Secret Agenda

The WayneWho staff had decided early in the week that the Kissimmee City Commission Meeting for August 12, 2008 (last night) wasn't going to be worth having our Access Osceola source record it for our viewing pleasure. We had looked at the agenda early in the week and saw that there were no items, as usual, under the Public Hearings sections. We have written articles before about the current commission's adjustment of Public Hearing topics to the Discussion Items category so they can lock out public input if they feel like the issue might not go their way, but even the Discussion Item section only contained board appointments the commissioners can not seem to fill. So we figured it was going to be boring with only a slight hope of Commissioner Gemskie and Commissioner Irizarry getting into one of their cat fights for some excitement, and did not put much effort into following up with the meeting. Luckily our meeting source had their recorder set to copy the meetings every Tuesday night, and they dropped off the copy early this morning. We decided to go ahead and watch it just in case, and we were shocked with our findings.

If you look at a copy of the Agenda (the set of directions the commissioners follow) you will notice that under the section called "Public Hearings - First and Second Readings" there are no items to be discussed. During the meeting however, the second and final reading of the changing of an ordinance to remove the automatic fee increase section of the transportation impact fees was not only heard but approved without questions. We double checked our agenda and sure enough, the second and final reading was not on our sheet. So we went and got a new copy this morning and sure enough, no items under "Public Hearings - First and Second Readings," so there would be no way as a resident of this city you would know that this was your last chance to speak on this issue. We assume that the people who attended last night's meeting got a copy of the secret agenda so we will do our best to get our hands on one of them to compare the agendas meant for the public against the secret agendas meant for those who attend the meetings. We might need to inquire that if the item that was approved was not properly advertised to the public, was the motion legal or does the commission need a do over on this one. We would hope that they would at least give the public one more shot before they blindly approve another ordinance.

The funny part is that this ordinance change should be approved. There should never be a automatic fee or tax increase used to levy citizens. There should always be discussion on fee changes even if the governing body does not understand what they are doing. In this case, the ordinance change should be approved, but the reason the City Manager gave the commission about not increasing the Transportation Impact fees because the developers have had a hard year is completely wrong. What about all that "Growth should pay for itself" talk? The transportation needs of our community have not changed, so this commission plans to shift the burden away from the people who have created the transportation nightmare onto the backs of our hard working residents? This does not even make sense. At the previous week's meeting, the City Manager said that this would help get the development going on the Vine Street area, which the plans that it shows right now are for more residential units. This means we are going to have more residents and not enough money to pay for the roads we need to move them around. The roads will still be needed, so guess who is going to pay for it? The residents who have already paid their fair share.

From all outward appearances this looks like those running for office making sure that the campaign donations stay flowing. The problem with that theory is that this assumes that the commissioners actually understand the depths of their decisions. We would at least hope that instead of trying to set the shortest meeting records, they would actually start taking their jobs more serious and start explaining their intentions to the public the way they are supposed to. Just remember, intent of the commission on decisions has come back to help explain why a set of commissioners has made a decision one way or another. Your discussions on an item are important for future commissions and the public you are supposed to represent. Secret agendas and gold medals for quick meetings should not be your legacy.