It's in the texts... or not.

A few weeks ago, I got tipped off about the upcoming vote by the Crystal River City Council to remove the City Manager Audra Curts. I covered that in 3 previous posts.

Here is an update.

I am still waiting on a few different things in the records request and as those are returned, I will further expand the story. But for now, let's talk about texts... or the lack thereof.

First, if you recall, I attended the October 27th meeting. Now, prior to this meeting, I had heard that council member Frink routinely texted during meetings. Going into the meeting, I decided I would sit and watch her to see if she would be doing what others had told me she does. Sure enough, it did not take long for her to start typing away to someone.

I sat and watched her texting A LOT during the meeting, particularly during the discussion regarding the City Manager and whether to fire her or not. It was so shocking to me that during this heated discussion, that she was focused on texting someone, that I got up at the end of the meeting to do a public records request on the spot.

I had asked for any text messages to be provided to me that related to city business that were sent during that meeting. I confirmed the request in the morning with the city clerk.

This is the response.

Hmmm.. interesting.

She was texting quite a bit during the discussion of the city manager that I thought for sure it was about that discussion... To me, it appeared like someone was watching online and having a conversation with her as it was happening.

But I guess I was wrong. The texting was about personal things... You know... dinner plans, plans for the weekend or any number of other personal topics... NOTHING about what was taking place at that moment. I guess whatever it personal things were, they were important enough to text during a serious discussion for the city and that they could not wait until after the meeting.

Got it.

I would think that city council members (or any elected officials for that matter) should be focused on the matter at hand during a meeting and not on what is happening in their personal lives... especially when it involves firing their only employee. Those personal things, unless truly an emergency, can and should wait until after the meeting, but to each their own.

Voters will decide if that is a big deal or not.

I have a lot more coming from all of this. As I mentioned, I am waiting on some public records to come. I do not want to tip my hand on to where all this is going, but I am looking to give a full picture of what took place with the city manager vote as well as some other issues I have been made aware of.

As these records come in, I will continue to keep you updated on what is found.