Saturday, February 14, 2009

campaign comments

A LOT of time, energy, and resources are absorbed by the campaigns. While that fact is not ideal or as helpful in the process of finding out information, it IS the reality. Once elected, a candidate would have two years and the force of their office to look into many of the areas of city dysfunction. This would be particularly effective if there were three like-minded people on the Council.

kids

One final note on kids: In my experience, kids are usually okay, and when they act out its usually a sign of turmoil and trouble with the PARENTS, be it substance abuse, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or neglect. Family therapy is usually indicated and once the PARENTS problems subside the kids usually improve amazingly well. Kids will make mistakes, as will their parents, but they ARE the future and for the most part just need some love, affection and guidance to thrive in a stable family environment. Dr. Mel Johnson

Friday, February 13, 2009

zero tolerance

I cannot speak for the Mayor or the Council. I can only guess that perhaps the pool is small potatoes compared to other City problems. Perhaps there is a concern that it will open up a can of worms that will affect a LOT of people. I cant say for sure, at this point. If the pool situation is happening at other city facilities then it needs to be straightened out ASAP, and those accountable be held responsible for their actions, or LACK of actions! There should be ZERO tolerance for sexual harrassment in this City, and ZERO tolerance for ineptitude, incompetence, cluelessness,and/or corruption! ALL are unacceptable. Dr. Mel Johnson

pool audit needed

An FOI would seem to be all that is necessary to find out any, and all, information about this weekends meet. An outside, independent audit is the only way to find out where we stand at the pool and will be a priority of mine, if elected. It annoys and aggravates me when I ask for information and am ignored. I DO have a ledger sheet of possible payments going back several years by several entities involved at the pool. From that sheet it APPEARS that the necessary payments have been made, however there ARE no deposit slips or bank statements offerred. An audit would track all of this stuff down and/or let us know where the gaps are. Knowing where the gaps are would help with taking corrective action. This is just ONE area of concern, but a good place to start. Getting ahead of oneself is not suggested, as nobody has been elected yet, but those ARE my intentions, if elected. Dr. Mel Johnson

a reply

Dear Sir or Madam, It DOES disturb me when people throw away my tax money, mislead me, and or dont let me vote on BIG projects. That is true, and I dont apologize for that. I think a LOT of people get upset when they are lied to, or robbed. Dont you get upset when things like this happen to you? I have worked with kids, gang kids, and juvenile delinquents over a large part of my 20 years in mental health, and actually prefer to work with kids because THEY are the future. They are also easier to work with because they dont have many years of ingrained bad habits, which makes changes in behavior more difficult. I like to think of myself as a nice guy, and in general AM a nice guy. I prefer to be a nice guy, but dont HAVE to be a nice guy when provoked. I think of my tax monies disappearing by the truckloads as a mugging, and yes, that perturbs me mucho. I also do not suffer fools, incompetence, or arrogance easily, or well. I am trying to learn more patience but it IS an ongoing struggle. Feel free to come talk to me in person around town or call me on the phone so you can make an educated decision for yourself. Respectfully, Dr. Mel Johnson

legacy projects

Tax millage rates were RAISED last year from 6.3 to 6.4+ and fees have been doubled, and more. Child care costs have doubled and inspection fees have MORE than doubled, all of which takes money OUT of the taxpayers pockets to pay for these legacy projects. An expensive tribute to their own egos! that WE will wind up paying for!

hiring isues in question

Mr. Giglio was not the focus of Dotsons anger at the last meeting. He said he doesnt even know the man. Dotson was MUCH more upset with the shoody, careless, and unprofessional manner displayed by the City Manager in the HIRING PROCESS. All of the background checks and character reference SHOULD have been done and verified long before he was hired. If there were problems doing that, the Council should have been notified. They werent, until Mr Dotson demanded that information. Apparently the City Manager was warned ahead of time about potential problems with that resume and other concerns, but chose to ignore the warnings from Dotson and proceeded to put him on the payroll. This is not an indictment of Mr Giglio. It is a warning to the City Manager from Mr Dotson that ignoring warnings and just doing as he wants and desires will NOT be tolerated in the future! It damages the credibility and reputation of the Council AND the City Manager, and CANNOT be tolerated. Period. The troubling issue is with the City Manager, not Mr Giglio, because nobody seems to know exactly WHAT happened and what didnt happen there. We DO know what DIDNT happen in his hiring! It is to Dotsons credit that he confronted the City Manager and these hiring issues in Council session.

Espino listens?

Espino needs to let people know where he stands. So far he is running a campaign much like Garcia does- vote for me, Im latin and local! He is for PROGRESS, but what does that mean? Firmly straddling the fence is a technique Best has mastered. Billy pulls him aside and has long conversations with him frequently. Sure sounds like hes learned a lot from that slate. Maybe he will listen to somebody other than Billy and Garcia. We shall see.

Monitors for the elderly

Joseph Hayduk, 86, who suffers from congestive heart failure, transmits his clinical vital signs everyday via a "HomMed Health Monitoring System" to a Meridian Home Care office where a registered nurse tracks his health. More Photos >
New York Times

By JOHN LELAND
Published: February 12, 2009
Increasingly, many older people who live alone are not truly alone. They are being watched by a flurry of new technologies designed to enable them to live independently and avoid expensive trips to the emergency room or nursing homes.

Technology for the Elderly


Monitoring Movement Readers' Comments


Bertha Branch, 78, discovered the power of a system called eNeighbor when she fell to the floor of her Philadelphia apartment late one night without her emergency alert pendant and could not phone for help.

A wireless sensor under Ms. Branch’s bed detected that she had gotten up. Motion detectors in her bedroom and bathroom registered that she had not left the area in her usual pattern and relayed that information to a central monitoring system, prompting a call to her telephone to ask if she was all right. When she did not answer, that incited more calls — to a neighbor, to the building manager and finally to 911, which dispatched firefighters to break through her door. She had been on the floor less than an hour when they arrived.

Technologies like eNeighbor come with great promise of improved care at lower cost and the backing of large companies like Intel and General Electric.

But the devices, which can be expensive, remain largely unproven and are not usually covered by the government or private insurance plans. Doctors are not trained to treat patients using remote data and have no mechanism to be paid for doing so. And like all technologies, the devices — including motion sensors, pill compliance detectors and wireless devices that transmit data on blood pressure, weight, oxygen and glucose levels — may have unintended consequences, substituting electronic measurements for face-to-face contact with doctors, nurses and family members.

Ms. Branch, who has severe diabetes and heart disease, said she could not live on her own without the system, built by a Minnesota company called Healthsense.

“I lost a very close friend recently,” she said. “She was also diabetic and she fell during the night. She didn’t have the sensors. She went into a coma.”

Without the sensors, Ms. Branch said, “I would probably be dead.”

Stories like Ms. Branch’s show the potential of relatively simple devices to provide comfort and independence to an aging population that is quickly outgrowing the resources of doctors, nurses, hospitals and health care dollars available to it.

The cost for Ms. Branch’s basic system, supplied by a health care provider called New Courtland as part of a publicly financed program, is about $100 a month, far less than a nursing home, where the costs to taxpayers can exceed $200 a day. In the two years Mrs. Branch has had the system, she has fallen three times and been stuck once in the bathtub, each time unable to call for help without it.

“On an individual basis, we’ve demonstrated that they can be very effective,” said Brent Ridge, an assistant professor of geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “But until they’re launched on a wide-scale basis, you just don’t know. Physicians might say, ‘I’m already overstretched, I don’t have time for all this data.’ ”

At a white ranch-style house in Middletown, N.J., Joseph Hayduk, 86, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, is greeted by a voice from a small box: “Good morning. It is now time to record your vital signs.” Mr. Hayduk has been using the device since 2006, after his second heart attack, through a program run by Meridian Health.

He stepped on a scale. “Are you experiencing more difficulty breathing today, compared to a usual day?” the voice asked. Mr. Hayduk pressed yes.

“That’s normal for me,” he said.

“Are your ankles more swollen than usual?” the machine asked. In patients with chronic heart failure, swelling or weight gain can indicate that they are retaining fluid. Mr. Hayduk pressed no. After a blood pressure reading, the device signaled that it had relayed the information to Meridian Health.

There, a nurse calls all 18 patients in the program daily, starting with the ones whose data call for urgent attention. One morning, Mr. Hayduk left the house before the nurse’s call. As he sat on his neighbor’s porch, he watched a police car pull up to his house to check on him.

Mr. Hayduk chuckled at the memory, but said that the system had allowed him to stay in his home of 37 years.

“This system’s invaluable to me, not only physically, but psychologically,” he said. “I don’t want to be in assisted living. That’s for people in wheelchairs and walkers.”

Philip Marshall, 85, another Meridian Health patient, uses a system tied to his cellphone to help him remember his medications. Mr. Marshall has high blood pressure and macular degeneration, and takes 10 pills a day. He cannot see a clock or work the buttons on most phones, so he uses a Jitterbug, a phone with big buttons and limited functions.

Drug compliance is one of the biggest problems for the elderly, especially those with memory loss. Until Mr. Marshall got Meridian’s Jitterbug system, his daughter Melanie, 55, said she had to leave work several times a month to help him with his drugs. “I’m answering the phone in meetings,” she said. “He’d forget whether he took a pill or whether he was supposed to take a pill.”

The system, which costs $20 a month, calls him after he is scheduled to take a pill and asks if he has taken it; if not, it asks him why not and sends automated alerts to his daughters.

“I worry a lot,” Mr. Marshall said. “All my life. So this gives me peace of mind.”

He added that knowing that a call was coming had helped him remember to take his medications before the phone rang.

This is the ultimate goal of personal health monitoring — that people who know they are being watched may modify their behavior to better their health. Jeffrey Kaye, director of the aging and Alzheimer’s and memory assessment clinics at Oregon Health and Science University, said one of the most useful health technologies was a cheap pedometer, because carrying one motivated people to walk more.

But Stuti Dang, who directs dementia care for the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and uses monitoring systems to track the vital signs of 400 patients, said one unforeseen consequence of the system was that “it somehow absolves their kin of the responsibility.”

“The daughter doesn’t have to call every day because she knows if something was wrong with her father, she would receive an alert,” Dr. Dang said, adding: “It’s good for the patient, but there needs to be personal responsibility. As a provider, I don’t want to be responsible for my patient 24 hours a day.”

Raymond Carroll, 59, a retired school administrator, said he went online every day to check on his mother, Viola Carroll, 85, who lives in a building in Queens run by Selfhelp, a nonprofit organization that assists Holocaust survivors. Mr. Carroll checks the temperature of her apartment and calls if it is too hot. Since a system of motion detectors called Quiet Care was installed three years ago, on a grant from Selfhelp, he said he probably called more often but visited less.

Marvin Joss, whose mother, Ray, 89, is also in a Selfhelp building, said the system had helped improve their conversations. “In the past, I tried to spend more time on, ‘How are you feeling?’ ” Mr. Joss said. “I still ask those questions, but now it’s more to an idea of having a conversation, not trying to listen for clues about whether she’s O.K. ”

The future of these technologies, and the terabytes they gather, can involve unprecedented information about the whereabouts and well-being of older people. In a program with Intel, Dr. Kaye is combing motion data for patterns that indicate the onset of dementia, years before the decline shows up on cognitive tests.

But until there is more research — and reimbursement — the technologies’ ultimate impact remains unknown.

“It’s not that we need new technologies,” Dr. Kaye said. “We need to use what we have more creatively. It’s all cool — but is it going to be helpful?”

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Homie

Dear Homer, Thanks for the offer of the beer at Woodys. I DO stop by there every 2-3 months to have a cold one. I will look forward to seeing you there. I know of a good AA program you might consider locally, as I have worked with alcoholics and drug addicts for years and know how brain damage can occur in those populations over time. I apologize if I use too many big words for you in my posts and too many long sentences- I will try to type s l o w l y and use only words a 6th grader can understand. Attention deficit disorder is also a sign of organic "wet brain" syndrome and could be the reason why you cant read long sentences without losing track after 6 or 7 words. Delerious was an interesting choice of words from you, Homer, as DTs (deleriun tremens) is a common side effect of alcohol withdrawal, which could make you an expert on delerious expression, and someone who would surely know it when you saw it. I will yield to your expertise, of sorts. Perhaps the word you were looking for was DELETERIOS, as in" giveaways and forgotten hookups can be deleterious to your continued employment", or "failing to do background and character checks could be deleterious to your already-questionable credibility"? WHOOPS! Forgot. Deleterious means harmful, or detrimental, to ones well-being. Much luck in your recovery. I am currently shooting for 6th grade wording but if thats more than you are comfortable with, feel free to let me know. Duh! Dr Mel Johnson

pool ponderings

There is going to be a BIG meet at the pool this weekend. It will be interesting to see what the parking will be, in addition to other concerns. The police are out now, putting up cones, etc. for the parking. Wonder who is sponsoring it? MSSH ? MDAC? Concession monies? extra costs? Optimist connection? admissions fees? Heet sheets?

protestor

Do I protest when my pocket is picked and my money lost? Yes. It doesnt matter if the one disappearing my money is a pickpocket, or a City Manager. Do I protest if I am NOT allowed to vote on the two biggest projects in my city- that will affect me and my city for the next TWENTY YEARS? Yes. Am I upset when a new Rec Director is vouched for and hired WITHOUT the proper checks and character references in place? Yes. Am I concerned when HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our tax dollars are squandered by a clueless and unconcerned Council and City Manager? Yes. Do I wonder why there is little and less transparency and accountability in our City government? Yes. Are my protests heard when secret handshake deals are made that are of highly questionable legal status and benefit us little and none? Yes. When my taxes and fees are raised to make up for repeated City wastefulness and stupidities, yes, I protest. To protest is the American Way and one of our basic rights as a democratic nation and a citizen of the US of A!

stupid is as stupid does

It seems the junior high kids are up early this morning! It occurs to me that we have a General Contractor, Skip Reed, on staff with many years of experience. Why wasnt he consulted in ANY of these construction projects? He could have easily told them that the usual and customary rate for new construction in Dade is $125 a square foot- NOT $400 the square foot the bathrooms turned out, OR $600 a square foot for the CC enclosure! He has a license and years of experience! WHY wasnt Skip consulted? Makes you wonder, doesnt it? Lets see, we have a licensed guy with years of experience, but we dont use him at all. Instead, we use a City Manager with NO license or building experience to oversee the projects. Why would they NOT use the expertise that is already available? More stupidity. Dr. Mel Johnson

We cant afford a Rolls

Billys plan and legacy is to purchase a Rolls Royce for us no matter what it costs and whether we can afford it or not. We simply CANT afford a Rolls Royce in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the great Depression. We CAN afford a really nice Cadillac Escalade tho, and have the money for THAT in the bank! No new debt! and no additional financial burdens on the taxpayers! Live within our means! WAKE UP! The contractors will still be working and it can be something we can all be proud of! Without raising our taxes and fees again! No variances needed! Be fiscally responsible! Dr Mel Johnson

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

spending is the answer?

We ALREADY have a govt that SPENDS SPENDS SPENDS and raises our taxes, right here in MS. Fiscal conservativism means living within your budget. Most people do it- why shouldnt the government? Buying stuff that you cant afford is a BIG part of what got us into this economic jam now! Charging up ones credit cards ultimately comes back to haunt you, and it is NOW. This creates a huge deficit that the next generation will have to pay off. Most young people can see that- some cant. Dr Mel P. Johnson

commentary

The interlocal agreement between Doral and MS IS a contract, just a contract between cities, meeting all the requirements of a contract. A private for-profit enterprise doing business with the city shouldnt have a contract?? Since when? Is ANYBODY suggesting nthat a handshake agreement is legally defensible if there IS no witnesses and there are NO KNOWN details? When the City manager vouches for a new hire personally, as he recently did with Mr Giglio, the responsibility for his hiring lies at his desk! HR comes under HIS responsibility and HE should make sure that all checks are done and satisfactory. You might think he would take that responsibility to heart, especially when its HIS credibility at stake! Didnt happen, and now somebody wants to blame HR? The buck stops at HIS desk! Thats what he gets the BIG BUCKS for!

hush money ?

All of these potential problems with the background checks, etc. should have been found and resolved one way or another LONG BEFORE he was hired! If there were problems in the confirmations, etc. the Council should have been notified! WHY werent they notified? Did we have to pay the most recently resigned Rec director hush money to keep him quiet too? If so, how much? He was here for SIX WEEKS. ANY severance pay is too much! and should come out of the City Manager's pocket! Did he sign a paper agreeing to NOT sue us? This whole fiasco is the responsibility of the City Manager. Period. Any other place it would be grounds for dismissal!

commentary

Good question. If there WAS nothing from Wilton Manors and the Beach files were destroyed, what kind of background checks did Gymbo do? The Hialeah references are questionable too, so on WHAT basis was he hired? He may, or may not, have been a director for ONE YEAR 30 years before? It seems that his main qualification for being Rec Director was having gone to school with the City Manager 40 years ago! Did he let the Council KNOW about the missing references BEFORE Dotson requested them? If not, why not? Didnt he think that was pertinent to the hiring? Why would he hire somebody for such an important job ("the most important job in Miami Springs") on the basis of ONE questionable reference? How many guys did Gymbo go to school with? Shall we expect the rest of them to be applying, and getting hired, any day now? No verifiable references? No problem!

Best an independent thinker?

In what way has Best become an independent thinker? Has he EVER not voted with Billy and Garcia in his FOUR YEARS in office? As soon as the theater was included in the package he became an adamant supporter. Some people can be bought for a hamburger, others for a plaque trumpeting their legacy; still others hold out for a theater that will never be filled but WILL BE a constant financial drain on the residents for the next 20 years. Best, Lob and Garcia independent thinkers? Please. To hold out for the highest possible offer before selling his soul was probably good for Best, but definitely NOT good for the taxpayers. How can a huge theater POSSIBLY be justified? There have never been more than 60 people at ANY production I have attended! What makes them believe they can fill a 400-seat theater?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

commentary

Yep, it IS VERY CLEAR that they have ALL been screwing up royally with their votes of confidence on the City Manager. It was very refreshing and totally unexpected for Councilman Best to take a stand, almost, on ANYTHING! Has Best opposed or seriously questioned the City Manager on ANY issue? No. Has he asked any hard questions of the City Manager or anybody regarding the budget, the bathrooms, the CC construction, ANYTHING? No. Was he firmly on the proverbial fence about the new gym until a new theater was offered? Yes. Is he a quick study and can he deliver the lines Gymbo gives him on time and accurately? Yes. Has he ever had an independent thought of his own? Nobody knows for sure but there IS a serious doubt! It IS possible!.. just not probable.. A nice guy? Yes. As a Councilman? Well, hes a nice guy..... and a good guy to have a beer with.

commentary

The Corradino group is subcontracting out the numbers on annexation to a group that did the numbers for annexation 4-5 years ago. Who is this subcontractor? Do they have any ties to the City? Do you think the value of the properties in the areas proposed to be annexed are decreasing like the property values in the Springs? Springs property values decreased 28.3 % in the past year, and are still dropping. More unemployment leads to more foreclosures, which leads to more properties on the market and a decrease in their values. Real estate people believe (hope?) that values will bottom out sometime this year but nobody can be sure of that. As property values drop, so goes property taxes, and revenues coming into the City. Sales taxes are also down because people arent buying as much and conserving their capital, a logical response to the recession. Why isnt the Council and Mayor doing the same thing? Gas taxes are also down. How many negative indicators will it take before our Mayor and Council smaell the coffee? WAKE UP! It has taken the City Manager 14 months after the recession started to realize this - how much longer will it be before the Mayor and Council have it sink in? EVER? Or do they just plan to raise our taxes and fees some more to make up for the shortfalls?

pool audit still needed

The reference to a significant number of Doral residents using our pool on a regular basis was a reference to the MDAC swim team. The 15k does not, in any way, decrease the need for an outside, independent audit of pool operations, of course. As has been pointed out on numerous occasions the lack of controls, liberal use of whiteout, erratic and inconsistent documentation of pool admissions and swim team usage, professed lack of knowledge by the City Manager regarding what the usual and customary rates are, handshake deals and lack of a contract, the missing daily logs,etc. etc. are all reasons why we need an outside audit.

100,000 job losses per week

Layoff announcements over the past three months averaged 50,000 a week until they jumped to more than 100,000 last week. In an attempt to outrun revenue shortfalls, businesses are also cutting back on wages, travel and equipment purchases. But it's a losing battle. ISI Group analysts figure that U.S. corporate profits will decline from their 2007 peak to a 2010 trough by a record 30%, though a 50% fall is not out of the question. They're already down 20%. Customers are disappearing as wages and jobs falter and families raid their emergency funds. U.S. home equity decline has accelerated to a 30% annual rate, which combined with the stock market plunge, has slashed consumers' net worth by $12 trillion. John Markman, MSN 2/5/09. Earth to Council- the recession is official. The depression isnt official YET. Act like you have some vague idea about what this means.

pool contract

The pool contract was presented as a neighborly gesture by Doral to help us defray the costs of keeping our pool open year-round- especially since a significant number of their residents use our pool on a regular basis. It was seen as free money, with few City drawbacks. It was also clearly stated that this is an agreement between CITIES and NOT between MS and the private swim team from Doral. As a neighborly gesture I would welcome this long overdue contribution to our HUGE pool deficit, as we have been providing this service for the overwhelmingly Doral kids for several years now. Its nice that our efforts and expenses have been recognized and acknowledged by the City of Doral. Its time that MDAC does the same - sign a contract, pay your fair share. Enough secret handshakes.

golf course details

Golf course was discussed in some detail, at the prodding of Mr Youngs. Fuel and fertilizer costs doubled last year and was a significant part of the losses. It was budgeted that the golf course would lose 150k this year with the goal to get down to 50k in the near future. Also, in this recession, there are fewer tourists and less players overall. It was reported that our decreases were less than surrounding courses and that second quarter revenues will show an improvement. Whether that means a return to profitability or less losses is not clear. Cheaper ways of fertilizing the course are being explored. It is the course managements opinion that we are the best Bang For The Buck in town and that will sustain us during this downturn. It is also their opinion that the quality of help with the maintenance contract is better than before.

pool contract needs to be made public

By accepting the 15k from Doral, MS has somewhat obligated itself to keep the pool open. There IS however, a 30 day notice that can be given if we decide to close it and the prorated portion of the unused money will be refunded to Doral. It is assumed that MS would NOT have to pay penalties or anything if it was decided to close the pool during the school year. THAT WOULD be in the contract, right? The City Attorney WOULD make sure it was in the contract, right? Thats pretty basic, it seems. Perhaps we need a copy of that contract to see exactly WHAT it does entail and what protections are built into it for the residents. Other contracts in the past have fallen WAY short of protecting the MS taxpayers, so maybe a public airing would be a good thing.

Monday, February 9, 2009

costs are important

The progress is in the fact that they ACTUALLY admitted that revenues are down and that they MAY have to take some action, some day, in some way. Up til now costs have been "irrelevent" and "immaterial". Now, finally, they have admitted that maybe costs ARE IMPORTANT! Costs are surely important to all the taxpaying residents! NOW they may even be important to the Mayor and the Council! Of course they may just decide that costs REALLY arent important!... and just raise our taxes and fees to make up any differences!

Doral donates 15k for pool usage

The Council voted tonight to accept the 15k from the City of Doral to use our pool. Now we need a matching sum, at least, from MDAC to help defray the costs of keeping it open all year. The standard rates for renting a pool for practices for 4 lanes, 3 hours a day, and 6 days a week range from 26k to 30k per year. MDAC uses considerably more than 4 lanes however, so an adjustment will have to be made. The interlocal agreement is basically a contract between MS and Doral. Now we need a contract between MS and MDAC, as tonights action doesnt change the handshake deal with them in the least.

an attack of sanity hits Council

Hooray ! The City Manager tonight informed the Mayor and Council that they "are starting to see a decrease in revenues". PROGRESS! We have been in an official recession since Dec 07, 14 months ago, and it is just NOW hitting home that we need to be tightening our belts! YEA! MORE PROGRESS! In addition, they are "STARTING to pay more attention" to the Consumer Price Index!! It is pretty much a sure thing that sometime this year they will figure out that some mixture of consolidations,layoffs or reduced hours may be necessary to survive this deepening recession. WHY were they NOT aware of these facts a YEAR AGO? Mr Dotson suggested before that they need to focus on preserving their capital, and it looks like they may even being doing just THAT with their retirement funds. Progress.. way late, but progress. Better late than never, I suppose. TOO late? The jury is out on that question. Finally, a brief attack of common sense and reality has hit our Council!

commentary

Its difficult to believe that the younger generation has no interest in their history, as a family or as a community. The value of history is to learn from our mistakes in the past so we wont repeat them again. We also learn what DID work. We DO still teach American history in schools, right? There a good reason why we do that. There is no doubt in my mind that the younger generation can, and will, learn a lot from the ones who went before them, be it their parents and grandparents, or leaders in Miami Springs. I have much more confidence in the younger generation than maybe some others do, in that regard. Dr. Mel P. Johnson

commentary

Yes, its Spring. The only fertilizer being spread is coming from the Mayor and Council. Let them live with their past decisions- $600 a square foot CC addition; $400 a square foot bathrooms; not allowing the people to vote on the new gym OR annexation; handshake pool deals; raised taxes and fees, the Giglio fiasco - the facts will speak for themselves, LOUD AND CLEAR.

Historical Society

The Historical Society's museum is a repository for the history and heritage of Miami Springs. It is a reflection on our ROOTS, as a community, and in that manner serves a cultural function to remind us of where we have been and how far we have come over the years. Is there any doubt regarding the value of remembering our history and those that made that heritage possible? Dr. Mel P. Johnson

comments

Espino has been heard in the last month telling the Mayor and Council what a wonderful job they have done, etc., so I dont think hes in anybodys camp. So far he seems like an independent thinker. Somebody should file to run against him tho, so that he will get the oppurtunity to explain himself and his ideas, as opposed to other ideas.

Garcia clone

Did Google search and one thing is clear- whatever Billy wants is what Mr Lob wants. He is a Garcia clone and a Billy acolyte. He bailed Gymbos butt out of a sling by writing the letter saying that the Optimists hold pool concession monies in their accounts (a total surprise to many other Optimists), and now Billy is trying to repay him by getting him elected on Billys coat-tails. Mr Lob has NO stances on ANY issues that do not coincide with Billy. Whatever Billy wants is what he wants.

size of pool subsidy made clear

How many swimmers and how many lanes does MDAC use on average on a daily basis? The average seems to be 50-60 swimmers per day, but how many lanes does that require? In Hialeah at $45 per swimmer per month an average of 50 swimmers would bring in 27k. At MDC at $8 per lane per hour for 4 lanes would bring in 30k per year. Dade rates of $7 per lane per hour would bring in $26,208 per year for four lanes, by my figures. IF they use more than 4 lanes it would be more, of course. And doesnt begin to address the revenues from meets, of course, as that should add several thousands more in income we should receive. Using 4 lanes and only 50 swimmers per day is using conservative figures, of course, but it will give an idea of what we SHOULD be receiving from renting our pool for practices.

pool figures emerge

How many swimmers and how many lanes does MDAC use on average on a daily basis? The average seems to be 50-60 swimmers per day, but how many lanes does that require? In Hialeah at $45 per swimmer per month an average of 50 swimmers would bring in 27k. At MDC at $8 per lane per hour for 4 lanes would bring in 30k per year. Dade rates of $7 per lane per hour would bring in $26,208 per year for four lanes, by my figures. IF they use more than 4 lanes it would be more, of course. And doesnt begin to address the revenues from meets, of course, as that should add several thousands more in income we should receive. Using 4 lanes and only 50 swimmers per day is using conservative figures, of course, but it will give an idea of what we SHOULD be receiving from renting our pool for practices.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

pool audit needed

For ALL of the reasons noted previously- missing daily logs, liberal uses of whiteout on the daily logs that ARE there; erratic and inconsistent documentation on the daily logs; unapproved handshake deals for swim practices that are valued at pennies on the dollar and amount to subsidies for private enterprises; the questionable legality of the handshake deals; highly questionable annual revenue numbers; improper taping of pool employees; lack of controls in place to properly document admissions; annual revenue numbers that the City Manager says he has NO idea how they were derived, meets not billed for (nor apparently collected), back rents that have been allowed to be over two years in arrears... the list goes on and on. It is for all of these reasons I am asking the Council to initiate an outside, independent audit of the pool and all of its operations. Dr. Mel Johnson

fair market value, or not

The residents and taxpayers are paying OVER 300k per year to keep the pool open year-round. Yet somehow, the City Manager sees fit to give a 100-strong private swim team HUGE discount to use our pool, in direct disregard of the stated Councils standard fees, and amounts to PENNIES on the dollar of the actual worth. The HUGE discounts come right out of the taxpayers pocket into the private swim team’s pocket! $1100 a month, at least, for YEARS! There are NO CONTRACTS, contrary to the City Managers initial opinion, NO use agreements, just a secret handshake deal that nobody knows about. Why has the Mayor and Council allowed this to go on for YEARS? As for charges at other pools, it is by lane for teams. At MDC there are two or three club teams practicing at the same time. They charge $8 per 25 yd. lane per hour. Miami Dade charges $7 per lane per hour for short course or $9 per hour for 50 meters. Hialeah charges $45 per month per swimmer. It will be interesting to see what this supposed contract will propose as fair market value for practices and meets. Perhaps even more interesting will be the discussion and the voting.

lowball estimates?

If the claimed revenues for 07-08 were $2150 and $4800 for the year before, that would NOT even account for the Rip Tide revenues that WERE probably actually collected over that period! NOT to mention the possible $2400 a year from MDAC, the $750 a day pool rental fee for meets, the $1500 a season from Columbus and Reagan HS, GMAC meets, district meets, or private parties. Where is ALL this revenue reflected? Of course, if it REALLY wasn’t collected, the question would have to be, WHY NOT? If it WAS collected and disappeared, the State Attorney should be notified. Is it possible that they purposefully lowball the estimates every year so that when the revenues exceed their ridiculously low estimates they have a reason to celebrate and give themselves a raise? When are the REAL pool revenues tabulated and reflected? Theres still thousands of dollars unaccounted for.

still no list of Springs swimmers on MDAC

How can it be more than ten weeks after it was requested, that we still do NOT have a verifiable roster of Springs kids on the MDAC club? If the MDAC claim of 15 to 30 Miami Springs residents is true they should have NO problem proving that too, by providing a verifiable roster for the past three years (to account for seasonality)! Out of the 100 swimmers registered to MDAC only the Miami Springs residents names and contact information would be needed to confirm dates that they were active. The names of the children would NOT be necessary, just their parent’s names and contact numbers. Springs taxpayers ARE subsidizing swim practices for MDAC and we deserve to know to whom and where our monies are going!

daily logs missing

Upon my review, several logs are missing: Jan 2008 had only 3 daily logs listed- 1 7 08, 1 9 08 and 1 19 08. Pool was only open THREE DAYS during this past January? Only 9 logs were found for Feb 08, and 11 for March 08. We are open SIX days a week during those months, right? Six days times at least four weeks would be at least 24 days a month we are open, right? Where ARE those other logs? Do they exist? Did they EVER exist? I went thru ther daily log sheets the City provided myself. Does ANYBODY know? Shoddy, missing, and inconsistent recordkeeping, frequent use of whiteout, and long overdue and/or missing billing are just other signs of disorganization and poor management, at best. Dr. Mel Johnson

pool ponderings 4

Continuing in a legal vein, is there not something in the City charter about NOT allowing the subsidizing of private enterprises? Wonder what his legal opinion would be regarding the ridiculously low pool rental payments on the pool? If PENNIES on the dollar RENT isn’t a subsidy to a for-profit business, at the taxpayer’s expense, what is? When did the City Attorney know there were NO contracts and NO use agreements? Has he ever offered a legal opinion regarding the validity and enforceability of these handshake deals? If so, what WAS that legal opinion? On what legal basis was it formed? When did that happen? By doing nothing, or NOT suggesting any changes, the City Attorney seems to be in tacit legal approval of the handshake process already in place.

pool ponderings 3

How is it that the City Attorney can approve a handshake deal as a legally sound method of doing City business? How would the terms of that handshake be enforced? Who were the witnesses? What terms and agreements, and under what conditions, did they witness? Were the witnesses of legal age, of sound mind, and in possession of sound hearing? Were the witnesses able to comprehend what was transpiring? How does a handshake deal meet any of the requirements for a legally binding contract? Was the City Attorney present at any of these handshake agreements? If so, what did HE witness? Was he consulted before these agreements were made? If so, did he offer a legal opinion of the said agreements before they were consummated? If so, where ARE those legal opinions? Now that he KNOWS there ARE no contracts OR use agreements in place, only handshake agreements, what is his legal opinion of the status of these aforementioned handshake agreements? Is he going to recommend to the Mayor and Council that formal contracts be put into place, or is he comfortable legally that the handshakes are defensible and enforceable, if needed? Is he going to wait for the Mayor and the Council to ask him his legal opinion first? Why would he wait, now that he is aware of a potential problem? Isn’t a large part of his job to anticipate potential legal problems and proactively advise and warn the Council BEFORE something adverse happens? Why is he NOT doing that in this case?

pool ponderings

What has the City Attorney done regarding the legal status and proceedings in the taping incident? Where does that stand currently? What was his legal opinion of THAT situation and the basis behind that opinion? What steps need to be taken, or has he recommended be taken, to prevent any legal liabilities to the City in the future? Any? If he hasn’t made ANY changes or suggestions for the future, does that mean he feels that taping people’s conversations without their knowledge or approval is legally and ethically okay? Is it his legal opinion that taping city employees without their knowledge or approval is okay? What changes in city policies has he recommended to avoid having this situation arise again, if any? If none, why not? What has he done to resolve and remedy the current situation? What legal suggestions to the Mayor and Council has he made regarding this situation and others with the same potential legal liability? Any? Response? IF it is the City Attorney’s legal opinion that handshakes are a legally defensible and enforceable means of doing City business, what legal steps would he suggest to the Mayor and Council to enforce said handshake agreement with MDAC and any of the other schools into payments of pool rents that appear to be, from recent research, very possibly seriously in arrears? Again, a ledger sheet was provided that suggested that several payments had been made by various entities, but there no deposit slips or bank statements to confirm those claims. And there has been NO explanation regarding what accounts to which the possible deposits were deposited or why some were noted on the daily admission sheets at times, and were nowhere to be seen on most of those sheets.

pool audit needed

Fifth, the Rip Tides Water Polo club seems to be the only ones paying on a regular basis their $200 a month. Their checks are noted among the daily logs. 9 receipts were reviewed totaling $6672 were found, going back to 2005. Receipt was found for $800 for a meet on 5-6-06. Another Rip Tide receipt was found 6-6-06 for another polo meet for $800. Still another Rip Tide receipt was found for Rip Tide pool rental for $800, ck # 1178. 11-28-06 Rip Tide pool rental receipt found for $500 for pool rental. Oct 2005 pool rental receipt found for $200 from Rip Tides, along with 11-25-2005 dated receipt for $800 Rip Tides (Parent Booster Club). Jan 6, 2006 receipt from Rip Tides was for only $160 for some reason but was connected to a check for $2000 for the water polo camp 12-27 thru 12-30. Last check was for $600, written on 5-3-06 from Rip Tides.

pool inquiries continued

This is part of the 5-page report that was made to the Council in Open Forum, for those who missed it...Secondly, where are the cancelled checks and bank statements that reflect those revenues from MDAC, Columbus HS, Reagan HS, MS middle school, and Doral middle school for this and every year for the past three years? How is it that sometimes the MDAC pool rents are noted on the daily logs and other times not? A review of the daily logs by me for the past three years have only revealed a possible five months of payments from MDAC, so I would be interested in knowing where the rest might be from MDAC, and the others? There were no records of payments made by Columbus, or Reagan high schools, or the two middle schools for the three years period on the daily logs I reviewed. Doral middle says they pay $2 a day per swimmer. Where is THAT money reflected? I was told by the City Clerk there were no records of revenues received from Doral middle school - why not? Ledger statements of possible revenues received WAS provided, but no verification regarding deposit slips or bank statements showed up. How do we know those possible payments made it into the City coffers? Dr Mel P. Johnson

pool commentary

How did the City Manager decide that $200 a month is an appropriate rate to charge for the use of our pool for practices six days a week and three hours a day? Did he know the rates and guidelines recommended by the Council? If not, why not? What made him decide to ignore the guidelines of the Council and charge only $200 a month? He says it was to encourage Springs kids to join, but the only one who benefited was the owners of MDAC. How could putting $1100 a month in the owners pockets be an incentive for new Springs swimmers? Charging the owners $1100 a month less than what they were paying prior to coming here was NO benefit to any swimmers, only the owners. He is on record as saying he had NO IDEA what other pools charge for practices, so was this just an arbitrary figure he chose? Did he consult with ANYBODY before deciding this? Was the City attorney consulted regarding the legality of that handshake deal?
This is a repeat of the presentation that was made to the Council in Open Forum, for those who missed it.

pool commentary

The City Manager is on record as saying he has NO IDEA what other pools charge for practices, and apparently little idea what the standard rates for meets are. Perhaps he has FINALLY learned how LITTLE he has been charging for our pool usage NOW, 3 YEARS later. Perhaps. What would make ANYBODY believe that he would NOW start charging the standard going rate for our pool use? He has given it away for the past three years at a FRACTION of its true value. What would make the residents feel NOW that he is actually trying to look out for THEIR interests, instead of the that of private businesses? His horrible record speaks for itself! Just another case of abysmal management practices, to use the term loosely! It will be interesting to see how he justifies the amount charged, as he was given Hialeah's rate of $45 per swimmer per month, and the MDC rate of $1300 a month for 4 lanes and less swim time. Pool giveaways, Giglio hiring disaster, construction debacles, little and no controls in place and method of verifying admissions at the pool after 40+ years, oppressive, unresponsive, and secretive management style, little and no transparency and accountability - when will it end? April? When we say we want a contract, we mean we want a contract that is fair and equitable to the RESIDENTS, not a steeply-discounted giveaway to private businesses.