Cudjoe Regional: Is the BOCC Uninterested in Inconvenient Facts?
by John Prosser…….
Before the June 10, 2015 BOCC meeting, I delivered two letters to the BOCC at the Marathon Government Center building in envelopes marked “Agenda Item J1 & Agenda Item J2, Public Comment.”
Working people have no opportunity to speak when Board meetings are in the middle of the week and the middle of the day. That is why many town councils meet at night.
I asked a County employee to please deliver the envelopes to someone who would hand them to the commissioners before lunch break so that they would have a chance to read them before voting. I had hoped to find someone who was able to attend and willing to read them into the record, but was unsuccessful.
If you view the meeting video [June 10, 2015 (Part 2)] you will see the envelopes delivered just when Agenda Item J1 is called.
One commissioner said, “Just put it in interoffice mail!” Another said that they did not have time to read it now, although it would read at about the same speed as someone speaking, and someone might have read it aloud for the record.
It probably would not matter, as the BOCC “trusts their engineers.” They should not. I have about 70 deceptions and unlawful activities (citing Statute or FAC when applicable) listed so far, and am sure I can probably double it. The BOCC and the public has been totally misled and deceived by slick talk and skilled spin.
Anyway, I spent considerable valuable time and effort composing these letters, even arising at 3 AM the morning of the meeting to finish them and get them printed. But the BOCC is apparently not interested in inconvenient facts.
If you watch the video for agenda item J1, you will see a shameful sales pitch for E-One grinder pumps from someone whom I very seriously doubt knows squat about grinder pumps. Who wrote that for her?
Westport, CT had a 7% failure rate during their first two years of operation using this same “Extreme Upgrade” model of E-one pump – which has only been in distribution since 2007. I have the repair records. E-One made a good reputation for reliability on their first pump, which was built using a GE washing machine motor.
This pump has only the pump rotor and stator in common. I found town hall minutes from communities with E-one grinders with the wastewater manager saying he can’t keep up with repairs, and another authorizing 15% spares inventory due to the high failure rate instead of the usually recommended 3% for conventional centrifugal grinder pumps (which E-One does not make). FKAA’s contracts included only 2% spares by the way. I have documentation, FKAA management has sales talk and spin.
Please review my letters presented to the BOCC in reference to Agenda J1 and Agenda J2.
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John Prosser has decades of experience in water and sewer planning, design, construction, inspection, operation and maintenance. He has worked for a controls company, surveyors, contractors, an international engineering firm, one large private utility plus two public utilities including 15 years underemployed at FKAA, preceded by 14 months as Monroe County’s Design Engineer. John has references and/or good performance evaluations from all and currently holds 5 DBPR professional licenses.
Yes, I read those letters. letters presented to the BOCC in reference to Agenda J1 and Agenda J2 They make more sense than most anything I have heard from the County Commission or FKAA. This guy really seems to know what he’s talking about. We are in deep sh** with these people running things and deceiving us!
The BOCC definitely discourages public comment. At the Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District, the public can submit comments in writing that are read aloud by the clerk during public comment time. I asked Bob Shillinger if the BOCC did something similar and after a bit of a run-around was told that they do not. The speaker has to be present. Sometimes that means a two hour drive and an hours long wait. And then they might table the item on you.
The BOCC’s relationship with FKAA is overly cozy. It is often described by both parties as a “partnership”. The BOCC has a fiduciary duty to the taxpayers. The FKAA is being paid to do a job for the BOCC. This is not a partnership. It is an owner-contractor relationship. The BOCC should be exercising supervisory control on behalf of the taxpayers. They don’t appear to be doing that. I am very curious as to what due diligence the county has done on the Cudjoe Regional project.
In my research on E-Ones I was told that about 10% are replaced per year after the two-year warranty period. Many utilities wind up replacing them with centrifugal grinder pumps. Several centrifugal manufacturers make a rail system that is compatible with E-One for that very reason.
Did you notice that the very issues on No Name that were identified to the BOCC in the public comments letter turned out to be a problem after all?
There is a very serious lack of due diligence at both FKAA and County Engineering. Monroe County BOCC has approved funding in advance for outside engineering consultation. When something is beyond the expertise of in-house staff, why are they not getting experienced competent advice before recommending idiotic decisions to the BOCC?
If the Commissioners will not even bother considering public comments before voting, then it is a given that they will not investigate the viability of staff recommendations on their own (if they even knew how). This makes it all the more important that they have highly responsible conscientious people making the recommendations. Obviously, that is not the case now.