By Steve Plunkett

Boaters who need a ramp to reach the water will have a special Fourth of July this year — Silver Palm Park’s ramps, off-limits since September, will finally reopen.
And permits to use the ramps, usually $60 and good from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, will cost $25 and be valid for this July, August and September.
The City Council approved the rate at its May 24 meeting.
“This will just open the boat ramp and the parking area for the boats,” City Manager Leif Ahnell said. “The rest of the park and the other amenities will not be available. We’re actually still working on Silver Palm Park.”
Ahnell also said neighboring Wildflower Park and the rest of Silver Palm will reopen to the public in September, “hopefully the earlier part of September rather than the later.”
Silver Palm’s boat ramps closed on Sept. 7 for what was planned to be six months to relocate the restrooms, add a new ramp and other construction. But supply issues and an unexpected sea wall replacement slowed the work.
Ahnell said he did not yet know whether the new bathrooms will open when the ramps do.
“All of the Wildflower side but even on Silver Palm, there will be areas blocked off, under construction,” he said. “We as well as the contractor wanted to get the boat ramp opened as quickly as possible.”
The daily use fee for the boat ramps will remain $25. Any resident of Palm Beach County can buy the daily or three-month permit.
Boaters were directed to other ramps in Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Deerfield Beach while Silver Palm was closed. But Boynton Beach and Deerfield Beach had plans to limit access because of their own ramp renovations.
Boca Raton’s construction is part of a multimillion-dollar project to enhance Wildflower/Silver Palm Park with new walkways, green spaces, public art, a pavilion, shade structures, additional parking and a much-anticipated connection between both parks under the Palmetto Park Road bridge.
The parks are separated by Palmetto Park Road on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway.

By Mary Hladky

With the Boca Raton Brightline station expected to open in December, the city soon will begin work to make the streets to and from the station and downtown more attractive and pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
Brightline originally wanted the city to build an elevated pedestrian bridge that train passengers would use to reach Mizner Park. But the estimated cost of that project was between $7 million and $12 million because the bridge would have to be enclosed and air-conditioned due to Florida’s climate. That prompted concerns about vagrants camping out in the bridge.
So the city scrapped that idea and opted to enhance Northwest First Avenue and Northwest and Northeast Second Street.
Even so, the beautification work along the four-block stretch will cost $3.3 million, more than double what was anticipated two years ago, because of the rising materials costs and supply chain issues.
Northwest First Avenue, immediately west of the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, will be one southbound lane flanked by trees and foliage, with a wide paver path on the east side of the road that would be shared by pedestrians and bicyclists and a concrete sidewalk on the west side.
Walkers and cyclists would turn east on Northwest Second Street. After crossing Dixie Highway, where the road becomes Northeast Second Street, it will be two lanes and a turn lane with two wide shared pedestrian and cyclist lanes. Existing shade trees will be preserved and new trees added, as well as additional landscaping, lighting and a new signalized intersection at Northwest First Avenue and Northwest Second Street.
Brightline broke ground on the station in January and work has proceeded quickly.
The 38,000-square-foot station and adjacent 455-space parking garage will be located on city land just east of the Downtown Library.
The cost of the $46 million project is partly defrayed by a $16.3 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant. Brightline is paying $20 million of the station cost, while the city will spend $9.9 million on the garage.
Brightline halted passenger service in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, resuming operations in November.
Passengers are quickly returning. Ridership hit pre-pandemic levels in February. According to Brightline’s most recent financial report, the upscale passenger trains carried 107,069 passengers in March, compared to 91,903 passengers in March 2019.
The average ticket cost $21.38 in March, the highest to date as back-in-service promotions have phased out.

As Brightline works to build its Boca Raton station, railroad crossing reconstructions near the station site east of the Downtown Library will cause road closures and detours in June.
The Florida East Coast Railway crossing at Palmetto Park Road will be closed for five days, from 8 a.m. on June 11, a Saturday, to 7 p.m. the following Wednesday, June 15.
Westbound Palmetto Park Road traffic will be directed north on Dixie Highway to Northwest Second Street, west to Northwest Second Avenue, and south on Northwest Second Avenue to Palmetto Park Road.
Eastbound traffic will travel a reverse route.
The Northwest Second Street crossing will be closed 13 days, from 8 a.m. on June 18 to 7 p.m. on June 30.
Westbound Northwest Second Street traffic will be directed to go south on Dixie to Palmetto, west to Northwest Second Avenue, and north to Northwest Second Street.
Eastbound traffic will again do the reverse.
The long-anticipated $46 million station is expected to open in December.

— Mary Hladky

HIGHLAND BEACH — Madonna Therese Mahon of Highland Beach and Madison, Connecticut, died at the family beach house in Madison on May 15. She was 62.
Born Nov. 20, 1959, in Columbus, Ohio, she was the second eldest child of Arthur J. Mahon and Myra Ellen (Murphy) Mahon while her father was serving in the Air Force. Shortly thereafter the family relocated to New York.
As a child, Madonna was a gifted singer and athlete. Tall and strong for her age, she earned the reputation as a ferocious dodgeball player at Pleasantville Elementary School in Westchester, New York. When she got control of the ball the other side didn’t just dodge, they ran screaming for cover!
She excelled at swimming, skiing and tennis and enjoyed team competitions. Summer was her favorite time of year because she shared so many joyful days at Candlewood Lake, Connecticut, with her Slote family cousins and in Madison with her Burris family cousins.
Madonna excelled in college, graduating summa cum laude from Marymount College. She then joined IBM as a sales representative.
Her greatest life legacy is the work she did with people. She spent many years living in, and working for, nonprofit organizations that were dedicated to helping people heal and transform their lives. Her own courage, wisdom, compassion and ability to find humor when faced with great life challenges — including four surgeries for lung cancer — served as an inspiration to the many lives she touched during those years.
She dedicated the last part of her life to spending time with her family, including being a traveling companion and aide to her father after the death of her mother.
In addition to her mother, Madonna was predeceased by her beloved younger brother and best friend, Arthur Logan Mahon, who died in November 2020.
She leaves behind her father, sisters Maura Ellen Mahon and Nancy Beth Mahon, sister-in-law Susan Trerotola, nephew Christopher Logan Trerotola-Mahon, niece Emelia Ann Trerotola-Mahon and many treasured cousins from the Mahon, Burris, Fitzpatrick, Slote and O’Leary families.
She also leaves behind her cherished dogs and constant companions, Fluffy and Nyla.
A memorial Mass was held May 21 at Saint Margaret’s Church in Madison. Donations may be made in her memory to any local ASPCA. To sign the online guest book, visit www.swanfuneralhomemadison.com.

— Obituary submitted by the family

A Boca Raton man at Boca Bash tried to strangle and hold his girlfriend underwater until witnesses broke up the struggle, authorities said.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers charged Cole Goldberg, 23, with felony attempted murder and domestic battery in the April 24 incident as hundreds of boats gathered in Lake Boca Raton for the annual Boca Bash party.
Witnesses said Goldberg and the woman got into a heated argument before she jumped into the water to get away and he followed.
Goldberg, a witness said, “came up from behind her and grabbed her by the neck and pushed her underwater. He held her underwater and (another witness) pulled her away from him,” the FWC arrest report said.
The girlfriend, 32-year-old Caroline Schwitzky, told FWC officers that she and Goldberg had been dating for about a year. Schwitzky played a modeling agent in 2016 in the reality show “90-Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?” on cable channel TLC.
Goldberg was taken to the Palm Beach County Jail and later released on $60,000 bond.
In other incidents at Boca Bash, authorities charged nine people with boating under the influence, one for producing a fake ID and another on an out-of-county warrant.
— Steve Plunkett

Highland Beach Police Officer Nathania Lai patrols the Intracoastal Waterway aboard the town’s new 28-foot marine vessel. The police presence makes boat speeds drop even if Lai issues no citations. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Related story: Man at Boca Bash charged with trying to kill girlfriend

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach resident Barry Axelrod was relaxing on his dock overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway on the last Sunday in April as boat after boat sped past on the way south to the annual Boca Bash celebration.
“It was the scariest thing,” Axelrod said. “They were going really fast and they were going wherever they saw an opening to get around other boats.”
Axelrod watched as the recklessness continued for about an hour and a half and then witnessed a dramatic shift. “All of a sudden everything calmed down,” he said.
Looking to his left, Axelrod saw the reason for the change: Highland Beach’s new police boat was heading his way and boaters were taking notice.
“I’m thinking, ‘Thank God we have that boat,’” he said.
Since its launch in early March, the town’s $164,000 police boat, with Officer Nathania Lai at the helm, has been doing what it did that Sunday — slowing boaters down on the Intracoastal between the Linton Boulevard and the Spanish River Boulevard bridges just by being there.
“Our goal from the start was to make this stretch of the waterway safer for everyone who uses it,” said Highland Beach Police Chief Craig Hartmann. “We’re seeing that happen as a result of our presence and our visibility.”
Though the marine unit is still in development, with other officers being trained and maintenance issues being worked out, people with views of the Intracoastal say they’ve noticed a dramatic change even on days when not a lot of boats are on the water.
“We have already seen a difference,” said Alan Croce, a resident of Penthouse Highlands. He and a couple of dozen fellow residents met with Lai and other officers to learn more about the department’s waterway safety efforts.
“As time goes on and the knowledge that there’s a police boat out there grows, we do expect people to slow down even more and to operate their boats safely and with respect to others,” Croce said.
Lai and the police boat were on the water the Saturday before Boca Bash — a party on Lake Boca Raton that drew scores of boats — keeping an eye out to ensure boaters were observing the speed limit, which until the end of May is 25 miles per hour. The speed limit increases to 30 mph from June 1 to Sept. 30.
Heading north, Lai pointed a radar gun at a vessel coming her way that looked from a distance to be moving at a pretty fast clip. The radar, however, told a different story and showed that the boater was observing the speed limit.
“When other boaters see us, they mostly slow down,” said Lai, who spent a few years as a sergeant in the Miami Police Department’s marine unit and worked as a reserve officer in Broward County’s Lighthouse Point before coming to Highland Beach.
On this day, Lai reminded at least one person on a jet ski and a few boaters of the speed limit by motioning for them to take it a little easier on the throttle or by holding up two fingers in one hand and five in the other.
Highland Beach police had not written any boating citations as of late April, but Lai on several occasions had stopped boats for speeding, usually with the focus on educating the boaters about the need to slow down. She also had stopped boats for routine safety checks if something caught her eye.
“We’re focusing on making our presence known and on educating other boaters,” she said.

Lai uses radar if it looks like boats are going too fast. She also makes hand signals that tell boaters to ease up.

FWC citations are up
Highland Beach is not the only law enforcement agency to have a presence in the area, with officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and marine units from Boca Raton and now Delray Beach also around.
Delray Beach police recently formed a new marine unit that includes 12 part-time officers and two sergeants. The unit has two boats, both of which were in the water during the Sunday of Boca Bash, according to a department spokesman.
Since the beginning of the year, several boaters navigating the stretch of Intracoastal Waterway along Highland Beach have been stopped by FWC officers.
According to FWC records, six citations and 11 warnings were issued in the area in a little more than the first three months of this year compared with two citations and nine warnings issued in all of 2021.
State Rep. Mike Caruso said that the FWC now has a patrol boat based in the area and has installed radar to collect data on the speed of boats coming through.
Those actions come following two fatal boating crashes in the area within the last year.
In August, 37-year-old Samantha Esposito of West Palm Beach died after the northbound center-console boat she was in crashed into a sea wall, ejecting her and six others, including three children.
Then on Jan. 15, 63-year-old Richard Mineo of Delray Beach was killed when the center-console boat he was piloting hit a wake and went airborne before crashing into pilings and eventually hitting a nearby docked boat. Mineo was thrown from the boat, as were two boys onboard. The boys were pulled from the water and treated by paramedics before being taken to a trauma center.
Both crashes are under review by the FWC, which is not releasing details of either crash pending completion of the investigations.
Initial reports indicate that a combination of large wakes and speed may have been contributing factors in both cases.

Another deterrent is a radar sign at the south end of town designed to catch the eyes of northbound boaters. Residents say the measures have worked after two fatal wrecks on the waterway since last August.

New sign displays speeds
Highland Beach commissioners agreed to create a marine unit and spend $164,000 on a new boat late last year following the first crash.
In addition to having the boat on the water, Highland Beach police have installed a speed limit radar sign on the dock of Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina at the south end of the town.
Similar to signs on land that register motorists’ speeds, the sign on the water lets boaters know what the Intracoastal speed limit is and whether they’re exceeding it. Hartmann said the town hopes to install a similar sign at the north end of town.
Mark Herman, a Boca Highland resident and boater, says the sign gets the attention of boaters coming north from Boca Raton. They have slowed down as required as they pass under the Spanish River bridge but then speed up as they enter the waters by Highland Beach.
“You may not know how fast you’re going but that radar sign makes you more aware,” Herman said.
The sign, the town’s police boat and the presence of other law enforcement agencies all appear to be making an impact, along with Highland Beach police efforts to make people aware of the stepped-up efforts.

Lai speaks with Boca Highland residents Mark and Vicki Herman, with their dog Bolo, as she docks the town’s marine patrol vessel.

‘Really calmed down’
Like Axelrod, town Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman said she was surprised by the dramatic change from previous years of the Boca Bash.
“This is the first time in 31 years that boats weren’t speeding coming back in the afternoon,” said Gossett-Seidman, whose backyard faces the water. “There were remarkably lower speeds.”
Gossett-Seidman says she has noticed a change even when the police boat isn’t patrolling.
“There are several boating websites and I’ve heard that the word is out about Highland Beach,” she said. “Everything has really calmed down.”

Highland Beach Police Officer Nathania Lai on patrol in the Intracoastal Waterway. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Even after it was reduced from a four-story duplex to this three-story single-family home, the plan for 2600 N. Ocean has met with resistance from city planners. Rendering provided

By Steve Plunkett

The developer that set off a firestorm of angry opposition in 2019 with plans for a four-story duplex on the beach is back with a more modest proposal: this time for a three-story, single-family home with 59% less window and door glass facing the ocean.
But when Boca Raton’s Environmental Advisory Board convened a hearing April 28 to consider the revised project, a representative for Azure Development LLC, which owns the undeveloped lot at 2600 N. Ocean Blvd., asked for a postponement.
“At 3:45 on Friday [April 22] we received from the city a staff report that contains more than 100 pages, including reports from experts that have not been used previously. And we did not have an opportunity to meet with our experts to prepare to discuss it,” Robert Sweetapple, the developer’s lawyer, said once the meeting was underway.
The audience of 80 or more citizens who packed the auditorium of the city’s 6500 Municipal Building let out a collective groan. Erica Allen, vice chair of the EAB, felt their pain.
“I would like to deny the postponement. I think it’s difficult for a lot of people to come out, and he’s had this plan for days now,” Allen said.
But board Chairman Rick Newman and member Margaret Horty voted yes, and the hearing was over. Members Lyn Forster and Ben Kolstad were absent.
No date was set for the rescheduled session.
To proceed, the project needs a variance from the City Council to build seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line. A recommendation from the EAB to approve or deny the variance is the last step before council action.
In their report to the advisory board, city planners raised mostly the same objections they had three years ago.
“Staff … concludes that while the new proposal to build a single-family home rather than the previously proposed duplex is less impactful in regards to the massing of the structure, the criteria for granting a CCCL variance still have not been satisfied by the application,” the report said. It added that the proposal “would have excessive, deleterious environmental impacts, and is not sensitive to its environmental context.”
The city planners were not satisfied with the 59% reduction in glass facing the ocean, which is accompanied by reductions of 82% and 87% on the sides of the home. The concern is that light from the home will discourage sea turtles trying to nest and disorient hatchlings trying to find the ocean.
“The Applicant can derive reasonable use of the Property by proposing a structure with far less mass and glass (particularly on the east facing elevation) that has fewer impacts to nesting sea turtles associated with development lighting and fewer impacts to dune vegetation,” the report said.
City staff also had a number of questions that it said Azure had not answered yet. The information sought includes details on a rooftop terrace and terrace safety barrier, a sidewalk plan, a landscape plan that shows specific plant locations, and structural details for the house.
Besides the terrace, the rooftop will feature a pool and summer kitchen. The house will also have four bedrooms, six and one-half baths and a wine cellar. The garage will hold two vehicles; the driveway can provide parking for three or four more vehicles.
Sweetapple felt cheered when he saw a page in the report labeled “Conditions for Approval” followed by 30 items.
“For the first time, we’ve received some positive indication from the city regarding what could be done to encourage staff to approve the application. We’ve been working since 2016 on this application,” he said.
But Brandon Schaad, the city’s director of development services, quickly turned on his microphone to say that the page’s label was incorrect.
“The words there at the top are in error, and I apologize for that,” Schaad said, repeating that staff’s recommendation was to deny the variance.
Once the application reaches the City Council, Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke and council member Monica Mayotte will have to sit out the discussion and not vote on the variance. After the council denied a variance for the duplex plan in 2019, Azure obtained a court ruling that emails O’Rourke and Mayotte sent residents showed they had a prejudicial bias against the project.

By Mary Hladky

The City Council and a cultural arts organization have cleared a major hurdle to finalizing a deal that would allow a $130 million performing arts complex to be built on city-owned land in Mizner Park.
Having resolved sticking points in the deal, the city and Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corp. are expected to finalize development and land lease agreements in May, with the project going before the Planning and Zoning Board in June and the City Council for final approval in August.
The city and BRADEC have been negotiating for nearly one year and have reached agreement on a host of matters. But they remained at loggerheads on two key points, and city staff asked City Council members to make the call at their April 11 workshop meeting.
Council members acted surprisingly quickly and with little debate, signaling once again their strong support for a state-of-the-art cultural complex with a completely revamped amphitheater.
“I will be happy to see Mizner Park what it was imagined to be at the beginning,” Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke said, referring to never-realized 30-year-old plans to make Mizner Park the city’s cultural center.
The most critical point of disagreement was the length of the lease of 3.6 city acres. BRADEC wanted a 99-year lease term, but dialed that back slightly during negotiations to 74 years with two 10-year renewals. The city wanted a 30-year lease with two 10-year renewals.
Brett Egan, president of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management and a BRADEC consultant, said a lengthy lease was crucial to attracting donors who will finance the project.
Many other cultural centers in the country have 99-year leases, as does the Boca Raton Museum of Art, which also leases city land in Mizner Park, he said.
“Without that leverage, we feel the project would be laughed out of the room,” Egan said.
To back that up, the BRADEC team submitted a letter from supporter and philanthropist Richard Schmidt, who wrote that a 50-year total lease term is insufficient to attract financial support.
“Those who are willing to invest hard-earned capital for community projects will require a commitment well beyond 50 years, as will any financial institutions which may be required for interim financing,” he wrote.
Mayor Scott Singer was the only council member supporting staff’s insistence on a 50-year lease.
“I have a lot of heartburn with the concept of a 99-year lease,” he said. A shorter lease would give future city councils more flexibility if it is needed and would give the city greater control, he said.
But with four other council members saying they had no problem with a longer lease that conforms with lease terms elsewhere in the country, the debate was over.
BRADEC’s attorney, Ele Zachariades, quickly announced that her client was dropping its objections to a second city demand.
BRADEC has committed to having reserve and endowment funds totaling nearly $22 million. But it wanted donation pledges, rather than cash, to count, while the city wanted no more than 50% to come from pledges to ensure that BRADEC has money on hand.
With BRADEC conceding on this point, the deal was done, and BRADEC supporters in the audience applauded.
Even if the city approves the development and land lease agreements, BRADEC will have to meet its fundraising goals in order to maintain city support.
The cultural complex, named the Boca Raton Center for Arts and Innovation, will be able to accommodate a total of 6,000 people in a performing arts center, jewel box theater, renovated amphitheater, rooftop terrace and outdoor performing arts spaces. A parking garage also is part of the project.
The theater buildings will have no fixed seating, walls, ceilings or floors. Instead, all these elements can be reconfigured to meet the needs of whatever they are used for.
BRADEC’s most recent timeline shows construction beginning in 2030, with the entire project to be completed in three years.

By Mary Hladky

Scores of Boca Raton residents found anti-Semitic flyers on their yards or driveways on April 20, the date of Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
About 60 to 70 were distributed in the Golden Harbour neighborhood in the Lake Wyman area, according to Mark Economou, public information manager for the Boca Raton Police Services Department.
The incident was immediately condemned on Twitter by Mayor Scott Singer and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton.
“Angry that this AM a cowardly hatemonger left antisemitic & pro-Hitler flyers in driveways at homes on 4 streets in our city,” Singer tweeted. “Unusual here; unacceptable anywhere. We stand strong & united against all bigotry & antisemitism.”
Deutch included a photo of the flyer in his tweet that showed Hitler’s face and the words, “Died fighting the human race’s eternal enemy, THE JEW.”
The flyer was inside a ziploc plastic bag that was weighted with dry corn kernels.
“Hitler attempted to eradicate the Jews from the earth. His Nazis slaughtered 6 million Jews,” Deutch wrote on Twitter. “This vile antisemitism must be universally condemned. And the cowards spreading this hate must be held accountable.”
The police department is investigating and had no additional information as of April 26.
Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S., including assaults, harassment and vandalism, reached an all-time high of 2,717 in 2021, a 34% increase over 2020, the Anti-Defamation League said in an annual report released on April 26.
Among states, Florida, with 190 incidents, ranked fourth in the nation behind New York, New Jersey and California.
The ADL’s figures show that a majority of the Florida incidents took place in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which have large Jewish populations.
Anti-Semitic incidents soared in May 2021 when tensions increased and violence broke out between Israel and Hamas, the report said. The ADL tracked a 141% increase in incidents that month over the same time in 2020.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, described the anti-Semitic activity that month as “shocking.”
“Jews were being attacked in the streets for no other reason than the fact that they were Jewish,” he said.
The ADL data show five incidents of harassment or vandalism in the greater Boca Raton area last year.
Last May, a group that included white supremacists protested a pro-Israel rally in the city, the Miami Herald and other media outlets have reported. They drove a white van covered with anti-Semitic hate messages, including “Hitler was right.” Ú

By Steve Plunkett

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s parking lot will soon get two parking spaces, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and an ADA-compliant ramp from the parking lot to the boardwalk.
But rebuilding the center’s observation tower, a project that originally included creating the handicapped parking spots, will likely not happen this year.
Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners approved spending $81,612 for the parking spaces on May 2 after being told that it is too soon to rebid the tower.
“City staff will continue (to) monitor the market conditions. The next 6 months do not look favorable,” Michael Kalvort, the city’s recreation services director, said in an April email to the district.
“It looks like the tower’s being postponed indefinitely,” Commissioner Steve Engel said.
But district officials will meet with their city colleagues to see why other tower designs were not considered and to look for quicker alternatives.
District and city officials were shocked in February when they received only one bid of $2.6 million for the work — $1.2 million more than the pre-bid estimate.
The bid was rejected and officials planned to wait for prices to come down before rebidding the work. Spring was the initial date set for re-evaluating the market.
District commissioners worried in April that paying for the parking now might delay rebidding the observation tower.
“If we take this out, it sounds like we’re suggesting that they just go get this piece and that would be it,” Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said at the district’s April 4 meeting.
Boca Raton owns and staffs Gumbo Limbo, which is part of Red Reef Park; the Beach and Park District pays for all its operations and maintenance as well as all capital improvements.
The parking lot project will add two 12-foot-wide spaces separated by a 6-foot-wide space at the southeast corner of the nature center. A 13-foot-long inclined ramp matching the boardwalk will offer access to it.
A $345,000 Gumbo Limbo Master Plan to begin later will add an ADA-compliant entrance to the nature center, a third ADA-compliant parking space and new ADA-compliant doors to the facility and the boardwalk. The plan also includes ADA-compliant upgrades to the restrooms.
Boca Raton demolished Gumbo Limbo’s popular 40-foot-tall tower after engineers in early 2015 declared it and the adjoining boardwalk to be unsafe. The boardwalk was rebuilt in phases and fully reopened in July 2019.
In other action, Beach and Park District commissioners gave Briann Harms, their executive director, a pay raise to $135,000 a year, up from $111,000, after a survey of comparable positions showed salaries ranging from $149,000 to $179,000

A retired U.S. Army colonel who served for several years in Ukraine and his Kyiv-born wife have organized a free benefit concert to help Ukrainians that will be held on May 21 at the Mizner Park Amphitheater.
William Millard and his wife, Milena, outlined their plans at an April 12 City Council meeting.
“Songfest for Vets III — Building Bridges to Ukraine” will be from 2 to 11 p.m. and include Ukrainian food, artists and activities for children. Donations will be accepted.
Millard, who lives in west Boca Raton, said he could not stand by as he watched the war and its atrocities unfold on television. “I had to do something,” he said.
The concert, sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9610 and the American Legion, will raise money to help volunteers assisting the elderly trapped in cities; a group that rescues animals abandoned by their fleeing owners; farmers whose equipment was destroyed, and to buy body armor for civilians.
Local musicians will be joined by Ukrainian musicians via streaming.
Council members said they donate money to nonprofits only once a year and so could not offer financial assistance, but several said they would help link Millard to people who might be able to help.
Additional information is at www.myboca.us/2021/Mizner-Park-Amphitheater.

— Mary Hladky

By Mary Hladky

The City Council has appointed two Boca Raton Housing Authority apartment tenants to the authority’s board.
Council members selected Fabiola Bernier and Adel Hachmi at their April 12 meeting after they expanded the board from five to seven members in March.
Seven people applied for the two slots, an unusually high number that reflected heightened concern about Housing Authority operations.
Public housing residents and advocates have pressed for changes to safeguard tenants and give them a greater say in how the authority’s apartments — Dixie Manor at 1350 N. Dixie Highway and Boca Island East at 70 SE 11th St. — are run and how Dixie Manor is rebuilt.
The Housing Authority board is considering leaving the federal public housing program with the intent of gaining access to financing that would allow it to rebuild Dixie Manor and add more badly needed low-income housing.
Housing authorities across the country are considering or have taken similar steps because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is drastically underfunded and can’t pay for extensive renovation or new construction.
Bernier is a Dixie Manor resident who graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in anthropology in 2019. Her résumé says she is an administrative support professional and former teacher.
Hachmi is a Boca Island East resident who earned a medical degree in Syria and is applying for a medical residency in Florida after completing coursework to practice medicine in the U.S. He now works as a search engine evaluator.
Hachmi’s term will expire in 2023, and Bernier’s in 2024. Both could be reappointed to four-year terms.
Late last year, the City Council rebuffed Carol Wolfe, who had sought reappointment to the board, and replaced her with Lanette Wright, who served in the U.S. Marines for 30 years and lives in Lincoln Court near Dixie Manor.

By Rich Pollack

As Highland Beach finalizes construction plans for a new, larger fire station to accommodate additional vehicles, town leaders are looking for steps residents can take to show their continued support for the creation of a new town-operated fire department.
“One of the things we want to do is find a way for residents to have an opportunity to leave a lasting mark on the new fire station,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said.
Labadie said one concept could be to have a “giving wall” on the side of the new fire station listing names of supportive residents.
Another idea, he said, could be to have naming opportunities on paver bricks at the station.
“And if someone wants to pay for the station, we’ll entertain the idea of naming rights,” Labadie joked, later explaining that the price tag for the new building is likely to be between $5 million and $6 million.
Donations would probably be required in order for residents to be listed, but Labadie said the idea isn’t about money.
Instead, he said it’s about community and strengthening the relationship between the residents and the town, which was bruised during the run-up to the March referendum on charter revisions.
“We think this will be a good opportunity to further engage the residents who really love Highland Beach,” he said. “Communities are about people and places, and this is a chance to connect the two.”
Labadie sees the idea as a “community-building exercise” with a focus on the future.
“A community giving wall, for example, gives a lasting mark,” he said, adding that the town would most likely create a nonprofit foundation to accept donations.
While the idea still needs more thought, Labadie said the town’s plans for the creation of a new fire department, following a decision to no longer pay for fire rescue services from Delray Beach, are “on track.”
A big part of that transition — and a major expense — is building a fire station to replace the current town-owned one.
The town initially hoped to renovate the current station to accommodate four vehicles — an additional fire truck and an additional rescue wagon — but discovered the existing building presented too many limitations.
“The current structure is beyond its lifespan,” Labadie said.
The new station — which will be about 11,000 square feet compared to 4,700 square feet at the existing station — will have three bays instead of two and will be a two-story building similar in style to the adjacent Town Hall.
The second story will include an Emergency Operations Center, as well as administrative offices and bunking facilities.
Labadie said the town is working with architects to finalize the design and is in negotiations with a building contractor to determine construction costs.
Those costs, Labadie said, are likely to come in about 10% above the town’s initial estimate of about $5 million but will still keep the total conversion start-up costs under the $10 million approved by voters in a November referendum.
“Our estimates were very conservative,” he said.
The town is also in the process of securing a low-interest bank loan for $5 million to cover much of the start-up costs. Commissioners have already agreed to spend as much as $4 million from reserves.
While the new station is under construction, a temporary station, planned for the parking lot in front of Town Hall, will be in use.
Labadie said the plan is to have the new station completed by May 2024 when the contract with Delray Beach ends and the town takes over fire service.

Students protest in front of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church on April 24 after the church’s decision. The lease ends Nov. 30. A mediator may help settle the dispute. Photo provided by Change.org

By Janis Fontaine

Parents, teachers and school administrators at St. Joseph’s Episcopal School in Boynton Beach are in shock after St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church officials notified the school that they would not renew its lease on the property on Seacrest Boulevard when it expires Nov. 30.
The private, independent Christian school opened in 1958 at the site. Although established as a parish day school, it became fully independent in 1990. More than 200 students in pre-K through eighth grade are enrolled at the school, and more than 40 faculty and staff will also be affected if the lease is not renewed.
The property is owned by St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church and the church says it “does not have any control over school operations, it only serves as the school’s landlord.”
The school as tenant has had a lease that renewed every five years — with an opportunity for updates and/or edits presented by either party — six times without an issue.
According to a website post by Head of School Kyle Aubrey, the board of trustees of the school was made aware that the church vestry was considering changes to the lease agreement this past winter.
Peter Philip, the vice president of the board of trustees at St. Joseph’s Episcopal School, called the news “a bombshell” on WPTV News. He also said that the board of trustees has been trying to discuss the matter “since February,” but were “not invited to have that one-on-one conversation.”
Then in April, the vestry formally announced it wouldn’t be renewing the lease, news that blindsided the parents whose children attend St. Joe’s — some of them since they were toddlers.
The church hired a public relations spokesperson to handle the fallout as parents wrote emails that said the end of the lease came “without warning or explanation.”
Others think the message is clear in the church’s April 21 letter to William Swaney, the school’s board chair: “Over the last several months, the Vestry carried out a careful evaluation and has determined that the interests of both parties have shifted over the course of the last 10 years.”
In other words, the goals of the church and school have diverged and are no longer in sync.
Heidi Hayn of Boynton Beach, who says she was married at St. Joe’s, wrote in a Facebook post, “We can say with confidence that our school leadership does not understand why this decision was made without any attempt to negotiate new terms for our lease. Our pleas for answers have been responded with vague, blanketed, scripted statements that do not offer clarification or specifics.”
The church’s PR firm claims that “the church remains committed to offering the greatest level of transparency.” Yet no explanation has been given for the nonrenewal. Parents and others affiliated with the school were so upset, they protested in front of the church on April 24, a Sunday.
Parent Eric McCabe, who was at the protest, told CBS 12 News, “We had our children in front of the church crying. We had parents crying. It was unbelievable.”
Inside the church, Father Marty Zlatic told his congregation that the decision by the nine-member vestry was the hardest that church leadership has ever made. The church had been asking for a third-party mediator to discuss the matter, but said its emails went unanswered, while instead a protest during church services was planned and carried out. Now mediated negotiations were planned to begin the first week of May.
Aimee Adler Cooke, the church’s hired spokesperson, wrote, “We remain committed to working with a third-party mediator to hopefully determine terms that are mutually agreeable to both parties. Joint discussions and thought sharing are the only way forward.”
To be better prepared, on April 27, school leadership publicly announced it had retained legal counsel.
Most of the angst among the community comes from not knowing why this is happening, and that the reason for the nonrenewal remains unclear. Many speculate the church will sell a portion of the property. Others deny this motivation.
Parents are likely to understand the church’s need to make solid business decisions, but are upset about the way this situation was handled. Parent Kelly Alexander told WPTV, “This just strikes me as the opposite of Christian.”

Fishing Tournaments 2022

May 14: Lantana Fishing Derby. Captain’s meeting set for 6 p.m. May 12 at the Lantana Recreation Center, 418 S. Dixie Highway. The awards party is set for May 15 at the recreation center. Entry fee $200 per boat by May 1 or $250 thereafter. Register online at www.Lantanafishingderby.com. For details, call the Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce at 561-585-8664.

May 14: Saltwater Shootout based in Pompano Beach. Captain’s meeting 6 p.m. May 12 at Pompano Beach Civic Center, 1801 NE Sixth St. Weigh-in at Alsdorf Park. Entry fee $401.25 by April 29 and $508.25 thereafter. Register online at www.bluewatermovements.com.

June 4: The Palm Beach County KDW Classic organized by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club and based at Riviera Beach Municipal Marina. Entry fee $225 per boat ($200 for fishing club members) by May 20 or $300 per boat after May 20. Captain’s meeting 6 p.m. June 3 at Riviera Beach marina, 200 E. 13th St. Riviera Beach. Register online at www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org. For details, call 561-832-6780.

June 11: Saltwater Slam based in Pompano Beach. Captain’s meeting 6 p.m. June 9 at Pompano Beach Civic Center, 1801 NE Sixth St. Entry fee $401.25 per boat by May 27 or $508.25 thereafter. Weigh-in at Sullivan Park in Deerfield Beach. Register online at www.bluewatermovements.com.

June 25: Big Dog, Fat Cat KDW Shootout based at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores. Kickoff party 7 p.m. June 7 at Sailfish Marina. Captain’s meeting 6 p.m. June 24 at Sailfish Marina. Weigh-in at Sailfish Marina. Early entry fee $150 per boat. Register online at www.bigdogfatcat.org.

July 16: Lake Worth Fishing Tournament based at Palm Beach Yacht Center in Hypoluxo. Check the Tuppen’s Marine & Tackle website at www.tuppensmarine.com for updates.

Aug. 13: Mark Gerretson Memorial Fishing Tournament. Captain’s meeting Aug. 11 at Delray Beach Elks Lodge. Weigh-in at Palm Beach Yacht Center. Check www.mgmft.net for updates.

Construction at Silver Palm Park means boat ramps remain unavailable until sometime this summer. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

Silver Palm Park’s boat ramps, which closed in September and were supposed to reopen in March, will stay off-limits to boaters until sometime this summer.
City spokeswoman Ileana Olmsted said Boca Raton has “no specific month” in mind for the reopening at this time.
Bill Trinka, a retired city firefighter and frequent user of Silver Palm’s ramps before they closed, called the delay “ridiculous.”
“Right now, Deerfield is closed, too. They’re renovating their ramps,” he said.
Public ramps in Deerfield Beach and Boynton Beach are two options that Boca Raton suggested boaters use while Silver Palm’s are under construction as part of a project that includes the nearby Wildflower site. Boynton Beach’s ramps are tentatively set to close for renovations in April and May. Still available are two launch sites in Delray Beach: Knowles Park, 1001 S. Federal Highway, and Mangrove Park, 1211 S. Federal Highway.
“We’ve been out of business for six months on this already. They need to get the ramps going,” Trinka said.
Olmsted said two factors led to the delay. First, she said, there were supply chain issues with the park’s floating dock. And second, the north sea wall of the boat dock unexpectedly had to be replaced.
“It was not in the original plan, but after removal of decking it was found to be in need of repair,” Olmsted said.
Trinka did not accept the explanation. “It doesn’t take weeks and months to put in a sea wall,” he said.
Along with work on the boat ramps, crews at Silver Palm this month are building the foundation of a shade structure, installing pavers and landscaping, and constructing new restrooms.
On the Wildflower side of the park, workers were building a fountain, grading the site, relocating trees, roughing-in the irrigation, and pouring curbs in the parking lot. They also poured the slab for the park’s pavilion with restrooms and built the concrete block walls.
The construction is part of a multimillion-dollar project to enhance the Wildflower/Silver Palm Park with new pedestrian restrooms, walkways, green spaces, pavilion, promenade, additional parking, a third boat ramp and a much-anticipated connection between both parks.
The parks are on either side of Palmetto Park Road on the west bank of the Intracoastal Waterway.

No offers came to move the Cramer House, which was built in 1925, about one block east of the present-day Sanborn Square. Photo provided by the Boca Raton Historical Society

By Mary Hladky

With no one coming forward to save it, the historic Cramer House has been demolished to make way for a large development in the heart of downtown.
“I am in mourning,” said Susan Gillis, curator for the Boca Raton Historical Society.
The bright blue house’s fate was sealed on March 11 when a contractor working for developer Compson Associates smashed a large hole in the building’s second story after the city issued a demolition permit.

Demolition of the Cramer House began March 11. The developer is seeking approval for a trio of high-rises, including a 12-story luxury apartment building. Photo provided by Alan Neibauer

The demise of the Mediterranean Revival house at 136 E. Boca Raton Road removes one of the last markers of the downtown’s history.
Realtor Harley Gates and his wife, Harriette, came to Boca Raton from Vermont in 1913 and built a house called the Palmetto Park Plantation, now the site of Wildflower Park, according to historical society records.
Gates then built a spec house on Boca Raton Road in the mid-1920s. Soon afterward, builder Jack Cramer, who constructed the original Town Hall, bought the house and added a two-story section.
After World War II, it was the home of Philip Azzolina, who had served in the band at the Boca Raton Army Air Field and was the original conductor of the Boca Pops Orchestra.
By the 1970s, the house had ceased to be a residence. It was occupied by a series of businesses over the years, including an art supply store and a gallery. In more recent times, it was vacant and had fallen into disrepair.
In the 1940s and 1950s, East Boca Raton Road was the city’s beating heart where everyone went to shop.
Those glory days ended in 1983 when Sanborn Square was expanded and the road’s intersection with Federal Highway was eliminated, making it a less convenient destination for shoppers.
Federal Highway emerged as the new “Main Street” and East Palmetto Park Road served as a hub for businesses of all kinds and as a major artery to the beach.
For now, the site of the Cramer House and a small two-story building behind it that also was taken down will sit vacant as Compson Associates seeks city approval for The Aletto at Sanborn Square.
The proposed project would include three buildings on 1.3 acres immediately to the east of Sanborn Square, between East Palmetto Park Road and East Boca Raton Road. If the project is approved, more buildings around the Cramer House would be demolished.
A 93-unit luxury apartment tower would rise to 12 stories, the maximum allowed in the downtown. A seven-story office and retail building would feature a restaurant with rooftop dining. An eight-story fully automated parking garage would provide 350 parking spaces and a rooftop pool.
Compson developed the 12-story Tower 155 luxury condominium at 155 E. Boca Raton Road, just north of the proposed project.
The historical society hoped someone would step forward to pay to move the Cramer House to a new location or that the developer would incorporate the house in plans for The Aletto at Sanborn Square.
But Carl Klepper, Compson’s vice president, said no one approached him about keeping the house as part of his company’s project or offered to move the house.
He would not have opposed moving it, he said before the Cramer House was demolished. But Klepper doubted it could have been done.
“I am just not sure it is very practical,” he said. “I am not certain that could be achieved. (The house) is really in disrepair.”
The Aletto at Sanborn Square is at the beginning stage of the city’s process for project approval. If Compson gets the go-ahead from the city, the land where the Cramer House sat will be used as a staging area for the project, he said.
Among those joining Gillis in mourning the loss of the Cramer House is City Council member Yvette Drucker, a former historical society president and member of the city’s Historic Preservation Board.
“I wish someone would have saved the house. We haven’t had any takers,” she said. “It is sad to see a piece of history go away.”
She urged people interested in preserving the city’s history to step in quickly when a historic structure is threatened.
“We need to be more proactive with our historical sites,” she said.
The Cramer House did not have a historic designation. But even if it did, that would not guarantee it could have avoided the wrecking ball, Gillis said.
The historical society has no role in historic designation, she said. That responsibility rests with the city’s Historic Preservation Board.
Either the owner of a historic property or the preservation board can submit an application for a historic designation, Gillis said.
If the preservation board gives its approval, the decision also must be approved by the Planning and Zoning Board and the City Council.
An owner of a designated property must get a certificate of appropriateness from the preservation board before making any changes to the building’s exterior. That is intended to protect the building, Gillis said.
The preservation board could deny a demolition permit, but Gillis said that has never happened. Short of that, a waiting period is put into effect so that the owner can avoid demolition by relocating the building or finding a new owner willing to protect it, she said.
“It would be better if we could be more proactive,” Gillis said. “But we need more help” from residents concerned about saving local history.

By Mary Hladky

The Florida Elections Commission has found that Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke did not act improperly or illegally when she sent an email to residents announcing her candidate endorsements in last year’s city election.
The commission closed its investigation after finding the complaint against O’Rourke, filed by Boca Raton resident Dario Gristina, to be “legally insufficient.”
The complaint, filed on March 1, 2021, contended that O’Rourke’s endorsement email interfered with the election or coerced voters.
“By sending the attached email in her official capacity shortly before a city election, Deputy Mayor O’Rourke is using her official influence to influence residents’ votes,” Gristina wrote.
In her Feb. 28, 2021, email, O’Rourke endorsed incumbents Yvette Drucker for City Council Seat C and Monica Mayotte for Seat D. Mayor Scott Singer also endorsed Drucker and Mayotte, and Mayotte endorsed Drucker.
Drucker and Mayotte easily defeated their opponents in the March 9 election.
Florida Elections Commission Executive Director Tim Vaccaro notified Gristina in a Dec. 8, 2021, letter that O’Rourke had done nothing wrong, saying “the language in the email is not coercive and there is no indication that it was sent for a corrupt purpose.”
He also said that Florida law does not prohibit public employees from expressing their opinions on candidates or issues, or from participating in a political campaign during off-duty hours, and noted that the email was sent at 5:45 a.m.
“My biggest disappointment in this whole thing is I was one of a majority of City Council members that endorsed people running for office and for some reason I was picked out to file a complaint against,” said O’Rourke, who does not know Gristina. Endorsements “are something that is done all the time.”
Gristina’s complaint was notarized by Kim LeeBove, campaign treasurer for former Deputy Mayor Constance Scott, who was defeated by Drucker in her bid to return to the council.
The City Council on March 22 was expected to vote on a resolution to reimburse O’Rourke the $1,625 she had spent to retain an attorney to respond to the allegations.
But the resolution was removed from the agenda after City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser asked for a delay so that she could seek an opinion from the Florida Commission on Ethics on whether council members can vote on it.
While she thinks the vote would be proper, Frieser said she wanted confirmation in writing since three council members made endorsements. Council members unanimously gave her the go-ahead to seek the opinion and the matter will come back to the council after the opinion is received.
Florida law allows elected officials to be reimbursed for legal defense costs that arise out of their performance of official duties when they are found innocent or there is a finding of legal insufficiency. Ú

The Innovation and Education Center, part of a $130 million performing arts complex planned for Boca Raton’s Mizner Park, would include a rooftop terrace, two studios, other performance space and headquarters for the complex. Renderings provided

By Mary Hladky

The Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corp. is refining its plans as the cultural arts group and city officials work to finalize a deal that would allow a $130 million performing arts complex to be built on city-owned land in Mizner Park.
The most recent renderings for the proposed Boca Raton Center for Arts and Innovation, released on March 22, highlight the versatility of its theaters to accommodate any type of performance or other events.
They also point to the technical capabilities that will be built into the completely revamped amphitheater and other venues in the complex that could accommodate a total of 6,000 people, said center president Andrea Virgin.
There will be no fixed seating, walls, ceilings or floors. Instead, all these elements can be reconfigured to meet the needs of whatever they are used for.
The technologies take into account tech-savvy younger audiences by including video walls, LED projections and simulcasting, allowing performances in one space to be broadcast throughout the complex.
The coronavirus pandemic has informed the project, with attention paid to indoor air quality and filtration. Renewable energy technologies also are incorporated.
BRADEC officials and the City Council will next meet on April 11, Virgin said, when city staff will seek the council’s direction on the remaining matters that are being negotiated.
Virgin also expects that the council will hear an overview of deal terms that the two sides already have agreed on.
“Negotiations have been going very well,” she said.
City staff also has sounded upbeat over the last few months when the negotiations have been mentioned at meetings.
Under the deal that is in the works, the city and BRADEC, a 501(c)(3), would enter into a long-term ground lease of 3.6 acres of city land in Mizner Park.
BRADEC would construct the performing arts complex and finance its entire cost with donations from cultural arts supporters and corporations that have long wanted such a facility in the city.

The planned performing arts complex (lighted at rear) would figure prominently at the northern end of Mizner Park, to the east of the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

By Mary Hladky

After months of entreaties by residents of the Dixie Manor public housing complex, the City Council has unanimously voted to expand the size of the Boca Raton Housing Authority’s board from five to seven members.
Council members did not comment on their March 22 decision but previously have voiced support for the expansion.
The vote came minutes before Angela McDonald, a Housing Authority board member and Dixie Manor resident who led the expansion effort, walked into the meeting room.
After Mayor Scott Singer informed her, McDonald smiled. “Thank you very much,” she said.
The Housing Authority, which runs Dixie Manor at 1350 N. Dixie Highway and Boca Island East apartments at 70 SE 11th St., operates independently, but council members appoint its board members.
For years, the authority has gained little attention, and even Dixie Manor residents showed scant interest. Few city residents stepped forward to serve on the board.
But that began to change when McDonald was appointed to the board in 2020 and began pressing for an end to the status quo.
Three people applied to fill the board seat held by Carol Wolfe, who had sought reappointment after her term expired in November. Instead, council members selected Lanette Wright, who served in the U.S. Marines for 30 years and lives in Lincoln Court near Dixie Manor.
Fueling the press for change are concerns about how the Housing Authority will upgrade dilapidated Dixie Manor, built as housing for Black troops during World War II.
With the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development drastically underfunded, Boca’s Housing Authority, like others across the country have done, is considering leaving the federal public housing program with the intent of gaining access to financing that would allow it to rebuild Dixie Manor and add more badly needed low-income housing.
Dixie Manor residents initially were worried that any changes would push them out of their apartments and they would not be allowed to return at a time when rents in South Florida are high.
But they now are also concerned about every aspect of the transition, and are speaking out at Housing Authority and City Council meetings.
Tension is visible at Housing Authority meetings. Chairman Gary Richardson and board member Brian Stenberg are skeptical of board expansion, suggesting instead creating a tenant advisory board to give residents more input.
There is no guarantee, Stenberg has said, that the City Council will appoint board members who will better represent Dixie Manor tenants.
At a Feb. 23 meeting, Richardson sharply criticized McDonald, saying she is slowing the board’s efforts to improve Dixie Manor.
“You and others are responsible for delaying this project unnecessarily,” he said. “You have to take some responsibility. … It is a very unfortunate situation.”
But Dixie Manor activists have not been dissuaded from pursuing several efforts that they believe will better safeguard them, including the expanded board.
They want board members who are better attuned to their needs and who can offer fresh ideas on how to improve the Housing Authority.
Although the authority’s board has not taken a stand on expansion, Wright supports it.
“The tension that comes to these meetings is too much,” she said at the Feb. 23 meeting. “We need some more diversity here.”
The city announced the new board positions on its website and invited applications shortly after the City Council meeting.
Those who apply will be interviewed either at the Community Redevelopment Agency/council workshop meeting at 1:30 p.m. April 11, or at the April 12 council meeting at 6 p.m. The council is expected to make the appointments at the council meeting.
One new commissioner’s term will end on Nov. 14, 2023, and the other commissioner’s term will end on Nov. 14, 2024. They then can be reappointed to a four-year term.