Micheal Hoffman Posted and Update to the Commissioners Meeting

The following is an update from Micheal Hoffman. If anyone else has any imput to the meeting please feel free to email me your synopsis. Thank you - Lindsay Libhart , LLibhart@poolsbylibhart.com

Sept. 8, 2008 Commission meeting

(Small crowd with a minimum of public input. The budget meeting preceded the Commission meeting.)

Budget proposal

A member of the Bull family with municipal government experience in Coral Springs, FL, took a negative slant on the proposed assistant city manager position, which should be in the minutes. A couple of people wanted Chief T to become a consultant, and there was mention of double-dipping.

The Mayor made a strong defense of the idea on the basis of Chief T's track record for tapping into funds from the county, city, state and federal governments. Meserve pointed to Chief T’s recent "find" of $200k the city had been underpaid by the local court system.

The bill passed 5-0 on the first reading, so there still exists an opportunity to lobby for or against.

District Representation

I addressed the proposed ordinance that will institute electoral representation on the marshside of town -- specifically the map of precincts (which by law must contain approximately the same number of residents 18 years and above). You can see the proposed map on the city website (Agenda 9/8/08, item 7A.). Precinct 13-S comprises the west side of Mayport Rd. plus a piece of Royal Palms east to the Aquatic Drive area. I proposed that Jordan join Donner as part of 13-S and that the Royal Palm segment go with the rest of Royal Palms.

Sarge Hall wanted to go with the proposed ordinance, saying that Jordan would be better off with the eastside of town. (If the population west of Mayport Rd. was larger, we wouldn't need to have this debate.)

My contention is that civil rights and voting rights law are on my side of the argument. Donner and Jordan ought to be one neighborhood for combined voting strength in Precinct 13-S.