July Council – FPL Campus and Other Issues

Lasting until well past 10:30 pm, the July council meeting covered a lot of ground, but the most significant was Resolution 35, the approval of the current stage of the proposed headquarters campus for Florida Power and Light.

FPL Campus

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Approved were four aspects of the plan:

1. Design guidelines (a detailed description of the development standards for the site, including setbacks, height, landscaping, signage, lighting, uses, architecture and screening)
2. Maximum building heights (165 feet for 12-15 stories)
3. Use restrictions for the site (professional office – more restrictive even than the current light industrial designation)
4. Inclusion of a “helistop”

A “helistop” differs from a “helipad” evidently, in that normal use is just pickup and dropoff. No fuel is stored on the site and the helicopter(s) are not parked there when not in use.

It was noted that the change in use restrictions is an improvement, as the current designation would have allowed businesses in the “light industrial” category which could have been more intrusive and less attractive.

A fortune 200 company like FPL locating a headquarters complex in the Gardens is a good thing for the city. It will host many high paying jobs and given the “captive” nature of the workplace (ie. including cafeteria, clinics, etc.), the traffic impact during the work day will not be excessive.

Several residents of nearby areas such as Garden Woods expressed concern about helicopter noise and the height of the buildings but most were appreciative of the project, including the Northern Chamber Chief Beth Kigel and Gary Hines of the County Business Development Board. The Council voted 5-0 to proceed.

Avenir Discussion

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During the “City Manager Report” portion of the meeting, the proposed development at Vavrus Ranch came up, as Mr. Ferris is proposing that staff in conjunction with the Treasure Coast Planning Council, solicit input on impact from surrounding communities. Avenir, as it is called by developer WAL Development Group of Coral Gables, would build 7,600 homes, professional office space, a 300 room hotel and a pediatrics center on the site of about 7 square miles. This could amount to 20,000 residents, about 40% of the current population of the Gardens. Many of the council members panned the project, saying they had “never seen the likes of this” (Jablin), and that it was “way too big” (Levy). “we’re not on the same page – not even in the same library.” (Russo) The current master plan for the site would allow about 500 homes and this is a massive change from what was envisioned for the western part of the city. Traffic, drainage, environmental concerns all are problematic.

What seemed to come across clearly in this discussion was that the developer has really not done due diligence in bringing the council into the loop. Going public with plans of this magnitude before even a courtesy call on the members is a tad arrogant. David Levy summed it up the feeling pretty well: “Ice cubes in Miami in the summer probably have a better chance than that project,” he said. “I think it’s DOA.”

Other Actions

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• The modernizing of the 70’s era PGA Plaza at Prosperity and PGA was approved. Home to the coming Trader Joe’s, this site is to get a fresh new look, with design and landscaping improvements and more retail space.
• Parking modifications to Downtown at the Gardens was approved, specifically adding a small strip along Kyoto Gardens Drive near Cabo Flats.
• Zoning changes were approved for development of the Palm Beach Orthopaedic Institute Medical Campus on the Klock property on the north side of Burns Road.
• Approval was given on second reading for the erection of the monopole antenna on the city hall municipal complex.

City Manager Annual Review

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Toward the end of the meeting, after 10:00pm, City Manager Ron Ferris received his “Annual Review”. This mostly pro-forma exercise is an opportunity for the council members to pile their accolades on the City Manager, who Eric Jablin calls the “finest city manager in Florida if not the country”. David Levy praised Ron’s leadership of the Gardens – “one of the most highly regarded cities in the state”. Marcie Tinsley praised his “out of the box thinking” and said he was “a great problem solver”. Joe Russo mentioned his “great job on the police contract”, and said the city employees “love him and work hard for him.” Finally, Mayor Bert Premuroso, applied four objective measurements: budget, staff morale, open communications, and truth, finding our city manager excellent in all of them.

Mr. Ferris’s contract expires in 2016.

Packed Chamber for June Council Meeting

Residents packed Palm Beach Gardens council chambers until the meeting was adjourned at 11:25 PM. The unusually large crowd received a surprise informational update from District 25 Senator Joe Abruzzo on legislative items worked on in the last session.

He noted talks of a 2nd spring training facility and the benefit it would bring to Florida, our city and county. He said Florida will spend 90 million in charter school funding out of the 74.1 billion dollar budget that they passed. Senator Abruzzo ended with saying how lucky he was when they changed the district boundaries. He ended up with Palm Beach Gardens in his district, and inherited a beautiful city with a reputation of doing things right.

Fire Chief Pete Bergel’s retirement is July 1 2013. Mayor Premuroso and the council recognized the Chief by proclaiming July 1 as Fire Chief Bergels’ Day. The City Manager gave our native Gardens resident a beautiful fire ax in appreciation of his 38 years of service to our community.

Items of Resident interest: Council member Joe Russo updated the council about the IG lawsuit. He acknowledged the papers had misrepresented him and that there was nothing else for him to offer to settle the issue on how to properly fund the IG. He predicted a lengthy court battle. Council members moved quickly through items due to agenda size.

Resolution 39: Passed by council 5-0 Allen Owens went over the numbers and economics for borrowing money (1.6 million @ 1.77%) for the golf course, and (2.6 million @ 1.89%) for Fire Station #2 rebuilding. Information about city debt was released that showed a 50% drop in city debt since 2005.

Ordinance 5: (Trader Joes PUD) was postponed until next council meeting 7/16/13 as the applicant was not ready. Resolution 20 is a companion item that is to be addressed later.

Resolution 41: Signage for the Nicklaus Out Patient Center, a component of Miami Children’s Hospital, at Legacy Place was approved with 3 waivers by council 5-0.

Ordinance 8 and 9: Klock property zoning for the new Palm Beach Orthopedic Institution. Both were approved by council 4-0. Mayor Premuroso did not vote.

Ordinance 7: Franklin Academy 2nd reading. Traffic was the topic and discussed. There were 8 residents that gave their comments in the public forum. Council approved 5-0.

Ordinance 10: (1st Reading) The rezoning of City Hall complex with companion Resolution 40 addition of 120 ft. monopole tower for the EOCC. Council approved 5-0.

Resolution 28: Charter Schools USA (Renaissance Charter School at Gardens West)
Traffic and intensity of project discussed. The applicant recently scaled back the number of students and said he was willing to work with city to do what was needed to get the building process going. 30 resident comment cards were submitted. Each resident was limited to 1 minute due to the late hour. After residents were heard by the council, the council also started a discussion. Planning and Zoning opposed project due to intensity and traffic concerns. As 11:30 PM was approaching and time running out to vote the applicant approached the council. He withdrew the site building request. He mentioned 3 cities that want the charter school built there. He stated he would not consider another school again in Palm Beach Gardens again, until there were some major changes in city operations and policy.

May Council Meeting – Charter Schools

Announcements/ Presentations

• The Cleveland Clinic of Florida is opening in Donald Ross Village.
• Scott Fetterman, Deputy Chief, Fire Rescue was recognized for 31 years of service.

Items of Resident Interest

• Amanda Buckley golf tournament was well attended.
• Nothing was resolved with the Inspector General lawsuit.
• Bert Premuroso gave a State of the City speech before the PGA Corridor Association.
• PBG is hosting a Youth Soccer Tournament from May 10-12th.
• A Florida Judge James Peterson III denied Florida Regional Medical Center’s Tenet Hospital to build an 80-bed hospital at the Briger Tract.

The meeting was very well attended.

The big topic of discussion was two charter schools – The Renaissance School and the Franklin School. Several people spoke for the Renaissance School. This school will appear before the Planning and Zoning Board on their May meeting.

The Franklin Academy School was passed with a 5-0 vote on first reading in Ordinance 7, 2013. The school is on Hood Road at the former Batt location. The school is projected to have 1300 students. Several area residents commented on the traffic situation. To mitigate the traffic situation the applicant proposed staggered start times, an automated pick-up/drop-off system, additional turn lanes, additional parking spaces, hiring of off-duty police officers, and regular meetings and dialogue with concerned area residents. Part of the complication is due to the fact that Hood is a county road. Several councilman recommended that the County accelerate the Hood lane widening that is part of the 5 year plan and Marcie Tinsley recommended the construction of an additional right turn lane on Central Boulevard turning west on Hood Road to eliminate a crucial bottleneck.

April Council – A New Mayor and a Proposed Roof Over Veteran’s Plaza

New Council Sworn-in

The first Council meeting since the March election featured the swearing-in of returning Councilmen Joe Russo and David Levy, and the election of Bert Premuroso as Mayor and Eric Jablin as Vice-Mayor – both chosen unanimously. Mayor-elect Premuroso, first elected in 2008, is a Vice President at SouthTrust Bank, and has been leading the Council as Vice-Mayor since David Levy left the Council to run for County Commission last year. Jablin is a 21 year veteran of the Council and served as Mayor four times before and Vice-Mayor twice.

Veteran’s Plaza

Most of two hours were then dedicated to a discussion of the plans for “artistic shade structures” (functionally a cover for the stage and seating area in Veteran’s Plaza), commissioned by the Art in Public Places (AIPP) board. Two vendors were chosen to bring forth plans, G.H. Bruce, LLC of Tucson, Arizona, and Mark Fuller Functional Arts of West Palm Beach.

The incoming assumption was that if chosen, a design would be constructed using about $450K from the AIPP funds which originate from impact fees on high end developments (> $1M). These funds are defined by ordinance to be limited to art and culture projects only and contain no ad-valorem tax dollars.

The Bruce design, called “Callinectes” after the indigenous crab family which includes the ubiquitous blue crab and is Greek for “beautiful swimmer”, consists of overlapping canopies floating above a structure of curving steel tubes. Seating under the canopy can be configured to accomodate 250 to 400, depending on arrangement.

The Fuller design on the other hand is a six sided tent-like structure supported by sweeping tubular steel support pillars with a web-like mesh fabric membrane. Its design accommodates 208 in the theatre seating arrangement or 170 at banquet tables.

Discussion by the Council was mixed.

Joe Russo wondered if something this large would be appropriate for the institutional space that attaches to the City Hall and Police headquarters. “Way too massive”, he said later.

Marcie Tinsley, who describes herself as a believer in “functional art” and supported the controversial bus stop shelters, thought they should move with caution on this one. She has studied the issue in some depth, including checking with other projects like the fairgrounds to ascertain their maintenance costs.

David Levy questioned whether it should be done at all, suggesting that a stage covering like in the Meyer Amphitheatre may be an alternative. He went on to suggest holding a workshop to gather public input.

Eric Jablin, a supporter of the concept, recalled that the “… camel was a horse designed by committee …” suggested that soliciting public input would be like seeking the camel. He further suggested that the Council should not rely on public comment at this meeting since there are supporters out there who did not come to the meeting..

Public comment was actually muted, with only four making comments. Joel Chandler of the PGA Corridor Association was supportive but had some thoughts on the design and decision process. Pat Hughey thought the design “looked great”. Barbara Grossman thought the money would be better spent on veterans. And a Jupiter designer showed a drawing of his own concept for the space.

There are many technical issues to resolve, such as hurricane hardening, drainage, fabric choice, pillar construction, footers and maintenance. Both vendors stated that no engineering work was done in support of the designs and as such a true cost estimate could not be given at this time.

The segment ended with the Council deciding to go off and “think about” the issue and take it up at a later date.

Council Votes 3-1 to spend $1.6M on Employee Raises, Bonuses and Capital Projects

At the March City Council Meeting, Ordinance 1, 2013 passed on second reading with a 3-1 vote. A routine adjustment of budgeted initial fund balances, the $1.6M “surplus” reflecting higher revenues collected or lower actual expenses than budgeted, was wholly targeted to new spending.

So what is the context for this apparent relaxation of austerity? Has the local economy turned the corner?

The details of the proposal were first proposed in February by Vice Mayor Premuroso – a 2% across the board raise for all employees, a 1.5% one-time bonus on top of that, and $783K of capital spending, including $611K for golf course irrigation modernization.

Cautionary comments were made by residents. John Chaplik cautioned that the economy has not improved enough to raise spending levels and thought should be given to returning some to the taxpayer. He also suggested that there be a review of how surpluses are handled. Kevin Easton suggested that performance based raises made more sense than across the board increases. Iris Scheibl pointed out that the county property appraiser is projecting a meager 1.5% increase in valuations and that the economy has not turned the corner. She also mentioned that last years’s move to raise the communications tax was based on the threat of declining reserves which we are now apparently spending. Two others spoke in favor of the ordinance.

In discussion, all the Council Members were in favor of the raises, and some wanted to increase the bonus to 2%. “Our employees are the best in Florida, if not in the country” said Eric Jablin. “We will lose these people if we don’t reward them”, said Joe Russo. Marcie Tinsley agreed we should proceed with caution, but the staff has done a good job without complaint. These three were less supportive of the capital spending and Joe Russo went so far as to vote no on that basis, as he believes the normal budget process is the time to consider things like golf course improvements.

The Vice Mayor sealed the deal with a well prepared and somewhat eloquent pitch for his proposal as presented. In his business (Bert Premuroso is a banker), he is seeing an uptick in the economy and across the board raises. He does not favor merit based increases as “some people don’t like them”, and foresees this level of raises as being a normal thing for the next few budget cycles. He reminded us that they have committed to flat millage for five years (instead of reducing it as valuations climb), and the increased property tax revenue that will result will let us continue to improve employee compensation and capital improvements.

With Mr. Premuroso’s closing, only Joe Russo maintained objection (only to the capital projects) and the ordinance passed 3-1.

It should be noted that the 2% increase applies to the Council as well as staff, although they turned down the bonus. A 2004 ordinance described by Eric Jablin as “making it easier to raise our pay”, requires that any cost of living increase given to employees must also be given to the Council. The City Attorney confirmed that to forgo the raise they would have to repeal the ordinance.

Since Mr. Premuroso signalled his intention to offer raises again next year, it may be useful to examine how the city employees are compensated relative to their peers in the county and other municipalities. We will be analysing this in a future article, but for now consider:

1. In the 2013 budget, the average employee compensation (salary and benefits) was $111,488, with an average salary of $73,681. This compares to about $67K for county government employees, and a county-wide average income (all employers) of $51K.

2. The current average city employee salary is 45% higher than the county average income. In 2006, when the average city employee salary was just $61K, it was only 27% above the county-wide average income of $48K.

3. In 2011/2012 a 3% employee increase was implemented for all FRS (Florida Retirement System) employees (not police and fire/rescue) to compensate for the fact that a state law mandates that they would now have to pay 3% in salary toward their pensions annually. It was justified by the Council

4. In the text of the 2012-2013 budget it states:

In the last three budget years, the beginning balance adjustments have been considerable – an increase of over $5M in 2012, $8M in 2013, and this year’s $1.6M. Perhaps in the future it would be wise to project during the budget cycle how such a “surplus” would be spent if it materializes. That would be useful information when the discussion turns to “spending” or “saving” the revenue expected from increasing valuations in the next few years.

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* Note:
1.Employee average salary is obtained by dividing budgeted salary by number of employees. Total compensation contains salary, retirement, FICA, Health Insurance and Workers Compensation.
2. County-wide income is taken from PBC budget documents.

Salary Increases for Employees Proposed at February City Council

At the end of the February City Council Meeting during “Items for Council Action and Discussion”, Vice Mayor Premuroso floated the idea of spending a $1.5 million apparent surplus in the current year budget on employee raises and selected capital improvements. The raise amount suggested was 2% – equivalent to what working people are paying again at the expiration of the two year reduction in the payroll tax. The others were enthusiastic in their support for the idea, as Councilman Russo added “the employees are our biggest strength”. Russo was not for carte blanche capital spending, however, preferring to look at each proposal in detail.

The proposal was placed in the context of the Council’s intention to maintain flat millage for several years. Property valuations, which bottomed out last year, are expected to rise – perhaps significantly this year if the anecdotal evidence is credible. If so, “flat millage” will not be a friend to the taxpayer.

We are expecting a spending spree at all levels of government. The President has said that we “.. don’t have a spending problem”, although 83% of the country know we do. Our one-time “conservative” Governor has proposed major increases in the state budget, trying to win favor from a variety of voting groups as he looks to the 2014 election, even as CFO Jeff Atwater was predicting a flat $70B only a month ago. The County has a large pent up demand for more spending after several years of flat growth. Hopefully, Palm Beach Gardens will not succumb to this spending fever.

City employees may be due an increase after several years of going without, and there are likely some capital projects in the area of deferred maintenance that could use some attention. The economy is still weak however, and many businesses in the country remain shuttered. The Council would be wise to exercise restraint as the budget is developed, and consider the taxpayers needs as well as the government’s. A millage decrease would not be out of line if valuations head upwards.

In other action at the meeting, the Council approved on first reading the “implementing ordinance” (Ordinance 4, 2013) for the successful ballot initiative which granted them the ability to award tax exemptions to new or expanding businesses they favor. Although the ballot measure was sold with the idea that specific rules would be written into the ordinance to identify qualifying recipients, the ordinance is vague. The Council would prefer “flexibility” so as to make awards to businesses that may be outside the intent of the measure with out the “risk of lawsuits”.

Several bookkeeping adjustments were made to the comp plan and code of ordinances (Ordinance 27 and 30, 2012 and 3, 2013), a minor amendment was made to the Trevi at the Gardens PUD, and a resolution was passed supporting the state proposed ban on texting while driving.

The next scheduled Council meeting is Thursday, March 7.

PBG Legislative Agenda Discussed at January Council Meeting

The January meeting of the Gardens City Council got started with courtesy visits from newly elected district 1 School Board member Mike Murgio and district 25 Senator Joe Abruzzo, who gave a brief overview of his priorities, one of which is to stop texting while driving.

As part of the City Manager’s report, Ron Ferris recognized the award winning Fire Scouts, and showed an excellent video for employees and others in public buildings threatened by a mass shooter. Entitled “Run, Hide, Fight”, it illustrates the recommended tactics in a believable way.

During Comments from the Public, Iris Scheibl asked the Council to again consider dropping out of the IG lawsuit and removing the restrictive “waste, fraud and abuse” definitions section from the code of ordinances as the county has recently done in response to the latest grand jury report. Councilman Russo replied that WPB is leading the lawsuit and we should wait and see what happens – he has been pursuing a proposal by former county commissioner Karen Marcus to strip the IG office of their auditing function – a non-starter in the IG world. Vice Mayor Premoroso wants to better understand what the city’s cost will be. He still believes that “people didn’t know what they were voting for.” It is clear that a lot of misunderstanding about the office continues.

In other comments, Larry Casey pointed out that the “Welcome to Palm Beach Gardens” sign on the turnpike appears just as you first notice the smell of the landfill, and Kevin Easton discussed traffic problems at Sunset Drive and Northlake

In the consent agenda, approved were Resolutions 1 (authorize SOE to conduct March election), 3 (accomodate extra turning lane on Military Trail to Burns Road), 5 (accepting CPR devices through an EMS grant), and 6 (participation and sponsorship in FEMA task force on urban search and rescue).

In the public hearings, the Council approved Ordinance 1 (adjusting the 2013 budget), 3 (amending the code enforcement section of the Code of Ordinances in conformance to Florida statutes), Resolution 2 (amend signage for Tunie’s in the LA Fitness plaza), 8 (modify setbacks at Old Palm PCD) and 10 (approve phasing plan for Gorden and Doner PUD).

The planned presentation on Tri-Rail extensions to Jupiter was omitted as Kim Delaney of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council was a no-show.

Toward the end of the meeting, registered lobbyist for the city, Mat Forrest of Ballard Partners gave his perspective on the city’s legislative agenda for 2013, cautioning that actual session time is short and only about 10-13% of bills filed actually get passed. City Manager Ron Ferris touched on some of the desired items (change to city annexation, FRS for city public safety employees), but the full list is contained in the meeting agenda (see: 2013 Legislative Priorities).

They list includes:

• City initiated annexation amendment – expand the size (above 10 acres) that a city can annex “by ordinance”.
• Pensions plans and FRS – ease 175/185 requirements for entry of city employees into the Florida Retirement System (FRS).
• State funding for elevation of PGA Boulevard between the C-18 canal and Beeline Highway to eliminate flooding issues.
• Protect local business tax receipts – oppose any efforts to “repeal, restrict or place moratorium on FS Chapter 205” which would affect how the city taxes and regulates businesses in the city.
• Effective public notice / electronic advertising – eliminate the need to post public notices in print media
• Support FL recreation development assistance program (FRDAP) – provides state grants for park and trail development
• Support FL Police Chiefs Association priorities – these include regulation of internet cafes, stop texting while driving, truth in sentencing, oppose the “Innocence Project” interference with police policies, oppose “open carry”, ban bath salts / synthetic drugs, oppose restriction on local conduct of employee relations – particularly imposition of collective bargaining, and maintain funding for public safety entities

Council Rejects Proposition Two, Sends Remainder to November Ballot

Last night (July 12, 2012) the Palm Beach Gardens City Council voted 4: 1 on Ordinance 20, 2012 which will place on the November ballot a Proposition to amend the City’s Charter. The opposing vote was by Council member Joe Russo.

The Council kindly moved the discussion earlier in the agenda to accomodate the 11 people who had come to speak out on the Ordinance. After considerable debate, the Council unanimously agreed to remove Proposition Two – which would have changed city elections to ‘plurality’ wins from the current ‘majority’ wins, however they were unwilling to delay putting the remaining charter modifications to a later election. The removal of Proposition Two is significant and was a direct result of your efforts.

The wording for Proposition One remains unchanged. The text of Proposition One as well as the proposed charter (Exhibit A) can be found in the Agenda Item.

While what remains of Ordinance 20 is still troubling for the lack of public input to the substantive changes it contains, it at least can be discussed objectively in the context of the governance process. We will use our various websites, voters guides, and other resources to explain what it does and inform our readers of the choice they have to make.

Bill DiPaulo’s article in the Palm Beach Post summarizes the meeting and lists the substantive changes that are in the Ordinance.

Thanks to all who took the time to email the Council, and to express their positions on the proposals: Mark Marciano, Kevin Easton, Tracie White, Larry Casey, Lauren Miller, Mel Grossman, Terry Brady, Sally Schmiedl, Francisco Rodriguez, Fred Scheibl and Iris Scheibl. Sorry if I missed anyone.

It made a difference and demonstrated to our elected officials that we are watching them.

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