Orange County commissioners voted late Tuesday to delay considering a sick-leave provision, which could keep the petition-driven measure off the Nov. 6 ballot.
In a surprise move, commissioners voted 4-3 to hire an outside attorney to suggest revisions to the initiative’s title and summary and to bring it back to the board on Oct. 16 — almost a month past the printing deadline for the ballot.
Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Commissioners Ted Edwards and Tiffany Moore Russell voted no on the motion by Commissioner Fred Brummer. The vote came after a six-hour public hearing that drew scores of activists and business leaders to speak out on the issue.“This was a clear set up,” said state Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, a lawyer working for the measure. “It’s a flagrant violation of the charter. And I don’t know what the standard is for dereliction of duty, but this has to be close to it.”
He said he expected advocates would take their fight to the courts to get it before voters.
A group called Citizens for a Greater Orange County gathered more than 50,000 petition signatures to require many employers to offer paid sick time to employees.
Once those petitions were certified last month, commissioners had to either adopt the plan as an ordinance or it would automatically go to voters. Commissioners on Tuesday voted 7-0 to reject adopting it.
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