Good Old Boys’ Actions Show Why Term Limits Passed

Term Limits pervaded the April City Council Meeting from start to finish, with some City business thrown in for good measure.

Up first on the agenda was the annual reorganization vote – selecting Mayor and Vice Mayor. Palm Beach Gardens has a Council-Manager form of  government so the position of Mayor is largely ceremonial, not elected by the residents. The Mayor does serve as chair of the monthly City Council meetings though, and influences how business is conducted.

The Mayor and Vice Mayor positions have been held by all on the council except for newest member (elected in 2010) Marcie Tinsley.  So one could reasonably assume that Mrs. Tinsley, who has not held either office, should get her turn as Mayor or Vice-Mayor, since like Mr. Jablin (who has held both positions many times) and Mr. Premuroso (the incumbent mayor) – they all have 2 years left on their final term-limited term.  She is certainly qualified, but this Council being essentially a “boy’s club”, she was not even discussed for Mayor, and her nomination for vice-Mayor by Bert Premuroso was cast aside with patronizing ease.

David Levy nominated Eric Jablin for Mayor. The ensuing convoluted discussion rationalized his election as if it had always been a done deal, and he became Mayor on a 5:0 vote.

A prevailing assumption by the Council, for several months now, since term limits were first placed on the ballot, is that Levy is eligible for another term (because he resigned for a few months to run as County Commissioner) and that he obviously will be re-elected without any opposition. He could then have another opportunity to be Vice-Mayor or Mayor. But somehow, in even more tortured debate, the men on the Council decided that Levy needed to be the Vice-Mayor to afford continuity on the Council and ensure the city didn’t collapse as the board turned over. While nominated by Premuroso, Tinsley received no support, even from him, as she argued gamely on why she should be Vice-Mayor; Levy was elected 4:1. The arrogance of the discussion was overwhelming; we highly encourage the Council to watch the entire meeting themselves and understand why people voted for Term Limits. 

Term Limits arose again during Items of Resident Interest.  The North Palm Beach Blog of the PB Post had an article earlier in the day suggesting rumors that the Council would take action to over-ride the Term Limits charter change voters supported with 79% of the vote.  68% voted for it to be retroactively applied to the current Council.   While Council member Russo suggested that such an action, taken by the Council, would be a slap in the face of the voters – it was clear that there were others on the Council who did not agree.  Later in the evening, the ‘new’ Mayor suggested that the folks who are against term-limits come in force to Council meetings, thus giving the Council a rationale to take some action to reverse the ballot amendment.

Resident Mark Marciano, speaking during Public Comment on several topics, suggested that the Council should tackle Term Limits, and that the 2 3-year terms, as passed, were ‘not only short-sighted, but even dangerous’. He reiterated a drumbeat, heard mostly by electeds, that people didn’t know what they were voting for, and were just expressing frustration that Congress doesn’t have term limits.

Finally – the last item on the agenda was the City Manager Contract Extension. In previous discussions on the topic, the contract, expiring in 2016, was proposed to be extended by 2 years to 2018. But suddenly, Mayor Jablin proposed a 5-year extension to 2020 – once again citing Term Limits as the reason this had to be done. The clueless new Council that will exist from 2017 on, will destroy the city without the continuity provided by the current City Manager. Normally, Russo said, 5 years is too long to extend the contract – but Term Limits overrides such need for caution. Tinsley encouraged that the time be used for a succession plan for City Manager Ferris’ retirement; Russo said the same. The extension passed 5:0.

As to the Business:

• Kudos to Riverside Enrichment Center for receiving Apple Accreditation 
• Kudos to Km! Ra, the City’s Purchasing Director for being awarded a 2015 UPPCC Agency Certificate 
• City’s Resident Opinion Survey – 400 residents were surveyed in January 2015 and results were compared with the survey conducted in 2006 – with a sampling error of 4.9%. 96% would recommend living in Palm Beach Gardens and cited Family, Weather, and Shopping/Restaurants as why they live here. The results will be posted on the City website on Monday.  Here is the PB Post’s article on the survey.
• Mirasol ClubHouse expansion passed 5:0 on First Reading
• Purchasing rather than leasing Golfcourse Maintenance Equipment passed 5:0
• Council appointments to external and internal boards remained unchanged except for one that requires the Mayor’s participation.

No Drive-through for Banyan Tree PUD… for now

Although last on the agenda, Resolution 13, 2015 garnered the most public comment – with many residents from Lake Catherine in attendance and 11 folks voicing their concerns with the developer’s plans for Banyan Tree PUD Phase II (aka Northlake Gardens) at the northwest corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Northlake.  Among the issues were traffic, noise, lighting, and safety for the children going to/fro the nearby schools. Along with the public comment, a petition signed by 182 of the home owners was submitted. Council member Levy spoke first and voiced his concern with the proposed drive-through for a small 1000 square foot business. The rest of the council joined in saying there was much to like about the proposed site plan but they too were uncomfortable with the drive-through. Both the developer and the owner asked that the drive-through be approved in order to enhance the ability to attract businesses for the rear building which would be all but invisible from view. They suggested that the council would have final approval of the lessee at a future date. The council disagreed and voted unanimously to approve the plan without the drive-through.  They would be open to future modifications (eg the drive through) after they know what the proposed business would be. Vote 5:0

Despite a request to bring Project Diamond (Resolution 14, 2015) to the Regular Agenda, it remained in Consent and economic incentives were passed without discussion.  See Where’ s the Sunshine?

Tom Cairnes, of the PGA Corridor, spoke on Ordinance 1, 2015 – disagreeing with the proposed regulations as not going far enough.  The Corridor believes that no human signage should be permitted in Palm Beach Gardens. The council replied by saying that currently there are no regulations in place, so that this is an improvement. Vote 5:0

The other two Ordinances – Ordinance 3, 2015 (gas station signage) and Ordinance 5, 2015 1st reading (10-year water supply facilities work plan) passed 5:0 as well.

Police Chief Stepp made his 2014 Police Department Summary Report – with outstanding statistics. Crime has been down for 3 years in a row and is at the lowest rate since 1987. Since many of the crimes are DUIs and shop-lifting, the likelihood of being a victim of crime in our city is very low. Frog-et Me Not continues to be an award-winning program. Read the excellent report here .

All on the council expressed their regret and condolences on the recent passing of North Palm Beach Gardens City Councilman and veteran, William Manuel.  A moment of silence was held.

Project Diamond added on Consent Agenda?

(correction – resolution is resolution 14, 2015 not resolution 15, 2015 – typo)

The next City Council Meeting will be tonight Thursday, March 5th at 7pm at City Hall.

Is United Technologies on Briger tract an appropriate subject for Consent Agenda?

Resolution 14, 2015 (read it here)  was added to the Consent Agenda sometime after my email on Monday.   Read the Post’s article entitled Sources: Firm eyes Gardens expansion.

“United Technologies is looking to buy property on the Briger tract in Palm Beach Gardens to build a 280,000-square-foot office complex, where the Fortune 500 company plans to move a significant portion of its Carrier Air Conditioning and Otis Elevator subsidiaries into a regional headquarters, according to knowledgeable sources.

Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach County are poised to offer major incentives packages to secure the deal for the $115 million complex, which would employ 450 with an average minimum wage of $85,000. ”

By our calculations, approval of this resolution commits the city to over $5M over 10 years at the current combined millage rate of 5.8315 on a $115M project.  That consists of property tax forgiveness of $671K per year in the first 5 years and $335K in the next 5, in addition to the direct payment of the “jobs incentive” of $630K.

But  “Plans are to buy the site from Kolter Group, which owns the 681-acre Briger tract.  But there’s a hitch: The Briger land is one of a number of properties zoned for biotech development in northern Palm Beach County.

A source close to the deal said he believes a technology or headquarters use is permitted on the land. But Jim Mize, the chief assistant county attorney who led the team that wrote the covenants governing the tract, said that the 100 acres now controlled by Kolter are restricted to industries “directly supportive” of biotech research. That restriction doesn’t expire until at least 2021, Mize said Wednesday. ”

The agenda (with links to full detail) can be found here.  Check the agenda to see if any additional items have been added before the meeting (which certainly was the case today!)

Signs, Traffic and Trains just some of the topics covered

SAVE THE DATE – FEBRUARY 26 AT 7PM CITY HALL – ALL ABOARD FLORIDA WORKSHOP specifically to answer the questions asked by Palm Beach Gardens in this letter by Mayor Premuroso.   It is hoped that the AAF spokespeople will address only these specific questions and not make another general presentation.

The City Council meeting had technical difficulties on February 5th.  The displays were down, so minimal physical visual aids were used for each of the agenda items. The presentations for the items will be made available on the City’s website on Monday.  Nevertheless, a lot was covered in the meeting.

Throughout the meeting, as at the last two, members of the Council lamented the passage of term limits either overtly or indirectly. It was also assumed by all on the Council that Councilman Levy would obviously be re-elected and become the sole pool of knowledge and wisdom in the coming years.

All Ordinances and Resolutions passed 5:0.

• Human Signs – While 4 people spoke against the proposed changes (Iris Scheibl, Jamie Gonzalez, Julie Poos, and Susan Cohen) 3 of which were small business owners or potential owners who depended on sign-wavers for consumers to find their stores, the Council was unanimous and adamant that Human Signs posed a significant danger to the public and were causes of accidents waiting to happen and must be stopped now. They did request that staff contact those who spoke and other potentially affected owners to see if a timeframe compromise could be reached somewhere between 12 days total and 365 days – which was definitely out, and that 2nd reading should reflect that change. (One of the speakers mentioned that Frank Cerabino had written a humorous piece on the subject entitled Curb on Human Signs is Aimed at Hiding Poor.  Perhaps he was the one who truly got to the heart of the matter…)

• Gas Station Signs – staff worked with the gas station owners and came up with signage that they (and the Council) believe meets the goal of informing the customers without the clutter and confusion of the County passed ordinance requirements. They will bring it as an Ordinance for second reading in March, in order to have passage by April. It was suggested that the County look at the City’s solution and perhaps adopt the modifications into the County’s ordinance.
• Fire Station No. 2 replacement – staff presented all the paperwork and forms as if they were a non-governmental entity. All were congratulated on their team working relationship.
• Nativity Lutheran Church was granted a two year time extension on their modular buildings and complimented on their fine landscaping and maintenance of those buildings, as well as their good works.
• The Central Gardens PCD plan to replace a 57,500 square foot retail center and 40,784 sq ft office building with a 140-bed Assisted Living Facility was hailed as a marked improvement as it would significantly reduce projected traffic on the Central Blvd/Hood Rd intersection by 54%. The requested 75 parking spaces would also be significantly less than the 200-250 spaces required for the already approved retail/office complex.

Comments from the Public included:

• Kevin Easton and Carol Courtney from the 40th Terrace/Sunset neighborhood, expressed their frustration with continued issues and perceived poor communications
• Sal Faso of the North County Neighbohood Coalition (NCNC) described an upcoming vote (2/11 at 9am – see agenda here ) by the Solid Waste Authority (SWA) to import expired pharmaceuticals from out of state to be burned at the new incinerator.  He was asking that the City speak out against importing the trash.  While the Council did not pass any kind of resolution, they volunteered Council member Levy to attend the meeting and express technical objections to the proposal.
• Drama was anticipated – at least by media with respect to Avenir – which was not on the agenda.  Former County Commission Karen Marcus and Jupiter Inlet Colony Commissioner Chip Block, along with others opposing Avenir were planning to speak but did not do so. But Jack Weir spoke on behalf of the project, and Rosa Schechter of Avenir Holdings invited the Council to visit the actual site and observe how degraded it is.   Tony Doris covered this in his article Marcus Holds Fire on Avenir .

First Responders Honored; All Aboard Florida Concerns voiced; No Charter Review

Mayor Premuroso kicked off the January 8th City Council Meeting by reciting Governor Scott’s declaration of Florida First Responder Appreciation Week, and honoring all those from the City’s Police Department and Fire/Rescue, many of whom were present at the start of the meeting. Ed McEnroe gave a presentation on the impact of the Honda Classic and described plans for the upcoming one starting February 23rd.   (see Palm Beach Post article on the Honda Classic).

During Items of Resident Interest, several of the council mentioned the Economic Update meeting they attended by Hank Fishkind, with a sunny outlook for Palm Beach Gardens. The Post summarizes Mr. Fishkind’s presentation here.

City Manager Ferris stated that the City received a response from All Aboard Florida (AAF) to a letter sent on behalf of the City by Mayor Premuroso. The City’s letter (read it here) had 19 questions concerning the impacts of the expanded rail service on the City.   AAF’s response addressed none of them. The Council directed Mr. Ferris to set up a workshop with management of AAF (not the Marketing team) to answer their questions. Council frustration about AAF was evident later in the meeting during  Comments from the Public, when resident Marilyn Klausner, addressing the Council for the first time, questioned why no one in the Cities and the County Commission were doing anything to stop All Aboard Florida. The Council described actions taken, but Council Member Tinsley summed it up best by stating that the Railroad was there first and that the cities had to have permission from FEC to cross it’s tracks rather than the other way around. Note: While the Council (and PBGWATCH) were under the impression the US Coast Guard would be our last line of defense due to impact on marine traffic, an article in the paper on Friday quoted the Coast Guard as saying the recent public meetings on the bridges were not primarily about AAF.

Another topic discussed by the Council was whether there was a need for a Charter Review. After some discussion it was felt that the last two elections (2012/2014) had Charter resolutions and thus there should be no action taken in 2016 on any charter changes. Since the Council would be changing due to term limits – let the new council deal with it.

Comments by the Public generated most of the discussion for the remainder of the meeting.

• Alton Neighborhood Plat 1 was on the Consent Agenda and two folks (one from Boca Raton and the other from Palm Beach Gardens) spoke against any development on the Briger Forest. Council Member Levy rebutted claims made by the speakers about the pristine nature of Briger, which he said already had a damaged water table, and was surrounded by highways. He also rebutted the claim that the gopher tortoises would be destroyed – as all would be moved elsewhere and that Frenchman’s Forest had a similar habitat with lots of tortoises. Levy also stated that the property had alway been slated for development in the City’s plans.
• Kevin Easton, resident from the Sunset Drive neighborhood, spoke about December’s meeting, where it was decided to begin Eminent Domain proceedings against him for not ceding an easement on his properties. Kevin also spoke about the County’s attempt to lump in canal ownership in the transfer to the City. Mr Ferris agreed that the County did try that in the beginning but was rejected by the City. Council Member Tinsley, as she did last month, reiterated that every residence in Palm Beach County has required easements and right of ways and no one is paid for those easements. Mr. Easton was NOT going to lose his property, but have an easement as does everyone else. And if he wanted payment, while all his other neighbors did not, then it would only be fair that all in the community be paid. (We hope that this can be resolved amicably)

Save the date January 29th for an FDOT Kick Off Meeting Phase 2 Study of the I-95 at PGA Blvd/Central Boulevard.  More details in a separate post.

Artistic Bus Shelters and Eminent Domain Dominate Mtg

What we expected to be a brief meeting took a little bit longer on Thursday, December 4th.

The agenda began with a very uplifting presentation on the results of the 9th Annual Mayor’s Veterans’ Golf Classic which in total awarded $29,114.47 to the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. The sponsors were honored and many staff participated on their own time for this worthy cause.

The Annual Investment Update generated a little discussion on whether or not interest rates would be rising any time soon and in support of the strategy to focus the bulk of investments in 1-2 year bonds.

Presentations were added to the agenda:

• Artistic Bus Shelters – 13 locations were identified based on passenger usage and by virtue of the Consent Agenda approval – those would be the sites for the shelters. The contract approval was also in the Consent Agenda – and manufacturing of the shelters could begin in early January with a target to have them all in place by summer.
• Neighborhood Improvement Assessment Program (NIAP) at 40th Terrace/Sunset Drive
  • The roads have been transferred/accepted from Palm Beach County and one payment is still outstanding
  • Two contracts have been awarded – one for the water and the other for the roadwork
  • The projects can commence on January 15, 2015 and expected assessments will be $2,032.39/yr/parcel or expressed monthly $169.37 monthly/parcel.
  • All necessary easements have been obtained (for no charge) except for one big exception which was met by extreme consternation and frustration by the Council.  Kevin Easton, who has been the face of the neighborhood for several years and pursued these neighborhood enhancements wants payment for the easements on some of his 5 parcels – necessary for the water loop as well as for a Fire/Rescue turn-around.  He and the City have not come to an agreement.    Any payments to Mr. Easton will raise the costs for the entire neighborhood, according to the Council discussion.  City Attorney Lohman recommended that the Council approve Eminent Domain proceedings, which he assured them would go through.  Legal costs incurred would also be spread to the project costs.  The Council voted 5:0 to commence with the proceedings.  All hoped this can be resolved without such an action being taken.  Mr. Easton was not at the meeting and so his side of the argument was not represented.

City Manager Ferris gave quick updates on the stormwater inspections, swale repair, referenced the Palm Beach Post article on RAIDSONLINE , an excellent presentation made by Natalie Crowley at the Business Development Board Forum, The 31st Annual Holiday Bazaar underway now and the Holiday Joy Drive.

Council member Tinsely recused herself on the Azure Plat resolution – which passed 4:0 and the remainder of the Consent Agenda passed 5:0, as did first reading of the Budget Amendment. There were no other items for council discussion or a City Attorney Report.

All on the Council wished everyone Happy Holidays.

Note that the January City Council Meeting will be on January 8th at 7pm.

Vice-Mayor Makes a Statement and Businesses on the Move

The November 6th City Council meeting was relatively short but covered a variety of subjects….

• Council member Tinsley requested that one of the Consent Agenda items – Amendment to Storm Water Infrastructure Mapping – be pulled from Consent and presented to the public. It was a very informative update on what the mapping had uncovered todate, and why additional work was necessary.
• City Manager Ferris reminded the public about Tuesday’s Veterans Day Ceremony at 11am. Congratulations were also in order for the now award winning ‘Frog-et Me Not’ program initiated by Karen Cobb of the PBG Police Department.
• The most dramatic moment was clearly the prepared statement read by Vice-Major Jablin during Items of Resident Interest, leading with the phrase “The Trees are Falling” in which he lambasted those who placed the term limits questions on the ballot, the concept of term limits, and those who supported it. Clearly he loves the city and feels that this change is not for the best.  You can watch his statement beginning at minute 1:30 of the Council Video.
• Ordinance 17, 2014 setting a moratorium on medical marijuana was withdrawn, as expected, due to failure of the ballot question to pass on 11/4
• The site plan amendment in Resolution 67, 2014 represented the move by Jo-Ann Fabrics to a new stand-alone retail building near Home Depot. While not mentioned during the meeting, this represents yet another business departing from the Promenade Shopping Plaza on Alt A1A and Lighthouse.
• The signage change covered in Resolution 60, 2014 was for a business moving to Palm Beach Gardens from West Palm Beach – “Garden of Life” – see the Palm Beach Post article about the move.  The Council welcomed the owners to the City.

All Ordinances passed 5:0.

Additional discussion was made regarding coordination with the School District and the desire for a ‘real’ workshop with All Aboard – with real answers, not slick presentations.

 

Term Limits Passes in a Landslide

Voters answered both Gardens’ ballot questions  with a resounding ‘YES”;  Question 1 received 79% of the vote and Question 2, 68%.  Read Tony Doris’ article in today’s paper for additional background.

Total votes cast back in the City’s March 2014 Municipal Elections was 7167.  (See Analysis post for more details) That was an unusually high turnout at 19% of registered voters.   7-12% turnout is more typical in the Municipals.  The winners’ margins of victory were measured in the hundreds.   When any of our council is elected or re-elected because there is no opponent, or by such low turnouts and close margins it is difficult to say any of them are there by a mandate.  That is not so much a reflection on the candidates as it is voter apathy during local elections, and one reason why we in PGBWatch want to foster citizen participation!

There is no doubt with numbers like those shown below, that a much larger portion of the City’s voters were paying attention.   This time, as in the vote for the Ethics and Inspector General Ordinances in 2010, the residents’ desires were loud and clear!

Gardens’ Past, Present and Future Development covered in Workshop

Many residents over the last few years have requested that the City Council hold workshops. So we were happy to see City Manager Ferris request one with the Council to discuss Growth Management. Often the Council meets individually with staff and then somehow vote unanimously on ordinances and issues with minimal deliberation. So it was refreshing to see what came close to an actual discussion on the future direction of Palm Beach Gardens.

Tony Doris, of the Palm Beach Post did an excellent job summarizing the meeting in these two articles: West growth is top city concern and Gardens works to control growth .

Anyone who is seriously considering running for the Council in the future or serving on the PZAB should save a copy of the excellent presentation by Natalie Crowley, Director of Planning and Zoning, as well as watching it on Youtube.   An understanding of the history of growth in the City, the 1999 Forbearance Agreement (and related Ordinance) and its impact on development, as well as the outlook on future projects were all included in the presentation.

Discussion by the Council begins here.  Comments made by both Vice Mayor Jablin and Council Member Russo called attention to their personal long term service and impact on the development of the City, as well as their knowledge on the topic(s).

Discussion on the hot topic of western communities and Avenir begins here.

We strongly encourage that you watch the video of the discussion as well as the presentation so that you will have a better understanding of where your Council, individually and as a group, view the future of the City.  There is a considerable amount of change ahead of us and all of the projects need to be considered not just as single projects but in the context of the complete City.

Palm Beach Post Endorses Term Limits for Gardens Council

On Thursday October 9, the Palm Beach Post endorsed the Gardens term limits initiative which will appear on the fall ballot. You will find the two questions (term limits and making them apply to current council members) at the very end of the three page ballot when you vote.

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