way.
No one said anything on the Commission.

So do you want business as usual? Or do you want real change?
Are you by now, MAD AS HELL AND WILL NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE?

IF SO...UCA has copied every commissioner on this email so that all you have to do is a reply to all on this email with your response.

UCA URGES YOU TO PLEASE DO SO.

MIS-MANAGEMENT AND NOT A TRUE VOICE FOR THE PEOPLE...
We ask for resignations of Commissioner Ross, Mayor Cooper for the past/current oversight and spins to what a so called great city manager we have.
Any business with said endorsements would have never these people on the board and/or in charge.
If they don't resign, do we go for a recall?

Whether you call them Mayor Cooper's Poopers, Bloopers or Loopers they are all one in the same.
A stage they rehearse and a commission they verse with clouded spins for their gains, not the residents.
This is what many have told us and we have seen.
Just a few we can call truly honorable.
It's time to say and tell them, " I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!" OR, DO YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR TAXES INCREASE? AND BUSINESS AS USUAL?

If you are not convinced of what we have said so far....please watch the re-broadcast commission meeting of June 2, 2010.
You can also get the videos from the city's website but as a coincidence, the June 2, 2010 meeting does not come up...hmmmm.
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/index.aspx?nid=717

We think it would be a good idea if you post it for your residents.
Monday & Thursday starts at 6pm COMCAST Channel 78
Friday, Saturday & Sunday starts at noon on COMCAST Channel 78

PS: Many of you have asked to donate monies to our organization. We have said NO but thank you! Our goal is our fellow neighbors and their/ours quality of life, that's what we stand for.

We thank all our watch dogs and organizations whom have helped us shed the light on the truth. Much more light to come...stay tuned.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors and Growing God bless us and our city.

Sincerely,
Luis "Louie" Paredes,
President United Condominium Associations (UCA) of Hallandale Beach

OUR MISSION IS SIMPLE: Through a united voice and VOTE from all the boundaries of Hallandale Beach to bring us together on a focused path that helps our community and property to begin the process of reducing all costs.

OUR GOAL: To share our accumulated knowledge, advise and experience for helpful solutions to all. With objectives to lower all costs for our residents and fellow neighbors, from city taxes, fees to monthly maintenance fees.

May we be guided by the ways of our fathers to make them proud as they watch over us as we continue to unite as a community.

A local government BY the people FOR the people. Fighting the Greater Good for All is more important than the selfishness of one. God bless our city, God bless us all, thank you.

---------

In case some of you finding yourself here are too young to be familiar with the iconic film which made the phrase above mentioned by Luis so well-known, let's go back to the beginning with Peter Finch in his Oscar-winning performance as American TV network news anchor Howard Beale in 1976's NETWORK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ELleCQvew http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/

Latest info re 4/27 Broward County Commission meeting re unpopular Diplomat LAC proposal

Thanks for asking about that recent email of mine, since I
was going to write about it on Sunday, anyway.

Here's the short story, as I understand it, on how the Broward
County Commission meeting on the Diplomat LAC got
moved back to April 27th -again!:

The vote was originally scheduled for April 27th as the 4th
Tuesday of the month is when the County usually hears
land-use issues.

Comm. Ilene Lieberman apparently said that was bad for
her because she'd be in Tallahassee for the Legislature's last
week, so she wanted it to be changed, because she is clearly
in favor of the project.

Diplomat attorney Debbie Orshefsky said that she would
like it to be postponed until May 11th, since she obviously
wants Lieberman there in-person to vote YES and break
the 4-4 tie of March 23rd.

Comm. Ken Keechl said that because of their own rule about
land-use meetings, it would have to be either April 27th or
May 25th.

If held on May 25th, it would likely miss the deadline for
Group I transmittal to the FL Dept. of Community Affairs
(DCA), which was the target that HB City Manager Mike Good
was shooting for when he began this steamroller effort of his
last year, without any input from our city's elected
officials, I remind you.

Word is that other development projects around the county
that have already received approval from the Broward County
Commission are VERY concerned about the controversial
Diplomat project creating a real bottleneck for them, since
the applications are sent en masse to Tallahassee, not
individually as they are approved.

I don't have a list of those previously-approved projects,
but I'd be willing to bet that some of them are ones that
Debbie and Greenberg Traurig have handled, so they
are well-aware of the ticking calendar.

I've been told by someone that an effort was made to find
out if there was any support at all on the Commission to
have a vote to change the date of the Diplomat meeting
to the 11th as Debbie wanted, but that a fifth vote could
NOT be found to make
that change.

Furthermore, I've heard that the Diplomat may well
pull their proposal the day before, on April 26th, IF
they believe they won't have a fifth and deciding
affirmative vote on the Commission.

That's no reason for us to waste any time, though,
and stop our efforts. This past week, I was able to
discover some pretty damning information that, combined
with information I previously uncovered, will show rather
conclusively that the Diplomat's over-confident proponents
and apologists all over the county -and much closer to home-
have played fast-and-loose with the truth, and I have the
proverbial Smoking Gun that proves it.

I'm going to post this delicious information on my blog on
Monday and suggest that you check it out for yourself,
since seeing is believing.

It's the irrefutable proof that I've been looking for that,
sadly, proves that the caliber of people involved in this
effort were just as duplicitous as I initially said they were
last year.

And -shocker!- they'll even lie to South Florida
news reporters without even breaking a sweat!

That the particular person I've caught in an obvious and
self-serving lie is an attorney only adds to my delight,
since our side in this David vs. Goliath debate has
never had any resources to speak of, let alone, the luxury
of having any attorneys working on behalf of the many
Hallandale Beach and Hollywood citizens opposed to this
out-of-scale project for the simplest reason of all:
Quality-of-Life.

Something that far too many people at Hallandale Beach
City Hall could genuinely care less about if it means they
can get their hands on MORE MONEY.

That's why they've tried so hard to fix this process from
the very beginning, and to keep the germane information
out of the public's hands, something I reminded the County
Commission myself when I got my chance to speak last month.
It wasn't by accident, it was City Hall's plan all along.

I hope you'll be able to find time to attend Comm. London's
Resident Forum meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m., as I fully
expect that it will be full of residents eager to hear more
details about what's really been going on behind-the-scenes
with the HB City Hall spies, Diplomat apologists and dupes
of Mayor Cooper -like her longtime friend Alex Berkovich's
not-so-subtle performance at last month's meeting, where
he actually got-up from his chair about 30 minutes into the
meeting and went out to the hallway to talk to Mayor Cooper,
and then came back in a few minutes later and said that he
had "heard" that the Diplomat was, perhaps, willing to
modify their position a bit.

I guess a little bird had told him.

Many of them will likely show-up anyway, despite
what we already know about them, or have learned
subsequently, because, quite frankly, they can't help
themselves.

Plus, of course, NONE of the other Hallandale Beach City
Commissioners are willing to actually meet citizen taxpayers
in regularly-scheduled monthly meetings without City Hall
staff present to whisper in their ears.
Except Comm. Keith London.

(Perhaps Debbie Orshefsy and Suzanne Friedman and
their PR worker-bees will even make another appearance,
just like in January!)

Is there a more obvious duplicitous dupe than Cooper-acolyte
and HB City Commission candidate Alexander Lewy,
someone who has continually bad-mouthed Comm. London
behind his back for YEARS (and on his Facebook page),
and who calls the public policy meetings that I and so many
others attend, pointless, yet Lewy continues to show-up
at them as if we were none the wiser about what a low-rent
character he truly is?
I think not.

Trust me when I tell you, that duplicitous attorney and
Lewy are about to get the public drubbing and unmasking
of a lifetime this week, and the best part of all is that it's
100% true and verifiable.

That's always been the hurdle for the Diplomat:
they have to lie in order to have a chance to win,
we just have to tell the truth to have a fighting chance.

However it goes on Tuesday night, I'll have my video-camera
with me, ready to record the action, low-lights and hi jinks
that may flare-up with the other side, still clearly upset that
weeks later, we are STILL around.
And now carrying the fight to them.

That's certainly not the way they planned it at Hallandale Beach City Hall last year!

Don't forget to bring your popcorn!

Also, please don't forget about the United Condominium
Association of Hallandale Beach and their monthly meeting
on Thursday the 22nd, at 7 p.m., in the ballroom of the
MarBay Hotel on Diplomat Parkway, with the Diplomat
LAC the main topic du jour.

Adios!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 7:19 PM
Subject: Re: FYI re 2010-04-21 HB City Commission re Flex Units in Diplomat LAC

David, where did you hear the county meeting was moved to May 11th?

----------------
April 12th, 2010

The ad below about the April 21st City Commission meeting ran
in Sunday's Miami Herald.

If you haven't already heard, the Broward County Commission
meeting that was scheduled to re-hear the Diplomat LAC's
incompatible proposal on April 27th, has now been moved to
May 11th.
One month from tomorrow.

By the way, do you think The Masters Golf Tournament the past
week would've looked better or worse on TV for home viewers
IF there'd been constant shots of giant 25-30 story condo towers
looming over the magnolia trees?
Something like this rendering, perhaps?

Above rendering courtesy of Don Boudria
Looking east towards the Intracoastal and Atlantic.

You'd probably have thought that the condo towers seemed
pretty incompatible with what the folks at Augusta
National seemed at pains to keep emphasizing:
nature and green, green everywhere.

Yeah, that's what I'd think, too!

Here's a question I wish I'd thought of asking Debbie Orshefsky
a few months ago:
Are there ANY golf courses in the entire state of Florida where
the respective county approved buildings this TALL to be located
THAT close to an existing residential neighborhood and golf course,
as part of a LAC?

My own guess is that if there were, Debbie would've mentioned it
a few dozen times by now; she hasn't.
I don't think that's a coincidence.

Stop the Diplomat LAC project ad from UCA, United Condominium Association of Hallandale Beach

Above, the Stop the Diplomat LAC project ad
placed by the UCA, United Condominium
Association of Hallandale Beach in the
Feb. 18th edition of the South Florida Sun-Times.

As I've discussed here many times, this unpopular
project is completely incompatible with the current
nearby neighborhoods of Hallandale Beach and
Hollywood.

The Broward Planning Council meets on
Thursday the 25 at Broward Govt. HQ to decide
whether to approve it and send it on to the entire
Broward County Commission for their deciding
vote.

Debbie Orshefsky of Greenberg Traurig
has represented the property owners at the
Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa/Diplomat
Country Club thus far at public meetings and
at the December 16th vote at Hallandale Beach
City Hall, where the Diplomat prevailed 3-2
at 2:30 a.m.

Alan B. Koslow of Becker and Poliakoff is
expected to have a larger public role now that
the unpopular issue is going to the county level.

CBS4, WFOR-TV, in the person of reporter
Carey Codd and his cameraman, were the only
Miami-area TV station to cover the story.
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=88289@wfor.dayport.com

Below, previous ads against the Diplomat project.