Sichel Blasts Doragh for HIS Past Performance and Criticism of G.S.D. Board

by Ed Sichel
Supervisor - Gateway Services District Board of Supervisors

Pete Doragh is running for seat 5 of the G.S.D. board against David Lethem. Doragh has been on the board and served as chairman. 2 years ago he put his name on the ballot only to quit the race. He said he quit because he was convinced the candidate he was running against, Dave Harley, would do a good job. 2 months after being elected, Harley quit and Bob Nielson was able to appoint Margaret Fineberg.

Last week Doragh criticized the current board of Supervisors. One of those members is Ed Sichel. Sichel didn't receive that criticism well and has responded with this letter below.

In your October 19th issue you ran an article under the headline, Doragh says G.S.D Board “Achieved Much Less Than We Should Expect.” In this article Mr. Doragh went on to state the following: “I don’t think anyone who considers the Wetland 47 events or the current Lake Masters issue would think the board is being effective now. The Lake Masters issue is now stalled because in a penny wise, pound foolish manner the District has decided not to use the services of a mediator. Mediation will occur.” Wow!! My initial reaction was “That’s like the pot calling the kettle black.”

I would remind Mr. Doragh that in the case of the Wetlands issue the timeline is well documented. June 2007, Friendly Fire initiates exotics removal. January 2008 South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) meets with GSCDD and GGCC (Gateway Golf & Country Club) at wetlands. That is 17 months before Mr. Doragh left office and I am yet to see anything he or his board did to rectify or solve the problem, except get out of “Dodge” and leave it for the new board to deal with.

Mr. Doragh mentioning the Lake Master’s issue is even more perplexing and downright incredulous. The Lake Masters overpayment of $172,000 occurred between May of 2006 and May 2008. The current board would not have to deal with this issue if it were not for the lack of financial controls and incompetence of the individuals who handled these 24 invoices and payments over this period of time. Mr. Doragh as Chairman of the board or his Vice Chairman had the responsibility for signing a monthly recap of all invoices processed during this period of time, which on many occasions he did. I would remind Mr. Doragh that there is a purpose for this procedure and that is it shows Board CONTROL and APPROVAL of expenses, an item the auditors look for at year end. In essence Mr. Doragh approved the overpayment but now finds it necessary to criticize the current board for the way they are trying to clean up the mess he helped create.

Today I received an e-mail from Mr. Doragh to the residents of Gateway where he states, “It is very important for our community both to keep the quality high and to keep costs down that problems are resolved quickly and creatively.” Sounds wonderful but in addition to the $172,000 overpayment to Lake Masters I mentioned above, I do remember that in the face of a resident backlash to the proposed $7.5 million Tennis Complex Mr. Doragh signed a $599,500 contract extension with Johnson Engineering. Approximately $27,500.00 of this was spent on surveying the park, which is another example of a waste of resident assessment dollars.

Cheers,

Ed Sichel