This week's theme - The important events always take place outside of Tallahassee.

Let's start by congratulating the Police Officers of Fort Myers, their families and their friends for the great campaign they put together against Amendment One.  For those of you who may not have heard, an amendment to abolish the Fort Myers Police Department was placed on the local ballot.  The Police Officers working through their union, the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Florida PBA, led the campaign to defeat the amendment.  Their efforts paid off on election night (Tuesday, November 5th) with a resounding 82.66% of the public voting "NO" to this malicious power-play.  Chapter President Matt Sellers and the Gulf Coast Chapter Board of Directors (performing their best impersonation of the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team) ran an efficient, effective and overwhelming grassroots campaign that delivered a very lopsided result.  

We thank the citizens of Fort Myers for their show of support.  And we applaud each person who volunteered to assist the Fort Myers Police Officers during these last few months.  Your hard work made it happen.

Also making big headlines this week was our very own West Central Florida PBA Chapter President Nick Marolda.  He gave his highly anticipated presentation before the Lakeland City Commission to appeal a Brady Letter issued by State Attorney Jerry Hill against Lakeland Police Sergeant Bryan McNabb.  After the compelling presentation, the commission voted unanimously to support President Marolda and Sgt. McNabb's attempt to rescind the letter.  Great job.

As for the week in Tallahassee, we are still meeting with Legislators and pushing our agenda.  We remain in discussions for targeted municipal pension reform that only applies to "severely financially distressed" cities and we continue to lobby for salary increases in the State Law Enforcement Officers', Florida Highway Patrol and FDLE Special Agents' collective bargaining units.  The Legislature is still considering reforms to the Florida Retirement System so we remain fully engaged in the discussions.

We will keep you informed as each interim committee week progresses.  

May God bless our Veterans and, as always, please stay safe.