“If the residents of Lake Worth are informed of progress and procedure and made part of the solution, most likely, the public will respond in kind.”

History about the Lake Worth Electric Utility. The public
vs. the City.

LAKE WORTH — Residents and users of Lake Worth’s electric power are ready to pick up the pitch forks, light the torches and charge the castle on the mount.
     The villagers are upset, and rightly so.

Click on newspaper clipping to enlarge.

From November 10th, 2005:

“Welcome To Pioneer Days
Courtesy LW Utilities!”

Continued on pg. 4

The article from 2005 in the Herald continues. . .

     The city is saying it is performing as well as can be expected given the age of the electrical distribution system in Lake Worth. The citizens, especially those in the dark and those who see a quantum leap in their utility bills, aren’t so quick to applaud.
     Residents of Lake Worth pre-1995 know the utility company was on the sales’ block, but encumbrances of bonds, etc., precluded the city from getting out from under.

Utilities Gutted

     Many will not remember a utility board in the 1970’s which designated what repairs would be made and what funds would be set aside for improvements. A shallow-thinking commission and even shallower mayor later dismantled the citizen-appointed board and gutted the utility funds to avoid municipal bankruptcy, leaving Lake Worth with its current, rusting system.
     Now residents would like to just give the department to Florida Power & Light.
     Of course, the legal mechanisms won’t allow the city to gift the utility department to anyone.
     But just as important as the lack of juice flowing to residences, is a perceived attitude that city hall is insulating and isolating itself from blame.
     One irate citizen came straight to The Lake Worth Herald after a visit to city hall and labeled those with whom he dealt, “Supercilious and patronizing.”
     He said he was made to feel he was a small child, being calmed down by a “fat aunt” who “. . . didn’t know what she was talking about.” Said citizen said he received no information, except Lake Worth was doing what it had to do and was ahead of schedule.
     Still another businessman visited the paper and wanted to know how one began a referendum to force the city to sell the power plant. He came back the next day with papers for a political action committee, a precursor to initiating a referendum.
     Yet another resident has already started a petition drive, and no doubt the two parties will meet up . . . probably at the castle with pitchforks in hand.
     It is unfortunate the city imposed charges to bolster the rebuilding of its aging infrastructure in the same breath the city went dark.
     The fuel adjustment charge — which is in place for six months — is more salt in the wound.
     Some folks are complaining they can’t pay their utility bills and have anything left over for food. Or medicine.
     Lake Worth’s City Commission is in juxtaposition with itself.
     The city is saddled with the surcharges and infrastructure charges, and the public is raising hell over the lack of productivity. Even the most hasty generalizations by the public — like “I haven’t seen a Lake Worth utility truck in two weeks” or “Why am I paying all this money for no service?” — has some importance.
     The city just concluded stem-winder* sessions with a company which billed itself as helping to define the mission of the city and getting employees to better understand that mission. Better understanding, better service.
     That seems to have gone with the wind of Hurricane Wilma and replaced by an attitude, unbecoming service personnel who must meet the public.
     City Manager Paul Boyer is a competent administrator, but he is not running a mini-White House, replete with spokesman and designated authorities. The buck stops with Boyer and he should know that. He should know that, especially when the mayor puts out smoke screens, rather than facts. The mayor is one vote on a commission that sets policy. The city manager is the chief operating officer.
     There are no policies to be set during a crisis like hurricanes. Just procedures.
     Boyer should also understand the perception is reality, an old saw, but a true one.
     Lastly, the public should be part of the disaster plan, not excluded from it.
     As Eric Severide said of the 1st Amendment, “There’s no such thing as my end of the boat is sinking.”
     We are all in the same boat.
     If the residents of Lake Worth are informed of progress and procedure and made part of the solution, most likely, the public will respond in kind.
     Wilma punched great holes in Lake Worth’s power plant, and greater holes in its disaster plan.
     For one thing, the stem-winding didn’t work.
     For another, when the city commission meets on Nov. 15, don’t bother telling those assembled what a great job Lake Worth did.
     . . . those assembled Nov. 15 already know.


*Acronym “stem”: Science, technology, engineering, mathematics. Sessions on ways to improve education and competitiveness.