Commissioner Omari Hardy calls out Lake Worth Beach mayor Pam Triolo for cutting off people’s utilities during the Coronavirus crisis. Photo : screengrab ( YouTube )

Omari Hardy had all the time on Thursday night.

And he also had zero fucks to give.



The Lake Worth Beach, Fla. commissioner let the city’s mayor Pam Triolo have it over the neglect to provide power during the coronavirus crisis.




According to The Palm Beach Post, the fiery point of contention revolved around who among the city leaders had emergency powers.

The tension-filled two-hour meeting took place in a City Hall conference room and hit a crescendo when Hardy accused city manager Michael Bornstein of “turning off people’s lights during a global health pandemic” and saying Triolo was complicit because she declined to call an emergency meeting last week to discuss issues related to the deadly disease also known as COVID-19.




“This is a banana republic is what you’re turning this place into with your so-called leadership,” Hardy yelled at Triolo after she called a recess.

The heated exchange was all caught on video, which was later posted to YouTube.



“We cut people’s utilities this week and made them pay—with what could have been their last check—to turn their lights off in a global health pandemic. But you don’t care about that! You didn’t want to meet!

“You care more about your relationship with [Bornstein] than you do about the people that are out there working.”

Hardy said Triolo gave Bornstein emergency powers to run the city even though Lake Worth Beach wasn’t declared a state of emergency.


Bornstein acknowledged that 50 customers did have their power turned off on Tuesday, a day before the city released a statement that shutoffs were being discontinued.

Triolo responded by telling Hardy: “Out of order. You’re done. You’re gone.”

After scurrying away, she came back and jumped into his face and yelled: “Hardy for state house, ” implying he was showing out, and asking twice, “You got a camera on that?”


The outlet reported that Hardy and Bornstein have not been on the best of terms.

Tension escalated last week after Hardy’s written request for an emergency session for Friday the 13th to discuss the city’s response to the pandemic was rejected by Bornstein.


The city manager reportedly said he appreciated Hardy’s “youthful exuberance” but advised Hardy, who is 30, to “calm down.”

The two men ended up getting into each other’s faces after the meeting convened.



“Things got heated last night, but I don’t regret one word,” Hardy wrote on Twitter, before repeating the charge that the City Manager shut off the lights for dozens of residents.


“And my colleagues didn’t want to discuss it all, didn’t want to acknowledge what we had done, and I lost my cool. But sometimes you have to get into trouble to stand up for what’s right. That’s called #GoodTrouble,” Hardy said, which is a motto of civil rights icon and U.S. Rep. John Lewis.