“It is not fit that you sit here any longer… you shall now give place to better men.” — Oliver Cromwell to Parliament, January 1654
It was a breathtaking act of hubris when the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District insulted Ron DeSantis, two days after he won the governor’s race, by refusing to delay a vote on an eight-year extension of a land lease to the sugar company Florida Crystals — land that’s vital to the Everglades cleanup project. DeSantis’ subsequent demand for the nine-member board to resign was surprising only to those intoxicated by their own power.
But the board’s arrogant disdain for the new governor and for U.S. Rep Brian Mast, who appealed in person to delay the vote, served a public purpose. It showed DeSantis how the board typically treats citizens who aren’t developers or representatives of Big Sugar.
There are two other current examples of its public-be-damned mindset.
According to the environmental lobby Bullsugar.org, the district blocked e-mails from citizens attempting to protest the lease extension and the board’s high-handed decision to ask a federal court to release the district from oversight of the pollution, most of it from farms, that’s draining into Everglades National Park.
When the Everglades Law Center Inc., sought the transcript of a closed-door meeting where the district capitulated to a controversial rock-mining project, the agency refused to comply and went judge-shopping for an order, now on appeal, that blasts a giant hole in Florida’s open-meetings and public-records laws.
The good news, though, is that the entire nine-member board is either gone or going, the only question being how soon. One seat was already vacant. Two more members, Dan O’Keefe and Carlos Diaz, resigned Friday. The terms of three more, including two who refuse to resign, expire March 1. That’s six of the nine seats that DeSantis can fill right away.
In his resignation letter, O’Keefe unwittingly crystalized our point about the board’s coziness with Big Sugar. In it, O’Keefe made clear that he had not voted for the lease extension because his law firm represents New Hope Sugar, a Florida Crystals affiliate that leases the tract of some 16,000 acres in Palm Beach County.
As we previously said, as he considers board appointments, we encourage DeSantis to pick at least one with solid environmental or conservation credentials. Historically, the board has included all constituencies. But former Gov. Scott chose to stack the board with industry representatives.
It’s questionable whether DeSantis can purge the remaining members before their terms expire next year and in 2021. But there are plenty of ways that a governor can bring pressure to bear. According to one report, DeSantis was thinking of asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the land lease decision.
The land is needed for a reservoir that could accept polluted water from Lake Okeechobee when it reaches its brim. As it stands, the water is released into rivers flowing east and west, contributing to algae blooms in estuaries and red tide outbreaks on the coasts.
This is hardly the first time we’ve seen the arrogance of this board.
We saw it when a team of independent scientists monitoring Everglades restoration for Congress warned that more water storage alternatives would be needed to deal with the effects of climate change. In response, the district decided to stop collaborating with the National Academy of Sciences team.
We saw it when the district decided to pursue an untested plan to pump polluted lake water more than half a mile into the ground north, east and west of the lake.
And we saw it in the the board’s decision to bail out of a lawsuit against it, Martin County and environmentalist Maggy Hurchalla, who questioned a billionaire’s plan to collect and store water from Lake Okeechobee in a rock mine, and sell it to municipalities.
After Hurchalla objected, the district and Martin County rescinded their approvals. The billionaire sued, alleging breach of contract and tortious interference. A jury awarded him a $4.3 million judgment against her. It’s on appeal. The core issue is whether contract law can be wielded as a weapon against the public’s right to speak up on issues.
The district’s settlement decision came at a closed-door meeting, allowed under Florida law when litigation strategy is to be discussed. But transcripts are supposed to be kept and released to the public after the litigation ends. The district went to court to prevent its release. A judge ruled that because mediation was discussed — he had ordered it — the record of the meeting is sealed forever even though the mediator was not at the meeting.
Rather than simply turn over the transcript, as it should have, this so-called public agency fought public disclosure and created a major threat to open government in Florida. If not overturned, every public agency could keep the proceedings of its closed-door meetings secret forever simply by finding a way to get court-ordered mediation into the mix.
We deserve better from the board that oversees water resources from Orlando to the Florida Keys. We deserve members who believe public service means serving the public.
Change on the SFWMD board cannot come swiftly enough.
