The Blueprint 2020 board saw tensions flare again as two of its members — City Commissioners Jack Porter and Jeremy Matlow — grilled staff about management of the agency and the hiring of its top executive.
At one point, City Commissioner Curtis Richardson packed up and left chambers, later remarking that the meeting had “devolved.” County Commissioner Bill Proctor worried whether the board was “eating ourselves internally.”
The meeting on Thursday was the first time the board gathered since their bitter, final vote to give $27 million in sales tax proceeds to fund repairs at Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium. It was the latest example of still-simmering tensions among board members who split over a controversial issue defining this year’s local elections.
Blueprint battle:
The 12-member panel had a short agenda with a single discussion item to review the structure and governance of the agency which is tasked with implementing millions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure and economic development projects.
The meeting came to a snippy halt after Matlow leveled concerns about what he called an “infamously opaque” sales tax authority and its director and Porter questioned the adherence to Sunshine Laws of the Intergovernmental Management Committee, made up of City Manager Reese Goad and County Administrator Vince Long.
Matlow was building to a motion to ask the state Attorney General’s Office issue an opinion about whether the IMC is subject to open meeting requirements of the Sunshine Laws but never got there.
“I really want to make a motion to adjourn because we’ve exhausted the agenda that was presented and prepared for us,” City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox said.
Her motion passed in a 5-5 vote that tipped toward approval because of the IA’s weighted voting bylaws. Mayor John Dailey, County Commissioners Jimbo Jackson and Nick Maddox and City Commissioners Curtis Richardson joined Williams-Cox in ending the meeting.
County Commissioner Carolyn Cummings left the chambers moments before the vote. Bill Proctor had also left the room. Video of the meeting ended with Porter saying, “Wow.”
A member of the public yelled at Williams-Cox after adjournment about shutting down public business. “I’ve got to go speak with the Urban League about gun violence,” she replied, a reference to a roundtable she attended later that evening.
In a statement after the meeting, Minor said the move to abruptly end the meeting left the public with the perception of a lack of transparency.
“I voted against adjournment because we shouldn’t cut off debate in this way, even when we don’t like the discussion,” he wrote. “To the public, it looks like we aren’t being open and transparent.”
Texts back in the spotlight
Matlow’s questions referenced reporting in the Tallahassee Democrat about the hiring of one of Blueprint’s top officials, Ben Pingree, director of Tallahassee/Leon County Planning, Land Management & Community Enhancement.
Inside the Maddox Messages:
In August, the Democrat reported on a cache of text messages between former City Commissioner Scott Maddox and numerous other people, including Pingree. The messages were included in government exhibits in the public corruption trial of J.T. Burnette, Maddox’s co-conspirator in a pay-to-play scheme involving city vendors.
“Cut the deal. Blueprint is yours,” Maddox texted Pingree in late 2015, suggesting he was playing an unseen role in the hiring. Pingree’s hiring by Long and former City Manager Rick Fernandez was publicly announced two months later.
Pingree confirmed Thursday that the interview took place at the Midtown bar, Brass Tap. After Matlow asked whether alcohol was consumed, Pingree said he was “very focused on speaking to my capacity and my competency.”
The line of questioning prompted other commissioners and Blueprint attorney Barbara Dawson to ask whether it was relevant more than six years after the fact.
“These issues are not germane to the discussion,” said Dawson, who reports directly to Pingree. “They seem to be going in a personal nature regarding an event that was years ago. I don’t know where it’s going. What’s going on here in terms of the line of questioning may be improper.”
But Chairman Nick Maddox said the questions could continue. Matlow asked Long whether any other candidates besides Pingree were considered for the position.
“I think Ben was the only applicant for the position,” Long replied.
Long also addressed whether any elected officials influenced Pingree’s hire.
“Absolutely not. There were absolutely no commissioners involved,” Long said. “That’s not to say commissioners said they were involved. Zero. None. Never.”
Matlow said his questions were justified. He also said text messages in the Democrat’s reporting were the only record the public had of what happened.
“It looks bad,” Matlow said, “and I don’t know if we can ignore that. Having control of a billion-dollar agency and conducting an interview in a bar is just not OK by me.”
A call for a reset
Other text messages revealed by the Democrat in a public records request also took center stage at the meeting.
Proctor asked the board to take a step back from the tense tone of the last few months when Blueprint grappled with some of the most controversial issues it has faced in its more than three decades of existence.
He referenced recent reporting by the Democrat on text messages between IA members and their aides, political advisers and constituents during their Feb. 24 meeting, when the stadium last came up. The messages were laced with political maneuvering and a few putdowns.
Political intrigue and put-downs:
Proctor, the longest serving local elected official, noted public shaming over votes, attacks on staff and a general lack of decorum.
“I’m just hoping we can rise above that. There’s no respect and there’s a willful disregard for the equal regard for each other,” Proctor said. “We need to carry forth what has been a good idea. It has wrought a lot of good. Everybody at this table ought to re-up, let’s start anew.”
Blueprint management structure called into question
Commissioners took up an informational item on the structure of Blueprint after Porter sought in February to put the hiring and firing power of the PLACE director in the hands of elected officials, not the IMC. Doing so would require city and county commissioners to change long-standing interlocal agreements.
Porter said there were two issues with the IMC: public control and accountability and whether it comes under the Sunshine Law. The law requires members of the same public board to meet openly and maintain minutes.
She said the lack of meeting minutes or publicly noticed meetings left questions.
“I do see there being a larger role than simply managing,” Porter said. “And that is not to mention the HR concerns and accountability concerns that have been raised recently with the function of Blueprint.”
Dawson argued that the IMC doesn’t hold formal meetings like other boards that come under open meeting requirements.
“The bottom line is there’s no gray area here,” Dawson said. “The IMC is in compliance with public records law, with applicable Sunshine laws. The IMC is not doing anything that is policy driven. It’s not making policy — it is the IA board that does that.”
In a letter this week to Blueprint board members, Citizens for Ethics Reform contended that the IMC is subject to public meeting requirements. The IMC makes recommendations and can award contracts up to $250,000.
“We are not aware of noticed meetings of the IMC, the availability for public comment in public meetings of the IMC, or the production of minutes by the IMC,” the group wrote. “We strongly encourage you to address compliance with the Sunshine Law by requiring that whenever the IMC is formulating recommendations for presentation to the agency, or is making decisions and conducting public business, the IMC conduct its business in noticed public meetings, provide for public input and produce minutes of its actions.”
Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter.
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