Jul 5, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jul 5, 2018 | 0 comments

Palm Bay: Lights! Errrrr…..Cameras? Ummmm…..Action?

There has been much consternation in several forums over the security cameras at facilities owned by the City of Palm Bay. We were asked by several people to look into it as people were concerned that there was some unsavory activity going on. As always, we have tried to document everything that we can so you can make up your own mind.

First, some background.

In May of 2016, the City of Palm Bay put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the maintenance and repair of photographic, access, security, and fire systems. The contract does not call for preventative maintenance.

A Melbourne company named SecurPoint won the bid and was awarded the contract in August of 2016. The contract was renewed in July, 2017 and is set to expire in August of this year.

Under the terms of the contract, Securpoint is required to respond to issues with the systems within two days. (Two hours in an emergency.) The contract specifies hourly rates of labor (both standard and overtime) as well as an upcharge for the price of equipment (cost + 1%.) The terms of the contract means that if SecurPoint is not doing work, they don’t get paid. This is not a yearly contract where the City is paying them “X” number of dollars per year. This is a per incident contract.

There are two incidents of concern floating around out there and we want to address both of them.

The first incident took place in November 2017 as evidenced by this email chain within the City government itself:
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Jul 2, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jul 2, 2018 | 1 comment

Palm Bay: Andy Anderson Named Acting Deputy City Manager.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: We updated this post as some new information became available.)

Palm Bay City Manager announced today that Andy Anderson has been named as the City’s Acting Deputy City Manager.

Anderson fills a position that has been vacant since September, when David Isnardi resigned at deputy city manager.

Anderson is Palm Bay’s economic development and external affairs director.

In a two-sentence email to Palm Bay City Council members and other city officials, Lynk wrote: “Andy Anderson will be the acting deputy city manager, effective immediately. Thank you for your continued support as we continually build this dynamic team.”

Follow us here….
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Jun 19, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 19, 2018 | 3 comments

Palm Bay: Tres Holton Tries To Burn Florida Today. Pants On Fire?

Florida Today reporter Wayne Price has written an email to Palm Bay City Councilman Calvin “Tres” Holton over the discrepancies in his candidate filings and his water bill which raised some questions in the accuracy and conflict of Holton’s statements.

We covered the controversy in this post back on June 7, 2018.

In his email Price asks Holton the same questions we had:

Where were you and your family residing in 2014 and why on your candidate’s residency form, dated Aug. 18, 2014, did you list your residence as 1729 LaMaderia Dr. SW? If you had your water delinquency funds (including fines and penalties) reduced based on your claiming not to have access to 1729 LaMaderia Dr. SW in 2014, then the above question seems to be a problem.

Also there was no water usage reported in 2014 for 1729 LaMaderia Dr. SW, according to records and you stated that “you had no access to the property” during that period. Is that something you can resolve for us?

Price’s email to Holton is polite and “casual professional,” as one would expect. Price asks if there would be a time that Holton would like to talk on the phone about this.

Holton chooses another path, foregoing a phone call and sending a reply via email.

The email is pure Holton – accusing the FloridaToday of many things. He also brings his family into the conversation which he has done before in other cases. He even manages to threaten legal action based on a law that the Supreme Court has deemed unConstitutional. It’s an interesting response to say the least.

As is our custom in these cases, we are going to Fisk Holton’s response.
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Jun 16, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 16, 2018 | Comments Off on Palm Bay: Most Of The Things Wrong With Palm Bay Illustrated In One Incident.

Palm Bay: Most Of The Things Wrong With Palm Bay Illustrated In One Incident.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We know that there are may be problems with the formatting of this post. Part of that has to do with the fact that Facebook is now linking videos and texts together. So you may see a brief skip in your browser before everything settles down. Sorry for the problem.

We have also “updated” and added to our comments that we made on a Facebook page at the bottom of the post.

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A few weeks ago, Candidate Thomas Gaume who is running for Seat 4 for the Palm Bay City Council against incumbent Calvin “Tres” Holton and challenger Kenneth Brian Johnson II posted this video and accompanying text on his campaign page and was picked up by a Facebook group.

Back in February I had posted the video below that shows the Palm Bay Deputy Mayor’s behavior toward the (then Deputy) City Attorney. I stated at the time, and still stand behind my admiration of the way that Patricia Smith handled the situation with poise, professionalism, and treated the Deputy Mayor with the respect of the office. That’s important, as in the military we’re taught that you don’t have to respect the person, but you will respect the rank, office, or position. A lesson that obviously wasn’t taught to our Deputy Mayor, as he showed no respect, or civility as it was called for in the “civility pledge” that was brought forward as an agenda item, only after he had walked out a meeting that was in progress and neglected to vote on the remaining NINE agenda items before the Council. There’s also rules of decorum in the City Council’s policies and procedures that call for Council members to treat staff, and all of the constituents with respect.

Why is this important? Because after I posted the video in February 4th, after almost 3 weeks I received the following email from then City Attorney Andrew Lannon on February 22nd:

“Mr. Gaume: My colleague, Patricia Smith, whom you met, is a very private person and would never ask anyone to take anything down from their social media site. However, because I care about her, I need to ask you a personal favor. Would you please remove the post on February 4th wherein you play the video of that portion of Council Meeting on January 17th? I know it is a public record, and you are not required to do so. In exchange for this favor, I would gladly buy you lunch at a restaurant of your choosing.”

To which I replied:
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Jun 12, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 12, 2018 | Comments Off on Palm Bay: We’re Still Here. Waiting.

Palm Bay: We’re Still Here. Waiting.

Back in early 2018, Palm Bay Councilman made some remarks about us including the statement that he is willing to talk to “anyone, anywhere, at any time.”

We accepted his offer and said we would speak to him here – a venue where he could not control the content, our responses, or use his position up on a dais as a bully pulpit.

We did not here from the esteemed Councilman and so the “Holton Clock” was born. We’ve updated it several times, but we thought with all the commotion about our “water bill” posts that we’d update the clock again.

We’re still here. Waiting patiently.

(We aren’t holding our breath, but we are waiting.)

Tick tock.

Jun 11, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 11, 2018 | 4 comments

Palm Bay: City Council Thinks Laws Don’t Apply To Them And Are Councilman Holton’s Pants On Fire?

It’s never boring in the City that is “Great to Grow In” and last Thursday’s City Council meeting was no exception.

Probably the “big item” for the meeting was agenda item #5 in the Public Hearings section which read:

Request by D.R. Horton, Inc. and Waterstone Farms, LLC for final development plan and preliminary plat approval for a proposed single-family residential development to be known as The Gardens of Waterstone at Palm Bay, which property is located south of and adjacent to the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District Canal No. 38, in the vicinity west of Babcock Street (96.66 acres)(Case No. PUD-6-2018).

This was a “quasi-judicial hearing,” which means that the Council was sitting in place of a magistrate / judge to decide an issue over which they have intimate knowledge. It also means that a whole set of rules and laws kick in, several of which we will discuss in a moment. Essentially, the thing to remember is that this hearing is a trial with a little less formality.

The item was contentious as one might expect but that is not what we wish to focus upon.

After the initial presentations, questions and banter, Mayor Capote opened up the floor for comments by citizens. One of the people that spoke was Thomas Gaume, who is a candidate for the City Council Seat 4 and is running against incumbent Calvin “Tres” Holton, and Kenneth Brian Johnson II. Gaume stepped up to the microphone at 42:25 of the video below.

Prior to his actual comments, Gaume asked the Council to give their “disclosures.” “Disclosures” are statements by the Council which are required by both City and State law where Council members are required to state any meetings they had with the parties that are considered to be “ex parte” or where only one party is present at the meeting.

Palm Bay’s Ordinance Code covers ex parte communications:

§ 59.06 EX PARTE COMMUNICATION.

(B) The following process is hereby established for ex parte communications with any Local Public Official:
(1) Disclosure.
(a) The Local Public Official shall disclose the occurrence of all ex parte communications involving said official that relate to the quasi-judicial matter pending before the quasi-judicial body on which the Local Public Official serves.
(b) The disclosure shall occur by no later than the commencement of the final public hearing, or if no formal public hearing is held, then at the commencement of any hearing at which the final decision regarding the quasi-judicial matter is made. The Local Public Official shall disclose the ex parte communication orally or in writing. Any such writing disclosing the occurrence of the ex parte communication shall be placed in the official file regarding the pending quasi-judicial matter which file shall be maintained by the City and shall be made a part of the record.
(c) At the time of disclosure, the Local Public Official shall identify the person, group, or entity with whom the ex parte communication took place, the general substance of the ex parte communication, and any matters discussed which are considered by said official to be material to said member’s decision in the pending quasi-judicial matter.

The Council, starting with Mayor Capote, gave their answers at 42:40 of the video.

If you are following along, right off the bat, there are issues between the disclosure statements and the City Code:
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Jun 7, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 7, 2018 | 3 comments

Palm Bay: What Is A Water Bill Saying About Calvin “Tres” Holton?

EDITOR’S NOTE: We want to be upfront about this post. The original information and background that forms the central issue here was not something that we went out looking for. We had other people and groups send us some of the things you will see here, but the bulk of the information and certainly the complete set of documentation was supplied to us by the campaign of Thomas Gaume, who is running against Calvin “Tres” Holton for Seat 4 on the Palm Bay City Council. When we get things like this from campaigns (and we get a lot of them,) we have to look at the documentation that is supplied, the sources within the documentation itself, outside sources, etc. We don’t like doing “rumor” stories here and avoid them at all costs. We aren’t the National Enquirer claiming some politician had an alien baby out of wedlock. We try to get things right but because the source here has what some will say is a bias, we want people to look at it with that understanding and make up their own mind.

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On September 17, 2013, the City of Palm Bay filed a lien for lack of payment for water and sewage service against the owner of the property “legally described” as

BRIDGEWATER AT ·BAYSIDE
LAKES, PH 2, LOT 218
293613-75-00000.0-0218.00
1729 LA MADERIA DR SW
Account# · 123175-166448

In their filing, the City states that the property is owned by:

CALVIN L HOLTON Ill
ASHLEY L HOLTON
1729 LA MADERIA DR SW
PALM BAY, FL 32908
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Jun 1, 2018 Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 1, 2018 | 3 comments

Palm Bay: Campaign Finances – Big Deal, Little Deal, Or Nothing?

Years ago there was a news station that had the slogan “we report – you decide.” We actually like that idea because we think the best way to handle issues is to present facts and let people decide for themselves.

This is one of those issues.

One of our ninjas sent us some work that they have been doing looking at the campaign finance records for the City Council, specifically the finances of the people running for Seat 4 this November.

According to the City’s Election Candidates page, there are four active people running for Seat four: Thomas L. Gaume Jr, Angelo Giuliano, Calvin “Tres” Holton, and Kenneth Brian Johnson II. The City’s page also has the mandated campaign finance reporting documents which each campaign must account for donations and expenditures. As part of the donations and the expenditures, the campaign must document the amounts that were taken in and spent, as well as specifically where the money was spent and (the subject of this post) who donated and the address they gave as a donor.

For our purposes, Giuliano is not a factor as his financial statements from 2017 until now show no activity – no donations or expenditures.

According to the financial statements, Gaume has raised $1.890.00 all of which (100%) has come from donors who list Palm Bay as the address for their donation.

Holton has raised $11,390.00 of which over 79% of the donations were from outside of the City of Palm Bay.

Johnson has raised $6,650.42 of which over 41% of donors gave addresses outside of the City.

Graphically, the percentage of Palm Bay donors to non Palm Bay donors looks like this:
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