Martino – City Council vs City Manager – Who Is In Charge?
If you haven’t taken an interest in the how our Palm Beach Gardens City government has been conducting its business as of late, perhaps, it’s time you should. As the City Charter states:
“The form of government of the City of Palm Beach Gardens shall be that known as the Council-Manager form of government”. “Residents are served by five non-partisan elected officials who are the policy making body of the City. These elected officials – the City Council – in turn, appoint the City Manager who is tasked with overseeing all administrative duties and the daily business operations of the City.”
You only have to listen to or view the videos of the October and November 2022 City Council meetings and you may ask yourself, as I do, the following question. Has the City Council become a body of individuals that are subservient to the City Manager/Administration rather than – the City Council – as the City Charter mandates?
As a 57-year City resident and past Mayor and Council member it pains me to make the following assessment. In my opinion, since the year 2000, our local City government has gradually morphed into a Manager-Council form of local government. This transition has been a slow but steady cultural change, particularly, in the conduct of the processes of Gardens governance. It is in stark contradiction with the City Charter’s basic tenet, Council-Manager form of government, as referenced above. Was this purposeful? Maybe. Is there blame? Probably; possible candidates could be City Council members since 2000, the current City Manager, subtle Charter changes, and we residents for not paying attention and not attending Council meetings regularly.
Since 2000, how has this cultural change happened? Some of my perspectives are the following….
- The City Councils have moved away from transparency and communication with the public
- Staff and generous salaries (including the Manager) has ballooned in all departments
- Only one (1) monthly regularly scheduled meeting with the public, down from two (2)
- Zero (0) regularly scheduled workshop meetings with the public, down from two (2)
- No workshops results in limited or no deliberation with elected members as a body/council
- No workshops results in more dependence on staff, less input as a Council into city business
- Less Council work, salary raise, $10,000 to $35,000, & $30,000 in medical/pension benefits
- Abandoning Council traditions; i.e., not naming facilities after city officials and personalities
- Less than adequate review and oversight with no decipherable contract with City Manager
- City Manager assumes responsibilities that clearly reside in the purview of the City Council
- City Manager sets most, if not all of the agenda items for City business, City Council does not
- City Manager is contemptuous of workshop meetings, thus, none are regularly scheduled
- City Manager appears to selectively inform Council of important City business
Do we truly have a Council-Manager local government with the elected City Council members as the absolute hierarchy of our City governance? That is a question that should be asked. Without the City Council recognizing their absolute prominence in the organization of our City government and the City Manager understanding his Administrative position, my opinion and answer is NO.
Martino: Avenir, will it deliver its commitments?
The Palm Beach Post recently highlighted the progress of home building at the Avenir development in Palm Beach Gardens. The Avenir development contains a total of 4700 acres. Approximately, half of those acres are to be developed into a mixed use concept of homes, commercial, office, and corporate space. The remaining acreage is dedicated to environmental preservation. The Post article’s salient points were the distinctiveness of the various Avenir neighborhoods under development, the luxury, opulence, and diversification of home choice in these neighborhoods, as well as, the affluent pricing. It also implied that the contrasting neighborhoods are uniquely bound together by certain developer architectural requirements in their gated entry features and homes, and connected by predetermined roads. Home prices released, thus far, range from $600,000 to $3,500,000. Thus, it appears “Avenir will cater to the upper ends of the market.”
Approximately, 6 years after its unanimous development approval by the then City Council of Palm Beach Gardens the Avenir development is well on its way to taking its place among the elite communities of Palm Beach Gardens and financial success. That’s a good thing for the City. Today’s City Council now must ensure that Avenir’s promises and commitments to make the City a better place for our existing, as well as, their new residents are carried out as the authorizing ordinance provides and insists.
Avenir’s commitment to relieve, divert, and capture traffic on Northlake Boulevard by becoming a destination hub for the western communities and its new residents promotes the reduction of traffic trips east and west on Northlake Boulevard. The scheduled development of commercial, office, and corporate space, perhaps, even auxiliary government offices will enhance the opportunities for jobs, for shopping, for professional and medical offices, for recreation and restaurants, as well as, other life necessities needed by these western communities. Construction of the new collector road from Northlake Boulevard east to the Beeline Expressway as pledged by approval of Avenir must begin in earnest. These commitments should advance the reduction of traffic trips east and west on Northlake Boulevard. Avenir must be a “traffic reliever and reducer” for Northlake Boulevard as promised during the various public meetings and hearings leading up to its approvals. The advancement and scheduling of these commitments need to be publicly discussed by the City Council now rather than later.
Avenir’s commitment to set aside 100 acres for economic development while deeding 50 of those acres directly to the City and entering into a public-private partnership to entice a suitable corporate tenant needs to be formulated for public consumption. Avenir’s precedent setting assurances to preserve the environment by permanently deeding over to the properly designated governmental entity nearly half of Avenir’s 4700 acres for environmental preservation is precedent setting. It will create an opportunity to connect approximately 100,000 acres of conservation lands from the east coast of Florida to Lake Okeechobee. These promises are worthy of time-table discussion by the City Council and update for the public.
Avenir is a French word that means “future”. With the recent western community annexations and the approved developments of the last several years, the “future” of Palm Beach Gardens’ western growth management is taking shape now. As west meets east is the City ready?
Martino: Shame on the School Board
The Palm Beach County School Board approved new Mission, Vision, and Equity statements for The School District of Palm Beach County. I would strongly encourage all parents of K-12 grade level students enrolled in public and charter schools in Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach County to read these statements, carefully, to draw your own conclusions. It is too important, for you as a parent not to. Express your concerns to Barbara McQuinn, District 1 School Board representative, phone 561-434-8038, email barbara.mcquinn@palmbeachschools.org
I would opine that a substantial portion of the Mission Statement and Vision Statement is shameful. Much of it should be stricken entirely. It is offensive, inaccurate, antagonizing, accusatory, and divisive. A significant amount of the text is social discourse and racially charged with little association to educational inspiration or excellence. Equity has replaced equality. In a May 4th Palm Beach Post article a School Board member suggests that the pronouncements by the School Board, among other things, where influenced by “last year’s protests about racial justice…”. It is my belief that policy based on emotion is bad policy.
If this is the best Mission and the best Vision the elected School Board members can offer for the 197,000 students in their charge than Palm Beach County, parents you have a problem. The real dangers of the declarations are the curriculums and books that they generate. Will the teachings be based on the traditional American educational classroom basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, if you will permit me, the 3 R’s? Or will the classroom teachings be nuanced in the direction of the questionable and unproven, critical race theory, the 1619 project, cancel culture, and other abstract thought. I ask, are our teachers’ to be educators or social workers?
Palm Beach Gardens and North Palm Beach County enjoy a reputation for great schools which has enhanced our quality of life and economic viability. I would encourage the City Council of Palm Beach Gardens along with the other North Palm Beach County local governments to discuss the consequences and affects of The School District of Palm Beach County’s new Mission, Vision, and Equity policy statements. I would also persuade the business community and organizations and the Parent Teacher Organizations to offer their voices concerning the influences and effects these pronouncements may have on our children and community.
Here is a link to the statements below. Contact information for all schoolboard members here.
Mission
The mission of the School District of Palm Beach County is to educate, affirm, and inspire each student in an equity-embedded school system.
Vision
We envision…The School District of Palm Beach County is an educational and working environment, where both students and staff are unimpeded by bias or discrimination. Individuals of all backgrounds and experiences are embraced, affirmed, and inspired. Each and every one will succeed and flourish.
The School District of Palm Beach County will take ownership for students’ academic mastery, emotional intelligence, and social-emotional needs by creating environments where students, families, staff, and communities will develop agency and voice.
A joy of learning is fostered in each student and a positive vision for their future is nurtured. Each student’s cultural heritage is valued and their physical, emotional, academic, and social needs are met.
…WE SEE YOU.
Equity Definition
Equity means each student—regardless of race, ethnicity, poverty, disability, language status, undocumented status, religious affiliation, gender identity, and sexual orientation—will have access to the opportunities, resources, and support they need to imagine, nurture, and achieve their dreams.Equity Statement
The School District of Palm Beach County is committed to dismantling racism and other systems of oppression and inequity. We will create equitable and inclusive schools that ensure students have what they need to be successful in school and life.Achieving racial equity requires proactive and continuous investment in historically marginalized groups who have endured centuries of systemic oppression. The School District of Palm Beach County is committed to dismantling structures rooted in white advantage and transforming our system by hearing and elevating under-represented voices, sharing power, recognizing and eliminating bias, and redistributing resources to provide equitable outcomes.
The School District of Palm Beach County will take ownership for students’ academic mastery, emotional intelligence, and social-emotional needs by creating environments where students, families, staff, and communities will develop agency and voice.
The School District of Palm Beach County acknowledges the existence of—and will eliminate—systems, processes, and mindsets that perpetuate race, ethnicity, poverty, disability, language status, undocumented status, religious affiliation, gender identity, and sexual orientation as predictors of achievement.
The School District of Palm Beach County will embrace, celebrate, and honor our students, families, staff, and community members and their unique cultural histories, while ensuring each student achieves personal and academic success.
Martino: Groundhog Day in the Gardens
After reviewing the Palm Beach Gardens January 14th agenda items, Resolution 7, 2021 and Resolution 13, 2021, I felt as if I was experiencing the movie Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film. It centers on a weatherman that finds he is inexplicably living the same day over and over again while covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. However, I am really in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, not Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. In my opinion, Resolution 7, 2021 and Resolution 13, 2021, are not a comedies but tragedies of transparency failures. Like the cynical weatherman in Groundhog Day I feel as if I, too, am in a time loop of repeated City Council public transparency, communication, and openness transgressions and failures.
Resolution 7, 2021 authorizes the issuance of the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Public Improvement Bond, Series 2021, in an amount not to exceed $14,000,000 to finance construction of an 18-hole par-3 golf course and related facilities. According to the council meeting agenda the 18-hole par-3 golf course and related facilities will be discussed under Presentations by staff entitled “Western Golf Course Expansion” and during discussion of Resolution 13, 2021 which adopts a policy and plan for the expenditure of the proceeds from the Public Improvement Bonds – Series 2021 that were adopted by the approval of Resolution 7, 2021 earlier on the Regular agenda It approves the bond for a golf course in Avenir on 115 acres or so, of property owned by the City. This land was conveyed to the City by the Avenir developers as a condition of the development approvals.
What are the problems with the Resolutions above the City Council might ask? Many and varied I would respond. The lack of transparency, communication and openness with the Public are the main irritants. To my knowledge, none of the above has been discussed in a public meeting by the City Council. Concurrently, the residents were not noticed or informed through advertised public meetings. Thus, we are ignorant of this extraordinary expenditure and massive new public project, plus, not knowledgeable of who hired the “consultants and experts” advising the City, as well as, the financial and contractual arrangements. We currently have a public municipal golf course on which we have budgeted and spent millions of dollars on new facilities and equipment in recent years. Is there a golfing capacity problem that has not been revealed? Why are we considering a new golf course in a private development? From my perspective, it is speculation and conjecture to state that various new western growth impact fees and revenues from this new course would cover the repayment of the bonds. The perpetual maintenance, future equipment needs and facility renovations, are future burdens that undoubtedly will have tax consequences to residents. This once again appears to be an Administrative and staff driven policy effort devoid of significant policy contribution by the City Council and with no consideration for information to the Public or input by us.
Why the Groundhog Day analogy?
- In 2013 and 2014 the City Council secretly began negotiations to allow for development of a $100,000,000 Major League Baseball stadium in the middle of prime residential areas of the City.
- In 2017 the City Council authorized a $30,000,000 loan for major City renovations to City buildings, new City facilities, and major recreational field and facilities, using the penny sales tax income as collateral.
- In more recent years the City Council has named a Park and City facility after Council members.
- In 2020 the City Council renamed the City Municipal Complex after the current City Manager.
- In 2020 the City Council, in a less than ideal location, allowed a prefabricated building to be placed in the beautiful Lake Catherine Park to be used as a restroom facility which ignored previous Council commitments to not allow any structures or facilities in the Park.
All of these City policy issues have a common thread, a repetitive loop, and déjà vu characteristics. All were quietly instigated by the Administration and staff with little to no City Council policy involvement until almost after-the- fact. In most cases there was little to no Public involvement, meetings, or input. All challenged the rights of the Public to transparency, communication, and openness. In most of these issues Gardens’ residents were canceled out.
Martino: “Gardens Outhouse” at Lake Catherine Park
MacArthur Boulevard in southeast Palm Beach Gardens is one of the most pleasant, peaceful, and attractively landscaped roads in the City. It is designed with traffic calming as one of its primary goals. The taming of vehicular movements is produced and enhanced by MacArthur Boulevard’s narrow lanes, selective on-street parking, signaled pedestrian cobbled and colored crosswalks, and its meandering median. MacArthur Boulevard’s beautifully landscaped median divides a roadway lined with gorgeous 25-year old oak trees in the landscaped swales guarding, hovering, and shading over pedestrian walkways, particularly, on the west side. It is home to the famous John D. MacArthur Banyan Tree on its south end, the Lake Catherine Sports Complex on the southeast streetscape next to Howell Watkins Middle School campus as the school meanders to the northeast. On the west side moving north from the Banyan Tree is the smart landscaping of a commercial property followed by the equally attractive streetscape of the Lake Catherine housing development. Continuing north one encounters the crown jewel of MacArthur Boulevard, the passively beautiful Lake Catherine Park with its gorgeous lake, tree lined walking path, Palm Beach Gardens Women’s Club Honor Park tree preserve, and other aesthetically pleasing fauna and passive amenities.
However, all of the above has recently been disrupted by what, in my opinion, was and is a callous and unforgivable decision by the City. Without notice or justification to the Public and without discussion at an advertised regular City Council meeting, the City has erected a glorified “outhouse” in the Lake Catherine Park. Further compounding the disrupting decision was the poorly selected location fronting and facing onto MacArthur Boulevard acting as an advertisement for offsite customers. To accommodate the “Gardens Outhouse”, and without regard for the streetscape and environment of MacArthur Boulevard and Lake Catherine Park, the City continued its uncaring and insensitive actions by shamefully cutting down to ground level two of the 25-year old Oak trees that umbrella the west pedestrian walkway and removing Park landscaping. From my perspective, these are thoughtless acts that have irreparably harmed the serenity of Lake Catherine Park and the tranquility of the surrounding neighborhood.
What other courses of action were available to the City one might ask? Well, if for some reason there was a public outcry for rest room facilities at Lake Catherine Park, which to my knowledge there was none, the City should have publicly noticed the Park property of its intentions and held an advertised City Council meeting to allow for neighborhood comment, discussion, and understanding. The City could have continued to honor the long standing commitments that were made by past City Councils not to have any buildings, facilities, or active recreational equipment or offerings that would affect the native passivity and peacefulness of Lake Catherine Park. Further, Lake Catherine Park is a fairly large park with more unobtrusive areas that should have been considered other than the poorly chosen ultimate location. Finally, if this facility was vital to the success of Lake Catherine Park at this location, which again in my humble opinion it is not, simply facing the entrances and water fountains of the facility to the interior of the park rather than to MacArthur Boulevard would have been a much more palatable choice.
It is my observation that in the last decade or so the City Council has methodically reduced its meetings with Gardens residents which has created transparency issues. An unhealthy communication problem has reared its ugly head. It is exacerbated when only one regularly advertised City Council meeting per month is held. This lack of transparency and communication has produced a list of serious breaches of confidence with the residents over the years. The “Gardens Outhouse” at Lake Catherine Park is the latest.
Martino: Council – Reconsider Wrongs and Make it Right
PBG Municipal Complex… name change?
Once again I find my opinion to be in conflict with a Palm Beach Gardens City Council decision. At the July 16th regular Council meeting the City Council passed with a 5 to 0 vote Resolution 49, 2020, renaming the City Municipal Complex. The new name is the Ronald M. Ferris Municipal Complex. Ronald M. Ferris is the current City Manager. This is at least the third instance in which a City Council has named a City owned facility after an individual in the last several years without notice to the public. I question the decisions and ask why.
So what is wrong with the above decision on Resolution 49, 2020 one might ask? To my knowledge there is no public clamor for a change in the identification of the Municipal Complex. In my view the fallacy of the decision has several components. The process used, if it can be called that, is wanting at best. The need for the change is neither necessary, nor urgent. The selection of the City Manager, who is a City employee, is highly problematical.
The decision process used lacks integrity. Resolution 49, 2020, proposed by the Mayor, traversed from the City Attorney’s briefcase to adoption by the City Council with little, if any, substantive discussion. It appeared to be a complete surprise to the other Council members. The Resolution had not been advertised for public awareness, was not listed on the published agenda, and had not been work shopped by the entire City Council prior to introduction. Why was the pubic not noticed for its input while four special interest individuals of the community were invited to speak? Conducting important City business, such as, the naming of publicly owned City property, in this manner is on the margins of legality and stresses the public’s trust in the City Council.
To my knowledge there is no public clamor for a change in the identification of the Municipal Complex. . It certainly was not necessary to process and approve this very important decision without public notification and participation. Neither the City Council nor any City employee “owns” the Municipal Complex or any other City facility. The residents and taxpayers of Palm Beach Gardens are the “owners”. To vote and pass Resolution 49, 2020 without advertising its intent to the public, is out and out audacious, and simply wrong.
The City Manager, Ronald M. Ferris, is a contract employee of the City. He serves at the pleasure of the City Council. His main duties are to administer the policies of the City Council. Mr. Ferris is among the top paid Administrators in Palm Beach County. His current salary is approximately $250,000 per year plus a basket full of benefits. Using conservative numbers Mr. Ferris has totaled in excess of $4,000,000 in just monetary compensation for his time on the job, thus far. In my opinion, Mr. Ferris, has been more than adequately compensated, rewarded, and appreciated for his job performance.
From my perspective, the approval of the renaming of the Municipal complex by the City Council was a mistake. The approval process used was wrong. Denying the public the right to comment on the exploitation of publicly owned City property was wrong. Selecting a City employee for the rename was wrong. Two wrongs do not make a right and neither do three.
The City Council needs to reconsider its wrongs and consider how to make them right!
Martino: Local Government At Its Best
Once again, the City Council of Palm Beach Gardens along with its Administration has embraced the mantle of Leadership when its residents and business community are most in need of it. At its May Council meeting, to combat the coronavirus contagion with a unified response of care, concern, and compassion, Mayor Carl Woods, Vice-Mayor Maria Marino, Council members Mark Marciano, Rachelle Litt, and Chelsea Reed, created the Palm Beach Gardens Economic Recovery Act Grant Fund. This Act will provide financial assistance to our unemployed residents and small businesses that have been directly affected by the personal and economic devastations of the Covid-19 epidemic.
The Palm Beach Gardens Economic Recovery Act Grant Fund will be funded with $1,300,000 from the City’s budgeted Economic Development Fund. It consists of two Relief Funds to provide help and support to our jobless residents and struggling businesses.
The Palm Beach Gardens Unemployed Residents Relief Fund is designed to assist residents who have lost employment due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Unemployed Residents Relief Fund will receive $300,000. The fund will provide a one-time Publix gift card worth $250 to a limited number of residents to counterbalance daily living costs. A complete list of criteria is available on the City’s website.
In a further demonstration of their leadership and conviction that the defeat of Covid-19 will take a collective force, Mayor Woods and the City Council have joined with the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce and the PGA Corridor Association for the inspiration and implementation of the Palm Beach Gardens Small Business Relief Fund. It will be funded with $1,000,000. The Small Business Relief Fund will provide one-time grant payments of $20,000 to 50 small businesses within the city affected by the Covid-19 shut-down. For eligibility businesses must be locally owned or independently operated. Businesses must have been licensed in Palm Beach Gardens for 18 months or more, and have 25 employees or fewer. Businesses may not have already have been approved or received Covid-19 relief funds from other sources, such as, the SBA Paycheck Protection Program. A complete list of criteria is available on the City’s website.
From my perspective, Mayor Woods, the City Council, and the Administration should be applauded and congratulated. They have recognized constituent needs, deliberated to understand them, offered solutions to fix them, and implemented actions to remediate them. That is local government performing at its best; we in Palm Beach Gardens should be proud and appreciative.
Martino: Message to Small PBG Business Owners
If you are a small business owner that has been ordered by the government to shut your doors because of the Covid-19 virus pandemic, there is a glimmer of hope for you. The President and the United States Congress, your Federal government, wants you to remain in business with your employees intact. They realize that it is the small businesses around our country that help to provide fuel that drives the engines of our great American economy. Our Federal, State, and Local governments understand that nearly 70% of the American work force is employed by small businesses. Through no fault of their own, these small businesses have been severely and dangerously disrupted by the Covid-19 virus.
The President and the United States Congress recently passed into law the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Using $350,000,000 of those funds, they created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP orders the Small Business Administration (SBA) to loan monies from these funds at extremely low interest rates. The Federal government wants the PPP monies disbursed quickly. If you meet the modest conditions of the loan the entire loan amount may be forgiven.
Conditions and qualifications to receive a PPP loan for your business are minimal with little to no red tape. However, this is a no frills loan. It must be used to underwrite normal business operations, such as, payroll for you and your employees, money for rent, mortgage obligations, utilities and other debt obligations you may have. Starting Friday, April 3rd, these monies will be available for small business owners with 500 employees or less. This can be an S Corp, C Corp, LLC, sole proprietorship or independent contractor.
If you are a small business owner who has worked 24/7 to build a viable and successful business, I urge you to investigate this loan opportunity. If it makes sense to help save your business, then take advantage of the SBA rescue money. It’s available at most FDIC banks, your bank or any local bank of your choosing. Bring the obvious business records with you. Click on the link more information on the Paycheck Protection Program .
I am sure that I share the same expressions of care and concerns of all Palm Beach Gardens residents for our stressed business community. We want our local businesses to be there when we once again can avail ourselves of their products and services. It is true; the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed our daily lives, temporarily. Normalcy will return. For our small businesses, please know that we anxiously wait to once again see your sign…
YES, WE ARE OPEN
Martino: Let’s Band Together To Defeat this Covid-19 Pandemic
Palm Beach Gardens Residents,
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has transformed our daily lives. Together with each other we must battle the local, as well as, nationwide effects of this virus. These are very demanding times with unprecedented circumstances. Here in Palm Beach Gardens we must collectively do our part with unselfish effort and a total City response to overcome this unparalleled challenge to our community and our country.
If we are to be successful in blunting the spread of COVID-19 it is imperative that we follow President Trump’s Coronavirus guidelines. If you are a Postal Customer you received a post card in the mail annunciating these guidelines. The best and the brightest public health officials, scientists, medical doctors and nurses from all over our country strongly recommend that each of us follow these guidelines. State and local authorities advocate with one voice for these guidelines. Our own City Council and Administration encourage us to adhere to them. As a former Mayor and City Council member I would respectfully request that each resident of the Gardens hold fast to them.
Another opportunity for each of us to do our part to help to defeat the spread of COVID-19 is to respect, support, be grateful for, pray for, and say thank you every day to our fearless front-line first responders to this contagion. With self-sacrifice, dedication, and determination our fire and police departments, our doctors and nurses, our hospital personnel, the grocery store workers, the truck and delivery drivers, and others are at the center of the battle protecting each of us from this life threatening scourge. At great sacrifice to their own families and themselves, these individuals, some our friends and neighbors, are putting their lives on the line for us while holding at bay and helping to defeat this pandemic.
Selfishness is not a weapon against this virus but accepting personal responsibility to one’s self, to one’s family, to one’s neighbors, and to one’s community is. There are a number of other personal weapons each of us can utilize to defeat this COVID-19 pandemic. Mitigation works, embrace it by practicing good hygiene. Wash your hands often, particularly after touching hard surfaces. Disinfect surfaces and used items frequently. Cover your coughs and sneezes. Stay away from crowds. Use social distancing as a show of respect and consideration for others. An old Roman proverb says “Home is where the heart is”, so if you feel sick, if you are a senior citizen with underlying health issues, stay home. If possible work from and study from home. Avoid large gatherings, avoid travel, avoid eating or drinking out – support our local restaurants by using pick-up and delivery options.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide. This pandemic has been called a “Health War”, an “Invisible War”, and a “World War”. It is an invisible enemy that has penetrated every country’s borders without bullets and missiles in unprecedented ways. In the USA, COVID-19 is attacking us and killing us with a highly contagious airborne and touch viral disease as its weapon. It is creating chaos within our local, state, and national health-care systems. The pandemic is forcing our work force to the unemployment lines while wreaking havoc with our economy.
To defeat this enemy Garden’s residents must join with all USA citizens in imposing our American will and ingenuity. Leadership must begin with each of us as individuals. Unity must be our watchword. Concern and compassion, care and consideration, help and assistance, tenacity and calmness, should guide our actions. We must all band together as one force with one collective purpose, the defeat of this COVID-19 pandemic.
Martino: Councilman Matthew Lane Deserves Re-election
On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, if you are a legally registered voter in the City of Palm Beach Gardens you have the opportunity to cast your ballot for a candidate of your choice in both the Presidential Primary and City Council elections. As Americans we have the freest and fairest elections of any country on earth yet our participation rate is often abysmal. I would urge each and every reader to caste their precious ballot on March 17th.
The City Council election, though often overlooked, is as important as the Presidential Primary. I would argue that the City Council candidate of our choice in our City elections has as much or more of an effect on our daily lives as our Presidential choice. Our City Council members are responsible for much of the aspects of our local quality of life. The members are directly responsible for the health, safety, welfare, and recreational aspects of life here in Palm Beach Gardens. With the fiscal responsibility of the creation of a City budget Council members establish our property tax rates, as well as, fund our excellent municipal services and administrative departments. Providing for the governing of sustainable and controlled growth within our borders and a vibrant business community to serve us are other important responsibilities that our City Council members are given with our vote. Just about every local convenience we enjoy emanates from the City Council dais. Thus, the importance of our vote and our choice for our local City Council members cannot be overstated.
In the March 17th City election the Group 1, 3, and 5 seats are to be decided. However, Mayor Mark Marciano in Group 1, and Vice-Mayor Rachelle Litt in Group 5 were unopposed at the end of the qualification period, and thus re-elected. In Group 3, incumbent Councilman Matthew Lane has a challenger.
Regarding the Group 3 City election, my choice is Councilman Matthew Lane. In my opinion, he deserves re-election to a second 3-year term. In his first term Councilman Lane has established himself as the chief challenger to the status quo. With his legal background as a foundation he is always prepared to argue for the needs of the residents in making Council policy decisions. Councilman Lane is a tough questioner of Council issues using his always meticulous meeting preparation as a basis for them. He is and was a staunch defender of term limits as approved by the voters in 2014 and voted against attempts to make substantial changes to them. Councilman Lane is a strong and vocal advocate for safe and exceptional Gardens’ schools. Having served on the Palm Beach Gardens Parks and Recreational Board Councilman Lane has a firm grasp on recreational needs in the Gardens.
This is just a sampling of the on the job certification of Councilman Lane’s qualifications for a second 3-year term. He is my preference to continue working as a productive Councilman for the residents of Palm Beach Gardens. Please vote on March 17th and please consider marking your ballot for Councilman Matthew Lane.