this council was/is remiss in not establishing guidelines for the mgr...but what's new here..ineptness seems to be the mantra of marco councils.

van, you should run for council; you seem to have an answer for everything. You judge everyone...for once, have the guts to put yourself out there...publicly, not anonymously!!

I was at the meeting to discuss the noise at the Esplande and had to sit through a very interesting dialog between the councilors. The above article doesn't even come close to what really happened. Councilor Recker started by saying he had no agenda which is laughable as he had a long litany of pointless issues he brought up regarding city manager Steve Thompson. I was impressed with Councilor Popoff as he diplomatically countered all of the points that Recker made. Recker was grasping for straws and Popoff addressed each of his concerns point by point. Recker lost and the city won, thanks to Councilor Popoff. I still don't understand why some people in this community live for controversy. Vincent Post, Proud Snowbird

jeeez burger...all i said was the council should have guidelines ...kinda' like a job description...
every heard of that? after the fact is usually too late..i would't blame thompson if he told us to pack sand and moved on.

Don't try and play the victim role van, you and I have been friends on the blogs for a long time now. And once again, I agree with you in that council should have given Thompson more direction.

Fact is though, you called the council inept. All I said was run for council if you can do better. Those poor saps get beat up everytime they open their mounths and rarely get complimented when things go well.

ej...at least admit that "some" of them are inept...still think thompson was skewered unnecessarily by a "somewhat" inept council...better?

Ok van, we're on the same page...sorry for the mis-communication. Thompson was in fact skewered by at least two councilors. I felt that Thompsons defenders were brilliant.

The Council IS INEPT! Now, we learn that Trotter and Popoff even believe in working in the shade: "issues and allegations being raised publicly may cause more problems than if they were handled in private". That kind of thinking has no place in representitive government. Where do we find these people? They don't speak Spanish, so it can't be Cuba. Are they American born? This is a small local government for crying out loud. Our Charter and our State Laws discourage the very idea of governing in a culture of secrecy. If anybody has a right to know what our employees are doing it is our representitives and our citizens who pay the wages. There is nothing private or personal when you take a position of public trust. Start your own business if you want privacy.

Beowolf, perhaps you should do a little digging before you call our councilors inept. Your comments are inept as they have no merit. Haven't you figured this out yet?? Council and the city manager were protecting the interim city manager. Why should they bring out any improprieties and hurt his future. Everyone at city hall knows what happened when he was interim city manager. Why don't you take a trip to city hall and start asking questions. That is if you have the common decency to admit your stupid little conspiracy theory is complete nonsense.

The merit to my comments can be seen by glancing back over the short history of this Council. Only Recker and Keister have shown a grain of common sense or responsiblity to the public. As for protecting the interim city manager, why? Is he more deserving of protection then Moss, Harrison, Joel or now Thompson? When someone accepts a public office they have no resonable expectation of privacy. CW, put it out there if you have it.

CW, put up or shut up!

cw, bring it, dont sing it.

Beowulf, JoininMarco and islandman4now...all pitiful, disgraceful, deplorable Ed Foster. Ed, you are a sick man. My better judgment tells me to ignore you because indulging you with a response just empowers your narcissist neurosis.
Ed, you are not a resident of Marco Island. As hard as it may be for you to digest, you failed...you lost. I can’t believe I am wasting my time writing this blog directed at you because you are certain to respond. Ed, you and your friend Bill McMullan are shameless and preposterous…you are the joke that people at cocktail parties laugh at.
You will obviously get the last word on this blog page as after I post this blog I will never return to this site again; I just can’t stomach any more of your delusions. Please Ed, get some professional help.

CW, you wreak of John Aceri, or is that the leaky STRP I smell?

come on folks..we all have to admit this is a joke..the council hired the guy 7-0....now they want to say oooopppps....what's this about...they need to stand up and take the admonishment and the responsibility.....and fix the problem...and it ain't firing steve...it's giving direction and more than that... setting expectations....
and for CW...you are as demented as the attacks you try to bestow...foster has his faults but he also has provided insight into the problems we face.....EJ...take it easy on me...we're getting closer.

cw, i have no axe to grind with city hall. you commented that people were protecting someone there on my dime. instead of acting like a child teasing others that you know some secret, i ask that you pass along the public information. does that make me pitiful or disgraceful because im not "in the loop" or have time to wander the corridors of city hall seeking gossip?

van, once again you are the voice of reason but council didn't want to fire Thompson, only Recker and Keister did. I agree with you, this is a joke! But I also agree with CW, Foster has no business in our city's business. He doesn't live here!! And what about all the money he collected for CARES? Where did it all go? Foster cost this city hundreds of thousands of dollars and then left. Now he had the audacity to send emails and blogs as if he still lives here. When people complain about wild spending they should never forget all of the frivolous lawsuits Foster entangled the city in.

CW, you are a coward. You throw out some made up story (garbage) and then sheepishly walk away from it when challenged. You falsly accuse me of being someone else (actually many others). I'll write my opinions on these blogs whenever it pleases me. You then go furhter and insult former and current residents who have contributed greately to forcing our local representitives to not only be accountable but more responsible. The people you name are citizens that never buried their heads in the sand when they saw something wrong, unlike you, they pointed and loudly informed us all of their observations. They also do it openly, not in hiding like you. They embarrassed those in power and forced them to revisit many ill conceived decisions they and prior councilmembers made in the past. They also recently brought to our attention that the financial manipulations our administrators did on a routine basis may have been questionable. Thanks to them, we will soon have an audit and I am certain that we will all have more confidence in our government when it is over. Although our City may have been challenged in the courts, the reasons were caused more by our leaders intransigence and inability to communicate then those who challenged the City. Actually, those impacted by the STRP owe thanks to those you identified for forcing our leaders to reduce indivicual costs and for alerting them to health issues presented by these projects. By the way, I really am Beowulf.

Thank you CW, I went to city hall asked questions as you suggested. The answers I received were a bit shocking. Kind of like the pot calling the kettle black.

Beached, please tell us what you learned.

if in fact there is information readily available at city hall, and the dissemination of that information would serve to quiet the discord on the island, then that info should be made public by the city or any one else who is privy to the public information in an effort to unite the city, not continue to divide it and act like schoolchildren. we shouldnt have to receive public info through the gossip channel. that is why we have lisa at city hall. if the info will quash the negativity surrounding dana's report and negate the need for a forensic audit it should be made known. otherwise, we cant be expected to believe someone's rumor.

Obviously no one wanted to hurt Dana's future position. I really don't care what he did, I am looking forward. That's the problem with some of you people...always looking for the conspiracy. Instead, look for a positive tomorrow.

So Lisa is now acting as the City's gossip queen? That is the source of your information islandman4now? Well, what are you afraid of? If the City's Public Affairs Officer is giving you information that is derogatory about a former employee from her office, then it must be official. Repeat to us what she leaked to you, get it out there. Pretty simple to me. islandman4now, you sound like one of those school children. Spread the gossip so Flowerpower has something to base his presumptions on.

beowulf, you are completely misinformed. please re read. i stated that if information exists it should come from the person that we pay to release that info. i should not have to go to city hall looking for gossip as was suggested by someone here. and i stated that if the info could save the taxpayers money (estimated to be between 100 and 500k) by eliminating the need for costly audits it should be made public. i have no source of info. that was cw, and beached. where you got the wild ideas you are putting forth is beyond comprehension. i also stated that acting as if you have a big secret when we are supposed to have transparency in government is acting childish. GOT IT? go back to happy hour now.

I stand corrected islandman4now. There is no negativity (outside of City Hall) regarding Dana's report. The need for an audit is well supported in his report and the mass of backup material he collected on his own inititive. The gossip offerred above is not substantiated and is likely offerred as a red herring, it stinks too. It is so unfortunate that the Council did not have an opportunity to act earlier. Our City has wasted so much money covering up the ineptness of city staff. Trotter's ability to convince the council that they must always wait for one more meeting before debating or making decisions regarding this financial fiasco has served to delay getting to the bottem of this. So, what's another half a million to set the record straight? Our City needs a complete in depth audit even if it takes a year of disruption to accomplish it. We need to stop all the gossip and bring back confidence in our local government.

Foster, now you're carrying conversations with yourself between two or three blog alias'. Has it dawned on you at all that this may not be sane? Have you thought for a moment how arrogant you must be to actually write a guest commentary to a paper in a city which you do not live and are not a resident about a meeting you did not aattend?? Really...I agree with CW; you need professional help.

Why get rid of someone who purposely held back a report that suggests there is some misappropriations of funds happening at city hall?...lets keep him!

The problem with you playballonk is that you, like Foster and some of the other cavedwellers on this island is that you guys believe the garbage McMullan feeds you. You guys get 50% of the facts and make up the rest. Keep in mind the people you associate yourself with...Foster is not a resident yet he acts like he knows what's going on. McMullan...well just click here: www.supportmarco.com he is a shameless man. Hey Bill, where's the check? I have no tolerance for your feeble arguments, lies and propaganda from wannabe politicians and conmen!

Leroy, it really bothers you when someone moves out of Marco and then keeps on monitoring events here. Why? As for Mcmullan, 50% of the facts is better then the lack of true information coming out of City Hall. Who are the wannabe politicians and conmen? Did McMullan run for office on Marco Island? Did he con anyone here? Is your wannabee politician John Arceri's boy Waldack? Is the conman you are referring to the same fellow that brought us the STRP? Or the fellow who wants to sell us a new bridge? Oh, and let's not forget the people who want our taxpayers to finance the acquisition of LCEC. Or perhaps you are referring to the upstanding investors who want to turn publicly owned property (tract K), into a money making scheme? The same fellows that don't mind destroying a bald eagle nesting area (tract K) just so they can line their pockets at taxpayers expense? Somewhere in there are the people you must be talking about. Don't be surprised if those birds are found poisoned one day. Actually, the list of investors that are on record for the solar energy scam are the same fellows that brought you our current political team running the city, these are the "good ole boys" aren't they? Several of them even serve on the new power committee designed to recommend the purchase of LCEC (conflict of interest?). Mr. Foster and Mr. Mcmullan are not your problem, the residents of our community are the problem and we are becoming informed, thanks to people like Mr. Foster and Mr. McMullan.

The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders. ~Foster's Law

This is a crazy conversation...it sounds like beowulf and his buddies need to move to one of the other (uninhabited) 10 thousand islands,so there opinions have some merit between each other...lol

Foster and McMullan (better known as Dumb and Dumber) litter these blog sites with their anonymous lunacy. I agree with CW and refuse to acknowledge their drivel with a response any longer; they both need to get a life.

Foster and McMullan are nothing more than irritating mosquito's. Both of them would be an interesting Psychological study in narcissist human behavior.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

A new sign of maturity for the Marco Community!!

Instead of hard headed poorly made decisions, the panel made the decision to drop it's indignation of this fine, professional that they accidentaly landed for City manager, and to move forward in a sane and cooperative tone!!

Excellent