2020-10-20 News ArticleOctober 28, 2020 Lake Okeechobee News - merger o chobse News, Clewiston News, Glades County Democrat, and Tha 39
keechobee City F.D. reaches end of an era
Special to the Lake Okeechobee News
Mayor Dowling Watford presents a
proclamation recognizing Oct. 24,
2020, as World Polio Day at the Oct
20 city council meeting. Recipients In-
cluded Molise Jahner, president, Ro-
tary Club of Okeechobee, and Denise
Whitehead of Okeechobee County
Parks and Recreation.
By Cathy Womble
Lake Okeechobee News
OKEECHOBEE — The signing of an
interlocal agreement for fire services during
Tuesday night's council meeting marks the
end of an era for the city of Okeechobee
unless the county commissioners decline to
sign when presented with the contract. The
agreement will take effect on June 1, 2021.
City Attorney John Fumero presented
the contract to the council and said it
represented many hours of collaboration
between him, the county administrator, city
administrator and the county attorney. They
have also been consulting with union offi-
cials, pension experts, labor union experts
and many others. Fumero has retained two
experts to help make sure no mistakes are
made, an attorney based in Tallahassee
who practices exclusively in the area of
pension law —Jim Lin (he is reviewing the
agreement now and may have some minor
comments later.)
The Florida Division of Retirement is also
reviewing the matter, he said. This is some-
one who oversees firefighter pension funds.
"We are hopeful they will complete their
review in the next couple weeks, but they
would not commit to a timetable." He went
on to say there are four exhibits which have
not been finalized —Exhibit A: a list of em-
ployees to be hired by the county, Exhibit
B: the temporary positions which is still in
flux, Exhibit C: a pension election form and
Exhibit D: a detailed inventory of vehicles
and equipment that will be transferred to
the county.
Councilman Bob Jarriel moved to
"approve the interlocal agreement be-
tweeti Okeechobee County and the City of
Okeechobee for fire services in substantial
conformance with the draft dated Oct.
12, 2020, that has been presented tonight,
recognizing that there may be additional
refinements to the agreement including
those addressing labor and pension issues.
If there are material changes to the inter -
local agreement hereafter, staff is directed
to present such changes to council for
approval."
The city will be paying a fee equal to
what fire assessment would be in the city,
explained Mayor Dowling Watford.
Frank W. Williamson of the Economic
Council spoke and thanked the council for
its efforts to save the tax payer dollars and
for efforts to take care of its employees.
As they have since the very beginning, the
economic council recommended the city
council sign the agreement.
Business owner Steve Dobbs spoke and
said he had been downsized, laid off in the
past and wanted to reassure the firefighters
that there is life after that. He said he had
a conversation with someone recently,
who said the whole thing was a business
decision and he agreed, but said, it did not
move at the speed of business, it moved at
the speed of government. "If this had been
Steve Dobbs Fire Department and Wes
Williamson's Fire Department, this would
have been over 15 months ago."
Mayor Watford said everyone !mew
how he was going to vote and if the city
wanted to save tax money, he felt it was an
issue of saving tax money versus services.
"The city exists to provide services to its
citizens. I think we have to look at whether
the savings are worth the services we will
be giving up." He went on to say if they
wanted to save tax rnoney they could just
do away with the city and they wouldn't
have city taxes. "There are times to save
money, and there are times when you have
to pay for that service." Okeechobee City
has provided fire service since 1915 or so,
he said, and this will be a major change. "1
would have preferred if we were going to
make such a major change we would have
had a referendum and let the voters decide
if that's what they want to do, because this
is a major, major change."
He said if their goal was truly to save the
taxpayers money, he felt they should have
instituted a fire tax rather than doing an
interlocal agreement and said he objected
to just giving away trucks and equipment
that city tax payers paid for. He had several
other objections to the agreement but said
one of his biggest objections was that five
people were making the decision. One of
them would be leaving in January. limo of
them indicated they might not be there in
two years. That means three of the five will
not be there to deal with the fallout of the
decision they are making.
The council voted immediately following
the mayor's comments, and as he predict-
ed, his was the only dissenting vote.
During the council comments portion
of the meeting, Councilman Jerrie) said the
council is made up of five people and when
a vote is taken whether it is 3-2 or 4-1, he
felt that once the vote is taken, that should
be the end of it. He said he felt the mayor
made his decision 18 months ago without
waiting for any facts. He went on to say he
was disappointed by the mayor's com-
ments. He acknowledged Councilman
Wes Abney would be leaving at the end of his
term and that he and Councilman Bobby
Keefe were there for their terms and said
they were obligated to make what they feel
are the best decisions for the city. "We're
not here to sit here and wait, because
we've only got two years and say, no, we're
not going to vote on anything. We just have
to sit here for two years and do nothing.
That's not why we were elected. My obliga-
tion is to the city taxpayers."
He went on to say he would always
respect the council whether he was on
the winning side of a vote or the losing
side. He would not put any of the other
members down outside. "Whatever the
council decides, I'm going to accept that,
and once I leave this meeting, that's over. I
hope 1 don't hear on the radio tomorrow or
read in the paper that someone was totally
against this. We've taken 18 months to get
all the information and the facts. The vote
tonight was on the facts."
Council member Monica Clark said she
spoke with the firefighters and they were
appreciative of the severance packages the
city put together for them. She said they
told her it made them feel better to know
they were being taken care of.
With the end of the city fire department,
not only will city residents no longer have
a fire department in the center of the town,
they will also lose some things they may
not have thought about. This will be the
last year Santa drives by your house on a
firetruck and waves to wish your child a
Merry Christmas. The city firefighters will
no longer be in the park handing out water,
hats and other things during parades and
festivals. They will no longer be able to
come to your home, church or business
to do a courtesy inspection to help you
figure out what you needed to do to make
sure you and your loved ones were safe.
They will not be going to schools to do
safety programs. There will be no one in
the city fire station to check your blood
pressure if you are in town and not feeling
well. Your children will not be able to tour
a fire department, because the county has
suspended visits due to COVID-19. And the
city was the only place kids could go to see
what a fire truck or fire department looked
like. These are just a few of the little extras
done by the city fire department.
In other news, the council discussed
creating a Flagler Park Improvements Citi-
zen Board. This was originally proposed at
the Oct. 6 meeting. The committee, seven
members and two alternates, will partic-
ipate in and make recommendations on
specified aspects of the Flagler Park design
and improvements.
ANNE M. GANNON
CONBTITUTMNM. TOM COLL[OIO[
Sr a sg Palm Beach County
SavingSBng you.
axrran. .com MICIDeaoc
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