Nearly 60 friends and family members gathered in Ocean Ridge on Aug. 29 for a candlelight vigil for Cassidy Craig. Cassidy’s parents, Johnny and Deborah Craig, are on the right. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi
 
Ocean Ridge police are investigating the death of a Lake Worth Beach teenager whose body was found in a vacant lot just east of the Ocean Avenue bridge leading to Boynton Beach.
 The body of Cassidy Craig, 18, had been lying in a vacant lot at 21 E. Ocean Avenue for at least two days before being discovered around 7 p.m. Aug. 12 by a man walking his dog, Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones told The Coastal Star. 
 Jones said police and the county medical examiner’s office were awaiting results of toxicology tests before they could determine a cause of death. Although Jones said she might have died of a drug overdose, “the investigation will continue as a homicide until we prove otherwise.’’
 Police said she might have died at a different location. 
 “The scene doesn’t appear to contain all the evidence that would be contained if that is where she expired,’’ Jones said.  
 On Aug. 29, nearly 60 of Cassidy’s friends and relatives, some from as far away as New Mexico, gathered at sunset for a candlelight vigil on the grassy spot at the base of some bushes where her body was found. Many of them wore red, Cassidy’s favorite color.
 A short white lattice fence strung with white lights surrounded the spot, which was covered with more than a dozen bouquets of roses and flowers by the time the vigil ended with her friends and family holding candles toward the sky. 
 “She was just my baby girl,’’ said her mother, Deborah, choking back tears. Losing her “is unbearable. You can’t understand it unless you go through it. It’s horrifying.’’ 
 She said Cassidy, who would have turned 19 on Oct. 16, was homeschooled and three credits shy of earning her high school diploma. She loved going to the movies and “had an infectious laugh. She always made us laugh with her smart-aleck comments,’’ her mother said. 
 Cassidy’s surviving relatives include her father, Johnny Craig, her older sister, Priscilla, and her maternal grandfather, Dr. Angelo Pace. 
“I just want to know what happened. That’s all I want to know,’’ her mother said.
 Deborah Craig praised the detectives with the Ocean Ridge Police Department for their compassion and professionalism during the investigation.
And she offered a message to anyone with information about who dumped Cassidy’s body in the lot. 
“Please just step up. Do the right thing. If you do the right thing then people can forgive that,’’ she said. “And for the people who did do this and left my daughter there, I hope you actually burn in hell.’’ 
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Ocean Ridge Police Department at 561-732-8331.

By Larry Barszewski

A low pressure sewer system may be the best option for getting properties in Manalapan off septic tanks, but Mayor Keith Waters is skeptical residents will agree with the idea.
Consultants studying the town’s sewage needs called the system the “least expensive” and “least disruptive” of three options they analyzed. It would require each property to have a macerating pump, said Thomas Biggs of Mock Roos & Associates, the civil engineering firm contracted by the town in 2019 to do the study.
The pumps would grind the solids in the wastewater coming from homes and push it into sewer lines to flow to a regional treatment plant, Biggs said during an Aug. 10 online Zoom workshop on the subject.
But the pump installations may be opposed by property owners, Waters responded.
“There’s no prayer in all of our lifetimes that you’re going to get anywhere close to even half of the people who live in Manalapan to agree to drill holes in their front yard,” the mayor said. Half of the 20 to 40 residents he’s talked to about the issue “don’t even think we need the sewer system,” he said.
Commissioners will hold another workshop, tentatively scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at Town Hall, to discuss which, if any, option would work for residents. Besides the low pressure system, Mock Roos also considered a gravity system and a vacuum system. The three options each had a price estimate exceeding $10 million.
The commission is looking at the options because 220 properties in town use septic tanks: 155 on Point Manalapan and 65 along State Road A1A. Only 93 properties are part of a gravity sewer system, from Town Hall to the north, which includes the town’s commercial properties.
The septic tanks pose an environmental threat because of their potential for leaching contaminants or algae-producing nutrients into groundwater or the Intracoastal Waterway. While there have been discussions at the state level about the need to eliminate septic tanks on barrier islands, Biggs said the state currently has no conversion requirement or deadline.
Septic tanks can also hurt property values, although that may be less of an issue in this exclusive town, which this year saw a home sell for $173 million. “That is a question that’s asked when people are coming in and inquiring about properties in the town. They always ask if we are on sewer,” Town Manager Linda Stumpf said.
Commissioner John Deese told the mayor he has heard from plenty of residents who would prefer a sewer system.
“I’ve probably spoken to at least 10 or 15 people and I have not had one person that said they don’t want to do it. They can’t believe that we don’t have sewer in our town,” Deese said.
Waters agreed many people favor sewers, but he said support for a new system quickly evaporates once details emerge of how properties will be impacted, potentially with lawns and landscaping having to be ripped up and replaced.
Stumpf said the town has been down this road before with residents. “There’ll be pushback,” she said. “We’ve done this over and over and over again. Here’s where we get. We get to this point where it’s the cost and that’s the end of the conversation. And then, a couple of years later, we do this again.”
Waters and Vice Mayor Stewart Satter said it was more than the cost that’s at issue.
“It’s the complications in addition to the cost,” Satter said.

Gravity sewer system
The guts for a gravity system are already in place on Point Manalapan south of the Audubon Causeway. Its developers installed a sewer line for a future system, passing the price on to the original purchasers of the homes there.
Consultants would have to test to make sure the pipes are usable, but Biggs said he has no reason to think they wouldn’t be. He said they could be part of any of the proposed options.
The gravity system along A1A at the north end of town connects to the Lake Worth Beach system and a pump station — also called a lift station — on A1A. Town Hall uses a macerating pump to push its wastewater to the pump station.
“That pump station has some issues, has some structural issues,” Biggs said. “It’s functioning, but it’s not ideal. That pump station has to be reconstructed as part of this program.”
Biggs said a gravity line system would be the most expensive and the most disruptive during construction. In part, it would require the creation of six additional lift stations throughout the town.

Vacuum collection system
Another option is a vacuum collection system, which is more common in the Florida Keys and used in only a couple of communities in Palm Beach County, Biggs said.
“You apply a vacuum to the collection sewers. Every house basically has a storage tank and then there’s a valve. As the storage tank fills up, the valve trips open and the vacuum sucks out the storage tank and on it goes,” Biggs said.
Each storage tank could be placed near an existing septic tank, Biggs said, but Waters saw the system as basically replacing one tank with another.
The system would also need large vacuum pumps at the library on Point Manalapan and somewhere along A1A, Biggs said. “The vacuum pump stations would require probably at least a 40-by-40-foot easement as well to build,” he said.
While the cost to operate the vacuum system would be lower than for a gravity system, Biggs said operating a vacuum system is more challenging. Stumpf called the vacuum system “a maintenance nightmare, very costly.”
“This is not the option we’re recommending at this point in time, but this is one of the options we had to develop in order to submit for a loan,” Biggs said.

Low pressure system
A low pressure system would have homes connecting to a small-diameter pipe in the roadway. Residents would each have a small pump station in place of their septic tank. The pumps would be similar to one that sits in front of Town Hall and each would cost about $9,000 installed, Biggs said.
Some properties along A1A already have pump stations connected to their septic tanks and those should be able to be used as part of a low pressure system, Biggs said. Other properties along A1A might need to have pumps installed even with a gravity system, if the wastewater lines on their properties would be lower than the main A1A sewer line.
“If it’s already macerating the waste, then it would be potentially usable for this,” Biggs said of the existing residential pumps. “You’re going to connect to this low pressure system and instead of pumping it into your tank, and then your tank feeding a soil absorption system to dispose of the water, you’re going to pump it into a small-diameter force main that’s in the road and then it’s going to carry it away to the regional facility.”

Cost scenarios
The consultants prepared cost scenarios for the systems, based on estimates of potential grants and the likely interest rates for any loans that may be needed.
A look at the present worth — the total cost of each alternative over time using today’s dollar values — showed the cost of a low pressure system at $10.3 million, a vacuum system at $10.9 million and a gravity system at $13.4 million.
The lifetime operation and maintenance costs were projected to be $3.3 million for a low pressure system, $3.4 million for a gravity one, and $3.9 million for a vacuum system.
The actual costs will depend in part on decisions the commission has not discussed. With a low pressure system, for instance, would the town or each property owner pay for purchasing and installing the macerating pumps?
When estimating how much grant money the town would receive, Waters said the town should plan as if it were getting nothing, because of the difficulties involved in the grant processes.
“Whether we even qualify to get those grants is another thing altogether,” Waters said. The town should assume it will have to cover the full amount needed, he said, “and hope that we can get that down with some grants in the future.”

Other things to consider
Another benefit to getting off septic tanks, Biggs said, is that every property no longer would need a drain field.
“That frees up for everybody the opportunity to do something else with that part of their property,” he said.
“That’s huge,” Satter said, “because if you want a tennis court or something, you can’t put it over your drain field.”
Some property owners may have recently installed septic systems and be against switching now because of those investments, but Stumpf said the town could consider not requiring immediate hook-up to a new town system.
“As far as everyone hooking in, the town could make a policy that when you’re having issues with your septic or you have to replace your septic, that’s when you would put a pump in,” she said of the low pressure system.
The planning is in its early stages; the idea is to have the eventual sewer system tie into the Lake Worth Beach wastewater treatment system, Stumpf said. To do that may entail the town’s purchasing capacity from another municipality, but those discussions have not begun yet, she said.

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream is getting its first-ever assistant town manager and a public works director come Oct. 1 amid other high-level moves in Town Hall.
Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro will be promoted to assistant town manager/legal, and water maintenance supervisor Anthony Beltran will be public works director.
In a shuffle of duties in the town clerk’s office, Rita Taylor will get a new title — senior town clerk. Her deputy clerk, Renee Basel, will become town clerk and Rebecca Tew, the town’s chief financial officer, will handle more of the building permit work previously done by Taylor.
Town Manager Greg Dunham made the recommendations on Aug. 12 and said the changes, which town commissioners will approve during budget hearings in September, will add a cumulative $47,000 in salary expenses.
“We’re happy with all the staff recommendations and titles. Everyone’s doing well so we’ll keep moving forward,” Vice Mayor Tom Stanley said.
Nazzaro, who helped write the town’s public records procedures as a paralegal, was named its full-time staff attorney in 2016 and assistant town attorney in 2019.
“I think someday, I think he has visions of going into city management,” Dunham said, calling Nazzaro his “right-hand man.”
Basel came to Gulf Stream as a temporary worker in 2015 and was given a permanent position as executive assistant soon after. She became assistant town clerk in 2019 and deputy clerk after earning her designation last year as a certified municipal clerk. She is also the Southeast district director of the Florida Association of City Clerks.
Taylor, who has been the town clerk for 32 years, “will always have a place on our staff as she continues working in our clerk’s office and also providing historical perspective, knowledge and advice to our staff and to the residents of Gulf Stream,” Dunham said.
Commissioners early last year named the one-room library inside Town Hall the “Rita L. Taylor Gulf Stream Library” in a show of gratitude for her years of service.
Before taking her job in Gulf Stream, Taylor served 20 years as clerk in Ocean Ridge. And from the early 1970s to the late 2000s, she was an alderwoman and volunteer clerk in Briny Breezes, where she owns a second home.
In other personnel moves, Dunham proposed hiring a new police officer and an accounting clerk.
He also recommended giving town employees a $200-a-month “fuel allowance” to offset inflation pressure, along with a 5% cost-of-living raise.

In other business, commissioners:
• Agreed to pay consulting engineers Baxter & Woodman $64,000 for construction management services for civil work to be done at Bluewater Cove. The nine-month project will include water, wastewater, drainage and paving work at the new subdivision north of Place Au Soleil.
• Were told the town will pay police officers on night duty a shift differential above the pay given daytime patrols.

Deb and Larry Handler will mark their 30th wedding anniversary this school year at Gulf Stream, where they total 75 years of service as teachers. They also love basketball. Deb played for Keene State College in New Hampshire and Larry is co-athletic director at Gulf Stream.
Rachel O’Hara/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

For Deb and Larry Handler, the return of students to the Gulf Stream School campus in late August signaled the beginning of a year packed with milestones.
For Deb Handler, this calendar marks the beginning of her 40th year at the school, where she has been teaching kindergarten for most of her career. Some of the little ones, in fact, are children of her former students.
For Larry Handler, this year marks his 35th year teaching math to middle-schoolers and playing a key role in the athletic programs.
This school year will also include the 30th anniversary of the couple’s wedding, which took place in the school chapel and was, by all accounts, a major Gulf Stream School happening.
“Almost everything in our lives has involved Gulf Stream School,” Larry Handler says.
In fact, the Handler family and the family-like atmosphere enveloping the school have been firmly intertwined over the years.
The couple’s daughter, Kendra, attended the school, as did Handler’s son from a previous marriage, Aaron.
“Kendra literally grew up here,” said Larry Handler, adding that she is now an elementary school teacher in Cocoa. The school, Deb Handler says, has helped to provide a solid foundation for the couple and their family to build upon, both personally and professionally.
“Gulf Stream School gave us the opportunity to work and grow as a couple,” she said.
Both give credit to school leaders, especially former Head of School Anne Gibb, for making that possible.
“Miss Gibb set the atmosphere that allowed us to flourish as teachers and as a family,” Deb Handler said.

The weddings of Bryan and Shani Cook and of Deb and Larry Handler were celebrated in the 1994 edition of the Gulf Stream School yearbook, The Mariner. The Cooks and Handlers still teach at Gulf Stream. Photos provided

Other campus couples
When it comes to married couples on the Gulf Stream School campus, the Handlers are not alone.
The school has employed couples before, and two are teaching now: the recently married Rob White-Davis and Samantha Smith White-Davis, as well as Bryan and Shani Cook, who have a story similar to that of the Handlers.
Like Larry Handler, Bryan Cook teaches middle school math. He is also co-athletic director with Larry Handler and was his best man in the couple’s wedding.
Shani Cook, like Deb Handler, works with the youngest students, teaching prekindergarten.
Bryan Cook says that what stands out about the Handlers is their significant impact on the school and the students over their years there.
“They’re such a large part of the fabric of the school and have been for such a long time,” he said.
Cook says their dedication to the students is clear even outside of teaching or coaching. It’s not unusual, he says, for the couple to attend students’ games when they play in rec leagues or on travel teams or even after they graduate from the school.
Because the Handlers teach at opposite ends of the school — as do the Cooks — their paths don’t usually cross during the school day.
That’s also the case for both Samantha and Rob White-Davis. Rob, the director of performing arts who is beginning his 15th year at the school, teaches at the south end of campus. Samantha, the newly named lower school division coordinator, is at the north end of the school.
The couple, who got married in July, do their best to avoid shop talk during their time off.
“It would be easy to talk to each other about school, but we try not to,” says Samantha White-Davis, who began dating Rob during the pandemic while becoming best friends. “It would consume our whole relationship.”

A basketball connection
For the Handlers, who sometimes compare notes during evening walks, there’s a chance to work together during basketball season as co-coaches.
Basketball, it seems, has played a large role in how the Handlers got together.
“We hit it off largely because of college basketball,” Larry Handler said.
Deb, who played college basketball at Keene State College in New Hampshire, is a fan of NCAA powerhouse Duke, while Larry is just a fan of the game.
There was even a time when the two took to the basketball court for a game of one-on-one, although it appears no one kept score.
It was during the summer of 1992, when Deb was in Massachusetts and Larry was here in Florida, that the two got engaged. Larry sent Deb a wooden puzzle in the shape of a heart with the words “will you marry me” visible once it was completed.
It is clear to those who work with the Handlers and who know them well that teaching at Gulf Stream School is more than just a profession — it’s a passion.
“I love teaching kindergarten,” Deb Handler said. “I love seeing the joy on a child’s face when they see they can read. They just light up.”
Larry Handler says his enjoyment of teaching has never faded and that he can always expect the unexpected.
“There’s still a time when something will happen that I’ve never seen before,” he says.
What the long term holds for the Handlers is unknown — they’re both in their early 60s — but it’s a bet that whatever they do, they’ll be doing it together.
“We’re a package deal,” Larry Handler says.

By Rich Pollack

Armed with a unanimous recommendation from a county advisory board, Highland Beach leaders this month will go before the County Commission seeking a much needed certification that helps clear the way for a new town fire department.
Last month Palm Beach County’s Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council reconsidered Highland Beach’s application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (COPCN) license. That certificate is required before the town can provide EMS services once its new fire department is operational in May 2024.
The council, which earlier postponed a vote on the application to get additional information, agreed to forward its recommendation to the County Commission after little discussion.
“This is a very big step in establishing a Highland Beach Fire Rescue Department,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. “We were able to work through the initial roadblock and have been able to secure the advisory council’s first new agency approval in more than 30 years.”
Still, the final decision on whether to grant Highland Beach the license will rest with county commissioners, who are scheduled to vote on the issue at their Sept. 13 meeting.
To support their efforts, town leaders hope town residents will come to the meeting. They plan to send a bus of about 50 supporters and will supply T-shirts with the fire department logo on them.
Labadie has spoken with several county commissioners and said they have indicated support for the town. Like Labadie, Mayor Doug Hillman says he is optimistic the town’s application for the certificate of need will be approved.
“It would be remarkable if the commissioners went against it but it’s never a done deal,” Hillman said. “It’s not over until the County Commission approves it.”
Having residents attend the County Commission meeting, Hillman said, will remind commissioners that a referendum in which voters agreed to let the town spend up to $10 million to start the new department passed with more than 90% approval.
“We want to be sure to show that our residents support the creation of a new fire department,” Hillman said.
Hillman and Labadie encouraged residents who want to ride the bus to the meeting to register online, with a link provided on the town’s website. The bus will leave at 8:30 a.m. with only 50 spots available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Town commissioners in April 2021 voted to split from Delray Beach Fire Rescue and start a new department — breaking a relationship that had lasted more than 30 years. Commissioners, citing a consultant study, said they believe the town can still provide quality fire service for less than the $5 million a year Delray charged.
Since then, sometimes contentious discussions have taken place in which Delray Beach Fire Chief Keith Tomey has expressed concerns about the ability of the new department to provide residents with the level of service they receive from his department.
In a memo to Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore the day after the EMS Advisory Council vote, Tomey reported Highland Beach had agreed to increase its staffing to eight paramedic firefighters on a shift and said that Delray would be required to provide EMS mutual aid to Highland Beach.
“Our COPCN license requires any COPCN holder to render aid to another COPCN holder in another jurisdiction as a requirement to have a COPCN license,” he wrote.
At the same time, he pointed out that Highland Beach’s two neighboring communities have declined to provide mutual aid for fire calls.
“The bigger issue for them is that Boca nor Delray will be providing the fire protection mutual aid,” he said.
Both Labadie and Hillman have said they have a verbal commitment from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue to provide mutual aid for fires, but no formal agreement has been reached.

By Joel Engelhardt

The Aug. 23 primary whittled the field in three state Legislature races critical to residents of coastal South County.
In the closest race, Highland Beach Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman defeated newcomer Christina DuCasse with 52.6% of the vote, per unofficial results posted on Aug. 24. Gossett-Seidman, a Republican, will face Boca Raton City Council member Andy Thomson, a Democrat, for the House District 91 seat in November. 
State Rep. Mike Caruso, moving into new House District 87, took 67.5% of the vote in defeating Republican Party activist Jane Justice. Caruso, who has spent more than half of the $208,000 he raised through Aug. 18, will face Democrat Sienna Osta, who has raised $4,900.
In Senate District 26, Republican Steve Byers took 58.8% of the vote to defeat William Wheelen. Byers will face incumbent Democrat Lori Berman on Nov. 8.
Gossett-Seidman, who won by about 500 votes from about 9,500 cast, spent nearly $194,000 in her race. DuCasse, a Russian-born American adoptee married to a Boca firefighter, spent less than $10,000 but had the support of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1560 of Boca Raton. 
Gossett-Seidman, 69, raised nearly $290,000, including a $200,000 loan from herself. She credited her victory to hard work going door-to-door and her success in getting Tallahassee financial support for local projects. 
Thomson, who had no primary challenger, has raised $225,000 but spent just $30,000. The district includes all of Boca Raton, most of Highland Beach and much of west Boca.
After four years representing the Delray Beach area and most of the South County barrier islands, Caruso moved into a new coastal district that starts at the Boynton Inlet and covers Hypoluxo, Lantana, Manalapan and South Palm Beach, as well as large swaths of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.
He decried the split in the party that turned many local party members against him over his primary endorsement of Democrat Katherine Waldron, a Port of Palm Beach commissioner. He said he spent money fighting “untruths” that should have been saved for his Democratic rival. 
Caruso, 63, said he took calls every day from voters concerned by allegations made by his opponent and that his campaign knocked on 14,000 doors. 
“We need to come together as a party,” he said. “We’ve got to keep Florida red, keep Florida conservative and keep Florida free.”
Byers, 54, parlayed success in Amway sales into a consulting business, which did projects for IBM and the CIA, he said on his website. Among businesses he started since then is one as a beekeeper. 
Byers sent out campaign mailers promoting himself and DuCasse. The mailers stated they were paid for by the Byers campaign but did not contain a similar disclosure on behalf of DuCasse, prompting criticism that they violated Florida election law. 
Byers said he has not received notice of an elections complaint and he noted that the law says for there to be a violation it must be committed “knowingly and willingly,” and he did not know the flyer would pose a problem.
In his upcoming campaign, he said he would focus on insurance reform and reining in homeowner association overreach.
He lent his campaign $54,800 and raised an additional $1,665, while spending nearly $33,000 (including $5,000 to repay loans to himself).
Wheelen had been a party volunteer since 2015 and was honored with the local party’s Jean Pipes Award for Volunteer Service in March at a Mar-a-Lago dinner headlined by former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Byers will face Berman, who served eight years in the state House and has been a state senator since 2018. Through Aug. 18, she raised $130,000 and spent $35,000. 
Senate District 26 extends along the beach from Boca Raton’s Red Reef Park to the Boynton Inlet and stretches west to Belle Glade.

By Joe Capozzi

Lynne Ladner, a former interim town manager in Pinellas County, will take over as interim town manager in Ocean Ridge. 
Town commissioners voted 4-0 on Aug. 8 to hire Ladner after interviewing one other candidate, former Lake County Manager Alan Rosen. Commissioner Geoff Pugh was absent. Ladner formally accepted the job on Aug. 10. 
Ladner planned to start Sept. 1, working alongside departing manager Tracey Stevens, whose last day is Sept. 11. Stevens has accepted the town manager job in Haverhill. 
Commissioners hope to interview candidates for a full-time town manager in October and hire one by Thanksgiving. Ladner told commissioners she is interested in the full-time position. 
“I am thrilled at this opportunity and I am excited to come next week and get started,’’ Ladner told commissioners after they approved her contract at a special meeting Aug. 25. “I look forward to working with all of you and everyone in the town.’’ 
Commissioners were impressed with Rosen, but felt Ladner was the better fit. Rosen had told commissioners he probably would not be interested in the full-time position because of family commitments.
“I think Lynne would be a good fit for keeping the boat afloat for the three months while we are looking for somebody else,’’ Mayor Susan Hurlburt said. 
Ladner has more than 15 years of experience working in local governments in Florida, Michigan and Kansas. More recently she served as interim town manager in Kenneth City, a suburb of St. Petersburg.
She also has been working as a consultant for the city of Pahokee, a job she planned to leave before starting in Ocean Ridge. 
Ladner will draw a paycheck based on a $100,000 annual salary for the first two weeks. On Sept. 12 her pay will increase to $132,500 a year, which Stevens was making. 
The commission also gave Ladner permission to serve on a Florida League of Cities committee that will require her to attend a meeting once a month in Kissimmee. 
At the Aug. 25 meeting, Ocean Ridge resident Terry Brown, a former commissioner, asked commissioners to give Ladner an overview about the town’s neighborhoods and political factions.  
 “I’m not trying to be cute or anything, but I want to be sure as soon as possible” that officials “give an orientation to the town in terms of demographics and neighborhoods where various tensions exist,’’ Brown said.
It’s important that Ladner is “aware of what happens in the town with various groups so there are no surprises. You dig what I’m saying?’’ Brown said.

By Steve Plunkett, Jane Smith and Rich Pollack

Highland Beach and Gulf Stream have struck a deal in which the former will process the latter’s applications for building permits.
“We’re excited about this. We’ve been kind of in a purgatory here,” Gulf Stream Town Manager Greg Dunham said after a special meeting on Aug. 26 that culminated with a 3-0 vote to approve the arrangement.
A day earlier, Highland Beach commissioners OK’d their side of the bargain on a 5-0 vote.
“This is an example of how small towns can work together for the benefit of everyone,” said Highland Beach Commissioner Evalyn David.
Under the agreement, the Highland Beach Building Department will provide building plan review and inspection services to Gulf Stream, work that until last spring had been handled by Delray Beach.
 In May, Delray Beach ordered an abrupt halt to engineering, floodplain and landscaping review for Gulf Stream plans after discovering its building department was doing the reviews without necessary City Commission authorization.
Gulf Stream hired outside engineers and a landscape architect to pinch-hit on the reviews and solicited bids from three third-party firms while also negotiating with Highland Beach to take over the work.
Highland Beach Town Manager Marshall Labadie touted the advantages to both towns.
“Overall, the building permit fees generated by the Town of Gulf Stream customers would cover all variable costs (plan review and inspections) and its proportion of fixed costs and provide an administrative fee to cover management costs, all while improving service for Highland Beach customers by securing greater access to more inspectors and plan reviewers,” Labadie wrote in his Manager’s Minute online newsletter. The inspections and reviews are done by an outside contractor, CAP Government Inc.
Dunham said Gulf Stream officials “have been working on this for longer than we really liked.”
Highland Beach officials originally were scheduled to consider the proposal on Aug. 2, but the mayor was absent so the matter was postponed until Aug. 4. At that special meeting, commissioners decided to ask their Financial Advisory Board to review the terms at its Aug. 23 meeting. Commissioners then approved the agreement on Aug. 25.
Some final tweaks included striking a clause that applications from both towns would be handled first-come, first-served and that Gulf Stream residents would pay the same fees as those charged to Highland Beach properties.
Labadie said the permit fees paid by Gulf Stream may not be the same. “In fact, the Town Commission has signaled its desire to maintain the 10% discount to Highland Beach customers put in place earlier this year,” he said.
The first-come, first-served idea was scrapped to give Highland Beach flexibility in scheduling small jobs submitted shortly after a much larger project such as a home renovation.
Dunham said the next step will be to schedule the transition toward the Highland Beach takeover and away from Delray Beach’s withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Delray Beach city commissioners on Aug. 9 unanimously agreed to stop processing building permits for Gulf Stream on Oct. 10.
The city is installing a computerized permit system that allows builders and others to submit plans online. City staff sent a letter to Gulf Stream in late April about the upgrade and that paper plans would not be accepted after the transition. Delray Beach estimated the annual cost to Gulf Stream would be $13,208 for storing and maintaining the electronic system.
Delray Beach also wanted Gulf Stream to pay for travel time and a portion of the salary and benefits when one of the Delray Beach inspectors or its contractors drives to the town to inspect a building.
Delray Beach has been processing Gulf Stream’s permits for nearly 13 years. The town’s permits account for between 3.6% and 5.6% of the building fund revenue, said Anthea Gianniotes, the city’s development services director. The town’s permits comprise 3% to 20% of the permits processed annually by Delray Beach.
Highland Beach estimates Gulf Stream’s permits will add around 40% to its workload. Gulf Stream won’t have to pay extra for inspections because the third-party inspectors come from their company offices in West Palm Beach, passing through Gulf Stream on their way to Highland Beach.
The new agreement between Highland Beach and Gulf Stream is of a “continuing nature,” with either side able to terminate it by giving no fewer than 90 days’ written notice.

Related stories: Interim public safety chiefs win permanent status |Commission selects police captain to be city manager

By Tao Woolfe

The romance between Boynton Beach and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is officially over. Both sides announced separately last month that negations to allow PBSO to take over the city’s police services had ceased.
Boynton Beach Mayor Ty Penserga told a delighted crowd at an Aug. 16 City Commission meeting that the merger was “financially infeasible” due to unspecified pension fund liabilities.
“Given the financial reality, it is not in the best interest for the city to move forward at this time,” Penserga said.
The previous day, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw had announced the breakdown in merger talks.
In his statement, Bradshaw made it clear that Boynton Beach had approached the PBSO about a possible merger — not the other way around.
“At no time did we ask for or initiate the discussions,” the sheriff said.
Nevertheless, the sheriff had presented a $42.5 million proposal in July to provide Boynton Beach with “greatly enhanced security and depth of law enforcement,” if the commission hired PBSO.
Although the Boynton Beach Police Department’s proposed budget for next year is a relatively modest $38.5 million, newly named Police Chief Joseph DeGiulio and interim City Manager Jim Stables said the City Commission would not regret its decision.
The future city Police Department will be reorganized, adequately staffed and willing to work more closely with the community, DeGiulio and Stables said.
The commissioners promised to support the department and its goals.
“The people have spoken. Sorry it took so long,” said Commissioner Woodrow Hay, who had been opposed to a PBSO merger all along. “I’m happy we are headed in the right direction. Let’s not waste more time and money. … Let’s work together with our Police Department and our citizens.”
Residents at the meeting applauded the commission for opting to stay with the city police, but some questioned the rationale.
“You didn’t make the motion because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s financially infeasible,” the Rev. Richard Dames, pastor of the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, said of the decision to end the talks.
Community activist Bryce Graham said negotiations with the sheriff’s office should be called off permanently. “This should not come up again,” Graham said. “This should be a cease and desist.”
He added that going forward, the City Commission should heed the community’s “cries for transparency and accountability” from the Police Department and city officials.
The possibility of bringing PBSO in to replace the Boynton Beach Police Department was raised in April following months of tumult and anger — especially from the Black community — after 13-year-old Stanley Davis III was killed during a Dec. 26, 2021, high-speed police chase. The teen was riding a dirt bike.
Residents had expressed frustration that an internal investigation was taking so long. Nevertheless, Black and white residents had repeatedly said at commission meetings that they did not want PBSO to replace the city’s police.
Instead, residents said, the local force should be winnowed of bad officers and more enlightened policies enacted.

Officer fired; union protests
Just days after the commission meeting, the Boynton Beach Police Department announced that its internal investigation into the circumstances of Davis’s death had come to an end.
As a result, Mark Sohn, the officer involved in the deadly chase, was fired.
On Aug. 19, the same day the termination was announced, Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association attorney Lawrence K. Fagan sent a letter to DeGiulio to initiate the union grievance process with the city, alleging that Sohn had been disciplined through termination “without just cause.”
The union is seeking Sohn’s reinstatement as a police officer “along with back pay, wages, pension contributions and all associated emoluments,” according to the grievance document.
According to the findings of the months-long internal affairs investigation, Sohn violated the department’s strict vehicular pursuit policies on more than one occasion.
“By repeatedly violating this policy, Officer Sohn unnecessarily placed the safety of the public and officers at risk,” DeGiulio wrote in the report dated June 29.
Sohn also violated the officers’ code of ethics and engaged in conduct unbecoming a police officer, according to the report.

Reorganization planned
Stables and DeGiulio told the commissioners and the residents that community policing would be a top priority going forward.
“We have been thinking through reorganization, and looking at efficiencies,” Stables said. As for staffing, “we don’t have the budget this year, but we will look at expansion in the future.”
DeGiulio said the department would specifically like to add to its road patrol, investigations and communications personnel.
Commissioner Thomas Turkin said city officials should ensure, during upcoming budget hearings, that the Police Department has the money it needs to meet its new goals.
“We need to put our money where our mouth is and invest in the Police Department,” he said. “I hope this support of the Boynton Beach Police Department does not disappear overnight.”
For his part, the sheriff said there are no hard feelings about the city’s decision.
“The Sheriff’s Office wishes the city all the best, and will assist them in any way if asked to do so,” Bradshaw said.

Retired Air Force Col. Ron Standerfer of Gulf Stream keeps an image of the F-100 Super Sabre, an aircraft he flew in Vietnam. In 1969, he was shot down and ejected over Laos. He received the Purple Heart. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

No matter that it happened more than 80 years ago, Dec. 7, 1941, is still etched in the mind of Gulf Stream’s Ron Standerfer.
“I came down the steps from my bedroom and saw my father listening attentively to the radio while the Japanese were bombing the naval base in Hawaii,” Standerfer, 87, recalled.
“The look of seriousness on my father’s face told me this was big stuff, and planted the first seed of what would become my career.”
That career, which included 237 combat missions during the Vietnam War and ultimately earned him a Purple Heart, two Silver Stars and 13 Air Medals, was celebrated this past May when Standerfer was invited by the Air Force to the unveiling of an F-100 jet refinished in the markings of one he was flying when he was shot down over Laos in April 1969.
Standerfer’s father was too old to be drafted when the U.S. entered World War II, so he volunteered and was sent to boot camp in Idaho, then on to San Francisco, where the Navy made him a signalman and assigned him to an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. Standerfer and his mother followed — he attended the third grade in San Francisco — before returning to their native Belleville, Illinois.
Standerfer went to the University of Illinois, but by early in his sophomore year his grades were so poor he worried he might flunk out. With the Korean War on and knowing he would be drafted if that happened, he joined ROTC and soon after visited a local air base that had a vintage WWII bomber on site.
“It was my first airplane ride, it was noisy as hell, but boy, by the time it was over I was hooked on flying,” he said.
He learned about the aviation cadet program and that if he passed a physical and spent a year as a cadet to learn how to fly, he could join the military as a pilot.
“So that changed everything,” he said.
The war ended only months after he joined the Air Force in 1954 so he didn’t get a chance to participate, instead joining the New Jersey National Guard 177th Tactical Flight Group.
Fourteen years later, in January 1968, Standerfer was working as a newly hired flight engineer for Pan American Airways when the USS Pueblo was seized off North Korea and accused of spying.
President Lyndon Johnson called up 14,000 Guardsmen to Vietnam, including Standerfer’s group, and he was one of 11 pilots who volunteered for combat duty.
“The other pilots had been there for a year and thought we were going to be a bunch of hicks,” Standerfer said. “But it turned out we had way more experience than they did, and we were the ones who became the flight commanders.”
Twenty-two of his missions were as part of the secret and highly dangerous “Misty” program, flying F-100 Super Sabres over North Vietnam and Laos. Shot down by antiaircraft fire on April 1, 1969, he and air crewman Lacey Veatch were rescued by a U.S. helicopter.
“I’ve had “some pretty unusual things happen to me,” he said. Among them:
• When he was 21 his operations officer in Maine picked him to watch a test of an atomic bomb near Las Vegas. “They miscalculated the strength of it, and it was twice as big as the Hiroshima bomb. I stumbled across a military film of it (later) and there were guys and girls wearing sunglasses at hotel pools in Las Vegas watching this mushroom cloud going up 20 miles away.”
• When he returned from Vietnam he was sent to train on a single-engine F-105 fighter bomber. “On my very first flight the engine flamed out when I came back to land, so I almost had to bail out. I got the engine started. The first thing you learn in the military is how to start an engine when it quits in the air. ”
• After dinner one night in Lima, Peru, he was kidnapped by three armed men. “They had a gun to my head but kept arguing about what they were going to do. They let me go and drove off and I had to hitchhike back to my hotel.”
Standerfer has been married to his wife, Maya, a native of Poland, for 33 years and has three stepchildren: John Harrell, 57, who works for the Navy in Washington, D.C.; Steve Harrell, 56, the vice president of a computer company in Pittsburgh, and Michael, 50, an artist in New York.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I was born and raised in Belleville, Illinois, a town across the Mississippi River close to St. Louis. I went to Belleville Township High School. The proximity of a large Air Force base exposed me to the Air Force way of life.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I spent 27 years flying a variety of high performance fighters including the F-100, F-102, F-105, F-4 and A-7. After I retired, I was a marketing director for Falcon Jet Corp., a subsidiary of the French aerospace manufacturer Dassault Aviation. Later, I was an owner of an aircraft charter and management company in Elmira, New York.
The most significant period of my professional life was my combat record during the Vietnam War. I flew 237 combat missions and was awarded two Silver Stars, 13 Air Medals and the Purple Heart.
Based on my experiences, I wrote a book, The Eagle’s Last Flight, a fictional novel.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Be realistic about your professional goals.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Gulf Stream?
A: We chose Gulf Stream as our permanent residence seeking a different, more quiet lifestyle than living in New York City. The Atlantic Ocean is roughly 20 yards from our balcony. But another part of the equation was there was a large VA hospital in West Palm Beach and I wanted to be close to that. So, we bought a condo here about 15 years ago.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Gulf Stream?
A: Having ocean in front of my windows and beautiful nature. A small-town environment suits me perfectly.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. I like that writer very much because of another book he wrote called A Gentleman in Moscow. Excellent writer.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: Classical music, especially Chopin and Beethoven. I was a music major when I went to college and that’s where the classical came in.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: Maj. Gen. Evan Rosencrans was my mentor and source of advice until he died. He was the operations officer in the first squadron to which I was assigned. He was a real gentleman and ultimately was promoted to two-star general. He followed my career very closely and gave me a lot of good advice.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Tom Cruise because he is a natural-born leader, a typical fighter pilot who takes risky chances. The boys out there in Top Gun School and all that stuff, they have done a very fair presentation of what Navy pilots like that were like, and Air Force too. We broke rules, we chased girls, we drank a lot, it goes on and on. The second movie was better than the one before, at least I thought so.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: A good joke when I hear one.

By Jane Smith

The son of a well-known Long Island car dealer was not allowed to rezone parcels in the north end of Delray Beach after nearby Gulf Stream homeowners complained about the adverse effects the proposed car dealership would have on their lives.
The Aug. 16 denial was a split vote. Mayor Shelly Petrolia, Deputy Vice Mayor Juli Casale and Commissioner Ryan Boylston voted to deny the rezoning, while Vice Mayor Adam Frankel and Commissioner Shirley Johnson voted in favor of it.
“I support the change,” Johnson said. Residents bought their homes “knowing they would be next to a commercial district.”
John Staluppi Jr.’s ABC JS Auto Imports II LLC paid $10 million for the seven parcels on the east side of North Federal Highway south of Gulfstream Boulevard. He is also CEO of SuperStore Auto Group, which acquired Delray Hyundai, Delray Genesis and Delray Acura in January.
Staluppi’s dad, John Staluppi Sr., started out as a mechanic and built a billion-dollar business of new car dealerships.
Land use attorney Bonnie Miskel represented Staluppi Jr. before the commission for the rezoning request for the combined 4.4 acres.
Miskel said the rezoning to automotive commercial was allowed in the Delray Beach comprehensive plan.
Trey Nazzaro, Gulf Stream’s assistant town attorney, attended the meeting with its mayor and town manager and argued against the request.
Nazzaro said the rezoning was not appropriate because the potential car dealership backed up to single-family homes in the Place Au Soleil community. The proposed dealership would have only a 10-foot buffer, when the Gunther car dealership to the south has a 35-foot buffer from the community.
Malcolm Murphy, who lives in the community and chairs the town’s Architectural Review and Planning Board, said, “The bigger picture is diminished quality of life from the endless noise and endless light” from the proposed car dealership.
Sam Pearlman, whose backyard abuts the land, said the noise from the key fobs, car alarms and horns honking would be disruptive.
“The bright lights would spill into our neighborhood, making it feel like daytime all of the time,” said Pearlman’s wife, Shana Ostrovitz.
“While car dealerships are a legacy industry in Delray Beach, I have not seen any plans that say they should be expanded,” Boylston said. “I am not in favor of this rezoning.”
Petrolia said the auto dealerships should be on the west side of Federal where they will not abut residences. “The property on the east is too small to accommodate a dealership,” she said.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach leaders were able to trim about $5.6 million from next year’s proposed city budget, mostly because the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency agreed to pay $4.5 million more toward improvements at Pompey Park.
That reduction is offset by the addition of an estimated $1.35 million to finish the renovation of the Crest Theatre building on the Old School Square campus.
The city, which owns the building, stopped the renovation in July 2021 in a dispute with the former Old School Square operators over the construction contract.
Delray Beach decided to end the lease with the former operators, who then sued the city in November for breach of lease. The city recently asked the judge in the case to allow it to file a counterclaim, seeking reimbursement of its expenses to finish the Crest renovation.
To find other budget savings, the city staff proposed pushing back the purchase of a mobile performance stage for two years, retaining $250,000, Public Works Director Missie Barletto said at the Aug. 22 City Commission workshop. She also said the city has $374,693 more in its penny surtax fund than previously anticipated, which will be saved until its proper use is determined.
In addition, Barletto said the purchases of two police cruisers and several stand-up electric patrol units were removed, saving another $101,730. “That captures the comments that you had made at the last (budget) meeting,” she said. “We are listening and paying attention.”
At the end of the workshop, Commissioner Ryan Boylston reminded his colleagues that $3.7 million more than the goal of 25% of the city’s operating budget sits in the reserve fund.
“That’s $3.7 million of taxpayers’ money that is sitting in reserves and not being used for their benefit,” he said.
The first and second public hearings on the proposed tax rate and budget will be held during regular commission meetings that start at 4 p.m. Sept. 6 and 19. The public hearings on the tax rate and budget cannot begin before 5:01 p.m. at those meetings.
The city set the proposed tax rate at $6.67 per $1,000 of assessed property value, down slightly, 2.54%, from the current tax rate of $6.84 per $1,000. Both figures include the city’s debt service.
The city’s proposed operating budget is $166.4 million, a 9% increase.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach City Commissioners evaluating City Manager Terrence Moore gave him mixed reviews Aug. 9, then postponed any raise for six months to give Moore the opportunity to improve.
Moore received high marks all around from Vice Mayor Adam Frankel, while Commissioner Shirley Johnson’s review was very critical. The commission did not discuss what they would do if three of them do not see improvement.
The commission’s cumulative score for Moore was 2.94, on a scale from 1 to 5, which put it just under the “meets expectations” rating of 3. The score would have translated to a 2.94% raise had the commission approved it.
Instead, despite a proposal by Deputy Vice Mayor Juli Casale to round up the raise to 3% retroactive to Aug. 9, commissioners decided to put any raise on hold.
“I strongly take the constructive feedback and … support moving forward accordingly,” Moore said.
In her evaluation that gave Moore a 3 rating, Casale said the city manager should prioritize his tasks, instead of just checking items off a list. “He tries to do too many things for too many people,” she said.
Commissioners’ evaluations were not included in the commission’s agenda materials, but had to be requested separately from the city’s Human Resources Department.
Casale said she wanted to bring up Moore’s performance during the city goal-setting session on May 13, but that session was shortened from two days to one day and the topic did not come up.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia was more pointed in her review. She rated Moore’s performance 2.75. When the city’s internal auditor found that there were problems with the paper payroll system, Moore did not move quickly enough to fix the payroll system, her review said.
Petrolia also faulted him for not consulting with the city attorney when Waste Management asked for an increase in its monthly rates.
“Had that taken place, the city attorney could have immediately advised that the renewal letter was not properly served and saved the ratepayers potentially millions of dollars from a premature rate increase,” Petrolia’s review said.
(At their second budget workshop on Aug. 22, commissioners discussed using money from the Sanitation Fund to offset the increases for residential and commercial trash customers. Staff will return on Sept. 6 with options for the commission to consider.)
“It’s been a tough year with lots of issues,” said Frankel, who gave Moore’s performance a 4.3 rating, one that means Moore “exceeds expectations.” That was the highest overall rating given by a commissioner. He pointed out the selection of a new police chief. “Moore acts in good faith,” Frankel said.
Even so, Frankel faulted Moore for making decisions after talking to only one or two of the commissioners, when the city charter says he should be seeking consensus.
Johnson rated Moore’s performance slightly above 1, a rating of “unsatisfactory.” When asked on the evaluation form what two things Moore should continue to do, she wrote, “I can’t think of any except that the residents really love him.”
She found fault with him for trying to direct the Community Redevelopment Agency and the city attorney, who do not report to the city manager.
She directed him to pay attention to the city charter for his job responsibilities.
Commissioner Ryan Boylston rated Moore’s performance as 3.44. He liked Moore’s responsiveness to his questions via text, phone or email. Boylston also appreciated Moore’s calm demeanor during tense situations.
Areas for improvement include Moore’s being more assertive in his decisions and rising above the politics of an issue, Boylston said.

By Joe Capozzi

As town officials embark on ambitious plans to protect Briny Breezes from sea level rise, they’re looking for creative ways to help pay for the expensive ongoing project. 
Town Council members took one such step Aug. 25 when they voted to use money from Briny Breezes’ federal American Rescue Plan Act allocation to meet the matching requirements of a $330,000 state resiliency grant.
Briny Breezes received the Resilient Florida Program grant in June. It requires the town and corporation to pay $145,000 in matching money, making $475,000 available to Briny Breezes for a sustainability study and a stormwater master plan. 
The town also received a $289,000 ARPA allocation this year as part of the government’s pandemic relief efforts, sent in two payments. The first payment, $144,747, went toward the installation of a water main in District 4 of Briny Breezes.
Town officials weren’t sure whether they’d receive the second payment this year. But when it arrived in late July, Town Manager William Thrasher recommended its use as matching money for the state grant.
“We can’t use other state money for the cost share, but we can use federal money for the cost share,’’ he said in an interview. “I’ve reported to the federal government how we used that fund and as far as I know there’s been no problem with that. I thought it would be wise to take this opportunity to use the federal money to do this.’’
According to a resolution approved by the council, ARPA money may be used for the Briny government’s water and sewer improvements and stormwater management, “including being applied as nonfederal grant matching funds for nonfederal grants used for such infrastructure purposes.’’ 
For Briny Breezes, where the property tax rate is already at the maximum allowed under state law, the grant will help pay for plans and studies needed to prepare construction-ready documents for enhanced sea walls, an improved stormwater drainage system and other 50-year adaptation measures. 
Though construction costs will be in the millions, Thrasher said he’s optimistic the town will receive assistance from federal and state grants. 
In other business, the council endorsed a plan to eliminate a requirement to hold special elections to fill Town Council vacancies. If the measure is approved on second reading, the council would appoint a qualified elector to fill vacancies due to an incumbent’s death, resignation or removal from office.
The current ordinance requires a special election if the council fails to fill a vacancy at or before the council’s second regular meeting after the vacancy occurs. The proposed changes would remove both the deadline for appointing vacancies and a special election, which can be expensive.
The council will meet at 5 p.m. on Sept. 8 to set a tentative tax rate, which continues to be at the maximum allowed under state law, of $10 for every $1,000 of taxable value. That amounts to a 13.3% tax increase due to rising property values in town. A final rate and budget will be voted on at 5 p.m. Sept. 22.

By Joe Capozzi

A record rise in taxable values across South Palm Beach would allow the town to lower the tax rate next year to $3.45 per $1,000 of assessed value and still pay for a proposed budget, town accountant Beatrice Good said at a budget workshop Aug. 9. 
In July, the council set a tentative tax rate of $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, the same as the current rate. Although that tentative rate cannot be increased, the council is allowed under state law to lower it when the final budget is adopted in September. 
Public hearings on the town’s proposed $2.4 million budget are scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sept. 12 and Sept. 19 at Town Hall. 
The biggest chunk of the spending plan is a $1.081 million payment to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. That’s a 3% increase over the current fee and the first increase since PBSO took over law enforcement services in the town four years ago. 
The budget also includes $60,000 to pay raises approved last year for newly elected council members, $50,000 to pay a firm to update the town’s comprehensive plan, and $15,000 to cover 5% cost-of-living raises for town employees.
Taxable values in town went up nearly 13% to $516,863,500. 
In other business:
• Lake Worth Beach will raise its fee for providing town sewage services next year by $60,000. To cover the increase, the town is proposing to raise the biannual per-fixture rate by 32 cents, from the current $2.52 to $2.84. The council will vote on the increase in September.
• The council voted 4-1 to apply for a state grant to pay for assessing South Palm Beach’s vulnerabilities to flooding and sea level rise. Council member Ray McMillan voted no.

John ‘J.T.’ Swiderski was honored with a town STAR award for rescuing a swimmer in distress on July 15 in South Palm Beach. A 59-year-old man was visiting a town resident when a rip current pulled him out to sea. J.T. was on the beach with some of his Wellington High football teammates when he heard the man yelling for help. He ran into the ocean and helped the man back to the beach. ‘That kid saved my life!’ the man told Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies. ABOVE: J.T. holds his award certificate at a ceremony with (l-r) PBSO Maj. Chris Keane, Sgt. Mark Garrison, his mother, Angela Swiderski, his dad, Ted, his girlfriend, Alexa Orocofsky, and Lt. Nichole Addazio. Photo provided by PBSO

South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer looks at a sample of a structural insulated panel, which she introduced as an option as the town researches plans for constructing a new Town Hall. Joe Capozzi/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

Plans for a new Town Hall, debated off and on for the past six years, took another twist late last month when Mayor Bonnie Fischer suggested using a cost-efficient construction system called SIPs. 
That’s the acronym for structural insulated panels, billed as a high-performance building system for residential and light commercial construction. 
The panels — made of an insulating foam core sandwiched between two structural facings of wood, typically oriented strand board — would replace traditional stick-frame construction. They meet Miami-Dade hurricane requirements, are energy efficient and reduce the time it typically takes to construct a building, she said. 
Fischer said that based on her preliminary research, a new Town Hall built with SIPs could cost about $2 million. In May, architects hired by the town to design a new building put the cost at nearly $6 million.
“I would like to see something like this done by our town to put us on the map. ‘Wow, we’re the town that has done this and look what we have,’’’ she said Aug. 25 at a Town Council workshop, where she showed off a panel sample at the dais. 
Council members voiced support for seeking requests for proposals from SIPs contractors at a future meeting. 
“I am 100% behind this,’’ said council member Ray McMillan.
Fischer said she started researching the alternative construction method a few months ago, when she remembered having seen a factory that makes SIPs on a visit to Georgia a few years ago.
“I’m just trying to get this idea out as an alternative to the regular building style,’’ she said. “Maybe this is the way to go.’’ 
She said she had not discussed the idea with the architectural firm Synalovski Romanik Saye, which has a $63,000 contract with South Palm Beach to design a new Town Hall. 
“If we decide to go with this system, there may be a disconnect without architects,’’ she told the council.

By Mary Thurwachter

Vocal residents crowded the council chambers for the Aug. 8 Lantana town meeting and got what they asked for — a unanimous vote to deny a proposal to build 231 apartments on the former Kmart property.
The project, called Lantana Village, seemed doomed a month earlier when it came before the council for the first time, even though many who attended a community meeting previously were enthusiastic. Town staff, however, strongly recommended denial at that July 11 meeting, but council members wanted a little more time to mull it over and postponed the vote until Aug. 8.
The development plan presented by the Morgan Group called for the old Kmart building to be razed to make way for five, four-story buildings and entry from Greynolds Circle. Amenities included a dog park, gym, pool, upgraded parking lot and a pocket park on the north end of the site at the northwest corner of Dixie Highway and Hypoluxo Road. The apartments would be fenced in for security reasons.
The proposal included cosmetic improvements for retail portions of the property, including Winn-Dixie and West Marine. Four out-parcels — Bank of America, Dunkin’ Donuts, Burger King and a vacant building last occupied by IHOP — were not part of the application.
When Kmart shuttered its store in the 18.6-acre shopping center owned by the Saglo Development Corp. of Miami about two years ago, Saglo tried to find another tenant but came up empty-handed. That’s when the Morgan Group stepped in and proposed transforming about 8 acres of the property into an apartment complex.
Cushla Talbut, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig who was processing the application, said the Morgan Group’s $65 million investment “would provide significant tax revenue increases for the town and revitalize a site that is definitely in need of some love.”
But the town staff — and residents who turned out in force at the August meeting — weren’t feeling the love.
Nicole Dritz, director of development, said the project was not in line with “the spirit or intent of town codes.”
The plan “almost draws an imaginary line around three entirely separate parcels that are otherwise unrelated,” she said, referring to the Winn-Dixie area, the apartments and the Lantana Pizza building. “In fact, it feels this is an attempt to garner those 231 units on a site that only approximately 133 units would be allowed otherwise.” 
Residents said the apartment complex would bring more crime and traffic and would benefit developers — not people who live in Lantana. Some vowed to vote council members out of office if they failed to turn down the proposal.
One resident, Stephanie Forman, submitted a petition against the development, collected on change.org and signed by 850 residents.
“Our cozy town does not need to be overrun by overdevelopment of apartments and condos,” Forman said. “We need another business or two, or even revitalization of the shopping center as a whole to help boost our local economy.”
Catherine Skervin, a longtime council watcher, said “a mini-mall would be nice.”
But Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm, the only resident who spoke in favor of the apartment complex, said Lantana doesn’t need more retail, it needs more housing.
“We paid about $170,000 to the Treasure Coast Planning Council to do a master plan and their economists have told us we need hundreds more housing units,” he said. “Where are we going to put them if we don’t put them on this site? There is no other location. If we don’t do this, if we don’t add any (housing), don’t complain if your rent goes up, because that is the nature of supply and demand.”
The study done through the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council also concluded that the town has too many retail properties, and Arm, who recently sold his gym on Lantana Road after it had been on the market for four years, agreed.
“We didn’t get one single retail tenant to come up and make us a proposal” to buy the gym, Arm said.
“So, when our building was bought by a developer, he realized there is no retail and we convinced him to take a below market rent to keep the place a gym. It does prove there is no retail. Be careful what you wish for, because if this doesn’t go through, you know you’re going to end up with a giant thrift store, or a big box of nothing there, because there is no demand.”
Vice Mayor Pro Tem Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse, who made the motion to deny, said “the biggest thing is this is not a single, cohesive developmental planned project. I don’t care how you trim it or turn it, it’s not. They took the whole 18.6 acres to stuff that development on 8.84 acres fenced in, not walled in — it looks like a little prison to me.”
Talbut said she recognized the interest residents expressed to have more stores in the shopping center, but said “if the demand were there, if there was somebody else who wanted to go there to elevate the tenants as you all want, that would have been one thing. But that’s just not going to happen. What you have there currently is not going to elevate the town and what we’re proposing will.”
If the apartment proposal dies, she said, property owners would seek to fill the old Kmart building with whatever tenant they could find, and past attempts haven’t been fruitful.
But there may be another option. Only days after the Aug. 8 meeting, Dritz met with another developer, one whose portfolio “is impressive in terms of projects I think we’d hope to see there,” she said in an email.
The discussion went well, she said. “We spent time discussing what the property is zoned for, allowable uses, special exception uses, the site plan submittal process, providing a lot of resident feedback that we heard from the previous developer’s submittal, and providing staff’s strong desire for a true redevelopment effort for the entire site.”
She “encouraged the developer to gather the public feedback/input on any future proposals through a public meeting or workshop.”
Dritz said she had not seen a rendering or sketch because this was “a very preliminary conversation,” one reason she did not name the developer.
And she’s waiting to hear from council members regarding their preferences.

By Mary Hladky

BOCA RATON — Susan Whelchel, a force in city politics for nearly 20 years whose vision was to transform Boca Raton into a world-class city, died at age 77 on Aug. 5 surrounded by her family after battling Alzheimer’s disease.
“Former Mayor Susan Whelchel will be remembered as a dedicated public servant and advocate for her community and the residents of Boca Raton,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a memorandum directing flags to be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol, Palm Beach County Courthouse and Boca Raton City Hall on Aug. 11, the day of her funeral at Grace Community Church.
After moving to Boca with her husband, John, in 1978, Mrs. Whelchel devoted herself to her teaching career, volunteer work with nonprofits, including the Junior League of Boca Raton, and raising the couple’s four children.
When she turned her attention to politics, it was her experience with the Junior League that helped prepare her for her new role, said her son Jay Whelchel, founder of Whelchel Partners Real Estate Services in Boca Raton.
While some see the organization as encouraging volunteers to help out with good causes, it actually has a more important role, he said. “Their real goal is to give women leadership tools and skills to become leaders,” he said.
Mrs. Whelchel was elected to the City Council in 1995 and re-elected twice before she was term-limited from another run. She next served on the Palm Beach County School Board after then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed her to a two-year term.
She returned to the City Council, serving two more terms before her election as mayor in 2008, a position she held until 2014.
She entered the political realm with the intent to elevate Boca from its reputation as a sleepy town with not much to recommend it to young people and corporations, Jay Whelchel said.
At a time when some major employers were leaving the city or downsizing, “she made it her mission to create a world-class city that young adults would want to come back to because jobs were here,” he said.
She was spurred toward that mission after asking high school graduates if they would return to Boca after graduating college. She was told “no,” he said, because “Boca is boring. There is nothing in Boca for us.”
Mrs. Whelchel’s longtime friend, former Boca Raton Mayor and County Commissioner Steve Abrams, echoed that assessment.
“That was her driving vision,” he said. “If you keep that next generation here, you have a real exciting, cohesive dynamic in your community, and she realized that.
“That resulted in a lot of specific things she would work on in terms of bringing jobs into the city,” said Abrams, who is leaving his position as executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which runs Tri-Rail, on Sept. 15.
“We brought thousands of jobs to Boca Raton,” he said. “We did a lot of ribbon-cuttings together.”
For the city to rise, Mrs. Whelchel recognized it needed not only good jobs but also good schools, health care, cultural offerings and strong nonprofit organizations, Jay Whelchel said.
To that end, she served on committees for Florida Atlantic University and Boca Raton Regional Hospital and volunteered at many nonprofits.
Among the things that she was most proud of, he said, was her effort to get Boca schools their fair share of funding and helping establish Don Estridge High Tech Middle School.
Her vision for the city has been validated by her own children, he said. He and two of his siblings moved back to Boca to pursue their careers.
“Lots and lots of our friends all moved back because of all the … vibrancy they are seeing,” he said.
Susan Slade Whelchel was born on Aug. 13, 1944, as the youngest daughter of Flora and Tom Slade in Baxley, Georgia. The family moved to Starke and she graduated from Jacksonville University with a degree in political science. While in Jacksonville, she met her husband of 52 years.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her daughter Joanne Jackson and her husband, Tracey; daughter Kristy Hartofilis and her husband, Nick; sons Matthew and his wife, Kimmie, and Jay and his wife, Melissa; and 10 grandchildren.
The family asked that donations be made in her memory to Grace Community Church, Alzheimer’s Community Care or Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center.

BOCA RATON — Patricia “Patti” Payne Carpenter, an ever-present pillar of the Boca Raton community, died Aug. 8, surrounded by her family and friends. She was 74.
Mrs. Carpenter will be missed by those who worked alongside her on a variety of charitable missions, recalling her passionate drive, leadership, genuineness, compassion, kindness, generosity of self, signature style, hospitality and keen sense of humor.
Born in New York City on Nov. 1, 1947, and raised in the Riverdale neighborhood, Patricia attended Marymount Schools, The Gerard School for Girls and The Sacred Heart of Mary Academy.
She relocated to Boca Raton in 1970 and became a devout supporter of many community charitable organizations for five decades, early on serving on the board of Boca Helping Hands and hosting the first major fundraiser for Kids in New Directions.
Mrs. Carpenter served on the regional advisory board for Deliver the Dream, a respite and retreat program serving families facing serious illness or crisis. She also served as chair for the Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament and twice as chair of the Lynn University Ball. She supported the Junior League of Boca Raton, which recognized her as Woman Volunteer of the Year in 2001.
Mrs. Carpenter served as president of the board of the Center for Family Services, South County, was chair of the 2005 Boca Raton Regional Hospital Ball, and was involved in many events hosted by the Boca Raton Historical Society.
Mrs. Carpenter graciously opened her home to host countless events for charities, including The Boca Raton Symphonia, The American Cancer Society, The Migrant Association of South Florida, Boca Helping Hands and the hospice building fund.
She took the floor as a dancer for Boca’s Ballroom Battle supporting the George Snow Scholarship Fund and stepped up as a Habitat for Humanity “Woman Builder.”
Most notable, Mrs. Carpenter was a long and trusted supporter of Boca Raton Regional Hospital, serving as chair for its annual GO Pink Luncheon for 19 consecutive years. Her voice and well-recognized face helped to grow the community’s signature event into one of the most highly anticipated and well-attended women’s health and breast cancer awareness gatherings in South Florida.
Mrs. Carpenter’s tireless efforts helped Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation raise over $13 million.
Throughout the years, Mrs. Carpenter’s commitment and dedication to raising the public’s awareness of breast cancer prevention enabled The Schmidt Family Center for Breast Care and the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute to reach tens of thousands of women annually, saving countless lives.
Mrs. Carpenter also established the William K. Carpenter Nursing Education Fund at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. It supports continuing education, funding for nursing certifications and tuition reimbursements.
A loving daughter, mother and grandmother, Mrs. Carpenter is survived by her son, Todd Payne, daughter-in-law, Allison Payne, and granddaughter, Devyn Payne. She is predeceased by her beloved husband, William K. Carpenter, and mother, Eleanor C. Payne.
A funeral Mass was held at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton on Aug. 20.
Contributions in Mrs. Carpenter’s honor may be made to GO PINK, Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation, 800 Meadows Road, Boca Raton, FL 33486; http://donate.brrh.com/Patti-Carpenter.

— Obituary submitted by the family