21-Mar-2000

Hon. Mayor and Commissioners,
City of DeLand,
120 S. Florida Ave.,
DeLand, FLA 32720.

Subject: City’s Presentation at Hospital Meeting

I had the opportunity to attend the meeting of the West Volusia Hospital Authority, held on 29-Feb-2000 in the old library building. At that meeting, I observed the City’s designated representative, one David Rigsby, and how he carried out his responsibilities.

At that meeting, he yelled, screamed, hollered, and stomped out of the meeting. He appeared upset.

His tirade was unclear, but seemed centered upon the allegation that one of the WVHA Commissioners (and a former City Commissioner) had been a bad person for the last twenty years. No specifics were given.

I submit that this is inappropriate representation for our City. I am not sure that there are any circumstances in which yelling and storming out of meetings are to be condoned.

I don’t think that abuse of one’s fellow elected officials is called for when one is representing the City. Absent specifics, it might be better to keep silence. Please compare:
meaningful waste of breath
You refused public input at a meeting. You haven’t done anything good for the community in the last 20 years.
You were rude to people who wanted to talk about <issue>. You do a lousy job of serving the public.
You seem to unreasonably favor your employer in spending public money. You are no good.
You are spending too much on such a project. You are irresponsible.
You will note that the items in the first column obviously suggest possible improvement in the recipient of the statement; the items in the second column do not.

I contrast the demeanor of Mr. Rigsby with one of the City Commissioners who attended on her own. While I disagreed with most of her message, I acknowledge that it was delivered with dignity and sincerity. This is proper. We can disagree on issues without being rude to one another.

I would hope that, in the future, the City could send a more dignified representative to plead its case before other public bodies. If Mr. Rigsby is to be permitted to represent us in the future, I suggest that the City might find it a good investment to pay for some anger management sessions.

Yours,



Tanner Andrews

CC: West Volusia Hospital Authority
CC: Al Everson / Beacon

This material is also available on the web:

http://www.payer.org/deland/dld0001.html

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
This material is a paid political advertisement provided by

Tanner Andrews,
P.O. Box 1208,
DeLand 32721.
 independent of any candidate or committee. No candidate has approved this material. Disclosures are filed timely with the Supervisor's office.

from @(#)dld0001.txt 1.0 21-Mar-2000

proc with hmac.ta2 1.0 19-Jan-1999