Palm Beach Gardens Looking to the Future, and in the News
July 15, 2018
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.
July 12thEach 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.