Okeechobee County Commissioners expressed some concerns with the amounts a consultant suggests the county should charge for impact fees.
Commissioner Mike Sumner used the word ludicrous to describe some of the numbers he read.
County Administrator Deborah Manzo suggests the county greatly consider the fees being charged in St. Lucie and Martin County.
“I don’t think we should be higher than them, I suggest we be more in line with them.”
Commissioner Brad Goodbread said he didn’t want the fees to be so high that they begin to stifle new growth in the community.
The consultant will do some more work and perhaps revise the recommendations.
There is a growing problem in Florida with motorists who refuse to slow down or change lanes when they approach a law enforcement traffic stop or other service vehicles on the side of the road.
The family of a LaBelle man, Ken Sposato, wants the state to toughen the penalties for those motorists that strike, injure and kill people standing legally on the side of the road.
Sposato, a town truck operator, was struck and killed on US 27 in Highlands County earlier this year.
Senior Trooper Kenneth Watson of the Florida Highway Patrol said the law to move over and slow down has been in effect for 20 years. He said the law not only applies to law enforcement and first responders, but to vehicles with flashing lights, garbage trucks, utility trucks, wreckers, maintenance works, and construction vehicles.
“You would think out of common sense and being a good person you would slow down if you saw someone changing a tire on the side of the road, a tow truck driver, a policemen or an ambulance.”
Watson said you can’t always move over but there is something you can do.
“I can’t move over if it’s a two lane road, but what you can do Is slow down, 20 miles per hour under the speed limit, giving those people an opportunity to be safe.”
The current fines for violators run from $60 to $500.
The Pahokee City Commission continued discussions on how to evaluate the city manager and city clerk.
Vice Mayor Sanquetta Cowan Williams and Manager Michael Jackson have been butting heads about commission involvement in the every day operations of the city.
Cowan Williams said she can’t evaluate the job the manager is doing because she doesn’t have the operation and know what he does.
“How do we measure that he develops and maintains a friendly and informal relationship with staff, how do we know that, how do we measure that, were not up there every day.”
She also complained the city has not hired a grant writer.
Jackson said he doesn’t want to hire people just to fill positions, but wants to hire qualified people who can pull their own weight.
Commissioner Derrick Boldin encouraged Williams to go to city hall, meet with employees and develop relationships with the manager and employees to get input on what they are doing.
Williams said she feels like she is not wanted at city hall.
“I just notice since I was a commissioner, and I’ve gotten up here, I’ve gotten disrespect.”
An Okeechobee man was charged after he got into a fight at a Stuart Church.
Stuart Police said James Boren, 65, allegedly struggled with police and spit at officers when they told him he had to leave the property and tried to remove him.
They got into a wrestling match and Boren had to be taken to the floor.
Officers said alcohol played a role in the incident.
The charges include trespass, resisting arrest and battery on law enforcement.
Boren was treated and released at Cleveland Clinic North.