Update: Town cancels Spring Fling event

By Rich Pollack

The environment will be in the spotlight during the town’s annual Spring Fling community event, which will also feature food, a fire department demonstration and live music.
Set for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 21 at Highland Beach Town Hall, the event will include a tree giveaway as well as the distribution of wildflower seeds and wooden toothbrushes. There will also be games for children with an environmental focus.
“One of our goals is to educate the community about the environment,” said Nievecita Maraj, chair of the town’s Natural Resources Preservation Board, which will staff a booth at the event.
The board also will hand out fliers about Earth Day, whose 50th anniversary is April 22, and pass out information about actions people can take to be more environmentally friendly.
For residents looking to plant trees, the nonprofit Community Greening will give away between 20 and 25 environmentally friendly trees.
The environmental focus, Town Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman said, is fitting since preserving the environment is a priority in Highland Beach.
“A great deal of our residents care about environmental causes,” she said. “The people really hold that value dear.”
Gossett-Seidman said the community as a whole benefits from environmentally focused efforts.
“Having Highland Beach seen as an environmentally friendly community is important,” she said.
As it has done in the past, the town will provide hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks and will offer residents the opportunity to have secure documents shredded at no charge.
Live music will be provided throughout the event by The Good Old Guys band, and there will be a live fire department demonstration from 12:30 to 1 p.m.
Representatives from the Highland Beach Police Department will be on hand to conduct pet registrations, and Highland Beach Library staff members will conduct a book sale.
A team from Tri-County Animal Rescue will have a table at the event, and information about the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census will be available.
The event will include crafts for children and feature booths highlighting local businesses and restaurants.
To make it easier for residents to reach the event, the town will offer trolley service along State Road A1A beginning at 10:30 a.m.
For more information about the Spring Fling, call 561-278-4548 or visit www.highlandbeach.us.

Two nuns named Elizabeth spark joy at St. Vincent Ferrer

Sister Elizabeth Halaj and Sister Elizabeth Kulesa attend St. Vincent Ferrer Church and School’s Parish Festival in Delray Beach. Halaj, nicknamed ‘Sister Happy,’ and Kulesa, known as ‘Sister Kind,’ teach at St. Vincent Ferrer. Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

More Photos

By Ron Hayes

St. Vincent Ferrer Church and School on George Bush Boulevard in Delray Beach is the spiritual home to 3,600 Catholics, one monsignor, five visiting priests, three deacons, 52 teachers and staff.
And two nuns.
Both nuns belong to The Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. Both are from Poland. And both are named Elizabeth.
Sister Elizabeth Halaj arrived from the order’s provincial house in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in late June. Sister Elizabeth Kulesa came in early August.
To avoid confusion, they are commonly referred to as Sister H. and Sister K.
Sometimes, though, they’re called Sister Happy and Sister Kind.
Spend a little time with them and you’ll know why.

Sister Elizabeth Halaj gives a student a high-five after he answered a question in class. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

“What letter comes before B?” Sister Elizabeth H. asks, and her class of second-graders answers, “A” and fills in the blank space on their “Setting The Table” quiz.
“Correct. Now what letter comes before M?”
They fill in the L. And then the T, the A again, and the R.
ALTAR.
“Now, how do we call this cup?”
C-H-A-L-I-C-E.
By the end of the hour, the children, who will make their first Holy Communion this year, have met the components of the Eucharist.
“What is the Eucharist?”
“Jesus’ body.”
This is Sister H’s day job.

Sister Elizabeth Halaj and Sister Elizabeth Kulesa pray in the convent in which they live near St. Vincent Ferrer Church and School in Delray Beach. Halaj previously worked in the Philippines and Jamaica. Kulesa taught in her native Poland and in the U.S. Northeast. Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

When she was a kid herself, Sister Elizabeth Halaj didn’t want to be a nun.
She wanted to be a clown.
And then one day, as she walked with her brother near their home in southeast Poland, a drunk driver swerved off the road.
Her brother was 15. She was 9. He was killed. She was unharmed.
“That was the last time I spoke with my brother,” she says, “and the first time we had dinner without him. My brother was ready for heaven, but God had a plan on Earth for me.”
At 19, just out of high school, she joined the Little Servant Sisters. That was 28 years ago.
“We are not brainwashed,” she exclaims. “If someone had forced me to be in the convent, I would be the first to run.
“Of course, if I compare myself to my friends from high school, I do not have what they have. A car, a bank account, a credit card. But I have what I need. I’m surrounded by people who love me, food on the table, a place to stay, and most of all, I have Jesus in my heart.”
She smiles a huge, joyful smile.
“As a little kid, I wanted to be a clown and make people happy. And my dream came true! I make people happy!”

***

The Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception was founded in 1850 by a man whose dream didn’t come true.
Edmund Bojanowski was born in Warsaw in 1814, a son of the nobility with devout parents. At age 4, he became ill, and doctors doubted he would survive. According to church history, the boy died, but returned to life a short while later and dedicated his life to the Virgin Mary.
Too ill to study for the priesthood, Bojanowski read Scripture constantly and attended confession weekly. He fed the hungry, established libraries, hospitals and nursing homes, and founded or co-founded four separate religious orders, including the Little Servant Sisters.
In 1869, Bojanowski attempted to resume his studies for the priesthood, but died on Aug. 7, 1871, before he could be ordained. He was 56.
Today, the Little Servant Sisters has about 1,300 members worldwide.
On June 13, 1999, Pope John Paul II beatified Bojanowski — a step toward sainthood — after doctors concluded a miraculous healing had occurred because of his intercession.

Sister Elizabeth Kulesa lifts her arms during a song with students at St. Vincent Ferrer School, which has students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

A poster on the wall in Sister Elizabeth Kulesa’s classroom reminds her third-graders that Sacraments Are Signs Of God’s Love For Us.
“Baptism is the first sacrament,” she tells them. “The candle is the symbol of baptism.”
“Thank you, Jesus,” the children respond in unison, “for the sacrament of baptism.”
“This is a stole, the symbol of the priest.”
“Thank you, Jesus,” the children respond.
By the end of the hour, the children will have thanked Jesus for all seven Catholic sacraments.
“Beautiful,” Sister K. says, and they all face a TV screen and sing along to a video.
“Our God is a great big God,” they sing, “and he holds us in his hands.”
Sister K. sings along softly, lifting her arms with the children to show God holding them all in his hands.
“I try my best,” she says as they leave, “and I put everything in God’s hands.”

***

Poland is the most devoutly Catholic country in Europe, and Tarnow the most devout city in Poland. In 2007, church statistics found 72.5% of the city’s diocese attending Mass every week.
Sister Elizabeth Kulesa grew up in Tarnow.
“I recognized my vocation in second grade,” she recalls. “I was 10 years old and I felt the calling.”
As a little girl, she and her friends would visit an elderly woman who lived near their school, a lonely woman who enjoyed their visits. This was when she first knew she should serve Jesus by serving others.
When she was a young teen, a priest organized a youth group that visited shrines. Once, after a visit to a monastery, she made a commitment to pray for the monks for two years.
At 15, she made a vow of abstinence.
“My friends said, ‘How could you do it?’” she remembers. “I was called to give up my country and give the light to Jesus.”
Does she remember the day she took her first vows as a Little Servant Sister?
“Of course!” she says. “Feb. 2, 1979. I was 17.”
Now she is 58.
“But I feel very young because the soul is immortal. It never gets old. You experience more love as you grow older.
“The body gets old, but I feel very young in my soul.”

***

Now they have come to serve the faithful of St. Vincent Ferrer, but only after their God had called them to other places.
“God sent me to Delray Beach,” Sister Elizabeth H. says. But he sent her to the Philippines first, where she taught the children of domestic workers in a town where there was no school and she sometimes drew her lessons on the ground with a stick. In Jamaica, she was a preschool principal.
Sister K. had spent nearly a decade teaching in Poland before coming to America, where she taught in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and Staten Island, New York.
“Now it’s God’s gift for me to be here,” she says. “Florida! I love the nature here.”
Ask about their social lives, and they are vague.
Sometimes in the evenings they watch I Love Lucy on tapes.
The church and its people are their life.
“I could go to Disney World,” Sister H. says. “Mother Superior would give us the money. But how many people could I feed with that money? I remember children in Jamaica coming from the bush, hungry.”

ABOVE: Sister Elizabeth Halaj rides a Tilt-A-Whirl with (l-r) students Dominic Deluca, 4, Riley Hernandez, 8, Ava Hernandez, 4, Alyana Brammeier, 4, and George St. Hilaire during the Parish Festival last month at St. Vincent Ferrer. BELOW: Sister Elizabeth Kulesa tries her hand at the Water Gun Fun game at the Parish Festival. She said she didn’t know how the game worked well enough and won nothing. Photos by Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

On Saturday, Feb. 22, as throngs of men, women and children in blue jeans, shorts and T-shirts wandered among the carnival rides at the church’s 54th annual Parish Festival, the Sisters Elizabeth did the same in their habits and veils.
At the Tacos Veracruz wagon, Sister H. finished off a pork taco as a gaggle of children watched.
“Do you want to go for a ride?” she asked. “Let’s go!”
Like a devout pied piper, she led them swiftly to the Tilt-A-Whirl and squeezed into a car with four preteens and another boy, to be lifted, dropped and spun at a dizzying speed, smiling all the while.
Later, she found Sister K. at the Water Gun Fun game.
“What are you doing!” Sister H. gasped, mouth agape in mock horror.
A nun with a gun! What would Jesus say?
It’s a water gun, Sister K. told her, patiently. And besides, she didn’t understand the rules and didn’t win anything anyway.

Sister Elizabeth Halaj laughs with soccer players from the junior high after their team won a match. Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

The pastor at St. Vincent Ferrer Church is Monsignor Thomas Skindeleski — a tall, burly, beaming man known to one and all as Monsignor Tom.
While the Sisters Elizabeth enjoy the rides and games, he’s in the kitchen, stirring and tasting the famous clam chowder he makes for the festival, 32 gallons every year.
“Sister H. and Sister K.,” Monsignor Tom says with a chuckle, “Sister Happy and Sister Kind. I’m so glad to have them here. They’re very present among the people of the parish.”
Not pleasant — though they are that — but present.
One day after class, Sister K. confessed that teaching children to say “Thank you” for each of the seven sacraments is not exhausting or difficult work.
“It’s not the work we are doing,” she said. “Anybody can do it. It’s what we are. We are an example of being 100% for Jesus.”
In other words, these nuns’ greatest present to this parish is simply their presence.
Sister Kind glows with a quiet inner peace. Her walk is purposeful, but she doesn’t rush. Her smile is gentle, her voice is soft. She embodies the patient kindness that makes those who meet her want to be more kind.
Sister Happy sparks and crackles with her love for Jesus. She strides quickly along the halls. Her smile is huge, her laugh is loud. She is, to be honest, a bit of a clown.
“I have never gotten even one paycheck with my name on it,” she will tell you. “Our benefits are very small, but our retirement plan is out of this world.”
And her face breaks into that huge, joyful smile.
“Heaven!”

March 17 is an election day. Are you excited? OK, maybe not. I realize only some will be able to vote in the presidential preference primary (it is a closed primary, open to only registered Democrats or Republicans), but everyone who is registered to vote in Palm Beach County can vote in the uniform municipal elections.
So, if you’re registered to vote in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Briny Breezes, South Palm Beach or Lantana, you need to get yourself to your polling place on election day.
Here’s why: These municipalities will be electing officials who will be charged with deciding how your tax dollars will be spent. They will also be passing legislation that attempts to keep you safe and to maintain your coastal quality of life. It’s not an easy job.
There are big-ticket expenditures on the horizon in our cities and towns: aging infrastructure repair, beach and dune erosion, rising groundwater from accelerated sea level rise and septic-to-sewer conversion, to name just a few.
At The Coastal Star our policy is to not do candidate endorsements. We do, however, run profiles of each person running for office. This information is provided by the candidates. So, how should you choose which candidates are best for your town? I’d suggest looking to see which ones attend meetings regularly or have participated on advisory boards before running for office. Sometimes it’s good to have an outside perspective, but understanding how municipal governments work reduces the learning required and shows that a candidate is willing to be a team player — an important skill when determining how a community moves forward.
Also take a look at the makeup of the commission: Does everyone come from the same neighborhood or condo? Are all parts of town represented in decision-making? Loading up commissions and advisory boards with single-purpose members is fraught with the potential for litigation. And when city hall gets sued, the taxpayers pay the bill.
And maybe most important: Is the candidate willing to listen to all of the residents? The ones with deep pockets and the ones without? The quiet ones as well as the ones who organize to storm city hall?
Listening is essential to being a good public servant. Remember, that’s what these candidates will be: your represen-tatives. Vote.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

My previous letter on the topic of artificial turf provoked a vocal awakening of the taxpayers of Ocean Ridge — which in most instances should have been an awakening for the Town Commission.
In the case of Steve Coz and Phil Besler, they listened to the concerns of nearly 100 vocal citizens and tried to understand the rationale for banning turf.
In the case of Susan Hurlburt, Don MaGruder and Kristine de Haseth, it provoked defiance of the will of those who elected them in favor of their own personal taste.
The basis for banning turf was determined not to be an environmental concern. (In fact, turf is a benefit to the environment over natural grass.) No, according to Susan Hurlburt, Don MaGruder, Kristine de Haseth and the PNZ Board, it was purely aesthetic. They claimed to want to preserve the “unique look” of Ocean Ridge.
When I appraise the beauty of our town, it is the diversity of home architecture and landscaping that adds to the aesthetic rather than detracts. But of course that is just my opinion, and should only count as that — like the council members’, one opinion.
In taking this bill to a second and final reading on March 3, this self-righteous faction has to start with the premise that all natural grass is good, no matter the weeds or barrenness of the turf or the chemicals required to keep it to their standard.
Aesthetic judgment is the beginning of a slippery slope that allows these three council members and the Planning and Zoning Board to interject their personal taste into the law.
What’s next that is aesthetically displeasing to this group?
The architecture of your house, or its color?
The strain of grass you can install?
The types of trees you can plant?
Ocean Ridge is not an HOA, it is a town with freethinking people who will not tolerate the overreach of “their” elected town officials. The taxpayers hired the commissioners and can remove them as well.

John Zessin
Ocean Ridge

By Dan Moffett

Manalapan commissioners are moving forward with a new ordinance that would allow docks to be built on vacant properties before home construction begins.
Mayor Keith Waters said during the commission’s Feb. 25 meeting that the ordinance likely would apply to five existing empty lots in the town with docks and to new construction.
The new rule would eliminate a stipulation in the town’s code that treats docks solely as accessories to existing homes.
The change is important for the town to begin work on a $2.5 million plan to increase water services to oceanfront residents.
One of the five lots belongs to Commissioner Hank Siemon. The town wants to use a 20-foot easement across Siemon’s vacant property at 1660 Lands End Road on Point Manalapan to install new water mains to eastern households.
Waters said the town currently has two aging 8-inch pipes that carry all the water to the ocean side. With the easement on Siemon’s lot, two 10-inch supply lines could be added.
“It’s not a luxury,” Waters said. “It’s a requirement.”
The mayor said the cost of the project has more than doubled over the last decade as the town grappled with easement access and other obstacles. Waters said the project is essential and “good for all of Manalapan.”
But before engineers can begin mapping the pipelines, work on Siemon’s dock has to be completed to avoid potential construction mishaps.
In January, the commission unanimously allowed Siemon a variance to build his dock out to 85 feet, an extra 30 feet beyond the existing code limit of 55 feet. Siemon told the commission he needed the extra length because the channel on the east side of the Point was too shallow to accommodate his 40-foot boat.
Waters said that building the dock straight out instead of installing a T-shaped structure or a lift would allow Siemon’s neighbors to keep more of their waterfront views.
“The owner has tried to find a way to minimize that dock,” the mayor said, commending Siemon for trying to work with his neighbors.
But not all the neighbors are satisfied. Barry and Sigrun Haase, who live next door, told the commission through their attorney, Jason Mankoff, that they oppose the variance.
And two former mayors, Basil Diamond and David Cheifetz, complained about the code exception during the February meeting.
Diamond told commissioners they were “trying to clean up” a bad decision on the variance with the new proposed ordinance. Cheifetz complained about process, saying the public wasn’t adequately informed about the dock issue.
“I’m concerned about the unseemly way this was pursued,” Cheifetz said. “Residents should have gotten better notice. It strikes me that this whole thing is being rushed through on an unseemly basis.”
Waters and Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the variance request and dock ordinance proposal were properly noticed and detailed in the monthly meeting agenda posted on the town’s website before the commission meets.
The mayor said commissioners were acting in the best interest of Manalapan, and he bristled at the suggestion by some opponents that the variance approval was linked to the commission’s relationship with Siemon.
“You’re wrong,” Waters said of the critics. “You’re dead wrong, but you already know that.”
The ordinance would set a two-year limit for home construction to begin and restrict use of the dock to the property owner during that time. The proposal is scheduled to come up for a first vote at the commission’s meeting on March 24.

By Rich Pollack

If and when Ocean Ridge’s Septic to Sewer Citizens Advisory Committee recommends the town convert to a centralize sewage treatment system, it is likely to suggest using vacuum technology rather than a traditional gravity and force-main system.
During a meeting last month, members of the committee agreed to recommend in concept using a vacuum system, which pulls sewage to a central collection station before sending it to a regional plant, rather than a gravity and force-main system, which uses pumps and pushes sewage through the lines.
After learning more about vacuum systems during a January presentation from a company that installs them, committee members agreed that the system would be less disruptive and less costly than the more commonly used gravity and force-main systems.
“I don’t think there’s any choice other than a vacuum system,” said Committee Chair Neil Hennigan.
With the traditional gravity and force-main system, sewage from homes flows into a main line where it is brought to a lift station by gravity. At the lift station it is then pumped under pressure to a central treatment facility.
Because the system is dependent on gravity, lines need to be continually deeper in the ground as they get closer to the lift station.
With a vacuum system, sewage from the home flows by gravity into a collection pit that is shared by two or three homes. Once the sewage in the tank reaches a certain level, a valve opens and the sewage is pulled by a vacuum into a main line and taken to a collection station.
From the collection station, the sewage is pushed by pumps into the central sewage treatment facility.
Because the vacuum system is less dependent on gravity than the traditional systems, lines do not have to be as deep in the ground and in many cases could possibly be placed in rights of way rather than under a roadway.
The vacuum system also does not require manholes.
“The intent is to minimize the impact on the roadway,” said town engineer Lisa Tropepe.
If Ocean Ridge went to a traditional gravity and force-main system, several lift stations that depend on electricity would need to be located around town.
The vacuum system requires electricity only at the main collection centers.
If there is a downside, however, it is that those main collection centers — one or possibly two — would need to be large, about the size of a single-family home, and would need to be built.
An additional advantage to the vacuum system, Tropepe and others say, is that lines would be easier to access should repairs be necessary. It would also be easier than with gravity lines to determine if a line has a leak.
“Systems under pressure can be monitored,” Tropepe said.
In addition to agreeing that a vacuum system seems to make more sense, the committee agreed to team Tropepe with committee member Ron Kirn to try to quantify the environmental benefits that would result from a conversion from septic systems to a centralized sewer system. That information would be useful should the town begin the process of applying for state and federal funds to help cover the cost of converting to a sewer system.
How to pay for the project, should the Town Commission decide to go forward, was also discussed during the February committee meeting, with members agreeing that it is important to get the funding process started as soon as possible.
At the town’s March 2 meeting, commissioners approved a $4,500 contract hiring Jupiter-based RMPK Funding consultants to seek state and federal grants to help pay for the town’s septic conversion.

Rochelle LeCavalier of Boca Raton is executive director of luxury sales, sports and entertainment for Douglas Elliman Florida. Now she’s chairing the Monopoly fundraiser for Boca Helping Hands. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Update: Boca Helping Hands cancels Monopoly fundraiser

By Margie Plunkett

Rochelle LeCavalier has spent years working to add skills and credentials to strengthen her career in real estate, including earning her MBA. In the latest twist in the real estate game, she’ll be chairing a benefit centered on Monopoly.
LeCavalier, 43, has been named chairwoman of the 14th annual Monopoly Event & Casino Night at 6 p.m. April 18 at the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club in Boca Raton.
“Monopoly is a classic. It’ll always be fun,” she said.
To be clear, LeCavalier’s real estate career has progressed far beyond Boardwalk and Park Place. She is a broker and the executive director of luxury sales, sports and entertainment for Douglas Elliman Florida, which describes her as “consistently ranked in the top 1% of local agents with sales in excess of $100 million.”
Her high net-worth clients include industry leaders, celebrities, professional athletes and heads of state in the United States, Europe, Russia, China and the UAE, she said. She also leads sales at the Residences at Mandarin Oriental in Boca Raton.
As chairwoman of the Monopoly event, she works with a dozen staffers. “I make my living by inspiring people to take action by phone,” LeCavalier says, and the chair position seems to fit her well.
In her business she is big on client experience and can apply that to the Monopoly event by analyzing areas like what event participants enjoy and whether sponsors get what they want. “How can we make the event available to more people and how do we make it more profitable?” she said. “It all builds on itself.”
LeCavalier, who lives in a house in Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club that she had built about five years ago, grew up in Oildale, an agricultural and oil town outside of Bakersfield, California. Her parents today split their time between Washington state and Canada.
She pursued her bachelor’s in business administration and her MBA at schools including Cal State, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Phoenix in Las Vegas.
Her real estate career began in Las Vegas, where LeCavalier worked in land development, construction management and new home sales. She then moved to residential real estate and mortgage lending.
She came to Florida in the early 2000s. “I fell in love with Boca Raton,” she said.
LeCavalier formed her company Pink Palm Properties here, and Douglas Elliman acquired it in 2018.
When she came to Boca Raton, LeCavalier didn’t know anyone. She decided to get involved with Boca Helping Hands because it is looking out for underserved children.
Because of Boca Raton’s affluence, people assume that the city does not have people in need, she said.
But “there are a number of people who struggle,” LeCavalier said, adding that Boca Helping Hands provides backpacks full of food for children who might not otherwise have meals at home. It also provides a pantry, classes such as English as a second language, computer training, and medical and dental clinics, among many other things.
Another charity favorite of LeCavalier is Impact 100, where she serves on the membership committee. The organization encourages women to get a group of at least 100 together, in which they each give $1,000 and then give grants of $100,000 to charities.
In LeCavalier’s spare time, she reads business books, plays golf and pursues fitness.
What’s most important to her right now? “If you measure in terms of what I spend time on, I’m very focused on my career at this point. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface in terms of my professional career.”
In both her business and charity interests, “it means a lot to me to connect with people in a real way.”
For people who might follow in her footsteps, she gives this advice: “It’s key to know yourself and be true to yourself. Professionally, personally, being civically involved, any of those things — if it’s not coming from a genuine place, it’s probably not going to be very satisfying. And what’s really the point?”

If You Go
What: 14th annual Monopoly Event & Casino Night
Benefits: Boca Helping Hands
When: 6 p.m. April 18
Where: Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club in Boca Raton, 2425 W. Maya Palm Drive, Boca Raton
Tickets: Start at $200
Info: 561-417-0913, ext. 202, or www.bocahelpinghands.org/monopoly

Thirty firefighter units responded to the blaze at the vacant station near Atlantic Avenue and I-95. The force of the blaze knocked over and burned one firefighter. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The four Atlantic High School teens who confessed to starting the Feb. 25 fire at the Delray Beach historic train station are on house arrest, according to authorities.
The day before they had skipped school and bought a “kitchen lighter” at the Dollar Store, according to the Delray police arrest documents.
They made a cellphone video of the fire, which they shared among themselves in a group text message, according to the arrest documents.
The fire was discussed later that day at the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency meeting.
“The train station did not have sprinklers to prevent the fire from spreading,” said Bill Bathurst, a board member. “Our historic gems need to be protected.”
Board Chairwoman Shelly Petrolia said her heart hurts over the loss of the iconic building. Then she spoke as the mother of four boys and called for a “compassionate punishment for the teens. It can follow them forever and ruin the rest of their lives.”
On Feb. 25, a 911 caller alerted the Fire Department about 10:15 a.m. to heavy smoke coming from the vacant train station, just west of the interstate and north of Atlantic Avenue, said Dani Moschella, department spokeswoman.
At one point, the black smoke plumes were visible across the interstate and nearby parts of the city.
Thirty Delray Beach and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue units responded. The fire lasted several hours, Moschella said.
One Delray Beach firefighter was injured when he was thrown to the ground by the force of the fire. The firefighter suffered burns to his neck and ears. He was treated and released from a hospital, Moschella said.
While firefighters fought the blaze, city police detectives investigated a tip from the 911 caller who saw four boys running from the train station. The detectives obtained surveillance footage from a nearby business that showed the teens running toward Atlantic Avenue, Moschella said.
Delray Beach police were able to trace the teens to nearby Atlantic High School because one of them was wearing his ROTC uniform. The Atlantic High ROTC instructor identified three of the teens and the campus police officer identified the fourth.
“They confessed to starting the fire, which they said got out of hand,” said Ted White, spokesman for the Delray Beach Police Department.
Delray Beach police arrested the teens, between 14 and 17 years old, and drove them to the Juvenile Assessment Center. They had their first court appearance on Feb. 26 when the judge let them out on house arrest with conditions of no contact with each other and not to return to train station.
Their next court date is March 18, White said.
The county State Attorney will determine whether they are charged as adults.
In addition, the state fire marshal is investigating the fire, Moschella said.
A fire department official toured the site the day of the fire and determined the walls are structurally sound, said Roger Cope, a Delray Beach architect who was involved with restoring the train station.
“But the wooden structure supporting the roof was destroyed,” Cope said. The historic train station can be restored, he said.
The vacant station, built in 1927, is formally known as the Seaboard Air Line Railway Station. In 1986, the depot was added to National Register of Historic Places. Designed by architect Gustav Maass in the Mediterranean Revival style, the train station was last used by Amtrak, in 1995.
Delray Beach paid $1.58 million in 2005 for the historic train station on nearly one acre. At one time, commissioners discussed spending $325,000 to renovate it.
Lately, the city Public Works Department has stored lawn maintenance equipment and extra garbage containers at the vacant station.

By Steve Plunkett

March 7 is when early voting begins and is also the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot online for the presidential primary and local contests in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Briny Breezes, South Palm Beach and Lantana.
This year vote-by-mail, the fastest-growing way to cast a ballot in Palm Beach County, features prepaid postage, Supervisor of Elections Wendy Link said.
“We’re hoping that helps everybody, not just because of the money but because not many people have stamps anymore,” Link said at a Feb. 4 meeting of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations. Also new this year, voters will fill in an oval next to a candidate’s name; X’s or check marks will not count. Before, voters connected a broken arrow to signify each choice.
Link, appearing the morning after Iowa’s Democratic caucus, said she was grateful not to be in that state, where results were disputed for weeks. “Our goal — we’ve talked about what a success looks like in our office … our goal is to not be in the news,” she said.
People who still want to vote by mail can visit one of Link’s offices to have a ballot printed out. The South County branch office is at 345 S. Congress Ave. in Room 110. Mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, March 17.
Early voting will end on Sunday, March 15; the hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This year Boca Raton’s early voting site has moved — to the Spanish River Library, 1501 NW Spanish River Blvd.
Other South County early voting sites are west of Boca Raton at the West Boca Branch Library, 18685 U.S. 441; west of Delray Beach at the Hagen Ranch Road Branch Library, 14350 Hagen Ranch Road, and the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road; and in Boynton Beach at the Ezell Hester Community Center, 1901 N. Seacrest Blvd.
Link said her office’s website, pbcelections.org, gives wait times for early voting sites and on Election Day will show tallies of how many people cast ballots by mail, by early voting and in person.
More than 975,000 voters are registered to vote in Palm Beach County; 42% are Democrats, 30% are with minor parties or no party affiliation (NPA), 28% are Republicans. Link said few voters switch parties.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of people switching to NPA because they don’t want all the mail,” she said.
Scott Singer, who is running for a full term as Boca Raton mayor after winning a 19-month term in 2018, offered another way to avoid political postcards and phone calls.
“As someone who knows a little bit about campaigning, the best way to avoid mail and calls is to get a vote-by-mail ballot and return it immediately ’cause most campaigns are checking. So if you don’t want to get calls, turn your ballot in,” Singer said.

Each City Commission term is three years and commissioners may retain their seats for no longer than two full consecutive terms. Additionally, voters will be asked whether to eliminate a six-month waiting period before any ordinance proposing salary increases for the mayor and commissioners could be adopted. If the measure passes, increases would become effective “at the next organizational meeting held on or after the last Thursday in March.” — Steven J. Smith

Seat 2

Seat 4

The boat used to transport the four men and four women caught in Gulf Stream. Photo provided by Gulf Stream Police

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream police called in help from Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office after discovering a boat landed on the beach Feb. 13.
Four women and four men from Haiti were detained, ranging in age from 28 to 36. Police Chief Edward Allen spotted two of the women walking near the intersection of Sea Road and State Road A1A at about 6:38 a.m., a police report said.
“The females appeared wet and had sand covering their legs,” the report said.
While patrol officers took the women to the police station, Allen located a 25-foot Grady-White cuddy cabin boat grounded in the sand nearby. The chief notified Delray Beach police dispatch, which in turn alerted officers in the surrounding communities.
Neither of the two women spoke English.
“As I was trying to interview these two females, Officer McAllister of Ocean Ridge arrived at the Gulf Stream Police Department with another female in a similar condition,” Gulf Stream Police Officer Randall Wilson wrote in the report.
Delray Beach Police Officer Angelo Marseille also responded to act as an interpreter. The Sheriff’s Office sent a helicopter to check the ocean for anyone who might not have made it to shore. Gulf Stream Sgt. John Passeggiata canvassed the beach on an all-terrain vehicle.
“Shortly thereafter U.S. Customs agent Jack Creaig discovered two Haitian migrant males exiting the beach and golf club area in the 2000 block of N. Ocean Blvd.,” the report said.
Border Patrol agent Jorge Acosta also arrived and took control of the boat, confiscating a GPS unit and a kilogram of marijuana. Homeland Security agent Joshua Woodbury interviewed the detainees and prepared them for transport to the Homeland Security facilities in Riviera Beach, the report said.
Later, at about 11:26 a.m. a K-9 team from the Border Patrol “located three other illegal migrants, one female and two males, in the 2000 block of N. Ocean Blvd. hidden in the seagrapes adjacent to the beach,” the police report said.
The boat, which had a Florida registration, was towed away.
Allen told town commissioners the next day what had happened.
“It turned into a lot of manpower being absorbed in that time,” he said. “What I did find interesting, we had a Creole interpreter from Delray who came over … and a couple of the detainees admitted they’re paying between $2,000 to $5,000 a head to get to ride over here on a boat. That’s how desperate these people are to come here.”
In mid-January a boat captained by a Bahamian brought two Cuban and nine Chinese migrants ashore in the town of Palm Beach. The Cubans reportedly told federal agents they each paid $8,000 to make the trip.

The mayor is elected for a three-year term. A mayor who has served two full consecutive terms is not eligible to run for that office for the succeeding term. — Steven J. Smith

By Jane Smith

Developers continue to dominate Delray Beach election coffers with contributions to sitting city commissioners.
Voters will decide March 17 who sits in two City Commission seats. Two incumbents, running for re-election, have raised the most contributions for their respective seats.
Seat 2 incumbent Bill Bathurst raised $77,040 as of Feb. 14, the latest reporting date before press time. That amount is about 73% higher than the combined total of $44,464 raised by his three challengers.
Bathurst’s campaign contributions show 44 $1,000 donations. About two-thirds — 28 of the donors — have development business in Delray.
Nine of the 28 are from restaurant owners who donated $1,000 each in late October. The money was recorded after Bathurst voted with most of the other commissioners to move the valet decision to March.
The city’s public safety staffs had suggested moving the valet operations off Atlantic Avenue. The four-block stretch has just two lanes and is often clogged on weekend nights.
On March 3, the commission postponed the decision again until Oct. 1. City staffers are working with a consultant to create a downtown parking program that includes valets.
Bathurst has three challengers: Juli Casale, Jennifer Jones and Debra Tendrich.
Casale has raised $27,637, the highest amount among the Bathurst challengers. A neighborhood activist, Casale has received four $1,000 donations to date, with one donor having ties to real estate.
She is running a grass-roots campaign with contributions from fellow Historic Preservation Trust members and neighbors.
At the candidate debates and in her emails, she refers to Bathurst as “Dollar Bill” for his votes for more development and against the neighborhood feel of the city.
Jones, who is self-employed, raised a total of $4,180. One of her donors, a tax preparer, contributed $1,000.
At the Beach Property Owners Association forum on Feb. 19, Jones said, “There needs to be a change on the City Commission … to make our environment better and safer.”
Tendrich operates a nonprofit. She has raised $12,647 and has not collected any $1,000 donations. At the BPOA forum, after complaints were made that the sea grapes at the beach have not been trimmed in three years, she said, “I will go out and trim them myself.”
Speaking at the forum, Bathurst touted his family history, saying he wants to “retain and grow as much of the Village by the Sea as possible.”
For Seat 4, incumbent Shirley Johnson raised $53,234 as of Feb. 14. As with Bathurst, Johnson’s campaign coffers show she is closely aligned with developers and restaurant owners.
In early October, Johnson voted to extend the valet operations on Atlantic for six months. Later that month, she received eight $1,000 donations from restaurant owners.
She did not vote to review a city board decision that allowed the Delray Place developer to create a cut-through into Delray Place South. The cut-through is expected to create more traffic on the entrance road to the Intracoastal community of Tropic Isle.
Two months later, Joe Carosella — who owns the plazas requesting the cut-through — donated $2,000 from two different entities. His land use attorney, Bonnie Miskel, also donated $1,000 to Johnson’s campaign.
Two years ago, Johnson proposed the City Commission take over the Community Redevelopment Agency board. City commissioners now sit as the CRA board along with two residents, from the Northwest and Southwest neighborhoods.
“I saw the dysfunction of the CRA board,” she told attendees at the BPOA forum on Feb. 19. “Since taking it over in 2018, more of the funds are going to cure slum and blight.”
Challenger Chris Davey, a residential real estate consultant, agrees with that decision.
“Handling that amount of money” estimated to be $24 million for the current budget year, “an independent board would be a disservice to the taxpayer,” he said at the forum.
But former CRA board members, including ex-chairman Reggie Cox and community organizer Charles Ridley, who heads the West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition, disagree.
They are supporting two challengers: Angela Burns, a schoolteacher who is vying to oust Johnson, and Jones, who is running for Bathurst’s seat. Burns and Jones said they want to have an independent CRA when asked at the BPOA forum.
Jones has received $250 from Cox. She also has received $100 from Kristyn Cox, a former CRA employee.
Of a total $7,363 in donations, Burns has received two donations from Reggie Cox totaling $750, and $250 from Ridley. In addition, her CRA-connected donors include $100 from Morris Carstarphen, an ex-CRA board member, and $100 from Kristyn Cox.
Davey also told the forum that the City Commission needs to protect its main asset — the beach. The city needs to stay on top of federal programs for beach renourishment.
Delray Beach has an estimated 3 million annual visitors to its municipal beach, which Davey said works out to be slightly more than 8,000 tourists daily.
“Our greatest attraction is a natural one,” he said.
Davey is mostly self-financing his campaign. He had loaned himself $20,000 of a total $26,000 collected through Feb. 14.

By Dan Moffett

Don MaGruder’s last night as an Ocean Ridge commissioner appears likely to have a lasting impact on the town’s future. Or anyway, an impact on its lawns.
MaGruder cast the final and deciding vote that approved by a 3-2 margin an ordinance restricting the use of artificial turf — ending, at least for the moment, months of divisive debate that often pitted neighbor against neighbor.
“It’s not perfect, but it can be modified later on,” MaGruder said during the meeting on March 2. “We need to put it on the books now so we have some protection.”
The vice mayor argued that the town had to move expeditiously to get an artificial turf provision in its code, or risk giving state lawmakers an opening to dictate their own version of turf restrictions to the town.
MaGruder, who announced in November he was moving to North Carolina after more than three decades in Ocean Ridge, was joined in approving the second reading by Commissioners Kristine de Haseth and Susan Hurlburt. They said the ordinance puts the town in line with regulations in other communities and aligns with the recommendations of leading environmental scientists.
Mayor Steve Coz and Commissioner Phil Besler voted no. They argued the science was inconclusive and the commission was overreaching into residents’ property rights.
“If we pass this, what’s next?” Coz had asked, saying decisions about lawn materials should be left to the homeowner.
Unlike neighboring communities such as Lantana and Manalapan that have restricted synthetic grass with scarcely a public complaint or comment, Ocean Ridge has been tormented by the issue for much of the last year.
The town’s Planning and Zoning Commission wrestled with it for months, consulting other municipalities and officials, before recommending code changes. The Town Commission devoted four consecutive meetings to reviewing the new restrictions, including a joint session with P&Z in February.
Dozens of residents supporting plastic grass came forward during meetings and bombarded commissioners with petitions, fliers, emails and texts.
One resident called on MaGruder to recuse himself before the final vote because he was leaving town. Town Attorney Brian Shutt dismissed the idea, saying recusals are for financial conflicts of interest, personal gain or loss.
“To my knowledge, you don’t own a turf company,” Shutt said to MaGruder.
Supporters of synthetic turf made the case it was good for the environment because it needs no watering, fertilizers, pesticides or cutting with loud, pollutant-spewing mowers.
Hurlburt, however, countered by consulting with Marco Schiavon, a leading expert on turfgrass science at the University of Florida. Schiavon and other experts told her that UF does not consider artificial turf “Florida friendly” or environmentally acceptable. The experts said it holds in heat and raises the temperature of neighborhoods; it allows microscopic petroleum pollutants to seep into the soil and water table; it kills the beneficial bacteria and microorganisms underneath; it collects animal feces; and it is an awful substitute for conscientious natural xeriscaping.
MaGruder said the ordinance doesn’t impose an absolute ban, but rather a reasonable, measured limit on homeowners that protects the character of Ocean Ridge. While the new rule prohibits artificial turf use in front yards, it allows some use in backyards, side yards and pool areas.
“What we’ve done is a good compromise,” Hurlburt said.
In other business, during their meeting on Feb. 3, commissioners approved raising Town Manager Tracey Stevens’ pay from $102,500 to $125,000. The vote, based on a salary survey of other municipalities, was 4-1 with Besler dissenting. He said that while he joined other commissioners in praising Stevens, her raises should be more incremental.

Voters will choose who sits in two council seats. Lantana has no term limits, and each term is three years.

Group 3

Group 4

Executive Director Charlene Farrington and the museum honored longtime board member Mark Reingold after he retired. The museum sits in the former home of the late Solomon D. Spady. Farrington is founder Vera Farrington’s daughter. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

Shortly after Mark Reingold and his wife, Susan, moved to Delray Beach in 1995, Susan attended a lecture by Vera Farrington, a longtime educator and one of the founders of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, also in Delray Beach.
“She came home and said it was a very interesting situation and they’ve got some important things they’re going to do,” Reingold recalled. “I had worked as an attorney for some big firms and was looking around and said, ‘This looks like something where I could be helpful.’”
Farrington gave Reingold, 77, a position on the advisory board in 2000, where he remained until last year. The museum honored him with a plaque at its Martin Luther King Jr. celebration breakfast for his 20 years of service.
“I said that day that it was my wife’s fault, she got me into this,” Reingold smiled. “And it’s true.”
Reingold remains an advocate for the museum, which was completed in 2001 and is located in the renovated house of Solomon David Spady, a student of George Washington Carver. The first premise of its mission statement is to “collect, preserve and share relevant black history, artifacts and buildings for the community.”
“People need to understand (the history) of both the black community and the entire community,” Reingold said. “The museum compiles it so people can go back and look at it, so it’s never forgotten.”
Farrington, who spent much of her teaching career at public schools in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, was joined in her efforts to take the museum from idea to completion by Spencer Pompey, after whom Pompey Park is named. Pompey was a civil rights activist, author and teacher who founded the Palm Beach County Teachers Association for black teachers.
The Spady Museum, at 170 NW Fifth Ave., boasts 3,200 items in its collection and hosts more than 100 meetings per year. The next major event on its calendar is the Juneteenth Celebration on June 19.
Resigning his board position (“It’s time for someone else to step in”) has given Reingold more time to fulfill his passion for pickleball. He plays two to three times a week at Pompey Park, the Delray Beach Tennis Center and the community center.

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I was born in Buffalo, New York, and was raised in a suburb of Buffalo. I went to the local public elementary and high schools. Yes, the winters were cold and snowy, but we walked to school and accepted the weather. I think that helped me to learn to push through issues that arise in life.
After high school, I wasn’t quite mature enough to attend college out of town, so I commuted to the University of Buffalo where I obtained a degree in business administration. During college, I worked summers at a local amusement park and steel mill. By my senior year in college, I had decided that I wanted to become an attorney; so, I matriculated to Albany Law School of Union University, where I obtained a Juris Doctor and wrote for the Law Review. My education taught me how to think logically, and I feel that has helped me tremendously in my life.
When the [Buffalo] Bills obtained their franchise in 1960, my parents were in the first group of season-ticket holders and our family has maintained those seats and attended games ever since. The family was recently awarded a game ball by the Bills in honor of its continuous support. Over the past 60 years every fall, I must admit, I have spent most Sundays watching the games in some venue wherever I was living.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: After law school, I practiced law in Rochester, New York, for a few years concentrating on real estate. I then became house counsel for over 20 years for a Fortune 500 company where, among other responsibilities, I handled real estate and managed litigation. I traveled to many states where I set up the legal function for the company and acted as general counsel.
I also did some part-time teaching of business law, paralegal studies and law and banking at Rochester Institute of Technology, American Institute of Banking and Monroe Community College.
 
Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: I have no advice at this point. I am too far removed from the days of starting a career to offer any help.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in coastal Delray Beach?
A: For a number of reasons including my travel schedule and Susan’s health issues at the time, we decided to move out of Rochester in 1995 and try something new. We explored many communities in warm weather areas. We knew Delray because we had made a few visits over the years when my parents vacationed here. We loved the “Village by the Sea” and especially the small-town feel. We sold our home in Rochester and purchased a small condo on Gleason Street on the barrier island.
I took and passed the Florida bar exam and continue to practice law. Susan chose to become involved in volunteer work in the community and was especially interested in working with Ms. Farrington, Mr. Pompey and others on development of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum.
We did love that quieter version of Delray, and I can remember often drinking coffee and reading the newspaper at a small coffee shop on the ocean that evolved over the years into the Caffe Luna Rosa.  

Q: What is your favorite part about living in coastal Delray Beach?
A: Although I do not like the traffic and congestion that has developed over the years, I do enjoy the many choices of restaurants and music venues and just walking around town and the barrier island. I have enjoyed tremendously working on the Spady Cultural Museum board and helping the organization to grow. 
I have become a pickleball player over the past six years. I usually play three days a week and take part in tournaments around the state. I find pickleball keeps me in pretty good shape. I joined the Delray Beach Pickleball Club that now has approximately 400 members who play at various indoor and outdoor venues around the area, including the Delray Beach Tennis Center, Pompey Park and the community center next to City Hall. I am proud to say that I have amassed loads of medals playing in tournaments in my age group, including in the State of Florida Senior Games, thanks to some good friends that serve as my partners in these events.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I like to read biographies and business-oriented books but do enjoy an occasional novel.  I recently read biographies on Steve Jobs, Paul McCartney and Ben Franklin.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired? 
A: I like early rock ’n’ roll. My favorite group growing up was the Everly Brothers and I still listen to their music. Susan and I had the opportunity to meet them on a couple occasions. Ever since I read a magazine article on some long-haired guys and watched them on Ed Sullivan, I have loved to listen to the Beatles. I saw them perform live but couldn’t hear them (because of the screaming) in 1966 in Toronto.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My father. He was a small businessman who had a sense of honor in his business dealings and always tried to do what he thought was the right thing. I kind of think like that too.

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you?
A: My life would not be made into a movie but if it was, I would play myself with a lot of makeup.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: I love Larry David’s humor. My wife, three adult children and four grandchildren all have great and clever senses of humor that I love.

Three candidates are on the March 17 ballot for two seats on the Town Council. The top two vote-getters will claim them. Town Clerk Yude Alvarez said the ballot also will ask voters whether council terms should be lengthened to four years instead of two. If that is approved, the winners this time will serve four years. Other ballot questions include granting the mayor the power to declare an emergency and amending the charter to reduce the required number of voter signatures on initiative petitions from 15% to 10%. — Steven J. Smith

Three incumbents and a political newcomer are running for three at-large Town Council seats March 17. The top three vote-getters win. A term lasts two years. — Steven J. Smith

Lynne Weiner, who qualified to run for the council in the March 17 election and whose name will appear on the ballot, announced in February she was withdrawing from the race.

By Dan Moffett

Briny Breezes council members asked their attorney, Keith Davis, to research election rules in the town charter, and he reported back with some intriguing news.
Briny doesn’t really have a charter.
“The town’s charter is basically the meeting minutes from when the town was incorporated,” Davis told the council during its meeting on Feb. 27.
For some 57 years, since March 1963, Briny has been running on an informal document, the rules and regulations outlined somewhat spontaneously during the incorporation meeting held during the Kennedy administration.
Council President Sue Thaler said officials have known about the deficiencies of the document and considered updating it for years.
“Clearly we’ve been talking about this for some time,” she said.
Davis said recent questions from the council about the possibility of appointing the town clerk position and changing how the mayor is elected suggest it could be the right time to review the entire charter.
“It might be an opportunity to look at the charter as a wholesale (project) and see if there are other things you’d like to do to clean it up or restate,” Davis said. “It’s an opportunity to rewrite it from scratch, so that it reads like an actual charter and not so much like meeting minutes.”
Council members liked the idea and voted 4-0 (with Bill Birch absent) to create a citizens charter review committee to explore changes.
The committee will be made up of seven members: one registered voter from each of the town’s four districts, one at-large spot for a resident who is not required to be a voter, and two at-large positions that are open to nonresidents who might offer specific expertise. Interested participants should contact Town Hall.
Charter changes are required to go through the ballot referendum process and go to the town’s voters for approval. The council hopes to have the committee’s work completed for the Nov. 3 presidential election, so the town avoids the cost of running a special election.
In other business:
• When Ocean Ridge took over Briny’s policing duties from Boynton Beach last year, the council told Chief Hal Hutchins that reining in illegal parking was a priority. He says his officers are making progress with that, and residents and visitors are getting the message.
“Looking at the statistics for the last three months,” Hutchins told the council, “it seems that we are trending down on parking violations.”
The chief said officers issued 13 parking tickets in January, a total that’s less than half that of months during tourist seasons in recent years.
• Results of a survey of Briny’s southern boundary are in, and they are predictably ambiguous.
Davis said Engenuity Group of West Palm Beach submitted a report that shows the town’s southern border doesn’t extend all the way across Briny Breezes Boulevard. The survey found the boundary line is not uniform and wanders east between the middle of the road and the southern edge.
Ownership of Briny Breezes Boulevard has become a significant issue because of the development of the Gulf Stream Views townhouse project in the County Pocket. A more definitive survey result might have enabled Briny to restrict parking and deal more effectively with potential drainage and street damage issues.

By Dan Moffett

For the third time in the last five years, South Palm Beach council members are taking a hard look at what can be done to repair, renovate or replace their aging Town Hall.
The council’s first attempt at dealing with the building’s problems came in 2016 with the hiring of Alexis Knight Architects of West Palm Beach. The firm spent months studying the building, and interviewing administrative staff and residents, leaving the town with a bill for about $50,000.
The architects’ report filed the next year uncovered numerous deficiencies and code violations, and concluded with a proposal that the town replace the hall with a five-story, $6 million multiuse building.
The council quickly and unanimously shot down the idea as far too extravagant.
Mayor Bonnie Fischer says that kind of misdirection won’t happen again.
“We are not going to do a Taj Mahal in South Palm Beach,” Fischer told about 75 residents who attended a workshop devoted to the issue on Feb. 26.
The council’s focus now is on a second report, filed in 2018 by North Palm Beach architect John Bellamy, that recommended “adaptive reuse” of the 54-year-old building. Bellamy cited many of the problems uncovered by Alexis Knight, but concluded that the structure can be upgraded and repaired.
“It would be reasonable to conclude that the building can be renovated and modified in a cost-effective manner to comply with current codes for all existing Town Hall occupancies,” his report said.
That conclusion was consistent with the opinions of nearly all the residents who offered comments during the workshop. It also is consistent with the views of the three candidates who are running for two council seats in the March 17 election.
Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb and Elvadianne Culbertson, who was on the council in 2017 and 2018, have supported renovation over replacement, and they voted against the $6 million proposal. Ray McMillan, the third challenger in the race, also supports a conservative approach, believing the existing building can be upgraded and repaired.
The Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association has endorsed Gottlieb and McMillan, fueling rumors among condo groups that Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw was pressuring the town to build a new public safety facility for his deputies on the site — one that might also include fire-rescue services.
Fischer and Town Manager Robert Kellogg categorically deny those rumors. They said talk of plans for a new multimillion-dollar structure are nothing more than election campaign fantasy.
Kellogg did say he told Bradshaw that eventually “something was going to be done to this facility,” though he didn’t know what. “He informed me,” Kellogg said, “that when the time comes, ‘I might be able to help you out.’ ”
Kellogg and Fischer say it’s in the town’s interest to collaborate with PBSO on whatever improvements the council decides to make to the building.
During the council’s regular meeting on Feb. 11, Sheriff’s Maj. Chris Keane told residents that PBSO would not interfere with the town’s decision-making.
“Whatever happens will be the town’s choice,” Keane said. “It’ll be what the town wants.”
Fischer said she wants to enlist Bellamy to make a presentation to the council on his report as soon as possible.
In other business:
Hopes of beginning a $700,000 dune restoration and beach renourishment project with the town of Palm Beach this spring have evaporated.
Palm Beach officials told Kellogg they won’t have a dredge available in time to bring sand to South Palm Beaches in April before turtle-nesting season begins. He said the dredging work is now postponed until November. Fischer said she has received assurances from Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio that the project will ultimately get done.