Milton concerned citizens

Dear editor,

To give you a little background, I am the chairwoman of Milton Concerned Citizens, a fourth generation Miltonian, and a 1975 graduate of Milton High. I live in, and operate a business, in our wonderful community.

My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents also called Milton home and did their best to help our town prosper and grow. My husband, Jerry, and I have been active on various boards and committees for many years.  

We also participate in city council meetings. Until a few years ago, those meetings were relatively short and productive. We had a wonderful master plan for the riverfront; medians were being landscaped; parks and green spaces were in the works; and city employees did not feel threatened and feel the need to unionize. The budget was also in a good place.

A number of years ago an organized group came on the scene. They had some good ideas, but were adamantly opposed to anything put forth by the “old guard” (locals who’d been here a while).  A lot of that concerned the alcohol issue, which further polarized the two groups. For clarification, our concerned citizens group does not promote an alcohol-free community. We do, however, oppose unregulated, freestanding bars that serve alcohol only. This is an important issue, but not our primary focus.

Our primary focus is to encourage citizen involvement in government and to promote honesty and integrity in our elected officials. We currently have a council that is divided. The current power conflict results in most pushing an agenda that is in opposition to that of the majority of our citizens. Large numbers of citizens turn out to voice their concerns and opinions and are simply overlooked, ignored and even ridiculed!

The Mayor is well known for belittling and degrading comments to his constituents such as: “Not my monkey, not my circus”, calling citizens “The Peanut Gallery” (our group has embraced that term!) and even accusing good people of unfounded conspiracies.

All this while frequent episodes of texting between council members and their “handlers” in the audience play out on the city stage. Most “handlers” are tied to two local, downtown non-profits or supporters of one particular local businessman.

This businessman many times monopolizes the meetings with it being visibly apparent that he is coaching from the background, not to mention that he contributed heavily to those “city leaders” in question.

There’s more. When public records requests are filed, they are blatantly ignored or answered with personal handwritten responses versus the true records required by law and by the council's own ordinance enacted last September.

These council members and mayor claim transparency and enact policies that require them to adhere to an agenda that is published for the benefit of the public, yet do the total opposite. They throw in action items at the very last minute to get their dirty work done.  Two recent examples are the firing of the city manager at 10 p.m.  Another was the hiring of a lobbyist to work against the U.S. 90 four-lane through downtown. These items were conveniently snuck into the meeting after action items were completed and the public had left.

Heaven help anyone who dares to voice disapproval. That’s when an instructed council member will immediately “call the vote” and end any discussion generated by the concerned public. These certain public servants are bound and determined to get their way by hook or crook. So much for open government.

What is this group’s agenda, you might ask? After much speculation and research, the general consensus is that their end game is to devalue properties in Milton, especially the historic district, so that this group can purchase them at a low price. They are adept at grant writing and tax incentives and there is much money to be had when a historic area is endangered as they have asked our city to be declared.

If they are successful, they will own an even greater part of the downtown than they do now. Take a look at the property rolls yourself. You will be surprised at how few people actually own so much of the property. Also consider that many of those same people are behind the nonprofits that own property as well.

This group follows a great deal of the doctrine in Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” which explains much of their vile and offensive social media postings and the way they attempt to control the council meetings.

Milton Concerned Citizens’ goal is to elect a mayor and council members that will serve our city in an honest, positive and professional fashion. Our city has a wonderful master plan created several years ago. It needs to be dusted off and implemented. Infrastructure and storm water drainage are key. Another positive would be Front Porch programs that would encourage pride of ownership and beautification of private property.

We have a powerful group of candidates who are preparing to qualify in August! Our goal is to steer the city in a more positive direction. This election year is an opportunity for the fine citizens of Milton to show that we want and deserve much more, better and more honest government. We deserve officials that will work for the better good of our community instead of working for the benefit of a small group of campaign contributors with their own personal agendas.

For additional information, please e-mail: thepeanutgalleryfl@yahoo.com or visit miltonsconcernedcitizens.com

PAMELA MITCHELL

Milton

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This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton concerned citizens