Thursday, March 15, 2018

Great column by STEVE COTTRELL: Sunshine law spotlights Beach censure issue (SAR)

Another excellent column in the St. Augustine Record. Keep up the good work, Steve Cottrell.  Very perceptive writing since 2015 about local government issues.






STEVE COTTRELL: Sunshine law spotlights Beach censure issue
Posted Mar 14, 2018 at 2:01 AM
Updated Mar 14, 2018 at 6:02 AM
St. Augustine Record

The name J. Emory “Red” Cross may not be familiar to you, but what he did as a Florida State Senator between 1958 and 1968 continues to affect how all city and county boards and commissions conduct their meetings.

Cross, who was 91 when he died 13 years ago, was known as Father of the Florida Sunshine Law.

In announcing his March 24, 2005, death, the Gainesville Sun noted, “Mr. Cross was famous for the white suit — and bright red hair that set it off — Stetson hat and string tie he wore most of his 16 years in Tallahassee. But in his six years in the Florida House and 10 in the Senate, he became more noted for pushing for Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law, which finally was passed in 1967 after a decade of persistent effort by Mr. Cross.”

Cross, a Democrat from Alachua County, introduced a sunshine bill in 1959, but it was quickly buried in a committee. Same thing happened to similar bills he introduced in 1961, ’63 and ’65.

But, on April 5, 1967, sensing a shift in attitude about secret meetings at all levels of government, he tried again.

Two months later, the Government-in-the-Sunshine Law was approved 43-0 in the Senate and 106-3 in the House, and on July 12, 1967, Gov. Claude Kirk signed the open-meeting legislation Cross had been fighting for since taking his seat in the Senate nine years earlier.

Cross made sure his bill affected all government agencies, to include school boards, water district boards, planning commissions and other elected and appointed bodies. A key provision prohibited members of any government body from privately communicating amongst themselves on matters under their jurisdictional control.

Members of the St. Augustine Confederate War Memorial Advisory Committee, for example, were advised at their first meeting that they could not privately discuss any committee business with a fellow committee member. That means that, although some committee members teach at Flagler College and might see each other on campus, they must avoid private conversations about the war memorial.

The law is restrictive, but Cross was determined to end secret meetings and secret deal-making in Florida. In Longwood, Seminole County, for instance, city commissioners used to meet privately on Saturday mornings and then conduct their official public meetings with remarkable ease and lack of debate. The Government-in-the-Sunshine Law brought an end to such shenanigans.


We owe a great debt of gratitude to Emory Cross for what he did to turn Mole Hole Government into Sunshine Government, but a recent meeting of the St. Augustine Beach City Commission demonstrated how the law’s restrictions can sometimes lead to thorny situations.

(Note: I have never met St. Augustine Beach commissioners Maggie Kostka or Rich O’Brien, doubt I would recognize either of them if we passed on the street, and have no dog in this fight).

Commissioner Kostka recently sought support from her colleagues to censure Commissioner O’Brien for what she felt were actions unbecoming a public official. The censure attempt cast a bright light on the need for decision-makers to address such concerns in public rather than meeting for lunch and having a private conversation over a juicy, five-napkin cheeseburger and cold bottle(s) of beer.

In order to comply with Florida’s 51-year-old sunshine law, Commissioner Kostka apparently felt the only legal option she had for confronting Commissioner O’Brien was to ask for open discussion at a commission meeting. O’Brien called it a waste of time.

Maybe it was a waste, maybe it wasn’t — that’s for St. Augustine Beach residents (and voters) to judge. But if Ms. Kostka had communicated her concerns to Mr. O’Brien privately, she believes she would have violated state law — the law Emory “Red” Cross spent several frustrating years fighting for up in Tallahassee.

As the old saw goes, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

It’s something Commissioner Kostka will not soon forget.

Steve Cottrell can be contacted at cottrell.sf@gmail.com


Comments





Edward Adelbert Slavin
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1. In 1992, 3.8 million Florida voters adopted Article I, Section 24 of our Florida Constitution, making access to records and meetings a constitutional right. Thanks to UF Law Professors Jon Mills (former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives) and Joe Little (former Gainesville Mayor) and the 83% of Florida voters who amended our Constitution. No thanks to government officials (you know who you are), who violate our constitutional rights.
2. In response to records requests on the Michelle O'Connell case in 2013, Sheriff DAVID SHOAR paid some $9500 to Daytona Beach lawyer Jon Kaney to give him PR advice on dealing with The New York Times.
3. SHOAR and other authoritarians routinely avoid, evade and skirt Open Records laws. They show contempt for our civil and constitutional Right to Know.
4. Here's Article I, Section 24:
SECTION 24. Access to public records and meetings.—
(a) Every person has the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf, except with respect to records exempted pursuant to this section or specifically made confidential by this Constitution. This section specifically includes the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government and each agency or department created thereunder; counties, municipalities, and districts; and each constitutional officer, board, and commission, or entity created pursuant to law or this Constitution.
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  • 2 minutes ago
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Edward Adelbert Slavin
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Article I, Section 24 of our Florida Constitution (continued):
(b) All meetings of any collegial public body of the executive branch of state government or of any collegial public body of a county, municipality, school district, or special district, at which official acts are to be taken or at which public business of such body is to be transacted or discussed, shall be open and noticed to the public and meetings of the legislature shall be open and noticed as provided in Article III, Section 4(e), except with respect to meetings exempted pursuant to this section or specifically closed by this Constitution.
(c) This section shall be self-executing. The legislature, however, may provide by general law passed by a two-thirds vote of each house for the exemption of records from the requirements of subsection (a) and the exemption of meetings from the requirements of subsection (b), provided that such law shall state with specificity the public necessity justifying the exemption and shall be no broader than necessary to accomplish the stated purpose of the law. The legislature shall enact laws governing the enforcement of this section, including the maintenance, control, destruction, disposal, and disposition of records made public by this section, except that each house of the legislature may adopt rules governing the enforcement of this section in relation to records of the legislative branch. Laws enacted pursuant to this subsection shall contain only exemptions from the requirements of subsections (a) or (b) and provisions governing the enforcement of this section, and shall relate to one subject.
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  • 1 minute ago
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Edward Adelbert Slavin
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Article I, Section 24 of our Florida Constitution (continued and completed):
(d) All laws that are in effect on July 1, 1993 that limit public access to records or meetings shall remain in force, and such laws apply to records of the legislative and judicial branches, until they are repealed. Rules of court that are in effect on the date of adoption of this section that limit access to records shall remain in effect until they are repealed.



Edward Adelbert Slavin
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1. The "waste of time" In St. Augustine Beach is listening to the hare-brained schemes of mendacious mercantilists like disgraced former Mayor RICHARD BURTT O'BRIEN. Comm'r O'BRIEN's obsession is his family business, as when he got special treatment to build two McMansions. PZB voted him down. Fellow Commissioners indulged his demand, granting a special use permit, which he then violated, richly earning a $25,000 fine. O'BRIEN actually claimed he might live in one of the McMansions. Is he living in one? Are they rentals?
2. O'BRIEN and other callous SAB City Commissioners banned food trucks to stamp out competition for brick-and-mortar restaurants, with restaurant-owners stating their anti-competitive expectations from the podium. "Free enterprise" is not "free" in SAB, where possible antitrust violators rule.
3. Three cheers for Flagler College graduate Brendan Schneck and his family for providing an alternative to McDonalds -- his Cedar Tree Food Truck Garden is nearing completion and will soon house six food trucks, a commissary kitchen, restrooms and lush landscaping at 1480 Old A1A South.  http://www.staugustine.com/article/20160608/NEWS/306089947. While St. Augustine Beach burghers sought to stamp out competition, the Schnecks persisted. I do hope they triumph.
4. Re: RICH O'BRIEN-like businessmen who think that governments belong to them, I'm reminded of FDR's October 31, 1936 speech, concerning business interests and puppet-presidents: "They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.... I welcome their hatred"  http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/10/i-welcome-their-hatred-fdr-said.html« 
Edward Adelbert Slavin
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1. St. Augustine Beach City Commissioner Maggie Kostka is the "adult in the room," unbossed, unbought and taking her oath of office seriously.
2. We need more principled people like her in government, willing to ask questions and demand answers.
3. Like Mayor Nancy Shaver at the City of St. Augustine, Commissioner Kostka does her research and speaks her mind.
4. The draft censure of RICHARD BURTT O'BRIEN was very modest.
5. There are more reasons for scrutinizing and censuring O'BRIEN -- see 2016 top ten list: http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/10/rich-obrien-top-ten-things-to-know.html
6. Mayor Undine Celeste Pawlowski George's appeasement of O'BRIEN did not pass the "smell test."
7. Nor did it pass the "laugh test." "Everyone makes mistakes," Mayor George said with a straight face, BEFORE she recognized Commissioner Kostka to speak about a MODEST censure re: O'BRIEN's intentional actions, violating both state election law and his conditional use permit for his two (2) McMansions.
8. "Everybody makes mistakes?" Mayor Undine George's insipid remark reminds me of the time in 2006 when callow Nancy Sikes-Kline approached five of us dining in The Tasting Room, announcing her candidacy. I asked Sikes-Kline about City of St. Augustine City Manager WILLIAM BARRY HARRIS dumping a landfill in a lake: SIKES-KLINE responded to me,"Oh, it was a mistake."
9. Is Mayor Undine George willing to stand up to oppression, or is she now part of it? Is Her Honor now an unjust steward with no standards, like Mayors ANDREA SAMUELS and RICHARD BURTT O'BRIEN before her? Does Mayor George want to "go along to get along," like too many dull American politicians?
10. Great column! We need more outspoken columns and more investigative reporting. Keep up the good work!
  • 12 minutes ago (edited recently)
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sabcitynews
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Great research by the Reporter/Writer in this article.

Commissioner Maggie Kostka had NO CHOICE but to bring this to the Commission Floor.

Just because of Commissioner Undine George and Commissioner Margret England ACCEPTING Commissioner/Sociopath Rich O’Brien Criminal and HIGHLY UNETHICAL CONDUCT as 100% OK, that DOES NOT MEAN it is NORMAL CONDUCT for all ELECTED OFFICIALS!

Commissioner Kostka HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO DISTANT HERSELF FROM THE BAD ACTS of Commissioner/Sociopath Rich... » more
  • 3 hours ago (edited)
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sabcitynews
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THANK YOU VERY MUCH, COMMISSIONER and SMALL BUSINESS OWNER Kostka for DOING THE RIGHT THING!

A SPECIAL SUPER BIG THANKS FOR STANDING UP TO A REALLY DANGEROUS EROSION OF HONESTY, OPENNESS, and TRANSPARENCY IN OUR BEAUTIFUL CITY of ST AUGUSTINE BEACH!

The Father Almighty is WITH YOU ALWAYS!

Tom Reynolds, a SAB City Resident ...

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