The rush by the current City Commission to pass a sweeping ethics ordinance being pushed by Commissioner Pam Militello seven days before our municipal election on Mar. 10 is nothing less than breathtaking. The 20-page document contains 5,471 words of blather written by local attorney Tom Connick. It is apparently intended to hamstring and harass the mayor, each of the commissioners, the city manager, city employees and everyone seeking to do business here and even candidates for office as well. Without boring you with all of the complicated details, which will be impossible for anyone to understand and to comply with, those officials and candidates who would be under the hammer of this ordinance might find it very stressful and potentially expensive to even work for this City. The first vote of the Commission took place on Feb. 17 with District 1 Commissioner Militello (who took only four years to produce the ordinance) voting for it, ironically along with Marty Popelsky, who has often been accused of violating the existing code and interim District 4 Commissioner Colleen Simpson-DiDonato. Mayor Poitier and interim Commissioner Gloria Battle wisely voted against it.
One of the problems is that this ordinance could cost the City, and, therefore, us taxpayers, potentially millions of dollars spent with Tom Connick or other “outside” lawyers. This is because it contains enforcement procedures which authorize the city attorney to refer a matter to an outside lawyer and then to retain a retired judge to hear the complaint with appeals to the Broward County Circuit Court. Since the City would be obligated to pay the legal costs, just imagine the additional expense this ordinance will cost the taxpayers, especially considering the fact that the State of Florida already has ethics laws 68 pages long on the books.
If the legal notice provisions are met and this ordinance goes to a final vote on Mar. 3, we sincerely hope that Commissioners Militello and Popelsky will reconsider, in light of the potential additional legal costs for the City and that Commissioner Simpson-DiDonato will abstain and allow whoever is elected in her district on Mar. 10 to study this matter, hold public hearings to get the input of the citizens and to act in the best interests of all of the residents and officials of Deerfield Beach.
