Misuse of Tree Fund: City Sued for $6 Million:

[TheCat]

A lawsuit was filed Monday against the city of Jacksonville regarding a popular amendment. The Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute of Florida is suing the city, alleging that the city has misused $6 million in tree protection funds.

Since the 1980s, Jacksonville has had a tree protection ordinance, but it contained an exemption. After growing concern that the ordinance itself wasn't enough to enforce the protection of trees, a charter amendment was passed in 2000, with 75 percent of voters in favor of it...

http://www.news4jax.com/news/public-trust-sues-city-over-tree-protection-funds/34140684

[Dog Walker]

Confirms some long held suspicions on the part of a number of people who were involved in getting mitigation placed in the Charter in in legislation.  Bet the money was "borrowed" in the past couple of administrations to try to plug some holes in the general fund.

[sheclown]

Members said red flags popped up after the Public Trust dug into the spending of the tree charter and tree protection trust accounts. E-mails from the Public Trust -- the first dating back to December 2014 when city auditor Kyle Billy responded to an inquiry about the tree mitigation accounts -- stating there was $2 million in the tree charter account and $6 million in the tree protection account. Just four months later in April, another e-mail was sent from Tom Goldsbury, the chief building inspector for the city, stating there was only $2 million total for both tree protection accounts.

That's about $6 million spent in just a few months.

[Conrad]

This was broached in a presentation under the auspices of the "Environmental Legal Institute of Florida" in a Forum held at UNF 23 April 15. 
The Chair was Andrew Miller Executive Dir. Legal Counsel of the ELIF, Jacksonville, Bch. and an intern who had prepared a well researched
graduate paper on "The COJ Charter Tree Amendment" and questions related to how it has been implemented since being voted into the
Consolidated COJ Charter in the Amendment format 2000 from the original 1986 flawed version.
At this presentation there was a question then raised as to obvious conflicts of figures presented due to such divergent sources,
neve the same twice, giving conflicting figures.
The first was asst City council auditor Kyle Billie. 
Tom Goldsbury, the returned Chief of the Building Dept. who has not been long reinstated after 6 yrs. of a questionable demotion.
The real question raised then was, who is really in charge of this henhouse?  There seemed to be some consensus among those
present for the presentation was the veracity of the sourcing of such disparate divergent  and conflictive figures.

I have asked for years since the voting  of the amendment as to a well intended clause built into the ordnance calling for a final audit
at the end of any properly permitted tree removals.  This audit is to be called into play as a final billing factor that covers additional
collateral trees that are found to have to be removed for various blockages and holdups during permitted construction.
In many case many more trees end up being sacrificed than were originally permitted and paid for at the time of the permit.
John Crescimbeni, City Councilman and one of the lead sponsors of the Tree Amendment has assured me repeatedly that this audit
process does indeed exist, but just as these conflictive figures demonstrate no one seems capable of pointing to the entity responsible
for verification.   
These widely disparate figures are most probably due to neither Kyle Billie nor Tom Goldsbury wearing the correct beauracratic mantel
nor hat nor in reality having the job description, pay grade, nor responsibility to in fact answer this question.

This is a long overdue well intentioned quest.

We need a beauracracy that in fact serves the Citizen Taxpayers of all of Duval County under this grand scheme of Incorporation
that has continued to need tweaking since it's spawn in 1968.  Some who were raised in the enviable old Duval County pre consolidation view  the entire effort of consolidation as a tax grab by the failing old core city to foist a way of life on the entire county that many
never wanted any part of.  The presence of beauracracy at every turn now causes the residents who built this enviable lifestyle to give pause to what has been wrought.  Everincreasing tax burdens and more faux facist intervention into personal lifestyle as to the
stewardship of ones on entrusted (and taxed) lands.

CMIII (CM)