Unfinished Business

Editor's Note: The New Smyrna Beach City Commission meets 6:30 tonight at City Hall to discuss the possible sale of the Angler's Club waterfront property on the North Causeway that has become a tug of war between citizens and the private organization as to the net worth of the acreage that was consumated in the mid-1940s with a 99-year lease with the city for the public-owned property for a paltry sum. NSBNEWS.net has posted blogger Palmer Wilson's take on the issue here on the home page as well as his customary spot on the Opinion page because ogf the importance of the issue. NSBNEWS.net has not taken a stand on the issue either way.

Well I see it is August and time for the City Commission to sneak things through on a packed agenda when most of the citizens are on vacation or just out of town. If you wade halfway through the 417 pages of the Aug. 10 agenda you will find a ridiculously low-ball offer from the Angler’s Club to buy the property that has been the center of debate for over 18 months.

New Smyrna Beach blogger Palmer Wilson is taking a few weeks off .

Since taking office in November on a promise to cut spending while maintaining essential services for the residents of New Smyrna Beach, Mayor Adam Barringer, Commissioner Judy Reiker and incumbent Commissioner Jack Grasty (returned in the primary), have done just the opposite.

When I initially read that the New Smyrna Beach City Commission had appointed several citizens to a budget review task force I was elated. But my elation was short lived after reading the enabling resolution. That's because City Manager Pam Brangaccio's initiative ignores the most expensive part of the budget for this task force: Union contracts.

Despite the feel-good task force, the city manager seems intent on continuing to draw money from the reserves to cover shortfalls as opposed to cutting union contract-driven expenses as propsed in her long-term budget plsan unveiled last fall.

More than a year has passed since the discussion commenced that led to an opinion from a competent outside counsel that the lease was void from the start, but after untold hours of City Commission time, the problem with the Angler Club and their lease remains unsolved.

You have again failed to listen to the voters of your district and chosen, in your vote Sunday night on the Health-care bill, to follow the lead of Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Party. This health-care bill is a disaster and fiscally irresponsible for current and future generations of taxpayers. It will destroy the health care of my family and others that reside in your district and the nation as a whole.

I noted with interest recently how the Daytona Beach News-Journal ran a gushing piece of public relations trivia on the new New Smyrna Beach Police Station that included Chief Ron Pagano’s "plan" to save money.

Well, Mayor Adam Barringer has floated his plan for comment and while it contains some good parts (especially where he identifies the threats, although he missed few that reside by the water), I guess I should first thank him for using my suggested vision for the city. So, thanks Adam, and I hope if helps set the course.

We are anxiously anticipating the Mayor’s 100 day plan in the next few days. We hope what we see is what is necessary. It will be conventional to only include those long needed and ambitious improvements to the tourist and hospitality sectors, mixed with some modicum of light research and development of “green” manufacturing as goals.

A quick review of the City Commission’s recent agendas and subsequent results leads one to conclude that they are more interested in spending our tax dollars as opposed to curbing spending and thus reducing taxes. A glaring example is the city's lax attention to its leases.