VERO BEACH – For months Vero Beach Councilman Dick Winger’s suggestion that the decision on whether to sell the city’s electric utility system should be up to voters has been met with stern opposition.
Multiple times when Winger brought up the idea of having a voter referendum, a majority of councilmembers scuttled the notion after lengthy public comment.
But in an about face move Tuesday, the referendum proposal finally passed after Mayor Craig Fletcher proposed the idea.
He was joined in support by Tracy Carroll and Pilar Turner, councilwomen who have been adamantly opposed to the idea when Winger proposed it in the past. Even the most active and vocal citizens pushing for a sale of the electric system to Florida Power and Light changed their tunes Tuesday when the idea was floated by Fletcher and not Winger.
Fletcher, who never showed support for Winger’s idea in the past, said while on the campaign trail that he could support a referendum but not until much of the money matters were settled.
To do otherwise, he frequently said was putting the cart before the horse. So it’s anyone’s guess why now he suddenly favors the idea especially since the date of the potential sale seems less clear than ever.
The referendum is expected to cost more than $20,000. It would have been substantially less, a cost of about .50 cents a voter as opposed to about $2 a voter had the referendum been held in November, a general election.
When time came for a vote Tuesday, Winger and Councilman Jay Kramer voted against the matter. Winger said he opposed the referendum at this time because there aren’t enough solid financial details about the sale.
City Attorney Wayne Coment will work on the language of the referendum which could go before voters as early as March, to coincide with a scheduled municipal election in the Town of Indian River Shores.