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Chair debate swivels into inaction for now

A move to buy $800 dais chairs for the commission has met with resistance from residents and continued delays.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published June 29, 2005

REDINGTON BEACH - If you're awaiting the resolution of the tale of the 15 leather executive chairs, it might be best to take a seat. The issue will not come up again until July 19.

"This whole issue has become politicized and made the commission look foolish," Mayor Bob Fountaine said last week while urging his fellow commissioners to end the months-old debate over replacement of dais chairs used by the commission and volunteer boards.

"They (residents) want us to have cheap chairs. We are elected to make value-based decisions for the community. Everybody has to have the courage to stand up for a decision, either way," he said.

Fountain said commissioners "got hammered," had "bows and arrows and bullets" thrown at them and were "shell-shocked" by the community response to their plan to spend more than $800 each - a total of more than $12,000 - for new chairs.

At issue are aging chairs that the commission says are unsafe.

"It's a lawsuit waiting to happen," said Town Clerk Larry Bittner, who told of an 80-year-old volunteer board member who nearly fell out of a chair when its mechanism gave way.

The controversy began last April when the commission picked out new chairs guaranteed to last up to 15 years.

But when commissioners approved the purchase of the chairs, a group of residents sharply criticized the cost and the need to pay for them out of funds originally allocated for other uses.

Backing down, the commission tabled authorizing the money transfer. The issue was then discussed at several subsequent meetings, but no decision was made.

"Just because we tabled the $800 chairs doesn't mean we don't need chairs. What do we want to do?" Fountaine asked his commission last week.

"Let's just buy the least expensive chairs. Buy them this year, buy them again next year. Are we buying the expensive chairs? I'm not touching that one," Commissioner Alberto Baraybar said.

Commissioner Sam Maniotes said the cost "is a bit much for chairs we sit in once or twice a month. If new chairs have to be bought every five or 10 years, so be it."

When Maniotes, who is also the finance commissioner, said the town did not have the money budgeted to buy the chairs, Fountaine sharply disagreed.

"The argument regarding funding is not accurate. We are within the law to reallocate funds. We have the money. Don't base your decision on false, politicized statements from the community. It's not true," Fountaine said.

Maniotes responded that he had heard from a lot of people who criticized the cost of the chairs. "If the cost were $2,000 (total), I'd be happy," he said.

Fountaine urged the commission to "make a best value decision" for the town.

But when it came to a vote, Fountaine joined Maniotes and Baraybar in rescinding the April decision to buy the 15 high-back, all-leather chairs.

Only Commissioner Linda Wilson opposed the move, arguing that buying $200 chairs from a local office supply store is "not fiscally sound if they have to be replaced next year."

Does this end the chair controversy? No. The commission will discuss what to do about its aging chairs at its July 19 meeting.

Meanwhile, the most defective chairs are to be thrown out.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 04:54:48]