Okee News 2020 07 29/"°
City council moves forward
Lake Okeechobee News - merger of Okeechobee News, Clewiston Nows, Glades County Democrat, and The Sun
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 entire council. Any mem-
ber who fails to attend three consecutive
meetings will be automatically removed
from the committee.
Okeechobee Department of Health su-
pervisor Tiffany Collins Save 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 1,000 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 just 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 different*. "Instead of me spewing at
you what I thunk 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 I do different? What can I 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, 1 think
you've beat that horse as much as you can
beat it. I think until you are affected by it or
a member of your family is affected by it,
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 doctors will say five
different things. He believes nothing will
change until someone makes decisions.
"When I was in school, I don't remember
my parents getting three choices about
school. You want to go to school? You
want to do it 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 ggoing to wear masks, it's gotta be
enforced.
Councilman Bobby Keefe said, "We are
dealing with people who have free will and
their.own belief 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 their 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. 1 handed
one of the cloth masks to my eighth -grade
daughter and told her to figure it out, and
she figured it out. All 1 can tell you is the
state has no more masks."
A maximum millage 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.
July 29, 2020
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 Qty 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 FOR THE PROPERTY FROM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN "OUTLYING MIXED
USE', "PUBLIC" AND "RESIDENTIAL" DESIGNATIONS TO "OUTLYING MIXED USE"
DESIGNATION; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILTY; 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 15 SET FORTH BELOW.
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persons may appear on their own
a decision made by the Agency/Commisslon
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may need to Insure that a verbatim
the testimony and evidence upon which
REQUIREMENTS: IF YOU REQUIRE
DISABILITIES ACT, PLEASE CONTACT
THAN FIVE (5) DAYS PRIOR TO THE
LaBelle City Commission
Lyons, Mayor
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be heard with respect to the proposed
behalf or by agent or attorney. If anyone
with respect to any matter
will be needed for the appeal
record of the proceeding Is made,
the appeal Is to be based.
SPECIAL AID OR SERVICES AS ADDRF5c.FD
THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE AT 863-675-2872,
ABOVE STATED HEARING DATE.
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