HomeMy WebLinkAboutFormer Commissioner Edward Martinez Jr.-1998 Let's clear the air! •
A well informed community Other community leaders a coincidence? (The Mayor was
can form opinions and make intel- and the minutes of the Dec.8.1997 not banking on my victory and
ligent decisions. I was elected to commissionmeeting will partly sup- therefore not planning to do any-
represent all the people in our city, port this statement. thing about the City attorney).
while running as a candidate from I, as well as other commu- Without any warning and
district#3. nity leaders,requested the Mayor under his seat,the Mayor shocked
I have not taken sides and to fulfdlhis campaign commitment the commission with"I am firing.
have voted Independently and on His response was an unequivocal the City attorney." The after
the merits of the issues.I stand on "No...I can not do it alone" add- shocks of this surprise took up ap-
the record.I was not elected to sat- ing,"Kruppenbacher is my friend proximately one hour and led to
isfy the whims and pleasures of in- and I have to do this right and I the present state of affairs.
dividuals nor special groups.I will intend to propose an evaluation For the record,the City At-
always act on behalf of the overall procedure allowing the commission tomey confronted the Mayor with
community and its residents. and City Manager to participate the fact that they met the previous
There are goings onthatl have and I will make my decision based Friday(12/5/97)and charged that
not been able to decipher yet, but on the results of that report." the Mayor had informed him that
they are disconcerting and have The Mayor's actions speak he was going to fire him and in-
blocked the positive work of the for themselves.He reappointed the tended to appoint one Mike Jor-
Commission as they startedto move City attorney for another year and dan as the City Attorney..all with-
the City forward from its inertia never addressed the evaluation by out the knowledge and consent of
Thus; I would like to state the Commission in any meeting for the city Commission.
the following points: Let it not be a full year. The Mayor denied the
forgotten that our Mayor won his The Mayor's actions were in charge.Based on the proceedings
election In 1997 by only 16 votes. defiance of the many voters in the that followed,you the constituency
Let it also not be forgotten that had community where he resides. be the judge and figure out who is
it not been for Ed Martinez and his There were repented articles in telling the truth.
group of campaign workers andvot- Tuscawillalbday denouncing the. The issue surrounding the
ers,Paul P.Partyka would not have Mayor's lack of action.The Mayor power play involving the City At-
beenelectedMayorofourcity! said nothing and did nothing,until torney is nothing short of an effort
I challenge our Mayor to re- choosing to spring a surprise onthe by our Mayor to satiate the thirst
fine that My support of our Mayor commission. of his ego. Our City Charter,tan-
was contingent upon the promise that The Mayor chose to spring [amount to the State Constitution
immediately after his victory, he his much delayed action on the states:Sec.4.06"All powers of the
would fire the City Attorney,Frank evening of December 8,1997,the City shall be vested inthe Commis-
Kmppenbacher.Unfortunately,our day when I took my seat after a sion, who shall provide...for the
Mayor betrayed that promise. decisive election victory.Was this performance of all duties and obli-
�j1c o 7
Rations imposed o� shall be by totally surfaced and that apparently friends without the confirmation of
Sec. 6.02 '
City S crne has the support of the Mayor, is the Commission.
Y appointed by the the undercurrent efforts to remove I took an oath to never let any-
mayor and approved by the City the current City Manager Who Is one hijack the Commission. Our
Commission and shall perform all behind all this?The Mayor bas been Mayor will not be an exception.
other duties assigned to him by the insisting that we have a workshop Edward Martinez It
City Commission."
In conside ' to establish an evaluation format Winter Springs
ring these essen- for the City Manager
tial sections of the Charter, it But why did the Mayor not
should be obvious that the ensuing strive as hard to establish such a
legal battle being brought upon the procedure for the evaluation of the
City and its Commission's strictly City Attorney; a nonnegotiable
the Mayor who is seeking to in- commitment? Inquiring minds_
date an already swollen ego.
i
his obvious distil the Mayor want to know. The states to in his
Y muddled.state of mind states he is
has the
power to fire the City at- not suing the City but the Commis-
tomey:the attorney could not corn- sioners individually.
ply with the dictum of section 6.02 I do not understand his ratio-
of the City Charter. The issue nale. The legal interpretation as-
clearly is not the City attorney.The serted by the system is believed to
issue all along is the audacity of he that when suing City Commis-
the.Mayor to usurp powers not sioners over issues dealing with the
expressly granted to him. The performance of their official duties,
Commission has to hold fast or you are in fact suing the City and
become puppets with the Mayor them/neat subdivisionhmp'esents
being the puppeteer.
The Mayor covertly hides I learned through my many
behind the facade that he wishes yew in the Criminal Justice system
to have his job defined by the Job thateverydungcomesoutinthe wash
Is well defined by the City Char- and whatever itis that is causing our
ter. All powers are vested in the Mmsof forceteeCityto sperdlarge
Commission,who shall sums of tax payers money to defend
all duties i provide for a baseless position,will come out in
imposed City,and the wash eventually
who shall confirm nominations of
Even if the Mayor had hs
a city clerk and attorney.
Another issue that has not power to fire he could not hire hs
Mayor,not Commission text,for it was the mayor who initiated
brought legal action court proceedings and the ensuing liti-
gation.
Reporting is an art and the same as The self-serving statements alluding
every aspect of life;mistakes are made to the$30,000 in legal expenses is noth-
because we are all human. ing more than political play at its best.
Regarding your article ("Partyka The mayor was approached on at least
threatens to veto budget,"Oct. 1),some five occasions and it was suggested to
corrections need mentioning. him that he withdraw the matter in court
The threat of a veto of the City bud- and to schedule a workshop to resolve
get was strictly for political expediency, the attorney issue once and for all. He
for we are now using the pulpit to launch refused each time.
the 1999 campaign. Would any of you having the city's
There appears to be a very intriguing best interest at heart refuse this olive
conspiracy involving people to whom our branch? Would you, knowing that it
Mayor cannot say no.Follow the events would take three votes from the com-
leading up to Monday night. mission to confirm the appointment of a
On December 8, 1997, the mayor new attorney, not choose to work with
abruptly states that he is firing the city your colleagues in good faith?
attorney.The city attorney is present and It is important to understand that ego
tells the mayor to his face that the Fri- apparently has played a big role in this'
day before he was asked to resign be- matter,and had not some interested par-,
cause the mayor wanted to appoint one ties provided the mayor pro bono legal
Michael D.Jones as city attorney. assistance,he would have never brought
A person of average intelligence could this matter before the judiciary.
assume that the mayor should have Another correction has to do with the
scheduled a workshop with his fellow statement charged to me.I said the legal
commissioners, professionally discuss expense became necessary when the
the matter and in a businesslike fashion mayor chose to force the issue upon the
bring it to a close,or,use the same tactic Commission,which was abiding by the
he employed Monday evening. city charter.It was another person who
You stated that the commission expressed the idea of adding another
brought the mayor to court.I would like $30,000 if necessary to complete due
your paper to place that in its proper con- process,not yours truly.
The mayor compared himself to the
President and his authority to fire;now
he makes mention of the President and
Lewinski legacy and makes mention of
the line item veto.His mind seems to be
in the White House,but as common folks
live, work and enjoy life in the City of
Winter Springs,a small semi-suburban
city of 28,000.God Save the King!
At the end, however, it was a cheap
political charade.There was no veto but
a political bag of wind permeating City
Hall.
? ?/e 4 3 The mayor's offering to settle the at-
torney issue was not made in good faith
and came with strings attached. He
wants to go out singing"I did it my may."
For the citizens in doubt,the attorney
issue is moot.As soon as the legal mat-
ter is settled, we will have to honestly
settle down to the task of hiring a new
law firm to serve the City of Winter
Springs and not individuals.
EDWARD MARTINEZ,Jr.
Commissioner,District 3
Winter Springs