The Results Are In

We have a New Commissioner !

Frank Tidikis is our newest Commissioner. Best of luck to you.

Our thanks to John Tompeck for his service.

Please follow the link to learn about a sewage spill in Ft. Pierce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuvBxEPZCHQ

Treated Wastewater Flowing into Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal

Treated wastewater has been flowing into the Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal Waterway since Monday night after a subcontractor unintentionally drilled into a 54-inch pipe at Port Everglades.

While the wastewater is treated and deemed non-hazardous by local officials, locals are concerned about the environmental impact, as treated water can still affect marine life and ecosystems.

City crews are working to repair the pipe and mitigate environmental impacts. Signs are posted warning people to avoid the affected area.

The mayor said the contractor, Ricman Construction, is taking full responsibility for the subcontractor’s actions and will pay for the costs and expenses related to the drilling.

A Change Election (Reprinted from Friends and Neighbors of Martin County Published Sunday 9/1/24)

Martin County had a change election on Tuesday.

The last one was 8 years ago when Ciampi and Jenkins came on the commission and Smith was re-elected. Anne Scott was beaten by Jenkins and Ciampi beat incumbent John Haddox who was middle of the road on development and former commissioner Donna Meltzer who was anti-growth in a three-way race. Commissioner Ed Fielding, the last of the no-growth commissioners didn’t run again and was succeeded by Stacey Hetherington two years later.

The new commissioners made sweeping changes from the start. One was to end the Lakepoint lawsuit which resulted in the county paying millions in attorneys’ fees plus millions in a settlement because the county commission had infringed on Lakepoint’s mining rights. During the slow growth commission years, the county grew at about 2% per year. For the next 8 years with supposed rampant development, the county grew… 2% per year.

This cycle, the City of Stuart had two incumbents lose over out-of-control growth. No new projects were approved last year. One project was approved the year before which had already been approved earlier with more units. In Indiantown, Janet Hernandez, an incumbent, was handily defeated by Phylliss Waters Brown. After six years, Hernandez was the last of the original council from the village when initially incorporated.

Growth was a handy moniker to use to defeat incumbents. It was used as a curse word, and misinformation was rampant. The real reason for the losses was that the incumbents were there too long. After years, you make enemies. You become stale. No one wants to listen to your same old stories.

Everyone who was defeated was at least a two termer. Maybe that should tell us that 8 years and done is a good rule. A few other things matter also.

Smith defied gravity and was on the dais for 24 years. He had used the laws to close out the race for 50% or more of the voters. By his having a write-in candidate in the general election (in every election I can remember) he stopped everyone but Republicans from voting in the primary.

What he didn’t figure on that Eileen Vargas was more Republican than he is. They flocked to her banner. What had been a winning strategy in the past was no longer very successful. The party had changed as had the voters. Smith was no longer able to count on enough Republicans for victory. Republicans voted for Vargas by over 60%.

Ed Ciampi won with 42% of the vote. If there had been only one opponent in the race, Ciampi would have lost. The two challengers in the race split almost 58% of the votes cast. It was just the opposite of his initial victory with two other candidates for the seat.

In the race for Jenkins’ seat, Blake Capps had a little over 50% while his two opponents, Frank D’Ambra and Susan Gibbs-Thomas, split the remaining. Gibbs-Thomas, Jenkins’ hand-picked successor, would have had a much better chance if D’Ambra had not been in the race. Blake is a very well-known Hobe Sound businessman and native who has served for years on different boards and committees.

Except for Sean Reed, who beat McDonald in Stuart, the field of candidates who won were older folks. Why haven’t younger people taken an interest in local government? Of those challengers running and elected, most are in their 60s and beyond. That doesn’t bode well for our civic future. I guess it is the “Bidenization” of elected office.

Change is good. Tallahassee should pass term limits for all elected offices. The motto should be 8 and done. With term limits, we could be bringing along younger people who would be more anxious to serve if they knew they wouldn’t have to run against an incumbent flush with money and didn’t want to make a career out of elective office.

Another step is to change the law about closed primaries. Make the August election a true primary to choose the two top candidates regardless of party. Everyone, even Communists, should be able to vote. There is nothing magical about being a Republican that entitles you to disenfranchise those who are not.

Lastly, stop local elected officials from receiving any more than a stipend for their service. There should be no medical or retirement benefits. Make it truly public service and temporary. Our county commissioners are paid nearly $80,000 plus benefits.

Throw the bums out is an old rallying cry. We should make it official and pass a law to do just that. I just had to step down from the United Way board after serving 3 three-year terms because that is what their by-laws require. How about we require pols to do the same?

Also for Your Information

Reprinted from the Martin County Taxpayers Association

The Martin County Taxpayers Association has decided to take a position on whether there should be term limits for county commissioners. The answer is a resounding YES.

We believe that every elected official should be required to step down from the commission after serving their communities for a period of eight years. The state legislature and governor have eight-year limits before being required to take a time out. Term limits of eight years for school board members were enacted last year. Miami-Dade and Palm Beach are charter counties that currently have eight-year term limits. Broward County has twelve years.

The argument that the voters should have the option to elect the same person term after term or vote them out was valid in the past. The power of incumbency and the financial contributions it brings makes challengers think twice about running against an entrenched politician. A race in Martin County may cost north of $100,000 or more. Serving on a local board was never meant to be a career with salaries, healthcare, and retirement benefits which all currently come along with the job. It was supposed to be a public service.

How often have we heard that people would continue to vote for someone election after election not because they believe that person is doing a good job but because the quality of the other candidates was not as good. The amount of money an incumbent can raise usually dwarfs those of a challenger. This makes it more unlikely that those most qualified to run will.

Commissioners often become enamored with the deference people afford them. The office should never become an exalted career but rather a temporary privilege. The notion of an entrenched governing class especially on the local level stymies an involved citizenry.

Many times, with incumbency comes the tendency for commissioners to believe they are essential for the continuance of local government. Their decisions are influenced by the next election more than what is good overall. The level of pandering goes up and their judgement goes down with each new election. They appropriate the people’s tax dollars without thinking through the ramifications of what is in the best interest of the public.

The most recent examples of this were when the commission approved a new allocation of $85,000 for a position for the Special Olympics at 10:30 am. Then at the budget meeting at 5:00 pm on the same day, they were trying to cut millions from the following year’s budget to avoid having to raise taxes. A few weeks later, the commission approved buying land in Palm City slated for development for $4 million. That expense appeared nowhere in the budget.

We have witnessed that the Martin County commissioners don’t begin their budget deliberations working to keep the mileage rate the same as the previous year. MCTA has concluded that term limits are the only way to remind commissioners as to what their priorities should be. Therefore, the Martin County Taxpayers Association is fully on board with House Bill 57 which will limit commissioners to no more than two 4-year terms.

This Bill is sponsored by Representative Salzman from the Panhandle area. We would like to know if you are on board with the MCTA’s position so we can pass that information on to Rep. Salzman as well as our own delegation. MCTA representatives have visited and enlisted the support of our legislative delegation which is comprised of Representative John Snyder, Representative Toby Overdorff, and Senator Gayle Harrell. All are on board with the passage of this bill.

We realize that budgets do not remain static. That doesn’t mean that they should be created to fulfill the dream projects of individual commissioners such as the Special Olympics staff position or buying land for no other reason than a few who did not want it developed. We would like to see a concrete fiscal plan from each candidate running for office And then MCTA and the voters can hold the commissioners to their announced plans. Pet projects, special interest groups, and lack of fiscal reliability are hallmarks of those remaining in office too long.

IF YOU SUPPORT THIS CONCEPT, PLEASE EMAIL MCTaxpayers1950@gmail.com TODAY so we can report that Martin County stands firm behind Representative Salzman’s bill. It would be helpful if you could have your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to do so also.

Follow the link to the Palm Beach Post for information on another sewer leak https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/lakeworth/2024/04/13/lake-worth-sewage-spill-stopped-saturday-is-drinking-water-ok/73312917007/

Follow the link to NOAA Coastal Science. Find the latest about Lake O algae blooms

https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/science-areas/habs/hab-monitoring-system/cyanobacteria-algal-bloom-satellite-lake-okeechobee-fl/

People across the US are flabbergasted their local governments are raising property taxes and making other decisions behind closed doors (Check the link to Business Insider)

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-local-governments-making-more-decisions-behind-closed-doors-2023-12

TENFOLD INCREASE IN STORM-WATER FEE

Vero Beach OKs tenfold increase in storm-water fee; 971% hike to help clean Indian River Lagoon (Follow the link below for the complete TC Palm story)

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/indian-river-county/2024/04/09/vero-beach-raises-storm-water-taxes-to-75-from-7-eyes-lagoon-health-indian-river-county-fees-covid/72901020007/

SAVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

SAVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Originally Published in Martin Moments this article re-published in Friends and Neighbors of Martin County, Sunday 9/3/23

Local government needs to be saved from local career politicians.

Pols will remain in office for as long as they can. The original concept of spending a few years performing your civic duty is no longer desired by the men and women who stay in office year after year and term after term. They never leave. And that is true from the federal to the local levels of government.

Only a change in the U.S. Constitution can make people like Chuck Grassley and Diane Feinstein step down. But on the local level, the state legislature can step in and require term limits. They did it just recently for school boards.

Take our current county commission. While no one has declared yet, I will bet dollars to donuts that the three incumbents up for re-election next year (Doug Smith, Ed Ciampi, and Harold Jenkins) will stand for re-election. There is a good chance that at least two will not even have token opposition. That is not the way it was supposed to be.

A county commissioner is paid a little less than $75,000 and has health and retirement benefits. They are allowed to have other employment and own businesses. How many would walk away from extra money? There are no set hours or prescribed duties except to show up at commission meetings. Though some work at it continuously and others not so much.

In my opinion, the main reason no one leaves is that being called commissioner is intoxicating. They begin to believe their own publicity. Some go into the office thinking they will stay for one term then it becomes a second and then by the third time, they have just a little more to accomplish before hanging it up. At the completion of their terms, Commissioners Smith and Heard will have been around for 6 terms. That is 24 years.

Most people won’t run against an incumbent. Incumbency has huge advantages from having established campaign contributors to name recognition. Martin County does not have a very large media market, so getting your name out there is difficult and therefore expensive. Commissioners become beholden to special interests, and special interests would rather support the devil they know over an unknown.

And this goes for municipalities also. Stuart commissioners are making over $23,000 a year plus medical and retirement benefits. Last year, two new commissioners were elected. One ran because a commissioner left the office voluntarily to move away from the area. The second incumbent was beaten by less than 100 votes because of his stance on a very controversial development project. These were unusual circumstances.

Being in government at this level should be looked upon in the same manner as serving on a nonprofit board. They should not be paid (Sewall’s Point, Ocean Breeze, and Jupiter Island commissioners currently do not receive any compensation) to provide volunteer leadership. There should be a stipend for expenses.

Being in an office should not be a career. No one should go in as a young person and come out as a senior citizen. It isn’t a job.

Only the legislature can fix term limits and determine what the county commissioners receive for salary and benefits. City charters can be amended for municipal office holders. Yet when the charter review committee for Stuart recommended 8-year term limits, the commissioners bumped it up to 12 years. They can’t help themselves.

The legislature needs to step in and correct this. Sure, some will claim preemption, but it isn’t. It is restoring democracy by taking away financial incentives and the power of incumbency. Let’s give back local elected office to the people. Otherwise, it never will be the government closest to the people.

As Published In Martin Moments.