Elections, NCNC Annual Meeting and March City Council Mtg

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Elections:

Vice Mayor Carl Woods was re-elected to the Council Group 4 in a relatively low turnout election. Congratulations to Mr. Woods, and thanks to his opponent, Howard Rosencranz for running. We of PBG Watch believe that every incumbent should have an opponent, and understand how much effort it takes to campaign – not just for the candidates but for their families. We will have a details precinct analysis when the Supervisor of Elections publishes the precinct results. See the Palm Beach Post coverage here.

NCNC Annual Meeting:

We attended the annual meeting of the North County Neighborhood Coalition. The event was attended by about 200 people including members, elected and newly elected officials, sponsors and other invited guests. NCNC President Sal Faso kicked off the meeting with some key facts about the NCNC and its impact. Member communities have a significantly higher rate of voter participation than is found generally in Palm Beach County, which is a testament to the information that is provided to the voters via their monthly meetings and outreach. The keynote speaker was Teresa Urquhart, CEO of Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, who gave an overview of hospital. Following was a panel on the Opioid Crisis consisting of County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, State Attorney David Aronberg and Dr. Kenneth Scheppke, who serves as State EMS Medical Director for the FL Department of Health. All three on the panel have had an intense involvement in finding solutions to the opioid crisis.

Check out the NCNC website and goals.

March City Council Meeting:

The Council had a very light agenda. The Consent Agenda and all Ordinances and Resolutions passed 5:0.  Sixth-grader James Delano, of the Weiss School was Mayor for the Day and he opened and closed the meeting.

Of note:

• Council Member Lane pulled the purchase award for Paving of Public Service Operations Center and Adjoining Areas so that the Council and the public could be informed about the large expenditure of over $800K and why it was done as a piggyback/access contract
• Resolution 6, 2019 – was for the development of a 10,000 sq foot state of the art indoor training facility at Gardens Park. This will be a public private partnership with Cressey Sports Properties, LLC, it will have no financial impact to the city, it will house an office for PBGYAA, and the City will own the facility after 31 years.
• City Attorney Max Lohman gave an update on the three most prominent cases:
  • Dinerstein #1 – challenge to the March question on 3 year sit-out – he stated that the City prevailed in the 4th DCA, a motion for rehearing and a motion for rehearing en banc was filed and summarily denied.  He’s waiting for the mandate to  issue on the case after which he will file a motion for costs, to try and recover some of the costs entailed.
  • Dinerstein #2 – challenge to question 2 from the August Election (charter replacement) – Judge Keyser ruled in City’s favor on motion for summary judgement.  Lohman is waiting to see if they appeal.
  • Summary judgement on Sears case on August 28th – judge granted alternative relief which was to find the Sears motion for attorneys fees to be legally insufficient, and directed Sears to refile a motion by April 1.