Emails open up a world for me

Happy Thursday!

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it 5,000 times (or not): Hey Mike, what’s up with commission email?

I’m a big fan of public email. BIG fan. It was 20 years ago, or so, when I was working on an investigative piece about a youth residential treatment facility in Beverly Hills that was constantly in trouble with state regulators.

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Someone unloaded a box of documents in the publisher’s office that were apparently stolen from the facility or copied inappropriately. That meant I had to confirm all the information elsewhere, and emails did the trick.

Email was fairly new then. The idea of choosing one’s words carefully in print had not yet entered the discussion.

I traveled three days a week to the agency office in Wildwood to view printed copies of emails between officials who were discussing problems at the Beverly Hills facility. It was fly-on-the-wall stuff for me. They could not have been clearer with the description of violations.

Those stories won us a bunch of big awards and got the place shut down. The state changed its rules regarding how these facilities are licensed, and I became a fan of email.

Time passed and I moved back to the County Commission beat. The county would print out each individual email and stack them in a folder for reporters to view in the administrative offices. It was a terrible system. Each email on a separate piece of paper.

Email one: “Hi!”

Email two: “What’s up?”

Email three: “Are you going to that meeting?”

Email four: “Which one?”

Email five: “The one we talked about.”

Email six: “You mean with Carla?”

Email seven: “I thought it was Doug.”

Email eight: “Oh, right. What time again?”

And you get it.

So, a new administrator comes in. Colorful guy by the name of Anthony Schembri. I shadowed him on his first day, and I was complaining about this archaic email system for public view.

He had a great idea. Rather than forward me his email, Schembri set up a system so that I was automatically blind copied on EVERY SINGLE email he received and sent out, at the moment it happened.

Well, this was an entirely new animal. For the first week, I sat at my desk and did nothing but read Schembri’s emails. He would send these terribly critical emails to top staffers, and even a commissioner or two, who would read about it in the Chronicle the next day.

Ironically, the email deal did him in. I was reading his emails one morning when I saw one from a citizen: Schembri had brought a firearm to his homeowner’s association meeting in a neighbor’s garage and wouldn’t put it away despite requests to do so.

The County Commission at the next meeting decided it was time for Mr. Schembri to move on. His replacement quickly ditched the sweet email arrangement.

My interest in commissioner email started with Scott Adams. He was in office about three months, causing a ruckus after another, and I decided I needed a better handle on this commissioner’s activities. So, I started receiving Adams’ emails each week and, boy, they did not disappoint.

I’ve been reviewing commissioner emails since then.

My approach at Just Wright Citrus is to receive the chair’s email, plus one other commissioner picked randomly each week.

Two helpful hints:

— That squeaky wheel gets the grease thing is 100% on the mark. Do you have an issue with the county government and it's not getting it resolved? Email your commissioner, who will send it to the county administrator. Believe me, that’ll get attention in a hurry.

— Emails on pending land-use cases should not expect a response. This week, I reviewed Chair Rebecca Bays and Commissioner Diana Finegan. Both received dozens of emails from citizens opposed to the sand pit near Pine Ridge. Diana answered a few with a vague “thank you,” and Rebecca didn’t respond at all.

That’s because the county attorney is telling them not to talk about land-use issues outside the public hearing. 

Much of the email I viewed Wednesday revolves around the sand pit, so no need to break it all down again. That case goes before a special master on June 27, then to the County Commission sometime after.

As for our photo, you’re looking at the Suncoast Parkway traffic signals prior to installation on C.R. 486. Unrelated to emails, but close to Pine Ridge…sorta related.

Have a delightful Thursday, friends.

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