LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. —Some people in Lake Worth Beach are angry because there are rumors that commissioners are trying to get the city manager to fire the head of utilities. These people also said that the commissioners planned to fire the city manager if she didn’t do what they said she would do.
It’s hard to tell if the reports are true or not.
The Utility Board meeting on Tuesday night was turned into a workshop at the last minute because they were short one commissioner. That means that no one could vote on anything.
Even though the way meetings were held changed, people still spoke up and made sure they were heard.
Peggy Fisher, who lives in Lake Worth Beach, said that she and other people had heard that three commissioners would try to fire Mr. Liberty tonight at a meeting about the staff.
Since Lake Worth Beach is one of the few places in the state that does not use Florida Power and Light, Utilities Director Ed Liberty is in charge of all things power in the city.
At the board meeting, almost a dozen people got up to say that they agreed with what he had done.
Wes Blackman, a citizen of Lake Worth Beach, said, “Under our current utility director, our electric utility is stronger than it has ever been.”
There were reports that Liberty’s job and City Manager Carmen Davis’s job could be in danger, which led to this talk. Residents say that it is the work of three inspectors.
Fisher said, “By doing this, since they don’t have the power to do that, the plan was to put pressure on and threaten the city manager with losing her job if she didn’t take the action.”
Some people in the community used write-in forms to say what they thought. A few showing support in the same way. Others said that Liberty doesn’t have a clear strategy and asked for more plans for green energy.
One person only got up to say that, if the claims were true, they were inappropriate in general.
“As a voter, it hurts me to hear that our commissioners, who are our elected officials, are blackmailing, emotionally abusing, threatening, and using strong tactics to get the city manager to fire department heads, having secret meetings, and plotting to fire staff. This can’t happen. Ryan Oblander, who lives in Lake Worth Beach, said, “The line has been crossed.”
City officials can’t respond to what people say, they can only listen.
