COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Tens of thousands of slick postcards and persuasive polling calls are bearing down on Vero Beach. Meanwhile, political spin is served up each Tuesday morning on a local radio station, and the barrier island weekly is now actively promoting the candidacy of Tracy Carroll.  All signs point to the likelihood of a tidal wave of propaganda swamping Vero Beach in advance of the Nov. 5 City Council election.

This week, for example, the barrier island tabloid published an editorial attempting to perpetuate the misconception that this or any future City Council will have the option to renege on the City’s contractual commitment to sell Vero Electric to Florida Power & Light.  Their motive?  Build support for Carroll.

To be sure, it is at least remotely possible the electric sale may not come together, but if that unlikely scenario develops, it will not be because of any decisions the Vero Beach City Council can or will make now or in the future.  Quite simply, the deal is in the hands of the Florida Municipal Power Agency, FPL and state and federal regulators.

The Nightmare Scenario:  Hypothetically, Tracy Carroll, Craig Fletcher, Pilar Turner and Richard Winger could all wake up one morning having had the same nightmare about how the sale of Vero Electric backfires on the city.  Having awakened in a cold sweat, they could all agree to an emergency special call meeting of the City Council where they could then join Jay Kramer in voting to break off discussions with FPL.

Or, having been warned in a dream, they might bide their time, and simply refuse to approve needed and reasonable changes to the contracts, including the pledging of future franchise fees and utility tax revenues as an assurance against a highly-unlikely default of the Orlando Utilities Commission.

Still, none of these fantastically improbably actions by the City Council could derail the sale of Vero Electric.  As transactional attorney John Igoe wrote in response to a question from Inside Vero,  “There is no ‘opt out’ for $5 million on either side of the Agreement between the City of Vero Beach and FP&L.”

“The City cannot vote to pay FP&L $5 million to terminate the Agreement.  Each side has the remedy of specific performance, meaning either party could get a court to require the other party to perform its obligations under the Agreement,” Igoe added.

If that statement is not a clear enough articulation of the City’s contractual obligation to act in good faith, Igoe wrote the following to a reporter from the island weekly. “City Council members have the discretion to vote any way they wish on any proposal, including proposals with material changes to the proposed transaction.  The City’s obligation to act in good faith under an existing enforceable agreement remains an important consideration and should be taken into account in connection with any proposal for changes in the existing structure or amendments to the Purchase Agreement.”

Though this truth may be an inconvenient one for supporters of Carroll, Igoe has made it clear that even if the City Council were foolish enough to refuse to agree to needed changes in the contract, the City will still be obligated to sell its electric system, and FPL will have legal recourse to require the City to perform as promised. Period!

Refusing to accept this truth, the island weekly editorialized, “One of the six Council candidates – Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll – currently is the third of three pro-sale votes on the Council (the other two are not up for re-election this year).  If Carroll is not re-elected, depending on who is elected to replace her, the three-vote majority could be in jeopardy.”

That is a puzzling statement coming from a clearly conflicted newspaper, which just a few weeks ago asserted, “Frankly, we don’t see how Tracy Carroll wins re-election. We backed her for her first run for office in 2009, when she championed getting Vero Beach out of the electric business, and supported her re-election bid in 2011…But she has a variety of other problems of her own making. Like many others, we are troubled by the sight of a Vero elected official in effect thumbing her nose at city employees attempting to enforce a municipal ordinance against renting out a home she owned in a residential neighborhood by the week. Our preference would be to see Carroll announce her intention to retire from the Council at the end of her current term, and make way for a strong electable pro-sale candidate to take her place.”

Perhaps one could argue that Tracy Carroll’s presence at the dais after Nov. 5 would increase from 99 percent to 100 percent the chance of the City ultimately fulfilling its contractual commitment to sell Vero Electric to FPL.

Voters will have to do their own calculation on whether such a marginal gain is worth risking another two years of the Vice Mayor from Ft. Lauderdale, the one who would gladly turn over public park land to a private club, who can and surely will again be infamously offensive to the public during Council meetings, who thumbs her nose at City staff and who seeks to overturn a long-standing City code protecting the tranquility of our neighborhoods.

Don’t buy the propaganda.  This election is not about the sale of Vero Electric. Rather, it is a struggle for the soul of the city.

Note:  The editors of the island weekly thought it appropriate to chide me for posting the text of a message I delivered recently to a local congregation.  For those who missed that post and might be interested, just click on the following link. Life’s Inescapable Question