MARK SCHUMANN
Divide and conquer is a strategy as old as the hills, and it may to be the approach Florida Power & Light is taking to secure approval from at least three members of the Vero Beach City Council for a $26 million surcharge on the customers of Vero Electric.
Last week, FPL representatives met individually and privately with Council members Craig Fletcher, Pilar Turner and Richard Winger. The meetings were not open to the public, and apparently no notes were taken. Fletcher, Turner and Winger are scheduled to meet one-on-one with FPL officials again this Friday.
Vice Mayor Jay Kramer and Councilwoman Amelia Graves have said they are not willing to meet behind closed doors with FPL representatives. “Transparency is important in this process and I don’t want to have information that is not also available to the public. We are all in this together, and this deal should be negotiated in the sunshine,” Graves said.
Kramer said he has been unwilling to meet behind closed doors with FPL representatives since FPL External Affairs Manager Amy Brunjes asked him, “ Jay, what would it take to get you to vote for this deal?”
Kramer said his response was, “competition” – as in competitive bidding. “What is there that they can talk to me about that they cannot tell the public,” Kramer said.
In an apparent response to Inside Vero’s request for public records relating to the private meetings, Winger announced during yesterday’s City Council meeting, “For the past three weeks, and I believe three weeks is accurate, I have taken part in the weekly meetings with Florida Power & Light over the phone, and I have actually met with them here in this building twice.”
Winger then told the Council he and City Manager Jim O’Connor joined the City’s transactional attorney yesterday for a meeting with FPL officials at the company’s corporate headquarters in Juno Beach.
Winger concluded his description and explanation of the closed meeting saying, “That’s all I have to say, but under the Sunshine Law there is nothing else. I have no notes. There is no communication.”
Indian River Guardian 
I am not surprised that Ms.Turner and Mr. Fletcher would meet as individuals with FP&L but I am disapointed that Mayor Winger would do so. Even more disappointing is the attitude he seems to have taken regarding the content of the meeting. Hats off to Ms. graves and Mr. Kramer for their response to the invifation. “Won’t you come into my parlor?”, said the spider to the fly.
What is fhe penalty of the obvious violation of Florida’s Sunshine laws?
I realize Mr. Winger is accustomed to dealing with businesses, but I am disappointed that he’s not taking the Florida Sunshine Law into consideration now that he’s a part of our City government. My feeling is he, being a Christian with high moral values, will not be sucked into the depths of Hell by FPL. At least, I sincerely hope so. The other two Council members – nothing surprises me about their choices. Sorry.
These one-in-one meetings are in no way a violation of the Sunshine Law, unless FPL is serving as a conduit of thought and information between individual Council members. There is certainly no evidence at this point that they are shuttling information.