Last night's City Commission meeting...(3/17)

Very little mention was made of Commissioner Jennings' adventure the previous day and she looked perky for someone who spent the night in jail (although her delivery at times was "stilted"...sorry). At one point during discussion of the fire department merger with the County (which passed 4-1, Mulvehill dissenting), Commissioner Jennings asked about a document she hadn't seen before and asked when that became available. Attorney Karns responded "yesterday" and some in the audience let out an audible "oh!"

The 13.25% annual increase in water rates (66% over five years) passed on first reading 4-1 with the Mayor dissenting. Second reading will be on April 7. He made some good points saying that this is paying for a Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant that we don't need, that we don't know if we can get permitted and we don't know how much will cost. He said that this is being pushed by the union at the water plant and they want a nice, new shiny plant - but that the city doesn't need it. Commissioner Mulvehill countered that we have spent $15 million on three wells for an RO plant that we can't use without a plant and that we are spending $14 million on a pipe to Lake Worth from the County source that we will only use for two years. The Mayor pointed out that it would only be for two years since that is when that scenario calls for the RO plant to go on-line - which we don't need.

During public comment, there were one or two people that said they didn't appreciate Commissioner Jennings behavior in Miami, being arrested, etc. She explained that she didn't go to Miami to be arrested, that she was reacting to a friend being injured by the Israeli military, that sometimes to stand up for your civil rights you have to be arrested and that if the need comes up again it may happen again. She then said it would be neat if sometime the whole commission could be arrested for a cause that they all thought was important. The Mayor pointed out that everyone on the dais is a representative of the city when they leave their house and they have to be mindful of that. It didn't sound like he appreciated being called by the media all day long either.