Barefooting into Incorporation

The City of Palm Bay is infamous for gobbling up unincorporated sections of south Brevard county.  A few people in Barefoot Bay are fearful that they too will be swallowed by the metropolis wanna be.

As plans progress to build the Palm Bay Parkway (which is to start at Micco Rd.) and the plans intact for future sustainable developments (Emerald City, Micco Park District and Calumet Hamlet, Palm Bay City Council Meeting 19 October 2010) on the Parkway between Route 1 and the east side of I95 it is no wonder the residents of Barefoot Bay would be a little nervous about what may happen to them and their HOA community. On the other hand, perhaps a small group of residents in Barefoot Bay see this as an opportunity to form yet another layer of government that would give them more power to run their community. 

The residents of Grant and Valkaria incorporated their villages on July 25, 2006 becoming Grant-Valkaria in fear of annexation by the municipal land mogul with its predatory code enforcement, poor road maintenance, and swail fees, but would the same be prudent for Barefoot Bay?

At present, Florida does NOT allow forced annexation.  According to the Florida Statues in Chapter 171 a vote must be taken and 50% of the property owners in the proposed area must consent to the annexation. See Florida Statues Chapter 171

Rev. Earl Medlen, a resident of Barefoot Bay, brings several great points to ponder before voting to incorporate.

Hear Bill Mick WMMB 1240 AM and Rev. Earl bring this to light on December 6, 2010.

Bill Mick - Barefoot Bay Incorporation

Rev. Earl B. Medlen

902 Midway St.

Barefoot Bay FL. 32976

(772) 202-4062

To All Residents of Barefoot Bay:

SUBJECT: Incorporation.

  The idea of incorporation of Barefoot Bay is a bad idea for many reasons.  A few of which were covered quite well by a Mr. Carl Gogats (good job Carl) in the Sound Off section of the Tattler for the Jan. 2011 issue.  Please see that issue. As I agree it, this move is nothing less than an attempt of a few Gestapo type thinking people who want to gain more power over you so they can tell you how to live your lives. They want to control you and live your life for you, because you're too stupid to know how to live your own life. You don't know how to spend your own money, etc., etc. You see, you must be turned into a group of sheeple led around by a ring through your nose. You need these agents of Gestapo Nazism to take care of you from the cradle to the grave.

  But a few of the reasons which have not been covered, are as follows.  It is my understanding that, if we incorporate Barefoot Bay, we would then have to, as a city, provide service to the residents which the county now provides.

  We would either have to build a Police and Fire Dept., equip them at the cost of millions of dollars, hire and maintain policemen and firemen, again at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, or we would have to pay thousands of dollars to the County for these services which they already provide for free.

  We would also be responsible for the up-keep of all roads in the Bay along with the street signs, street lights, etc., etc., which is now the Counties responsibility.

  I have been told that one of the main reasons for wanting to incorporate is that they fear being annexed by Palm Bay (it seems they are already trying to do that, with all the Palm Bay Police cars parked all the time at the Fire Dept. there on Barefoot Blvd. Most of the time as few as one, many times as many as four).

As I see it, this is nothing but a smoke-screen of fear tactics, to hide their real motives, that of total control over "We The People." No, I don't want to be taken over by a heavy-handed Gestapo agency like Palm Bay, we already have such agencies in the form of the HOA and DOR, but we don't have to incorporate to keep Palm Bay out of our business. Please excuse my language here, but all we have to do is to tell Palm Bay to take a flying leap and go to hell, we are not going to be part of you. They cannot annex us if we don't let them do it SO:

• NO, I do not agree to incorporation.
• NO, assessments would not be lower.
• NO I don't want code enforcement fines to be legal, in fact I would like to get rid of all code enforcement.
• NO, taxes would not remain the same. Taxes would, in fact, be raised again and again.
• NO, we should not continue to study the possibility of incorporating as a town. Stop wasting your time and leave things alone.

   I don't know about the rest of the people, but I for one, don't need larger more intrusive, heavy-handed government like that of the out of control governments of the very liberal, un-American North Eastern part of this Country.  If you folks from that area like that kind of government, GO BACK to it.

In fact I need government for four things, that is to:

1. Get out of my life

2. Get out of my wallet

3. Get off my back

4. And LEAVE ME ALONE.

What part of that don't you understand????

Salary Cuts Make Common Sense

With an anemic budget, less property ownership, and businesses closing their doors, Brevard County citizens continue to pay County staff more than their County Commissioners ($58, 145.00).  Some of those salaries being 6 figures.

The taxpayers of Bell, California, a 2.5-square-mile city just outside Los Angeles forced the resignations in July of three public officials who made too much money. They found out that the City Manager was making $800,000, their chief administrative officer made $787,637, his assistant $376,288, the police chief $457,000.

Taxpayer Mutiny in Bell California 

Although the salaries in Brevard are not as bloated as those in Bell, we must give careful attention to the pay of our County and municipal employees; elected and appointed. In doing so we see that salary reductions would put money back into our General Funding, reduce taxes, remove the need for unconstitutional permits and fees, plus give us the added bonus of retaining those County employees that continue to prove their skills through excellent job performance, ethics and dedication to serving the citizens.

In the following letter Rev. Earl Medlen provides us with a simple explanation of how and why reductions to inflated executive and management salaries just make common sense. *Annual salaries have been rounded and do not include benefits



Select the link to see and hear Rev. Earl explain his idea.

Salary Cuts and Common Sense 

A common argument to salary reduction is that we would NOT find qualified personnel to do the jobs.  We know that money does not increase a person's skills or job performance.  People EARN higher pay by proving their skills through job performance, knowledge, and the sweat of their brow.

Click this link to see and hear Rev. Earl's short explanation of why bloated pay does not guarantee quality performance.

Salaries and Performance 

An article published by Daytona News Journal shows the Brevard County Manager is the second highest paid County manager in Florida for comparable sized countys.  Dinneen of Volusia county is the highest paid at $196,630.

"Kelly's comment spurred The News-Journal to survey Florida counties in the same population size range as Volusia (495,890 in 2009, according to census.gov). What we found:

Dinneen is paid well for the top position at a county of Volusia's size. No county manager or administrator at a comparably sized county earns more in salary than Dinneen. County managers in Brevard, Polk, Lee and Seminole counties all make less money than Dinneen, although the disparity isn't huge. Brevard County Manager Howard Tipton, former Daytona Beach city manager, is the next-highest paid, at $180,000, while Polk County's Interim Manager Jim Freeman earns the least, at $165,006."

Raise Draws Focus to County Manager

Compare the salaries of our Constitutional offices with those that are appointed.  Notice that our County Manager makes $47,068 more than the Governor of Florida and his assistant makes only $9,328 less than the Governor.

Brevard County Staff Salaries
County Manager	Executive	$180,000.00
Assistant County Manager	Executive	$123,604.00
Planning & Zoning	Executive	$93,138.76
Natural Resources Management	Executive	$92,633.32

 

 

IN THE NATION
US President	$400,000
US Vice President	$227,300
United States Senators	$174,000
United States Representatives	$174,000
IN THE STATE
Governor	$132,932
Lieutenant Governor	$127,399
Attorney General	$131,604
Department of Financial Services	$131,604
Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services	$131,604
State Senators	$30,336
State Representatives	$30,336
IN THE COUNTY
Sheriff	$148,269
Clerk of Courts	$139,673
Property Appraiser	$141,673
Tax Collector	$141,673
Supervisor of Elections	$120,371
Board of County Commissioners	$58,145
School Board	$38,290
Canaveral Port Authority	$10,084
Sebastian Inlet Tax District	$3,600

Who is That Creeping Around My Backyard?

Following is Sandy Karwel's story in her own words.  Thanks for sharing this creepy experience Sandy!

This is so gross; it gives me the creeps!  Here is another horrid story of abuse, violence and corruption from Palm Bay, Florida.



Chris Richards



On Friday 11-12-2010 at 2:00 PM, I find Chris Richard, Palm Bay Police and Angelica Martinez, Code Enforcement creeping in my backyard and looking in my bedroom window. 

They were un-invited and without a warrant.

They were creeping along the north-side of my house and looking in my bedroom windows!!

How bad does it have to get, before we as a nation say:

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!




Angelica Martinez

CREEPY!!
 

Angelica Martinez has got to be one of the creepiest low-life’s on earth, she was taking pictures of my 3 foot, "plastic" vegetable screen which is in my backyard next to my bedroom window (see picture).

The city of Palm Bay hires the most ignorant cops so they can do these sorts of things like Chris Richards, who is currently attending community college to complete his AA degree. 

Chris Richards has been following me around “stalking” me for months.  When I was campaigning for City Council; he was in attendance at the Greater Senior Center Candidate Forum that was held at 7:00 PM. Richards was in police uniform, and I caught him always staring at me, almost like an obsession.  

My “plastic” vegetable screen is inside my property lines AND CLEARLY IN MY BACKYARD, so Angelica Martinez and Chris Richard had to walk inside my backyard to do their creeping, way past the NO TRESPASSING signs which are clearly posted.



Vegetable Screen and Bedroom Window

Is there a REAL health and safety hazard here?

This is a picture of my backyard bedroom window, in which Chris Richards and Angelica Martinez were taking pictures of, and looking into my bedroom window. 

But even more creepier, if you read the code citation, it says they were on my property on September 29, 2010, so they have been stalking me and repeatedly going in my backyard and looking in my bedroom windows.

The so called “fence” is my 3 foot PLASTIC VEGETABLE SCREEN.

Chris Richard from Palm Bay Police and Angelica Martinez from Code Enforcement caught looking in my bedroom window!

This is too gross and creepy!  I am in the process of filing every conceivable complaint I know of; and if anybody knows of anything else I can do, please email me at skarwel@gmail.com or call me 1-321-557-5441

Surveillance camera takes video of Richard and Martinez creeping up the north side of my house and into my backyard.

Sincerely,

Sandra Karwel

1142 Bianca Drive

Palm Bay, Florida, 32905

Phone: 321-557-5441

UPDATE 



In the wee hours of the morning 2:09 A.M. specifically, on November 30, 2010 Miss Karwel's vehicle was vandalized.  Video shows, a thug dressed in a hoodie came from across the street and up the driveway in the dark of the night.  The hooded vandal and thief then punctures the truck's tires and takes the vehicle's license plate and the whole license plate apparatus and plastic bumper footstep, and gouged the metal beyond the primer.



On the morning of December 01, 2010, Miss Karwel called the police to report that her vehicle was vandalized and the tag stolen.  The Palm Bay Police said they were "NOT" going to respond and hung-up.  She called them back, and she said she wanted them to respond and file a police report.  The 911 operator told her the police were not responding.  No police responded to the call about the vandalized truck.

The following day, The Palm Bay police responded at 9:20 A.M. with 5 officers, one of which was Chris Richard, and code enforcement officer Angelica Martinez, but they weren't there about the vandalized truck (which was located in her driveway with five punctured holes  each of the sidewalls in the front and back tires and flat on the rims) and stolen tag, they were there to issue an addendum to the, previous code enforcement violation for the plastic garden-fence in her backyard. This time the violation was for trash cans being left out after 5:00 P.M. on November 30.

--NOTE--

Waste Management didn't pick up trash until 7:51 P.M. on the day of the accused violation and even though the new $33.00 dollar bins (Multimillion-dollar-no-bid contract is being charged to the Palm Bay residents) the trash was collected by hand, by one person acting as both driver and collector.

On December 02, 2010 Palm Bay police officer Chris Richard arrived to issue a ticket for Miss Karwel's truck having vandalized tires, and a stolen, missing license tag.  As of this date (01/02/11) no investigation has been done about the vandalized truck.



BEWARE!
 Notice the items on the ticket that YOU may be cited for someday.

What a sweet and convenient deal for the city, fine the victim for the crime that has been done to them  rather than spending time and money (already collected from the taxpaying citizen) to catch the criminal.

Brevard County Code Enforcement Attempts to Shut Down Recycling Center

On Saturday November 27, 2010 I had the pleasure of visiting the Cocoa Recycling Center located on the outskirts of Cocoa city limits off highway 520 on Lake drive.  I met Ron the business operator and Charlie Griffis the property owner, his niece an employee and several volunteer workers.  It is obvious to any observer that this is a close knit group of friends who care about each other. 

Charlie Griffis and his brother started this small family business at their home collecting cans in the 80's.  Since then, the operation has grown to a full recycling business with one of the most desired and sophisticated record keeping systems in the state of Florida.

The first code enforcement visit occurred in 1994.  In the past 16 years code enforcement has made several visits to the property. Each time code enforcement would show up the business would gladly bring their operation into compliance as directed. Property owner Charlie Griffis told me "We always try to stay in compliance and to comply."

Proof of the cooperation is that when Mark Herold appeared and told the Griffis brothers they needed to have a building for their business they bought the building where the business is currently being operated from.  Originally they had the recycling in part of the building and a thrift shop on the side, but code enforcement told them they could not run the thrift shop, so the Griffis brothers closed it down.

Cocoa Recycling - Picture taken on 29 November 2010

Time warping to the year 2008.  Code enforcement officer Mark Herold visited Cocoa Recycling and told Charlie's brother he needed to clean something up on the property.  So Charlie and his brother began the clean up which placed a lot of stress on Charlie's brother, who already had a bad heart. While performing the clean-up Charlie's brother threw his back out and doctors prescribed morphine for the pain.


On November 1, 2008 Charlie's brother died; cause of death was determined to be an accidental overdose of the prescribed morphine.  Just 14 short days after the death of Charlie's brother the Brevard County Sheriff's department, code enforcement and DEP showed up with 8 other agencies including CH9 news to raid Cocoa Recycling.  The business was accused of running a meth lab, dealing drugs, running a prostitution ring and having stolen property.

Brevard county code enforcement was represented by Bobby Bowen - retired Melbourne police Lieutenant and previous manager of the South Brevard County Animal Shelter.  The raid resulted in 3 minor code enforcement violations: awning without a permit, oil spill from a bob cat that hadn't been cleaned up yet and broken windows from the hurricanes.  These have all been rectified and are in compliance.

Lack of communication almost caused an injunction without the knowledge of Cocoa Recycling.  In August 2010 Cocoa Recycling was contacted by a media source about their upcoming hearing at the County Commission meeting which was a total surprise to Charlie Griffis.  The county was planning to file an injunction to shut down Cocoa Recycling.  The lack of notification continued to occur for future hearings until County Commissioner Robin Fisher made Charlie the point-of-contact.

At a hearing in August Commissioner Infantini said that she had sent one of her people out to look at the violations and the violations being presented at the meeting seemed to be  different than those listed.  She asked Mr. Bowen for a list of the accused violations because every time Cocoa Recycling would come into compliance with the cited violations, code enforcement would cite new and different violations.


On November 23, 2010 Charlie Griffis and Ron Griffis attended the County Commissioners hearing.  At that hearing was one of their business competitors ATM Recycling owner/operator Greg O'Leary.  Mr. O'Leary bragged to Charlie Griffis in passing at the meeting that he was invited to attend the meeting by the Brevard County code enforcement department.


In his address to the County Commissioners Mr. O'Leary stated that he was required to erect buildings costing him $750,000.  He also stated that his check book is in the negative.

Hmmm. . . . could this be due to the unfriendly business environment created by the enforcement of ridiculous codes that have nothing to do with health and safety?  In fact, the encroachments of the code enforcement office itself is having a negative effect on the general welfare of the community. Their agressive actions discourage businesses from moving to Brevard and retard the growth of those that are struggling to survive.  We the People should cite Code Enforcement for dumping hazardous ordinances on our general welfare that cause undue burden onto us.

Perhaps misery really does love company or would like to get rid of it. Mr. O'leary pleaded with the County Commissioners to vote for and force the same requirements on to Mr. Griffis to make the playing field fair, even though, as Commissioner Anderson pointed out the size of operations are much different, ATM is a much larger operation than Cocoa Recycling. The Commissioner also stated that since financial institutions are not loaning money in this economy it would be difficult to get a loan for a building such as Mr. O'Leary's.

Mr. Bowen showed a Power Point presentation of his last visit to Cocoa Recycling.  He stated that there are several vehicles on the premise that the RV's should be removed.  Charlie said he was in the process of getting the permits to demolish them and Mr. Bowen said permits are not required.  Take note, that at the County Commissioner meeting in September Mr. Bowen stated that he entered into one of the RV's and found a pot of stew cooking and an unmade bed - he showed pictures of the inside of the RV where he had no warrant or affidavit to enter the RV.

At the end of the meeting Cocoa Recycling was in compliance for everything listed but . . . County Commissioner Chuck Nelson said that the injunction should be pursued because no work or storage can be done outside the building.  Charlie asked Commissioner Nelson to show him the law that requires loading and unloading to be done inside a building.  This was enough to sway Commissioner Mary Bolin and Commissioner Fisher to vote with him for the injunction.  Commissioners Infantini and Anderson voted against the injunction.

Charlie says that if the law that Commissioner Nelson believes is true, the County School Board, and all businesses like 711 and Walmart, also in BU2 zones, will need to erect buildings to accomodate inside loading and unloading.

Select the Video Links to hear Charlie's Story in his own words!

Cocoa Recycling Part 1

 Cocoa Recycling Part 2

Cocoa Recycling Part 3

Good Luck Cocoa Recycling! We stand behind you and hope that you are able to continue to provide a needed service to Brevard County and its residents, despite the counties efforts to shut you down!