As I’ve mentioned a few times, North Miami Beach is woefully behind the times in terms of technology. While former-former-former mayor Jeffrey Mishcon occupied the mayoral seat, he refused to keep up with the times and bring our city into the computer age. He left office in May of 2007. Not so coincidentally, not a single one of the city’s Council Meeting agendas or minutes are online prior to January 1, 2008. Any questions?
Luckily, hard copies of documents, including agendas, minutes, resolutions and the like, are stored in boxes, so they are accessible if you make a public records request.
Luckily, I have copies of some of them.
Questions about certain employee benefits, specifically retirement and health insurance coverage, are being asked by concerned residents, who are also demanding that the present Mayor and Council address these issues. Certain current employees are eligible or are already receiving benefits that were put into place long before this Council was even seated on the dais.
Let me direct your attention to Resolution No. 93-30, signed on November 2, 1993 by then mayor Jeffrey A. Mishcon. It appears that this Resolution adopted the city’s current health care plan. You can view it here: RESOLUTION NO. 93-30.
Resolution R98-53, signed on December 15, 1998 by then mayor Jeffrey A. Mishcon, dealt with “amending existing deferred compensation plans for eligible employees,” the “opportunity to maintain continuous health care coverage” for certain retirees, and “amending an existing money purchase retirement plan for eligible employees.” This is quite involved. Feel free to read it here at your own risk: RESOLUTION NO. 93-30. The bottom line is that the Jeffrey A. Mishcon Administration was very generous to the employees — on our dime.
Ordinance No. 2000-10, signed on October 17, 2000 by then mayor Jeffrey A. Mishcon, was passed for the main purposes of “increasing retirement benefits for city employees” and “clarifying City of North Miami Beach Resolution No. R98-53.” Again, feel free to read the Ordinance here: ORDINANCE NO. 2000-10. The two words you need to keep in mind are “increase” and “benefits.”
‘Nuff said about that!
Fast forward a few years to when Jeffrey A. Mishcon was FINALLY replaced by former-former Mayor Raymond F. Marin. Resolution No. R2000-51, signed on November 4, 2008 by Mayor Marin a scant six months after he became mayor, “eliminated certain health care benefits for elected officials,” specifically referencing the aforementioned Resolutions No. 93-30 and R98-53, and Ordinance No. 2000-10. This Resolution states that “due to the current economic conditions and budgetary concerns, the Mayor and City Council wish to prospectively eliminate these programs.” You can read this Resolution here: RESOLUTION NO. 2008-51. (Miraculously the Agenda and Minutes are online for the November 4, 2008 meeting. Yay!)
In other words, almost immediately after the Serial Spender In Chief Jeffrey A. Mischon was out of office, the new administration had to change course in an attempt to reign in the Great Giveaway.
Ironically, while Ray Marin ended up being maligned by some residents for other policies he instituted while in office, he was never given credit for recognizing that uncontrolled spending by his predecessor had to stop. Marin was a two termer, eventually defeated by former mayor Myron Rosner. And we all know how that turned out!
While no human being is perfect, some are more suited to lead. Others are idiots. Mishcon was an idiot who managed to convince voters that he was a good leader, despite his record. Marin was a good leader, but his tendency toward arrogance and impatience toward idiots (boy, do I know THAT feeling!) opened him up to criticism. Rosner was both an idiot and hated by pretty much everyone. Current Mayor George Vallejo is definitely a leader and not an idiot, but there are some people who will complain no matter what. The way I look at it, those who constantly demand perfection from others will always be disappointed. It must really suck to be them.
The moral of this story is that we don’t need to recycle old politicians who we were lucky to get rid of once. Remember, the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Just saying.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Actually, neither Mishcon nor his colleagues had much persuading to do in order to stay in power. For a long time people were not involved, to the point where I remember an election being cancelled because there was nobody running but the incumbents. That is not to say that the over-involvement we have now is any better; we have gone from one extreme to another. It’s really hard to prepare anything with so many cooks in the kitchen, and if you tell a couple of them to get out, you are labeled “arrogant” and replaced. “And we all know how that turned out!”
There are some people who simply enjoy complaining regardless of who is in office. By far the most annoying are the ones who think they know everything and could do a much better job than the people who are elected, yet they refuse to run for office themselves. Every resident has a right to express his or her opinion, but no one has a right to expect that each and every council person is going to do his or her bidding. We have a representative form of government, which means that we elect people who we believe will best represent our interests, and then we let them represent us to the best of their ability. If we’re not happy with that representation, we have a right to vote them out. As citizens we also have a right to petition our government, but there are those who abuse that privilege. They continually make unreasonable demands on the time and attention of elected officials, then wonder why no one on the dais pays attention to them anymore. DUH! If someone were constantly in my face ordering me around, micromanaging my job and being rude on top of it, eventually I would completely shut them out. I know if I thought I could do a better job than one of them, I’d run against them. But since I don’t want to sit up there (and take the abuse of idiots), I merely state my opinion on how I’d like them to vote, and then I accept their decision. If I don’t like their record, I vote against them the next time around.