Contentious Emergency City Council Mtg Decision No Appeal
An emergency City Council meeting was called sometime on March 5th for the following morning, March 6 at 8am to decide whether or not to appeal the decision on the ruling by Judge J. Joseph Curley, Jr. finding ballot Questions 1 and 2 invalid, last Friday March 3rd. March 6th The meeting had a lot of fireworks and should be seen to be appreciated – however the outcome was that the City will not appeal, but should the plaintiff, Sid Dinerstein... [Read More...]
No Mention of an Election or a Lawsuit at March 1 City Council Meeting
The March City Council meeting began on a somber note as all stood for a moment of silence for those lost and affected by the Parkland shooting. While there were no presentations on the agenda, Mayor Marino read a proclamation to Remember and Honor the Vicitms (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – Parkland, FL). Council Member Litt, during Items of Resident Interest and Board/Committee Reports discussed how she (and other on the Council... [Read More...]
Tallahassee Impacts on Home Rule a Significant Concern to City
The February 2nd meeting was fairly brief, ending before 8:30. All ordinances/resolutions passed 5:0 or 4:0 when one of the Council Members wasn’t in the chambers. The most significant items were those not specific to Council votes. Presentations: The recognition and honoring of Evan Travers, Palm Beach Gardens Fire Explorer Post #705, who last April, assisted in the rescue of a driver and passenger in car accident, with the assistance... [Read More...]
Now It’s Up to the Voters
The chambers were packed at the start of the first 2018 City Council meeting. The majority were there to honor the Gardens Gators for winning the Pop Warner Super Bowl. At the conclusion of that portion of the meeting, about half of the chamber emptied out. Items of Resident Interest and Board Committee Reports was dominated by Council Member Woods decrying emails generated by an action alert regarding charter changes and term limits, and then seconded... [Read More...]
A Workshop at Last!
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORKSHOP The Gardens’ City Council finally had an almost 1.5 hour workshop on December 21st – although poorly attended by the public on the Thursday right before the holidays. There was significant discussion. So all in all having workshops is a practice which the Council should consider more frequently. December 21 Special Workshop Unfortunately, the Council spent less than 10 minutes on Ordinance 26, 2017 which... [Read More...]
Martino: Charter Changes – No need, No reason, No urgency
At the tail-end of the December 7th Palm Beach Gardens City Council agenda scheduled for 1st reading considerations and Council votes were Ordinances 26, 27, 28, and 29. Each of these ordinances concerned ballot language for the City Charter changes that were recommended by the Council appointed Charter Review Committee. It is the City Council’s intent to offer these major Charter revisions as ballot questions to the registered voters of Palm Beach... [Read More...]
Council Forges Ahead to Change Term Limits and Elections 4:1
In their zeal to put proposed Charter changes on an expected very low-turnout, no-candidate electon in March, the Council spent more time debating whether or not an issue City Attorney Lohman found with ballot wording and the existing Charter for allowing term-limited council members to run again than they did the significant changes that reside not just in term limits, but in the base charter. Only Council Member Lane, voting against all four proposed... [Read More...]
Some…Are More Equal Than Others!
And our Mayor and Council apparently agree! The November 2nd City Council meeting didn’t start with a bang, nor end with one – but the 8 minute ‘rant’ by former Mayor and Council member Eric Jablin (as covered by the Palm Beach Post here) provided for fireworks. It also demonstrated that our Council has one set of rules for some, and another set for others. It would have been interesting to see if Mayor Marino would have allowed... [Read More...]