Loading...
2020-02-18 News ArticlesVaECHOBEE NEWS vol. 111 No. 23 Friday, February 21, 2020 $1.00 plus tax FWC seeks input on lake plan By Katrina Elsken Lake Okeechobee News OKEECHOBEE —The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began work on a new management plan for Lake Okeechobee on Feb. 18, with a public meeting at the Okeechobee Civic Center on U.S. 98 to gather stakeholder input. Ryan Hamm, regional fisheries admin- istrator, said FWC is drafting a manage- ment plan for Lake Okeechobee. He said FWC wants to know how can we do a better job of managing Lake Okeechobee to meet stakeholders' needs. "We're all here because we care about Lake Okeechobee and the use of this resource," he said. "We are the fish and wildlife agency," See LAKE — Page 7 Special to the Lake Okeechobee News/Sandra Pearce American Legion presents winners OKEECHOBEE — The Okeechobee American Legion crowned the winners of the Miss American Legion pageant on Thursday, Feb. 13: Miss American Legion Is Aubrey Pearce (front center); first runner up Zoe Bayless (left); and second runner up Priscilla Rodriguez (right). City residents ask: Where will merger ends' By Cathy Womble Lake Okeechobee News OKEECHOBEE — "Consolidation is akin to diabetes," said Dale Ann Watford at the city council meeting on Feb. 18. "You sian cuttin' a little bit. It starts with your toe. Then it's your foot. Then it's your leg. If y'all ain't careful, this is just my knower (hand gesture over heart) y'all might be out of a job one day if you're not very, very, very careful. Cuttin' a little bit here and a little bit there." She went on to tell a story of a time her family had a medical emergency and the city fire department saved her son-in-law's life. She firmly believes the county could not have arrived in time. She also mentioned a fire that occurred at the home of a friend, and said if it weren't for the city fire department arriving so quickly, they would have lost their home and the two homes next door would have been lost as well because county firefighters are a lot farther away and have farther to travel. "I hope y'all are really praying about this because it is affecting a whole lot of folks," she said. Councilman Bob Jarriel said he understood what she was saying and the main reason this whole thing was started eight months ago was to save people just like her, the taxpayers in the city, money. "We pay too much tax, and that's what the whole thhig of it was," he said. "If that means they're a gonna come a runnin', I'd rather pay that little bit of extra tax, than them not come a runnin'," she replied, and several people in the room could be heard to agree. "Over the big pie, it ain't that much money." Council member Monica Clark explained the reason she believed they began the discussion about consolidation/contracts/etc. was because the city is spending more than it brings in each year, and it can't bring in enough taxes to cover the budget. "We're going into our savings account, as I explain it to some people. When you have $10,000 in your savings account, and you are pulling out $1,200 ayear to make ends meet at your household, how much longer are you going to have that budget?" she asked. "How much longer will you have savings? We are trying to be fiscally responsible for the tax- payers of the city because we cannot collect enough taxes to cover the difference, so we are trying to make responsible decisions." The council has not received the contract they requested from the county yet, so they Lake Levels 12.90 feet Last Year: 12.55 feet Spon ored By: Po��t� s Family Restaurant 1'59 S. Parrott Ave. 863-763-7222 Source: South Florida Water Management District. Depth gi.en in tee oboe sea 11.11 See Page 4 for information about how to contact this newspaper. iaMokeecpebeenemcom tut Sratt tneYs ,e III16510 I I III2IIII 5 a1 &/)0 M I' n, de S February 21, 2020 Lake Okeechobee News 7 7 u� wildlife for their long-term well-being and important determination of what our future LL'i.1 E for the benefit of people." ecosystem will look like." Dr. Paul Gray of Audubon Florida ques- Dr. Gray said the second factor that Continued From 1 tioned the wisdom of trying to develop a affects the lake ecosystem is fire. Fire is explained Mason Smith, FWC freshwater lake management plan based on public comment. a natural part of the ecosystem; nature uses fire to clean out the dead brush. Lake fisheries biologist. "We not only have to manage the fish and wildlife populations, Science should come first, he said. Okeechobee has a burn management plan, we also manage the habitat those popula- Dr. Gray said Audubon's primary mis- is ecosystem conservation. he explained. However, burning dead brush inside the dike depends on water levels and tions depend on." He said that includes habitat conserve- "First and foremost, we want these plans "First on permits from the Florida Forest Service, tion and invasive plant control. "The to be scientifically based," he said. "I wonder if you guys could think about which in turn depend on wind conditions and availability of Forest Service staff. (If idea a management plan is to basically have a guidance for all of these writing a technical plan that says, here is firefighters are too busy with wildfires things that we do that is good for the lake the scientific basis for what we are do- ing, how we are going to honor the most elsewhere they may not have sufficient staff available to oversee a Lake O bum.) ecology and is also supported by the stake- holders," said Mr. Smith. natural system," he continued. He suggest- "The third thing that makes these eco - He said a stakeholder is anybody who ed asking for stakeholders for input after systems function is nutrients," said Dr. Gray. can affect or be affected by FWC's manage- presenting the science. "You are the Fish and Wildlife Conser- For example, if the lake level gets too deep, the nutrient -rich water from the middle of ment of the lake. The plan will have specific goals, objet- vation Commission. Your primary mission the lake gets into the marshes and en- tives and actions within FWC's jurisdiction, is to protect our resources," said Dr. Gray. courages the growth of cattails, which can he continued. "Taking stakeholder input first is putting the crowd out other vegetation. "It's also important to note that Lake 0 cart before the horse." He also questioned Glades County Commissioner Tim is really important within the entire South the wisdom of attempting to write a man- Stanley asked FWC for help in clearing the Florida ecosystem," he said. The role the agement plan for the Big 0 before writing channels of silt so boaters can get in and lake plays on the South Florida ecosystem plans for the smaller lakes. He suggested out of the lake. "Down at Lakeport, the and projects such as Everglades restoration they might fine tune the process while de- channel gets silted in from Fisheating Creek must also be considered, he added. veloping plans for smaller bodies of water. all the time," he said. He said due to the Mr. Smith said the two-year process to "Lake Okeechobee is the most com- buildup of sand in the channel, when the develop the plan will involve stakeholders plicated lake in the whole state," he said. lake is low they can't get out into the lake. throughout the process from start to finish, "What makes wetlands function is hydrol- The commissioner said he has not found and will include public meetings, commu- ogy. That is controlled basically by the U.S. anyone who will accept the responsibility. nication by email and stakeholder input Army Corps of Engineers." Each agency refers him to another state workshops. Dr. Gray said the lake Okeechobee agency. "1 went to the corps, I went to the "We promise to address and balance, System Operating Manual, which the corps South Florida Water Management District where feasible, the needs of all stakeholder is developing and plans to put in place by and I went to you, and I keep going in groups," he said, and "to manage fish and the end of 2022, "is going to be the most circles," he said. e ,CITY Continued From Page 1 are not able to proceed with making a decision, but they did take a look at the proposal Capt. Lalo Rodriguez gave them last month for EMS services done by the city, and City Administrator Marcos Montes De Oca and Financial Director India Riedel spent several weeks going over figures to come up with a potential budget for the implementation of EMS services within the city. ccording to Mr. Montes De Oca, the current fire department budget with dis- patch included is $1.64 million, and with EMS, it would be $1.97 million, but with revenue, it can be operated at approximate- ly the same millage rate as it is now. How- ever, now, all city residents and businesses pay an EMS assessment, and under the new proposal, they would not have to pay this assessment, so they would actually come out ahead. Councilman Jarriel originally asked to table the discussion on the EMS services until they had the contract from the county, because he said he thought they did not have enough information to have an intel- ligent conversation without it, but he was overruled by the rest of the council, who said they believed since it had already been pulled from the last agenda and that there were a lot of people at the meeting specifi- cally to hear the discussion, they should go ahead with it. Councilman Jarriel said someone will have to pay for two ambulances and just saying you might get a grant won't cut it. "I played the lottery last weekend, and I didn't win. That's basically what a grant is — the lottery." He also said they did not show insurance on the vehicles or maintenance or storage. 'Are we gonna park it out in the parking lot with our fire truck now?' In addition, he disputed the transport figures, saying the county only collects 55% of what they bill but the figures in the proposal are for 100%. He asked why they did not have an additional person on the proposal to do the billing and insurance for all those calls, and said if they had someone who already worked there who had the time to do all that paperwork, then they had someone working there right now they did not need, because that is a lot of paperwork. He also said the county said they only need six firemen, but the city says they need 13. '9f you want to do a proposal, go to the county, and follow it," he said. "They show six firelmedics here. The county says we need sic. We need twice that many at the city.+ The figures just don't add up, and I don't want the city to say, well, the county is wrong. There should be three firemen on the truck. They said there should be two..." There is a poll on a Facebook page call The Scoup in Okeechobee asking what Joe Public thinks about getting rid of the city fire department and having the county handle all fire calls. As of the writing of this story, 375 people believe the city fire de- partment should be left as is, and 22 people believe it should be closed. In other business. the final discussion will take place March 3 for the amending of the Sunday alcohol sale times. A resolution declaring the city of Okeechobee a Second Amendment Sanctu- ary City was adopted. ,J Town hall meeting March 11 N On Wednesday, March 11, at 6 p.m., there will be a town hall meeting at the Okeechobee Freshman Campus auditori- um. The address is 610 S.W. Second Ave. (behind Golden Corral). These town hall meetings were begun as a way for city resi- dents to air their concerns and ideas about the city in a more informal setting. Although last year the council members just listened to the questions and comments without responding during the meeting (responses were given later through follow up phone calls, visits or emails), this year, they are planning to make the meetings a little less formal and will attempt to answer some general questions, if at all possible, during the meeting. Questions and comments can even be sent in advance to Igamioteas@ cityofokeechobee.com or tall 863-763-3372 ext. 9814. "It doesn't matter if we have any fish if we can't get to them," he said. Some audience members asked FWC to do less spraying of herbicides and more mechanical harvesting. Alyssa Jordan, of FWC, said there are limitations of where the harvesters can work and in some cases it is cost-prohibi- live. She said there are mechanical harvesters working the Harney Pond area this week. "We are looking at doing more mechan- ical harvesting on Lake Okeechobee," she said, "expanding on the south end of the lake around Clewiston as well." Mike Krause of Okeechobee Fishing Headquarters called for more transparency. "The public doesn't see everything that is going on," he said. It's In Every Padre. W", 9moxdees fohpaco's tlirea he repeated corona b w1Me game wua the a"namcetla ane Demme dl—ed.. l leaeltq tp loose Cancer el the mouth (Including the lip, longue, end cheek) ane 1Moa1 Cancer —1 mea often et me soot In the march wham the lele— is I.W. sargiwl removal of repro, la often neoeed, end Pa of Iha race, tongee. rJmox, or lip moat ellen he removed tae. Smokeless Tobacco is not Harmless Tobacco! �CC�--ot3rr� �Q4. �l�wElp VwBm�V?'�a ry PO 8. 1696. Okeeabobae, FL 34973 883�891-9P17 I www.TFP-Okeacl,obea.org We, at Walpole Feed, are dedicated to keeping prices down while still giving you the top quality feed and service you deserve, as we have done in the past. f; S0, Stzor if& 400, fam! ! Yvat�� �s�.cvcf-�t.Cs u�c�G���eccate