PBG Watch to Discontinue Monthly Emails/Posts

PBG Watch will no longer be sending out summaries of the upcoming PBG City Council agendas or meeting summaries.

When formed our mission statement was:

PBG Watch is a coalition of concerned citizens of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, who have come together to observe and report on the decisions of the City Council. We will praise where justified and criticize where warranted. We will also educate and mobilize a response to actions that we feel are not in the best interest of the citizens.

Our first post was about proposed charter changes, on June 8, 2012. At the time there were a lot of active issues, heavy citizen involvement and most of the City Council meetings were well-attended. While the City published the council meeting agendas on the website, it was difficult to read. Council meetings were not video-recorded, there was no social media presence and the only way to observe the meetings from afar was to listen to voice recordings.

Much has changed over the last ten years:

• Term Limits were enacted
• Avenir and Alton – two remaining large areas have been planned and development is underway
• Purchasing and budgets have become more accessible on the website
• Voter participation and resident attendance at council meetings has waned significantly, decreased further during and after Covid.

The City has created many more avenues for the citizens to acquire information – via newsletters, its website, live-streaming and social media.

Here are ways that you can continue to get informed about the meetings and City activities:

• City of Palm Beach Gardens website Agenda Page
• City of Palm Beach Gardens social media sites
  • Facebook 
  • Youtube
• City of Palm Beach Gardens Livestream Page

Sign up for  email notifications under Newsflash at this link: https://pbgfl.com/list.aspx

In addition, Joel Englehardt, via his Ongardens.org website, is writing in-depth pieces on various issues concerning the Gardens. I encourage you to sign up for his notifications or go to his website frequently.

We will keep the PBG Watch website and facebook page online for a period of time for historical reference and for occasional posts such as those by former Mayor Mike Martino in his Martino Minute.

Remember – we get the government we deserve. KEEP WATCHING!

No Sportplex for the Gardens North County District Park

New news for the City came at the very end of the November 3rd City Council meeting when Council Member Marciano suggested having a workshop for the newly available remaining undeveloped parcel in the North County District Park. Apparently, the sign that had been visible on the corner for several years advertising the future Sportsplex was no longer there. Through the ensuing discussion it became clear that the proposed Sportsplex, to be developed by Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation, had not secured funding and was no longer a viable proposal. The foundation had been awarded the contract to build the facility in Ordinance 60, 2019. Several other entities are coming forward with fully funded proposals which the administration will review before bringing them to the Council.

Second Reading and Approval of Ordinance 13, 2022 – which would have raised the purchasing sign-off authority of the City Manager without Council approval, was delayed until the December meeting at the request of Mayor Reed.

All other Ordinances and Resolutions on the Agenda were passed 5:0. These included two new communities in Avenir as well as the new clubhouse in Frenchman’s Creek.

Public Comment was made by:

• Pamela Payne – CEO of the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County – The City had a proclamation in honor of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
• Richard Ormond of Garden Isles wants city to take a more proactive role in code enforcement in neighborhoods without HOAs as well as protection against Air BNB type of businesses in residential areas. City Manager Ferris said they’ll look into how the City can help.
• Dr. Tracy Pellet – Provost and Dean of Palm Beach State College, Gardens Campus – introduced himself, gave greetings from President Ava Parker.

The City Manager Report included:

• Brief presentations by Fire Chief Keith Bryer and Chief of Police Clint Shannon on the significant assistance both departments have been rendering to areas hard hit by Hurricane Ian. All the deployments of Garden’s staff have been on a voluntary basis with the teams working under difficult conditions. Kudos to all for aiding Florida’s hard hit communities.
• City Manager Ferris also spoke to Operation Sister City assistance to Wauchula – where their 91 employees and families were especially hard hit by flooding from Hurricane Ian. The Garden’s sister city of Calloway was aided in the past and is ‘paying it forward’ by donating $15K towards Wauchula and Ferris is spearheading the effort to provide $35K to Wauchula including Calloway’s assistance, $10K donated by Christ Fellowship and (at the end of the meeting by a vote of the Council) $10K from the City Council budget. In addition, the City will be providing deliveries of personal items/necessities, Christmas gifts for children and ability for the public to donate via Amazon wish-ists. Look to the City website or facebook page for future links to help!

The December City Council meeting will be held on December 14 at 6pm; the January meeting will be conducted on January 12th 2023.

 

Northlake Fiasco and Is $1 Million a Lot to You?

Much of the very long October 6th PBG City Council meeting was spent discussing Palm Beach County’s Five Year Road Plan – which was on the City Manager portion of the agenda. Included in the plan is a proposed $500k to study widening Northlake Boulevard to 8 lanes. Several people made public comment, Sal Faso, President of NCNC spoke on behalf of several organizations and communities as well. All were in agreement that widening Northlake, and wasting $500k tax dollars and studying it was a non-starter. Joel Engelhardt of Ongardens wrote an in-depth piece covering the proposal and discussion entitled “Northlake widening study pits county vs city. Again.”

Vice Mayor Litt pulled Resolution 64, 2022 from the Consent agenda and the Council had considerable discussion on whether the report “Review of 2022 Key Strategies and Initiatives” from PFM Group Consulting LLC, which had been the subject of the August 17 Workshop, should be adopted as a Council Strategic Plan. Interestingly – none on the Council had input to the report, nor did any residents or other interested parties and the data used was about two years old as the study was delayed due to Covid. Nevertheless, after discussion – the report was adopted by the Council 5:0. The report was in the Resolution and can also be found here.

First Reading of Ordinance 13, 2022  raising the threshold for purchasing limits not needing Council Approval from the current $65K to .5% of the City Budget or $1 Million had a lot of discussion. Km! Ra, Purchasing Director, City Manager Ferris and City Attorney Max Lohman were very much in favor of the move as were Mayor Reed and Council Member Woods. Council Member Tinsley was very much against the move, Council Member Marciano had some trepidations and Vice Mayor Litt was searching for a compromise that might keep transparency in the process. Km! Ra’s primary argument was that in Purchasing ‘best practices’ if a line item budget has already been approved by a council, there is not further need for approval by that council in the implementation of that budget; his ideal situation would be to not have any limits but suggested that the .05% or roughly $1 million would be a “baby step” in the direction of this “progressive ideal.”  See the discussion here.  On first reading the vote was 4:1 with Tinsley opposed. 

PBG Watch is also opposed and here are key points why stated in an email to Council on Oct 12:

You are the elected officials given the public’s authority and trust – not the City Manager and Purchasing Department.

Consider:

• You perhaps were not given a thorough answer to the question – what are thresholds requiring board/council approval in other municipalities?  All of the following have larger populations and budgets than does PBG.   
  • PBC limit is $200K – (see code here)
  • Boca Raton limit is $100K – (see code here)
  • Boynton Beach limit is $100K – (see recent ordinance here)
  • Delray Beach limit is $65K – (see code here)
  • Jupiter limit is $50K – (see code here)
• 20 points on 200 points criteria for purchasing organization excellence awards’ is not a reason to make a significant policy change
• One of the cited issues was speed of action to obtain approvals.  Rather than ceding your responsibility and authority to the administration – perhaps you should consider ways to speed the approval process:
  • Have more frequent meetings?
  • Have an email and/or online or zoom way to obtain your approvals meeting sunshine and notification,  to proceed
  • Rather than providing an informational list of upcoming bids (as was suggested by one of you at your meeting) – perhaps have the quarterly list of upcoming bids for you to pre-approve threshold-wise with your votes.
• While you may have utmost confidence in the current position holders in purchasing and City Manager at this time – they will not always be the holders of these positions nor will you be on the council.  Yes – you are setting policy and one council person’s glib answer about ‘if you don’t like what the City Manager is doing – just fire him’ is not policy!
• Inflation is clearly here – but rather than set a ‘baby-step’ of $1 million dollars – adjusting the $65K upward is clearly needed – but not 15x in one step and not as a blanket policy.

Also on the agenda:

• Recognition of Jim McCarten’s retirement as General Manager of the Gardens Mall and his contributions to the community over the last 33 years
• Consent Agenda passed 5:0
• City Manager report, beside Northlake Blvd Widening Study covered a short summary of the assistance our Fire/Rescue and Police Departments are providing to the hard hit communities due to Hurricane Ian, and in November the Council will hear from Scipps and Jupiter Medical Center for future plans for a research hospital on the Briger tract.
• All other Ordinances and Resolutions passed 5:0 and there was no City Attorney Report.

City’s Millage Lowered to 5.32%

The new tax-rate was lowered to 5.32% and the new Fiscal Year 2022/2023 budget raises about $7.8M in new taxes, up a 10.9% over last year’s adopted budget. Both the millage and new budget were approved/adopted on 2nd hearing 5:0 on Sept 22 after being also approved 5:0 at the Sept 8th initial City Council Meeting. Council Member Marciano, with the most in-depth city budget experience on the Council, has long sought to lower millage over the last several years and was pleased to finally have it happen in his last term.

While homesteaded properties will see lowered tax bills, those in non-homesteaded properties will see increases. Budget details can be viewed here.

 

 

 

 

 

The ten-year financial forecast assumes flat millage at the new 5.32%. Also of note is that there is no debt service millage and none assumed in the forecast.

Other items from the two September meetings:

• • Resolution 52, 2022 – passed 5:0 on 9/8 – approving and ratifying a collective bargaining agreement with the Police Benevolent Association for Police Officers, Sergeants, and Communications Operators employed by the City’s Police Department for Fiscal Years 2023- 2025.
  • Consent Agendas for both meetings passed 5:0

• • Public Comment
    • 9/8 – Two residents requested waivers regarding screening for roof-top a/c units. Their information was collected by staff;
    • Terence Davis, candidate for Florida House District 94 introduced himself
    • 9/22 – Tom Cairnes of the Gardens Mall, and PGA Corridor, spoke about upcoming PGA Corridor events

• City Manager Report:
  • 9/8 – National Suicide Prevention Month – a campaign to raise awareness called ‘Card My Yard‘ has placed various encouraging signage around the City
  • 9/22 – For the next two weekends there will be construction at the PGA Blvd entrance to the Turnpike in order to remove the toll booths. See details here.
• Items for Council Discussion:
  • • 9/8 – All on the council apparently received an email requesting a dog park for PGA National – discussion ensued regarding the difficulties and liabilities associated with dog parks. City Manager Ferris suggested the all wait until they see how the renovations at the Lilac Park dog park work out, specifically the artificial turf, and then raise the topic again in the future.
• City Attorney Lohman, on 9/8, gave a brief update on the suit between Palm Beach County and PBG regarding Mobility Fees and said that the City did not request oral argument.

Proposed Tax Increase Accomplished with Lower Millage

The proposed 2023 PBG Budget raises about $7.8M in new taxes, up a 10.9% over last year’s adopted budget. See the Proposed Budget here.

With the millage at 5.32, down from the 5.55 it has been for the last 7 years, this is the eighth year that increases in property valuations and new construction have provided a painless increase in revenue. In 2015, the last year there was a millage reduction, ad-valorem revenue was $49M. This year’s $80M is a 62% increase over the seven years of flat millage.

Similar to last year, the 2023 budget needs to be thought of differently because excessive federal spending and money printing by the Federal Reserve has brought us a repeat of the inflationary environment of the ’70s. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks the “CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR ALL URBAN CONSUMERS (CPI-U)” monthly. In July of this year, that figure stands at 297 – up a whopping 8.8% over one year ago when it was 273. At that rate, we expect a 323 CPI in the middle of the 2023 fiscal year. As you will see in the TABOR comparison, the tax increase is justified in this environment with the Biden Administration continuing to print money like there is no tomorrow.

Projecting out the PBG population estimates from the Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR at UFL), the Gardens population will be just shy of 61K in 2023, up about 1%. The TABOR multiple (Taxpayer Bill of Rights – inflation times population growth) is therefore about 9.8%.

Since 2005, the population of Palm Beach Gardens will have grown by about 45% (BEBR estimate – see below) to its estimated 2023 level of 61K.  Inflation, measured by the consumer price index, will be about 66%. Taken together, TABOR would suggest a growth in city spending and taxation of about 140%. (see graph below).

Over the same period (2005-2023), ad-valorem taxes grew 126% and total expenditures (budget less capital and transfers) grew 111%. Spending closely follows the TABOR line, and ad-valorem taxes is not widely divergent suggesting spending and taxation appropriate to a growing city.

It should be noted that ad-valorem taxes fund only a part of city expenditures, the rest made up from impact fees, fees for services, other taxes, intergovernmental grants, etc. and have varied from 66% of the total in 2005 to about 70% now. That is why taxes and expenses do not track each other on the chart.

Another useful measurement is taxes per capita – Ad valorem taxes divided by population and then inflation adjusted. By this measure, in 2005 we paid $1,273 per person to our city and in 2022 it will be $1,200 (2022 dollars) – an actual decline.   Tax per capita was as low as $1148 in 2014 after a millage reduction.  It should be noted that as property owners, we pay taxes to other entities besides the city – county, schools, health care district, etc. In 2021 the Palm Beach Gardens portion of the amount on our TRIM statement is about 27% of the total.

The chart below shows an actual decline in per-capita taxation for two years in a row and then a flattening this year. However, there is reason to believe the BEBR population estimates have missed some of the city’s growth (see below).  If the numbers were to be adjusted to match the growth in voter registrations since 2016 for example, the curve would be flatter since there are more people to pay the taxes.

So if you trust TABOR, or per-capita as measuring sticks, this modest growth in taxation (compared to inflation) for 2022 seems appropriate in our view. You be the judge.

Avenir Town Center Phases 1 and 2 Get Go-Ahead

The August 4th City Council meeting began with a couple of presentations:

• Noel Martinez, President & CEO, Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce – described the regional Disaster Resilience Action Plan – developed to ensure that neighborhood businesses are equipped to recover quickly from natural and/or other disasters.  The plan development was funded by a grant and was produced with involvement by 10 municipalities and many local businesses.  The evolving plan can be seen here.
• 

  District 30 Appropriations

  State Senator Bobby Powell – FL Senate District 30 – gave an update on his impressions of the last 2 sessions (regular and special).   He also showed an appropriations chart with the municipalities and organizations receiving state funding, $500K of which is going to Palm Beach Gardens for Storm Water System Improvements.

Public Comment – was made by Michael Winter – President and Founder of the Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation – a 501c3 representing the ‘private’ side of funding for the indoor athletic sports-plex planned for Gardens North County District Park.

The City Manager Report included:

• • The 9th consecutive year that Km! Ra, the Director (and he is the entire) Purchasing Department received the Excellence in Procurement Award.  Congratulations!

• Candice Temple,  Public Media Relations Director
  • Showed a video about the City’s EV charging stations – produced by her intern, Ryan, who just received a degree in video production
  • Informed the Council and Public about the availability of the Proposed FY 2022/2023 Budget for viewing via the cloud-based opengov platform and providing the public with a lot of new ways to look at the data.  It can be seen here.

The Consent Agenda passed 5:0.

Regular Agenda Ordinances and Resolutions:

• Ordinance 8, 2022 – Adopting New Section 18-1. Minimum Notice for Residential Rental Payment Increases. and New Section 18-2. Penalties.  Second reading and adoption 5:0
• Ordinance 9, 2022 – Landscape Irrigation Conservation Regulations – City Attorney Max Lohman – described that the SFWMD had changed to year-round regulations a couple of years ago and created a model ordinance that they wanted to promulgate throughout municipalities in the region.  When Council Member Tinsley suggested a couple of modifications, the response by others on the Council and Lohman and City Manager Ferris was that every other city/county are passing the wording unchanged.  So First reading passed 5:0 unchanged.
• Resolution 45, 2022 – Amendment to the PGA National Commerce Park PUD – New buildings (grand-fathered in) are being added to the site, by Accelus who is moving their headquarters to the site.  Public Comment was made by Michelle Composto, Mindy Logue and Tony Pajune – all living in properties directly across from the Commerce Park.  Their primary concern was traffic on Northlake between Military Trail and Bee Line Hwy – and did not want any additional development approved until the issues with traffic on Northlake are remedied.  There were also issues with landscape buffering.  Council and staff explained that the property and assumed traffic was previously approved and the plans actually required less traffic.  Additionally –  council requested an additional EV charging station and a review of the landscaping/buffering and future Art in Public Places for the Commerce Park.  The resolution passed 5:0.
• Resolution 46, 2022 – site plan approval for phases 1 and 2 of Avenir Town Center – Ken Tuma, Urban Design Studio described the plans for the roughly 52 acre project, which will include many restaurants, a Publix, and pharmacy and is intended to be a vibrant town center which will also serve Ibis and the Acreage, accessible to pedestrians, golf-carts and vehicles.  Phase 3 will include 250 townhomes and was not part of the resolution.  The Paseo will be a feature with green spaces and walkways – to the center.  After a lot of positive discussions, the resolution passed 5:0.

 

 

Proposed millage 5.32, drop of 4.5%!

The biggest news of the evening: After several years of 5.55 millage, the City has proposed a decrease of 4.5% to the proposed 2022/2023 5.32 millage. Allen Owens, Finance Administrator, said that their models also maintain that same lowered millage in their 10 year projections. Council Member Woods expressed concern with the lower millage and looks forward to meeting with staff on the detailed proposed budget. He did point out that after several years of requesting the millage be lowered, Council Member Marciano was not in attendance to vote on the reduction. Vice Mayor Litt asked what homeowners will see and was told even homesteaded properties, capped at 3% increases, will see a reduction. Council Member Tinsley praised the city’s consistent fiscal responsibility. Mayor Reed had to select from all who were eagerly vying to raise and second the motion for Resolution 29, 2022!

Another exciting item brought to the Council by City Manager Ferris, was that FoxBusiness/Verizon recognized Palm Beach Gardens as one of top 10 small cities for small business!  The City came in first in the state and 8th in the nation and is the only small city on the entire east coast to be on the list. Here’s a video specific to the Gardens.

Ordinance 8, 2022 – First reading – requires that landlords give renters 60 days notice prior to rate increases of 5% or more. City Attorney Lohman said that the public will be informed through normal communications channels, as well as providing materials to each of the apartment complexes in the City. Enforcement/penalties will be incident based – eg if a renter has not received the required notice they can bring their complaint to the City.

In other business:

• City Manager Report
  • Introduced Madelyn Marconi as the new Administrative Services Manager
  • Chief Bessette, Division Chief of EMS, was named to Palm Beach County EMS Advisory Council– his seat is the only one representing all the EMS providers in the County
  • The Pickleball center won several grants/awards
  • Sandhill Crane Golf Club ranked 4th in Palm Beach County for local public golf courses
  • FDOT replied to a request submitted by Council Member Tinsley through the City about the Beeline/Northlake intersection – saying that the bike lane (with traffic going on each side of it), could not be moved and separated from vehicular traffic due to lack of sufficient easement.
• Consent Agenda passed 4:0
• All other Ordinances/Resolutions passed 4:0
• Public Comment was made by
  • Gina A. Levesque – Intake and Compliance Manager of the PBC Commission on Ethics giving the Council members information and her card
  • Manolo Calvo, who is President of the Soccer division of PBG Youth Athletic Association gave additional updates since he last spoke at the Council in June.
• City Attorney Lohman gave a short update on the lawsuit between the City and Palm Beach County regarding Mobility fees – briefs are being exchanged.

Kudos Abound

Several individuals were highlighted at the relatively brief June Palm Beach Gardens City Council Meeting:

• • Agent Tyler Witt was honored by PBG Police Chief Clint Shannon for being named both the Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer of the Year and 2021 Palm Beach County Officer of the Year for Palm Beach County for his incredible work ethic and significant accomplishments in drug enforcement activities, working with DEA, Homeland Security and the Postal Service. Congratulations Agent Witt!
  • Mayor Chelsea Reed, already Vice Chair of the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (TPA), was recently named Second Vice President of the Palm Beach County League of Cities. Council Member Woods brought up the appointment, and both Council Member Tinsley and City Manager Ferris had planned to talk about it as well.

• City Manager Ron Ferris was up for his annual evaluation.
  • Council Member Tinsley discussed Ferris’ 20+ year tenure, his commitment to the city and his transparency.
  • Vice Mayor Litt highlighted his mentorship of employees, his ability to be proactive and forward thinking.
  • Council Member Marciano pointed out his team leadership and that there is not a better run city to be found anywhere.
  • Council Member Woods said the Mr. Ferris has respect from the community, council, staff and is a ‘well loved man in this city”.
  • Mayor Reed took another approach and asked his staff what they thought of him. Mentioned were teamwork, his track record, mentorship, they want him to be proud of them, they want to succeed, excell and more.
  • The City Manager replied that he was embarrassed and humbled and “needs another five years to get it done”.

Also on the agenda:

• Mayor Reed took a moment of personal privilege at the beginning of the meeting to talk about the recent mass shootings and encouraging contact with state representatives as there is little that can be done on a local level. She also mentioned that the PBG Police will be protecting camps over the summer.
• The Inaugural Pickleball Ball raised $11,000 for expansion of pickleball offerings
• Brandon Lopez, Audit Senior Manager at Marcum LLP, spoke about the external audit of the city’s 2021 CAFR. He stated that there were no significant auditor adjustments, that compliance audits would be required to be reported – no such issues/deficiencies, that the financial condition assessments were favorable back in time as well as in future outlook in comparison to peers. The Council praised Allan Owens, Finance Administrator and Sean O’Brien, Deputy Finance Administrator (who introduced the presentation).
• Public Comment was made by resident Manolo Calvo, who is President of the Soccer division of PBG Youth Athletic Association on their growth and accomplishments.
• City Management Report:
  • City Engineer Todd Engle gave an update on both the Burns Rd Aquatic Center and Golf Course projects. He showed aerial views of both projects.
  • The City Manager gave an update on the Beeline Hwy/Northlake Drive interchange: with final design to be completed by this august and construction in begin in spring or early summer 2023. The partial continuous flow intersection id deemed by FDOT to be the safest/most optimal intersection design.

The Consent Agenda as well as both ordinances on the agenda passed 5:0.  There was no City Attorney report.

 

 

 

 

 

Multi-Million $ Capital Improvements Managed by Cross-City Team

The May 5th City Council meeting was dominated by an enthusiastic update on the City’s Capital Improvement Projects, anchored by David Reyes, Community Services Administrator.  Several members of the cross-city department team presented updates on: mobility projects, baseball, monument signs, exhaust filtration systems for all the fire-stations, Burns Road Community Center Modernization and Expansion and Aquatic center, including the pool, sports field lighting upgrades to LEDs, electric vehicle fleet charging stations (free to use – partnership with fpl), artistic bus shelters, the City’s parcel in Avenir including new Fire Station Six, and the Golf Course construction.

The city does NOT have a dedicated department for these projects but project manages through a cross-department team that is involved from the initial stages through fruition on all of the projects. The Capital Improvements Team has managed a total of 157 projects over the last ten years totaling about $142 million!

The City Manager report included a presentation made by Candice Temple, Public Media Relations Director and Fire Chief Keith Bryer on Stroke Awareness Month. The city has created a PSA Stroke Wars and has a series of events slated for the entire month to heighten public awareness. See Stroke Wars here.

Public Comment was made by:

• Dana Middleton – Chair of the PGA Corridor (and candidate for City Council Group 5) – announced the upcoming State of the City presentation to be made by Mayor Reed on May 11.
• Ramona Bean – resident – raising concern about two parcels near Bayhill Estates on the south side of Northlake that were originally going to be commercial but the developers now want to rezone to be residential. While not before the Council, she wanted Council to be aware that there is significant opposition to the change by residents in surrounding communities.

Ordinances and Resolutions:

• Ordinance 5, 2022 – A City-initiated request to amend Chapter 78 – Land Development, Article V – Supplementary District Regulations, Section 78-159 – Permitted uses, minor and major conditional uses, and prohibited uses, to exempt City-owned public safety communications towers from the requirements of Note (64), except where specifically provided. First reading. Passed 5:0
• Resolution 23, 2022 – approval of the site plan for Avenir Pod 15 which will have 562 residential sites on the west side of Coconut – Passed 5:0
• Resolution 26, 2022 – Art in Public Places for PGA Station – Passed 5:0

Other topics included:

• The City will have a Memorial Day ceremony on 5/30 at 9am in Veterans Plaza. 
• Council Member Tinsley gave a brief update on an FDOT video meeting on the redesign of the Bee Line Highway /Northlake intersection. She described the presentation as very confusing, with a very complex intersection which raised a lot of red flags. She and City Manager Ferris discussed having a presentation made to Council and the public, and have the City’s traffic consultant review the plans and see if there are any alternatives.

Mayor and Vice Mayor Swap Roles; City Ably Handles Tornado

The April 7 Palm Beach Gardens City Council Meeting began with the annual reorganization, nominating and selecting the Mayor and Vice Mayor for the following year.  Congratulations to Mayor Chelsea Reed and Vice Mayor Rachelle Litt!  Council Member Marciano was ‘under the weather’ and not in attendance.

Christ Fellowship Church has had a big volunteer role and impact on our City.  Daniel Prieto, Deputy Leisure Services Administrator, kicked off a presentation citing the various ways the church has aided the City over the years.  Also presenting were David Reyes, Community Services Administrator and Monette Preston, Operations Manager – Community Engagement & Events.   Among the accomplishments were involvement in Operation Sister City (aiding Bay County), activating for Hurricane Dorian, and help throughout the Covid pandemic in 2020.  Todd and Julie Mullins as well as Rebecca Kyle, Director of Missions were honored and a brick honoring Christ Fellowship is now at City Hall.

Next up was Joann Skaria,  Planning Manager, AICP, explaining the mobility related grant applications contained in Resolution 15, 2022 and Resolution 16, 2022.  Both projects (adding bike lanes and sidewalks to Gardens Parkway and Fairchild Avenue, respectively, were already in the City’s mobility plan.  Ms. Skaria then segued to describing the Vision Zero Network program – an association of cities that support the Vision Zero objectives: “Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.” 

As part of the City Manager Report, David Reyes gave an ‘After Action Damage Assessment Report” on the Tornado and storm which hit Palm Beach Gardens the day before.   While Burns Rd Community Center was hardest hit, there were numerous emergency calls and lightening caused brush fires occurring at the same time.   Mr Reyes described how these are the exact kind of emergencies the teams prepare for – whether big or small, and individual departments worked as a team and worked to handle emergencies throughout the city.  During the peak of the storm over 150 people were moved into the Cat 5 fortified section of the Community Center – designed for just this kind of event.  He also showed a few short videos of the tornado forming and the force of the winds impacting the City pool.  By 7:30pm everything had been take care of and the crews were able to go home.  All on the Council were very appreciative and lauded the preparedness and actions of the staff.

Todd Engle, City Engineer then gave a short update widening on the various sections of Northlake Drive in the western sections of the City.

The Consent Agenda and Resolution 20, 2022 regarding the Incentive Agreement with Aeroclean (pulled to highlight the positive relationship) passed 4:0.

Public Comment was made by:

• Resident Gary Bernstein, who living near the Lighthouse RR crossing, requested that the area be made a Quiet Zone as soon as possible due to the frequent train horns throughout the night, every night.
• Resident Douglas Grant who thanks the City for assistance the previous year in closing down two unofficial daycares being run out of residences – but now had noise issue from unsupervised children and wanted the assistance of Code Enforcement.

Ordinance 2, 2022 passed 4:0 on Second Reading and Adoption.

The last item on the agenda was the Council deciding on External Board and Committee appointments.  There was no City Attorney report.

 

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