WAFC Local News – April 01, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. Henry County commissioners have been trying to decide whether to give a grant to the Joseph Project in Harlem. Commissioner Emma Bird supports the funding, saying they do things the county might have to do on their own. She says it does good work in Harlem and other neighborhoods. This particular organization, they don’t just do a food pantry. They have sent a lot of the residents from Henry County, not just out of the Harlem area, but out of the whole Clewiston area to school, and they are now working, and that’s the purpose of them asking for what they’re asking for. They give back into the community. Chairman Wayman Iglesias voiced opposition. He says tax dollars shouldn’t be just available to one group. The commission also is waiting on the state budget to see if they got any priorities for highway funds. They wanted to add sidewalks near schools and in school zones this year. Glades County commissioners approved a letter of support as the state considers a $20 million grant sought by the Okeechobee Utility Authority would extend sewer service to Lakefront Estates near Buckhead Ridge on Route 78. The grant would come from the Rural Jobs and Growth Grant Program. According to the developer, the proposed water infrastructure improvements for the Lakefront Estate project will include approximately 12,600 linear feet of high-capacity water line and a 490,000-gallon water storage tank with supporting pump infrastructure. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in the fall of this year. Former Glades County Clerk of the Courts and County Commissioner Joe Flint was honored as he passed away earlier this year. He was 81 years old. The Pahokee Commission held a workshop on whether they should file lawsuits against former employees implicated in the city’s financial woes. The claims of lost funding range anywhere between $2 million and $5 million, depending on who’s talking. Their attorney says there is no cause of action for a civil suit. The statute of limitations has run out on some of the financial losses. Former manager Chandler Williamson did repay the city for some questionable expenses he took to his alma mater in South Carolina. City Attorney Bernadette Norris-Week says there’s nothing they can do legally. You have to have a cause of action before you go and, you know, kind of file lawsuits against people. And if you don’t have a cause of action, that allows for folks to then come back and sue you all for, you know, it could be issues of slander or libel or issues of what they call a bad faith lawsuit. Mayor Keith Babb says he’s not in favor of a lawsuit. You can find a lawyer willing to say, I’ll sue anybody you want me to sue. You’re paying for it. And we could be counter-sued on top of that if we not successfully. Commissioner James Scott would like to get a second opinion from another lawyer. I personally would feel a little bit more better if another attorney looked at this case and tell me that. Isabel McDonald says she sees no grounds for the lawsuit. I don’t see anyone that we can say that has taken some money. It’s all mismanagement and, you know, some processes that need to be improved upon. Everett McPherson says there’s really no one person they could blame. It doesn’t implement a particular person on those particular items. It just shows that the money wasn’t, didn’t go where it was supposed to go. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).