What's Next?

What a week. My phone has been blowing up since late Tuesday when I first heard about the comments Commissioner Barek made to a senior staff member. I have spent a total of 8 hours 36 minutes on the phone doing research and verifying things with various people (not just related to this). I also had an almost two hour chat in a coffee shop with another commissioner to talk a wide range of topics. Then countless text messages and social media messages. Certainly not complaining, just observations.

One thing about me is I LOVE to chat. But one thing I noticed since I started doing this is that people somehow get my phone number. I have had a number of people call me to chat about things over the past couple of months, but I have not given my number to any of them nor is my cell number published publicly. Weird... but my digital rolodex is getting filled with some prominent names and I'm having great discussions, so nothing to complain about for sure.

Side note.. I do not ever give out a phone number, unless its a publicly accessible number. If someone asks me "Hey, can you get me the number for X", I will never give out the number. I will ask the person first and if they give permission, cool.. If not, I simply say I cant provide it. So your numbers are safe with me 😄

Moving on.

What is next with the Commissioner Barek saga? Where do we go from here?

I have heard rumors of what to expect next and I think we see something at the next BOCC meeting about it, but I am not 100% sure. The agenda comes out on Tuesday afternoon, so we will know for certain what they plan to do, if anything.

As we saw with 491, a couple of them wanted some corrective action, three of them did not. Do we see something similar or do we see a more unified board this time around? Time will tell.

Here are my thoughts.

As I said during the 491 mess, there needs to be some accountability for people who mess up. Yes, we all make mistakes.. I make plenty of them.. but that doesn't mean we don't hold people accountable, particularly elected officials. As I mentioned then, there should be something done and I will say the same now. What that something is can be debated.

During 491, I initially called for Steve Howard to be fired for his part and filing forms under penalty of perjury that may not have been 100% accurate. I called for some board action against Commissioner Bays for going Lone Ranger and doing formal actions without board approval.

After a few discussions with others, I backed down on firing Howard, but still felt the board needed to do something. Commissioner Finegan proposed a "simple" solution. Put a letter in his file. This wouldn't really hurt Howard unless he pursued a job in another location in the future, but also put him on notice that he was wrong. Win win.

Similar action was discussed for Bays, but no one else on the board was willing to do it. Giving direction to staff without board approval is a violation of BOCC rules/regulations/ordinances, but the other members of the board did not agree apparently.

I am calling for similar action this time around. I have been consistent that if someone does something wrong, that they are held accountable. For me, it doesn't matter who it is. Make a mistake, be held accountable and move on. It's how we learn and grow. I learn far more from mistakes than I do successes. Just because you are "punished" for making a mistake doesn't mean you are a bad person.

I think most people will agree that what Barek said was not appropriate. She made a mistake and should not have said what she said. No excuses for that. The "she grew up in that era" is not an excuse for saying that in 2025. We are not in the 1960s anymore. She is no longer citizen Barek. She is Commissioner Barek. That title brings a certain decorum. Commissioners are expected to act a certain way and the words they say are far more impactful. She signed up for this position, she needs to realize her words have greater impact now, than ever before, especially when directed towards staff.

In my opinion, there needs to be some type of "corrective" action from the board. This could be considered harassment under Administrative Regulation 7:06-1 (seen here). It requires action.

My feeling is a letter in the file type thing. That would be a censuring from the board. Basically that means the board makes a public statement that her actions were not appropriate and not reflective for the board nor the county government. It's a strong statement that basically amounts to a slap on the wrist for Barek. It does not get her removed from office. She does not get fined or anything like that. It is a bad look if she seeks re-election and she gets a verbal reprimand from her other board members. That's it.

Would I support a removal from office? If this is the ONLY thing, then no. We have to remember that people voted for her, in part, because she was not your typical politician. They liked that she was unfiltered. They liked that she would disrupt the status quo. They liked that she would vote her mind and not cave to others. Removing her, removes their voice. That's not to say that she should get a pass and we look the other way. She should get some type of reprimand/punishment. She should be held accountable. She has to realize words matter and to think before she speaks, especially to staff. I just don't think removal from office is it (and I do not see DeSantis going that route for this alone either).

However, my opinion on that can change if there are other things brought to light during the meeting... but I would need to see those things, not just rumors or hearsay.

I do think this opens the door for a bigger discussion. It has been awhile since we had a "family discussion" type of thing where all the commissioners have a difficult conversation among themselves. They need to address their roles as commissioners and how that fits into the day to day operations of the county. They have administrative regulations and ordinances that are in conflict with one another. There are commissioners that go directly to staff and others who go through Steve Howard. There are several things they can discuss and address regarding their actions. The last big discussion like this was in 2022 and we now have 3 different board members who were not part of that.

Everyone hate the hard family talks, but it is time for one now. Get it all out, make the changes, get everyone on the same page and move on. We have a lot of work to do.