Scott’s Slingblade Swings Deep at SWFWMD

According to St. Petersburg Times writer, Craig Pittman, the staff at SWFWMD heard Tuesday (10.25.11) that more of them will be hitting the street, 20% of them by the first of the year.  130-150 staffers of the current 768 will be let go, fired if they don’t go voluntarily.

Surprisingly, this is not surprising.  The rumor has been swirling around the district’s headquarters building since former ED, Dave Moore, was eased out a few months ago and the interim director, Bill Bilenky, was given the ugly task of letting 30 initial unfortunates go.  Seeing what was going down at SFWMD and SJRWMD, it was expected that more of the same would be coming to SWFWMD.

According to the article, Guillory said he was forced to make a decision between recommending to the governing board a cut to environmental programs or people.  He chose people, probably because of the notion that the district’s job is more important than that of certain individuals, a tough but arguably correct decision given the circumstances. 

The dilemma was brought about by a totally arbitrary mandate by our CEO-governor and a legislature that runs in a blind herd and dresses in sheepskin (Johnnie Byrd was right).  They initially slashed water management district budgets around the state, SWFWMD’s to the tune of 44 percent, and now district staffers are saying they’ll need to cut another $30 million to meet the new revenue constraints.

This is the work of raw politics, make no mistake about it.  It has nothing to do with what is right or appropriate for good resource management, good people management, good government or even public interest.

It’s all about taking advantage of a terribly misguided infatuation with party rhetoric from the far right, having a myopic focus on the next election and being committed to being able to say to those who haven’t a clue or a care what the real impact will be on Florida’s future, “look what a fine job I’ve done!”

I can’t help but think of this governor’s resume which includes collecting hospitals, building a huge business conglomerate using the largesse of state and federal healthcare funds, and then leaving with several hundred million of those dollars in his pocket after his company was fined a record sum, over a billion dollars, for perpetrating fraud (while on his watch) and ripping off the public who paid for those programs.

I’m a Republican and I have to tell you, it’s more than embarrassing.

But the slashing and burning of the water management districts is just a partial indication of where this guy is going, intentionally or otherwise.

He has stopped environmental land buying programs that have been blessed, authorized and demanded by the public for over 30 years.  From the Conservation and Recreation Lands and Save Our Rivers programs of the seventies and eighties, to the Preservation 2000 and Florida Forever programs that were approved by referendum from 1990 to 2010.

He has stopped the development of rules designed to carry out statutory programs that have no other purpose but to preserve what remains of natural Florida.

He has ordered the review of regulatory programs that literally saved Florida from the degradation of the 1960’s, degradation that became dangerously apparent over the next 20 years as laws were required and demanded by the public to be stopped and the trend reversed.

Without a care or thought, he is hamstringing institutions at all levels and reducing their ability to ensure the state’s unique natural character is protected for the future.  He is apparently devoid of any understanding or belief that a healthy, viable natural environment is a critical ingredient for a healthy, viable economic future.

I hope someone is keeping tabs of the things he is doing so that when it can all finally be seen in toto, it will be enough for Florida voters to end the assault on their future and remove him from the office he purchased with $70 million of the reward money he got for running a company that stole from the public’s healthcare pocket.

I doubt Blake Guillory had a real crispy clear understanding of what he was getting himself into. 

Part of the blame for this mess should be laid at the feet of a majority of head-bobbing SWFWMD governing board members who are probably patting themselves on the back for being able to get through a 54-item agenda that required 377-pages of attached information in just a few hours during which they calmly agreed to get rid of 130 to 150 faithful staff human beings without the issue even being noted on that same agenda. 

So much for government transparency and operating in the sunshine.  This is the same tactic the board used to dismantle its basin boards and fire the unpaid volunteer private citizens that served as members, people whose duty was simply to assure the taxes they levied were for good purposes and would be spent within their basins.  These boards served the public interest for 50 years but were summarily discarded without the intent ever showing up on a published agenda, a maneuver certainly blessed if not directed by the governor and his CEO-DEP minion, Herschel Vinyard.

Nevertheless, there are a few members on the current SWFWMD governing board who remind me of members of earlier times when decisions were made with the best facts available and all the wisdom they could muster.  They are like some other extraordinary people who never decided anything unless they were certain their decisions were the “right thing” to do and had the fortitude to say what needed to be said to the governor or anyone, even powerful senators in powerful positions, when political mischief was afoot and public interest wasn’t.

There are others on this board, however, who do not remind of those good people.  Bobbing heads. 

Where’s the concern that what’s being flushed down upon them from Tallahassee is not the right thing to do, that there is a very legitimate reason for what past legislatures and governors have given the districts to do, and that their ability to carry out those duties is being seriously undermined?

Why aren’t these board members, together with their colleagues from the other water management districts, traipsing off to the capitol building to see the governor personally, or if meeting with him face to face makes them too uncomfortable, at least writing him letters saying that what is happening is counter to decades of heartfelt work by some very smart people from both parties? 

SWFWMD’s governing board is abrogating its responsibilities.  Its members are letting others do what they should be doing themselves, specifically setting water policy for this region that is consistent with a rational state policy and supervising a dedicated staff.  They should be the ones saying how much their budget needs to be reduced in light of the region’s tough economic times and reduced construction activity.  They should be the ones to decide if there isn’t enough money coming from state documentary stamp taxes to buy more environmentally sensitive lands within their district.  They should be the ones to decide how much their staff might need to be reduced in light of reduced revenues and project activities.  They should be the ones to rein in and reduce their ad valorem tax levies in light of the region’s hard economic times. 

Instead they bob their heads like the Pep Boys and joke about meetings being too long because of too many questions from a few otherwise responsible board members. 

The fundamental question about this governing board that is becoming more and more apparent is, what are they there for?

These are ugly times for environmental resource management in Florida.

Scott Appoints Randall Maggard to SWFWMD Governing Board

The following was announced by the Governor’s office yesterday, 10.19.11:

Governor Rick Scott Appoints Randall Maggard to Governing Board, Southwest Florida Water Management District

 

10/19/2011 Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the appointment of Randall S. Maggard to the Pasco County seat on the Governing Board, Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Maggard, 48, of Zephyrhills, has been the vice president of Sonny’s Discount Appliances Inc. since 1981. From 2003 to 2010, he served as a member of the Coastal Rivers Basin Board, including serving as vice chairman. He has also served as a member of the Zephyrhills Economic Development Council for two years. Maggard received an associate degree from Pasco-Hernando Community College. He succeeds Ronald E. Oakley and is appointed for a term beginning October 19, 2011, and ending March 1, 2015.

The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

P.S. – I do not own nor am I the president of or affiliated with “Sonny’s Discount Appliances, Inc” in any way ...... but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one time.

Stupid is as stupid does (Sound the Alarm!)

When Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does,” he was saying, it’s not what you say, it’s what you do.

Our CEO-Governor has declared that the water management districts need to sell off some of their environmentally sensitive lands acquired at the direction of Florida’s voters over the last 40-50 years, land that was considered so important to the future of Florida’s economy, quality of life and unique natural assets that it needed to be protected forever through public ownership.  He says the money is needed to help fund some significant revenue deficits the districts have incurred recently.

Cause a problem. Mandate a solution. Make it worse.

I have hope that one day the governor will realize the deficits to which he refers so disdainfully are the same ones he and his friends in the legislature caused when they capped the districts’ constitutionally-authorized funding of their budgets, which, by the way, could be interpreted as illegal state control of ad valorem taxing authority.  (State government, i.e., the legislature and the governor, is specifically prohibited by Florida’s constitution from levying property taxes, an authority it reserves for local governments.  Taking control from the local governing boards could be in violation of that prohibition.)

WMD’s are part of the answer, not the problem.

I have another hope that one day he’ll realize the collective revenue generating capacity of the water management districts is critically necessary for funding Florida’s vitally needed statutory protections for its unique and fragile natural systems.  But I don’t hold a lot of belief that any such realization is in the offing even though the state is practically stone broke and could never assume this fundamental responsibility. Stupid is as stupid does, and cutting the district’s revenues, so far, has the potential for becoming an historic stupid does.

Selling unique natural Florida to the highest bidder in a down market is not the answer

Some Atomic Brain of T-Town in a flash of brilliance devoid of simple logic has concluded that since the state is broke and the WMD’s have now been reduced to similarly broke state entities, maybe the districts should sell some public land.  CEO-secretary Vinyard, ever the laser-focused soldier, has consequently mandated the districts to review all properties in their respective inventories, identify which are non-essential, and get rid of any offending purposeless, useless and unneeded acres.

I attended a meeting last week in Orlando of about 50 very prominent and very concerned individuals to talk about how this exercise is terribly boneheaded and wrong.  The consensus, as I saw it, was that there are a number of very valid reasons why any significant selling of these lands will be just another huge mistake of massive proportion by a clueless administration.

Assuming the mandate is going to stick, our group focused on what would probably be the most important task which is to determine what is meant by “non-essential.”  In the past, there would have been very few properties considered non-essential. The belief was that an inseparably small parcel might not now be of significance but could become so in the future. 

And, the process to declare a small parcel no longer needed for public purposes, vetting the choice with the public who paid for it, advertising a solicitation for bids, comparing and choosing the top few, having the governing board select one, and having the state approve it (including perhaps even having to go before the Govenor and Cabinet), and then arguing with the state over who gets the money, is simply onerous and most likely not worth the expense of the process.  Nevertheless, though worried about how easily mischief might find its way, we concluded that under a tighter definition and with greater latitude from the state, there are probably a relatively few small parcels that could be found “non-essential” and sold.

The devil, however, will reside subcutaneously amidst the tiny follicular details. Open up the definition of non-essential too much and the baby will be sold with the bathwater.  Shorten the disposal recipe too much and ugly missteps, fraud and, should I even say it, poisonous politics could ruin the cake. 

Never eat your seed corn

If the motivation is truly just to generate money to operate the districts, nothing could be more stupid is as stupid does.  No one at the meeting could keep from rolling their eyes when it was mentioned the districts might use money from the sale of property for operational purposes. 

It would be a classic no-no.  Never, NEVER, should non-recurring revenues be used to fund recurring expenses.  It is a fundamental rule of management even a freshman legislator should understand.  It’s like digging the hole you’re already in deeper or, as a Sarasota County commissioner succinctly put it, “It would be like eating your seed corn.”  It just isn’t done, not by responsible managers anyway.

But wait!  That’s not all. 

Let’s assume a few dollars do come in from such a sale.  If the original purchase involved state largesse (Save Our Rivers, P-2000, CARL, Florida Forever, etc.), there would be a legitimate question as to where the income from the sale should then go.  Should it be used by a broke water management district “to buy more land” as has been whispered by certain vacuous T-Town minions, or should it go back to state coffers that are so empty they echo so “no new taxes” will be needed to balance the state budget?

Buy high, sell low

Which brings up the next question. What sense does it make to sell anything in this economic climate?  To generate enough money to make the exercise worth doing would require the sale of tracts of significant acres.  Let’s say a tract in Citrus County of maybe 10,000 acres was purchased for $17 million sometime in the past.  How much would the final offer have to be to make a deal worth it to the public who invested the $17 million?  Is the appraised value going to be at least as high as the original purchase price in today’s market?  Probably not.  Would the public accept any amount less than the original purchase price?  Certainly not.

Now is the time to buy, not sell

In reality, the thought should not be to sell at all, but to buy.  Now!  Even the most challenged portfolio managers know the time to buy is when land values are in the pits, not sell. 

But the Dynamic Duo of T-Town has inexplicably placed a hold on all land purchases by the districts and is directing the districts to sell “non-essential” environmental lands anyway.  As stated, they just shouldn’t be selling anything!  In fact, they should be looking to buy property that until recently was just too expensive to consider.  Now’s the time to buy properties that are extraordinarily unique and might never again be possible to place in public ownership for future generations to enjoy and appreciate as Florida used to be.

Does finding no human footprints mean the land is unused and worthless?

At one point during the discussion at our table, it was asked if land that “… has not had any public footprints” on it since acquired should be considered unused and non-essential?

The answer is absolutely not.  Many of these properties considered ecologically fragile and unique were placed in public ownership because of it.  Protection and preservation of important natural assets are fundamental to any environmental land acquisition program.  Allowing inappropriate public use could destroy the very characteristics for which the property was purchased in the first place. 

This is not to say public access should be totally denied.  Even Ecuador allows the Galapagos Islands to have limited and carefully managed public access.  Every property is comprehensively assessed to assure the public will be able to enjoy it in ways that are appropriate for the reasons the land was acquired and which does not jeopardize public safety. 

In fact, this is a process required by statute.  Called a management plan, it’s the district’s responsibility to develop the best mix of public uses for every tract in its ownership that is consistent with protecting and preserving the property in a manner that reflects the reason it was acquired.

Science-based decision making

Over time, the methodology used by the water management districts to identify ecologically important lands has become based upon sound science because science is the best way to eliminate human bias and politics from the decision.  When tens of millions of public dollars are involved, the process needs to be squeaky clean and as free of arbitrary human biases as possible, especially political influence.

Today, every scrap of pertinent physical information about a tract can be visually depicted in a very precise way using Geographic Information Systems technology.  By creating digital layers on a digitally created topographic aerial photograph, the heaviest concentrations of desirable and undesirable traits become quickly and easily apparent.  Topography, archeology, bio-diversity, flood elevations, wetlands, recharge characteristics, geology, rare and endangered species are just a few of the types of information that can be depicted.

This is also how any so-called surplus lands should be identified, with science and objectivity and without political influence.

So, if there are all these plausible reasons to think that selling even justifiably non-essential property is bad business, bad public policy and particularly bad karma, where is the drive to do so coming from, if not from just plain egregiously poor judgment?

Sound the alarm!

These lands were not bought to be managed as a portfolio for profit-making.  They were placed in public ownership with the expectation that they would be protected and preserved for generations, yes, even centuries.  They were not purchased for speculation to be sold to operate government at any time, especially when the economy is down.  Such is not only counterintuitive but a fraud perpetrated upon the public who voted to acquire these valuable lands for legitimate purposes and paid for them. 

At the end of the meeting, each table was asked to identify a single idea or conclusion that might lead to further action.  As each reported, it was clear.  There was a strong, defined feeling that the proposal to sell lands needs to be reconsidered for all the reasons stated.  But there was also the fear that, despite these misgivings, there is a powerful misguided push to go forward anyway. 

Clearly, there was the feeling that too much heartfelt work, public investment and potential harm to Florida’s future exists not to sound an alarm, an alarm that needs to be heard by all who care about Florida’s future in all respects: quality of life, economy and natural environment.  There needs to be a unified voice of opposition against this ill-advised, ill-considered idea.

So, add this one alarmed voice to the others and yours.  This terribly misguided strategy, so destructive to the good work and intentions of so many highly respected, bi-partisan leaders over decades, needs to be stopped now.

SJRWMD Shakeup Raises Concerns

THE FLORIDA CURRENT

http://www.thefloridacurrent.com/article.cfm?id=24921340&utm_source=not_lt_user&utm_medium=article_link&utm_campaign=current_email

Water district's shake-up raises concerns

10/10/2011 - 11:06 AM

With the St. Johns River Water Management District set to replace its ousted executive director this week, efforts by its board members to mold the powerful environmental agency into a smaller operation on friendlier terms with developers and utilities have created in some cases at least the appearance that a board member's company could gain an unfair advantage when dealing with the district, according to an Orlando Sentinel report.

The district's seven board members include three consultants whose companies have sought, or have assisted others in seeking, permits from the district, whose job it is to regulate and protect drinking water, wetlands and waterways in Central and North Florida.

Two of those three board members have already recused themselves from votes on permits involving their companies, and all three have said they will be diligent in opting out of future decisions whenever they might stand to gain financially.

But the three board members — Charles Drake, Maryam Ghyabi and John Miklos — have taken active and visible roles in the agency's downsizing this summer, which included slashing 130 jobs, or 20 percent of the work force.

Though driven by a sharp reduction in the district's budget this year, the process also had the goal of changing the district's culture from one that some board members characterized as rigid and tightly controlled by senior managers to one in which individual staffers will work more independently and cooperatively with developers and water utilities when reviewing permits.

In such a climate, the remaining staff members fear being next in line for dismissal should they do something a board member perceives as detrimental to a business' proposed project or overly protective of the environment, according to several employees who spoke privately with the Sentinel.

"There certainly is an appearance of potential impropriety," said board member Richard Hamann, a law professor at the Center for Governmental Responsibility at the University of Florida. "It puts a lot of pressure on employees when district board members are involved with permit applications."

"I'm concerned about how we deal with this in a way that's ethical and responsible," Hamann said.

The agency, which had grown in size and power since its inception in 1972, was turned upside down earlier this year when the Legislature slashed its main source of income, local property taxes, by 25 percent. The state's four other water-management districts were similarly affected.

________________________________________________

See related Orlando Sentinel Story,

New water-district director pledges to insulate staff from board pressure

Find the story here:

http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=835411815&gid=3922262&type=member&item=75015558&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eorlandosentinel%2Ecom%2Fnews%2Fos-water-district-exec-director-hire-20111011%2C0%2C6373201%2Estory&urlhash=wKMU&goback=%2Egde_3922262_member_75015558

SJRWMD Hires Former Board Member as New Executive Director

The following news release was provided 10.11.11 by the SJRWMD:

Link: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Oct-11-2011-SJRWMD-News-3922262.S.75004425?view=&gid=3922262&type=member&item=75004425&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_nd-pst_ttle-cn

District Board hires new executive director

PALATKA, Fla., Oct. 11, 2011 -- The St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board today voted unanimously to hire Hans G. Tanzler III as its new executive director effective immediately.

Tanzler has served as the District's general counsel since July, after having served three years on the District's Governing Board.

"Mr. Tanzler brings extensive experience leading large organizations with a well formulated and fiscally conservative approach," said Governing Board Chairman Leonard Wood. "He has a very balanced background in the public and private sectors, and I am pleased that we will be able to benefit from his leadership skills and experience."

Tanzler, 60, received law degrees from the University of Florida and has been a member of the Florida Bar for more than 30 years. He is also a certified public accountant and has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney, an Internal Revenue Service attorney, an attorney in private practice, and a senior corporate business executive.

Tanzler has been active for more than 20 years with volunteer and community activities, currently serving on the boards of the University of Florida Foundation and The Conservation Trust of Florida. He previously served as chairman of the Jacksonville Zoological Society and commissioner for the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission.

"I am extremely honored that the Board has entrusted this position to me, and I am looking forward to leading this agency," Tanzler said. "I come in with one agenda -- to effect good government. The District has accomplished much in preserving and protecting our region's water resources, and I look forward to continuing that work, with additional emphasis on good customer service."

The search committee -- made up of Board members Lad Daniels, John Miklos and Maryam Ghyabi -- was created in August and held five public meetings to identify the search criteria, evaluate the 21 applicants, and interview the committee's top three candidates.

Tanzler, whose appointment is subject to confirmation by Florida's governor and Senate, replaces Kirby B. Green III, who retired Oct. 3 after 10 years as District executive director.