MARK SCHUMANN

In a meeting dominated by rancorous public comment, the City Council did still manage to conduct some of the public’s business Tuesday evening.

By a 5-0 vote, the Council gave final approval to new water and sewer rates for customers outside the city limits. As part of negotiations to renew its franchise agreement with the County, the City agreed to charge its customers in the unincorporated areas they same rates they would pay if they were customers of the County’s water and sewer utility. The City has the same arrangement with the Town of Indian River Shores.

With Pilar Turner dissenting, the Council voted 4-1 to hire additional outside counsel to assist the transactional attorneys in their negotiations with the Florida Municipal Power Agency.  The attorney, Sheff Wright of Tallahassee, is an experienced utility lawyer, who has represented the Florida Retail Federation before the Florida Public Service Commission.

The Council also moved closer to approving a resolution that will give voters an opportunity next November to decide whether to protect additional parks and recreation lands from sale or lease without voter approval.  Over the next several weeks the City Attorney will be drafting a resolution for consideration by the Council.

Responding to a petition from restaurant and bar operators, the Council, with Craig Fletcher dissenting, asked City Attorney Wayne Coment to draft a resolution extending from 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m the cutoff time for the sale of alcohol.

All Aboard Florida, a proposed high-speed rail service that will send 36 trains a day through Vero Beach and Indian River County at up to 110 miles per hour, continues to be a front-burner issues. In addition to opposing public funding and government loan guarantees for what was touted as a private enterprise, the Council will at its next meeting consider a resolution requesting up to 120 additional days to review and comment on All Aboard Florida’s environmental impact study.