Providing education and educational resources to the general public concerning the municipal incorporation of the Perdido, Florida community. Learning about the municipal incorporation process.
MEETING AGENDA
January 23, 2023
7-9 p.m.
Liberty Church, 2221 S Blue Angel Pkwy
- Welcome (Steven Brendtro, We Are Perdido)
- Florida Civics and Municipal Incorporation (Lynn Tipton, Florida League of Cities)
- Question & Answer, from Presubmitted Questions (Steven Brendtro and Lynn Tipton)
- Local Community Voices
A. PastorBufordLipscomb,InnerarityIslandresident
B. CraigDalton,PerdidoBayYouthSportsAssociation
- Introduction of the We Are Perdido Organization Board Members (Craig Dalton)
- Status Report (Steven Brendtro)
- Overview of Costs and Funding Sources (Steven Brendtro)
- Conclusion and Adjournment
Website: https://weareperdido.org/
Reference Materials: https://weareperdido.org/resources/
Videos of Public Meetings: https://bit.ly/perdido-meetings
Get Involved: https://weareperdido.org/volunteer/
We Are Perdido
10447 Sorrento Rd
Suite 100 PMB 200
Pensacola, FL 32507
info@weareperdido.org
850-303-0089
I went. It was a large if mostly older and openly skeptical crowd. Lynn Tipton gave a masterful overview of municipal government in Florida at the 35,000-foot level and was very upfront that this is a complicated process. The Florida Office of Economic & Demographic Research website describes that two municipal proposals just got shot down for a second time last month by the Florida Legislature staff. I got a sense last night that what “We Are Perdido” does not know vastly exceeds what little it has learned to date. Enthusiasm is great but actual knowledge and real facts and a realistic understanding about local government relationships is better. We Are Perdido might want to focus more immediately on learning about local government and how it works both in theory and practice and studying the two local municipalities that work very well – Gulf Breeze, Jay. We Are Perdido seems to want to replicate a local version of Fort Myers Beach created in 1995. Would probably be useful to study it starting with the original intent and then see how it has evolved to now 28 years later. A visit to assess Fort Myers Beach seems a good idea too. It’s a short airplane ride away. After Hurricane Ian, I wanted to find out why Fort Myers Beach seemed to struggle making some basic decisions. It was obvious enough to be discussed by the national media. I was surprised to uncover that the city’s very new Emergency Manager seemed to have no actual prior meaningful experience in emergency management but did have 6+ years of experience as a Cracker Barrell Host. Municipal government is hard; harder without good staff. The fairly new mayor tried in 2021 to get rid of the city manager. The city manager did resign in November 2022 but then maybe to spite him the council immediately suspended him with pay. Fort Myers Beach City Hall seems in chaotic turmoil. Multiple department heads have recently been axed or pushed out and it looks like the city attorney might be on his way out too. [Note to “We Are Perdido” – This type of stuff does “not” happen in the “no drama” City of Gulf Breeze. Maybe it should aspire to a “Gulf Breeze Lite” model. Hire Buzz Eddy and Matt Dannheisser to advise you.] As discussed in the November 18, November 21 and January 15 entries at the local online newspaper link below, former Pensacola City Administrators Chris Holley and Keith Wilkins are currently the co-city managers of Fort Myers Beach. https://www.fortmyersbeachtalk.com/news/