COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Attorney Schef Wright informed the City Council yesterday that Florida Power & Light’s contemplated acquisition of Vero Electric is at an impasse with no apparent hope of resolution. Wright later met with FPL officials to deliver the same bad news.  Following his meeting with FPL, Wright reportedly said, “We’re not ready to throw in the towel.”

Surely Wright’s use of  the Royal “we” was nothing more than a reflection of FPL’s position.

This morning, Mayor Richard Winger said he was told FPL had “taken under advisement” the news of the OUC’s withdrawal from the deal.

Together, these statements suggest FPL may be set to continue to wage a legal, regulatory and political war against the Florida Municipal Power Agency, with the City of Vero Beach and its 34,000 ratepayers caught in the middle.  

Soon after signing a purchase and sale agreement between the City and FPL in February 2013, Councilwoman Pilar Turner said the results of the referendum to follow would serve as “ammunition” to use against the FMPA. The broader strategy, she reportedly said, was to “bring the FMPA to its knees.”  So, after wasting several years and more than $1.5 million in legal fees, the strategy remains the same.

Thanks to Turner, Carroll and Fletcher, the City has a purchase and sale agreement with FPL that will not expire until December 31, 2016.  If that contract remains in force, there may be little the current Council can do but wait on the sidelines while FPL continues to flex its considerable political and financial muscle in an attempt to force the FMPA to capitulate.

There is at least one alternative. Three Council members willing to stand up to FPL — Jay Kramer, Amelia Graves and Richard Winger — could bring an end to what has become a sad and expensive saga.

Under that contract signed by Carroll, Fletcher and Turner, the City is obligated to make every reasonable effort to find a buyer for its entitlement shares in three FMPA power projects.  After years of trying, there seems to be no possible resolution to that central issue.

Vero Beach’s position in the FMPA power projects can only be sold to another FMPA member, and the OUC was the only FMPA member to express interest in taking on Vero Beach’s obligations.  Late last month, once it became clear the OUC’s existing bond covenants would conflict with the bond covenants to be assumed on behalf of Vero Beach, the deal fell apart.

With no one else interested in Vero Beach’s power entitlement shares, there really is nowhere to go with the negotiations.  It is time for City officials to declare that they have done all they reasonably can. The time has come to tell FPL enough is enough.

If FPL officials are unwilling to face reality, Vero Beach leaders will have to be the ones to bring an end to the failed negotiations. For many good reasons, it is time to move on. Vero Beach needs to begin the serious work of lowering electric rates, and it needs to be free to do so unencumbered by a stalled purchase and sale agreement with FPL.

Just as important, the community needs a shift in political energy.  New, more positive energy will flow freely through local political circles only when FPL is no longer motivated to control the outcome of local elections. In short, the is no good reason to leave the contract between Vero Beach and FPL in force.

One of the lessons to be drawn from FPL’s effort to acquire Vero Electric is the degree to which local politics can be poisoned by outside corporate influence.

FPL leaders may be inclined to act as if the have nothing but money and time on their hands, but Vero Beach’s leaders cannot allow the fate of the City to be controlled from FPL’s offices in Juno Beach.

Now that it is clear the City is going to remain in the power business and a member of the FMPA for the foreseeable future, it is also time to appoint as the City’s representative to the FMPA board Director of Power Resources Tom Richards.  Richards, who has decades of experience in the power business, is familiar with the FMPA and could make a meaningful contribution as the City representative.

There is absolutely no reason for the City to further alienate the FMPA by continuing to send as its representative a council member who has reportedly said her objective, one she shares with FPL, is to “bring the FMPA to its knees.”  If the truth be known, FMPA officials probably consider Turner to be FPL’s eyes and ears.

In short, the Council has some important decisions to make, and soon.  In the process, it will be helpful to remember that conflict avoidance is not conflict resolution.