A local official in Florida has been praised after excoriating his city’s leaders for what he called a failure of leadership during a global pandemic – and for turning the city into a “banana republic” by abusing procedural rules.

Omari Hardy, a city commissioner in Lake Worth Beach, vented his anger at an official meeting. The city commission has been locked in a bitter dispute over the handling of the coronavirus epidemic, Mr Hardy criticising other city leaders for failing to declare a state of emergency or shut down beaches, bars and restaurants.

The verbal altercation that has been spreading on social media arose after a discussion about shutting off residents’ utilities where they had failed to pay their bills. The commission’s leaders say shutoffs have now been suspended, but Mr Hardy pointed out that many people had been cut off and forced to pay to get their power back even after workplaces had sent them home due to the epidemic.

“We should have been talking about this last week,” he told other commissioners. “We cut off people’s utilities this week and made them pay what could have been their last check to us to turn their lights on in a global health pandemic!

“You’re calling me disrespectful because I’ve interrupted people,” he said, “but this gentleman has turned off people’s lives in the middle of a global health pandemic.

Mr Hardy continued: “[The city manager] has had the ability to do any number of things. We could’ve banned large gatherings, we could’ve closed the beach. We could’ve put a moratorium on utility shutoffs.”

At that point, mayor Pam Triolo ordered a recess, which Mr Hardy said was not within her power. Furious at what he said was her manipulation of procedure, Mr Hardy told her: “This is a banana republic, is what you’re turning this place into with your so-called leadership.”

Later, after Ms Triolo called him “disrespectful”, Mr Hardy told her “what’s disrespectful is what you’ve done to the working people of this city.”

“I didn’t do anything,” she replied. To which Mr Hardy responded: “You failed to act. When you’re a leader, you failed to act. You said you didn’t do anything, you failed to act when you had an opportunity.”

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Mr Hardy has won acclaim for his stand, including from fellow Florida politicians. Invoking a well-worn meme, state legislator Shevrin Jones tweeted the video of the exchange, saying: “This is @OmariJHardy. Omari has a seat at the table, and he spoke up for #ThePEOPLE. Leaders everywhere, be like Omari. Thats all. That’s the tweet.” Left-wing political news site DailyKos, meanwhile, called Mr Hardy “the best politician in America today” who “chewed out the worst mayor in Florida”.

In a Facebook post the day after the meeting, Mr Hardy said: “Things got heated last night, but I don’t regret a word. Not one … Sometimes you have to get into trouble to stand up for what’s right – good trouble.”

Florida, which attracts both older retirees and young visitors in large numbers, has confirmed more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus and 13 deaths. A state of emergency was declared across the state on 9 March, but the authorities have been criticised for moving too slowly, particularly when it comes to closing bars and beaches.