WAFC Local News – March 20, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. Clewiston City Commissioners debated an ordinance to regulate backyard storage. They’ve been concerned about a rising number of people living in RVs in backyards in the city. Code enforcement officers are greatly restricted by law from going on private property to inspect these RVs. Christopher Cooper with the building department says there’s all kinds of backyard storage in the city. My son works on four wheelers and he has parts all over my yard that I get to hit with a lawnmower. That could be a nuisance to somebody. Y’all could say no four wheeler mechanic came in the backyard. Or somebody could store 76 bird cages in their backyard. Like we’re not gonna write the word bird cage in our ordinance to make sure that we’re all inclusive. Commissioner Mallie Gardner says RVs in the backyard are okay, but. The issue is that I’m seeing is that they’ve got RVs behind a fence and the lights are on it at night. When you have that, then I think there’s somebody living in it. City Administrator Danny Williams says there’s also violations for too many living in one home. Eight cars every morning. I don’t know if they are all family. They’re a big family and everybody’s got a car. But they’re parking in the right away on the grass. But there’s eight cars every morning. Glades County schools could end pre-K or shorten the day due to budget constraints in 2026-2027. School board member Crystal Drake questioned that the voluntary pre-kindergarten program should continue. The district has been losing money on the program. She noted the district is not required to offer pre-K other than for ESE students. Superintendent Dr. Beth Farfield was of the opinion that they should keep the program going. I am a proponent for early childhood education. However, at the same time, there is very little money. School board chair Jean Prowant would like to offer a full-time program. She says if they cut the program to half-day, many kids won’t come because the parents can’t provide transportation. Palm Beach County would like more transparency from the state’s CFO who says they’re wasting money. He alleged the county wasted $344 million. Commissioners disagreed, saying they are the best county in the state as far as spending. Commissioner Bobby Powell says the CFO’s statements are unprofessional. I’m having an extremely hard time taking this report serious. I think it’s a disrespect to the people of Palm Beach County but more so the people of the state of Florida. County Commissioner Marcy Woodward says the county can doge themselves better than the state could ever dream of doing. But I’m looking for accuracy and that’s what I was hoping for in the doge report. When it came, I wanted accuracy. I wanted them to tell us specifically what we’ve done. This is not it and it’s quite disappointing. Administrator Joel Bruzzo says the CFO review would not pass any audit. He’s asked for details from the CFO but has gotten no response. He says he has no idea how they came to that number. Even by every general accounting standard practice, and I believe even our clerk’s office can weigh in on this, this would not hold muster without question under any accounting authority. Governor Ron DeSantis opposing the House proposed budget which would cut Everglades projects from 805 million he wants to 357 million. DeSantis says in the end, the budget will not cut Everglades funding. There was a proposal by the House to reduce our funding for Everglades restoration by 2 3rds. I wanna tell you that dog won’t hunt. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).