SFWMD: What will Gov. Ron DeSantis do about board members who refuse to resign?

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office told TCPalm Wednesday it has no new information about the South Florida Water Management District flap, so here’s a recap of what we do and don't know, but hope to update you on soon.

The new governor — on his third day on the job — dropped a bombshell during a Jan. 10 news conference in Stuart, asking all SFWMD board members to resign immediately.

“We want to make sure we have everyone in the boat rowing the same way,” so “we really need to have a fresh start,” he said. “A lot of times, politicians forget what they promised during the campaign. When I say things, I mean them, so I’m coming here today to follow through.”

More:DeSantis asks all SFWMD board members to resign
Read:  Here's his letter to them 

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, recommended the resignations as chair of DeSantis’ environment advisory committee.

“For far too long, the South Florida Water Management District has been more accountable to special interests than to the people of Florida. That changes today, and I look forward to continuing to work with Gov. DeSantis to find replacements who make our waterways and environment the No. 1 priority,” Mast wrote in a news release.

More:Mast calls them "derelict in their duties," says "they should be replaced" 
Watch:  Mast's interview on "Facing South Florida"

Mast didn’t mince his words when four board members refused to resign.

“The governor made clear that he does what he says: He has a bold vision to fix Florida’s environment and improve our water quality. What’s also clear is that the board members of the South Florida Water Management District do not share this vision. The arrogance displayed over the past 24 hours by the board is indicative of how they have operated for the better part of the last decade — without transparency and with disdain for the people of South Florida who have been made to suffer through lost summer after lost summer. They have failed to exercise even the most basic, legally required level of transparency and, therefore, should be removed for cause.”

Among other things, Mast cited the board's “illegal, shameful and undemocratic” vote to lease land needed for the EAA reservoir — designed to curb Lake Okeechobee discharges — to Florida Crystals subsidiary New Hope Sugar Co.

The lease was added to the board's agenda at 9 p.m. the night before the Nov. 8 meeting, and the board thumbed its nose at Mast's request — made at the meeting on DeSantis' behalf — to postpone the vote for further public vetting.

“I don’t know why it was handled that way,” DeSantis later said in Stuart. “I think it really, really upset a lot of people. I’m committed to having the reservoir move forward. I think that reservoir is very important. We don’t want to wait 10 years to have that.”

More:What is the EAA reservoir?
More:  What are Lake Okeechobee discharges?

Why did board members refuse to resign? Here’s what they said:

Brandon Tucker: “Everybody figured (DeSantis' request to resign) was coming, but I don't believe it was correct. I believe I made a commitment to serve out my term. I haven’t had an opportunity to meet with the governor and his staff and tell them about the issues and my positions on them." 

Jaime Weisinger: "I think there's a lot more that needs to get done and I made a commitment to (Gov. Rick Scott) and the state. I'm not comfortable leaving at this point because I'd like to see these projects completed." 

Sam Accursio: "I think the steps that were taken may slow the wheel down. Now we have nine people, possibly, who will have to learn the whole system immediately without having knowledge of the men and women who have been in these positions for years." 

James Moran: “We don’t serve at the pleasure of the governor. If he thinks we serve at his pleasure, he is misinformed,” he reportedly told the Palm Beach Post. 

Board Chair Federico Fernandez and Rick Barber have not responded to TCPalm’s request for comment on their plans, but they haven’t resigned, as did Dan O’Keefe, Carlos Diaz and Melanie Peterson.

Who are these board members?

Chart shows who they are, counties they represent, personal business interests

Read:Melanie Peterson's resignation letter
Read: Dan O'Keefe's resignation letter
Read:Carlos Diaz' resignation letter

What about SFWMD Executive Director Ernie Marks?

DeSantis hasn't commented on whether he wants to retain or remove him.

It's also important to note the SFWMD's general counsel and chief of staff, Brian Accardo, resigned effective Jan. 4 and took a job with Manson Bolves Donaldson Varn.

Accardo told the board the Florida Crystals land lease didn't have to be advertised, arguing it was exempt from law because it was mandated by law — not Senate Bill 10 that authorized the reservoir in 2017, but a bill implementing the project in 2018.

Read:Brian Accardo's resignation letter

Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee, said she thinks the vote may have broken the state law, which requires the district to publish a "notice of intention to lease" in a newspaper for three consecutive weeks starting at least 30 days and no more than 90 days before the board executes the lease.

A state administrative judge ultimately may decide, as the Florida Wildlife Federation and Indian Riverkeeper Marty Baum filed a Nov. 28 challenge, asking for a hearing.

What will happen next?

Will board members stand their ground or have a change of heart and resign?

Moran, Barber and Accursio almost certainly will get the boot when their terms expire in March. But Fernandez's term doesn't end until 2020; Tucker and Weisinger, in 2021.

If they don’t resign, will DeSantis suspend them?

If he does, will they resign or request an appeal hearing by the Senate’s Environment and Natural Resources committee that oversees the district?

If they request a hearing, Senate President Bill Galvano most likely would grant it, but he doesn’t have to.

Watch: New documentary spotlights Florida's challenges as DeSantis takes office

If he does, the committee mostly likely would hear their case, but if committee members have conflicts of interest, the Senate would hire a nonpartisan mediator, called a “special master,” to hear the case.

Will the committee or special master retain or remove the board members, and would the full Senate give final approval of that action? That’s the $64,000 question.

Who will DeSantis appoint to the SFWMD board?

Will he take Mast’s advice and appoint Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, a Sewall’s Point Republican, former town commissioner and longtime St. Lucie River advocate?

More:  Mast recommends Negron, Thurlow-Lippisch to SFWMD board

Mast also recommended former Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, now an attorney at The Geo Group, but he told TCPalm, “I am focused on my responsibilities in the private sector. … I will continue to fight against the Lake O discharges, but not as a member of the SFWMD board."

Will DeSantis appoint more scientists to the SFWMD board?

“That would not be a requirement," he said in Stuart. "It’s really understanding the impact that some of the water problems have had on the community and really being sensitive to that. I just want good people who are willing to do the right thing.”

What does any of this matter?

The 16-county SFWMD board's decisions, in part, can affect whether Florida's east and west coasts are plagued with toxic red tide and blue-green algae blooms. 

Learn more about that in the videos below.