INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Elected officials from Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties want to join forces on common issues and concerns they have with the proposed All Aboard Florida high-speed rail project, but they need to make sure they do it legally.
All three counties have raised serious concerns about negative impacts to their communities from the planned 32 trains per day whizzing through their downtown and residential neighborhoods at speeds of up to 110 miles per hour. Rather than duplicating efforts, the county legal staffs have been meeting about how they can work together to see that their concerns are addressed.
The purpose of the meeting would be two-fold — to address common concerns, and to lay out some options for action.
County Attorney Dylan Reingold explained to the Board that Florida law is very strict about government bodies holding meetings outside their geographic boundaries. The intent of this law is to make sure the public not only has notice of a meeting of their elected officials, but also reasonable access to the proceedings.
“There is a risk that there could be a challenge,” Reingold said. “All Aboard Florida could challenge it, or they could have a citizen challenge it.”
The county commissions of the three counties hope to meet in open session in Ft. Pierce, which is only about 14 miles from Vero Beach, but is across county lines for Indian River and Martin officials.
Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said the meeting could be televised and live streamed, and that the County could even charter a bus and provide transportation from the County Administration Building down to Ft. Pierce and back so members of the public could attend, but he thought the importance of the meeting is worth the risk of a challenge.
“If All Aboard Florida wants to attack us, if they’re trying to pick on us, they’re being the big, bad bully, I’m willing to go down that road,” O’Bryan said.
The Tallahassee law firm of Nabors Giblin and Nickerson is being engaged to represent the tri-county efforts, and it’s proposed that the counties split legal fees for work done toward common issues and goals.
Commissioners said Reingold should get some clarification from the Attorney General on the open meeting issue.
“We need an answer. This isn’t going to be the last time that we want to talk to an adjoining county,” said Chairman Wesley Davis.
Reingold said he would speak with the Martin County attorney to see what that Board decided, and try to get clarification from the state and go bring that information back to the Board on Dec. 16.
