County commissioners riled up by social media rumors about lagoon tax being diverted

A rumor spread on social media, claiming that county commissioners were trying to misdirect Indian River Lagoon sales tax money for unspecified infrastructure projects in Palm Bay, riled up the leaders of the commission this past week.

Both Chair Kristine Isnardi and Vice Chair Bryan Lober addressed the issue at length during Tuesday's County Commission meeting. Lober even showed a 28-slide PowerPoint presentation that included examples of emails he received related to the rumor.

Commissioners on Tuesday did decide, by a 4-0 vote, to re-examine some of an advisory committee's recommendations for use of money generated by the half-percent, voter-approved sales tax for Indian River Lagoon restoration projects.

But the issue was what portion of the money raised should go toward muck removal from the lagoon vs. what portion should go toward infrastructure projects that would prevent the dumping of sewage into the lagoon.

Commissioners say projects specifically in Palm Bay were never part of the discussion — and certainly not Palm Bay road projects, as some of the emails to commissioners claimed.

Yet commissioners had to deal with numerous emails and phone calls stemming from the social media posts, including some on various widely followed community and organization Facebook pages.

"It was so ridiculous, that I was really shocked that it was not just getting shared by constituents … but by organizations," Isnardi said. "That's what bothered me the most. Shame on anybody that circulated that rumor, that shared that rumor, that continued to share it once you knew the truth, just to get people here, and telling people 'come out with your blue shirts.' Well, you know, come out and give us your ideas. Give us your thoughts. But don't spread lies just to push an agenda that didn't even exist to begin with. Nobody would ever suggest such a thing to misappropriate funds."

Lober termed the rumor "a boogeyman story that just got people riled up."

Lober said answering the emails and phone calls about rumors "doesn't just waste our time. It wastes staff's time, and staff could be working on other constituent issues. That's why it's a big deal."

Lober said the emails he received ranged from polite to rude.

And he had a message for people who send rude ones: "Just because I'm an elected official … doesn't mean I ever give up my First Amendment rights. So, if someone's going to dish it, they'd better be able to take it."

He said, for example, that a message that implies that commissioners are behaving like crooks is "definitely going to lead to a productive discussion — maybe in 'The Twilight Zone' or in 'The Outer Limits.' "

Some of the speakers at Tuesday's meeting apologized to the county commissioners — even though those speakers had nothing to do with spreading the rumors.

"You're public servants, and don't deserve to be treated that way, and I apologize, because I'm ashamed," Indian Harbour Beach City Manager Mark Ryan told the county commissioners. 

"I'm so, so sorry that you have to face this abuse — that people call you and attack you and say bad things on social media," Space Coast Progressive Alliance President Phil Stasik told commissioners. "It's something that bothers me deeply."

In response, Isnardi said the commissioners can handle the negativity.

"We all have thick skin. I didn't want anybody to feel bad for us, because we're tougher than we look," Isnardi said, while adding that she is frustrated by the rumor "and how it just snowballed and how it just go so completely out of control. And that's the stuff we don't like."

Commissioner Rita Pritchett said she "also received harsh emails. So the thought that I have is I wish people would kind of watch what we're doing up here, so that you're not arguing with me with something we don't even do in the meeting — or I don't know where they get some of that stuff."

Toward the end of the County Commission meeting, both Isnardi and Lober had a brief exchange with Indialantic resident William DeLuccia, who signed up to make a public comment on the lagoon issue.

Lober said DeLuccia was among the people who put the information on social media that later was shared by others.

DeLuccia told the commissioners he got the information he posted from "several scientists" — whom he would not identify because he "would never throw those people under the bus."

Lober then told DeLuccia: "I have some tinfoil. You can make a hat out of it."

When DeLuccia was done and sat down, Isnardi noted: "It's obviously a very emotional, very passionate subject."

Advice for constituents

During the meeting, Isnardi and Lober also volunteered some advice to the public for how to productively get their message across to commissioners.

"The point is we need to work together," Lober said. "When you're combative … coercing and threatening and posturing, it's not going to win anyone any points. If that's what you need to do for some optics within a particular group or within a particular venue, that may be fine. But it's not going to sway anyone's votes up here being bullied or threatened — and it shouldn't —  because you really ought to have someone up here that's got enough spine, for want of a better term, not to buckle under the pressure of being threatened." 

Lober said residents are welcome to disagree with commissioners and to contact any of the commissioners — even if they aren’t your commissioner.

But here are some of the things Lober doesn't consider productive:

• Accusing a commissioner of holding a position on an issue that the commissioner  doesn’t hold.

• Threatening to vote against a commissioner in the future, especially when you aren’t even a constituent of the commissioner you’re threatening.

• Pretending to speak for every citizen or every scientist.

• Being standoffish or accusatory.

"When you see things on social media, don't immediately share them, if you're not sure," Isnardi advised members of the public. "Just call us."

What commissioners did

As a recap, here's what commissioners did at Tuesday's meeting:

By a 4-0 vote, they agreed to a proposal put forth by Lober to approve most of the updated 2019 spending plan for the half-percent lagoon sales tax.

However, how to spend some of the roughly $225 million initially designated for muck removal work remains undecided. Commissioners agreed to authorize up to $125 million for muck removal. But they set aside the other $100 million initially targeted for muck removal and related projects for further study — and possible reallocation to other types of projects. 

The advisory Save Our Indian River Lagoon Citizen Oversight Committee will study the issue more, and report back to the County Commission.

In all, the lagoon sales tax — which is authorized for a 10-year period — is projected to collect a total of $486 million during those 10 years.

Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

His Political Spin column runs Sundays in FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman

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