Why Unincorporate the Village of Islands - Islamorada
~Prepared by Robert Page
- Plantation Yacht Harbor was on the market in 1997 for sale for $4 million, a contract had been signed, but with the incorporation vote, the Village elected officials managed to secretly negotiate a purchase price of $8 million, all done very quickly, without any public input or support.
- Borrowed $4 million dollars in 2004 and could not figure out how to spend it until 2007.
- Does not maintain an inventory of all items valued over $500.
- Have never conducted an inventory review to determine, if items purchased with taxpayers money is still in possession of the staff. Have any items been lost, stolen, or given away? Who knows or cares?
- Gave away a street ending at the ocean (no public hearing) on Upper Matecumbe Key to developer Bill Fountain which is against state law.
- Village has never completed one project on time and within budget.
- Former Mayer Frank Kulisky secretly bought property next to Plantation Yacht Harbor (Founders Park) for $700,000 then sold part of it to the Village for $1.4 million.
- Former Mayor Mark Gregg changed a single family residence into eight houses and sold the eight living units for millions of dollars.
- Village has borrowed $25 million dollars with no referendum vote or public support. Annual payments for eight loans are over $1 million a year.
- Village manager does not prepare a full and complete budget for review each year at the beginning of budget preparation time. He doles out the budget, in many small pieces, and the elected officials spend months going over the incomplete budget and never learn the bottom line until the very last moment when the millage rate has to be set He tricks the officials each year and they never catch on. Then the millage is set and nobody looks at the budget again to provide oversight to see that funds are only spent on authorized issues. That is why the left over funds from the previous year disappears.
- During Hurricane Wilma village computers, furniture and valuable documents were left on the floor of the Village Hall, knowing it was going to be flooded and computers ruined. Documents had to be sent to Texas for expensive recovery.
- Since incorporation in 1998, six managers have come and gone and village is now searching for number seven.
- No financial reports for six months in 2006, and none for September 2007 (end of fiscal year)
- Quote from newspaper Reporter “Over the past year, the Islamorada Village Council has spent countless hours and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars searching for answers to issues that will undoubtedly shape Islamorada’s future” “as the year comes to a close, the majority of those answers remain elusive, leaving Islamorada cash strapped, without a manager and still working out ways to fund projects already underway.” Fire chief Wagner said “we have no reserves in the capital fund, we’re in really, really desperate conditions here” This is the guy that left his fire trucks on Lower Matecumbe to be caught in salt water during Hurricane Wilma and had to purchase new truck replacements. Councilman Reckwerdt said “we have no idea how bad our finances are”. Finance Director Fillinovich said “we need to set money aside for construction projects instead of taking out loans and paying through the general fund. She urged the council to put money aside for a rainy day” but it has not done so.
- The Free Press newspaper said “2007 was a year when the Islamorada Village Council had trouble making up its mind –repeatedly” ” Council spent nearly $600,000 on the municipal complex, much of it for architectural fees. Initially budgeted for $4.4 million, the complex earlier this year was expected to cost nearly $10 million.” “The council also had a difficult time making up its mind about this year’s tax rate. In an effort to protect village reserves, council members in July voted to override the 7% tax cut recommended by the state. But they reinstated the cut in September”.
- Newspaper Reporter called the Village of Islamorada “Dysfunctional”.
- When documents that might reveal false or embarrassing information are requested by the public – the Village Attorney just labels them ”exempt” from the public records law.
- Spent over $200,000 studying whether to ship sewerage to Key Largo.
- Plantation Key Colony Sewer program is mismanaged, resulting in cost overruns, sewer backups, resulting in houses being condemned, and torn down, family dislocated, insurance claims being ignored and the sewerage collection system is years behind schedule. The Fla Dept of Environmental Protection has cited the village for many violations and fined the village for the violations. Re-use of the treated sewage water has cost nearly $2 million and all we have is a tank full of salt water that cannot be used.
- Plantation Key Colony Sewer program budget is overspent by $1,055,709. Poor fiscal management.
- Village does not evaluate employee performance.
- Village has a turnover of personnel reported to be 60%. No exit interviews to find out why high turnover of staff.
- Village Manager gets an annual evaluation but the format is flawed by being too subjective resulting in a convoluted and meaningless report..
- Village Manager does not have a clear set of measurable performance standards. He needs to be told what is to be done, how much money the elected officials are giving him, and how long it should take to finish the task. Monthly progress reports will reveal if he is doing his job.
- Village attorney has been paid about $8 million dollars for legal services. Village should have in-house legal staff.
- Over 900 petitions were signed to require any expenditure of the village that exceeded $1 million dollars must be by referendum. Ignored by elected officials.
- Elected officials interject themselves into the operation of the village and continually give instructions to the staff and not the manager. Village attorney has repeatedly warned the elected officials that their job is to set policy and not to interfere in the management of the village. All of the elected officials like to micromanage the daily operation.
- I could go on with horror stories of incompetence but I think the message is clear.
Many repeat visitors to the Florida Keys often dream about owning a vacation or permanent residence in the subtropical island chain. That dream is to become a reality for someone when Home and Garden Television awards a luxury residence in Islamorada to the winner of its 2008 HGTV Dream Home Giveaway contest set to begin Jan. 1.
A Gambian pouch rat found dead on Upper Matecumbe Thursday, 11-1-07, is the first ever confirmed sighting of the raccoon-sized exotic rodent in the wild outside of Grassy Key. Wildlife officials fear if the world’s largest rat establishes itself in other parts of the Florida Keys, it could out-compete endangered native rodents such as the Key Largo and Lower Keys marsh rabbit. Of greater long-term concern is its potential to wreak havoc on agriculture should it make its way to the mainland.