Henry Frederick
henryfrederick@nsbnews.net
Henry Frederick, Editor/Publisher of NSBNews.net
View Henry's Blog Archives here View full user profile here
NSBNEWS.net has thoroughly examined the campaign platforms of Zone 1 City Commissioner Randy Richenberg and challenger Judy Reiker. We are convinced the time for change is now and absolutely necessary if New Smyrna Beach is to move beyond the bickering and partisanship that has resulted in millions of taxpayer dollars being wasted and nothing of significance to show for it. NSBNEWS.net endorses Reiker in the Nov. 3 elections.
The voters got it right in the Sept. 22 primary with 48.4 percent of the vote total and we concur.
Reiker's enthusiasm and can-do persona is infectious and what New Smyrna Beach needs while the seaside community remains entrenched in a national recession like communities near and far.
Reiker has an impressive background in business, including an MBA and many civic achievements. She brings a lot of vitality and enthusiasm to the campaign.
With Richenberg, the city is floundering with over-spent budgets and high costs coupled with what are clearly unnecessarily expensive land purchases and projects that are going nowhere.
We're not sure he even has a high school diploma or GED and his rants and flip flops on the dais have shown him to be indecisive at best and certainly divisive at worst.
For example, in September 2008, Richenberg, along with the rest of the commissioners and Mayor Sally Mackay, caved when Bouchelle Island resident Bill Koleszar threatened to recall any and all who voted not to cut proposed spending by $1.3 million for the 2009 fiscal year.
Several months later, with Koleszar not in attendance, Richenberg publicly ripped him. In his mea culpa, Richenberg said he felt "ashamed" and "bullied."
So what did Richenberg do earlier this month after losing badly to Reiker in the primary? He voted to go below the rolled-back rate (legally not a tax increase) in favor of raiding the reserves for close to a million bucks.
This means the city will have to either make massive personnel cuts in the next fiscal year, raise taxes by a million or raid the reserves again for the same amount because it can't go above $8.9 million in ad valorem taxes due to tax reform. Richenberg and company focused instead on trivial cuts like $14,000 in water and coffee for city workers in the new fiscal year.
As for bloated salaries and huge benefits packages, the commission, with Richenberg's blessing allowed 135 city works to gross at least $40,000 in fiscal 2009, compared to 100 employees at the same salary level the year before.
Richenberg's budget vote this time around was especially significant because, in essence, he stabbed the unionized firefighters and cops in the back after they endorsed him. Now, some of their jobs are in doubt should budget cuts materialize. Because police and fire make up the majority of personnel costs, they will be high on the chopping block.
Of course, the endorsements from the Teamsters and the International Association of Firefighters were announced weeks before Richenberg's flip flop.
Ironically, even with Richenberg's penchant for city land purchases that go nowhere, the Board of Realtors threw its support to Reiker.
Richenberg was an outspoken supporter of spending taxpayer dollars -- $417,000 -- in Community Redevelopment Agency funds in January to purchase the former Dunn Lumber property at the corner of U.S. 1 and West Canal Street.
The sale for this arsenic-laced sliver of property came out of nowhere with no stated purpose and at full market value in a recession. Even with federal monies secured to clean up the site, there were no takers to do something with it when the city put out bids for development recently. And so now, the city is saying what was obvious from the beginning: That the property's only really suitable use is that of a turning lane. It could have been acquired for a fraction of the price through eminent domain for such a public purpose.
There have been far too many 3-2 votes to spend, spend, spend, to the tune of millions of dollars, especially this year. Richenberg has been at the forefront of such wasteful spending of taxpayers monies.
Richenberg voted in February to fire City Manager John Hagood who had seven months left in his contract after nearly 30 years of municipal service. That move invoked a $297,000 payout to satisfy Hagood's contract, plus tens of thousands more in two interim city managers.
A full eight months later, the city is no closer to a replacement other than current interim Pam Brangaccio who wants what Hagood was paid, if not more. What's worse, Hagood was sent packing with seven months to do nothing, but sit at home and collect his pay.
What was accomplished in the interim? Nothing, though the city spent several thousand dollars for a daylong retreat at the Atlantic Center for the Arts to list its priorities, even though Hagood had a lengthy list with more than 100 projects.
Besides the Hagood ouster, Richenberg tried to fire City Attorney Frank Gummey "for cause" last spring after Gummey and an attorney for the Utilities Commission disagreed over technical language.
Had Richenberg gotten his way with trying to dump Gummey in such a weasel-handed way, Gummey's firing would have cost the city a whopping payout in excess of $450,000 per his contract. And perhaps hundreds of thousands more in litigation if Gummey sued to ensure he was made whole, plus damages. But Richenberg only had the backing of Commissioner Lynne Plaskett with Mayor Sally Mackay not supporting him on that one.
During that episode, it was revealed that Richenberg had made dozens of calls on his city-issued cell phone, presumably for advice, to high-powered attorney Clay Henderson who was retained by the Utilities Commission.
And speaking of costly litigation, Richenberg later joined forces with his public foe, Bill Koleszar, in trying to get the city's longstanding lease with the Angler's club invalidated.
Gummey gave his legal opinion that the lease was valid, but Richenberg pushed for the hiring of outside counsel at the urging of Koleszar and Richenberg's eventual campaign manager, Keith Gerhartz, who also called for Hagood's removal.
The outside attorney cost the city $28,000 and even he cautioned the city not to sue the Anglers, even though he felt the city had a winnable case, but rather to negotiate. Richenberg was the lone commissioner to subsequently vote against negotiating with the Anglers, on the guise he wanted more information such as an appraisal, which he could have asked for as part of negotiations.
All of this brings us back to Richenberg's opponent, Judy Reiker, who brings a breath of fresh air to the stagnant and acrimonious atmosphere that has hung over the commission in the last couple of years.
The time for change at City Hall is at hand and Reiker looks like she is well qualified to start that change. In fact, if we don’t have any changes at city hall there might be a tsunami of apathy awash over New Smyrna Beach with most of the citizens losing all interest in what happens at city hall. Watching the third of the three debates on video at NSBNEWS.net, Reiker was the only one to use the magical phrase “property rights.”
Reiker understands the importance of property rights and what they mean to the economy and what happens when they are trampled on. She understands the need for economic development and is supportive of the proposed hotel on Flagler Avenue. She has an impressive list of goals and objectives as well as her stand on the issues (see her Web site: voteforjudynsb.com).
Another problem facing the city of New Smyrna Beach is that it is unfriendly to business. Reiker is the one most likely to do something to improve this situation with her business acumen.
Right now New Smyrna Beach can be a nightmare for someone trying to start or expand a business. The classical approach to this problem is to have an “ombudsman” to guide prospective or expanding business owners through the minefield of city red tape, plus maybe an attitude change at city hall. There is a significant issue the voter should take into consideration in this commission race: The economic slow down is unlikely to end any time soon as long as the present policies are followed on a national level. This means that hoping for the economy to have a substantial improvement and relieve the pressures on the people and the government isn’t going to work. We need to attack our problems directly. Cost cutting is not a thing that can be easily done overnight. Good organizations have a continuous climate of cost cutting and efficiency. There is almost never such a climate in government. The good news is that in the absence of any climate of efficiency there is an abundance of “low hanging targets “ for the cost cutters when they decide to cut. The bad news is that sudden cuts are always very painful and difficult to do.
Reiker's message from day 1 has resonated with the public: "All together Better!" We expect it will be with Reiker replacing the first-term incumbent, whose record of failure is clear. Even his own campaign manager, Keith Gerhartz, made an appeal to supporters through a recent e-mail with a message that reads like a recycled version of Reiker's: "For You. For NSB."
"I know in my heart that Randy represents this town and its people well," Gerhartz wrote."He is doing this for me, for you and for NSB. Extremely corny I know, but it is true. Unfortunately this fact is not enough. Others need to feel this way also or he will not get re-elected."
Gerhartz added," It is up to those of us who know who Randy is and what Randy has done to share it with others because if we don't, then he may (no) longer be here for us. Please consider forwarding this e-mail to your friends and neighbors. I will be sending additional e-mails but will not make this type of plea over and over again because I think it is obnoxious. I just feel very compelled to do what I can because I think it is so important and I hope that you will help too."
Here are other points Gerhartz pointed out in his e-mail urging supporters to get the vote out for Richenberg:
# "Utilities Commission Telecom Debacle -- Petitioned the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State's Attorney to investigate millions of dollars lost under previous management in the NSB Utilities Commission Telecom debacle."
# "City Finances -- Helped turn around a troubled City Finance Department and achieved one of the lowest millage rates in Volusia County."
# "City Manager Evaluation -- Pursued and was successful in requiring the first performance evaluation for our City Manager in 29 years."
# "Sustainable Development -- Instrumental in protecting residential beachside neighborhoods from high density, high impact, condominium development."
# "High School to Eco-Friendly Jobs -- driving force behind recruiting for re-use of the old high school as a generator of eco-friendly research and educational jobs."
The first and fourth points made by Gerhartz are certainly laudable, but he never gave Hagood a chance to redeem himself. The evaluation instead was used as a weapon to hasten Hagood's removal.
As far as the old high school site, Richenberg missed the deadlines for soliciting earmarks from New Smyrna Beach's own Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, which means another year's wait for possible funding -- a year's opportunity lost.
As for the city's finance and millage rates, Richenberg has voted far too many times in his four years in office to raid the reserves for several million, instead of utilizing zero-based budgeting to make meaningful spending cuts.
Richenberg said he was against the CRA's purchase of a nearly $9,000 artificial Christmas tree, but he was unaware of the purchase until well after the fact and didn't publicly address it until asked at the second candidates debate.
As a first-time office seeker, Reiker doesn't have a record to fall back on, though even Richenberg's record is his biggest achilles heel.
Regardless, she offers a tremendous upside over the incumbent. Reiker, who runs a successful title company and was past president of the New Smyrna Beach Rotary, wrote on her Website: "To be an effective commissioner requires a person of strong convictions, but compromise makes it all work in the end. As each of us individually, each city department and each elected official contributes with all that they have to give, for the good of all citizens, we can be -- all together better!"
Had Richenberg developed and applied that line of thinking, especially in the area of "compromise," he would have served the interests of all the city's residents instead of putting the interests of a vocal minority first.
Speaking of candidate Web sites, it's interesting to note that Richenberg's own Web site is "expired." Perhaps on Nov. 3, Randy Richenberg's tenure on the City Commission will have expired as well and Judy Reiker will have her opportunity for her motto to be fulfilled: "All together Better!"
EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog was researched and written by Henry Frederick with contribution from Peter Mallory. Both are the founding publishers and partners of NSBNEWS.net, established in April 2008. After the endorsement was posted, Richenberg's Web site was reinstated by his campaign camp. Campaign manager Keith Gerhartz called to complain about the endorsement, but refused to be specific about his complaints and declined an invitation to write a response. He also made it clear that neither he nor Richenberg would have anything further to do with NSBNEWS.net.
FAST FACTS:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAID POLITICAL ADS
