Measure Once, Cut Repeatedly

Last night, while the federal government could not figure out if their job is to keep the country running and so have walked out on their major responsibility, North Bay Village blazed a trail for governments throughout this Great Republic of Ours by holding a special commission meeting because the commission totally forgot to hold a public hearing and take action on the debt millage.   

In last week's marathon meeting, the commission spent nearly three hours considering the annual budget. The strain and effort of ignoring the glaring holes in the budget, evading accountability, congratulating the administration for a budget that no one understood but everyone sees won't make it past the end of the calendar year, was too much and the commission forgot to hold the public hearing needed to authorize us to pay back our bond debts.   

The county tax appraiser noticed the lack this week and was all "Hey, you need to fill out the rest of the paperwork." and the commission was like, "Seriously? C'mon." and the tax appraiser was all "Totally." cause they are so annoying with their laws, so whatever. 

The meeting came to order promptly at 6:08 PM with 3/5ths of the commission there.  The other 4/10ths were unable to attend.  (Was there a Heat game last night?)   

As the  resolution was read, a hush fell over the assembled citizen present and the air vibrated with tension as questions hung over the cafetorium at TIES.  Would the commission get it right?   Would Eddie Lim make a 21 hour speech and read "Green Eggs and Ham"?   Would the Mayor forget where she was on the agenda as happens at so many other meetings and accidentally declare war on El Portal?   Did anyone actually see Richard Chervony?   

None of this happened, except the part about not seeing Richard Chervony.  This crowd is so good at not acknowledging his presence that it seems like a super power.   

By 6:10 PM, the question was called and the 3/5ths voted as one to authorize the obligatory debt millage. At 6:12 PM, four minutes after the call to order, and roughly the same amount of time that Eddie Lim, Jorge Gonzalez and Wendy Duvall spent on the much larger budget last week, the meeting adjourned and our commission are free once again to dedicate themselves to their goal of making North Bay Village beautiful and quaint.  

There's a lesson in all of this.  

Kevin Vericker

October 4, 2013