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Safety Harbor City Commissioners on a
three-to-one vote on Sunday, Sep. 16 chose to welcome a former
commissioner back for a six-month encore performance.
Keith Zayac, who previously chose not to
run for re-election because of his many conflicts of interest and a
lack of time to devote to city business, will serve until city
elections are held in March 2008.
There are many things wrong with the
commission's decision, beginning with the fact Zayac was not the
only candidate. There were five other qualified applicants for the
position, none of whom has a previously stated conflict of interest
with holding the position.
If the assumption is that the commission
needs someone with experience to warm the seat until the next
election, then we should not bother with elections at all because
the voters might be foolish enough to choose yet another
inexperienced person.
Zayac is a civil engineer whose clients
include several of the most prominent developers bringing projects
before the Safety Harbor City Commission. He will have to recuse
himself and declare a conflict of interest any time one of them
steps forward. If he doesn't, city residents should be outraged.
If he does, city residents are not served by his "experience"
anyway. He -- and city residents -- are in a no-win situation and
three commissioners should have been well aware of that fact.
Thanks to Vice Mayor Kathleen Earle, there
is at least one voice on the commission for common sense.
Unfortunately, she was outvoted.
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