Local governments, behaving badly (continued), Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission of St. Johns County Edition, March 13, 2025.On March 13, 2025, I attended the monthly meeting of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. It was the first meeting since the resignation in protest of AMCD Commissioner Martha Gleason. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/LfiGywuknUY?feature=shared
At 4 PM, there was a meeting of the policy committee, chaired by AMCD Chair Ms. Pangiotta "Trish" Becker. That meeting violated the District's own policies. The Districts policies require meetings be held with ten (10) days notice. No explanation for this violation of District rules. Our governments must follow their own rules, as the Supreme Court held in Service v. Dulles, 354 U.S. 363 (1957). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354/363/. Learned counsel for the District said not a word to defend this violation of a District policy in the first-ever meeting of the District's Policy Committee.
At 5 PM, the full Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County convened, with four members, lacking a dissenting voice because Commissioner Martha Gleason had resigned the day before.
At the beginning of the meeting AMCD Chair Pangiotta "Trish" Becker read a lengthy statement lauding Commissioner Gleason. It sounded insincere, especially because Chair Becker and three other somnolent Mosquito Control Commissioners in past meetings frequently interrupted and failed to act upon Commissioner Gleason's concerns about apparent waste, fraud and abuse, including 40% cost overruns on the Mosquito Museum, which Chair Becker insists on calling an "Education Center," interrupting people and correcting them like a smarmy schoolmarm.
I quoted from Commissioner Martha Gleason's resignation in protest letter. No one responded.The District voted to spend nearly $400,000 on a putative solution to the drainage problems, which have plagued the District since its purchase of swampland from the influential Usina family, for whom a local bridge is named. The Usinas were said to be friends of then-Chair Mary Tarver Willis (bought without competitive bidding, without an appraisal, and without a survey).The District never answered my questions about the contract, including whether there was a proper engineeringIn fact, there were three (3) motions, with no public comment allowed until after the three votes. This situation stinks.
The first motion, with public comment refused by Chair Pangiotta "Trish" Becker, was to set aside the Request for Proposals: it was needed because the RFP that was issued violated chapter 287.055 and because of the so called emergency they decided to go to a sole source contract approach.287.055 Acquisition of professional architectural, engineering, landscape architectural, or surveying and mapping services; definitions; procedures; contingent fees prohibited; penalties.
Maladroit attorney Daniel K. Bean, the attorney du jour, said public comment was somehow not required. This violated our Florida Sunshine law, adopted by 83% of Florida voters ini 1992 -- 3.8 million votes --- enshrined in our Florida Constitution as Article I, Section 24, F.S. 119 and F.S. 286.Mr. Daniel Kearney Bean is the Chair of the Jacksonville Port Authority and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jacksonville NPR affiliate, WJCT. Reporter Noah Hertz of WJCT's Jacksonville Today broke the story of AMCD's lawbreaking $1000 "Christmas bonuses" for Commissioners, evidently violating Florida state law, which sets a $4800 annual pay cap on part-time Mosquito Control District Commissioners' salaries. Thanks to Mr. Hertz's dogged reporting, the illegal $1000 Commissioner Christian bonuses were rescinded, over protests from disgruntled former Board member Catherine Brandhorst, who missed some 37 meetings, resulting in the Board asking Governor Ron DeSantis to remove her under article IV, Section 7 of our Florida Constitution. DeSantis never responded, and Ms. Brandhorst plumped for an even larger bonus.
Mr. Bean was a U.S. Navy Captain, with 25 years of Navy service, including work as a Surface Warfare Officer and as a Judge Advocated. Mr. Bean is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and of the University of San Diego Law school (see biography below). He was editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler, the official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University since 1888.Mr. Bean's Gambrell, Smith & Russell corporate law firm biography states that he is a "litigator" and a "probate lawyer. Mr. Bean is not a partner in his law firm. In fact, he is currently "Of Counsel" to the law firm of Gambrell, Smith & Russell, a 400 lawyer firm, based in Atlanta. The District's usual meeting counsel is attorney Ms. Lesekia Hodges, a former Assistant General Counsel of the City of Jacksonville, who has helped guide the dodgy Mosquito District on its many actions. Ms. Hodges was said to have "a schedule conflict." We missed Ms. Hodges' wise counsel at the March 13, 2025 meeting. Under Mr. Bean's tutelage, were our Florida Constitutional rights to public participation violated? You tell me. Watch the video.https://youtu.be/LfiGywuknUY?feature=shared
*The Florida Bar website explains: An “of counsel” relationship is more than a mere referral arrangement. A lawyer may be considered “of counsel” if he or she has a regular, continuing relationship with a lawyer or firm in a capacity other than that of partner or associate. Opinions 72-29; 75-41; 71-49. Because of this close relationship, lawyers in an “of counsel” relationship are considered to be in the same firm for purposes of the conflict of interest rules. Opinions 72-41; 61-20. ABA Formal Opinion, Opinion 90-357, indicates that a law firm may be “of counsel” to another lawyer or law firm if the required close, continuing, regular relationship exists. In addition, when a lawyer is in more than one firm, the fee division rules will apply. The Professional Ethics Committee concluded in Opinion 94-7 that the fee division rules apply where a lawyer is “of counsel” to a law firm but also practices through the lawyer’s own firm." https://www.floridabar.org/ethics/etfaq/
Mr. Bean lacks Ms. Hodges' extensive experience with local government and records laws. Mr. Bean seemed a bit bored, unengaged, like he would rather be sailing, and as if he had what labor economists would call "a backward-bending labor supply curve." It appears that Mr. Bean violated citizens' cherished constitutional rights. The Board was fine with that: three of the ladies on the Board were seen laughing in the parking lot after the meeting. Did they think this was funny?
Watch the video.
https://youtu.be/LfiGywuknUY?feature=shared
Watch the video.https://youtu.be/LfiGywuknUY?feature=shared
Do you see what I see? Total incompetence and lack of interest in their jobs exhibited by the Board as a whole: 1) Board members had not a single relevant question on any item; 2) Board members were obviously not familiar with the Board book as the attorney had to point to them repeatedly where items were located; 3) Board members expressed no curiosity about the status of the Mosquito Museum, the SIT building, the public records requests, the employee culture survey scope of service scope of work they requested the previous month, nor the independent auditor selection committee. Is this the best St. Johns County has to offer? They should be ashamed of themselves. Additional, the Board members are still collecting an additional $100 a month for expenses without showing receipts. Commissioner Martha Gleason requested that her stipend be stopped (and it was). Two Commissioners went to Puerto Rico for an American Mosquito Control Association conference earlier this month. Two members will soon go to Washington, D.C. for an American Mosquito Control Association conference.
2 comments:
Ed Slavin could have been a county commissioner for the last 20 years straight but wouldn't do so much as take 2 minutes to fill out a piece of paper (and check the box for local political party.) So sacrifice 20 potential years of public service just to claim victory for not checking one box. A stunning display of stubborn behavior and dedicated opposition....to everything.
Mosquito museum budget? So much for small government and don't tread on me conservatism. What's next, paying homeless people to give foot massages on St George Street with tax money?
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