To Pahokee Mayor Keith Babb

Dear Mayor Babb:

On Jan. 12, 2021, in a regular commission meeting, you set a precedent for future meetings, by allowing a lawyer who was not on the agenda to attend the meeting in person, while forbidding local citizens to attend the meeting in person.

One week later four lady citizens challenged this decision by entering the commission chamber early before a special meeting. When you arrived, you ordered them to leave, even though they were wearing masks and socially distanced from each other. They did so without incident, other than asking some pertinent questions which you and the city manager could not answer reasonably.

Remember, you set the precedent seven days prior by allowing an unauthorized noncitizen of Pahokee to sit in for a meeting.

Fast forward seven days to the commission meeting on Jan. 26, 2021, and in your mayor’s report, you referred to the four citizens as terrorists like the Trump supporters that invaded the Capital recently. Two of the ladies were Black, one was Spanish, and one was Caucasian, and I doubt that they were all Trump supporters.

You also mentioned that you feared for your life. Did you also fear for your life when the  lawyer was allowed to stay one week earlier? Mayor, your remarks about these ladies were flagrantly unethical, inflammatory, and inexcusable. An honorable person would apologize for such ridiculous statements. You have proven that you do not deserve the respect of the citizens of Pahokee.

At the conclusion of your remarks, the city manager stated that he could not have said it better himself. Some citizens have even suggested that he may have been the author of your comments. After all, it is his miserable job performance that you are trying to defend.

Due to the "Chinese Plandemic," citizens have been excluded from in person attendance at the commission meetings for more than 10 months, but before that, my wife and I had enjoyed regularly attending the commission meetings for about 12 years.

In the early years, when you were a commissioner, citizens would often bring forth their concerns during the meetings, and often the solutions to those concerns would be known before the meetings were over. In other meetings, someone would be assigned to help bring a suitable resolution to the situation. For the past couple of years, however, the attitude of the commission has been totally different. In most cases the concerns are presented, and there is no response from the commission at all. I sure miss the days when we had a commission that cared about the needs of its citizens.

Lastly, it is only about a month until we elect two new commissioners to the commission. This would be a perfect opportunity to fire Chandler Williamson so that the new commissioners could have the immediate challenge of helping to select a new city manager. If severance costs are a concern, please remember that there have been a couple of documented incidents by the Inspector General where Chandler Williamson’s negligence has cost the city more than $145,000. Leveraging those dollars against any possible severance expenses would certainly help to ease any financial difficulty for the city.

In these days of seeming uncertainty, I am expecting God to answer the prayers of millions of patriots, and intervene for our nation, our state, and our city in a miraculous way.

Thanks for your time, and may God bless the United States and Pahokee!
Bobby Colvin