OKEECHOBEE — Hard feelings and confusion abound concerning the subject of putting anything to do with the city fire department on the ballot. At the city council meeting on May 19, Council Woman Monica Clark seemed very certain that the county did not want it put on the ballot. Most of the council members agreed with her. But, in the county commission meeting held last week, Commissioner Kelly Owens said that was not true.

“I don’t remember us having any discussion about that,” she said.
Commissioner Brad Goodbread said he remembered sitting at the table during the workshop and saying, “Maybe the city should have a referendum.”

When asked why she thought the county would not allow the matter to be put on the ballot, Councilwoman Clark said she had received an email from the city attorney informing her that he had received a call from the county attorney informing him that City Clerk Lane Gamiotea had contacted the supervisor of elections about the process and requirements of pursuing a referendum regarding fire services. The county attorney was calling to let the city attorney know that the county was only interested in entering into an interlocal agreement with the city. They were not interested in taking over the taxing of the city residents themselves which would require a referendum.

When asked whether he thought the entire discussion on whether or not the county would allow the fire issue to go on the ballot could possibly be a misunderstanding, Mayor Dowling Watford said, “Absolutely. The county is not interested in doing the fire tax. To do the fire tax would require a referendum on each side. It requires the city to do a referendum and the county to do a referendum. THAT is the one the county was not interested in putting on the ballot. Now, if they want to do a referendum to do this procedure, that would be up to the city. I think there was some misunderstanding. We have new council members who have never been through this before. The city could do a referendum at any time. It’s not binding. It’s mainly to find out what the public opinion is. We don’t do it very often, because it’s a little costly. Normally there isn’t any issue that’s that controversial, and we have a representative type of government.”

He went on to explain that with a representative type government, the people choose the council and give them the authority to make decisions on their behalf, so that is why they seldom put things on the ballot. He said you have to remember there is another side to putting things on the ballot. People who own businesses in the city do not get to vote on those issues unless they live in the city.

Mayor Watford does not believe the issue will be settled tonight (June 2) at the city council meeting. Although the county commissioners made it pretty clear they were getting very tired of the back and forth. They did say they were willing to consider very minor changes to the contract. “All we can do is wait and see,” he said.