When is a tax increase not a tax increase?

A lot of ground was covered in Thursday’s (9/6) City Council meeting.

We’ll start with the Fiscal Year 2018/2019 Budget Hearing – the first hearing of two, the second of which is scheduled for 9/20/18 at 7pm. There was no public comment and the proposed budget and tax rate passed 5:0.

As usual, Finance Administrator Allan Owens presented a thorough, easy to understand presentation of the proposed budget. His presentation can be seen here. What was out of the ordinary, however was Mr. Owens’ exception to some headlines in the Palm Beach Post discussing the City’s budget as a tax increase.

He stated that the headlines were misleading and that they were confusing to the Budget Oversight Committee.

Equally perplexing is this line from the Budget Oversight Committee’s final report “The City has taken affirmative steps to avoid a tax increase for the FY 2019 Budget”.  When operational millage stays flat (as it has at 5.55 and in the proposed out years), and valuations rise – then taxes – the actual dollars taken in, and the actual costs to the tax-payers GO UP. The slight decrease in debt service millage has little influence on the taxes paid by the tax-payer. As former County Commissioner Jess Santemaria used to say ” It’s the dollars not the millage”. PBGWatch’s article entitled  $2.5 Million Tax Increase in 2019 Budget , as well as our agenda item note “(Note – this means that as property valuations increase, your property taxes will go up accordingly – at differing rates depending on whether or not you own a homesteaded property). ” are in full agreement with the Palm Beach Post’s headlines. We hope that the wording in the Budget Oversight Committee’s report is a typo and that it should read “……steps to avoid a tax rate increase’….

The Election Results were approved 5:0 and 3 of the Council chose to speak on the topic during Items of Resident Interest and Board and Committee Reports. Mayor Marino, Vice Mayor Woods and Council Member Marciano, all somewhat defensively, reiterated that it was right to place the charter questions on the ballot and letting the voters decide, even if it was the ‘unpopular’ thing to do. Marino stated that Matthew Lane also wanted to alter term limits to 2- 4 year terms. Yes – that was true during discussions on what, if anything, to place on the ballot. However Council Member Lane voted NO on placing each/any of the charter referendum questions on the ballot both in March and August. The other 4 council members voted YES on all. During Public Comment, Fred Scheibl noted that he’d never seen such uniformity of results, with almost every precinct in the city rejecting questions 1 and 3 by over 15 points, and suggested the Council never do this again. Sid Dinerstein also discussed his assessment of the Election results, and stated his objection to the “… city treasury being used as the Council’s campaign account”.

Two others made Public Comment: Gerald Richman – speaking for Sears regarding Dick’s Sporting Goods and continued issues with the Forbes Company (see Why There’s Still No Dick’s Store at the Gardens Mall ); Steen Ericksson, representing the Fire Chiefs Association of Palm Beach County inviting people to the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony at Christ Fellowship Church in Boynton Beach at 7pm.

Allan Owens and the Finance Department were awarded the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Award for the 21st Consecutive Year by Shannon Ramsey Chessman, Acting COO of the Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller’s Office. Mr. Owens thanked his team and specifically Mary Anderson-Pickle, Deputy Finance Administrator.

City Manager Ferris reported:

• The City’s Budget Department (Km! Ra) was awarded the Annual Achievement in Excellence Procurement Award
• Chief Frank Kitzerow of the Palm Beach County School District Police Department spoke on the outstanding support received from the City regarding the City’s supplying police for elementary school patrol and helping in the high schools as well.
• City Manager Ferris  also read many letters of Commendation and thank you letters from residents to the Police Department, Parks & Rec, Building Department, Tennis Center, Code Enforcement and the Fire/Rescue Open House.

Ordinance 22, 2018 – The Bonnette Hunt Club PUD Site Plan Approval discussion resulted in some heated disagreements between Mayor Marino and Council Member Lane. At issue was the very high density and the number of waivers being approved for this very small (6.78 acres) parcel. Also making public comment was John Guastella, President of the Mirabella HOA representing 492 homes – and that this was the first time he was seeing these plans in the entirety and wished the HOA would have had the opportunity to see it. He also expressed concerns about the landscaping on the berm, the two-story homes impact on Mirabella property values. First reading of the ordinance passed 4:1 with Lane voting No.

The Consent Agenda and all other resolutions and ordinances passed 5:0.

There was no City Attorney Report so no status on the two outstanding Elections lawsuits regarding the Appeal to the 4th District Court on the March Election or the status of the lawsuit regarding the August Special Election. See Gardens Election Lawsuit Continues.

Save the date – Thursday September 20th at 7pm for the Second City Council Meeting and Final Reading and Approval of the FY 2018/2019 Budget.

City Council Meeting and 1st Budget Hearing on Sept 6th

• Resolution 50, 2018 – City applied for and received grant for $250K for Stormwater Maintenance, Repairs and Operation Program. 
• Purchase Award – Mowing and Landscaping Services – Streets and Parks – Openly competed – did not choose option to renew – 5 year contract with option to renew for another 5 years – total 5 year contract value $3.7 million.

City Manager Report:  Nothing listed

Public Hearings and Resolutions:

• Ordinance 21, 2018  – First hearing of Adopting the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018/2019.  The Operational millage remains flat at 5.55 and debt service millage is reduced .0503 for a total millage of 5.6003.  Property valuations are up 4.41% over last year.  It is the intention to maintain flat operational millage for several years.  (Note – this means that as property valuations increase, your property taxes will go up accordingly – at differing rates depending on whether or not you own a homesteaded property). 
• Resolution 56, 2018 – A request from Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management (PBCDERM) for a Major Conditional Use approval to allow various improvements for passive recreation activities and a small public parking lot within a portion of the Loxahatchee Slough Recreation Facility area located off of the Beeline Highway approximately one-mile north of the PGA Boulevard/Beeline Highway intersection.
• Resolution 57, 2018 –  A request from PGA Commons 2, LLC and PGA Commons 3, LLC for a Planned Unit Development (PUD) Amendment at PGA Commons PUD to allow a new outdoor bar for Spoto’s Restaurant
• Ordinance 20, 2018 – First Reading of a request from 11940 Highway One Realty, LLC for a Voluntary Annexation of a 5.74-acre parcel located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Juno Road and U.S. Highway One approximately 0.5 miles north of the intersection of PGA Boulevard and U.S. Highway One. Most of us know this as Carl’s Plaza; it is in the long-term annexation plan for the City and is currently vacant.
• Ordinance 22, 2018 – First reading of Bonnette Hunt Club – Planned Unit Development (PUD) Rezoning and PUD Site Plan Approval – The Applicant is requesting approval of a PUD Site Plan to accommodate the development of a 24-unit single-family residential subdivision. The property is located on the south side of Hood Road, between Florida’s Turnpike and Jog Road. 

Items for Council Action/Discussion:   

• None listed

Check the agenda to see if any additional items have been added before the meeting here.

Gardens Election Lawsuit Continues

In response to the city’s expenditure of taxpayer money on a campaign to pass the three ballot amendments, thinly desguised as an “education” campaign, a lawsuit was filed in advance of the election.  It was triggered when the PAC “Voters in Control” started posting misleading signs at the early voting sites and hiring campaigners to wear tee-shirts with misleading information to wave them.

The lawsuit charges illegal use of taxpayer money and violations of the laws regarding government funding for advocacy of one side of a referendum question, and asked that the questions be thrown out, the vote not be tallied, and the PAC and the city be enjoined from continuing their illegal activity. The City of Palm Beach Gardens, the Supervisor of Election, the Canvassing Board and the “Voters in Control” PAC were all named as defendants.

The matter came before a judge in the final days before the election as an emergency pleading, but with early and absentee voting mostly done, the request to stop the canvassing was denied. Today, the parties agreed that SOE and the Canvassing Board would be dropped from the suit “without predjudice”, and Judge Peter Blanc would accept a motion to file a second amended complaint from the plaintiff in the next 20 days, the defendants would then have 30 days to respond, with a hearing within 45 days.

Some of this is moot as two of the three proposals have been soundly rejected by the voters. (See earlier article). What remains could include a challenge to the one that passed (Question 2), and the matter of a penalty for the City and PAC for illegal activity, depending on what the plaintiff, Sid Dinerstein decides to put in the amended complaint.

The whole exercise of a newly elected council trying to significantly weaken the term limits proposal passed by 80% of the voters was at least distasteful if not corrupt. Spending over $100K of taxpayer money to promote this flawed activity was outrageous. Thankfully, the voters are not stupid and let these 4 Council members know what they thought of it. (Council member Matthew Lane opposed placing it on the ballot).

It will be interesting to see how the lawsuit progresses.  Here is the Palm Beach Post summary of today’s hearing.

Palm Beach Gardens Results – Q1-NO; Q2-Yes; Q3-NO

The voters of Palm Beach Gardens, 28% of those registered, made their positions known. The turnout for the Primary/Special Election was certainly greater than we in PBGWatch expected. The results for all 3 questions were definitive. See the chart below. We will update the website with a more detailed analysis of the results by precinct when the information becomes available. Sarah Peters of the Palm Beach Post included comments from Mayor Marino and Sid Dinerstein in her article.

Legal action continues:

• “The questions are the subject of an unresolved lawsuit filed by Dinerstein days before the election alleging that city-produced flyers, robocalls and information on the city’s website wrongly advocated for the passage of the questions rather than educating the public”. There is a hearing on Friday, 8/31 on the lawsuit.
• Also unresolved is a second lawsuit by Mr. Dinerstein, currently in the 4th District Court of Appeals, regarding what was Question 3 in March – the ‘sit-out and run-again’ provision.

Summarizing:

• Palm Beach Gardens current and future council members can only serve for two-consecutive three year terms- unchanged – 65.5% NO
• Palm Beach Gardens City Managers must reside in the City, and must move there if not already a resident, within 1 year – unchanged – 70% NO
• Palm Beach Gardens Charter will be replaced by the one approved by the voters, meeting state statutes, removing outdated provisions and including other changes such as how vacancies are filled, definiton of a term, and other changes unrelated to statutes/updates. – 60% YES

Thanks to all the voters who did their research and voted on these issues.

Misleading Signage Says Vote YES – Keep Term Limits

Palm Beach Gardens voters may be confused by signs paid for by the Political Committee “Voters in Control“, on their way to the polls…. how can Vote Yes mean Keep Term Limits?

The City already has term limits passed in 2014 by over 16,000 voters, about 80% of the vote – for 2 3-year terms.

Voting YES would CHANGE  term limits by adding a 3rd term.

A NO vote KEEPS term limits the way the voters passed them!!!!!

So who is Voters in Control?

A look at the FEC campaign treasurer reports listed on the City’s website shows that the Treasurer is Kim Lee Bove.  Interestingly enough Kim Lee Bove is Director of Operations at Cornerstone Solutions, LLC – which is the same company that the City hired to ‘market’ the proposed charter changes.

One can review the listed donors in the March and April 2018 reports – the fairly short list includes mostly developers with business before the city. Why would they want council people to serve longer or not have term limits at all?  We can think of lots of reasons…..

Who benefits by misleading the voter?  You decide.

There is nothing wrong with donating to a PAC or having one – but their signage is highly misleading and we think that the voters should know.

Police Life-Saving Action and 12% Salary Increase Bookends Council Meeting

The August 2nd Council Meeting began with an update by Sherri Pla (the City’s Head PGA Professional) on the Junior Ryder Cup Challenge Trip to Scotland. Also covered during Announcements and Presentations were the Florida Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Award (where the Gardens won first place in the category for departments with 101-200 officers) and American Heart Association’s Mission Life Gold Plus Award to Fire/Rescue for the 4th year in a row. Throughout the beginning of the meeting the exclamations of a young child could be heard. Thus Mayor Marino segued to an early City Manager Report.

Quick action by Officer Robert Ayala saved the life of young Lucia Graham while Officer Rafael Guadalupe called for Fire/Rescue and comforted her mother. See Gardens Cops who Saved Choking Baby…. for details and watch the segment of the Council Meeting recounting the event and honoring of these two officers here.

The last item on the Agenda was Resolution 45, 2018 approving and ratifying an agreement with the Police Benevolent Association granting an immediate 12% increase across the board and bringing the City to 2nd in salary only to Boca Raton among the local municipalities. This was presented to the Council as a ‘Fait Accompli’ and it was interesting that none on the Council even questioned the agreement nor addressed the implication on future labor negotiations. The only comments addressed impact on the budget, and then only as a done deal.  See details from the Palm Beach Post here.

All resolutions passed 5:0 including Adoption of 2018-2019 Fees and Charges, the Annual Community Development Block Grant Action Plan, and the first of many to come presentations before the Council on Avenir. City Attorney Lohman also gave an update on the Rustic Lakes Annexation lawsuit, where Rustic Lakes has 20 days to respond to the latest ruling against their suit.

There will be two Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Budget Hearings on September 6th and 20th.

Please vote on the three Charter Amendments on the ballot on August 28th!

Next City Council Mtg on August 2nd at 7pm

• Purchase Award – Life Insurance, AD&D, and Long-Term Disability  – 3 year contract with option to renew for 3 years – openly bid with estimated annual amount $112K
• Purchase Award – Group Health Insurance Plan (Self-Funded) – Stop Loss Insurance Coverage – annual renewal – but representing a 35.5% increase over last year’s rate, for $579K
• Purchase Award – Group Health Insurance Plan (Self-Funded) – taking option to renew for 3 years, no additional options to renew – $1.045 Million for the 3 years.
• Purchase Award – Property Maintenance Services for Code Compliance – openly competed – 5 year contract total $100K
• Purchase Award – Police SWAT Support Vehicle Unit – Piggyback/Access Contract – $123K
• Purchase Award – Modifications to Johnson Dairy Road (Amendment No. l) – piggyback/access contract – $108K

City Manager Report:  Nothing listed

Public Hearings and Resolutions: 

• Resolution 37, 2018 –  Adopting the Fiscal Year 2018/2019 Fees and Charges Schedule. This schedule includes recommended changes from departments to ensure that fees charged are sufficient to cover the costs of providing services.
• Resolution 38, 2018 – A City-initiated application to submit the One-Year Annual Action Plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The City must submit an Annual Action Plan and application for grant funds that confirm the projects on which the current year’s grant allocation is proposed to be spent during the upcoming year. The City is eligible to receive approximately $221,943 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.
• Resolution 44, 2018 – A request from Avenir Holdings, LLC for approval of an amendment to the Avenir PCD to make modifications to the approved parcel configurations, internal roadway network, development standards and conditions of approval. 
• Resolution 47, 2018 – Approves an lnterlocal Agreement (Agreement) between the City and Palm Beach County to annex portions of the Northlake Boulevard Right-of-Way (ROW) adjacent to the City’s Municipal Boundary west of the City’s Sandhill Crane Golf Club. This Agreement will authorize the City to provide traffic enforcement and lifesafety services along the entire section of  Northlake Boulevard from Grapeview Boulevard at the western boundary of the Avenir PCD to the eastern boundary of Carleton Oaks.
• Resolution 45, 2018 – Aware that several employees are considering leaving the City’s Police Department to join another law enforcement agency, on June 22, 2018, staff requested meeting with the PBA to address this salary issue as quickly as possible. The City and PBA representatives met on July 3, 2018, specifically to open Article 32, Salaries, in the current collective bargaining agreement. During this meeting, the parties successfully reached a Tentative Agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to amend the Salaries Article, to provide all bargaining unit members a 12 percent salary increase effective the first full pay period following ratification, and to increase the salary ranges for each bargaining unit position. As a result, upon approval and ratification, all bargaining unit members will receive the 6 percent wage increase scheduled for October 1, 2018, under the current  contract, plus an additional 6 percent wage increase for a total of 12 percent, starting August 6, 2018, which will be reflected in their paychecks dated August 24, 2018. These salary increases are projected to cost approximately $1,665,000 in FY 2018-2019, and an additional $277,443 in the current year’s Police Department Budget. Because this MOU amends salaries for the last year of the existing contract, there would not be an additional wage increase for FY 2018-2019.

Items for Council Action/Discussion:   

• None listed

Check the agenda to see if any additional items have been added before the meeting here.

August 28 Ballot has 3 PB Gardens Referendum Questions

Whether one has a partisan or non-partisan ballot when you vote by mail, early voting or on the Primary Election Day on 8/28, there will be 3 questions pertaining to the Palm Beach Gardens City Charter at the end of your ballot. Please get familiar with the questions and VOTE.

The City has once again come out with an updated flashy website entitled Fix Our Charter. Here, however is a link to the unenhanced Elections Page which includes images of the sample ballot questions, Notice of Elections (as to be published in the Palm Beach Post in upcoming weeks) and a link to Exhibit A, Ordinance 8, 2018 – which is referenced in Question 2 and is the existing Charter annotated with the proposed changes in Question 2.

Here are the 3 questions as they appear in the Notice of Election:

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CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REFERENDUM QUESTION NO. 1

SHALL THE PALM BEACH GARDENS CHARTER BE AMENDED TO CHANGE FROM THE EXISTING TERM LIMIT WHICH PROHIBITS A COUNCIL MEMBER FROM BEING ELECTED TO MORE THAN TWO CONSECUTIVE FULL TERMS TO A TERM LIMIT THAT PROHIBITS A COUNCIL MEMBER FROM SERVING FOR MORE THAN THREE CONSECUTIVE FULL TERMS AND MAKING THE CHANGE APPLY TO ALL SITTING COUNCIL MEMBERS?

SHALL THE ABOVE DESCRIBED QUESTION NO. 1 BE ADOPTED?

YES

NO

CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REFERENDUM QUESTION NO. 2

SHALL THE CITY CHARTER BE AMENDED TO REMOVE PROVISIONS THAT ARE OUTDATED, UNNECESSARY OR CONFLICT WITH STATE LAW INCLUDING MUNICIPALITY, CITY CLERK, AND CITY TREASURER SPECIFIC POWERS/DUTIES; OATH OF OFFICE; MERIT SYSTEM; PROCEDURE REMOVING COUNCILMEN, QUALIFICATION OF ELECTORS, COUNCIL MEETING AND PROCEDURE, AND OTHER PROVISIONS; REVISE COUNCIL-MANAGER RELATIONSHIP; CHANGE FILLING OF VACANCIES; LIMIT INITIATIVE/REFERENDUM; DEFINE “FULL TERM”; REMOVE COUNCIL CONFIRMATION OF EMPLOYEES AND OTHER CHANGES; AS PROVIDED IN EXHIBIT A, ORDINANCE 8?

SHALL THE ABOVE DESCRIBED QUESTION NO. 2 BE ADOPTED?

YES

NO

CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REFERENDUM QUESTION NO. 3

SHALL THE PALM BEACH GARDENS CHARTER BE AMENDED TO REMOVE THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE CITY MANAGER BE A RESIDENT WITHIN ONE YEAR OF APPOINTMENT AND INSTEAD PROVIDE THAT ANY RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR THE CITY MANAGER BE DETERMINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IN THE CITY MANAGER’S EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT?

SHALL THE ABOVE DESCRIBED QUESTION NO. 3 BE ADOPTED?

YES

NO

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Points to consider:

• See our position on Question 1  entitled  Vote NO on PBG Q1 – Two 3-Year Terms Are Enough!
• Question 2 is a complete rewrite of the City Charter – which is its Constitution.   The wording of the question now reflects all the areas of the charter which are modified and/or deleted.  Now is a good time to refresh yourself on the charter itself and read the proposed charter with all modifications annotated.  Not all of the changes are a result of state statute.  The proposed charter retains the requirement for future charter reviews on a 5-year cycle.
• Question 3 – City Manager Residence  – the current charter requires that the City Manager become a resident of the City within 1 year.  A YES vote on this question will remove the requirement and make City residence a contract negotiation – which means a City Manager in theory could be hired without ever having to live in the city and leaves the decision up to the then seated Council.  Proponents argue that a most qualified candidate for the position shouldn’t be rejected just because they live outside the city boundaries and shouldn’t be forced to move, depending on house, family or other situations.  Opponents argue that the City Manager should live in the area they manage and be impacted by the same decisions they impose on others, as well as be in the city during emergencies (eg hurricanes).

 

Vote NO on PBG Q1 – Two 3-Year Terms Are Enough!

The Palm Beach Gardens City Council – none of whom have yet served a single term, are asking you to expand the definition of term limits to mean 3 consecutive 3-year terms (9 years), rather than the 2 consecutive 3-year terms (6 years) to which they are currently limited. Over 16000 residents, 80% of those voting, approved the existing 2 3-year term limits in 2014.

A form of the question was to be on the ballot in March and was pulled by the judge reviewing the language. It has since been rewritten to at least inform the voter that term limits already exist and what the change would be. But the City’s ‘Fix Our Charter’ website does not inform you about the landslide nature of the election in 2014. It does state that:

“In the March 2018 Municipal Election, Palm Beach Gardens voters approved two amendments to the City Charter. These amendments improved ** local elections by ensuring the candidate with the plurality (highest number) of votes wins the election and that any Council member who is termed out must wait a three-year period before running again for City Council.”

What they also didn’t tell you (nor sadly did the Palm Beach Post) – was that the results of March’s question 3, allowing term-limited council members to run again, is being appealed in the courts. The issue will not be resolved prior to the August 28 elections, and the March election results stand: term-limited council members can run again after sitting out a term (3 years)

IF QUESTION 1 PASSES, A COUNCIL MEMBER, ONCE REACHING THEIR FIRST TERM LIMIT (9 years in office) CAN RE-RUN AND BE IN OFFICE IF RE-ELECTED FOR 18 YEARS OR MORE.

Please consider why you voted for term-limits in 2014 and keep the two 3-year term limits intact – VOTE NO On August 28!

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CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REFERENDUM QUESTION NO. 1

SHALL THE PALM BEACH GARDENS CHARTER BE AMENDED TO CHANGE FROM THE EXISTING TERM LIMIT, WHICH PROHIBITS A COUNCIL MEMBER FROM BEING ELECTED TO MORE THAN TWO CONSECUTIVE FULL TERMS TO A TERM LIMIT THAT PROHIBITS A COUNCIL MEMBER FROM SERVING FOR MORE THAN THREE CONSECUTIVE FULL TERMS AND MAKING THE CHANGE APPLY TO ALL SITTING COUNCIL MEMBERS?

SHALL THE ABOVE DESCRIBED QUESTION NO. 1 BE ADOPTED?

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(** the City is making an editorial comment on the results of the March 2018 election)

Palm Beach Gardens Looking to the Future, and in the News

Optimally timed to coincide with his annual evaluation, City Manager Ferris had a comprehensive City Manager Report including an update on a subset of the $54.5 million in Capital Improvement Projects (covering key projects in the City’s budget as well as those funded by the Sales Tax Surtax), a set of news clips from WPTV (click here to watch them) covering a variety of subjects – baseball tournaments, electric cars for Fire/Rescue, free smoke alarms), and an update on the ability for those needing to call 911 to do so by texting when unable to make a phone call. There are definite limitatons to texting including no location provided. Please see this article for more on the ability.

Each of the Council, towards the end of the meeting, gave Mr. Ferris a glowing evaluation with the concensus being that they hoped he stayed as long as he wishes.

The Council also came to agreement on Resolution 26, 2018 – Firearm Legislation – after spending another 30 minutes discussing changes initiated by Council Member Litt to the current draft. They passed the resolution 5:0. Prior to their discussion, resident Paula Magnuson gave heartfelt and patriotic support for the Second Amendment. Mayor Marino once again demonstrated that some are indeed ‘more equal’ than others, by encouraging the members of Moms Demand Action to applaud the passage of the resolution while at the same time exclaiming that they should understand why she sent them emails telling them why they can’t applaud. (The rules, time and again, clearly seem to apply only to those with whom the Council disagrees.)

City Attorney Lohman gave an update on the Rustic Lakes legal challenge to the Annexation which occured in March, 2018. See Rural Rustic Lakes Just Annexed Sues...  Mr. Lohman explained various techicalities and missed deadlines by Rustic Lakes.  Council Member Litt inquired into the status of the appeal of Question 3 from the March 2018 referendum. Mr. Lohman said that he filed for an extension and the City must reply by August 22, after which Mr. Dinerstein has an opportunity to repond. He also expected that another lawsuit would be filed on an emergency basis right before the August 28th referendum.

Another item first brought up at last month’s Council Meeting was the Security Agreement with the School Board of Palm Beach County. Resolution 42, 2018, passed 5:0, allows the Mayor and City Clerk to execute an agreement for the City’s police to provide security at the Palm Beach Gardens elementary schools – where the police providing the security would be paid overtime and do so on their time off, complying with their maximum hours allowed. Council Member Lane recommended that, if feasible, all public schools within the City be covered in the same manner. Staff’s response is that it could be evaluated at a future time, and cost and man-power would definitely be an issue.

The tentative maximum millage rate for the 2018/2019 Fiscal Year Budget was set at flat operational millage of 5.55, and a decrease in the debt service millage for a total millage of 5.6003 which is down from the current millage of 5.6678. The rates can be lowered during the budget hearings but not raised. The first Public Hearing will be on September 6, 2018 at 7pm. Resolution 31, 2018 passed 5:0 with no discussion.

Nick Uhren, Executive Director of the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency, explained who the TPA is, it’s transition from Metropolitan Planning Agency (MPO) and the two related Resolutions 39, 2018 and Resolution 40, 2018 before the Council, which passed 5:0. Mayor Marino currently serves as TPA Board Vice-Chair; County Commissioner Valeche serves as Chairman. A subset of the municipalities in the Councy are participants on the board, and those cities are agreeing to pay per capita member dues to the agency starting in 2019 and into the future. In addition, the Council approved an interlocal agreement for administrative services for the TPA. For background on the TPA see this PB Post article on the decision to transition from under the County to an independent agency, Clerk Bock’s assessment of pros/cons of the move and a link to the TPA website). The TPA has in impact on all things transportation related and thus impacts everyone in the City.

Public Comment was made by resident Paula Magnuson, as President of her HOA, about a dumpster on an adjacent community which was not meeting code.

The Palm Beach Gardens Police Explorers were recognized for their first place finish in regional competition, and the Gardens Spirit Team presented a $500 check to the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Program.  Congratulations to both!  Electric Cars and the Fire/Rescue Mobile Training Facility were on display outside the building prior to the meeting.

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