By Joseph Wiedeman, Interning Correspondent for The Apopka Voice
In Summary:
Commissioner Sam Ruth sought to revisit safeguards governing city-supported commissioner events, citing concerns about spending oversight. Public comments introduced racial accusations, while Commissioner Nadia Anderson defended the policy’s flexibility and disputed statements about awareness of the Hearts and Souls concert. After voting 4-1 to reopen discussion, commissioners unanimously agreed to postpone further consideration until November 4.
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The familiar topic of placing guardrails on commissioners’ discretionary spending once again triggered a contentious exchange at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting, before commissioners postponed the discussion for the second time in two months.
Commissioner Sam Ruth raised the issue during his commission report and moved to return the policy to the floor for discussion. Ruth has previously expressed a desire to eliminate discretionary spending altogether and asked whether plans were underway to revisit safeguards.
“I appreciate (City) Attorney Hand for handling a special request that I made this week about the discretionary spending,” Ruth said. “There are no bumper rails; what I would like to do is rescind that to the point where we can put in safeguards.”
Related: City Commission weighs bringing legal counsel into City Hall.
Ruth clarified that he was not opposed to commissioners hosting events, citing the Heart & Soul Music Festival on October 8. However, he said the policy needed another review to establish safeguards.
“It wasn’t the event,” Ruth emphasized. “It was the disbursement of the funds for the event that caused the discussion. On the email that I sent out to everybody, I didn't even know the policy that was already in place from a year earlier.”
Mayor Nick Nesta moved almost immediately to call for a vote. However, City Attorney Andrew Hand interjected, advising commissioners to allow public comment first.
Apopka resident Leroy Bell spoke first.
Bell addressed Ruth as “Mr. Ruth,” prompting the commissioner to ask that Bell use his elected title. Bell responded with “Sammy Ruth,” and Ruth looked toward the mayor. Nesta then addressed what he described as the public’s First Amendment protections.
“Restart the time and give me one second, please,” Nesta said. “There’s a First Amendment right that any person can say what they like right now; they can use any foul language they would like. I can't stop that, nor can anyone on the commission.”
Nesta said those protections did not extend to disruptive conduct or speaking out of turn. Bell protested that he had done neither. Nesta responded that the warning was not directed at Bell, although he considered the exchange disrespectful.
“Let’s remember that you stole money from this city as you sat there,” Bell said about Ruth. “You have stolen money from this city. Every time that this young lady (Commissioner Anderson) tries to say something or do something, you got something to say about it.”
Bell also criticized what he characterized as racial undertones in online comments about the Heart & Soul Music festival. He accused Ruth of encouraging those remarks by liking comments suggesting the event could lead to drug use and violence.
“You’re gonna come in here and say it's all about the discretionary funds,” Bell said. “We didn’t have a problem with Willie Nelson out there or John Anderson or the Tom Sawyer Band. Stop with these dog whistles.”
A “dog whistle” is language that appears neutral but conveys a coded message to a particular audience, often involving race or identity.
Albert McKimmie, whose proposed 55-home development the commission approved on a 3-2 vote earlier in the meeting, spoke next. He lamented what he described as recurring accusations of racism during commission meetings, saying people watched online because of those exchanges.
“Every week it comes down to the implication of racism,” McKimmie said. “Now I could be called racist, I could be called sexist, but there's a gentleman over there that I defended when he was accused of shooting up somebody's house. If I was racist, I wouldn’t be defending him at the time.”
McKimmie urged commissioners to focus on facts. He pointed to Anderson’s service on the commission and years of workforce integration as reasons for his belief that racism was no longer present in Apopka.
“The only racism I see is people who have a chip on their shoulder and believe that they’re second-class citizens,” he said. “We’ve never said they’re second class. I’ve supported these people for years.”
After public comment ended, Nesta called for a vote to reopen discussion of the discretionary spending policy. The motion passed 4-1, with Commissioner Nadia Anderson casting the lone dissenting vote.
Commissioners then resumed their discussion. Nesta explained that they could propose changing, rescinding, or pausing the existing measure.
“Remember the concert was never discussed,” Ruth said. “The discussion was about the protection or the lack of guidance from the resolution we were currently governed by.”
Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez explained the original resolution’s purpose: allowing each commissioner two events a year at city expense. She acknowledged that commissioners had not established safeguards to define which events would qualify.
Anderson offered her own view, saying she and Nesta had paid out of pocket for community events when the measure was developed. She said its broad scope was intended to let commissioners support initiatives without needing their colleagues' backing.
“We wanted to make sure that whatever initiative each of the commissioners wanted,” Anderson said. “That if each of the four commissioners didn't want to support it, we still could actually have that event.”
Anderson said she supported establishing some parameters. However, she disputed what she characterized as Ruth’s claim that he had been unaware of the event, saying emails requesting its cancellation showed otherwise.
“To say to the community they have no idea about an event, when there’s documentation where a commissioner emailed asking for the same event to be canceled,” Anderson said. “It’s documented, so to say it didn't happen, I have the emails, I did a records request. I think we need to move forward.”
Nesta ultimately recommended leaving the resolution unchanged until the November 4 commission meeting. Commissioner Yesenia Baron made that motion, and Velazquez seconded it. The motion passed unanimously.
Key Points:
- Commissioner Sam Ruth raised concerns that the existing discretionary spending policy lacks sufficient safeguards.
- Public comment became contentious, including accusations that criticism of the Hearts and Souls concert had racial undertones.
- Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez acknowledged that the original resolution lacked parameters defining eligible events.
- Commissioner Nadia Anderson supported some safeguards but defended commissioners’ ability to pursue individual community initiatives.
- Commissioners unanimously agreed to keep the policy unchanged until further discussion on November 4.
