Marco City Council Needs to Do Their Job

The Marco Island City Council needs to do their job and pass RESOLUTION 25-15 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MARCO ISLAND FLORIDA CREATING THE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE because it brings the Ad Hoc Bike Lanes and Shared Paths Committee into compliance with City of Marco Island’s rules governing Advisory Committee functioning.

On June 21^st 1999 the City of Marco Island passed Ordinance 99-11 , “An ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BOARDS, COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS…”that clearly spells out the requirements that must be met in order to operate as an Advisory Committee for the City of Marco Island.

The Ad Hoc Bike Lanes and Shared Paths Committee, created in 2006, does not meet the following criteria set forth in Ordinance 99-11:

• It was not established by Ordinance or Resolution.
• As an Ad Hoc Committee it did not sunset at a designated time specified in a Resolution.
• Its members were not appointed by City Council.
• Its members are not subject to the term limits established for Advisory Committees.
• Vacancies were not filled according to the rules established by Ordinance 99-11.
• Members of the committee do not fully comply with Sunshine Law requirements to only meet and discuss business during formal meetings publicly announced and duly recorded (discussing committee business during bike rides and lunch gatherings is a clear violation of Florida Sunshine Law).

Resolution 25-15 corrects these deficiencies and brings the committee into compliance with the law and the most current Standardized Advisory Committee Format that was approved by the City Council in 2023. By allowing this committee to function as they currently do the City Council is not fulfilling their duties and ignoring proper procedures regarding Advisory Committees. 

Several members of the City Council and the current chairperson of the Ad Hoc Bike Lanes and Shared Paths Committee stated that “the committee isn’t broken so why fix it ?” I beg to differ. The committee IS BROKEN, operates in violation of the State of Florida Law, and is inviting a lawsuit if it does not comply with the Florida Sunshine Law. Florida Sunshine Law was established to prevent backroom deals (whether conducted in back rooms or on bicycle rides) and lack of transparency.

It is time for this City Council to stop throwing everything back to Staff to figure out, have some guts, and do the right thing.