Cooperation, not confrontation, is the only way forward

COMMENTARY

“Where are leaders who will break the chain of conflict? Where are leaders we can admire?”

MARK SCHUMANN

Earlier this week, the Florida Public Service Commission affirmed the City of Vero Beach’s right and responsibility to continue serving its customers in the unincorporated areas of the county beyond the March 2017 expiration of the franchise agreement between the City and County.

As a result of the County’s PSC filing, a great deal of time and money was spent by Vero Beach, the County, the PSC, as well as other utilities across the state, all of which opposed the Indian River County Commission’s attempt to essentially establish new utility law. As PSC Commissioner Julie Brown said in chiding the County’s special counsel Floyd Self, the entire exercise was a waste of time and money for everyone.

With the County’s effort to seek PSC approval to force the breakup of Vero Electric having failed, all eyes are now on the Indian River Shores Town Council. Essentially seeking the same objective as the County Commission, the Shores filed a lawsuit against Vero Beach last summer. Though that suit is in abeyance until March 3, the Shores has already spent nearly $400,000 with two law firms and a public relations consultant working on the case. The costs for Shores residents and customers of Vero Electric will only mount as the case goes forward.  Some legal experts have suggested the suit could cost millions of dollars to litigate, and will almost surely make its way to the Florida Supreme Court.

Particularly given this week’s PSC ruling, it seems increasingly likely that when the dust settles on the Shores lawsuit, Vero Beach will be left serving its Shores customers. Nothing positive will come from the Shores’ legal action. The size of the Shores’ reserve fund account will be greatly diminished, assuming there is enough money there to pay mounting legal bills.  More likely, the Shores Town Council will have to raise taxes to fund its legal gamble.  Rates for all Vero Electric customers will have to be raised to pay the City’s legal bills.  And, if the County Commission join the Shores in its lawsuit — stepping in where only fools dare tread — every resident in the County will share in the cost of litigating the Shores Town Council’s ill-advised and risky lawsuit.

New York Times columnist David Brooks today addressed conflict and ego. Brooks concluded, “In this column, I’ve tried to describe the interplay of conflict and ego, in arenas that are trivial (the comments section) and in arenas that are monstrous (the war against the Islamic State). In all cases, conflict inflames the ego, distorts it and degrades it.

“The people we admire break that chain. They quiet the self and step outside the status war. They focus on the larger mission. They reject the puerile logic of honor codes and status rivalries, and enter a more civilized logic, that doesn’t turn us into our enemies.”

The Shores lawsuit and the County’s parallel efforts to attempt to force the breakup of Vero Electric can serve no positive purpose. Continued conflict, fueled either by local egos or by carefully masked encouragement from Florida Power & Light, will do nothing to lower electric rates or to bring about much needed representation for all 34,000 customers of Vero Electric.  Putting Vero Electric under PSC oversight might be a step in the right direction.  Another alternative which has merit would be the formation of an independent utility authority.

Whatever solutions are to be found they will not be found in court. It is time for local leaders to begin working together, for continued conflict is not in anyone’s best interest. Where are leaders who will break the chain of conflict? Where are leaders we can admire?