No Wonder Trust in City Government is at an All-time Low!
City of Marco Island Florida, City Council Meeting, 9.6.22
Item 17. City Manager’s Report: TIME STAMP = 2:28:30
Mike McNess: “Chairman Brechnitz, the City Attorney (Alan Gabriel), the Assistant City Manager (Casey Lucius) and I met with representatives of the PAC that advanced the STR referendum (the “YES” side). The purpose was to improve the ordinance with ideas from staff and the PAC members. Many improvements have been agreed upon. A redraft of the ordinance is underway.”
Erik Brechnitz: “I attended and it was a constructive meeting. A fair number of changes were agreed upon that we felt were problematic.”
Rich Blonna: “When I heard about this meeting, I was very upset. This “reeks” of a back-room deal. The City Council discussed this for 1-1/2 years. 2000 residents signed a petition, an ordinance was put to a referendum and it passed by 57%. Now, before it even comes back to the City Council for discussion, a meeting is held where changes are made. How can this happen? A meeting is held behind closed doors. This was not discussed in the sunshine. This does not look good to the citizens.”
Mike McNees: “We need to get to an actionable, enforceable, effective ordinance. There are things in the ordinance that will be difficult if not impossible to enforce.”
Jared Grifoni: “Is it the position of the city that the citizens voted on an ordinance that is not actionable or enforceable? The Chairman of this PAC has said he did not have the authority to change the ordinance. Now we are getting a bait and switch. What is adopted by the council will not be what was voted on by the voters. The public deserves to understand that they were hoodwinked.”
(PAC Meeting Attendees: Ed Issler, Hayden Dublois, Christine Dowell, YES PAC candidate for City Council, McNees, Lucius, Atty Gabriel, and Erick Brechnitz, Chair and Candidate for re-election)