COMMENTARY
“While there is something to be said for keeping you friends close and your enemies even closer, giving the Shores an unofficial seat on the Vero Beach City Council seems unwise.”
MARK SCHUMANN
Yesterday, Councilwoman Pilar Turner’s appointee to the Finance Commission, Glenn Brovont, and her representative on the Utilities Commission, Scott Stradley, lined up with seven of their fellow commissioners in recommending approval of revisions to the City’s wholesale power agreement with the Orlando Utilities Commission. It seemed as if there had been a seismic shift in the power debate.
Advocates of continuing to seek a way to conclude the sale of Vero Electric to Florida Power & Light are now also accepting the importance of doing what can be done to lower electric rates.
Well, there are at least two notable exceptions: Laura Moss and the Town of Indian River Shores’ representative on the Utilities Commission, Robert Auwaerter. After seven and a half hours of carefully examining the revised agreement, Moss and Auaerter were the only two outliers among 11 commissioners present at yesterday’s meeting.
In a case that has already cost Shores taxpayers $630,000 in legal fees, their Town Council is suing to force Vero Electric to cease serving the Town in 2016. Auwaerter’s vote in opposition to lower electric rates, then, is easy enough to understand. After all, lower rates mean less discontent, and public displeasure with electric rates has been the currency of those seeking to brake up Vero Electric.
Friday, when Turner’s representative on the Utilities Commission came around to accepting that pushing for further concessions from the OUC might not be worth delaying approval of a clearly good deal, it was left to Auwaerter to attempt to delay, if not block the contract revisions.
When the dust settled on Friday’s joint meeting of the Finance and Utilites Commission, Auwaerter would have been left standing alone, had it not been for Moss. Moss’ decision to side with the Shores in its opposition to the revised OUC contract raises questions about how, as a City Council member, she would fulfill her responsibility to protect the interests of the residents and taxpayers of Vero Beach.
Given Moss’ vote in opposition to a move that everyone agrees will bring lower rates, it would not be unreasonable to characterize her as the Shore’s Trojan Horse, except that there is nothing stealth about her support for and loyalty to the Shores. Moss even accepted a campaign contribution from Shores Vive Mayor Gerry Weick.
Vero Electric’s Shores customers deserve representation on Vero Beach’s Utilities Commission. Come Nov. 3, Vero Beach voters will have to decide whether to elect Moss and also award the Shores an unofficial representative on the Vero Beach City Council.
While there is something to be said for keeping you friends close and your enemies even closer, giving the Shores an unofficial seat on the Vero Beach City Council seems unwise.
Indian River Guardian 
With her vote, Laura Moss has confirmed her preference for the well being of Indian River Shores rather than what is best for Vero city residents. That was no surprise, however, what was the surprise of the week happened when council candidate Harry Howle voted in favor of a boarding house on the barrier island at the Code Enforcement Board meeting of which he is the chairman.His vote and position on boarding houses is directly opposite to the vast majority of Vero residents.