Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 06-08-04 Regular — reading text

Attorney and she is doing a good job. Council should use the City Attorney, then listen to her and do what she says. She said that the City Attorney has explained it enough to her that the complexity of Pirates does not need Bay to be discussed with the citizenry, with each other, outside this room because it is too complex and the City is working with the citizenry to make it right. She said it has to go through the process because when there are three or four lawyers it is not going to be easy. She expressed her thought that there needs to be some kind of guidance. I'll turn to Dr. Pullen in that he is an irritant and did not think it fair to the citizenry and to the Council to wonder what he is doing today. Mr. Patterson expressed his understanding that the Council runs the City and the City Manager manages the assets, the money and the people; what Council passes sets the direction of the with ordinances City and policy, and the City Manager sees that the program Council sets forward is carried out. He commented that Council has a requirement to answers citizens questions. He also stated if someone on staff is not performing up to standards then it should go directly to the City Manager.  22:2 o 5- 18- 04 Mr. Patterson agreed with granting time to get codes corrected but expressed sometimes it may be excessive on the time extensions, then it should come to Council to direct the City Manager to get something done. He commented he has not met anyone on City Council who works as feverishly as Dr. Pullen, who is dedicated to the City and putting his best foot forward. Dr. Pullen stated when he talks to someone he tells them he is one vote, expressing his own opinion and has never indicated to anyone that he speaks for anyone but himself. Mr. Campbell remarked that Dr. Pullen works long hours and does a great job, although it reflects that maybe Council feels the same way. He said when he has a problem he calls the City Manager and she has always given 1 00% and he did not appreciate a Councilmember going to a City employee because it looks bad to the City Manager. He said the Pirates Bay issue needs to be put to rest and let the staff do their job, and if Dr. Pullen continues to get out of line, tell him he is getting out of line. He expressed that Dr. Pullen is defmitely creating a lot of work on the City staff that Council never does anything about. He said Dr. Pullen is doing a good job by looking into it, and he has call him look into something people to but he says staff is doing their job and let them do it, and if the and Council Mayor sees a problem, then they will address it. He said that maybe Council needs to monitor Dr. Pullen' s actions a little more closely. Mr. Tucker commented that Council polices itself. The Mayor mentioned a number of people go to her and she asks them to come to Council because the Council is there to listen and Council does not know the problem unless they hear it. She said she does not give her opinion, she just says to them to come to Council. Mr. Tucker commented that in his opinion the Mayor is the only single person that should have a direct voice from the people to the Mayor and then to Council. He asked if the Mayor would some day accept the fact that the Council should remove the Mayor' s tie vote and give the Mayor the opportunity to deal with Council one on one as well as the I"'" t citizens. The Mayor said there are seven Council members and expressed her opinion that it is good that the citizenry has seven different avenues to hear. Mr. Tucker said he would like that citizen to run it through the Mayor because the Mayor is the spokesperson for all the citizens of the city and none of Council is. Mr. Holmes stated Council pretty well knows where everyone stands and the problems they are trying to address and everyone needs to learn from what was discussed. He agreed they should move on from the issue because the point has been made and has been well taken. The City Manager expressed her pride to work for the City and that Council. has some excellent employees who work tirelessly for the community. She said she is always willing to listen to each member of Council, if there is anything Council thinks they should be doing differently, if there is a problem they see, staff cannot fIX it and cannot address it unless Council brings it to her. She expressed one of her greatest frustrations is when Council does not call and tell her about something because if she does not know about it she cannot fix it. She expressed her desire for the opportunity to fix and change things that Council gets complaints and calls about, but she cannot do it unless Council comes and talks to her and she encouraged each member of Council to do that. Mr. Tucker endorsed the City Manager' s comments because the City Manager has never refused to give him an answer. Dr. Pullen expressed he thinks they have a great staff working for the City and he compliments people out on the job all the time because they work very hard. The Mayor asked Dr. Pullen if he would go talk with the City Manager when he wants to find out something. Dr. Pullen stated he has talked with the City Manager. The Mayor remarked it would be helpful to the City Manager to know what is on his mind so she can take it to her staff.  5- 18-04 o o 223 c :: :,; r,; ~~~., r;;~It-. ((~" ,~ : .. i ,: fi,: :". r!(\ i~IX~i Mr. Anderson mentioned at the NWF League of Cities dinner last Friday he sat next to the Gulf Breeze City I""" Manager and the representative from that area, Holly Benson, and mentioned the public records release of information. He asked if staff would forward to Holly Benson and Buzz Eddy from Gulf Breeze the resolution and the background information on the request for information. The Mayor stated the information has been sent to Mr. Scott Eddy and Mr. Scott Dudley of the Florida League of Cities. She said the City Attorney has talked with Craig Conn, an attorney with the Florida League of Cities and she has talked with Clay Ford who is moving into position of the President of the FLC, who will talk with Mr. Mike Sittig. She said Mr. Ford is very upset about it and his attorney is going to call the City Attorney. She said Mr. Ford' s attorney gave them direction to have the first five numbers of the social security purged, the Council in Gulf Breeze voted on it last night and they were to be purged today. Mr. Anderson mentioned that although it was voted to release the information, they are still trying to do what they can so it will not impact the citizens as much as it might. Dr. Pullen asked if the City Attorney could bring something forward with a way Council can change the direction of their decision. The City Attorney said she would be glad to talk with the other attorney because as they have discussed already, another section of that Statute required the City to comply with certain disclosure requirements before ever gathering the social security number since 2002. She has ruminated on the issue and it is her opinion that, perhaps, some purging of the social security numbers is required because the compliance was required back in 2002. She said likewise, from what she understands, the utility records are purged after three years, so there is some housekeeping to do before actually releasing the information. She said that is where she is on her opinion. She noted Mr. Patterson spoke with Gillis Powell, Sr., who represents