Meetings draw scrutiny

Budget talks held before, after storm

Several cities held public discussions on their budgets while residents dealt with hardships from Hurricane Irma.

The annual budget meetevacuated ings, held in the days before and after the storm, drew concern from residents and elected officials that the timing made it difficult for the public to attend.

Ordinarily, city budget talks are on a strict timeline. But under Gov. Rick Scott’s executive order, cities were allowed leeway to change dates to compensate for the hurricane and its effects.

Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale Lakes and Hollywood were among the cities that postponed meetings to discuss their budgets. But other local governments, such as Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, proceeded with meetings before and after the hurricane.

Fort Lauderdale held its final budget meeting Wednesday even as some residents still were out of town or without power.

Debbie and Larry Queenin and didn’t plan return until this weekend.

“We are dumbfounded that since public opinion is part of the session that this meeting has not been rescheduled giving residents enough time to return,” they wrote in an email to city leaders. “The FLL airport just reopened yesterday!”

Stan Eichelbaum, a downtown Fort Lauderdale civic leader, asked Fort Lauderdale to