And that’s exactly what the voters in High Springs did to city hall — cleaned it out.

There is a lot [...]]]> We caught a break, a few month’s worth at least, from all those eyesore political signs — they’ll start popping up with yard sale signs attached to them once everyone does their spring cleaning.

And that’s exactly what the voters in High Springs did to city hall — cleaned it out.

There is a lot to glean from last Tuesday’s results and I’ll try to distill out what I found in the voting data below.

The most unpopular politicians of all time

Bob Barnas, Dean Davis, and Linda Gestrin are all in the running for the fastest fall from popular election to support of less than 1% of the electorate I have ever seen. I haven’t run a poll in the city to give you concrete numbers, but based on the previous two election results, the total lack of public support and the tone of recent meetings, everything these three seem to touch goes down in flames.

Let’s look at three indicators:

• The special election of Scott Jamison
  In the Spring of this year, a rare special election was held to fill a vacated High Springs City Commission seat.  The Barnas-led majority, who just months earlier hired former office manager and campaign supporter Jeri Langman as permanent city manager, sprung into action to ensure Ann Carter, their handpicked candidate, was elected.  They donated, sign-waved, put signs in their yard, and spread the word throughout the community that Carter was their preferred candidate.  Carter lost to newcomer Scott Jamison by a crushing 18-point margin.

• Byran Williams defeats Pat Rush
  By most measures, Pat Rush, a political newcomer, should have easily won election over former Commissioner and Mayor Byran Williams.  Williams has had some reelection trouble in the past, losing two out of three elections over the last three years.  Rush claimed experience as the campaign manager for a successful State Representative campaign and his in-laws had congressional campaign experience.  But Rush received the endorsement of the current Barnas-led majority, and it cost him — he lost to Williams by over a 10-point margin.
• The debt limit amendment is toast
  This is perhaps the one piece of victory Barnas and his cronies could claim — a 34-point margin of victory at the ballot box.  For a historical perspective, in High Springs voters have approved every single charter amendment placed before them in the last 15 years.  So really the only thing you can do wrong is somehow mess up the legal process required to get in on the ballot.  Against the advice of their own legal counsel, you guessed it, Barnas, Davis, and Gestrin somehow managed to do just that.  In Judge Stan Griffis’ preliminary ruling, he stated the plaintiff in the case (claiming the city illegally passed the amendment) was likely to succeed.  In other words, the amendment will not go into effect.

Concerned Citizens for a Better High Springs

One of the interesting anomalies in this election was the formation of the non-political group, Concerned Citizens for a Better High Springs, about two months out from the election date.  The group claimed non-profit status and also claimed (and maintained) it was not an ECO (Electioneering Communications Organization) meaning it would not advocate for or against a candidate or ballot item, and thus could avoid election disclosure laws.

Receiving press mentions in The Gainesville Sun, The Observer, and The Alachua Today, the group again stated it’s purpose was to raise awareness but not endorse or support any candidate.  They even went as far as to take out an ad in the Today with all the supporters of the group’s names.

So what did this group actually do for the election?  Two observations:

• Local turnout was lower than the last presidential election
  You could say it’s a symptom of lower overall turnout, but when you boil down to how many people voted on High Springs ballot items, it was a full 10-points lower than the previous comparable election.  This broke most trends in terms of it’s severity and scale.  It is a very fair assumption to say a group the group’s “Go All The Way” ad campaign to get voters to go to the back of the four-page ballot to vote for local issues was a failure.

• More people voted for/against the charter amendment than did for commissioner
  Turnout for the High Springs Commission seat 4 was 71%.  Turnout for the High Springs charter amendment was 72.4%.  This equates to a nearly one and a half point difference in turnout between the two items.  If you’re like me, you’re wondering why in the world a High Springs resident would skip the commission race and vote for the amendment only.  Simple; they were doing just what the Concerned Citizens’ ad campaign wanted them to do — flip to the back and vote.  Only the group failed to seal the deal and tell them which way to vote.

What’s my take on this?

If you’re going to try to influence political environments, become a political organization.  If not, then go have bake sales, volunteer your time in the community, and do some civic good.  But don’t parade around as some pseudo-political organization that only muddies the water and confuses people — we have enough of those already.

Sewer is slowly tearing High Springs apart

One of the most interesting things one could gleam from the election results comes from the difference between precincts.

Byran williams enjoyed a 10.5-point margin victory over Pat Rush citywide, but in precinct 60, which holds 40% of High Springs’ 3,700 voters, Williams’ margin of victory shrunk to just under 6-points.

That’s good news and bad news.  The good is Williams had a strong, 16.7-point win in the core, older part of town.  The bad news is Rush wasn’t too far from victory in the precinct that represents the outlying parts of the city.

I’m a precinct 60 voter, so I can give you the scoop here.  The Rush campaign, with the help of wife Robyn Rush, marched through precinct 60 scaring people who aren’t on sewer with falsehoods of the sewer system and Williams’s candidacy.  They preached doom and gloom to people of coming sewer-rate apocalypse they have invented.  They even cited the City Engineering firm’s report of recommended ~$70 sewer rates as William’s diabolical plan for the city.

And you know what? It was pretty effective.

Rush’s strategy wasn’t too far off from the DNC strategy of the last six years;  divide and conquer.  Their attempt now is to pit the sewer people against the non-sewer people and ensure victory for their candidates, which they’ve received some short-term success in getting Barnas and Gestrin on the commission.

But Rush’s strategy is short-lived and only works when you have some sort of controlling interest in the media — they don’t — because it’s built upon lies and deception.  As cynical as working in the political world can make one, I still believe the good, honest guy (or gal) wins in the end.

Have you ever found yourself wondering exactly why people like Barnas and Rush do what they do?  What motivates them to go on witch hunts, trash people’s names, and create overall chaos?

Because it’s made High Springs a risky investment.  Try to take inventory on how many residential or commercial developers are interested in High Springs.  When’s the last time we had Fortune 100 companies looking to build thousands of jobs into our community like our neighbor city of Alachua has done?

As long as only half of the city is on sewer and fights the remaining half, the elections remain unpredictable and radicals like Barnas and Gestrin get into office, with Rush controlling the political sideshow from behind the scenes.

In a community with chaos at city hall, no economic development happens.

And that’s exactly what no-growthers like Rush and Barnas want.

According to Florida Statute 106.08, contributions cannot be made in excess of $500 by any individual person or company.  The law does allow an [...]]]> According to the latest campaign finance reports, Patrick Rush, a candidate for High Springs City Commission, accepted a donation for $1,000, double the legal limit imposed by Florida law.

According to Florida Statute 106.08, contributions cannot be made in excess of $500 by any individual person or company.  The law does allow an exemption if the donation is made by a political party.

The check came from Dr. Joseph M. Rush, an internal medicine doctor in Gainesville, according to sources.  Dr. Rush is presumably related to candidate Patrick Rush, who serves as his own campaign treasurer and signed the report.

The donation is listed on his financial report just above an in-kind donation of $100 made by Bob Barnas, a current city commissioner and real estate agent with Bosshardt Realty.  There is no description of what Barnas contributed, only the letter “N” is listed, also a violation of statutes.

Accepting a donation in excess of the statute-imposed limit constitutes either a first degree misdemeanor or a third degree felony, depending on how many illegal contributions are made.

Vice Mayor Bob Barnas has started using his personal website in an attempt to trash the opponent of Pat Rush, the candidate Barnas is openly supporting to fill the seat of the retiring 77 year [...]]]> In an effort to discredit the campaign of Byran Williams, one High Springs city official is taking to the internet.

Vice Mayor Bob Barnas has started using his personal website in an attempt to trash the opponent of Pat Rush, the candidate Barnas is openly supporting to fill the seat of the retiring 77 year old Mayor Dean Davis.

Barnas, a real estate agent with Bosshardt Realty, calls Williams “The 4.937 Million Dollar Man,” in reference to the dollar number of the sewer system expansion Williams joined Commissioners Eric May, Larry Travis, and Sue Weller in supporting.  The project is part of an expansion to help foster future economic growth, an expansion opposed by outspoken anti-growth advocate Robyn Rush, the wife of Barnas’ preferred candidate.

Barnas went as far as to setup a page entitled “The Truth About Byran Williams,” where he claims Williams plans to “double sewer bills.”  There is no record of Williams making such a statement and Barnas offers no backing data to support it.

The site, which features neon yellow text set against a bright orange and green background, also takes jabs at fellow commissioners as well as host of media outlets.  Barnas has been an outspoken critic of The Alachua Today, The Observer, and The Gainesville Sun, claiming on his website he plans to start his own newspaper, entitled The High Springs Reporter.

Barnas also condescendingly refers to fellow Commissioner Scott Jamison as “The Anti-Man,” with a statement following where Barnas calls for all commissioners to be subject to an IQ test.

Speaking during “commissioners comments,” a time reserved at the end of the city commission meeting for commissioners to speak on any issue they please, Vice-Mayor Bob Barnas asked the commission for approval for the City [...]]]> Mailboxes everywhere are filling up with political mailers, but one in particular may grab the attention of High Springs residents.

Speaking during “commissioners comments,” a time reserved at the end of the city commission meeting for commissioners to speak on any issue they please, Vice-Mayor Bob Barnas asked the commission for approval for the City to mail a positive spin political mail piece to all residents.

According to Barnas, the real news of High Springs’ success wasn’t being portrayed by any media outlet and the city needed to send a letter informing residents of all their success. Barnas asked the letter be signed by the Mayor Dean Davis and tout such successes as purchasing a new fire truck and spending a nearly $300,000 bequeathment to improve the fire station.

Barnas asked for the mailer as it would present city affairs as being in order, which would presumably favor the November candidacy of Pat Rush, who supports the current majority’s direction of High Springs.

The suggestion of the City using tax dollars — a mailer costing $0.60 sent to 5,000 residents would cost $3,000 — solicited laughter from the audience, leading Mayor Davis to ask, “What’s so funny?” Responding to the question, two citizens stood up with their hands raised and began to approach the podium to answer the Mayor’s question.

The Mayor immediately hammered the gavel so loud several in the audience jumped — much like Davis has done in the past — saying “You’re both out of order!”

“You asked a question, we’re just trying to respond,” the two men echoed.

Later on his website Barnas said the two citizens wanting to speak “put on the buffoon hats” and looked “like to two jack in the box figures these two popped up out of their seats.”

So complain no more, weary residents, I have decided to create this simple, two point voter guide [...]]]> I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve come to me frustrated with the lack of information available on the candidates for High Springs City Commission this November, and rightfully so — there’s virtually nothing out there.

So complain no more, weary residents, I have decided to create this simple, two point voter guide for you:

• If you like the direction High Springs has taken in the last year, vote Pat Rush.
• If you want to restore sanity to High Springs, vote Byran Williams.

Byran Williams is the pastor of Mount Carmel United Methodist Church in High Springs and previously served seven years on the commission, prior to losing reelection in 2011 to Barnas and Gestrin.

Williams has subscribed to the “professional manager” philosophy, which says the city should hire a qualified city manager to handle city operations, a stance which agrees with that taken by the recently formed grassroots organization, Citizens for a Better High Springs.

This stance is in stark contrast to the path taken by the current commission — one where most all decisions are made by the commission and the city manager acts more as an “errand boy” simply gathering information for the commissioners.

What started as an attempt to intimidate citizens from speaking during meetings may end up costing some commissioners their jobs.

In recent months, Commissioner Bob Barnas has made it known that he is making video recordings [...]]]> (NOTE: The links contained below in reference to bobbarnas.com have since been password protected since this blog was posted.)

What started as an attempt to intimidate citizens from speaking during meetings may end up costing some commissioners their jobs.

In recent months, Commissioner Bob Barnas has made it known that he is making video recordings of the audience, namely the podium used for public comment, with a video camera he keeps attached to his laptop.  Barnas has stated publicly in meetings he takes the videos home and “watches public comments over and over,” particularly those whose comments are critical of the commission’s recent direction.

Barnas posted a video in what, according to the post on his website, appeared to be an attempt to embarrass Tom Weller for using an expletive during public comments.  Weller was  critical of the commission’s decision to place city manager Jeri Langman on administrative leave.

The problem with the video is it was not edited down to just Weller’s comments;  it was posted in its entirety, including nearly 15 minutes of comments between himself and Mayor Dean Davis prior to the meeting.

The two talk on light subjects such as how agendas are bound and where a park should be moved to, but then venture into the topic of taking note of who Finance Director Helen McIver was talking to in the room.

The commission has displayed a record of targeting employees political purposes, including the termination of former City Planner Christian Popoli after he filed a complaint alleging Davis asked him to ignore building codes.  The commission suddenly eliminated Popoli’s position in favor of hiring a City Engineer, only to turn around weeks later to eliminate the engineer’s position as well.

Barnas has since taken the video down from being listed on his site, but it can still be obtained by viewing his media directory, which also features a video Barnas shot of a senior citizen who fell asleep during a long city commission meeting.

Also listed on the website is an image called “UseforObserver_.jpg”, which is a picture of copies of The Observer newspaper lining a birdcage covered in bird feces.  Barnas has often been critical of the publication for printing what he regards as unfair articles.

A current records request has been issued to the City Clerk’s office for all videos created by Barnas since he started the practice of recording meetings.

Not that any of our fine, hardworking staff would ever do anything that would warrant termination, but even if they did, no one in the [...]]]> From a city employee’s point of view, if there was ever an upside to the mess that has become High Springs I suppose it’d be this:  you can’t be fired.

Not that any of our fine, hardworking staff would ever do anything that would warrant termination, but even if they did, no one in the city government has the authority to fire anyone.

The city commission officially placed City Manager Jeri Langman on administrative leave Thursday night, after stripping her of her duties, keys, email access, and escorting her out with her personal belongings back on September 13.  After being legally challenged on the procedure used to suspend Langman, the commission chose to give it a second try during a special commission meeting exactly one week later.

Both motions passed 3-2, with Mayor Dean Davis, Vice-Mayor Bob Barnas, and Commisisoner Gestrin voting in the affirmative.

The commission has named no interim manager, only giving some ‘light duties’ to City Clerk Jenny Parham, asking she inform them of any issues requiring action.  Parham does not have the title of interim manager, acting manager, nor any other variant giving her control of the city’s day-to-day operations, leaving High Springs with no leadership in place.

As required by the city charter, the commission cannot take any action to hire or fire any employee, and all actions dealing with employees must be done through the manager.

The commission approached former Newberry City Commissioner John Glanzer, who just recently finished a stint as the City Manager of Archer, about filling the position in the interim.  Glanzer declined saying, “At the advice of my legal folks, it’s not in my best interest to step in…I cannot expose myself to any potential legal issues.”

As for the other three vacant positions, former City Attorney Ray Ivey submitted his resignation over a month ago, with the stipulation he’d stay on until the city found a new attorney.  Ivey stated the rigorous meeting schedule — often three meetings per week — as something he wasn’t expecting and was unable to commit to in the future.

After publicly requesting interested attorneys apply for the position, the city commission received no applications by the deadline, leading Ivey to give a definitive effective date, September 21st.  As of Friday, no city attorney has been hired to fill the position.

Eluding to the political climate leading to no applications for the vacant position, Barnas stated on his newly formed personal website, “IS THERE A TRUELY BRAVE ATTORNEY ON THE HORIZON?”

The former City Engineer, who had been on the job less than four months, resigned from his post following the commission’s decision to cut his pay to part-time, and he was unable to continue service at a reduced pay.

Former City Planner Christian Popoli was terminated after the budget was amended mid-year by the commission eliminating the position in favor of a full-time engineer.  Popoli, who often received outstanding reviews on his job performance, was said to be targeted for filing a complaint two years ago against Mayor Dean Davis. Davis asked Popoli to ignore a building code for a property Davis was actively listing as a realtor, the complaint alleged.

Resolution 2012-L, which serves as notification to City Manager Jeri Langman the commission intends to terminate her employment, will be voted on during the special meeting.

No other details, including which commissioner(s) called for the [...]]]> A meeting has been called for Wednesday, August 15, at 6:30pm, with an unusual item coming third on the agenda.

Resolution 2012-L, which serves as notification to City Manager Jeri Langman the commission intends to terminate her employment, will be voted on during the special meeting.

No other details, including which commissioner(s) called for the resolution to be voted upon, are known at this time.

The resolution, 2011-J, proposes High Springs paying a miillage rate of 6.9000, or $690 per $100,000 of assessed property value.  The current property tax rate is rate is 6.15, making the [...]]]> In an agenda posted today, the City of High Springs has released a draft version of the resolution setting property tax rates for the coming year.

The resolution, 2011-J, proposes High Springs paying a miillage rate of 6.9000, or $690 per $100,000 of assessed property value.  The current property tax rate is rate is 6.15, making the proposed change a 12% increase to High Springs taxpayer.

The resolution will be presented along with the city manager’s draft budget in a public meeting Tuesday, July 24, at 6:30pm.

Congratulations to Scott Jamison for winning the special election for the remaining seven months of High Springs city commissioner seat #5.  You did a great job and will serve the people well.

With that out of the way, let’s move into [...]]]> Let me waste no time in conveying the most important part of this message.

Congratulations to Scott Jamison for winning the special election for the remaining seven months of High Springs city commissioner seat #5.  You did a great job and will serve the people well.

With that out of the way, let’s move into an analysis of exactly what yesterday’s election means for our quaint little town and exactly how it happened.

Jamison enjoyed a comfortable win — 59% to Ann Carter’s 41% — in an unusually timed Spring special election, with, perhaps the greatest victory,  a voter turnout on par with the city’s usual November elections.

Not to belittle the process, but that’s a bit surprising considering the contest was for a mere seven months remaining on a commission seat having virtually no impact on the stronghold majority that is Mayor Dean Davis, Vice-Mayor Bob Barnas, and Commissioner Linda Gestrin.

Those factors considered, one would have predicted lackluster turnout numbers due to a perceived hopeless electorate.

But the opposite occurred, and we find ourselves asking why.

The answer is simple, really.  Carter was openly endorsed by the same majority responsible for the insane antics that High Springs has become famous for in recent times.  Whether it was financial support or even sitting commissioners holding campaign signs, Carter received the obvious blessing from the current leaders, and by her own words admitted she would govern in the same manner.

And it was obvious the same small group supporting the current nonsense was letting the community know that Carter was their anointed candidate — misleading endorsements by self-appointed community leaders such as Billye Dowdy, or even the usual attack-dogs like Robyn Rush spreading lies about Jamison’s candidacy.

Think I’m wrong? Take a look at the facts for yourself.

A special city election that doesn’t swing majority control, featuring two publicly unknown candidates with very little information about their platforms, spawns an unexpected high turnout, with the public rejecting the status quo candidate.

Not to belittle Mr. Jamison, because I believe he is an honest, family oriented man who will serve his city well, but I believe yesterday’s election has more to do with the voters telling the current commission their methods will not be tolerated than anything else.

It’s a rebuke of sorts and Jamison just happens to be the messenger sent to deliver it.

And if the message isn’t received this time, you can bet the public will be sending a few more messengers come November.