Letter: A Lot to Watchdog in New BOCC's First Meeting

Hello Friends and Concerned Citizens. First, I want to give a shout-out to all who are willing to invest their time and attention to what is happening with your Manatee County Government. Without independent journalists such as Dawn Kitterman of the Bradenton Times and Marc Masferrer of the Bradenton Journal, I’m pretty sure the news would not be published.

On November 29, 2022, the first regular meeting with the newly seated Board members will take place. This follows the decision of the previous Chair and Board members not facing an election to cancel numerous meetings in order to silence outgoing Commissioners Reggie Bellamy, Carol Whitmore, and Misty Servia. Additionally, County Administrator Scott Hopes used the "break“ to vacation outside the country, and in his absence ordered his deputies (he has 4) to cut off the Commissioner’s access to the 9th Floor even as they are still serving as his bosses and duly elected Constitutional Officers (their terms end at Midnight Monday).

On the November 29th agenda, there are numerous items of interest. First, the Chair has reinstated the "Commissioner Comments“ portion of the agenda. Apparently, all the arguments about who does or doesn’t have this item on the agenda were only for the previous BOCC members who the chair wanted to silence.

Another agenda item that may not be a surprise, but certainly has not had any public discussion, is Item #51-adoption of Ordinance 22-109 which amends the County Code of Ordinances to establish criteria for the private use of the County’s Class I deep injection wells. This Ordinance is necessary because the County is entering into an agreement with Allied New Technologies 2, Inc. ("Allied“) to take their "brine reject“ described as a byproduct of their manufacture of sodium hypochlorite into the county’s Industrial Deep Injection well at the Buffalo Creek wastewater treatment plant site ( agenda item # 55).

The agreement allows Allied to dispose of a maximum of 40,000 gallons per day of brine reject waste, in addition to constructing holding tanks and other equipment to be able to use the County well located adjacent to a County Park and school. Currently, Allied is trucking their brine waste from their existing operations to their facility located in Port St.Lucie. It is interesting to note that when Allied came before the Commission in 2017 to obtain financial assistance via tax abatement in order to build their plant in Manatee County, they stated that they would not dispose of their estimated 20,000 GPD brine reject in Manatee County, and specifically would not dispose of the waste in a deep well.

At that meeting, Commissioner Baugh made a point of this assurance in her approval of the tax abatement for the company. The well that the Company is using is one that was paid for by County ratepayers and constructed in anticipation of a future potable reverse-osmosis plant (CIP project no 6114070). It is unclear what will become of this project given its use by the private company of the well.

Also on this agenda is item #53, Confirmation of Appointment of Deputy Administrator Mitchell Teitelbaum, Esq. Attorney Teitelbaum, most recently served as the General Counsel for the School District of Manatee County, is anticipated to be the 4th Deputy County Administrator to be appointed by Hopes at a base salary of $190,923, which in addition to the County Administrator’s base salary of $214,988 annually before benefits has greatly expanded the budget of the County Administration from the previous administration. Former administrator Cheri Coryea had only 2 deputy county administrators, and her salary was roughly the same as a deputy salary under Hopes. Currently, legal advice is restricted to the County Attorney’s office-so it’s not clear what Teitelbaum’s role will be.

This is just the start of what we may expect from the newly elected County Commission and its hand-picked Administer. I will continue to try to shed light on what our elected officials and staff paid for by OUR TAX DOLLARS are doing. Please speak up and participate.

Betsy Benac

Former Manatee County Commissioner