The City of Lake Worth ‘is a small, beautiful community’ too. And elected officials can be, at times, uncivil as well.

But is incivility always wrong? Or is there a
right time and right place for it?

Below is an excerpt from an interesting article in The Coastal Star by reporter Rich Pollack titled, “Highland Beach: Commission wants return to civility”.

It was partly because of this same issue, incivility, that voters marched to the polls last March here in the City of Lake Worth and elected then-Messrs. Omari Hardy and Herman Robinson in what was theorized to be on this blog, “The Rise of the Middle”. And as expected, Commissioner Hardy in District 2 and Commissioner Robinson in District 4 wasted no time asserting themselves, each in their own way, and that created in their first few months on the dais some sparring on a few topics, but mostly the civil type of back-and-forth at the Commission.

This ‘civility’ at the Commission continued on for about 4 months until Hardy began to get very impatient waiting for the City’s “Resolution of Support” for the Blueway Trail project. Then last October 3rd at that City Commission meeting, well, let’s just say all hell broke loose. You can read all about that kerfuffle by clicking on this link.

So what’s the point? Sometimes losing one’s temper is exactly the right thing to do.

As an elected official one cannot be seen getting angry often — but when an elected official, such a Commissioner Hardy, gets extremely passionate about a project with so much potential for his constituents in District 2 — one would expect Hardy to get angry and very passionate.

Now back to the article in The Coastal Star:

For years, Highland Beach Town Commission meetings have started with that civility pledge read by the town clerk.
    In recent months, however, civility among commissioners has been overshadowed by shouting, name calling and interruptions.
    The commission frequently splits 3-2 on issues, with Mayor Carl Feldman, Vice Mayor Bill Weitz and Commissioner George Kelvin voting one way, while commissioners Rhoda Zelniker and Elyse Riesa vote the other.

and. . .

    Now, after months of bickering and constant interruptions, commissioners are taking steps to restore calm and end the infighting.
    At a meeting late last month, commissioners agreed to accept an 11-page document of conduct guidelines prepared by the town attorney’s office.
    In addition, the commission listened to a 20-minute presentation from Patricia McDougle, a professional registered parliamentarian, who explained appropriate parliamentary procedure.

By the way. . .

The Coastal Star was recently awarded “A raft of press awards” from the Florida Press Club in the 66th annual Excellence in Journalism competition. To learn more about that, and about some former reporters at the Post who now write for The Coastal Star, click on this link.