What the clay pit issue did was OPEN my eyes to the way county government was working. I was tempted to just let the whole thing go as it took up an *enormous* amount of time from my family. But I felt that, probably, that was why county government had gotten into this mess in the first place. People didn’t want to invest the time that it took to hold officials accountable! Our neighborhood did, and eventually we got them to do the right thing, but with no help from Touart and McLaughlin (in fact they were major obstructions, along with Whitehead of course.)

I mention the clay pit issue because *that* is what I can speak to knowledgeably and truthfully. The rest that I know, though I have seen many documents of other people’s issues that assure me they are telling the truth, I haven’t had the time to be knowledgeable enough to speak to them. I feel that I must speak up for what I know to be true and that is that Bob McLaughlin lied to me personally on the phone and in BCC meetings and he admitted helping Roads Inc. change their development review documents to be more palatable to the BCC and line up with what he originally said he would do. When he became Administrator, after promising as a candidate that he would deal with the problem, he did NOTHING until he was forced to by the commissioners (after much public input!)

I have never had any personal issue with Code Enforcement. But there is a BIG problem with our county’s Code Enforcement department and the Special Magistrate process, in my opinion. When you have one of their officers sign a sworn affidavit that they were coerced by superiors to “throw” a hearing and nothing is investigated or done to the people involved, that is a problem. When you have records and files disappearing (and reappearing after they are demanded), that is a PROBLEM. When you have your Special Magistrate (who are set up to hear disputes between the cited citizens and the county) also doing legal work for the administration on the side, that’s a problem in my opinion. McLaughlin chose to avoid dealing with Code Enforcement, for whatever reason.
I only have seen a fraction of what the commissioners have seen, I would imagine. I have a family to raise and care for.

But I can do my part to hold people accountable for their actions. I am not talking about mistakes. Those can be forgiven. But deliberate misdeeds and lies. Those establish your character as a leader. No doubt Mr. McLaughlin created a better working environment than his predecessor, Touart. Not a high standard to reach. But he never should have been chosen as administrator, as he has not been above the tricks and games, in my experience.

We need an administrator who will be bold enough to DEAL with these festering departmental issues and lead. I don’t think that you can start with compromised leaders that were complicit with the past GOB stuff.

I am sorry to see a man lose his job but I feel it was necessary if we ever want to see some of this stuff cleaned up. As always, your mileage may vary. But please attack the message and not the messenger.

And regarding the clay pit debacle, hasn’t that been recified to Escambiamom’s satisfaction? Why keep beating a dead horse?

Mr. Mclaughlin has done more in his short time as administrator than any other. His managers were forced to take ownership of their duties. He demanded accountability. If an issue came up, he didn’t make knee jerk reactions, like the BOCC and others do. He stood up for his employees, but demanded accountability of them.

Many of the employees that know him backed him 100%. However, when his bosses refuse to dictate specific measurable objectives to him, he was set up to fail. That allows them to decide on personal feelings rather than facts to not renew his contract.

No question that escambiamom gets on every blog she can to bash him. Why? Because of the clay pit. Well wake up escambiamom. There is more to the county than your clay pit and getting your feelings hurt by code enforcement.

And by the way, for White and Valentino to say it wasn’t personal……that could maybe be believed if they didn’t make comments in public about the administrator.

If they didn’t like Touart’s micro-management style, nor Mclaughlin”s accountability style, what do they want? They want a weak puppet. Similar to the Pensacola’s weak mayor style. Oh wait, the citizens just voted against that right? Maybe the politicians need to wake up and see the citizens are tired of their almighty attitudes and want accountability.

If THIM means ‘The Humans In My (county) then you are correct.

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Consolidation is a GREAT deal for the city, not so much for the county. If you moved to the county because you did not want to live in the city (or pay for the city services) then consolidation will be the government’s ‘better idea’ for you.