Annexation. The decision is reserved for the voters, not between the five members of the village council. Time has long passed for the current officers to read the rules and follow the process.

The original council (which I am proud to have served on) worked with the Village residents to put a process in place for determining annexations. The process was placed in the Charter in order to prevent future council (like the current mayor and council) from substituting their own judgement on the critical issue of annexation. 

There is an interesting debate going on within one of the community Facebook groups involved with Palmetto Bay (one of the many unofficial groups) regarding annexation and the recent action regarding annexation taken recently. I have to ask the initial question:  Is there anyone on that dais who reads and (more importantly) follow the charter? That includes Charter Officers as well as mayor and council. There is a process to follow that puts the decision in the hands of the village electors who ultimately make the decision whether to move forward to INITIATING the process, not the mayor or village council. It is time to point our current mayor and council to the process that past councils and voters set for them to follow. It is time for the current elected officials to read the Charter, the rules and follow the process.

Palmetto Bay Village Charter,

Section 10.3. Annexation Process.

The Village Council, presented with a petition in accordance with County requirements for annexation of an area, shall vote on the concept of annexation of the area. A four-fifths vote of the Council shall be required in order to proceed with the annexation process. Immediately thereafter, the Village Council will coordinate an election of Village residents to determine whether a plurality of the Village desires to proceed with annexation. If a plurality votes affirmatively, the Village Council would then proceed with a resolution, consistent with the County Annexation procedures, to request initiation of the annexation process, which would provide for the scheduling of an election by the area to be annexed.

This is the process that should have been followed once Resolution2019-65, passed 3-2 on April 1, 2019. Resolution 2019-65 was sponsored by then Council Member David Singer. SPOILER ALERT: The process was not followed in 2019, 2020, 2021 or now in 2022.

Backstory: see February 23, 2022, Palmetto Bay: Indecisiveness. Once again, what's old is now new again, at least in regard to annexation. This is where I discuss the current state of chaos in Palmetto Bay on the issue of annexation. The Palmetto Bay Village Council discussed annexation of the area west of Palmetto Bay’s current boundaries- this time it was at a Committee of the Whole meeting (COW) held Tuesday, 2-22-2022. I don't think any of them  remembered that this is the exact same area submitted to the voters in 2016? Unfortunately I have been here since we first incorporation and I pay attention to what has happened as well as not happened in Palmetto Bay. So allow this blog post to serve as some institutional history on Annexation. Search "annexation" in the search widget.

The reality is appalling, and as they say in politics, they (current mayor and some of the council members) were against it before they were for it. (Or were they for it before they were against it?) The annexation issue did not end with the election results in 2016. Nope. History repeats itself – watching council meetings have become far too similar to watching the movie Groundhog Day, but far less entertaining.

As a reminder, the most recent annexation item was voted down, with only the sponsors vote in favor, will we see yet another flip - flop - flip? It takes approval of 4/5ths to move forward. 3 members of the village council, and that includes the current mayor, will have to flip. Let's see how much staff time this current council will churn to get to a decision point.