Treasure Island Florida City Commission

Gulf Beach News

To Workshop Or Not To Workshop

To workshop or not to workshop, that is a question that has haunted mankind since the invention of the wheel. For generations, the brightest and most intelligent of the human race have tried to answer this and other questions such as the meaning of life, is there life after death and how does M&M’s put a peanut inside a candy shell, and for generations no one has come with up a plausible answer, until now.

On January 2, 2007, the Treasure Island City Commission attempted to answer one of those age old questions, to have a workshop or not to have a workshop. Not being mankind’s, or even Treasure Island’s brightest and most intelligent, or for that matter even the brightest and most intelligent in the room, the Commission put on a display of utter incompetence that was reminiscent of a Marx Brother's movie.

This hilarious episode began with the now interim City Manager Chief Charlie Fant making it painfully obvious that the City will dearly miss Ralph Stone when Chief Charlie decided to cancel the Commission Workshop that normally follows the Commission Meeting when he apparently felt there was nothing on the agenda and no reason to have a workshop. His decision to cancel the workshop was published on the City’s website.

There would have been no problem except for the fact that Commissioner Phil Collins decided he wanted to back door a vote to place a term limit referendum on the March public election ballot. Collins, who in himself is an excellent reason to have term limits and is himself running for a third term, claimed the Commission was the only body that could cancel a Workshop and that the Workshop should go on even thought the public had been told it was cancelled. One has to wonder why Collins is in such a hurry to get his agenda on the ballot. Perhaps he fears not being re-elected.

Commissioner Ed Gayton would have nothing to do with this. Gayton claimed the public had been told the workshop had been cancelled and it is cancelled. Gayton then asked the City Attorney if she could give him a yes or no answer on the legality of having a workshop after the public had been advised it had been cancelled. She of course, slides around the question like any useless attorney would and refused to answer yes or no and answered “I think it is” which is sort of like Custer saying “I think it is” when asked if his command was large enough to take on the Sioux at Little Big Horn or the Captain of the Titanic saying “I think it is” when asked if his ship was sinking. She then said “the public has been misdirected.” Now how about misled, misgoverned, misinformed etc. etc. etc.

Chief Charlie then says something to the effect, “legally it hasn’t happened and technically it hasn’t happened and although it was advertised to happen.” Ralph, where are you?

Commissioners Bildz and Kraus jumped in citing that the issue of term limits has been sitting on the table for two years and there was no reason to suddenly rush it through. Well it is if you are about to be voted out of office.

Commissioner Gayton then said “How do we expect the citizens of the city to look up to us?” Well Ed, how about doing something besides wasting time and money on nitpicking nonsense.

It was finally decided to go on with a Workshop at which time Gayton asked where his Workshop package was to which Chief Charlie answered that the Workshop they were now having had been canceled and because the workshop they were now having had been canceled there was no workshop package for the workshop that had been canceled but that they were now having. This is called Tee Eye logic.

The workshop that had been canceled was now uncanceled and Commissioner Colllins was eager to get a vote on his term limit referendum. Collins called for a vote and it was seconded. When the roll call was made for the vote Collins voted yes and the other four on the board voted no making the entire 35 minute episode a total waste of time. Of course these guys have managed to waste the last four years.

So, when is a workshop a workshop, a canceled workshop a canceled workshop or a canceled workshop a workshop? Well, when you have four Commissioners and an interim city manager who haven’t a clue.