Commissioners Corner: Mike Miller

On behalf of the City Commission and staff, I wish everyone a joyous holiday season and prosperous new year. We look forward to serving you in 2018. 
 
Town Hall Meetings originated in New England during the colonial era. Citizens gathered periodically to discuss common interests and make decisions about local issues. They were popular because citizens could be directly involved with the decisions that influenced their towns. Municipal government is the closest thing we have to that vision, allowing citizens to influence policies that make our city unique.   
 
The current leadership in state government has proposed legislation to significantly limit the authority of local governments. The changes would preempt local control over policies desired by our citizens. The following are examples of local control issues that would have been affected by this new legislation. 
 
Cocoa Beach citizens are invested in how the city is developed. Therefore, we have planning and zoning regulations that were prepared locally and are unique to our city. City staff wrote a Comprehensive Plan outlining redevelopment goals and objectives and a Land Development Code to enforce them. 
 
Cocoa Beach citizens are invested in the water quality of the Indian River Lagoon. Therefore, the city enacted regulations on fertilizing lawns. They are more stringent than state standards and more appropriate to a fragile barrier island.    
 
Cocoa Beach citizens voted to establish a Community Redevelopment Agency that ensures property tax revenues are reinvested locally.  Alternatively, there is no guarantee the funds would be spent in Cocoa Beach. 
 
Local policies would be severely compromised by bills being proposed in the state legislature. If you believe in local control over local issues, please join me and my fellow City Commissioners in opposing state legislation that would limit our ability to serve the citizens of Cocoa Beach. Notify our State Representative and State Senators that you oppose the influence of special interests and strongly support Home Rule.      
 
Representative Tom Goodson       850-717-5051 
Senator Debbie Mayfield               850-487-5017 
Senator Dorothy Hukill                   850-487-5014 
 
Mike Miller 
Cocoa Beach City Commissioner 
678-467-9909