NEWS ANALYSIS
MARK SCHUMANN
In a move that may signal a preference of negotiation over litigation, the Indian River Shores Town Council today voted 3-2 to keep its lawsuit against Vero Beach in abeyance through May 15. Last December, the Town agreed to delay its lawsuit through March 3.
Today’s action gives Shores and Vero Beach officials and their attorneys an additional six week to clarify just how much Vero Beach will be able to lower electric rates in the short term. Though Vero Beach stands almost no chance of matching Florida Power & Light rates, some believe renegotiating the City’s wholesale power agreement with the Orlando Utilities Commission and decommissioning the power plant, along with several more initiatives, will lead to significant rate reductions.
The Shores Town Council’s split vote today may also be an indication of an emerging divide on the Council. Supporting Mayor Brian Barefoot’s motion, Vice Mayor Jerry Weick and Councilman Tom Slater both voted to allow more time for negotiations. Michael Ochsner and Richard Haverland, who once urged the town manger to schedule a public meeting for “an extremely inconvenient time,” voted against Barefoot’s call for more negotiations. Ochsner and Haverland are both candidates for re-election on March 10.
To date, the Shores has spent more than $200,000 on lawyers and a public relations consultant in its legal action against its neighboring city. With declining unrestricted reserves, the Shores will almost surely have to raise taxes to pay for a expensive lawsuit that would likely make its way to the Florida Supreme Court.
The Shores Town Council’s decision today may also have been influenced by a recent ruling of the Florida Public Service Commission affirming Vero Beach’s right and obligation to continuing serving its electric customers in the unincorporated areas of Indian River County, even if the County Commission refuses to renew its franchise agreement with Vero Beach in 2017.
The basis of the Shores’ lawsuit is the Town’s claim of “sovereignty,” and authority superior to that of the PSC. Though they did not say so, today’s votes by Barefoot, Weick and Slater may also be an indication they are coming to see the Shore’s challenge to the PSC’s authority as an expensive roll of the dice.
Indian River Guardian 
Political posturing by Haverland and Ochsner. The other three know it is a losing cause against the city of Vero Beach. When this affair is concluded all five will wind up with red faces, and the taxpayers will have to foot the tax bill of their folly.