WAFC Local News – February 19, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. The C-43 reservoir hasn’t enough rain to be much of a help this year. All along they expected it to take three years to see if the reservoir would make a difference on the Colusa-Hatchee River. Jennifer Reynolds says the C-43 was nearly empty as of late last year. There’s not a whole lot of water available at the moment, but we have always been anticipating that the first fill process is about a three year process. Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane is asking for help for the Colusa-Hatchee River due to high salinity. With the water shortage, the Corps hasn’t been sending enough fresh water out of the lake to the west. Ruane asked for help from the Lake Okeechobee Coalition, saying the Colusa-Hatchee is hurting. If flows aren’t managed, we certainly know the salinity levels are going to increase, going to do damage to the oysters and seagrasses. Glades County continued to raise concerns about property tax reform. The governor rejected six proposals suggested by the House. He wants only one proposal for voters. House Speaker Daniel Perez has suggested consolidating or combining small counties with larger counties. Commissioner Tim Stanley says Glades would likely join with Lee County and thus have little to no say to how their government is operated. Stanley defended how the county spends its money. It’s not like we’re up here just taking money in and throwing it out the back door. It’s being spent pretty conservatively. He also contends that property reform will not help the taxpayers, but will be a tax shift. The Pahokee City Commission still can’t agree on a permanent new city manager. The mayor wanted to expand the applicant pool for 60 days. Three candidates have applied, including the interim city manager Tammy Busey. Mayor Babb says they can’t just hire Busey because she’s local. That’s who we’re going to get because they are from Pahokee or closely in our community. I mean if that’s your thinking, you need to kind of keep that at least a secret, I’ll put it that way, at least quiet. Commissioner James Scott is an advocate for Busey. I am pro-Pahokee. And I don’t fake with it, and I don’t act like I’m not. My thing over there is like you’re holding Ms. Busey to a different standard than you do everybody else that come through here. And I’m watching this every day. And I’m not saying, here’s the thing about it, I’ll hire Ms. Busey today and fire her tomorrow if she can’t do the job. Isabel McDonald was upset that they delayed the vote on hiring Busey full-time. I made my motion based on the fact that you just made a motion. And now I’m going to be told that I can’t make a motion? Residents seem to be in her corner as well. Cynthia Mitchell says she wants to stay black at City Hall. We already know what you want. You already said you want a white person to be the city manager. So you continue to do the stealing. That’s not happening anymore. McDonald and the mayor sparred verbally about the disagreement. Y’all are going to already have your mind made up, you have it made up, one or two weeks is not going to kill you. You need to stop with that y’all stuff. Thank you. Now you’re trying to tell me how to talk. No, listen, if I was going to do that, I would have been doing it. A number of her family members have come to commission meetings advocating the city to hire her. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).