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.

Unsolicited bid update - committee to meet in public to review the proposals on May 1, 2019 - 7:00 PM - Flip meet Flop

Update on the unsolicited bid. I spoke at the April 23, 2019, Special Council Meeting, asking for an update as to the date for public action by the committee on the unsolicited bid. Staff provided an answer during the meeting that it could be done May 1. 

After all, the bids were unsealed on March 7. The original time frame determined by Resolution 2019-015  was for a review committee to convene and review in less than 3 weeks. It had been more than 7 weeks since the bids were opened without an announced date for the committee review.  

Promises made. Promised DENIED: The Village Council had previously passed Resolution 2019-015 on January 7, 2019, requiring that the bid proposals be released to the public 7 days before the meeting. 

The council may have stated in Resolution 2019-015 the following: 

"WHEREAS, the transparency and public awareness of the bid and acquisition process of the Village is important in building public confidence in Village government ..."  (page 1, lines 21-23 of resolution - all emphasis added)

Bold promises made, but never kept. The resolution lay dormant from January until April 23, when promises made were revoked while others were simply not delivered. I speak specifically to the Special Council meeting, item 4.B, where the bold promises of the January resolution 2019-015 was drastically curtailed both in shortening access time to documents [item (2)] as well as not following their own bold promises on the 7 day notice [see item (3) of the resolution].  

So when campaign time rolls around, remind the Mayor and Council of how they seem to be unable to stick to a theme, rights granted and then taken away, as this same village council voted 5-0 on April 23, 2019 to shorten that time period for review from seven (7) days to a mere day prior. That’s right, from one week to just the day before to review the documents.

Promises made in Resolution 2019-015:

(1) After opening of bids and study by individual staff members on the bid review committee, the review committee shall meet in a public meeting to discuss and assign bid evaluation points by individual staff members.
(2)Each bid shall be posted on the Village website and a copy of each bid shall be available for public review at Village Hall no less than seven (7) days prior to the review committee meeting.
(3) The review committee meeting shall be noticed no less than seven (7) days prior to the meeting.
(4) The bid evaluations shall be reviewed by the Council at a Council meeting for disposition as the Council sees fit in its discretion
(5)The Village Manager shall select two outside consultants, not from local government at a cost not to exceed $10,000 to participate in the five (5) member evaluation committee and the evaluation shall be completed prior to February 4, 2019.

          (underline emphasis added)

Flip, meet flop.

The "deliverables" This is another glaring example of this current Mayor and Council Flip / Flopping on Transparency which has become an all too familiar theme. It shows why Palmetto Bay residents need to read everything on their own, stay up to date and monitor, unable to rely upon initial action as it is always fluid and subject to change. 

Resolution 2019-015 provided for 7 days, approved 5-0, but then the entire Village Council Flip / Flopped at the special council meeting of April 23, 2019, drastically reducing the 7 day window for public preparation down to the day before (Agenda Item 4.B.) by the same 5-0 vote.

Failure to keep stated commitment on notice to the Public: The notice of for the meeting of the review committee meeting was posted 4 days prior to May 1 - not a full week, or 7 days as promised. I have posted a JPEG of this notice provided to me by a reader of SDU.