BY MARK SCHUMANN

Anyone looking for an example of the likely consequence of allowing the City of Vero Beach to be disincorporated and absorbed by the county need only look to how the county has treated the residents of the Original Town neighborhood.

For three years now the county has, over the persistent objections of the neighborhood and the city, operated the main GoLine bus hub in an area not zoned for such use.  Without the city to stand up for them, Original Town residents would almost surely be looking at having to live with a permanent bus terminal in their neighborhood.

Frustrated with the county’s unwillingness to heed their concerns, and after years of patient negotiations, city officials finally resorted to issuing the county a code violation.  As pitiful as it is for two local governments to let their differences degenerate to this point, a recent editorial in the local daily newspaper suggests both parties are equally at fault.  That is simply not the case.

The city has offered the county a site on 16^th Street just west of the railroad tracks where it can build a new, permanent GoLine hub with grant money from the federal government. In fact, plans have been drawn up, and all was a go until County Administrator Joe Baird, who has never been accused of being a diplomat, decided, apparently unilaterally, to insist the city agree to bear the ongoing cost of maintaining the site. Baird’s request was unreasonable.

For starters, the city is offering to lease the land to the county for $25 dollars a year, though it could well use the $250,00 or more the land would bring if it were sold on the open market.  Secondly, the GoLine transit system is operated under the auspices of the county, not the city.

Though the controversy never needed to sink to this point, it is at best a simplistic assessment of the facts to conclude both parties have been equally uncooperative.  Not only did Baird single-handedly derail negotiations over a new bus hub, he then went on local radio to lambast the city.

It is no secret Baird has it in for the city.  However, given that they allow their chief administrative officer to act as Baird does, one cannot help but wonder if the members of the county commission share Baird’s hostility toward the city.

What Baird needs, and what the county commission has consistently failed to give him, is proper direction.

Fortunately, this week city and county officials came to a tentative agreement to move the bus hub out of Original Town to a location west of Piper Aircraft at the Vero Beach Airport.

More importantly, county officials now seem prepared to accept the city’s offer to allow a permanent hub for GoLine to be built on the city-owned site on 16^th Street.

Let’s hope the county keeps its word.