Another day, another spat at city hall in Bradenton Beach.
One of the two co-chairs of the Scenic Waves Partnership Committee claims there is “an unacceptable level of dysfunction among city staff and the commission.”
Carl Parks was referencing the cancellation by staff of the Oct. 5 committee meeting because the agenda wasn’t posted and the meeting wasn’t “noticed” in a timely manner, even though Parks said he sent the agenda to the city clerk’s office before his deadline. He also was dismayed that a letter he wrote to city commissioners had not been distributed.
“We do not always agree on everything, but when we pass a resolution, common respect and decency should require that city staff and the city commission should respect our collective recommendations,” Parks wrote Oct. 6.
When the committee reconvened Sept. 14 after its summer recess, members asked Parks to write a letter requesting the commission direct Police Chief Sam Speciale — who oversees the city’s website — to “restore links to the database of historical minutes and agendas of this municipal board.”
That apparently misplaced letter led to a series of derogatory emails.
Committee co-chair Tjet Martin asked city clerk Terri Sanclemente why Parks’ letter was not distributed to the commission but rather was included in the read file — available to the public.
Sanclemente responded with a copy of the letter, claiming there were no written instructions to send it to the commission.
Martin wrote back the same day.
“There were no written instructions to send it to commission you say?” Martin asked. “Wasn’t it addressed to mayor and commission?”
While Parks’ letter does not state, “Dear Mayor and Commissioners,” the content asks the mayor and commission to direct Speciale to restore the links.
Seeing this chain of emails, Commissioner Jan Vosburgh chimed in with an email stating she finds Martin to be “very disrespectful, rude and very bossy. It’s time to knock this constant mean-spirited behavior off.”
That response prompted Parks to write that he recalls a time when then-Mayor John Shaughnessy “was very disrespectful, rude and very bossy to me.” Parks said Shaughnessy “gaveled me into silence” as he attempted to bring business of the committee to the attention of a previous commission.
“Needless to say, I was more than a little frustrated, as I am certain that my co-chair is right now,” Parks said of Martin.
For his part, Speciale wrote commissioners Oct. 6 that the minutes are in a different location on the website.
For the city clerk, criticism the past week included four canceled or delayed city meetings, including the Scenic Waves and two more for lack of notice by the clerk.
The previous week, the clerk’s office arranged for the League of Women Voters of Manatee County to use the commission chambers for a voter forum, but failed to arrange to open the doors, post the usual “no parking” signs in the parking lot, or to provide for use of the chamber sound system. No one from the city was present to provide for the LWV, and the group gained entry by calling the police department.
Commissioner Janie Robertson, present for the forum, locked up city hall at the conclusion.