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Century Council Member Questions Longstanding Practice Of Sending Public Notices To NorthEscambia.com
June 17, 2020
Just weeks after saying NorthEscambia.com should not be listening to public meetings of the Century Town Council conducted only by telephone, a Century town council member is questioning why public notices are sent to NorthEscambia.com, a practice that has been ongoing for over a decade.
This week, the town council learned that a public notice intended to serve as the legal notification of the qualification period and the upcoming election in Century was never published by the weekly newspaper in Flomaton. The failure was due to a changed email address at the Tri-City Ledger, according to Town Clerk Kim Godwin.
When NorthEscambia.com questioned why the public notice was never sent to our media outlet for publication, council member Luis Gomez, Jr. began to question why we receive the notices and even went so far as to make a formal request to our publisher for records from our privately-owned business.
“I ask for your records. I ask for a records request from you,” Gomez told NorthEscambia.com. He said he wanted to see a “memorandum of agreement” between the town and NorthEscambia to publish public notices.
“If we can’t find one, that means one doesn’t exist….I would like to formally ask you for a copy of your MOA,” he said.
“There is not a MOA or no agreement that you keep referencing on your page that we made an agreement years ago with you. So if there’s no memorandum of agreement you need to cease and desist on saying that we made an agreement to send you everything,” Gomez said.
But Gomez was gravely mistaken.
During the council meeting Monday night, NorthEscambia.com made a verbal records request for copies of council minutes where the agreement was made. Godwin promptly fulfilled the request Tuesday morning by email.
The official minutes from the July 21, 2008, meeting of the Century Town Council (pictured below) substantiate NorthEscambia.com’s statements that the council voted to send all public notices to us. The minutes are signed by a town clerk and all five council members at the time, which included current council president Ann Brooks and now-mayor Henry Hawkins.
On page 10 of the minutes, it indicates Brooks said NorthEscambia.com would be a “very good place” for the town to post public notices, in addition to other places like the city hall, library and post office.
“Gary Riley made a motion to always post public notices on NorthEscambia.com in addition to other places,” the minutes state. They continue, “Henry Hawkins seconded the motion and all voted in favor.”
While not reflected in the minutes, NorthEscambia.com agreed at the time and continues 12 years later to publish Town of Century public notices at no cost to the town as part of our ongoing commitment to community service and the public’s right to know as provided by Florida law.
The 2020 Government In The Sunshine Manual prepared by the Florida Office of the Attorney General states, “The use of press releases, faxes, e-mails, and/or phone calls to the local news media is highly effective in providing notice of upcoming meetings”.
“I want to make sure I ain’t keeping no secrets either,” Gomez remarked Monday night.
Pictured top: Century council member Luis Gomez, Jr. during a January 2020 meeting. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Comments
33 Responses to “Century Council Member Questions Longstanding Practice Of Sending Public Notices To NorthEscambia.com”
REGARDING:
” can you think of anyone who would willingly want to be a part of this circus?”
Who wouldn’t want to be part of a circus?
The citizens of Century have spoken by their silence.
David for the people’s choice
Did he seriously think a newspaper wouldn’t keep records? How unfortunate and dramatic and public did he need to display his need to keep the public out of public affairs?
it was so much better around here when we were called south flomaton. everything just worked. we even had a police dept.
Vote him out. Being unopposed puts the brakes on this for now. This township should be dissolved for the sake of the people. Maybe he thinks being unopposed means he is doing a great job. Really folks besides the ones already in this office with their hands in the cookie jar can you think of anyone who would willingly want to be a part of this circus?
Century all the way corrupt from the city council to the police…
The counties here have a tradition of their members ignoring or intentionally violating the Sunshine laws. Goes back decades.
The DA here has a history of going after those Council members who do so.
Is you is or is you ain’t my constituents ? Well for 4 more years apparently !
Sounds to me like somebody on this board needs to familiarize themselves with Government in the Sunshine laws. Every meeting they have is supposed to be announced in public places and forums ahead of time, and open to the public. It’s the LAW!
Next thing you know. Gomez will put up candidates to run against the other council members. Oh wait, is that his sister-in-law I see running? Gomez thinks he can do as he pleases. But it’s about time for the state attorneys to investigate AGAIN.
“I Ain’t” = cue the banjos
Why are you wanting meetings held in secret?
Keep holding them accountable, William!
Public office means Public… Florida sunshine Law is there for a reason… I they violate it again the St Attorney off needs to prosecute to the fullest – they have been warned.
The leaders (sic) of Century still can not figure why they are reported on.
In the interest of helping the Town of Century with institutional memory, I suggest the town post all approved minutes and other actions going back to the very beginning. This way, questions can be answered with a quick search helping concerned council members avoid looking silly and not waste time at meetings.
They might consider posting provisional minutes but since those aren’t official until approved, might not want to…but they MIGHT since it would give members plenty of time to review them and know if they were correct.
One time I had to search Central Water Works, Inc. old minutes. While doing so, I noticed they had voted to build a building to house supplies and equipment. I couldn’t find where the vote was rescinded and knew the action hadn’t happened. I asked about it at the next Board of Directors meeting, They who had been on the Board of Directors at the time remembered they had voted for it but then forgot to follow through, still thought it was a good idea and we proceeded.
This way you can avoid having things fall through cracks.
David for open records for the good of all
Yet, the citizens keep voting in morons like this. If you don’t even know what the town Charter says or what the laws are regarding public meetings, you need to be gone. This town really does need to be absolved and taken over by Escambia County.
If you make a mess or have one…clean it up all the way. VOTE THE WHOLE COUNCIL OUT…NOT HALF WAY ALL THE WAY…GOMEZ…EGG IN YOUR FACE FEELS GOOOOOD DONT IT..YOUR OUT TOO
But… if northescambia had NOT posted the notice, and “the failure of the changed email address” still occurred, then wouldn’t that be another public notice violation?
Mr Gomez I highly recommend you check town records before you make statements.Mr.Gomez are you afraid the North Escambia.Com will continue to write true stories about the Century Town Council and all the stupid stuff ya’ll do If you don’t like it step down from your position and move on.
If we can only get the public out of here we can run the city like we want to.
I Ain’t keeping no, says it all.
I Ain’t, says it all.
And he is unopposed on the ballot! But, I understand! What competent individual would want to sit at a formal meeting monthly and listen to this babble when they could be home watching cartoons!
So, what is the timeline on receiving a written apology from the honorable Mr. Gomez? There is an agreement, voted on by the council, and passed. Maybe you do just a little research before popping off and trying to stifle citizens ability to observe the inner workings of a public office. Your obvious disdain for any sunshine being shone on the process is suspicious at best.
Why would you not want the public to know about any meetings? One would think the more ways to get the word out…the better.
The public is the taxpayers and your voters!
Maybe the town leaders should be more concerned with the legitimate taking care of business rather than who reports it.
Sounds like someone is worried.
The new fashion is ‘cancelling’, now.
Besides, why is Century still a town?
Thanks Northescambia.com for your reporting!!!!!!
NorthEscambia.com seems to be the MORE Reasonable place to publish ALL Public Notices for the Town of Century.
True enough, the Library, City Hall, Post Office, etc are Great places for posting too however not all of the citizens go to these places on a regular basis.
Even the Consideration of eleminating NorthEscambia.com from the places for Notification smacks of a desire to Limit Public Notifications and thus to Limit Public Input of the Voters and Citizens who are Tax Payers for the Board’s salaries.
Gomez, you need to do the PEOPLE’S WORK…..
Enough of the blatant Shenanigans of the Century Town Council — BE ACCOUNTABLE and Clear and Transparent.
The drama continues!
It’s censorship by omission and tells you all you need to know. VOTE THEM OUT!
Keep NorthEscambia.com on the job. Someone needs to continue to pull the rug back and show the dirt to the people. North Escambia reports the good and the bad. The only reason the counsel wants to remove the press is so they can continue to do as they please without anyone knowing about it. If you are not doing anything wrong you should be proud to have the coverage to show the people you are working in their best interest.
Many things exist in the darkness; corruption and incompetence to name a few. NorthEscambia.com provides a great service to Century’s residents by continuously shining a light on the local government. Seems some of them want that light turned off.
hmm. if you don’t like being in the public eye you should not take office.