Thursday night’s Dade County Commission meeting began on a somber theme, with the absence of late Commissioner Lamar Lowery duly noted at the onset. But the regularly scheduled meeting quickly devolved into a verbal brawl between the commission and a private citizen; often critical of the board members’ sense of public relations.
John Huffman, a frequent critic of Dade government both online in social media and in person at meetings, took advantage of the five minutes allotted for each citizen to address the commission, to once again voice his concerns over perceived lack of transparency.
Despite allowing more time to air his gripes he admits to often repeating, Huffman triggered a vociferous response from Commissioner Melissa Bradford, who openly questioned the timing of Huffman’s litany of usual complaints in light of Lowery’s passing.
“Are you a miserable and unhappy person John, I just don’t understand this” shouted Bradford to Huffman. “We had a person we just buried today and you want to sit here and tell us how horrible people we are”?
As Huffman tried to reply, Bradford stormed off the board and told Huffman she didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
Vice-Chair Robert Goff quickly noted how tired he is of hearing the same thing repeatedly, later stating that he’s enjoyed 99 percent of his time served on the board, but it’s incidents like this that has him looking forward to his last board meeting before his term concludes in the new year.
But the court of public opinion was quite at odds from the board’s reaction to Huffman’s appearance, with some on the Facebook platform commenting on how Huffman does more work for the community than board members.
Before Thursday’s meeting concluded, Commissioner Bradford apologized for her reaction. “He (Huffman) wants to bash us but he doesn’t give us the chance to help him,” said Bradford who candidly said she’s frustrated by Huffman’s incessant criticism.
There is one final meeting of the current Dade County Board of Commissioners, set for Thursday December 5th.
By Vince Lennon
Dade County Commission Monthly Meeting 11/7/2024
