Date: 03/02/11 19:01:23
To: Chris.Dowdy@myfloridahouse.net
Cc: helppolkcityresidents@earthlink.net
Subject: WE Need HELP!!
Chris,
The residents of Polk City, FL are in State Rep. Kelli Stargel's district and we need help!!! The city council could be FL version of Bell, CA...well, maybe not with salaries, but with the way the city is being mismanaged and how our tax dollars are being squandered with total disregard of the wishes of the Polk City residents. Polk County has tried to force the city to repay debts owed to them or return land...we are now in a legal dispute with the county. Our sewage and water bills are between 200-400% higher that what county residents pay. There is documentation supporting mis-billed invoicing, and every resident living here can vouch that they have been over billed. We have had a petition signing to dissolve the city because of the outrageous utility bills that we began paying last year. The Lakeland Ledger has many articles addressing some of the concerns of our city, but the articles seem to have a bias that is pro city council. I am a widow living in a modest home and I am frugal in all I do...my water bill has been as much as $300/month and one month I spent $1600.00 trying to get a new line laid for my weekly one hour grass watering.
PLEASE review our blog below and suggest actions we might take that would move our elected officials to carry out the will of the people in Polk City.
Concerned Citizens of Polk City
Desperate for your help,
One Concerned Citizen of Polk City
This letter was sent by one of our Blog readers, and we received permission to post it on our blog. Many of us can identify with the feelings of helplessness and frustration this Polk City resident conveys. Ignoring the desperate financial situation that many of our citizens find themselves in during this economic downturn, our city leadership is still forging ahead with their unlimited spending practices. Tom Cloud and Gary Hartman have unlimited reign in deciding what is best for our city and county residents who are served by Polk City's water and sewer utilities. Let's not forget.....these two individuals are first and foremost interested in padding their own pockets. They have hit the jackpot here in Polk City. What ever these two suggest, our city officials follow blindly, since they have absolutely no clue what other alternatives might be available. They have complete faith in whatever is suggested to them, and don't know enough to ask educated questions. If we ever had anyone working for the city who is knowledgeable, they have been fired, therefore there is no opposition in anything that Cloud and Hartman propose. They have created a situation for the city to be totally dependent on their services, and the sky is the limit as to the fees they are charging us. Our city leadership is totally fine with this, since they feel their jobs are so much less complicated, now that they have outsourced just about everything at the expense of the tax payers.
Good luck, I have written many times to Rep. Kelli Stargel. and have spoken directly with Ms Dowdy her assistant.
ReplyDeleteTheir recommendation was to keep involved and vote in the next election. So don't expect too much help from Her. This situation needs to be addressed by the AG I think.
while we are at it, it needs to be brought to her attention about us that are on septic tank systems having to comply with a new bull $%^& law requiring we have them pumped out every 5 years ..thats insane too,you'd have to have an army living in your house you know, the septic co.'s lobbist did a fine job of getting the companys new pumper trucks or have you noticed? my system didn't even need to be pumped all water hardly no solids, but I had to have that recipt for 300.00 dollars ! wheres the outrage over this scam !being pulled over on us,
ReplyDeleteSad to say, politicians only listen when you contribute to their campaigns. Doesn't matter what level of politics. Money talks!!!
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point, and it's pretty obvious that someone paid somebody off to get this law passed. But either way, I'd rather pay $300.00 every 5 years to clean out the septic tank than pay $200.00-$250.00 a month for water/sewer to Polk City.
ReplyDelete