Next City Council Mtg on Thursday April 1 at 6pm

The next Palm Beach Gardens City Council meeting will be on Thursday April 1 at 6pm. While the agenda is a light one, the results of the Special Election will be certified adding former-mayor Marcie Tinsley to the Council, and the Mayor/Vice-Mayor will be selected by the ‘new’ council. Additionally, committee assignments will be reapportioned with the full council complement. These are accomplished through Resolutions 18 and 19, 2021 at the beginning and Appointments at the end of the meeting.

Ordinances and Resolutions other than those relating to the reorganized Council include:

• • Ordinance 4, 2021 – An amendment to the Fiscal Year 2020/2021 budget to adjust fund balance carryovers to actual amounts; re-appropriate amounts committed from the FY 2019/2020 budget for outstanding purchase orders and open projects; and for other purposes. This amendment is done every year. Note that the Budget Stabilization Reserve Account is NOT depleted. “In addition to the carryforward of purchase orders and amounts designated for projects, the budget amendment records the proceeds from the Series 2021 Bond; establishes the golf expansion capital project in the amount of $13,941 ,000; allocates $2,000,000 to the recreation special revenue fund to offset the continued revenue loss due to COVID-19; and records $1,208,675 Community Development Block Grant funding for the repair, infrastructure, and mortgage and rent assistance programs. After the above amendments are made, the General Fund Budget Stabilization Reserve Account will total $6,850,167 in FY 2021.  Unassigned General Fund Reserves remain unchanged and total $26,000,000, which is equal to 26.1 percent of FY 2021 budgeted expenditures.
  • Resolution 23, 2021 – A request from NADG Brock Alton PBG, LP to approve proposed on-site artwork for the Art in Public Places (AIPP) requirement for the 40.8-acre Alton Town Center located south of Donald Ross Road and east of Alton Road in the Alton Planned Community District (PCD) – the proposed artwork is entitled ‘Tekno’ and is by Alexander Studios

• Resolution 24, 2021 – Consideration for Approval: A request from Excel Gardens, LLC to approve proposed on-site artwork for the Art in Public Places (AIPP) requirement for the Downtown Palm Beach Gardens 49.04-acre site, located east of Alternate A 1A between Gardens Parkway and Kyoto Gardens Drive. The artwork pieces are entitled “Bloom Sculpture” and are by Dan Shaughnessy IV.

Consent Agenda includes:

• Resolution 21, 2021 – A Resolution Approving the Gardens Self Storage Planned Unit Development (PUD) Plat.  On July 16, 2020, the City Council adopted Resolution 34, 2020, approving the Gardens Self Storage PUD site plan to allow the development of a 74,936-square-foot self-service storage facility with a 1, 129-square-foot accessory office. The site is located on the northeast intersection of Interstate 95 and Northlake Boulevard.
• Resolution 22, 2021 – Lease Purchase of an Air Light Rehab Truck from Emergency Vehicles, Inc., an Authorized Dealer for Rechtein International Trucks, Inc. in the State of Florida, under a Contract with the Florida Sheriffs Association Cooperative Purchasing Program, and the Lease Purchase of a Ladder Truck (Quint) and a Combination Pumper from FWD Seagrave Holdings, LP, dba Seagrave Fire Apparatus,  LLC under a Contract with the Houston-Galveston Area Council Cooperative Purchasing Program, and Financed by BB&T Bank (now Truist Bank) for a Period of 10 Years. Total Contract Price: $3,018,501 .90 in 10 annual installments
• Purchase award – Pest Control Services for City facilities and buildings – Openly competed – 5 year contract with no option to renew – $82.5K

Please check the agenda before the meeting for additions or modifications.

March 2021 Election Results

The March 9 municipal election in Palm Beach Gardens was a clear win for former Mayor Marcie Tinsley with 70% of the vote over newcomer Rob Nanfro. Nanfro won one precinct – 6064 Rustic Lakes.

With the exception of the Shady Lakes / Bent Tree precinct where the margin was only 4 points, Tinsley’s landslide victory was overwhelming. (See Map below)

The overall turnout of 16% was a lot more than what a municipal election normally sees in an off year, particularly a special election to replace a council person who left office early. In 2019 for example, turnout was only 9.5% in the low key race for Group 4 in which Carl Woods beat challenger Howard Rosenkrantz with 68% of the vote. The increased turnout may have been driven by the overhang of Vote-by-Mail ballot subscriptions from 2020. Few went to the polls on election day as an amazing 85% of the Gardens voters voted by mail.

As is often the case, BallenIsles led the way in voter turnout among the larger precincts with 31%, followed by Frenchman’s with 26%. These neighborhoods delivered 74% and 78% for Tinsley respectively.

Municipal elections are non-partisan, meaning the candidates cannot campaign as a member of a political party. Palm Beach Gardens goes farther than any other city in the county to discourage partisan activity, and actually has an ordinance that prevents a candidate from accepting money or assistance from a political party. (Code of Ordinances, Chapter 26-21 Unfair Acts)

In this case both candidates are Republicans, but partisanship was a factor as campaign ads from Rob Nanfro were claiming that Tinsley only became a Republican to run in this race. That was a stretch since Ms. Tinsley has been registered as a Republican for over 5 years. It is not clear why he thought that would have been relevant.

North county races have become somewhat nasty in recent years and this was no exception. You may recall the contest last year for County Commission District 1 where PACs supporting Maria Marino dumped $1M in negative ads to trash former Commissioner Karen Marcus. It seems to have worked.

In this race, Tinsley mostly ran on her record as Mayor and Councilman while the challenger (who is relatively new to the area and has no record) went negative. Perhaps the most questionable claim was that Tinsley was bashing Governor DeSantis over the Covid-19 Response at a Council meeting. Anyone who actually watched the video of the subject meeting would conclude just the opposite.

In our opinion there was never a doubt who would prevail. Marcie Tinsley had a good record to run on, followed the rules for term limits by sitting out for 3 years, and is appreciated by many who followed her activities on the Council over the years.

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Group 2
Strong Tinsley	Weak Tinsley	Very Close	Weak Nanfro	Strong Nanfro
Click the precinct on the map for vote totals.

	Neighborhoods	Voters	Cast	Turnout	Tinsley	Nanfro	Tinsley %
1186	Mirabella	1637	242	14.8	173	69	71.5
1188	Westwood Gardens	1034	104	10.1	71	33	68.3
1189	Old Palm – North	113	20	17.7	13	7	65.0
1190	The Isles, Paloma, San Michelle, Alton	5115	654	12.8	458	196	70.0
1192	Evergrene	1571	240	15.3	195	45	81.3
1194	Frenchmans	2289	585	25.6	458	127	78.3
1222	Avenir	40	5	12.5	5	0	100.0
1228	Osprey Isles, Carleton Oaks	481	79	16.4	52	27	65.8
1238	Mirasol	1912	428	22.4	290	138	67.8
1240	PGA National	2660	453	17.0	338	115	74.6
1242	PGA National	2704	577	21.3	410	167	71.1
1244	PGA National	1695	324	19.1	241	83	74.4
1246	Bent Tree, Garden Lks, Shady Lks, Gdns of Woodbury	2593	372	14.3	192	180	51.6
1247	Old Palm – South	271	46	17.0	30	16	65.2
1248	PGA-east.	1591	297	18.7	186	111	62.6
1250	Gardens Glen	64	10	15.6	5	5	50.0
1252	BallenIsles	2374	739	31.1	547	192	74.0
1254	Hunt Club	471	70	14.9	52	18	74.3
1260	Elm Avenue	1361	205	15.1	142	63	69.3
1262	RCA Center	2	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1266	Union Square, Randolph Way	491	14	2.9	11	3	78.6
1268	Golfers Drive, Lilac	357	17	4.8	9	8	52.9
1270	Lilac Park	10	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1272	Holly Drive, Riverside	2050	263	12.8	189	74	71.9
1274	Gardenia Dr, Arbor Way	1687	229	13.6	171	58	74.7
1280	Lake Catherine	434	77	17.7	46	31	59.7
1284	Gardens Mall area	2517	299	11.9	209	90	69.9
1288	Oakway Circle	40	8	20.0	5	3	62.5
1290	The Oaks	2290	337	14.7	240	97	71.2
1292	Nature’s Way	92	14	15.2	9	5	64.3
1296	Prosperity Oaks, Marina Gardens	831	70	8.4	54	16	77.1
1306	US1 and PGA	5	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1310	Ellison Wilson	4	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1324	Oaks East, Sandelwood	1376	136	9.9	94	42	69.1
1326	Siena Oaks	606	85	14.0	62	23	72.9
1340	Landing Place	18	6	33.3	3	3	50.0
1352	Steeplechase, Montecito	2347	267	11.4	166	101	62.2
1360	Sunset	994	205	20.6	120	85	58.5
1372	Sandtree	187	9	4.8	6	3	66.7
6062	Bay Hill Estates	945	164	17.4	99	65	60.4
6064	Rustic Lakes	133	19	14.3	7	12	36.8

Changing the Landscape of Burns Rd – Future Bike Track

The only Resolution on the March 4, 2021 City Council Meeting Agenda was Resolution 16, 2021 – A Resolution supporting an application to the Florida Department of Transportation through the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (TPA) for the 2021 Transportation Alternatives (TA) Program for the construction of a separated two-way bicycle track on the south side of Burns Road – between Military Trail and Alt A1A. 

City Manager Ferris noted that generally grant requests go under the Consent Agenda – but this future project, if the grant is approved, dovetails so beautifully with the City’s Mobility plans. The Council was extremely supportive. This will be the first track of this kind in Palm Beach Gardens and would link into existing and future bike lanes. The Resolution was passed 4:0.

The Consent Agenda also passed 4:0.

Public Comment was made by Gardens’ resident Ramona Bean – thanking the Council and the City and Marcie Tinsley and County Commissioner Maria Marino for making the Burns Rd Covid-19 Vaccination Center happen. This segued well into City Manager Ferris’ Report about the Vaccination site. He described how seamlessly the project has been using City Police for traffic management, and Rec staff working with the paramedics doing the vaccinations. They’re proud to be working with the Health Department and County crew.

Presentations included:

• Casey Mitchell – Director of Golf – reported on the results of the 14th Annual Mayor’s Veterans Golf Classic – all funds go to the VA Resource Center, and over $55K was raised in 2020.
• Andrew Lezza, Division Chief of Training and Professional Development, Fire/Rescue – showed an exciting video of new Fire/Rescue recruits going through training at the new fire tower. The class of new recruits was so large that it took two separate training sessions to complete. Existing personnel will also go through refresher training at the new facility using the City’s instructors. Watch the video here. 
• Noel Martinez, President & CEO of Palm Beach Chamber North gave a big thank you to the Council and City staff for pulling off the planning for Artigras in 6 weeks. He praised the service minded culture where find the staff always finds aa way to make things happen. The even was a great success with the big layout so could it could easily be spread out. Artists were happy and sold a lot. The sponsors were also very happy with new location and they hoped it would be available again next year.
• Joann Skaria, Planning Manager, AICP – gave a summary of the CDBG Cares Act Mortgage and Rent Assistance Program. Details can be found on the City website here.  The Palm Beach Post described the program here.  Applications are available online or available at the City in paper form.