dolls-closet

The Commission is holding a Regular Meeting tonight at 6pm. Highlights include: On Consent: Two different grant applications. One for $500,000  for the Electric Utilities from the US Dept of Energy with a City match of $410,000. This is for the "Beat the Peak" program and probably should be pulled. This is a good opportunity to explain what "Beat the Peak" means and how this software will work and what it means for the average customer.  The second grant application is for $30,000 from the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection and is slated to pay for educational and interpretative signage at the Beach. This grant has a one to one matching requirement and part of the $5,000,000 County bond that was budgeted for native landscaping will be used for that purpose. Also on Consent is a proposal to accept a labyrinth as a donation to Bryant Park to be located near the water south of the boat ramp parking lot. Several citizens have asked for this item to be pulled in o...

Another Special Meeting today behind closed doors. This one for the Commission to meet with the City Attorney and outside counsel regarding the City's suit against our sub-regional sewer customers, the City of Atlantis et al. Also present will be the Acting City Manager, Steve Carr, who I hope is there more in his capacity as Finance Director. The purpose of these kinds of closed door meetings is strictly limited to discussion on settlement negotiations or strategy related to the cost of litigation. See Here Any other kind of discussion related to this, or any pending litigation, is NOT exempt from Sunshine. Let me say that again: Discussion at closed door meetings is STRICTLY LIMITED to discussion on settlement negotiation or strategy related to the cost of litigation. NO DECISIVE ACTION, may be taken. That means no voting. A decision to settle a case, for a certain amount of money, under a certain set of circumstances, is a decision which must be voted upon in a public meeting.  ...

This afternoon, the Commission meets in closed session to discuss the cost and strategy of the lawsuit we filed against FMPA. This revolves around FMPA's decision to stop paying for the natural gas pipeline construction that they had previously agreed to after we announced our intention to "exit FMPA" That "exit FMPA" thing is what I want to talk about today. What does it mean and why are we suddenly hearing "We're not really exiting FMPA" from Utility Director, Becky Mattey and Commissioner Chris McVoy? They've each said that a few times in the last month or so. McVoy repeated it Tuesday night when Mulvehill tried to bring back the "Sustainability" Manager position. The other acronyms tossed around a lot whenever the FMPA thing comes up is "CROD" and "ARP".  First some definitions: FMPA - Florida Municipal Power Agency - is a kind of cooperative with 30 members.  Members include cities that own their own electri...