Dog Whistling in Palmetto Bay. Who is actually doing it and why? It is poor sportsmanship to play games with the law.

Who heard the Palmetto Bay dog whistle blown yesterday? More on that to come, this is just the Friday the 13th stimulator. 

Funny, so many e-mail lists have been distributed.  But what is sad is how the duty to respond to public records is handled, in my opinion, not based upon the law, but based upon who you are.

Only in Palmetto Bay are people 'shamed' for requesting public records.

Only in Palmetto Bay are some people forced to file lawsuits to obtain simple public record request.

Only in Palmetto Bay do many requestors have to wait for arbitrary waiting periods. Palmetto Bay has taken the position at times that they have a 'reasonable' period to respond; their determination of reasonable being an arbitrary 30 days.  This in not the case. The public records law is clear: The Public Records Law does not contain a specific time limit for compliance with public records request. "The only delay permitted . . . is the limited reasonable time allowed the custodian to retrieve the record and redact those portions of the record the custodian asserts are exempt." Florida Supreme Court in Tribune Company v. Cannella, 458 So. 2d 1075 (Fla. 1984).

I actually created the Palmetto Bay email list back in late 2002, when we first incorporated. My list was requested several times by Gary and Shelley as well as in the name of their special interest group.

The fair question: Where did Steve Cody and Leanne Tellum obtain their e-mail lists? Did they ever disclose where? 

Who is giving out their lists for "free"? And why do Palmetto Bay officials continue to resist public records request, and by resisting, I can point to several types:

1. Undoing years of precedent in posting public records on the village web site, requiring people to ID themselves and ask for those items that should be open and available to all - without having to ask in the first place: See May 21, 2020, A total lack of transparency. Why you have to ask. It now takes a formal public records request to obtain information from Palmetto Bay. No resolutions posted since February 5, 2019. No updates to the index since July, 2019.

2. Actual refusal (which lead to the law suit - to view October 26, 2020, Public Records Enforcement Order rendered against Defendants Village of Palmetto Bay and Mayor Cunningham, but no harm to the Defendants, after all, it was all fought with Other People’s Money.

3. Unreasonable delay, providing the records only after persistent follow up or threat of lawsuit.

4. Attempting to charge for records that should be freely available - see April 25, 2019, Palmetto Bay - Transparency - on sale to those who can afford it

I doubt this is the "New Direction" that our residents envisioned in the 2018 elections.