How much are Sarasota Commissioners worth?

Maio continues to lead the way in net worth among Sarasota County commissioners, latest state Commission on Ethics filings show

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Source: Sarasota News Leader, November 25, 2021 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

Cutsinger in second place, with Detert reporting smallest figure

Sarasota County Commission Chair Alan Maio continues to outpace his board colleagues in terms of net worth, the latest Florida Commission on Ethics financial disclosure filings indicate.

However, Maio reported a smaller figure for 2020 than he did for 2019, his latest report showed.

As of June 17, Maio wrote that his net worth was $3,082,300. In June 2019, he noted that the figure was $3,252,097.

In second place, Commissioner Ron E. Cutsinger of Englewood reported that his net worth as of July 1 was $1,589,314 — slightly more than half of Maio’s total.

Commissioner Michael Moran narrowly edged out Commissioner Christian Ziegler for third place. Moran reported that his net worth as of April 30 was $927,150.25. That compared to $620,716.38 as of May 1, 2020.

On Dec. 31, 2020, Ziegler noted, his net worth was $876,233.25. That was more than three times the amount he listed as of Dec. 31, 2018: $206,324.83.

Ziegler won his District 2 seat during the November 2018 General Election.

Rounding out the board members, Commissioner Nancy Detert attested that her net worth as of Dec. 31, 2020 was $392,213. That was up slightly from her Dec. 31, 2019 total of $322,206.

More detail here

Board to consider proposal to dedicate a Quad Parcel to builders

Mike Moran and Al Maio – the two commissioners who voted for James Gabbert’s giant, outdoor debris pulverizing plant on the SW Quad parcel – are now pushing a building lobbyist's proposal that would put a builder's showcase there, despite the fact that the proposal violates the Conservation Easement approved by the Board in 2020.

M&M were joined by Cutsinger and Ziegler in the 4-1 vote to fast-track the BIA proposal.

Excerpts below are from the 4.29.22 Sarasota News Leader article.

With Detert objecting, County Commission authorizes staff to negotiate with Manatee-Sarasota Business Industry Association to take over Florida House lease and move building 

April 28, 2022 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

Making the motion, Commissioner Moran calls for ‘plenty of public input’ on proposal during future board meeting

Commissioner Michael Moran this week won the support of his other three colleagues to authorize county staff to start negotiating with the Manatee-Sarasota Business Industry Association over the future of the Florida House.

Formally, Moran specified county talks with the Business Industry Association (MSBIA) “and/or any nonprofit that’s affiliated with [it]” to take over the county’s lease of the 4454 S. Beneva Road site in Sarasota where the Florida House stands. That lease will end on June 30, 2027, county staff has noted.

Further, Moran called for allowing the MSBIA or the nonprofit to move the building before that lease expires.

The MSBIA has created a nonprofit organization called the Building Industry Institute....

The MSBIA proposal in a June 7, 2021 letter from its CEO, Jon Mast, to County Administrator Jonathan Lewis — plus comments from MSBIA board member Teresa Mast, who addressed the commissioners at an Open to the Public comment period during the commission’s Feb. 8 meeting — included the desire to move the Florida House to one of the Quads. Those four county-owned parcels are adjacent to the Celery Fields.

Although the latter area officially is a county stormwater management project, it also is an internationally known bird-watching destination.

In October 2020, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve a conservation easement over the Southwest, Southeast and Northeast Quads, in collaboration with the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, which is based in Osprey, and the Sarasota Audubon Society.

The MSBIA has shifted its focus to a Southwest Quad site. ...

Detert said she objected to Moran’s motion. “We haven’t had a lot of meetings about it,” she began. “We probably need to.” ....

She said she believed all of the commissioners have met with MSBIA representatives one-on-one. “You’re kind of writing a motion in favor of one corporation,” she told Moran. ....

When Chair Alan Maio called for the vote on Moran’s motion, Detert repeated her objection to it. The motion passed 4-1.

. . . leaders of the Florida House Institute — which has become Southface Sarasota — have adamantly expressed opposition to the MSBIA proposal.

... former Florida House director Matt Ross, who founded the company Eco$mart, in 1993, stressed to the commissioners during public comments on Feb. 23 that in his 29 years of working with the Florida House, he had “not seen the [MSBIA’s] presence at all.”

When the Florida House suffered through “lean times” in the early 2000s, Ross continued, “Where was the builders’ association? They weren’t there.”

MSBIA head Jon Mast

...

Notes below on key points -

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Some key takeaways:

1. The Board chose to promote one proposal – from a lobby, the Manatee/Sarasota Building Industry Association BIA – over Commissioner Detert’s motion to hear from staff about several options for the Florida House.

2. The BIA Lobby wishes to take for its own use a parcel that was given to the people of Sarasota (via two Environmental Non-profits, Sarasota Audubon and the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast) to protect a bird nesting preserve and to foster community with a civic use – a Sarasota history archive, for example.

3. The BIA Lobby wants to rezone the SW Quad to ILW – Industry, light manufacturing, warehouse – apparently not finding any incompatibility with the Conservation Easement.

4. The county’s own documents and Conservation Easement reflect the fact that the intent of the Conservation Easement was for civic or government use, and use by a private organization is expressly disallowed by its terms.

5. Those who have had long and intimate participation in the Florida House say the Lobby has lied in pretending to have helped the Florida House when it needed it, or taken any interest in it before now.

Citizens for Sarasota County (CSC) is a coalition founded in 2014 to promote ethical, responsive government that preserves and enhances Sarasota's unique natural environment and cultural heritage while building a sound local economy based on effective stewardship and innovation. 

Rumble Report 3.29.2022

Below is a transcript of notes shared on Facebook by one attendee during the Sarasota County Board discussion of what to do about Rumble, the alt-right online platform that somehow discovered Sarasota (through Enterprise Florida, according to Commissioner Ziegler). 

Here's the "trending" page on Rumble taken the day before the hearing:

Last fall, the Board gave the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota the OK to explore a prospective deal that would give $825,000 tax dollars as incentive to the company to move its headquarters here. A building has been identified as Rumble HQ on Longboat Key, but does not appear to yet be occupied. No money has yet been approved - the deal is still in the works.

On March 29, 2022, citizens attended the Board meeting seeking to speak to the issue. They were concerned that this platform, which consistently trends toward nonsense about the last presidential election being stolen and similar themes, would receive tax dollars. Prior to the meeting, over 1500 citizens had signed a Petition calling for any deal with Rumble to be quashed.

There was also disgust that Rumble offers one of the only platforms where Russian Television (RT) can be accessed outside of Russia. RT is Putinganda, a myopic self-justifying view of the invasion of Ukraine where even the word "war" is not permitted to be used.

A contingent of Ukrainian citizens, mostly from North Port, attended the meeting, some with flags. One man from Ukraine spoke eloquently about the deep division between Ukrainians and Russians. He said Russian media always lies, and worried that it would take footage from platforms like Rumble, twist it to its own purposes, and use it to support Putin's effort to overpower Ukraine.

Instead of beginning the official meeting with Open to the Public, Commission Chair Al Maio asked the Board to discuss what to do regarding the EDC idea of awarding tax dollars. The discussion became protracted as Commissioner Ziegler presented all the reasons he sees as valid to incentivize a media platform like Rumble to come to the county - jobs, basically.

Eventually Maio allowed a few citizens to address the issue, but told others who had come to speak that they would have to wait until later in the day - possibly to the end of the meeting.

Below are brief notes on the Board discussion leading up to the curious way in which two Commissioners' proffered motions to resolve the Rumble morass tumbled, or fumbled, into a bumbling virtual stalemate.

Notes from the BCC meeting, taken live 3.29.22:

===

Commissioner Detert at beginning of meeting moves that the County takes no further steps toward offering a tax dollar incentive to Rumble for moving to Sarasota County. Seconded by Cutsinger.

Commissioner Ziegler taking a large amount of time going through the presented justifications for bringing Rumble to Sarasota - without actually taking a stand on the motion.

Ziegler wants to amend Detert's motion - he wants the Board to discontinue all economic incentives via the EDC. Moran, who has been critical of the EDC in the past, supports Zig's amendment. Detert speaks against Zig's amendment and does not wish to make a decision on all economic incentives today.

Commissioner Ziegler's amendment to the motion passes 3-2 (Cutsinger, Zig, and Moran for, Detert and Maio against).

Ziegler is now saying he will oppose Detert's motion - he sees people opposing Rumble as "cancel culture" and advocating false information.

Detert's motion is up for a vote, but now she is saying that having passed Zig's amendment, her motion is moot. The county atty says they still need to vote on the main motion, which included Zig's amendment.

Detert's motion FAILS (Moran, Ziegler, and Cutsinger vote no). This cancels Ziegler's motion - he just voted against his own amendment.

Ziegler moves to table the discussion to end all economic incentives until the Board's next meeting. Maio seconds.

Detert says the EDC should be invited to the meeting at which ending all taxpayer incentives will be discussed.

Board unanimously approves motion to postpone discussion of taxpayer incentives.

In brief: the Board punted. There was no decision about Rumble, and none on the amendment to cancel all economic incentives. The Board's dodge has put discussion and any decision on the Rumble taxpayer incentive off to a later meeting.

===

When available, a link to the official video of the Board meeting will be posted here.

Background:

WUSF / NPR

https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/politics-issues/2022-03-28/rumble-still-airs-russia-state-controlled-news-channel-headquarters-could-soon-be-in-sarasota

New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/business/media/rumble-social-media-conservatives-videos.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/parler-rumble-newsmax.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/technology/parler-app-trump-free-speech.html

Al Maio and Mike Moran are unhappy that their own Board failed to observe the County Charter

A very interesting exchange in a story from the Sarasota News Leader titled: Delay in consultant’s completion of analysis of areas specified for future county residential development could stall processing of other Comprehensive Plan amendments, County Commission learns

The News Leader story could prove very important. It describes how Sarasota's elected officials have been approving new developments without first guaranteeing their fiscal neutrality. 

"Fiscal neutrality" is a goal stated in the Comprehensive Plan that new development shall and must pay for itself, not be paid for on the backs of county taxpayers.

It seems the Board has gone ahead and approved developments in a special area called the Future Urban Area outside of the existing Urban Service Area. However, it did not do the due diligence of a process mandated by the county Charter that requires new development to be fiscally neutral. 

At the meeting covered by the SNL, the discussion turned to the "future urban area" near Venice shown in this image courtesy of the SNL:

An aerial map shows the location of the Grand Palm Neal Communities development in Venice, which is part of the Future Urban Area. Image courtesy Sarasota County

Commissioners Maio and Moran seemed panic-stricken by what they were told by staff:

Does the consultant have to analyze all the other portions of the county in yellow, Maio asked again, including the “15, 16, 17 square miles that’s already annexed into the City of North Port and/or already under development, and/or inside a Critical Area Plan that’s been filed?”

The analysis would include all of the lands “that are under the Future Urban Area designation,” [County Planner Elma] Felix responded.

“That may be what the rulebook says,” Maio told her, “but to my dumb self … that’s preposterous, since it’s already under development …”

Then Maio asked how staff could streamline the process.

“Quite frankly, commissioner, I don’t know that there’s anything to be done to expedite the process much further than we’ve already identified,” Felix replied.

Bill Zoller, an architect who worked on county land use elements that eventually made it into both the Charter and the Comp plan, offered this comment:

This is a real scandal. The BCC has kicked this can down the road all this time…yet they remain on the hook to comply with the Citizens for Sensible Growth Charter Amendment (2.2A) that requires the Fiscal Neutrality analysis.  They have attempted to avoid it, and not to comply, because it will impose very difficult growth/infrastructure requirements on developers, so as not to burden unduly and unfairly Sarasota taxpayers.  Meanwhile, they seem to have pretended, more or less, that this requirement would somehow go away.  Unfortunately for the BCC, the only way this Charter Amendment can “go away” is through another charter amendment…which would require a citizen referendum.

Zoller was part of a working citizens group that sought to anticipate the worst case scenarios for bad growth, and to build in constraints to protect the land, the taxpayers, and the environment from the abuses of overdevelopment. He goes on to say:

Note Maio’s language here: "Maio then referred to the county Charter language about fiscal neutrality as “that poison pill,” adding, “And now we’re paying the price, again and again and again, unless somebody wants to correct me publicly … I’m just flabbergasted.”

They have always been aware of this requirement, yet they have blithely proceeded as though it did not exist.  This requirement was never intended as a “poison pill”…it was intended to make sure that developments, with the great burdens they might otherwise place on taxpayers with their infrastructure requirements, would pay for those burdens.  They must be fiscally neutral.

Note that the "Future Urban Area" includes large sectors of the county where developers have initiated expensive plans for giant developments - as visible in this image from the SNL:

Zoller added:

The commissioners have put themselves into a severe bind; it is now incumbent on them to put on hold all approvals that require the Fiscal Neutrality Analysis until such time as those analyses have been properly performed and commitments for the infrastructure to secure that neutrality have been made by the developers of any such developments.

This is a huge issue that needed to have been addressed years ago; wishful thinking did not and will not get it done.

Though still developing, this important story puts in focus the conflict between a sober planning process that requires care and thoughtful provision for costs and impacts on the one hand, and a concierge-style Board that does all within its power to duck, shirk, and otherwise ignore the rules in order to let developers save time and money at the public expense. Stay tuned.

A cosy world of money, growth, power, and greed

Sarasota is a tight little world of big money flowing from developers who are transforming our environment, our open lands, our air, waters and beaches -- into hard cash in their own pockets.

Some of that cash flows to candidates they groom to vote for their many projects.

What track is Mike Moran on?

Moran . . .

- voted for Benderson.

- voted for Pat Neal.

- persuaded the Planning Commission to approve Carlos Beruff's houses near a possibly toxic dump.

- voted for Gabbert's giant open air debris demolition plant next to the Celery Fields.

Moran even voted against protecting a small rural area in East County that wanted to "Keep the Country . . . Country."

His "Florida Country" PAC keeps growing - it's now at $185,000.

Is this the track we want Sarasota County to be on?

When the 170-year-old East Sarasota rural area called Old Miakka came up with that slogan, Moran's backers created a new Political Action Committee - a slush fund they call "Florida Country."

The aim is to confuse voters. Mike Hutchinson, a Republican from Old Miakka, ran against Moran because he actually wants to keep the Country . . . Country. Hutchinson lost the primary by a few hundred votes.

The Florida Country PAC's treasurer is Eric Robinson. Robinson is called "PAC-MAN" because he manages scores of PACs that move hefty bushels of anonymous money into the campaigns of those candidates developers desperately want to win.

Eric Robinson

Just a few of the developers dumping money into Robinson's PACs:

PACs are supposed to remain at arm's length from candidates and their campaigns.

However, while managing the Florida Country PAC, Robinson happens also to be the treasurer of gun-loving Mike Moran's campaign for re-election to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners.

Robinson also manages the campaign for another Commissioner running for re-election, Nancy Detert:

Detert has several developers and PACs to thank as well:

Here are the PACs listed in Commissioner Detert's campaign finance report:

Ludicrously wealthy Sarasota seems to have only one available accountant . . . making for a cosy little world of developers, candidates, pitch men, ad buyers, power brokers and the voters they target.

For some reason, the local press hasn't bothered scrutinizing this tight little world. Maybe it should.

This close-knit syndicate controls what happens in Sarasota County -- what gets built, what lands get rezoned, who gets rich, who gets dumped on.

As we citizens found when we almost lost the Celery Fields to a dump.

When more than 65 citizens came to the Board to plead for the protection of the Celery Fields bird habitat, this was Mr. MORAN's response: