Sunday, February 01, 2015

City Evades Answers on Free Menendez Gala Tickets (2/1 letter to City)

Good afternoon:
1. It appears that our City of St. Augustine is once again violating our Right to Know and our Open Records law.
2. Please respond by 10 AM on 2/2/15 with any written free ticket policy, as I requested 1/19 (twelve days ago); if none exists, please say so, in writing.
3. I saw no written employee benefit policy authorizing free gala tickets during my examination of city personnel policies last year.
4. Please provide by 10 AM on 2/2/15 the list of persons receiving free tickets to 2015 Noche de Gala, and past galas, and other documents.
5. I have not heard from City Comptroller MARK LITZINGER about my request 2015-16 since January 19th, after I questioned his illegal threat to charge fees to find out answers to simple questions. We all have a Right to Know.
6. Providing free gala tickets and spending city money on galas is a breach of fiduciary duty: Florida League of Cities says no other Florida city holds galas.
7. Please cease and desist subsidizing the wealthiest city employees with free tickets: it is an unseemly breach of fiduciary duty.
8. It is irrelevant that it is somewhere "in the budget," which was "legally adopted," as City Comptroller MARK LITZINGER wrote me on January 19th (in bold below).
9. It is wrong to ask City residents to provide free tickets to our highest-paid CIty employees and their spouses ("all department heads," MARK LITZINGER says).
10. This and other subsidies to the wealthiest (like Yacht Club lease) may be construed as one or more state or federal crimes.
11. Criminal prosecution is entirely possible where City funds are wasted. We need a forensic audit, please.
12. Stop wasting our money, please.
Please govern yourselves accordingly.
Thank you.
Cordially,
Ed Slavin

No comments: