By Jane Smith

Delray Beach commissioners passed a $151.4 million budget on Sept. 22 by drawing $5.2 million from reserves and making $2.76 million in cuts.
The reserves will be used to pay for one-time expenses, including a $150,000 generator for the information technology department, $953,605 for the city’s share of the Homewood Boulevard reconstruction joint project with the county’s Transportation Planning Agency, and a replacement air-conditioning system for the police headquarters at $400,000.
The major cuts came from stopping the city’s free transportation services in the summer months, saving about $500,000; postponing software improvements in Development Services that would allow online filing of permits, saving about $1.05 million; transferring $1 million dedicated to economic development to the general construction fund, and reducing police overtime, saving about $421,000.
Police Chief Javaro Sims said the overtime cuts will not harm police services. City special events have been reduced because of the coronavirus restrictions against large gatherings. That reduction led to fewer overtime details for city police.
After the commission’s Aug. 11 workshop when commissioners had asked for more cuts, interim City Manager Jennifer Alvarez had suggested layoffs might be needed to balance the budget. But by the final budget meeting it was determined that no employees would be laid off or forced to take furlough days.
The coronavirus impacts have hurt cities nationwide by reducing income from parking meters, street valets, sales tax dollars and bed tax money.
Delray Beach just restarted its meters downtown on Sept. 18. They had been turned off for six months. In addition, the commission granted reprieves to valet operators for the rest of the year.
The budget includes $39,000 for salary increases for the commission and the mayor. The raises will go into effect after the new commission takes the dais in late March. The annual commissioner salaries rose to $24,000 from $9,000 and the mayor’s salary increased to $30,000 from $12,000.
That is nearly a 300% increase. The commissioners said they recognized the timing was not ideal when everyone was cutting back because of coronavirus concerns. They also said their salaries are much lower than those of elected officials in nearby Boca Raton and Boynton Beach.
Plus, they agreed that if the economy does not turn around in January, they could always postpone the raises.

Lawsuit against broker reflects tide of adversity businesses have faced

By Mary Thurwachter,
Larry Keller and Jan Norris

When news hit the streets of a court case filed against one of the county’s foremost restaurant brokers — one who once managed a block of struggling shops on Ocean Avenue — no one in Lantana seemed particularly surprised.
While the broker, Tom Prakas, dutifully collected shop owners’ rent each month after he became manager in March 2016, he stopped turning over the money to the property owner 18 months later and used the cash as his personal repository, according to a series of jarring admissions in a sworn deposition.
Prakas spent the money for pricey family vacations and expensive dinners at restaurants, and doled out thousands of dollars to his family, according to a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. The allegations stem from an eviction lawsuit over $343,000 in unpaid rent. A judge evicted Prakas in 2018.
This news was no shocker to Dave Arm.
“This is an old story,” the Lantana Chamber of Commerce president said. “We’ve known about this, but it finally hit the papers.”
Prakas, Arm said, “has probably been the most successful restaurant broker in South Florida. He’s the go-to guy if you want to buy a restaurant, sell a restaurant, lease property, or buy property and put a restaurant in. He’s the guy. For some reason, he decided he wanted to control this property. He went to Burt Handelsman (who then owned the property) and came up with this idea of doing a 99-year lease.”
The property — a collection of small, colorful old shops on the north side of the 200 block of Ocean Avenue — became Lantana Village, and Prakas put up a sign so everyone would know. But the sign disappeared a few years ago along with Prakas’ dream of turning Ocean Avenue into Lantana’s version of Mizner Park, Arm said.
Only three shops are currently occupied: Mario’s Ocean Avenue, Oceano Kitchen and Jeannie’s Ocean Boutique. The vacancies are a mix of recent closures and buildings that were empty when Prakas arrived.
“There was a hair cutter, but she’s gone,” Arm said. “Set back in there was a little smoothie café, but that’s closed now.”
Arm said one of the features of the Handelsmans’ real estate program “is they really never fix anything up and they never sell anything.” The shops between Oceano and Mario’s are “really dilapidated,” he said.
“They’ve been empty since I’ve been in Lantana,” said Arm, who arrived in 2006. “Tom (Prakas) came up with the idea of getting a master lease on the whole thing, trying to fix up and lease out those shops in the middle that are empty, and also control the leases for Mario’s and Oceano Kitchen and the clothing store,” Arm said. “Apparently Prakas had no idea how code works and how parking works and what the story is in Lantana.”

Breaking the lease
Prakas began deviating almost immediately from terms of a 49-year master lease (with a 49-year option) that he signed in March 2016 for the shops known as Lantana Village. The owner of the properties was Love Lantana Point LLC. Real estate magnates Burt and Lucille “Lovey” Handelsman and their son Steven each had a 33% stake in the company.
The lease stipulated that Prakas — via his own company called Lantana Village LLC — would pay $18,450 a month. The rents he collected from the shops’ subtenants were to cover his own monthly rent on the master lease, as well as taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, maintenance and the like.
Prakas, however, paid only $15,000 a month from April 2016 through March 2017, and stopped paying any rent at all beginning in October of that year. He purportedly collected $16,000 to $20,000 per month from the tenants. Even when he paid his own rent, he sometimes paid late and sometimes bounced checks, according to court records. He also failed to pay other costs such as insurance and property taxes.
Love Lantana Point sued Lantana Village LLC in January 2018 and sought to evict Prakas and recover unpaid rent and taxes. Prakas, his wife, Donna Gibson, and a son, Nicholas, were later added as defendants for alleged fraudulent transfers and civil conspiracy.
Prakas contends the rent was too high — in part because of insufficient parking — and that he had a verbal agreement with Burt Handelsman, his longtime friend, to pay the lesser amount. The lease, however, stipulated that any amendments had to be in writing.
Meanwhile, the Handelsmans were in the throes of a complex divorce starting in March 2016. Nearly 90 family businesses — including Lantana Village — were among the marital assets contested by the couple. Burt Handelsman, 92, tried to keep the Lantana properties and continue with Prakas as the master lessee.
A judge eventually awarded the properties to his ex-wife and their three children. They are now managed by daughter Marsha Stocker. Prakas said he attempted in vain to reach a settlement with her.

Henry Olmino, who opened Mario’s in 2015, says the restaurant has had good relationships with members of the Handelsman family. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Tenants weigh in
Word of Prakas’ legal problems also came as no surprise to chef Henry Olmino, owner of Mario’s. Because of the ongoing lawsuit, Olmino didn’t want to comment, but he did say he was happy with the relationship he has maintained with Burt and Lovey Handelsman initially and currently their daughter Marsha.
“By the time Prakas took it over as manager everything was done,” said Olmino, who opened Mario’s in 2015. “We were at full roll and all I did was write him a check every month. I have a triple net lease, which means if something breaks, I fix it. So all he did was come by and pick up the rent.”
Olmino began paying rent directly to Handelsman’s wife and children (or Love Lantana Point) after the Handelsmans informed him that Prakas hadn’t been turning over the rent to them. And that’s just fine with Olmino, who says he has a good working relationship with his landlords.
While Olmino was able to weather the Prakas reign, a former tenant was anything but pleased with the former manager.

Good Vibes Acai Bar was one in a string of businesses in this location. The owner feels she was driven out. Photo provided

“We were driven out against our wishes,” said Tara Huber, owner of Good Vibes Acai Bar and smoothie café. “Tom Prakas became our new landlord in April 2016 and by the end of 2017 he succeeded in destroying everything we built and drove us out officially. Due to current litigation, I can’t speak of all the particular things Tom did to us at this time, but I feel telling the truth in short about why we left is no secret to many who know us.”
Huber said she couldn’t understand why Prakas was making it so difficult for her to stay in business. She thought she and her family had created a wonderful community together and brought life to that end of the street. “We assumed we would be his key benefit to helping him build the Lantana Village he often spoke of. 
“We soon found out exactly why,” Huber continued. “His underlying motive and purpose of driving us out was because he loved our concept and all we had built and wanted it for himself and his children to claim the glory of it.”
Prakas nearly tripled Huber’s rent only to gift the shop to two of his sons, Alex and Aristotle, for a fraction of what Huber was paying, she said.
The sons opened a vegan shop, the Current Café, that sold acai bowls and smoothies. Prakas reimbursed them for expenses they incurred to spruce up the property, he said in a deposition.
The Current Café closed in January 2019. Huber had moved her business west to 6169 S. Jog Road in Lake Worth in 2018.
Dak Kerprich, creator of Pizzeria Oceano, was on the block before Prakas arrived but sold his restaurant in early 2017 to Jeremy Bearman, who rebranded it as Oceano Kitchen. Prakas brokered the sale.
“We were not there that long with Tom,” Kerprich recalled. “I introduced Tom to the town of Lantana. That’s when he kind of figured out what they were doing with that property. I introduced him to Dave Thatcher (Lantana’s former director of development). I’ve known Dave for years.
“I worked with Thatcher when I opened up Oceano, then Burt (Handelsman) actually opened up two (parking) spots for me,” Kerprich said. Parking on the avenue has long been an issue.
“I’m probably the only one in the world who can’t say anything bad about Burt,” Kerprich said. “I’ve never had a problem with him. I paid my rent. I liked him. I like listening to him: He’s very interesting — a pleasure to talk to.”
Kerprich also said Prakas was an interesting guy. “You have to take him with a grain of salt. He basically told me what he wanted to do with the block and I told him I was ready to move from Pizzeria Oceano.”
Unlike Olmino, Bearman has a regular lease at Oceano Kitchen. If something has to be repaired at the building, landlord Love Lantana Point pays for it.
“What happened between Tom and Burt,” Bearman said, “was obviously a lot of scheming. It ended up pretty much a bad situation for everyone that was involved. Definitely cost us money in lawyer fees and all the rest of that.
“We don’t have any problems, nobody comes around and asks us anything,” Bearman said. “We do OK with what we have. Nobody’s told us we have to go find other parking.”

Parking issues
“Basically, the empty shops have no parking,” Arm said. “Oceano Kitchen has some parking spots and Mario’s has some parking spots. The parking spots are basically given by the landlord to the tenants to control so they can fulfill the code. So, say Mario’s needs 40 parking spots, it left no spots for these stores. You can’t have a store with no off-street parking. I don’t know if he (Prakas) didn’t know that going in or didn’t research it or thought he’d be able to get around it.”
Prakas, 63, went to the Lantana Town Council on Sept. 26, 2016, to ask for a shared parking agreement that would allow the empty shops to share a town lot on the west side of Dixie Highway on Third Street with Mario’s. But that didn’t work out.
In May 2019, the town did significantly reduce the parking requirements for downtown businesses, and Mario’s, which offers valet parking, no longer needed the town lot. In fact, Olmino said Mario’s never once parked a car on the town-owned lot since he signed the lease for the lot in 2015.
While there is an ongoing debate about whether Ocean Avenue has a parking problem, Arm said he doesn’t think the code is restrictive anymore.
Mayor Dave Stewart adds: “Of course, on Friday evenings and when there are football games and when people go out to the restaurants, yes, parking is at a premium. But every resident can go purchase a parking permit for one year for $36 plus tax and they can park at any spot, anywhere without having to pay a meter — anywhere along Ocean Avenue (where there are no meters), or in the kayak park, Bicentennial Park and Sportsman’s Park where there are meters. I believe we have provided ample spaces for them.”

Prakas’ side of the story
Being a real estate broker, Prakas was hardly a novice at leases and contracts. He says he sold Handelsman millions of dollars of property over the years. When he was young, he worked in the restaurant and bar industry for his parents. By age 21, he opened his own establishments, accumulating 28 restaurants and nightclubs throughout Ohio, Georgia and South Florida. He shed them all in the 1990s, he says, and switched his focus to commercial real estate.
Yet in a pair of sworn depositions, Prakas was fuzzy on details about his bank accounts, said he failed to put agreements in writing and couldn’t explain some of his expenditures.
He contends that Burt Handelsman agreed to the $15,000 in reduced rent until he resolved the parking issues. “I never could get the parking settled,” he said in one deposition.
But he also agreed to the lease even though he said two to four of the structures were so shabby that it would be more economical to tear them down. Prakas said he spent $30,000 on awnings, decks, landscaping and painting the structures. His lease should have been around $10,000 a month, he said.
“It was a bad decision,” Prakas said. “I made a bad deal.”
Handelsman vouched for Prakas’ account. “He didn’t pay the rent that was stipulated in the lease because I said he could take an allowance,” Handelsman said at a court hearing in July 2018. “I made a management decision, what’s best for the company. He was putting back buildings that were falling apart. He was spending far more money than he or I even contemplated that he was going to need.”
In the fall of 2018, Circuit Judge Howard Coates Jr. ordered Prakas to deposit almost $343,000 into a court registry for unpaid rent. Prakas said under oath earlier that he had held onto the subtenants’ rents that he received. But none of the money was paid, and interest is accruing.
Instead the Prakas family treated Lantana Village income as though it was “their personal piggybank,” attorney Jeffrey Fisher, representing the Handelsman children, said in a court filing.
“All told, the Prakas family has conned Love Lantana out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Fisher wrote.
The entire family — Prakas has six sons and two daughters — spent Thanksgiving and Christmas 2016 on visits to Atlanta, staying at a luxury hotel in the city’s swanky Buckhead area.
Prakas conceded that his son Nicholas — who he said managed Lantana Village for him — repeatedly spent tenants’ rent on personal expenses such as airline tickets, Uber Eats, Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza.
He also acknowledged transferring Lantana Village rent to his wife but said it was to repay a loan she made to Lantana Village. There is no promissory note, he said.
And Prakas transferred Lantana Village income in what he said was “a very small amount” to a Delray Beach building on which he held the master lease. The owner: Burt Handelsman.
“You made a conscious choice to pay yourself and your family members rather than the rent, right?” Fisher asked.
“Well, yeah,” Prakas said.
Prakas, who hasn’t held leases on Ocean Avenue since 2018, was hesitant to comment on the litigation.
“It was a rent thing,” he said. “It was a negotiation. I was trying to renegotiate the lease and got embroiled in the middle of a family battle with the Handelsman family, with the father. That’s all I can say. It’s a Greek tragedy. There are three sides to the story — yours, mine and the truth. They only told one side.”
A trial date has not been set.

How to fill empty shops?
Arm said the Chamber and all of Lantana would like to see something happen and get some businesses into those empty shops.
“I’m not certain how it could be done. It’d be great if something could open up there, if the owners of the property could make that happen,” he said, referring to the Handelsman family.
Alan Ross, whose Shades of Time sunglass shop across the street at 214 E. Ocean has been on Ocean Avenue for 26 years — the first several years in one of the vacant shops the Handelsmans now own — said people have to be realistic about the street’s potential.
“I don’t know what the intentions are of the people that have that property,” Ross said. “In my opinion, 25 years later, this isn’t a street that has a lot of walking traffic at all. You have to have the willingness and/or ability to make yourself a destination with a product that works or you’re just not going to do business.
“I’ve seen businesses come and go and the reason they’ve come and gone is they didn’t do the upfront work they should have done to investigate what the street and its potential was or is.”

Max Weinberg, drummer for Bruce Springsteen, keeps a drum set in the garage of his Delray Beach home. He joined the city’s Planning and Zoning Board this year to serve his new community. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Max Weinberg has spent much of his adult life splitting time between being the drummer for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and serving as bandleader on Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show. But through it all, he has retained a keen interest in real estate, architecture and city planning.
So it may not be surprising that, after some urging from friends, Weinberg earlier this year applied for and was appointed to a position on the Planning and Zoning Board of his new hometown, Delray Beach.
“What you try to do as a drummer is keep the conversation going,” Weinberg said. “So as a Planning and Zoning Board member I’m trying to keep the municipal planning conversation going. And it’s tough.”
Weinberg, 69, started drumming when he was 6 and, at 23, was hired by Springsteen after answering an ad in the Village Voice. One of the high points of their association, which continues to this day, came in 1984 with the release of Born in the U.S.A., an album that spawned a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles and prompted Springsteen to later say, “Max was the best thing on the record.”
In 1993, a chance meeting with O’Brien resulted in Weinberg’s hiring as bandleader on O’Brien’s late-night show. Weinberg put together a band — The Max Weinberg 7 — and that relationship lasted until 2009.
Weinberg moved to Palm Beach in 2015 before heading to Delray Beach in March 2017. His first meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission was Sept. 21, so he’s still navigating the territory. So far, he’s relying heavily on a 20-year comprehensive plan titled “Always Delray” that came out just last year.
“My interest is to serve the very diverse constituencies who not only are the residents of Delray but who have a vested interest in Delray,” he said. “You have to make sure everybody in the city is being served, and I’m not so sure that’s being done.
“I’m at a time in my life where enough people asked me to get involved that I finally said yes. My professional activities are curtailed, just like everybody else’s,” he said of the coronavirus pandemic, “and I don’t see that changing much during my (two-year) term as a board member. I hope that’s not the case, but I’m not super-optimistic.”
Weinberg, an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band, has been married for 39 years to Becky, a former history teacher. The couple has two children: Ali Weinberg Rogin, a senior producer of foreign affairs for PBS NewsHour in Washington and wife of Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin; and Jay Weinberg, a drummer with the heavy-metal band Slipknot.
Weinberg’s other accomplishments include authoring a book, The Big Beat: Conversations With Rock’s Greatest Drummers, which profiled Ringo Starr, Levon Helm and others; graduating from Seton Hall University at age 38 after a lengthy hiatus due to his band work, and being honored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for his work with that organization.
— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I was born in 1951 in Newark, N.J. We moved to the suburb of Maplewood, N.J., and then to South Orange, N.J. Maplewood-South Orange shared a school system and it was top notch.
I graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood in 1969. In high school I played drums in the marching band, the concert band, stage band and orchestra, so my day was filled with music.
The opportunities back in the ’50s and ’60s for playing music locally abounded and gave me a chance to grow as a player. As a consequence, I was already in a band when the Beatles broke big in 1964. My teen band was sort of the local “stars,” if you will.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: Although I have served as an actor and late-night bandleader for many years, and written a book about my favorite drummers called The Big Beat, the professional accomplishment of which I’m most proud is my 46-year association with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Recently, I received an honorary doctorate from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and was asked to speak a few words to the graduates. They asked for some career advice. Well, any career, especially today, is so tough and likely to change over the course of one’s working life. But I do believe that it helps to be the first one to arrive on the job and the last one to leave. You’re probably not going to love every working moment, but one should gain a sense of reward from that component of life.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
A: My wife, Becky, and I have lived in New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. We chose to live in Delray Beach after several years in another Palm Beach County town for the small-town scale and the extremely friendly and diverse population that comprise the city.
As a newly appointed Planning and Zoning Board member I hope to be able to make a difference in helping to maintain this unique human scale ambience, preserve the best of what Delray offers, particularly architecturally, and improve the rest for all the constituencies comprising the city.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: My interests are pretty diverse. Most recently I finished The Age of Eisenhower, as I have felt a need to fill in the blanks of my childhood, particularly the widespread misconception that the 1950s were such a “placid” decade. That period was anything but.  
I’d also recommend Freedom’s Forge, which tells the story of FDR and America’s response to the growing dangers of World War II, a conflict for which in 1937 the United States was ill-equipped and unprepared to wage. This book could be a primer for how we need to face our current challenges and those in the future.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I listen to Sinatra to relax — what else? What music do I find inspiring? Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Letter to You, is my go-to at the moment. Bruce’s stories are real and uplifting and the E Street Band is my musical North Star. Beethoven works well for me as well — and Pavarotti. I’ll get into a heavy Beatles marathon from time to time — no one’s done rock better except for maybe Chuck Berry.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My father, Bert, was a huge influence, as was my mother, Ruth. They had great values — discipline, strong work ethic, willpower, dignified posture — everything a family needed to get through hard times, and there were certainly a few of those.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Paul Newman, of course, but that would have been unlikely. More likely — Harold Ramis or Eugene Levy.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: I’m a latecomer to Seinfeld but recently we’ve started at episode one and I find it hysterical and so true. Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel taught me so much about comedy when I was on TV all these years. I still find them both hysterical. Conan: Smart guy, smart humor!

Q: Do you have a favorite cause? If so, why is it so important to you?
A: Save the Chimps in Port St. Lucie is a marvelous sanctuary for these lovely, yet powerful creatures. We support them and also have been longtime patrons of The Gorilla Foundation. I cry when I see the injustices perpetrated on the human species’ closest relatives.  
The Golden Rule should be extended to all animals, as it’s heartbreaking to witness the effects of climate change on defenseless creatures, let alone we humans.  
Take a look at the iconic photograph Earthrise and embrace the reality that we are killing our unique habitat. One doesn’t need to be an astronaut to marvel at what we’ve been given and are so in danger of losing.
Apart from the preceding I am a strong supporter of preserving our architectural past. Whether public buildings like the destruction of New York City’s Pennsylvania Station between 1963 and 1966 or locally and most recently, the misguided demolition of legendary Sarasota School architect Paul Rudolph’s historically recognized Biggs House on Seabreeze Avenue is distressing to say the least.
I serve on the board of the Delray Beach Preservation Trust and, whether or not one is a fan of a particular architectural style, once they’re gone, they’re gone. And our collective physical history suffers the consequences.

SEPT. 21 King tides and strong swells from tropical weather started the king tide season off with higher-than- expected flooding.

ABOVE: A stranded motorist calls for a tow truck after her car stalled out on Ocean Avenue in Ocean Ridge.

OCT. 19 Offshore breezes combined with king tides for more flooding.

ABOVE: Alex Granda slogs through flood waters as he works at Deck 84 restaurant in Delray Beach.
BELOW: Lia Schultz prepares to recover the trash can that floats in front of her home in Briny Breezes.

Photos by Jerry Lower/
The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

A relationship that has flowed faithfully for 60 years abruptly ended on its anniversary in September.
The long-running water partnership between Manalapan and the Town of Hypoluxo died for the foreseeable future, after Hypoluxo switched to Boynton Beach Utilities for services.
About 2,200 Hypoluxo residents, roughly 550 accounts, are getting their water from Boynton now. The change has been in the works for the last three years, since the Hypoluxo Town Council unanimously voted not to renew the Manalapan contract — originally signed in 1960 — when it expired on Sept. 1.
“We just can’t compete with what they’re offering,” Manalapan Town Manager Linda Stumpf said.
Boynton is promising Hypoluxo users a 25% reduction in their monthly bills and charging them the same preferred rate as in-city residents.
The fast-growing Boynton utility serves close to 120,000 customers and is looking to expand further. Manalapan has about 250 accounts remaining and is searching for a replacement for the roughly $1.2 million annual revenue stream Hypoluxo brought to the town.
“We’re looking for someone, and there’s been some interest,” Stumpf said.
Meanwhile, both towns are trying to settle on a price for the infrastructure Hypoluxo is taking over. Manalapan still owns the network of pipes west of the Intracoastal Waterway and wants roughly $1.2 million to give them up. Hypoluxo has submitted an appraisal that puts the value at around $490,000. An independent appraisal is in the works. “Hypoluxo has put $1 million in an escrow account for us while the appraisers are trying to agree on a value,” Stumpf said.
In other business, the Town Commission has unanimously approved two ordinances with provisions that shift review authority for building projects from Manalapan’s appointed boards to commissioners.
The changes give the commissioners the discretion to sign off on dock design plans and other building code issues without waiting for recommendations from the Planning and Zoning or Architectural commission. Input from the review boards is no longer mandatory.
The intent is “to streamline the review processes for both applicants and the town,” according to language in the ordinance passed to restructure the role of the planning board.
Another purpose is to prevent delays caused when a review panel is unable to meet because of absences that prevent assembling a quorum.
“It’s because of the way we’re structured and the way people are in or out of town,” Mayor Keith Waters said before the July 28 vote. “We’re trying to expedite to some extent the things that come before the commission. Sometimes it may take two or three months to get everybody together because people are not necessarily here 12 months a year.”

By Rich Pollack

Following through on inquiries from state regulators, Delray Beach’s Utilities Department is finishing up efforts to clean water storage tanks that had not been properly maintained in at least five years, while at the same time it takes steps to enhance maintenance procedures and improve drinking water quality and aesthetics.
“Our goal is to assure that people will be happy with their water and we’re hoping we can also further improve the color of the water,” said Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry.
Since September — when the Florida Department of Health began investigating Delray’s failure to inspect and, if necessary, clean water storage tanks at required intervals — the city has completed cleaning of its north water storage tank and last month completed cleaning of its 2-million-gallon south water storage tank.
Cleansing of another south tank, which holds 500,000 gallons, was scheduled to be completed by the end of October and cleaning of the city’s clear well — a tank that contains water as it moves through the treatment process — is set to begin in early November. That cleaning will take up to three weeks.
Once that project is completed, Delray Beach will have cleaned all of its water storage tanks and will be in compliance with state regulations that require water storage tanks to be inspected and cleaned at least every five years.
The city is still awaiting results of the state health department’s investigation into the storage tank cleaning, as well as an investigation into an issue Delray Beach had with reclaimed water commingling with drinking water.
Those issues are also the focus of an inquiry by the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General, which will make recommendations for corrective actions, should they be needed.
Hadjimiry and his team are already a few steps ahead of that investigation, having instituted several new processes and procedures.
In recent weeks Hadjimiry has implemented a new method of tracking tank inspections and cleanings, with the process now becoming the responsibility of the department’s regulatory compliance division. Additional maintenance activities are being tracked through a public-asset management program that tracks projects to completion.
Under Hadjimiry, who came to Delray Beach from Palm Beach County Water Utilities in June, the department also stocks critical parts so they’re on hand if needed and the city has vendor contracts in place to provide parts and service on short notice.
The department is also in the process of hiring a new water plant manager, filling a position that has been vacant since May.
“We’re going to do the most we can do for the overall quality of water,” Hadjimiry said, reinforcing his contention that the city’s drinking water is safe and in compliance with state and federal regulations.
One of several projects the Utilities Department has planned going forward is a study of ways to improve the aesthetics of the water coming out of faucets. An often-repeated complaint from residents is that Delray’s water is discolored, frequently with a yellow tint.
Hadjimiry said he hopes to further improve the color through a combination of processes. “I want to see if we can bring up the color of the water,” he said.
Also in the works is a study to see if the city can provide an extra level of disinfection into the water treatment process, one that goes beyond regulations and is currently used by the Palm Beach County Water Utilities department.
The city Utilities Department recently completed cleaning of the aerators used in the water treatment process and Hadjimiry is expected to ask the City Commission to approve spending $900,000 to replace filters that are critical to the treatment process. Ú

By Jane Smith

At the end of October, the Florida Department of Health was still waiting for complete information on some barrier island reclaimed water installations in Delray Beach.
More than three months have passed since local DOH environmental leaders met with Delray Beach utilities and legal staff to review 13 possible violations in the city’s reclaimed water program.
“The department expects the report to contain a full accounting/inventory and compliance history of all reclaimed water connections,” wrote Jorge Patino, water and wastewater administrator at the Florida DOH. “Any omissions may be construed as reporting violations.”
That Sept. 21 email to the city Utilities Department director seemed to be about the South Ocean Boulevard customers who were allowed to switch back to potable water for irrigation after having been converted to reclaimed water.
Delray Beach requires its water customers to switch to reclaimed water for irrigation when that service is available in their neighborhood. Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater that is suitable only for irrigation and not human or pet consumption.
Patino was alerted to the latest issue by Christine Ferrigan, a Delray Beach utilities inspector, who sent a Sept. 15 email to the environmental health director and the local DOH legal director.
Ferrigan was hired in June 2017, six months before the city contracted with Lanzo Construction to install the reclaimed water system in the southeast portion of the barrier island.
Ferrigan had claimed whistleblower status in 2008 after she was fired from Boca Raton’s water department. She sued the city over the firing. Ferrigan and her attorneys received a settlement from the city’s insurance company the day before the trial started. The city did not admit any wrongdoing.
In her email to the DOH, Ferrigan wrote about a Sept. 11 meeting with city Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry and the department’s compliance manager, at which she said she was told “to remove all history of several locations that have shown prior reclaimed violations/cross connections.”
Ferrigan explained that the properties were located along South Ocean Boulevard and had converted back to potable water for irrigation.
A cross connection discovered there in December 2018 triggered this year’s review of the citywide reclaimed water program. A woman who lived in that area called the local office of the Florida DOH on Jan. 2 to say she was not adequately informed of the 2018 cross connection. A cross connection happens when drinking water pipes are mistakenly connected to reclaimed water pipes.
In the fall of 2018, many South Ocean property owners said they and their pets were sickened by drinking tainted water.
Hadjimiry, though, saw the Sept. 11 meeting differently.
“Part of the discussion with Ms. Ferrigan was to clarify what information is to be reported on the cross-connection inspection form,” Hadjimiry replied via an Oct. 19 email sent by Gina Carter, city spokeswoman.
Ferrigan was told to list her observations in the field on the day the cross-connection inspections were conducted, including previous inspections, he wrote.
“Any additional information gathered in the field from customers or other sources pertaining to the history of the site’s connection — which was not specifically inspected and verified by Ms. Ferrigan on the date of inspection — should be included as an attachment to the inspection form with a note on the form to see the attachment for additional information,” Hadjimiry wrote.
He declined to give a time when Ferrigan would complete her inspections and write the reports about the properties no longer connected to the reclaimed water service.
“The Utilities Department is working closely with FDOH on completing the required information,” Hadjimiry wrote.
Separately, the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment plant used the outfall pipe in Delray Beach twice in the first 20 days of October to send treated wastewater into the ocean. Those discharges are allowed under a 2009 administrative order from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
When the plant needs to use the outfall pipe, reclaimed water is not available for Delray Beach water customers who live east of the interstate.
The first occurrence happened on Oct. 1 during heavy rainfall in Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. The reclaimed water system shutdown lasted a week.
The second took place on Oct. 20, and reclaimed water service had not been restored before press time.

ABOVE: Workers prepare a socially distanced, pod seating layout at Old School Square in Delray Beach for the return of its Friday Concert Series on Oct. 23. The first concert featured ‘The Long Run: A Journey Through the Music of the Eagles.’ BELOW: The 100-foot Christmas Tree was assembled in October. Because of COVID-19 precautions, the city will not have a tree-lighting ceremony and it canceled the holiday parade.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The revised Community Heartbeat mural commissioned for the windows of Boynton’s new fire station returns faces that had previously been removed. Rendering provided

By Jane Smith

As Boynton Beach maintains its role as a public art supporter, the city is juggling three arts-related issues.
In August, city commissioners hired a Boca Raton events firm, Zucker & Lewis Media Group LLC, to produce its fifth International Kinetic Art Festival. The firm will be paid $40,000. Next year’s festival is slated for March 6 and 7, instead of the first weekend in February. The extra month will give the event firm more time to find artists and organize the festival.
Boynton Beach also is on its second search for a public art manager. One candidate, selected in early September, dropped out at the last minute when she received a better offer that the city could not match, Kathryn Matos, assistant city manager, said on Oct. 8.
And in early November, the city will unveil the restored Community Heartbeat mural to be placed on the lobby windows of the new fire station in town. City commissioners and others will be invited to a small ceremony.
The juggling situation was created in early June after Debby Coles-Dobay, the city’s public art manager, was fired when she was blamed in the whitewashing of the faces of two Black fire chiefs from the Community Heartbeat mural. The mural is a collage of firefighters in action and at city events with a red heartbeat line running through it.
The change created an uproar in the local Black community at the same time as international racial unrest was growing over the May 25 death of George Floyd. The Black man died while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
The Boynton Beach mural was taken down on June 4, two days after it was installed and one day after the soft opening for the fire station.
From June 4 through 6, City Manager Lori LaVerriere interviewed Coles-Dobay, Fire Marshal Kathy Cline and then-Fire Chief Matthew Petty. “Coles-Dobay admitted that changing the skin color was her idea and decision,” according to the draft notes of Human Resources Director Julie Oldbury, who was present during the interviews. The original notes were hand-written and difficult to read.
Coles-Dobay denies the allegations in the HR notes: “I did not want any changes to be made to the mural. Fire Chief Matthew Petty and Fire Marshal Kathy Cline directed changes to be made. Documents were provided and approved by city officials,” Coles-Dobay wrote in an Oct. 18 email to The Coastal Star.
In late April, Cline and Petty were involved in last-minute discussions about the mural, according to Oldbury’s notes. Both said they wanted to have blurred faces of the 39 firefighters shown in the mural.
Cline, who had not seen the mural, expressed concerns about seeing identifiable firefighters in the station lobby. The mural “would then create a ‘why is this person on here, why am I not on here?’ issue,” she said.
Cline also objected to the mural because as the city’s fire marshal she is responsible for fire safety. The mural’s placement in the fire station’s lobby windows was not letting enough light through to see inside the building or out onto the street, she said.
In addition, Oldbury’s notes reflect that Petty said he had concerns about the circumstances under which the two Black chiefs left the city. He asked, “Is that pressure? No, that’s me voicing my concerns before I’m being requested to give an approval.”
Petty admitted he failed when he replied to an April 23 email from Coles-Dobay about the mural, “Looks good, approved, moving on.” He said he had not looked at the latest rendition of the mural before replying.
On June 6, Petty and LaVerriere agreed he would step down as fire chief.
Since then, the city Arts Commission on June 11 decided to try to restore the original mural. Releases were sent to all 39 people in the mural asking for permission to use their images.
Thirteen responses were received. Twelve approved of having their images in the mural and one did not.
The city’s second Black fire chief, Glenn Joseph, who retired in November 2019, asked that his image be removed. Joseph did not want to be in the mural because he had worked only a few years for the city.
Former Deputy Fire Chief Latosha Clemons, who is Black, did not respond to the second request. She sent a text message to The Coastal Star on Oct. 5, saying, “I had consented when I issued the photo to be on the mural and also when I stated that little Black girls can pass by and see who they can become.”
Clemons, a Boynton Beach native, grew up in the neighborhood adjacent to the fire station. She still lives in that area after retiring in March with nearly 24 years of service.
The reprinting of the mural will cost about $1,400, Nicole Blanks, public art assistant, told the Arts Commission members on Oct. 8. In addition, Matos told the members they will receive invitations to the mural unveiling.
Also on Oct. 8, Matos received recruiting ideas for the public art manager position from the Arts Commission members. She said the city received about 100 applicants for the opening, but most were not qualified.
“If you’re only getting two serious candidates out of 100 submissions, maybe the ad wording can be improved,” said Martin Klauber, an alternate member.
Member Susan Oyer said, “Our position is so unusual that it requires the person to be knowledgeable about public relations and marketing, along with knowing about art and public art. Maybe advertise in New York City?”
For the kinetic art festival, Valerie Zucker, a principal in the events firm, came to the September meeting of the Arts Commission to hear its ideas. Her firm has an extra month to plan for the event.
Submissions are due Nov. 1. Highlights will include the formal dedication of Ralfonso’s kinetic piece, Reflections. It sits at the northeast corner of Seacrest Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, serving as the gateway feature to the city’s Town Square redevelopment.
Zucker hopes that Ralfonso will attend the VIP reception on March 5. In addition, she wants to have companies sponsor some of the programs, such as the kinetic sculpture kits for kids.
“We’re not reinventing the formula for the kinetic festival,” said Courtlandt McQuire, Arts Commission chairman. “Art will bring the people.”
He said Coles-Dobay made a lot of the decisions, from the artwork displayed to the type of music played. “Now, we will work with Valerie.” Ú

By Dan Moffett

The town of Briny Breezes has been running on a largely improvised collection of rules and regulations since its incorporation as a municipality in 1963.
That could change next year after the March election.
Briny voters will get the chance to approve amendments that would give the town a formal charter with detailed guidelines, definitions and procedures for governance.
The Town Council, during its Oct. 22 meeting, unanimously approved an ordinance putting the amendment on the March 9 ballot, culminating six months of review and deliberation, led by Town Attorney Keith Davis.
A citizens charter review committee, chaired by former Alderman Bobby Jurovaty, met multiple times through the summer to put together the proposed charter. Other members of the committee were Jim Phillippi, Karen Wiggins, Susan Atlee, Suzanne Carroll and Jerry Lower, publisher of The Coastal Star.
Most of the new document simply restates practices that the town already has in place. Two of the most noteworthy changes are a measure that makes the job of town clerk an appointed position, rather than elected, and a section that defines the role of the town manager, a position the Town Council created three years ago.
The proposed charter also outlines procedures for the recall and removal of elected officials and clarifies the role of the nonvoting mayor position.
In other business:
• The council unanimously approved during its October meeting a new policy for satisfying large public records requests that require extensive work by town employees. The policy allows 15 minutes of employee work at no charge for requests, but if more time is required, the town now will charge the requesting party a service fee based on the employee’s hourly pay.
Town Manager William Thrasher said some recent extensive record requests have forced him and Clerk Sandi DuBose to lose too much time from doing the town’s necessary work. They are the only employees in Town Hall and both are part-time.
Thrasher said the new policy is modeled after those used in neighboring communities.
• The Town Council has scheduled its regular monthly meetings for Nov. 19 and Dec. 17 to adjust to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Both are to begin at 4 p.m.

By Jane Smith

The Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency board members have expressed reservations about taking parking spaces in exchange for money for the proposed Ocean Avenue Residences and Shoppes along Federal Highway.
The development team for the proposed project on the property that had housed the temporary city library has suggested providing the city with 120 public parking spaces in a multistory garage instead of paying the $3 million that the CRA spent acquiring the land at 115 N. Federal Highway.
“We’re not getting our $3 million up front,” Steven Grant, CRA board chairman, said about his concerns at the board’s Oct. 13 meeting. “We don’t need garage parking there.”
He suggested the developer could make scheduled payments over time.
Board member Justin Katz also expressed concerns about the project.
“This board has not approved of anything specific here,” Katz said. “Maybe we should get community input before we put out the request for proposal?”
Grant said he talked with William Morris, one of the developers of the proposed Ocean Avenue Residences, about the project.
Morris also was involved with Worthing Place, a residential development in downtown Delray Beach. When Morris talked at the Aug. 11 Boynton Beach CRA meeting, he touted the success of Worthing Place.
But, when Grant visited the project recently, he did not see it as anything special. “It had two vacant lots next to it,” Grant told his fellow CRA board members.
Grant said he also talked with developer Davis Camalier, who owns the land and building that is rented to the Boardwalk Italian Ice & Creamery at 209 N. Federal. Camalier said he had not talked with Morris, according to Grant. 
“These are adjacent properties not involved but affected by the upgrade,” Grant said. “They are street-facing properties.”
Earlier in the meeting during public comment, Kim Kelly, owner of the Hurricane Alley restaurant on Ocean Avenue, said she had collected 4,000 signatures to oppose the project. She suggests building a hotel on the site to help the CRA’s nearby marina.
Morris and his partners want to turn the alley north of Kelly’s restaurant into a pedestrian walkway. If that happens, Hurricane Alley will lose most of its parking, Kelly said.
The CRA board did not take any action Oct. 13. Even though a 90-day window for the developer to see whether anyone else is interested in the property will not be expired by the Nov. 10 meeting, board members asked Executive Director Michael Simon to make sure the Ocean Avenue Residences development team attends.
The project would have 229 residential units, 18,000 square feet of commercial space and a parking garage with 544 spaces on 2.6 acres. The estimated cost is about $65 million. The developers want to include Dewey Park, a city park on Ocean Avenue, as its green space.
On Aug. 11, CRA board members unanimously accepted the Ocean Avenue Residences’ letter of intent. They gave the development team the 90-day window then. CRA rules require issuing a request for proposals if more than one letter of intent is received. As of the Oct. 13 meeting, no one else had submitted a letter, said Simon.
“By November, we should know more about train transit locations,” Grant said. The property sits next to the Florida East Coast railroad line that the Brightline express train used before the company suspended service in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Two other board members also said they remain flexible and want to see what is proposed.
One of them, Woodrow Hay, said: “We want to have some kind of train station there. Where are the citizens with their plans? I’m not in a hurry, but I would like to have all the cards on the table.” Ú

By Mary Thurwachter

Despite a robust boost in property values — an increase of $78 million to $1.21 billion for the new fiscal year (including $14.4 million in new construction), Lantana will still need to pull $37,937 from reserves to balance its $20 million budget.
“We are not allowed to print money, we are not allowed to not have a balanced budget,” Mayor Dave Stewart said during the final public budget hearing Sept. 23. “So, in layman’s terms, if we didn’t go into reserves, or have them to get that money, we could be losing one in personnel, one police officer or someone like that along the way. So, we’re going into reserves for that amount, which is minimal in the scope of things.
“It’s nice that our councils for the last 20 years have tried to take a fiscally responsible approach,” Stewart said. “We haven’t had to lay anyone off and we haven’t had to stop services, we haven’t had to do any of that because we’ve been able to keep money in the reserves and act fiscally responsible.”
The money collected from property taxes amounts to about 20% of what it costs to run the town, Stewart said. Other money comes from gas tax revenue, sales tax sharing, revenue sharing from the state and various grants.
The tax rate is the same as last year, $3.50 per $1,000 of taxable value — which represents an increase of 5.58% from the rollback rate of $3.3151 necessary to fund the budget.
Employees will get a 1.5% cost-of-living raise and may be entitled to merit raises up to 5% based on annual evaluations.
The town will add a detective and another dispatcher for the Police Department. And part-time staffing hours will be increased at the town library.
From its share of the 1-cent sales tax, Lantana will spend $9,000 for a deck at Sportsman’s Park, $129,000 for improvements at the beach, $120,000 for a playground at Bicentennial Park and $453,000 for upgrading roads.
“Next year we will be paying off our debt for all except about $65,000 and we’re finally paying off our 1998 revenue bond,” Stewart said. “The money we borrowed in the early 2000s for the water plant, the money we refinanced for new water and sewer lines, the money we borrowed for all the road paving we did in the early 2000s, all of that will finally be paid off.”

By Mary Thurwachter

The Lantana Town Council voted unanimously to purchase body cameras for the Police Department.
“We are lucky in that we have a very good force,” council member Karen Lythgoe said at the town’s Oct. 26 meeting. “People I have met are very courteous, caring, very professional and I would like to be able to protect them because I know there are people who are out there who will skew the truth.”
The cost of body cameras for five years is $364,520, according to Police Chief Sean Scheller. Along with the body camera equipment, Scheller said he would need to hire a civilian employee at an additional cost of $67,000 (including benefits) to manage what the chief calls a “labor intensive process.”
More than half of the 23 municipalities in Palm Beach County that have their own police departments are already using body cameras, according to a recent Palm Beach County Justice Commission survey.
Lantana has an agreement with Axon Enterprise, Inc. (formerly Tazer), which provides Tasers and supporting software and management. Axon included 35 cameras, docking stations and new Tasers in the $364,520 quote.
In other news, the town:
• Authorized a one-time $34,240 ($400 per employee) pandemic pay compensation for its staff.
• Asked Town Attorney Max Lohman to research what it would take to set up a nuisance abatement board to deal with frequent illegal activities (drugs, prostitution and aggravated assaults) at motels on Hypoluxo and Lantana roads.

The Centennial, a 16-foot sailboat, will be installed in Lantana's Bicentennial Park. Rendering provided

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana council members considered four proposals for artwork to mark the town’s 100th birthday next spring before settling on a 16-foot sailboat sculpture appropriately called The Centennial.
The sculpture, which will light up at night, will be on permanent display in Bicentennial Park, with an unveiling during the town’s centennial party on April 24.
The sculpture was designed by Aphidoidea, a Los Angeles- based creative collaborative led by Jesus “Eddie” Eduardo Magaña and his wife, Paulina Bouyer-Magaña.
It will be constructed by Southern Custom Iron and Art, a Boynton Beach company headed by artist and metal fabricator Joe Hernandez and his wife, Ashleigh, CEO and cofounder, who live in Atlantis.
“With a history of a fishing town, the sailboat is a symbol of tradition, community, livelihood and exploration,” Eddie Magaña said. “The traditional sailboat is composed of two sails, the head sail which provides direction, and the mainsail for power and propulsion. These dual elements break up the horizon and create a constant change in the composition as the artwork can be seen from different directions.
“We believe the concepts of community, character and nautical elements that resemble the history and character of the town provide a wonderful opportunity to create a sculpture that reveals and elevates the town of Lantana,” Magaña said. “The location at Bicentennial Park is also the ideal scenario for the sculpture as it provides an opportunity for both locals and visitors to engage and admire the commemorative sculpture.”
Ashleigh Hernandez said data from the Lantana Historical Society provided through the library was used for inspiration.
“We started with the 100-year-old history of Lantana, which includes the Lyman family,” she told the council on Sept. 14. “We found Lantana was not navigable with anything other than a sailboat. And so the sailboat represents the very beginnings of Lantana when the Lyman family founded the town.
“We have seven bricks or pavers as part of the artwork that represents the Lantana flower and the colors of Lantana, because the town was named after the lantana flower.”
Benches to accompany the sailboat sculpture will feature old-style compass roses with north, south, east and west inscribed on them.
The cost of the sculpture — made of either marine grade aluminum or stainless steel and capable of surviving hurricane-force winds — could be as much as $100,000.
Other proposals with a sailboat design came from Agata Ren and Peter Garaj and Eulises Niebla and Juan Grillo. The fourth design featured a sailfish and was submitted by artist Norman Gitzen.
“We have four fantastic, great proposals here,” Mayor Dave Stewart said before a unanimous vote gave the contract to Southern Custom Iron and Art and Aphidoidea. “Every one of them is that top-shelf type of quality. I don’t know how we can go wrong with any of them.”
In other action, the town approved a $48,750 contract with StarGroup International, based in Lake Park, for the design, production and printing of Lantana’s centennial book. The hardcover books will be given to residents during the town’s 100-year celebration in Bicentennial Park next April.

By Dan Moffett

South Palm Beach is facing months of continued delays to beginning its much-anticipated beach restoration project.
The town had hoped to start work on its eroding beachfront this fall. But Mayor Bonnie Fischer now says it’s unlikely anything will happen until after the first of the year, at the earliest.
“We’re still at ground zero,” Fischer said. “We still have issues with easements. We’re having a really difficult time.”
The plan calls for partnering with neighboring Palm Beach and buying as many as 1,000 truckloads of sand the town is currently dredging as part of a large beach renourishment project to the north. The sand would be hauled south and then used to fortify the South Palm Beach dunes.
The problem is the town still has no way to deliver the sand to its beach. Property owners have been reluctant to allow access for the work.
The project got a huge boost on Oct. 19 when the Palmsea condominium voted unanimously to grant the town an easement and use of the east-west thoroughfare that runs from State Road A1A next to the condo building.
“That’s a big one — getting Palmsea’s support,” Fischer said.
Still other access issues and opposition remain with the owner of a private single-family residence, other condo residents and potentially even the Town of Lantana.
“We’re still trying,” Fischer said, “but it’s a controversial project.”
The plan is a substitute for a joint project with Palm Beach County to install groins on the beach. That project fell apart early last year because of skyrocketing costs and objections from neighboring communities to the south that feared the groins would steal sand flowing their way.
The partnership with Palm Beach would cost the town between $700,000-$900,000 to buy the sand and install erosion-resistant plants along the dune line. Unlike the groin plan, Fischer says the substitute project has “no long-term value” because, without groins, there is no guarantee the new sand wouldn’t be swept out to sea by the first storm surge.
The clock is running on South Palm Beach. Work has to be completed by May to avoid interfering with turtle nesting season. “We hope something can happen,” Fischer said.
In other business:
• Despite a tough budget year with revenues diminished by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Palm Beach was able to deliver a slight tax break to residents at a time when most Florida municipalities were struggling to make ends meet.
In September, the council voted to drop the town’s tax rate for the 2020-2021 budget to $3.54 per $1,000 of property valuation — which is below the $3.55 rollback rate that would hold taxes flat year over year, and below the $3.59 of last year. Though most taxpayers aren’t likely to notice the small reduction, Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb says it demonstrates the council’s commitment to fiscally conservative budgets.
“We’ve cut the tax rate five years in a row now,” Gottlieb said. “That is important.”
Taxable values are up 22% in South Palm Beach, the highest increase in the county, thanks to the opening of the $72 million 3550 South Ocean condo building.
• The council approved a two-year contract renewal for Town Manager Robert Kellogg, maintaining his annual salary at $100,000.
Hired in December 2018 after serving as manager in Hillsboro Beach and Sewall’s Point, Kellogg has brought stability to a position that went through a period of administrative turmoil. South Palm Beach had three managers come and then go in the three years before Kellogg’s arrival.
The council originally agreed to give him a one-year contract but then unanimously approved his request for two years.
“We had five managers in five years,” said Councilman Bill LeRoy. “Now we’ve got a hardworking, responsible manager. I’d be happy to have him signed up for a multiyear contract as opposed to a one-year contract.”

By Sallie James

LANTANA — He was a gifted surgeon and beloved doctor who used his skills to restore sight to thousands of patients, many who swore he changed their lives forever. Lawrence B. Katzen, the founder of Katzen Eye Care and Laser Center in Boynton Beach, was also a devoted philanthropist who traveled regularly to developing countries to teach physicians how to operate. 
Dr. Katzen died Oct. 20 after a lengthy battle with stomach cancer. He was 71.
“He was an amazing man. An absolutely extraordinary man,” said his wife, Jane, a nurse who worked together with her husband at their eye surgery center for years. “He loved giving back. That was his favorite thing to do.”
A pioneer in the field of laser vision correction, Dr. Katzen founded the Katzen Eye Care and Laser Center in 1981 in Boynton Beach. Since then, more than 50,000 LASIK and cataract surgery and general ophthalmology patients have had their vision surgically improved at the center.
The native Floridian was born on June 11, 1949, to Rose and Harry Katzen, and was raised in Miami Beach. He and his two brothers all became well-respected physicians.
The surgery center’s Facebook page blossomed with condolences from adoring patients and staff.
“So sorry to hear of his passing. I thank Dr. Katzen and his wonderful team for the incredible quality of life I now enjoy. My deepest condolences to his family and the entire Katzen team. May God bless you and comfort you,” wrote Steven C. Traynor. 
“One of the best doctors I’ve ever had. He clearly loved what he did and was very compassionate to all his patients,” Wendy Marks said in another post.
Wrote Patricia Érika Germosén, “I’m SO incredibly sad to hear this news. I will be eternally grateful to Dr. Katzen; he literally changed my life when he personally performed my LASIK surgery back in 2013.”
One of his pet projects was to share his eye surgery skills by training physicians in underserved countries through Project Orbis. The organization supports a Flying Eye Hospital that allows leading physicians to train and educate local ophthalmologists, medical students and nurses in underserved countries.
Dr. Katzen made 19 trips abroad, helping to save thousands from blindness and eye diseases that were previously untreatable by local practitioners. His goal was to leave each community with a better-equipped medical staff that could continue with its new skills. He made his first trip overseas in 1982 to Africa.
His son Harrison remembered accompanying his father to Peru at age 13 and seeing the need that his father filled. It was something he could never forget.
“It had a profound impact on me as a person because I got to see the impact he was having across the world,” his son said. “Just to see the gratitude. He operated on kids for the most part. He did ocular plastic surgery.” 
In one particular instance Dr. Katzen rebuilt an eyelid for a child in Malawi who had been run over by an oxcart. Because of the injury, the child’s eye had remained open around the clock.
“He was very deformed,” Jane Katzen recalled. She said when Dr. Katzen returned to the village to check on the child after his surgery, the chief and numerous tribesmen lay across the tarmac to show honor to her husband.
“They felt a miracle had been performed,” Jane Katzen said.
In another instance, Dr. Katzen operated on a Peruvian woman in her 80s who had been blind since age 13 when she was struck by lightning. She saw her family for the first time as an octogenarian.
“We take for granted eye surgery in this country,” Jane Katzen noted.
Dr. Katzen was also one of the founders of the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation, created in memory of one of Dr. Katzen’s best friends who had died of skin cancer.
Dr. Katzen and his wife gave countless hours and financial support to build the foundation over the past 25-plus years. Dr. Katzen received the RDK 2020 Vision Award for the vision he had to lead and guide the organization for all its years.
Dr. Katzen met the woman who would become his wife in 1972, when the two were students at Jackson Memorial Hospital. She was studying nursing and he was a medical student. They married in 1976 and worked together at their eye surgery center until Dr. Katzen’s death.
Dr. Katzen attended Miami Beach High School and the University of Miami before graduating from the University of Miami School of Medicine and completing his ophthalmology residency training at the Washington Hospital Center.
“He was respected by the optometric community. He also taught at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as a visiting professor,” his wife said. “He was a gifted surgeon and loved teaching other physicians.”
Dr. Katzen was also a passionate boater, golfer, diver, fisherman and skier. He instilled the love for the water in his children and grandchildren. 
He is survived by his wife, Jane; a daughter, Janine Katzen, and a son, Harrison Katzen; a brother, Barry Katzen; and numerous grandchildren, nieces and nephews. His parents; his stepfather, Al Astor, and his brother Melvyn Katzen preceded him in death. 
Services were held virtually on Oct. 20. Donations can be made to the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation at https://melanomafoundation.com/, or to Orbis at https://www.orbis.org/en/how-you-can-help.

OCEAN RIDGE — Prudence “Prue” Sanford Regan, beloved wife of the late John M. “Jack” Regan Jr., and matriarch of the Regan family that grew to include six children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, died peacefully at her home in Westerly, Rhode Island, on Sept. 11. She was 97.
Raised in Cranford, New Jersey, Mrs. Regan was the daughter of Harold Crooker and Prudence Rindell Sanford and sister to the late Jane S. Ziegler. The two sisters grew up as best friends; their parents placed them in the same class at the Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey, so that they could experience high school together.
A few years after graduating from Bradford Junior College, Prue met Jack Regan on a blind date in January 1949. They soon married and began a 62-year magic carpet ride together that took them to places at home and abroad and exposed them to experiences they scarcely imagined when first they met.
As the family expanded and moved to Morristown, New Jersey, Wellesley, Massachusetts, Bedford, New York, and Manhattan in support of Jack’s flourishing career, Mrs. Regan provided the unifying force at home. She juggled with ease and grace the duties of spouse and mother. She thrived in her role as the guiding light for the family. Mrs. Regan shepherded her six children gently through life while providing a wonderful example in how to select the right life partner and build a strong marriage.
She was consistently warm, engaging, gracious and elegant.
Mrs. Regan delighted in painting and working in her gardens at her homes up North and in Ocean Ridge.
She was an award-winning member of the Bedford Garden Club and the Garden Club of America. In 1984 and 1985, she served as gala chair of the Friends of the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, a foundation that supports students in the schools of the Archdiocese of New York City. She was particularly proud that art, education and philanthropy have played a central role in all of her children’s lives.
The Misquamicut Club, the Watch Hill Yacht Club, the River Club, the Gulf Stream Golf Club, the Ocean Club and the Bedford Golf and Tennis Club provided her with years of enjoyment.
Mrs. Regan is survived by her children — John M. “Mac” Regan III (Tracy) of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, Deborah R. Edwards (Douglas) of Hartsdale, New York, Peter M. Regan (Aviva) of Cooperstown, New York, R. Christopher Regan (Leslie) of Katonah, New York, Prudence R. “Rindy” Hallarman (Peter) of Lincolnshire, Illinois, and William M. Regan of New York City; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband, Jack (2011), and her grandson Parker M. Regan (2012).
The family extends its heartfelt thanks to the nursing teams from St. Elizabeth at Home and Hope Health and to Grace Brown, Mrs. Regan’s home manager, all of whom cared for her in a devoted, loving manner for several years.
A private funeral service will be held by the family. A celebration of Prue’s life is planned for July in Watch Hill. For online condolences visit www.gaffneydolanfuneralhome.com. The family requests any donations be made to the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, 1011 First Ave. #1400, New York, NY 10022-4112, in memory of Prue and Jack.
— Obituary submitted by the family

OCEAN RIDGE — Iris Matthews Kern of Ocean Ridge died Oct. 7. She was 87.
Mrs. Kern will be sadly missed and fondly remembered by her loving husband of 61 years, Alfred “Al” R. Kern. She was the loving mother of Roy (Lori) of Peters Township, Pennsylvania; Dr. Tara (Pete) Rose of Peters Township, Pennsylvania; and a son, Dennis (Loraine) of Mesa, Arizona, who preceded her in death.
Mrs. Kern is also survived by her six grandchildren: Rod and Dr. Darby Kern; Nolan and Brea Kern; Jake and Ryan Rose.
Mrs. Kern was born to Herman and Velma Matthews in Philadelphia, on Sept. 22, 1933.
She attended Penn State Ogontz, then moved with her family to Atlantic Beach and met the love of her life, Al, at an officers dance at the nearby Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Iris and Al would spend three years at Naval Station Mayport and then another three years stationed in Honolulu, where they started their family.
In 1962, the couple moved to Moon Township, Pennsylvania, where she raised their children. They moved to Florida in 2000.
Mrs. Kern was an active lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, an avid reader and golfer and a member of Montour Heights Country Club, Moon Township, Williams Country Club, Weirton, West Virginia, and the Lost City Golf Club in Lantana.
Her hobbies included arranging flowers, and she loved to raise and tend orchids in her house and outside garden. Mrs. Kern held memberships in the Moon Township and Ocean Ridge garden clubs. She also enjoyed arts and crafts, including her much sought-after needlepoint Christmas stockings and pillows.
Mrs. Kern enjoyed a well-lived life and was a beautiful, soft-spoken, kind and gentle soul who will be sorely missed.
A celebration of life service will be planned after the coronavirus pandemic has eased.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the First United Methodist Church, 101 N. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33435, or the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, 28 W. 44th St., Suite 609, New York, NY 10036.
— Obituary submitted by the family

BRINY BREEZES — Virginia P. Brown, 91, died on Aug. 23. She was born in Detroit and started coming to Florida as a little girl.
She and her husband, Ralph, owned a home in Cape Coral before moving to Briny Breezes in 1983 as snowbirds. They were active in the Briny community and formed wonderful friendships and memories. They would travel with the travel club and looked forward to the monthly parties, especially the Michigan party.
Every month she looked forward to reading The Coastal Star, even when she was up North.
Mrs. Brown was married to Ralph Brown for 58 years before his death in 2010. They had four children plus grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Florida held a special place in her heart and the hearts of her children. She and her husband loved boating and would cruise the Intracoastal Waterway as well as the waters in Michigan.
They traveled throughout the United States and Europe.
Besides their home in Briny Breezes, the Browns had a home in Livonia, Michigan, waterfront property in Omena, Michigan, and waterfront property in Sugar Springs, Michigan.
She was preceded in death by her husband and her son, Tom, as well as her brothers and sisters, mother and father, and many friends.
She would say that getting old is not for the weak.
She is survived by her children Ralph and Jon of Livonia, her daughter, Jackie (Roger) of Casper, Wyoming, as well as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Michigan.
— Obituary submitted by the family

Eau Palm Beach in Manalapan boasts a 3,000-square-foot oceanfront terrace, two pools, a large fitness center and a deluxe spa. Room amenities include marble baths and inviting balconies, most with ocean views. Photo provided by Eau Palm Beach

By Christine Davis

Manalapan’s Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa came in No. 3 of 30 properties that earned spots in Condé Nast Traveler’s  Readers’ Choice Awards in the category of “Top Florida Resorts.” 
The Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, which is temporarily closed, came in at No. 24. The awards rank the best hotels, resorts, destination spas, countries, cities, islands, trains, airlines, airports, cruise lines, tour operators and villa companies in the world, according to Condé Nast Traveler. 

The Boca Raton Resort & Club has begun to offer an oceanside education remote-learning program for children, which can range from a weeklong family vacation to a long-term stay. The resort’s custom-designed education suites, located at the Boca Beach Club, connect to adjoining guest rooms. Also offered are curated hands-on extracurricular activities that include ocean-related experiences, athletics, nature excursions and field trips.
The suites also are available as an add-on to a two-night stay at the resort, starting from $199 per day.
Enrichment activities are priced a la carte. For information, visit www.bocaresort.com or call 561-447-3000.

CEOs of hotel brands that include Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG and Best Western wrote a letter dated Oct. 15 to President Donald Trump asking him to take action to provide the hotel industry with relief by utilizing funds from the Main Street Lending Program. According to a recent survey of hotel owners, more than two-thirds of hotels report they will be able to last only six more months at current projected revenue and occupancy levels without further relief.
The letter notes that the Main Street Lending Program was established to provide up to $600 billion in financing for small and medium-sized businesses that were in sound financial condition prior to the pandemic. To date, only a small fraction of available loans has been utilized.

Jeff Dash, chief experience officer of Delray Beach Experience, has introduced a new app (both iOS and Android) that presents a guide of places to eat and drink and things to see and do in Delray Beach and beyond.
Users can search for businesses, view business details, offers, directions and safety protocols for COVID-19. There is also a hotel program in which guests can receive a 10-day complimentary VIP membership that offers savings around the city. For information, visit DelrayBeachExperience.com. 

Delray Beach resident Sugar McCauley has begun selling her line of bra-free “sugarshirts” online. Prices for her nautical sweatshirts and her classic oxford shirts range from $143-$148, with 10% of profits donated to the Caridad Center, a provider of free health care services. For details, visit sugarshirtsbysugar.com.

Incapital, an underwriter and distributor of fixed-income securities and risk-management investment solutions, is moving its Florida-based operations from Boca Raton to The Offices at 4th & 5th, at 25 SE Fourth Ave., Delray Beach. Incapital will occupy the 18,066-square-foot fourth floor by mid-summer 2021.
“We are thrilled to not only be moving to Delray Beach, but to be moving into an extraordinary new property,” said John DesPrez III, CEO of Incapital. “The community offers our team many rich quality-of-life benefits, with the dynamic environment of Atlantic Avenue steps from our front door. … We’d like to thank Mayor Shelly Petrolia, the City Commission and the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency for engaging with us and for their ongoing commitment to making Delray a destination of choice for employers. We are especially grateful to our partners in this transaction, Peter Sougarides of Samuels & Associates and Stanley Iezman of American Realty Advisors.”

Recorded on Oct. 14, a residential 1.26-acre lot with 130 feet on the ocean located at 611 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, sold for $15.5 million.
The seller, Sea to Seaside Development, a Deerfield Beach-based homebuilder led by Randal Perkins, was represented by Chris Lowry with Chris Lowry Realty Services. Fried Business Holdings, a Delaware limited liability company with a New York City address, was the buyer. The property last sold for $14,693,200 in 2018.
“Based on all MLS land sales in Delray Beach since January 2000, this $15.5 million sale is the highest sale,” said Steve Fisher of Fisher Appraisal Group, Boynton Beach.

701 South Ocean LLC, managed by Mark Timothy Inc., bought the lot at 701 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, from Michael J. and Judith F. Rothberg for $11.375 million in September. Mark Timothy is led by Mark Pulte, son of the late founder of Atlanta-based PulteGroup, Bill Pulte. Pascal Liguori and Antonio Liguori of Premier Estate Properties represented both the buyer and sellers. The Rothbergs bought the 1.19-acre oceanfront property in 2017 for $13.4 million. 

The Boca Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual business awards celebration virtually on Oct. 23. Recognized for their commitment to economic growth and dedication to the mission of the Boca Raton Chamber, honorees included Pastor Bill Mitchell of Boca Raton Community Church, business leader of the year; Ahnich Khalid of Maggiano’s Little Italy, small business leader of the year; and TherapeuticsMD, business of the year. The chamber announced that Michael Daszkal will remain as chairman for another year.

The Boca Chamber’s Boynton Beach First Responders Awards Program, which was held virtually in September, recognized police officer Agent Shaun James, firefighter/paramedic Roxanne Girardi and firefighter Capt. Jeff Powers.
“Since our merger with the Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce almost two years ago, this program was a priority for us to bring back,” said Troy McLellan, president and CEO of the Boca Chamber. “This program showcases the passion for service, dedication to a higher cause, and personal sacrifices that are at the core of being a first responder.”
Program sponsors included Baptist Health, Get Dry, Inc., ADT, All Dry USA and Florida Power and Light. 

The Florida League of Cities announced in September that Boca Raton Deputy City Manager George Brown was appointed to serve on its 2020-2021 municipal administration legislative policy committee. Brown will help develop the league’s legislative action agenda and will help league staff understand implications of proposed legislation.
Brown has served Boca Raton in administrative and management roles for 37 out of the past 43 years as a city employee, and he has been deputy city manager since 1999. He has been involved in the Florida League of Cities legislative policy process since 2007 and was recognized by the league as a “Home Rule Hero” in 2012.

The board of Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., a homeowners insurance company headquartered in Boca Raton, promoted Virginia Austin to the position of director of special investigations. Austin, who began her career with the company as a claims examiner, has managed its special investigations unit for the last seven years. In her new role, she will represent the company regarding claims suspected of fraud in conjunction with the Department of Financial Services and associated Florida law enforcement agencies.

With the launch of an inaugural holiday ornament, Downtown Delray Beach encourages shopping locally this holiday season as well as celebrating Small Business Saturday on Nov. 27-28.
To participate, customers are asked to save receipts of $200 or more at venues within the Downtown Development Authority district, after which they can receive a limited-supply fused-glass-mosaic ornament.
It can be picked up from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 28 at a location to be announced.
 The offer is one ornament per customer, limited to the first 200 people on a first-come, first-served basis.
Exclusions include food or beverage purchases, hotel accommodation receipts, parking or transportation receipts, as well as any retailer that does not fall within the DDA district.

The Boca Real Estate Investment Club will present “Deal of the Year” on Nov. 12, a competition featuring deals closed in 2020. Ben Sens of Boss Construction Group will speak on permitting during the pandemic. Social distancing will be followed and wearing masks is required.
The meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., will be at the DoubleTree Hilton, 100 Fairway Drive, Deerfield Beach. The cost is $20 and free to members.
For information, call 561-391- 7325 or visit bocarealestateclub.com.

Lang Realty agent Brian Battaglia of Boca Raton, a native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, helped organize aid for the Lake Charles community, which was hit by Hurricane Laura.
Lang Realty and its agents made a donation of $4,600 and collected supplies. Battaglia then rented a truck to transport the donated goods to Lake Charles.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.