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2020-07-21 News ArticlesJuly 29, 2020 Lake Okeechobee News - men, of Okeechobee News, Clewiston News, Glades County Democrat,.and The Sun City council votes to ask for new fire contract By Cathy Womble Lake Okeechobee News OKEECHOBEE — Many items concern- ing the interlocal fire agreement have been resolved, but there is still a holdup because the county does not want to open the union contract. According to City Admin- istrator Marcos Montes de Oca, the county will not hire any of the city's firefighters who are not paramedics. In addition, Okeechobee County Fire Rescue will not recognize rank. The city's new hires would actually end up having an increase in pay, because they would go in as paramedics. The senior firefighters would be taking a cut in pay. The city would need to pay com- pensation to the remaining six employees at the city fire department as well. Councilman Bob Jarriel said when he looks at the figures provided, it looks like four of the firefighters who move to the county will be making more money than they make now. The other three will make less, and Montes de Oca agreed this was correct. Councilman Jarriel suggested paying those three firefighters the amount they make now and getting the money by selling the equipment/trucks to ttie county. This means the city would be paying the difference in the salaries at least for the first year. Mayor Dowling Watford said he believed they had already agreed to give the equip- ment to the county. Fire Chief Herb Smith said his men wanted to know what the salaries would be before they committed to going to the county. He also expressed concern about the probationary period the men would be subject to. He did not believe it was fair to them to put that condition on them. "Il gives them 12 more months to worry about their jobs," he said. "If somebody doesn't like them, now that's hanging over their head." He said all of the men are willing to go over, but they want to know what their financial situation will be, and they do not think the probationary period is fair. Councilman Wes Abney agreed he did not like the idea of a probationary period. He also said he felt that if the city would be saving approximately $600,000 a year and it would only take about $20,000 to make up the difference in the salaries, he thought they should consider it. He said before they considered that, they needed to know what the compensation would be on the employees who would not be going to the county so they would know exactly how much money they would be saving. Mayor Watford said he did not under- stand why the county did not want to take on the three extra employees whose sala- ries would have been paid for by the city. He was speaking of the plan the Fire Merg- er Task Force came up with in its meetings last month. The county would agree to take all the firefighters who wanted to transfer over, and the city would pay the salaries of the additional firefighters until the county actually needed to hire additional firefight- ers. At that time, the county would begin paying the salaries. As a former business- man, Watford said he would have jumped at the chance to have three employees he didn't have to pay for. "I just don't under- stand, but that was their choice to make," he said. Councilman Bobby Keefe reminded the council the reason they started the merger/ consolidation/contract a year ago was to save the city taxpayers money. He said there would be some expenses in the be- ginning as they transitioned, but in the long run, they would be achieving that goal. Councilwoman Monica Clark said that at the last county commission meeting, they said they would not be ready to sign a contract until at least next May or June. She said she was tired of having the fire discus- sions and if there was nothing that could be done for a year, they should consider putting it off until at least after the election, because she thought the election might affect the discussions. "Honestly, I'm done with this for right now," she said. "It's hard to do a contract with someone who doesn't want to do a contract." She went on to say that in the first presentation by the county, they said they would take three EMTs and three paramedics. "In that time frame, they have hired EMTs. Until March, they were advertising for EMTs." Councilman Jarriel said he would at least like the buyout costs for the six em- ployees and suggested the city and county attorney get together to come up with a new contract. Clark suggested they hold off until it was closer to the time the county would be negotiating their collective bargaining agreement next year, but Jarriel said, "We've been working since last July, and 1 think if we put it off again, we're just gonna keep kicking it down the road. We're in this far. 1 think we need to at least go to the next step and see if we can get an agreement." Captain Lalo Rodriguez of the Okeechobee City Fire Department said he agreed with Councilwoman Clark that it would be wise to wait. He said the county made it pretty obvious they are not going to take any EMTs, and all the city firefighters are still EMTs. They won't be certified until June at the earliest. "Why not just hold off and do this as a whole?" he asked. Frank Williamson of the economic council reminded the city council that the contract would save the city $600,000 to $650,000 a year. "The economic council thinks you should accept the proposal the county sent over," he said. In the end, the council voted to get the costs for the buyout on the employees who would not be going over to the county and to ask for a new contract from the county. The motion was passed 3-2, opposed by Councilwoman Clark and Mayor Watford. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ENACTMENT Notice is hereby given that the City Commission will hold a public hearing on Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall at 981 West Hickpochee Avenue, LaBelle, Florida for the purpose of receiving public comment on the following proposed special exception resolution: CITY OF LABELLE RESOLUTION 2020-35 SPECIAL EXCEPTION AN ORDINANCE OF THE CrrY OF LASELLE, FLORIDA, ALLOWING FOR A SPE- CIAL EXCEPTION IN THE CITY OF LABELLE; TO ALLOW FOR MOBILE VENDING OF FOOD AND BEVERAGE AT THE SUBJECT PROPERTY, COMMONLY KNOWN AS BARRON PARK, LOCATED AT 100 PARK AVENUE, CITY OF LABELLE, FLOR- IDA, PROVIDING FOR IDENTIFICATION OF THE SUBJECT PROPERTY; PRO- VIDING FOR INTENT; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING AN EF- FECTIVE DATE. COPIES OF THE ORDINANCES AND COMPLETE LEGAL DESCRIPTION ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST AT LABELLE CITY HALL AND A GENERAL LOCATIONAL MAP IS SET FORTH BELOW. All Interested persons are Invited to attend and be heard with respect to the proposed ordinance. Interested persons may appear on their own behalf or by agent or attorney. If anyone decides to appeal a decision made by the Agency/Commission with respect to any matter considered at the meeting or hearing, a record of the proceeding will be needed for the appeal and for that purpose(s), may need to insure that a verbatim record of the proceeding is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: IF YOU REQUIRE SPECIAL AID OR SERVICES AS AD- DRESSED IN THE AMERICAN DISABILITIES ACT, PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE AT 863-675-2872, NO LESS THAN FIVE (5) DAYS PRIOR TO THE ABOVE STAT- ED HEARING DATE. City of LaBelle City Commission David A. Lyons, Mayor Ila I'do CC M AtA�k Fk N A i SUBJECT -- PROPERTY Moft All Interested persons are Invited to attend and be heard with respect to the proposed ordinance. Interested persons may appear on their own behalf or by agent or attorney. If anyone decides to appeal a decision made by the Agency/Commission with respect to any matter considered at the meeting or hearing, a record of the proceeding will be needed for the appeal and for that purpose(s), may need to insure that a verbatim record of the proceeding is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: IF YOU REQUIRE SPECIAL AID OR SERVICES AS AD- DRESSED IN THE AMERICAN DISABILITIES ACT, PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE AT 863-675-2872, NO LESS THAN FIVE (5) DAYS PRIOR TO THE ABOVE STAT- ED HEARING DATE. City of LaBelle City Commission David A. Lyons, Mayor Ila I'do CC M AtA�k Fk /40 Lake Okeechobee News - merger of Okeechobee News, Clewiston News, Glades County Democrat, and The Sun July 29, 2020 City council moves forward on charter review By Cathy Womble Lake Okeechobee News OKEECHOBEE —At their meeting July 21, the Okeechobee City Council adopted a resolution to create a Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Committee (CCRAC). The committee will consist of seven members and one alternate. Each council member will appoint one committee member, and the other two and the alternate will be appointed by the enure council. Any mem- ho (ails to attend three consecutive meetings will be automatically removed from the committee. Okeechobee Department of Health su- pervisor Tiffany Collins gave an update on the COVID-19 situation In Okeechobee. She said the free, asymptomatic testing offered at the DOH on Saturday, July 18, did not have the turnout they expected. Only 259 people showed up. They were hoping to show the state the need for more asymp- tomatic testing in Okeechobee. They had an opportunity to have a mobile test unit capable of testing up to 1,(100 people, but the turnout on Saturday was not enough to show the state we needed that caliber of testing here, she said. She can't tell the state we need more testing when the 500 spots for testing they did make available were not even filled. "I lust don't have an argument for that," she said. She expressed some frustration, because she attends meeting after meeting and gives everyone guidance on how to combat the infection, but the numbers keep climbing. She asked the council members to tell her how she could help them, what she could do differen Instead of me spewing at you what I ' we need to do, I'd like to take an opportunity to let you tell me what you'd like me to tell you," she said. "What do you guys think should happen? What can 1 do different? What can 1 say to you that will stop this? What can we do? What should we do? How come people aren't wearing their masks? What can I say to you that would get people to care enough to change?" Mayor Dowling Watford said, "I think Mave beat that horse as much as ou can beat it. 1 think until you are affected by it or a member of your family is affected by iL you just don't realize how serious it is." He went on to say that he thinks there are a lot of people who do not believe the govern- ment has the right to tell them to wear a mask. He also believes that since the town has opened back up again, a lot of people take that to mean everything is OK, and many young people are of the mindset that nothing bad is going to happen to them. Councilman Bob Jarriel said he un- derstood how confusing it is for people, -because five different doctorswill say five different things. He believes nothiq will change until someone makes decisions. "When 1 was in school, I don't remember my parents getting three choices about school. You want to go to school? You want to do k virtual? It's gotten out of hand, because nobody wants to make a decision. Unless somebody takes it seriously, no mat- ter what the issue is, it's not gonna happen. If we are doing to wear masks, it's gotta be enforced. \ Councilman Bobby Keefe said, "We are dealing with people who have free will and their.own belie( systems, so it's going to continue to be an uphill battle." Councilwoman Monica Clark expressed her frustration about getting testing for her employees. They must be tested before they can work, because if they cannot present a letter stating they are negative, they cannot work in health care environ- ments. They finally found a way to get tests done on thew own, without the help of the DOH, and she said she understood the nursing home was doing the same thing. She believes the testing on Saturday was a little too late. "If you've been in contact with someone, and your livelihood depends on that, then I think they should have the option to get tested," she said. Collins said there has been a misunder- standing within the business community all along. She said health care workers and first responders were the only ones who were supposed to do the test -based strategy to return to work. "That was never for the general business community. The busi- ness community heard that strategy and took that as 'I need to have my employees tested to return to work.' There is a symp- tom -based strategy that should have been the return to work strategy." The test -based strategy is no longer recommended even for health care workers, with some rare exceptions, she said. Councilwoman Clark asked Collins if youth -sized masks had been supplied to the schools, but she was told the only masks given to the schools were for the staff and were distributed by the emergency operations center. The EOC has requested more masks but was told the state has no more masks. When Councilwoman Clark asked where they would get masks for the kids going back to school, Collins replied, "The state has no more masks. I handed one of the cloth masks to my eighth -grade daughter and told her to figure it out, and she figured it out. All I can tell you is the state has no more masks" A maximum mi0age rate of 8.6018 was recommended by staff for the budget year 2020-21. This is one mill over the city's cur- rent millage rate. Mayor Watford explained this would be the maximum rate they could use. This does not mean it would be the rate they would actually be levying. If at some point during the year the need arose to go over the maximum, they would be required to mail every taxpayer In the city and notify them of the change. Councilman Bob Jarriel said he would vote against raising the millage rate. "We are trying to save the taxpayers money, and we need to learn to balance a budget without increasing taxes." After some discussion, the council voted to set the maximum millage rate to 8.6018, with Councilman Jarriel casting a dissenting vote. Budget workshops were scheduled for Aug. 12 and Aug. 18 at 5 p.m. Public hearings will be held on Thursday, Sept 3, and Monday, Sept. 21, at 6 p.m. All will take place in council chambers. The regular council meetings in September will be on those dates as well. CITY OF LABELLE NOTICE OF PROPOSED TRANSMITTAL Notice Is hereby given that the City Commission for the City of LaBelle, will hold a public hearing on August 13, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall at 481 West Hickpochee Avenue, LaBelle, Florida for the purpose of receiving public comment and considering transmittal to the Department of Economic Opportunity on the following proposed large-scale comprehensive plan amendment: CITY OF LABELLE ORDINANCE 2020-05 LARGE-SCALE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN MAP AMENDMENT AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF LABELLE, FLORIDA, PROVIDING FOR A LARGE-SCALE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT TO THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP FOR A 56+/ - ACRE PROPERTY LOCATED IMMEDIATELY EAST OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BLVD. AND SOUTH OF STATE ROAD 80; AMENDING THE CITY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION FORTHE PROPERTY FROM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN "OUTLYING MIXED USE-, -PUBLIC- AND "RESIDENTIAL- DESIGNATIONS TO "OUTLYING MIXED USE" DESIGNATION; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILrrY; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. COPIES OF THE ORDINANCES AND COMPLETE LEGAL DESCRIPTION ARE AVAILABLE UPON RE- QUEST AT LABELLE CITY HALL AND A GENERAL LOCATIONAL MAP IS SET FORTH BELOW. Ch Lrn4 ' Subien PropeYry -i7j`r��:''- f L �7Eff m.11 ldf 1 11 11 11 lit Ll U .. =N :.. All interested persons are invited to attend and be heard with respect to the proposed ordinance. Interested persons may appear on their own behalf or by agent or attorney. If anyone decides to appeal a decision made by the Agency/Commisslon with respect to any matter considered at the hearing, the be for the for that meeting or a record of proceeding will needed appeal and purpose(s), may need to Insure that a verbatim record of the proceeding is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal Is to be based. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: IF YOU REQUIRE SPECIAL AID OR SERVICES AS ADDRESSED IN THE AMERICAN D15ABILMES ACT, PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERKS OFFICE AT 863-675-2872, NO LESS THAN FIVE (5) DAYS PRIOR TO THE ABOVE STATED HEARING DATE. City of LaBelle City Commission David A. Lyons, Mayor _7�ac /-Io cc MI: IM (,1w1_ Fi u