Mary Kate Leming's Posts

Boca Raton: Raising Silver Palm boat docks will cost $470,000

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 28, 2020 at 10:15

By Mary Hladky

The city will raise docks at Silver Palm Park so they no longer will be inundated with water during king tides.
The project will cost about $470,000, including engineering and design work. City officials will have a firm number soon.
City Council member Monica Mayotte raised the issue with city staff after seeing the docks under water during recent king tides.
Other council members agreed with her at an Oct. 26 meeting that this work should be part of building a connected Wildflower/ Silver Palm Park at a cost of $8.25 million.
“It’s a lot of money,” said council member Andy Thomson. “But … we have taken the stance we take climate change in the form of higher tides seriously. If we are going to be serious about making our city resilient, this is a no-brainer.”
“The longer we wait, the more expensive this gets,” Mayotte said.
The work will include raising the decking along the Intracoastal Waterway, raising the boat ramp dock and building a floating dock at the boat launch.
The city is building a higher sea wall at the Wildflower site, but such work is not needed at Silver Palm, city officials said.
The dock work will not affect the January start of the 6.4-acre Wildflower/Silver Palm park project.

Boca Raton: Virus scales back Boca’s holiday celebrations

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 28, 2020 at 10:13

Boca Raton will not have a holiday boat parade, a tree-lighting ceremony or a street parade this year “after exploring all options and out of an abundance of caution” during the coronavirus pandemic, the city announced on its website.
The city’s 25-foot holiday tree, with more than 7,500 lights, will sit in Sanborn Square from Nov. 21 through New Year’s Day.
And Mizner Park will put up its 47-foot animated holiday tree at the south end of the plaza near the Yard House restaurant.
There will be five 25-minute free musical tree performances nightly, starting Nov. 21, at 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Ú
— Staff report

Delray Beach: Termination hearing for suspended city manager delayed

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 21, 2020 at 18:04

By Jane Smith

The long-awaited public hearing for suspended City Manager George Gretsas was delayed for another month, the Delray Beach City Commission voted unanimously at a 2:30 p.m. special hearing Oct. 21.

Gretsas has hired new attorneys to represent him at his termination hearing, now set for 10 a.m. Nov. 20.

The attorneys — hired on Oct. 20 — are Thomas Ali and Stuart N. Kaplan of the Stuart N. Kaplan law firm in Palm Beach Gardens.

Ali called and sent an email to Lynn Gelin, city attorney, on the morning of Oct. 21. Gretsas’ lawyers requested a two- or three-week postponement to prepare for the hearing.

But the earliest time the city’s outside labor counsel, Bob Norton, had available was Nov. 20.

The attorneys representing Gretsas agreed that his city manager salary of $265,000 and benefits package worth more than $50,000 will end on Oct. 23. Gretsas was receiving that compensation since he was formally suspended June 24.

Commissioners wanted to stop paying Gretsas while also paying an interim city manager to run Delray Beach. Jennifer Alvarez, purchasing director, was elevated to the interim city manager position on June 24. During her tenure, she will make $189,500 and have a $500 monthly car allowance and $100 cellphone allowance.

If the commissioners had not granted the delay, Gretsas’ attorneys would have sought a court injunction to postpone the hearing, Mayor Shelly Petrolia said.

City commissioners will act as the judge and jury at the Nov. 20 hearing in commission chambers.

The basis for the hearing will be a 38-page report compiled by Julia Davidyan, internal auditor. She interviewed 31 current and former city employees.

In the investigation given to the commissioners on Oct. 9, Davidyan found Gretsas had “disregarded the city’s interests and policies in the areas of personnel, purchasing and information technology.”

In 2019, she also investigated Mark Lauzier, Gretsas' predecessor, who was fired on March 1, 2019, after a similar hearing. Lauzier later sued the city on two counts. The first was dismissed and lost on appeal in February to the 4th District Court of Appeal. The second count — for wrongful termination — is headed for a jury trial expected to start in February, Gelin told commissioners on Oct. 20.

Along the Coast: Health advisory issued for beaches

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 20, 2020 at 16:39

Delray Beach: Heavy rains require use of outflow pipe, again.

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 20, 2020 at 15:32

Oct 20, 2020 - Due to heavy rain, the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment & Disposal Plant has requested the use of the city's outflow pipes. Therefore, reclaimed water will be temporarily unavailable to customers east of I -95. We apologize for the inconvenience.

— City of Delray Beach

Boynton Beach/Delray Beach: Pandemic fears sink boat parade

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 14, 2020 at 17:22

A boat cruises down the Intracoastal Waterway through Briny Breezes during the 2018 Boynton Beach-Delray Beach holiday boat parade. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The pandemic claimed another victim when the Boynton Beach-Delray Beach holiday boat parade was canceled on Oct. 13.

“How would we allow people to come out and safely watch the boat parade,” asked Michael Simon, executive director of the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, at its monthly board meeting.

Since Covid-19 arrived on the scene in mid-March, no large events have been held in Palm Beach County. Covid-19 is a respiratory illness that can be fatal.

The Boynton Beach CRA had allocated $14,750 to host the event with holiday-decorated boats traveling down the Intracoastal Waterway into neighboring Delray Beach.

But on Sept. 30, Boynton Beach CRA staff received an email from the Delray Beach Parks and Recreation staff saying that the Delray Beach City Commission was not allocating any money to share in the costs of the 49th Annual Boynton Beach & Delray Beach Holiday Boat Parade.

Delray Beach has reimbursed the Boynton Beach CRA for 50% of the shared expenses related to event marketing, including T-shirts, participant prizes and the awards dinner in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

“I’m leaning toward not continuing this for now,” said CRA Vice Chairman Ty Penserga. “It’s hard to proceed without our partner.”

CRA Board Chairman Steven Grant asked whether the agency had money allocated to light up Ocean Avenue.

Last year, the holiday lighting ceremony was held at Dewey Park, Simon said. The CRA has about $6,000 to spend on holiday lighting of Ocean Avenue.

The city of Boynton Beach has already canceled its Holiday Parade.

Delray Beach also will not hold a Holiday Parade this December. It is putting up the 100-foot Christmas tree to put some life into the holiday season. But the city will not host a tree lighting ceremony or a Menorah lighting ceremony on the first night of Hanukkah, Dec. 10.

Grant also asked for a holiday raffle to promote the businesses in the Boynton Beach CRA district.

The holiday boat parade is something the Boynton Beach CRA does well, Grant said. “But we don’t want to be part of a super-spreading event.”

City by City COVID-19 Cases

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 12, 2020 at 0:24

COVID-19: summary of cases and monitoring

Data through Mar 25, 2021 verified as of Mar 26, 2021 at 09:25 AM

Data in this report are provisional and subject to change.

Source: www.floridadisaster.org

Boca Raton (pop. 99,805): 21,699

Boynton Beach (pop. 78,679): 12,421

Briny Breezes (pop. 578): 10

Delray Beach (pop. 69,451): 9,605

Gulf Stream (pop. 985): 18

Highland Beach (pop. 3,916): 35

Hypoluxo (pop. 2,839): 152

Lantana (pop. 12,581): 1,201

Manalapan (pop. 466): 42

Ocean Ridge (pop. 1,956): 78

South Palm Beach (pop. 1,470): 29

Palm Beach County (total): 129,904 cases | 2,635 deaths

PBC population: 1,496,770

Bureau, US Census. “City and Town Population Totals: 2010-2019.” The United States Census Bureau, 21 May 2020

Delray Beach: Consultant still compiling report on reclaimed water

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 5, 2020 at 13:58

By Jane Smith

A long-awaited forensic study of the reclaimed water system in Delray Beach was not turned in as expected on Sept. 30. The new target date has not been set.

“We spoke on the phone, (there is) no written response,” wrote Missie Barletto, the city's public works director, responding to a public records request for emails or correspondence about the study.

In late April the city hired Public Utility Management Planning Services Inc. of Hollywood for $20,000 based on Barletto’s recommendation. She was then the department’s assistant director.

“The firm needed more time to review the documents,” city spokeswoman Gina Carter wrote in an Oct. 2 email.

The consulting firm is run by Fred Bloetscher, an associate dean at Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering in Boca Raton. Bloetscher did not return phone calls or texts seeking comment on where his company was in the process of the forensic review.

The firm requested many documents that Delray Beach held on its more-than-a-decade-long reclaimed water program. The requests included: complete list of the backflow devices with columns of each address, photo, size and age; who did the work, whether an outside contractor was hired; who inspected the work; names of city employees involved in the project; and any emails between city staff and the contractors that may shed light on why were so many reclaimed water installations missing backflow preventers.

Public Utility Management “will attempt to engage in a conversation with the Florida Department of Health administrator for Palm Beach County to seek an acceptable solution,” Bloetscher wrote in the firm’s scope of services.

The Department of Health became involved on Jan. 2 when a South Ocean Boulevard resident called in to say she was not adequately informed of a cross-connection issue in December 2018. Cross connections happen when reclaimed water pipes are mistakenly connected to drinking water pipes.

That phone complaint led to the city shutting down its entire reclaimed water system on Feb. 4 to avoid a citywide boil water order. The city staff and outside contractors have visited each reclaimed water installation to verify that it has a backflow preventer device. Backflow preventers are a stopgap to prevent the drinking water from mixing with the reclaimed water.

The Department of Health sent the city a list of 13 possible violations in a July 1 warning letter. On July 22, city leaders including the new utilities director and the interim city manager met with Department of Health staff to review the possible violations and Delray Beach’s response.

The city is still waiting to hear from the state agency.

Reclaimed water is treated wastewater that is suitable only for lawn irrigation. Most residents of the barrier island, city parks, golf courses and master-planned communities west of the interstate use reclaimed water.

The lines were installed as part of a settlement that Delray Beach reached with state and federal regulators to stop sending raw sewage into the ocean. The city must stop its ocean discharges by the end of 2025.

Delray Beach: Reclaimed water system unavailable after heavy rains

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 4, 2020 at 14:18

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach told its reclaimed water customers living east of Interstate 95 that reclaimed water was not available starting Oct. 1.

The reason: heavy rains overnight on Sept. 30 forced the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant to use the city’s 36-inch outfall pipe to the Atlantic Ocean.

“We apologize for the inconvenience,” the city posted on Instagram.

Rains continued through the weekend, giving Delray Beach more than 5 inches of rain, according to South Florida Water Management District records.

“We will update this notice once the wastewater plant no longer has need of the outfall pipe and the reclaimed water becomes available again,” the city’s Instagram post read.

As of midday on Oct. 4, Delray Beach did not issue any updates.

The last known time that the wastewater treatment plant had to use the outfall pipe was about 19 months ago. That’s when the plant had an “unknown upset.”

The treatment plant stopped discharging into the ocean in April 2009. The plant can still discharge treated wastewater from heavy rains, from testing its pumps and from “plant upsets.”

Ocean outfall pipes can no longer be used by Dec. 31, 2025, according to state law.

Along the Coast: Municipal officials told to meet in-person in November

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on October 2, 2020 at 9:41

By Rich Pollack

Municipalities in southern Palm Beach County that are holding virtual meetings can continue to do so for another 30 days, but officials should be prepared to convene in person come Nov. 1.

An executive order signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sept. 30 gives local governments a month to plan a transition from Zoom and similar technologies to face-to-face meetings.

A memo from the governor’s communications director makes it clear that it is unlikely there will be additional extensions. “Local government bodies should prepare to meet in person as required by Florida law beginning Nov. 1, 2020,” Frank Piccolo Jr. wrote.

For area towns and cities already conducting in-person meetings or hybrid meetings with some officials attending in person and others electronically -– including Ocean Ridge –- the extension will have little impact.

“When Governor DeSantis no longer allows virtual meetings, all commissioners will be required to attend in-person, and the public who wishes to make public comment will also need to attend in-person or submit written comments to the town clerk prior to the meeting,” said Ocean Ridge Town Manager Tracey Stevens.

But Highland Beach, Manalapan, Boca Raton and Delray Beach will be making adjustments to ensure they adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention social distancing guidelines.

Boca Raton, for example, is considering holding council meetings in a larger city-owned space to make social distancing easier, while Highland Beach and Manalapan are making adjustments to commission chambers, including adding dividers between commissioners and requiring masks.

“We’ll be taking reasonable precautions,” said Highland Beach Town Manager Marshall Labadie, adding that the town is considering having commissioners attend meetings in person but residents attend by Zoom. “We’re moving closer to how it used to be but with CDC guidelines, it could be a little tricky.”

In Boynton Beach, where a hybrid system is used with the mayor at a government building but commissioners accessing remotely, an emergency ordinance passed unanimously on Sept. 30 giving commissioners an opportunity to invoke home rule and continue holding virtual meetings until December.

That could change, however, according to City Manager Lori LaVerriere.

“Both our meetings in October will be hybrids and we'll be evaluating it on a monthly basis,” she said.