mkelter's blog

Last night I had the opportunity to sneak preview the second First Coast Winter Lights festival at Clay Port in Green Cove Spirngs.

I first heard the phrase “belts and suspenders” in the 1970 movie Once Upon a Time in the West.  Henry Fonda, who played a hired gunman “Frank” asked:  “How can you trust a man who wears a belt and suspenders?  Man can’t even trust his own pants.”  A more recent definition of a Belt and Suspenders Guy is found on www.urbandictionary.com.  The first definition is:

I learned last night that I wasn’t wise. 

I’m obviously not very bright.  What kind of person with an ounce of sense would spend a perfectly good Friday night in a City Council meeting talking about City budgets?  Obviously somebody who isn’t too bright or who doesn’t otherwise have a life. 

I wasn’t told that I lacked wisdom.  Neither were two of my colleagues on the Council.  However, the three of us—the majority on the Council—were carefully excluded from the elite Circle of the Wise, as defined by a person who spoke about “wisdom” at the meeting.   The absence of wisdom that was implied left two of my colleague a little ticked off, and left me speechless (for once).   All I could think was:  “how dumb is this?  Here is an individual who makes part of his living pretending to be somebody he is not, and who makes the other part of his living milking a City contract awarded by majority vote of the Council.  Now this individual is going public impugning the intellectual skills of the majority that butters his bread.  I might not belong in the Circle of the Wise.  But, I am damn sure not that stupid.”

Budget workshops are done. 

Thank God. 

It was a marathon session:  0800 – 2230.  With a few minutes break for lunch, dinner, and smoke break.  The taxpayers got their money’s worth from the Council, at least as far as effort is concerned.

There is good news, bad news and good news on the tax front this week which makes blogging about it easy.  I can start with the good news, sneak in a little bad news, then finish with the good news--kind of like sneaking a really bitter pill in the middle of an Oreo cookie.

First, the good news.  For the homesteaded property owners of Clay County, Green Cove Springs, Orange Park, Keystone Heights, and Penny Farms, the Florida Legislature passed statutory tax reform in the form of House Bill 1B and approved Senate Bill 4B for consideration by the voters in January 2008.  To comply with the provisions of HB1, the Clay County BCC voted unanimously to reduce their millage from $8.7 per $1000 valuation to $7.00 per $1000.  For the municipalities (Keystone Heights, Penny Farms, Orange Park, and Green Cove Springs) the County also approved the creation of a “negative” Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) which will further cut the millage rate for municipal taxpayers.  In Green Cove Springs the millage reduction is expected to be an additional $2.50 per $1000 valuation and in Orange Park the reduction is expected to be an additional $3.03 per $1000 valuation.  For a homesteaded Green Cove Springs family living in a $225,000 home, this amounts to an annual savings of $840 on your tax bill.   If the Constitutional Amendment passes in January, the savings could be as high as $1500 per year.  That’s good money.

Lost in the noise at the last meeting of the Green Cove Springs were three items relating to the City’s electric utility that were not mentioned in the articles published in the MyClaySun.   These were three very positive stories that need to be told to readers outside of Council Chambers.

I was very pleased that Council began discussing the Centennial celebration of our Electric Department.  The ordinance establishing the utility was passed on November 1, 1905.  The City spent the next 2 years acquiring right of way and building poles and lines.  In 1907 (most likely in May) the City threw the switch and began continuously serving the electrical needs and economic development of our City.   OK, so we’re late with the birthday card, but I am pleased that the Council collectively recognized the significance of this event. 

In an article written about Green Cove Springs garbage service on May 25, 2007, Beth Reese Cravey stated that the City Manager (Don Bowles) recently fired the City Public Works Director (Bob Gamble) for, among other things, incompetence.

As an elected City Councilman in Green Cove Springs, I have an obligation to support the City Manager’s authority to hire and fire personnel as he deem fit within the limits of the City’s Personnel Policies and Procedures.    However, I am under no obligation to ascribe to the wisdom and judiciousness of the personnel action in question.