A loggerhead hatchling trapped in a plastic cup nestled in sargassum. Photo provided by Sea Turtle Adventures

Every season has its heroes. In the South Florida fall, public safety and tree removal workers should get medals for cleaning up after the inevitable storms; in winter, hardworking nonprofit event planners prove essential to the success of the philanthropy season; and in the spring, lifeguards deserve bonuses for keeping flocks of tourists safe at beaches.
In the summer — the hot, muggy summer — the residents who walk the beach picking up trash are the ones deserving trophies. Every day they are out crunching through mounds of sargassum to hand-pick shreds of plastic, bottle caps, empty bottles and other debris from our shoreline.
Many do this year round, but in the summer the labor is especially important — this is when thousands of baby sea turtles are trying to make their way to the sea. And this year so far, a near-record number of baby loggerheads are heading through daunting odds — about 1,000-to-1 against surviving to maturity — to first reach the ocean, and then the Gulf Stream.
The last thing these hatchlings need as they struggle down a seaweed-laden beach is to end up trapped inside a plastic cup. But that’s what happened last month when a monitor with Sea Turtle Adventures stumbled across a trapped hatchling on the beach in Gulf Stream.
Luckily, monitors were there to safely release the turtle. Sea turtle monitors are another under-recognized group providing essential service each summer.
But it’s the residents who head out each day with nothing more than a bag or bucket for gathering the trash that challenges baby turtles as they head to the sea — other more organic dangers include crabs, hungry birds and the occasional raccoon or fox.
Once the hatchlings make it over the sand and seaweed into the water of the Atlantic, they’re targets of predatory fish and hovering birds.
If the baby turtles make it safely to the Gulf Stream, their diet will consist of small bits of sea life and jelly fish — items that look just like floating plastic. Plastic ingestion is quickly becoming a major factor in turtle deaths throughout the world.
That’s why the efforts of those individuals who pick up trash along our beaches should be heralded.
In the grand scope of all the plastic that will end up in the world’s oceans and washing onto every shore, their efforts may feel minuscule. But any effort to get plastic out of the ocean and off the beach is an important effort — especially for a tiny turtle stuck inside a plastic cup.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Eda and Cliff Viner of Gulf Stream created the nonprofit Eda and Cliff Viner Community Scholars Foundation in 2015. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

Raised by a single mother and working to support her when she became ill, Daniel Bencivenga was not a likely candidate to have an opportunity to further his education — despite his exemplary academic performance at Spanish River High School in 2016.
The Eda and Cliff Viner Community Scholars Foundation changed that. And six years later, Bencivenga is on track to earn his law degree from the University of Florida next spring.
“The Viner Foundation has played a huge role in my life and I am not sure where I would be without them,” Bencivenga wrote in an email.
When Eda and Cliff Viner of Gulf Stream were married in 2015, they decided to start a foundation to offer educational opportunities for economically challenged students.
“He used to send kids to camp,” said Eda, 62, “and I felt my kids had never been to camps and they turned out fine. But without a college degree in today’s world, it’s hard to survive. I thought that would be a better cause for the community, so we decided we would send 100 kids to college at a time.”
The couple settled on 10 high schools in south Palm Beach County and reached out to guidance counselors and other school staff to spread the news.
“We wanted to pick kids who were going to go to school in Florida,” said Cliff, 73. “For two reasons: One, our money goes further than if they went to someplace like Harvard, and two, these kids are more than likely to come back and serve the community.”
The qualifications are not easy: Students must maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average — the Viners say qualifiers average about 3.6 — and have more than 300 hours of community service by the time they graduate high school.
The Viners’ initial class in 2015 had only 18 students, but they now receive more than 100 applicants every year and have 130 in the program. The top 50 applicants are selected each year, whereupon the Viners interview them — and often their parents — before paring the number to about 30.
“Our community is a melting pot, so we want to help everybody,” Cliff said. “Good grades and need are important, but we want to see character, because character is something you cannot teach.”
Each student selected is paired with a mentor, typically a community leader who will monitor the student’s progress throughout the college years and beyond.
“At first we just asked our friends to be mentors,” Eda said, “but as time has gone by, the community has really gotten involved. The Rotary of Boca Raton has gotten us at least 20 mentors and interviewers every year. Then we bring the kids and distribute food to the needy at Christmas. So, we help each other.”
The Viners said Rotary had a scholarship program but wasn’t tracking its recipients the way their program does. So, they joined forces. Similarly, Boca West had a Cribs to College program but didn’t have the college element. So Boca West has also signed on.
“The way you get them to graduate is to monitor them every step of the way,” Eda said. “That doesn’t stop until the day they graduate.”
The total outlay for the program surpassed $800,000 this year, not a penny of which goes to administrative costs. Niki Knopf, Cliff’s daughter, is executive director of the foundation and Eda, who spent eight years on the board of the Florence Fuller Foundation, resigned that post in December to help ease Knopf’s workload.
The investment in each student is more than monetary.
“We also have a social services program,” Cliff said, “with doctors, counseling, legal services, dentists. If the student or their family needs things, they don’t run off the tracks.
“Many times with students like this a family emergency arises and the kid will have to leave school and come home to take care of it. We make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Atlantic High in Delray Beach, where more than half the students come from families living at or below the poverty line, has had the most students in the program, with Boca Raton High next.
Other affiliated schools are American Heritage, Spanish River, Olympic Heights, Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Katz Yeshiva, Saint John Paul II, Village Academy and West Boca.
“If a kid is so extraordinary that they can go to Harvard, they’re going to be OK,” Eda said. “But there’s so many that do well but they’re not Mensa material, and they don’t have the money to go any further. Those are the kids we want to help. All they need is money and opportunity.”
Of the 130 students now in the program, about 50 attend the University of Florida, with lesser numbers at Florida State, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic and Florida International.
“We partner on a lot of students with the Florida Prepaid College Foundation,” Cliff said. “They have hundreds of kids they want to find matches for. We’re matching for them but they also match for us. They have 40 to 50 of our kids.”
While the program produced its first college graduates in 2019, many of the students have continued their education into careers such as law, medicine and engineering.
Cliff Viner, who was a partner in the NHL’s Florida Panthers, 2003-13, and served as general partner from 2008 to 2013, and Eda have four children: Niki, Eric, Amanda and Elyse Cromer.
The foundation will hold its annual fundraiser on Jan. 28 at the Signature Flight Support hangar at Boca Raton Airport.
For more information, see vinerscholars.org.

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By Larry Barszewski

Manalapan’s newly proposed budget includes a half-million dollars to kick-start its switch from septic tanks to sewers, as well as money for 5% pay raises and a 5% one-time bonus for town employees.
Town commissioners set a tentative property tax rate of $3.00 for every $1,000 of taxable value at their July 26 meeting, following their second budget workshop that morning. That’s a 5.3% drop from the current tax rate, but one that still amounts to a 21.2% property tax increase due to the town’s skyrocketing property values.
The commission will hold public hearings on the budget and tax rate at 5:01 p.m. Sept. 16 and 27 at Town Hall.
Commissioners opted against having a more significant tax rate reduction in order to address some key priorities, which include getting the town off septic tanks and making sure town employees are fairly compensated for the work they do.
Town Manager Linda Stumpf included $520,000 in the town’s $6.6 million operating budget to pay for some of the professional fees and needed studies for the septic-to-sewer conversion project and possibly other utility projects.
“That will help with the projects and the planning of the projects,” Stumpf said. If the money was not included in the budget, the town would have to borrow the money to do that preliminary work, she said.
Commissioners plan to give 5% pay raises to employees on top of a 5% pay boost they awarded in March, hoping to keep them from looking elsewhere for employment and creating a cushion for them during a time of high inflation. Stumpf said employees would be pleased, especially since the town’s police contract called for only a 3% raise this year.
Still, Commissioner John Deese said the town ought to do more to help employees during a difficult financial time. He successfully persuaded other commissioners to add the 5% bonus that would be a one-time deal and would not continue driving up salary costs for years to come. The bonus will cost about $110,000, he said.
Deese also requested a salary study be done so the town can decide if other salary adjustments will be needed later to stay competitive with other municipalities.
“I understand we have a smaller town, but we also get services far and above what you would have in other towns,” Deese said. “It’s a real serious and competitive marketplace out there and I think if we don’t address that and pay more attention to it, we could potentially find ourselves in a more difficult position going forward.”
Among other notable items:
• The budget includes money to hire a new security company to handle duties at the guard house on Point Manalapan following dissatisfaction with the current company. The new figure, $264,532, is a 30% increase from the current budget.
• The cost for fire-rescue services from Palm Beach County is increasing 13.1%, to $1.79 million, the largest increase in the past five years. Interestingly, the increase is due to rising property values in South Palm Beach, which the county uses to determine Manalapan’s assessment. South Palm Beach saw a big boost in its property values due to condo construction there.

By Joe Capozzi

Developer William Swaim has offered to sell 3.3 acres of submerged land to Ocean Ridge, part of a proposal he says will allow him and the town to “put down their swords’’ and end years of litigation. 
Town officials apparently are not interested. Now, Swaim said he won’t rule out suing the town to recoup the land’s market value.
In a June 15 letter to the town, an attorney for Swaim’s Waterfront ICW Properties said his client would sell the land to the town for $750,000, “a steep discount” from its fair market value of $4.8 million. 
The 3.3 acres is adjacent to a 9-acre submerged tract that the town purchased in April for $1.5 million as part of a plan to rezone the area from residential to conservation/preservation and open the area for recreation. 
But Swaim’s offer has several conditions. Among them: The town must transfer the 3.3 acres’ density rights (14 units) to another site in Ocean Ridge, identified by Waterfront at a later date. It also calls for the town to issue a one-time “height restriction waiver” on the property identified by Waterfront at a later date. 
“The goal here is for Waterfront and the town to put down their swords and work together to consummate a transaction that results in an ideal outcome for both sides,’’ Waterfront attorney Michael Nullman said in the letter. 
“We see this framework as a mutually beneficial opportunity for both Waterfront and the town, which has the added benefit of resolving all pending issues and disputes pending between Waterfront and the town.’’
The letter asked the town to respond in 15 days. That never happened, prompting Nullman to address town commissioners during public comments July 5 “to follow up to ensure everyone had a chance to review that and if anyone had any questions.’’
No one on the dais had any questions and the offer was not discussed.
A week later, Town Attorney Christy Goddeau told The Coastal Star she was “not aware of any direction to respond to the letter or place it on an upcoming meeting agenda. Since the letter is related to the settlement of potential, and certainly threatened, litigation, no further comment is provided at this time.’’
Swaim told The Coastal Star he was surprised by the lack of response. 
“In 35 years of development in South Florida, I’ve never seen a town stick their head in the sand like this town has. They refuse to meet, refuse to discuss anything, do not communicate at all. Zero. Nothing,’’ he said. “We get crickets. That’s why Michael went to the meeting, because nobody is responding.’’ 
The conditions in his proposal, Swaim said, are only fair since he would be giving up plans to develop the 3.3 acres. He said he does not own any other land in Ocean Ridge. And if the town approved the proposal, he said, any height restriction waiver would be compatible with surrounding properties. 
“I doubt seriously it will ever be used, but it’s another right we would have,’’ he said.
“To be honest with you, I thought this was a gift,’’ he said. “It’s everything they want and I’m just trying to get out even.’’
Swaim has been fighting with the town for years over his efforts to build a road and develop the 3.3 acres in the lagoon. In July 2021, Waterfront ICW Properties sued the town in U.S. District Court alleging a claim for inverse condemnation and $10 million in damages. The suit was dismissed without prejudice six months later. 
If the town doesn’t approve his latest proposal, Swaim said, refiling the federal lawsuit “will end up happening and they will have to pay full retail in the courts.’’

By Joe Capozzi

The tax rate in Ocean Ridge will remain at $5.50 per $1,000 of taxable value next year, commissioners decided in July, but residents can still expect higher bills because of an 18.26% increase in property values across town. 
At budget workshops on July 5 and Aug. 1, commissioners added $250,000 for a drainage project on Harbour Drive North, $150,000 to replace the Town Hall generator, $50,584 to upgrade the town’s finance software, and $10,000 for new signage related to the Old Ocean Boulevard pedestrian safety program. 
At $10,060,329, the proposed budget, nearly 14% higher than the current year spending plan, provides for 5% raises for non-union employees. It will also raise the minimum salaries of some positions to bring them into line with salaries offered by other towns of similar size across Florida.
Commissioners on Aug. 1 debated how to provide a financial boost to eight employees whose salaries, unlike those of most other employees, were in need of a market adjustment to cover inflation. Instead of giving them an additional raise, the commission agreed to pay each of the eight employees a stipend of roughly $4,200. The salaries included those of the police chief, lieutenant and the building official.
The budget also includes $62,000 for a public works position that includes qualifications for an electrician.
The spending plan will be discussed again Sept. 6 before the final version is adopted on Sept. 19.
With a $5.50 tax rate, the owner of a $1 million home will pay $6,504 in town taxes next year, about $1,000 more than was paid this year.

Hazel Gutierrez celebrates after her daughter Jane was picked as the most patriotic baby during the Independence Day festivities in Lantana. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

For the second time in less than four years, Ocean Ridge commissioners are looking for a new town manager, a search they hope to complete within the next four months.
Town Manager Tracey Stevens is leaving Sept. 11 to become town manager and finance director for Haverhill. She will make $134,400, a little more than her Ocean Ridge salary of $132,500.
Stevens, who replaced Jamie Titcomb in March 2019, submitted her resignation on July 15.
“I really wasn’t looking to leave Ocean Ridge, because I love serving the residents here. However, I was presented with an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up to manage the town of Haverhill which aligns with my professional and personal goals,’’ Stevens said. 
“I will truly miss serving the residents of Ocean Ridge and working alongside some of the best colleagues in local government any town manager could ask for. I am confident that the extremely competent and professional staff that Ocean Ridge employs will carry on my care and compassion for the town.”
Commissioners hope to hire an interim town manager in early August and a full-time manager by Thanksgiving, if not sooner. 
At a special meeting Aug. 8, they plan to interview three candidates for the interim job: Michelle Berger, a former Port St. Lucie City Council member who served as Sewell’s Point town manager in Martin County from October 2019 to January 2022; Lynne Ladner, a former interim town manager in the Pinellas County town of Kenneth City; and former Lake County Manager Alan Rosen.
With help from the Florida City and County Management Association’s senior advisers program, a free service that offers assistance in finding new town managers, commissioners hope to interview full-time manager candidates in October.
Commissioners will advertise for candidates in similar-sized seaside towns in and out of Florida. Stevens, who had worked for the town for six years, also served as finance director as part of her town manager duties.  A majority of town commissioners said they are sorry to see Stevens go, and some suggested political pressure may have played a role in her decision.
“She has a very good offer and probably a little less stress,’’ said Mayor Susan Hurlburt. “She proved herself to be a true professional at every turn. She doesn’t do things lightly. This must have taken a lot of thought.’’ 
“A sad day for our town indeed,’’ Vice Mayor Kristine de Haseth said in an email to Stevens and the other four commissioners July 15. 
“Tracey was hands down the most professional, transparent, impartial and hard-working town manager we’ve ever had. She has helped us transition to a sustainable, wonderfully staffed town with an admirable level of service on all fronts. She will be sorely missed and difficult to replace.
“But don’t think for one second that the inmates will be allowed to run the prison again. Those days are in the rearview mirror.’’
That last comment struck a nerve for political opponents of de Haseth, who criticized her choice of words on social media. On Aug. 1, de Haseth publicly apologized for using “a figure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally. I would never characterize our residents and our staff that way,” she said, adding that her internal email “was circulated to select members of the town by a fellow commissioner” whom she did not name.
Commissioner Martin Wiescholek called Stevens’ departure “a huge loss for our town.”
“I can only hope we find a replacement who is equally as good as she is and equally as committed. I know she is very well liked with the residents, and her open door policy I’m sure will be missed by many when she is gone,’’ he said.
“Everybody should be able to move on to bigger and better things and I wish her luck,’’ said Commissioner Geoff Pugh, who has served on the commission through five town managers. “Through five town managers, she has been a reasonably efficient town manager.’’
Commissioner Steve Coz, a frequent critic of Stevens, offered no public comments about her departure. 
At a special meeting July 25 to discuss her transition, Stevens asked — and received — permission to start consulting work for Haverhill on her free time at night and on the weekends. “It troubles me,’’ Coz said of her request, “but I don’t see any other way around it.”
Haverhill encompasses 0.6 square mile on both sides of Belvedere Road just west of Palm Beach International Airport. That’s slightly smaller than Ocean Ridge, according to the U.S. Census.
But the towns are vastly different. For one, the average household income in Haverhill is around $80,000, far below Ocean Ridge’s average of just under $216,000.
And Haverhill’s population, 2,300, is much more diverse — nearly 39% Latino, nearly 29% African American and 25% white. In Ocean Ridge, 91% of the town’s 1,830 full-time residents are white.

Political issues involved?
While the other three commissioners gave Stevens glowing reviews in her most recent evaluation, Coz and Pugh raised questions about her abilities and effectiveness. 
Hurlburt and Wiescholek are up for election in March 2023. A loss by either of them could lead to a shift in the commission’s opinion about the manager. 
“She told me she was leaving because she was unexpectedly offered a position that she could not refuse,’’ Wiescholek said. “And not knowing what her employment status is after the ’23 election, she probably didn’t want to take a chance on being unemployed in April 2023.’’ 
On Aug. 1, several residents offered kind words about Stevens.
“Tracey, your resignation is a true loss to Ocean Ridge. You will be truly missed,” former town Commissioner Zoanne Hennigan said.
“It’s been disheartening to know that we’ve had some town leaders who have overtly and covertly sabotaged this previously well-run machine,” Hennigan said. “We are no longer ‘Mayberry’ or the ‘Village of Endless Summer.’ We have some significant issues to solve. Let this pettiness stop so we can move forward.”
Stevens’ impending departure comes a month after Town Clerk Karla Armstrong announced she was leaving to attend law school. Armstrong will be replaced by Kelly Avery, who has worked as deputy or assistant clerk in West Palm Beach, Wellington and Gulf Stream. 
Hurlburt said she spoke briefly to Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones about the idea of doubling his duties and serving as interim town manager but they both agreed it would be too much work for him.
Even if Jones wanted to serve as interim manager, he could not do both and the town would have to hire an interim police chief, said Town Attorney Christy Goddeau.

By Larry Barszewski

A remodeling plan for Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar could lure more restaurants to the shopping center by expanding its covered space for outdoor dining.
The changes would be to five mostly vacant suites on the westernmost portion of the plaza at 250 S. Ocean Blvd., at the southwest corner of Ocean Avenue and State Road A1A.
Town commissioners approved a special exception July 26 that will allow contractors to demolish the interiors of five suites and push back the storefronts to make room for outdoor seating space. The suites are between the Art Basil restaurant, which already has outdoor seating, on one side, and the Thaikyo Asian Fusion restaurant and Tipsy Nail & Lash bar on the other side.
The suites are vacant except for a tailor in one of them.
“There are a number of vacancies in one section of the property that have essentially remained vacant for quite some time,” said Craig Tulepan of Kitson & Partners, the shopping center’s property manager. The vacant suites are “irregular in shape and they are way, way too deep.”
While the average tenant is looking for bays 60 to 80 feet deep, the ones to be remodeled are up to 110 feet deep, Tulepan said.
“What we’d like to do is redo these bays so that the depths are much shorter,” Tulepan said. The recessed storefronts will then provide room for outdoor seating, he said.
“We believe by doing so, it’ll enhance our efforts to lease these spaces. It will bring some new and exciting tenants into the center. We’ll be bringing some restaurants into the center,” he said.
There are no restaurants lined up to move in yet, Tulepan said. The changes are in anticipation of future interest. “Our leasing individuals tell us that we do have an absolute interest in the location,” he said.
The commission’s approval allows for the changes, but the plaza will still have to go through the town’s approval process for architectural design.

Unfinished home to seek 2 more years; mayor vents
How long does it take to build a house?
Commissioners aren’t happy that the one at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd. still isn’t finished five years after owner Mark Sherman first pulled a construction permit for the work in 2017. At their July meeting, commissioners were asked for a permit extension to allow a new contractor, Mauro Brothers, to complete the work within two years.
Mayor Keith Waters said the continuing construction situation was disturbing.
“The inability to put a house on the ground and have it up in five years is untenable in this community,” Waters said. It shouldn’t take more than two years, he said.
“We’ve been remarkably patient, remarkably patient,” the mayor said of the Sherman home. “I have taken a great deal of flak, personally, from people who have to deal with that, live near that and are part of that construction.”
Town Manager Linda Stumpf told contractor Tony Mauro, who represented Sherman at the meeting, that the commission could grant only an 18-month extension — and it would come with the same $63,283.50 fee that the town would charge if Sherman applied for a new permit that would be good for two years.
Mauro then withdrew the permit extension request so that Sherman can file for a new permit and the extra six months it provides.
The house is barely half-finished, with 45% of the work remaining. That amounts to almost $1 million of the original $2.2 million plan. The permit fee is based on the cost of what’s left to be done.
“They’ve had some pretty major issues with construction. That’s why he’s made the change” in contractors, Mauro said of the owner. “As you know, he’s not a full-time resident. He’s been trusting some people to manage the project and finish it.”
The new building permit will be the third for the property. Sherman had to pull a second one in 2019 after commissioners denied a permit extension request then.
“I understand the frustration,” Mauro told commissioners. “This project is going to get finished, I have no doubt. So, this is the last time you’re going to see us.”
Not everyone was convinced.
“He’s going to be back in 24 months,” Vice Mayor Stewart Satter said after Mauro had left the commission chambers.
“He absolutely will,” Stumpf added.
In other action, commissioners approved an ordinance increasing the length of time for special exceptions and variances. The time allowed to begin construction following the issuance of a special exception or variance goes from six months to a year. The time needed to finish construction increases from 18 months to two years.
The commission also approved special exceptions for pedestrian tunnels underneath A1A for homes at 1890 and 1900 S. Ocean Blvd., and for an oceanside beach house at 1900 S. Ocean Blvd.
It also is allowing street-facing garage doors at 1400 Lands End Road. The garage will be farther back on the property and the owner has agreed to landscaping to hide its view from the street.

By Steve Plunkett

Highland Beach town commissioners on Aug. 2 postponed discussing whether to have their staff review and approve building permits for Gulf Stream projects after Delray Beach pulled out of a similar arrangement in May.
Because Mayor Doug Hillman was absent, Vice Mayor Natasha Moore moved the agenda item to an Aug. 4 special meeting.
“He wanted to be part of that discussion,” Moore said.
But resident Jack Halpern said it was “highly disappointing” to him as he read the meeting agenda beforehand to see the proposal up for consideration with little to no discussion in previous meetings.
“I absolutely cannot understand why we are offering services of Highland Beach to support Gulf Stream,” he said. “There is no benefit, no added benefit to the residents of Highland Beach.”
According to the proposed agreement: “Fees charged to Gulf Stream properties shall be the same as those charged to Highland Beach properties, and all permits shall be processed on a first-come, first-serve basis, with permits from neither municipality receiving priority over the other.”
Gulf Stream town commissioners were expected to OK the agreement at their Aug. 12 meeting.
Because of Delray Beach’s long processing times, Gulf Stream officials had been advising residents to hold off on applying for building permits until Highland Beach could take over. Highland Beach has said most permits could be approved in 10 days.
Highland Beach Building Official Jeff Remas has said Gulf Stream generates 800 to 900 permit applications a year. He said Highland Beach is processing 2,000 to 2,100 permits a year, so adding Gulf Stream work would be a 40% increase by his calculations.
Delray Beach stopped performing engineering, floodplain and landscaping review for Gulf Stream plans last spring after it discovered its building department was doing them without needed City Commission approval.
Gulf Stream temporarily enlisted its consulting engineering firm Baxter & Woodman for the engineering and floodplain portions of the permits, and landscape architect Dave Bodker of Delray for the landscape review.
Delray Beach officials had told Gulf Stream the city would have to charge extra for those reviews — which Delray residents receive as part of the normal permit process — even though Gulf Stream residents paid the same fees as their Delray Beach counterparts.
City officials also had warned that Delray Beach politics might thwart extending an agreement with Gulf Stream.
“It seems the constituents are very upset with the amount of time it is taking to process their permits,” so they ask “why are they also processing Gulf Stream’s permits,” Gulf Stream Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro had said.
The agreement between Highland Beach and Gulf Stream would be of a “continuing nature,” with either side able to terminate it by giving no less than 90 days’ written notice.

By Steve Plunkett

A whopping $4.4 million increase in the estimate to fix roads and drainage in the town’s Core district led Gulf Stream commissioners in July to propose raising property taxes for the first time in seven years.
The new price for the Core part of the capital improvement plan is $11.1 million, up from $6.7 million a year ago and equal to the originally envisioned cost of the entire 10-year CIP.
“We certainly hope to fine-tune that and have the cost come down when we get into the finer points of the design,” Rebecca Travis of Baxter & Woodman consulting engineers said. Travis presented her firm’s preliminary design of the project on July 8 and said it was on schedule to start construction next July.
But commissioners that day also had to set a proposed property tax rate for the budget year that starts Oct. 1. They settled on keeping the rate the same as this year’s $3.67 per $1,000 of taxable value. That will bring in an additional $551,000 in revenue, an 11.8% tax increase.
The rollback tax rate, which would have generated the same revenue as the previous year, was $3.28 per $1,000. Gulf Stream had adopted the rollback rate or gone below it every year since September 2016.
“As long as the residents, you know, are getting what they want — and the scope of the project, the CIP, the paving and drainage is something everyone’s been after us about — we keep it the same,” Vice Mayor Tom Stanley said of the tax rate.
Mayor Scott Morgan also argued against using the rollback rate.
“We don’t want to be shocking the residents next year or two years from now with a much larger tax increase should that become necessary,” he said.
Public hearings on Gulf Stream’s fiscal 2023 budget and property tax rate are scheduled for 5:01 p.m. on Sept. 9 and Sept. 21 at Town Hall.
The proposed operating budget is $9.3 million, up 8.1% from $8.6 million in the current fiscal year.
Town Manager Greg Dunham said his budget includes a 5% cost-of-living pay raise for employees. The consumer price index for South Florida in April was up 9.6%, he said.
Morgan shot down an idea to also give town workers an “inflation correction” to their pay. Instead, he asked Dunham and Rebecca Tew, the town’s chief financial officer, to compute giving employees a sum to offset the higher gas prices they pay to commute to Gulf Stream.
“I guarantee that the employees will appreciate anything that can help pay for the gas and the food bills,” Dunham said.
He and Tew will come back to the commissioners in August with figures on the fuel offset. Dunham, Town Clerk Rita Taylor, Police Chief Edward Allen and Police Capt. John Haseley, who already receive car allowances, would not get the offsets.
Travis said fears of persistent inflation and shortages of road building and drainage materials forced the engineers to use a 30% contingency for the cost estimate instead of the typical 20%, adding $855,723 to the bottom line.
“The materials availability has really become a problem recently,” she said.
Engineers plan to use “valley gutters” on both sides of the roads in the Core to channel stormwater to outflow pipes. The gutters, which the company recently used in Jupiter Inlet Colony, are concrete, 2 feet wide and slightly V-shaped. They are considered drivable space in the roadway.
Travis’ colleague Jeff Hiscock said he is working with The Little Club to expand one of its lakes to filter more stormwater before it reaches the Intracoastal Waterway. The South Florida Water Management District has indicated it will approve the Baxter & Woodman drainage plan if a lake is enlarged by a quarter-acre.
But the club, Hiscock said, wants to see if the district will OK expanding multiple lakes by smaller amounts equivalent to a quarter-acre instead of adding all the new water surface to just one lake.

A Border Patrol agent watches as residents check out a boat that came ashore about 3 a.m. July 7 and carried eight migrants from the Dominican Republic. Six of those aboard were located. ‘The other two — they know that one of them got into a cab and left,’ Gulf Stream Police Chief Edward Allen said. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

If it looks like something is missing in this picture looking north along the 4000 block of North Ocean Boulevard, it is. Gulf Stream’s undergrounding project got rid of power lines and poles. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Burial of utility lines took decade, blew budget, but original backer voices no regret

By Steve Plunkett

It’s almost over!
Gulf Stream’s signature municipal project — to bury its electric, telephone and cable TV lines underground and remove the unsightly poles and overhead wires — neared an end on Aug. 2, with only two poles still standing, all but closing a tangled chapter of the town’s history that traces its roots to a hurricane in 2005 and endured cost overruns, a federal lawsuit and lots of time.
Town Manager Greg Dunham, who asked visitors to Town Hall if they saw anything different after Sea Road in front of the building was de-poled, was surprised at their reactions.
“A lot of people don’t even notice that the poles are gone,” he said.
Outside auditor Ron Bennett noted a happy coincidence as he delivered the latest town audit on July 8.

A crew from Blackwood Solutions loaded up dozens of utility poles that had been temporarily stored behind Town Hall.

“The undergrounding loan—it was actually paid off on April 1 I believe, the last payment, so as of now the town has no debt. You’re debt-free,” Bennett said.
Gulf Stream borrowed $2.43 million in 2012 to jump-start the project while it collected property owners’ assessments for the work. Owners of single-family homes paid $11,907 on average, while condo owners paid $7,057 on average, either upfront or in annual installments.
The genesis for the ambitious project was a celebratory lunch and a conversation at the now-closed Ellie’s ’50s Diner in 2005 in Delray Beach, former Vice Mayor and then-Civic Association President Bob Ganger recalled.
The association-sponsored luncheon honored workers from Ohio and Kentucky who were helping restore power to Gulf Stream after Hurricane Wilma struck.
Ganger asked the president of the workers’ firm what the town could do to be less vulnerable to high winds. “And he said bury your overheads,” Ganger said.
What followed was a contentious vote and an even more contentious system of special assessments to pay for the work. Residents approved the plan to bury the utility lines in 2011 and agreed to bear the then-expected $5.5 million cost.
“I honestly believe it was the right thing to do. I believed it when I started the project and I believe it today, but we’ll only find out when we have another hurricane and we’ll see just how well the system can be put back together again,” Ganger said.
Construction was to have begun in May 2012 but didn’t get going until late 2013. The original completion target for the south and north phases of the project was somewhere in the first half of 2015.
Cyclical economic factors contributed to delays and overruns. Coming out of a recession, contractors were looking for work and gave low bids. Material prices also were low. Utility companies downsized their staffs, pushing into early retirement experienced workers who knew how to handle complicated projects.
In 2016 with the national economy rolling again, the cost of most everything had gone up and companies were understaffed. The entire undergrounding project cost $6.5 million. Gulf Stream officials approved spending an additional $510,000 that year from the general budget to underwrite the work.
The project south of Golfview Drive finished in 2018. Work on the second phase, from Golfview north, started in late 2016. At one point, Gulf Stream sued AT&T Inc. to get it to finish burying its lines.
“I don’t think there’s any question. It took longer; it was more expensive than we anticipated. But in the long run it’s certainly going to be worth it,” Mayor Scott Morgan said in July.
The last poles removed were those along State Road A1A.
“As a historian,” Ganger said, “I think every once in a while you ought to step back and say, what did we do, how did we do it and what was the outcome. What we did I thought was extremely well done. The outcome took long, a lot longer than we anticipated.”

By Joel Engelhardt

The party activist who said she instigated the local Republican Party’s censure of state Rep. Mike Caruso faces him for the Republican nomination for state House in the newly drawn District 87.
A Highland Beach commissioner who has put $200,000 into her own campaign goes against a Russian-born adoptee who calls herself an “America-first patriot” for the Republican nomination in Boca Raton-area District 91.
And two newcomers, one well-ensconced in the local Republican Party, face off in state Senate District 26, with the winner facing Democratic incumbent Lori Berman in the Nov. 8 general election.
Those are the state House and Senate primary battles that appear on the Aug. 23 ballot for voters who live on the South County barrier islands. Several unchallenged candidates will move directly to the general election without a primary. Here’s a breakdown of the six candidates in the three contested races:

House District 87: Mike Caruso vs. Jane Justice
Caruso, 63, a Delray Beach resident, won his first state House seat in 2018 when he defeated Democrat Jim Bonfiglio by 32 votes out of nearly 80,000 cast. He beat Bonfiglio again in 2020, but this time by 11,000 votes.
Then came redistricting, and the state split the South County barrier islands that he used to serve into three House districts. He’s running in Republican-leaning District 87, which 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, before ending at Marcinski Road in Jupiter.
Caruso’s Delray Beach oceanfront condo, listed on his 2021 financial disclosure form as a $3.3 million asset, is no longer in the district, meaning he’ll have to establish residency to the north if he wins. In all, Caruso reported a net worth of $4.1 million.
In the past few months, Caruso faced an uprising from within the Republican Party of Palm Beach County. The party executive committee voted to censure him and block him from running again as a Republican after he endorsed a Democrat, Katherine Waldron, in her four-way primary for the House District 93 seat covering Wellington. 
He said he made the endorsement because he and Waldron, a Port of Palm Beach commissioner, worked well together on Bahamas hurricane relief and he considered her a friend.
But he said he casts party line votes 99% of the time and retained the support of the state Republican Party, which not only did not oust him but has given him $20,650 in staffing and polling assistance since June 21, according to Caruso campaign reports. 
In total, Caruso has raised $146,000 as of July 15 and spent $61,000.
His opponent, Jane Justice, said she led the campaign to censure Caruso when she found out he had endorsed Waldron, whom she called “a radical Democrat.”
“I question why Caruso is in our party,” Justice said.
Justice, 66, says she’s a grass-roots activist, not a politician. Her campaign website says she will fight for election integrity, school choice, parents’ rights and against mask and vaccine mandates and inappropriate sexual material in children’s schoolbooks.
“I’m a ‘We the people’ candidate,” she said. “People know who I am. When our constitutional rights are being infringed on, I’m going to stand up.”
She spoke recently before the Palm Beach County Commission on election integrity, challenging the accuracy of machines that help duplicate damaged ballots so they can be fed through counting machines.
She said she wants to severely limit voting by mail because it has ushered in “a lot of fraud” and ballots should be counted by hand, not by a tabulating machine that could be connected to the internet. 
Like Caruso, she supports the recently enacted 15-week ban on abortion in Florida. While he wouldn’t take a position on an outright ban, which may be proposed in the next legislative session now that the Supreme Court has removed the federal right to abortion, Justice said she believed there needs to be some exceptions that would have to be decided by a doctor and patient.
She has raised $22,000 through July 15, about half in loans from herself, and spent nearly $10,000. She lists her 2021 net worth as $410,000, including her Greenacres condo, which is not in the district.
The primary winner will face Democrat Sienna Osta in the general election.

House District 91: Christina DuCasse vs. Peggy Gossett-Seidman
The Delray Beach woman competing with Highland Beach Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman portrays herself as an “America-first patriot.” 
“I love America and I love the Constitution,” Christina DuCasse says on her campaign website. “I grew up in Boca Raton and I have spent the last 20 years invested in this city.”
DuCasse, 29, a first-time candidate for office, does not mention that she was born in Russia, the birthplace listed on her September 2017 marriage license to Boca Raton firefighter Dustin DuCasse. 
Responding to a call about her birthplace, DuCasse said she had been born in Russia, adopted at the age of 7, raised in South Florida and is an American citizen. She declined to discuss her adoption further or to discuss the issues facing voters in District 91, but she agreed that her personal story made her more conscious of the importance of liberty. 
“I hope to be a voice to stand for freedom,” she said.
On her website, she stakes out positions in line with Gov. Ron DeSantis on border security, mask and vaccine mandates and critical race theory.
On elections, she supports ending early voting, limiting mail-in ballots to people in the military and “those who absolutely need it” and “paper ballots only — no machines!” It is not clear if she would support hand-counting of ballots.
On abortion, she writes, she will “fight for the rights of all people, including the unborn.”
Through July 15, she raised $12,300 and spent $7,200. She listed her net worth as $249,761, including the $430,000 value for her townhome outside the district in Delray. She reported her primary income in 2021 of $22,000 came from cleaning houses. 
For Gossett-Seidman, the triumph of getting three bills passed this year by the state Senate and House for projects in Highland Beach, where she has served as a commissioner since 2018, met the harsh reality of Gov. DeSantis’ veto pen.
She understood his veto of the two biggest items, requests for $700,000 toward drainage improvements along State Road A1A and $400,000 for a new fire station, because the money is available in a different state program, one she and the bill sponsor, Caruso, are pursuing. 
Gossett-Seidman, 69, born in Michigan, has lived in Highland Beach since 1991. She first won her Highland Beach commission seat in a four-candidate race in 2018 and was re-elected to a three-year term without opposition in 2021. 
She has raised $275,000 through July 15, including $25,000 from the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee and $200,000 as a personal loan. She has spent $52,700. 
She listed her 2021 net worth at $22.2 million, including her Intracoastal-facing $4 million home. But the bulk of her fortune, $17.2 million, is in Apple stock, for which she credited her husband, a doctor, who bought it in the 1990s when the stock was selling for less than $1. 
Despite the money, the former sportswriter said she drove her 2005 Suburban until it conked out on a recent trip to Tallahassee, wears 2-year-old tennis shoes and clips coupons.
“What can I say? I’m very Midwest that way,” she said.
She supports the state’s 15-week abortion ban but said she doesn’t expect the Legislature to ban abortion entirely. “I’m flexible. I will look at all the facts.”
She harbors some concerns about election integrity but said it really falls on the election supervisors in the state’s 67 counties. 
She is not a supporter of mask mandates, saying “in the beginning it seemed like a great idea but after a while the science wasn’t there to wear a mask.” 
She agrees with removing some books from classrooms, describing a kindergarten book citing the terms KKK and negro. “I don’t know why you need to teach a 5-year-old that. It makes no sense,” she said.
DuCasse and Gossett-Seidman face off for the seat formerly held by Emily Slosberg-King, who is not seeking re-election. The district includes all of Boca Raton, most of Highland Beach and much of west Boca.
The winner faces Democrat Andy Thomson, a Boca Raton City Council member.

Senate District 26: Steve Byers vs. Bill Wheelen
Since 2015, Bill Wheelen has been volunteering with the local Republican Party. Earlier this year, he said he received the group’s Jean Pipes Award for volunteer service at a Mar-a-Lago dinner headlined by Donald Trump and DeSantis. 
While he contemplated a run for the congressional seat held by Lois Frankel, he saw the crowded field of Republican challengers and said he opted for the state Senate seat now held by Democrat Lori Berman. 
At the same time, Steve Byers decided to run, creating a two-way race for the nomination.
While Wheelen answered questions and discussed issues with The Coastal Star, Byers, who appears on shared campaign postcards with DuCasse, did not respond to repeated phone calls.
Both men live in the sprawling district, which extends along the beach from Boca Raton’s Red Reef Park to the Boynton Inlet and stretches west to Belle Glade. Wheelen, 68, lives in Wellington; Byers, who will turn 54 in August, lives off of Hagen Ranch and Lake Ida roads west of Delray.
While Berman has raised $127,000 without a primary opponent, Wheelen has nearly $11,000, including $7,000 in loans from himself, and Byers has $5,000, including $4,800 he lent his campaign. 
Wheelen listed his net worth at $765,000, including $720,000 for the value of his home. 
Byers listed his net worth at $2.6 million, including a $210,000 Porsche 930, three properties in the Pittsburgh area and $1.3 million for his Wellington home.
On the abortion issue, Wheelen, a practicing Catholic, admits to being conflicted.
“I follow church teaching. However, I’m also more pragmatic than that. It’s really not my place to tell you what you should do. If science says 15 weeks, that’s where we stop,” he said.
He has concerns about election integrity, particularly fraud through vote-by-mail ballot harvesting, and opposes mask mandates. 
His No. 1 priority is school safety, which he says requires hardening schools and spending whatever it takes.
“Gun control has nothing to do with it,” he said. “The more gun control we have, the less law-abiding citizens have them.”
He writes on his website about how his father barely had enough money to pay rent and wouldn’t eat until the children did. He took a job as a janitor on Wall Street and became a trader, putting two children through college. 
Byers calls himself a “serial entrepreneur” on his website. He parlayed success in Amway sales into a consulting business that he said worked on projects for IBM and the CIA. Among businesses he started since then is one as a beekeeper. 
“I’ve got thick skin,” he writes on his website. “I have taken the stings of the bees to put honey on your table. I will take the stings of politics to put honesty in your government.”

You can find a story online with House maps at https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-new-map-carves-barrier-island-into-three-district. A Senate story is at https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-senate-seats-changing-as-well.

For a sample ballot go to: www.pbcelections.org

By Jane Smith and Mary Hladky

After years of frustration with a state law that prevented cities and counties from regulating outdoor smoking, Delray Beach and Boca Raton are finally in position to clear the air at their beaches and parks.
Both cities are taking advantage of a new state law that allows local governments to impose cigarette smoking bans in outdoor areas.
The proposed smoking bans at beaches and parks, passed on first reading in Delray Beach on July 19 and introduced in Boca Raton on July 26, could take effect in August if approved as expected. The ordinances also would cover vaping (using electronic devices).
But cities still won’t be able to stop anyone from lighting up a stogie outdoors, because the new state law exempts the smoking of unfiltered cigars from local regulation.
“To me, it makes no sense,” Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer said. “Cigar smoke travels further and typically is more potent.”
State Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, told Delray Beach commissioners during her legislative update at their June 7 meeting that the cigar exemption was kept in place because one state senator wanted it.
Despite the cigar exemption, the new law is welcome news.
Local governments have railed against state laws that take control out of their hands, as had been the case with outdoor smoking and continues with firearm regulations. While cities and counties may prefer local control, the state on some issues sees the need for uniform laws and preempts local governments from making their own rules.
Berman called the new state law “a reverse preemption,” giving back control to local officials on the smoking issue.
Boca Raton’s planned ordinance is one victory for Singer in his years-long attempts to end state preemptions that prevent cities from enacting their own laws on local matters.
“This is one rare instance where the state has not preempted us and returned home rule back to cities on a specifically local issue,” Singer said.
Boca Raton did what it could in the past to discourage smoking at public beaches and parks. While it could not ban smoking, it posted signs urging visitors not to smoke.
The state took away the ability of local governments to regulate outdoor smoking in 2003. At one point, Sarasota County ignored the state law and imposed a beach smoking ban, but the ban was later thrown out in court.
In 2013, then-State Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, filed legislation to allow local governments to ban smoking at parks and beaches, but it didn’t pass.
Local governments had to wait until July 1 when the state changed the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act to the Florida Clean Air Act, allowing local control of smoking at public beaches and parks.
Boca Raton will fine violators $100. Delray Beach has not set its fine schedule.

By Steve Plunkett

Ocean Ridge Police Officer Nubia Savino has ended her 5-year-old lawsuit against former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella in a confidential, out-of-court settlement.
The resolution came just two days after a mediator declared both sides at an impasse. Dismissal of the lawsuit was posted to the court’s docket on June 20.
Richard Slinkman, Savino’s attorney, was limited in what he could say about the case.
“The matter has been resolved and she has dismissed her lawsuit,” he said.
Savino, who filed suit as Nubia Plesnik and later married, was part of the police team that charged Lucibella with resisting arrest in October 2016.
Her lawsuit, filed in June 2017, alleged Lucibella “committed a battery upon [her] by intentionally causing harmful or offensive contact with [her] by pushing [her] and further physically contacting her during the course of the arrest.”
A second count claimed Lucibella’s actions were negligent.
Lucibella, now 68, had $10 million in insurance for personal liability. Savino’s suit said she was seeking at least $15,000 in damages, the legal threshold.
Slinkman had said Savino suffered from shoulder pain after the arrest and only wanted what a jury felt was fair and just.
“I can tell you that I do not expect such to be in excess of Mr. Lucibella’s $10 million insurance policy,” Slinkman said when the suit was filed.
Much has happened in the courts since then.
Lucibella faced two felony charges — resisting arrest with violence and battery on Savino’s colleague, Officer Richard Ermeri — and a misdemeanor, use of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.
He was found not guilty in February 2019 of the felonies but guilty of simple battery, a misdemeanor. The firearm charge was dropped at the start of the trial.
The next month Lucibella appealed the misdemeanor battery verdict, but the 4th District Court of Appeal in April 2020 upheld his conviction without comment.
In October 2020 he filed a police brutality lawsuit against Savino, Ermeri and the town of Ocean Ridge. The town was dropped as a defendant last November.
The case is now at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta after the officers’ lawyers appealed a judge’s pretrial ruling.
The genesis of all the legal activity was a 2016 scuffle at Lucibella’s oceanfront home. Savino, Ermeri and Sgt. William Hallahan went there after neighbors reported hearing shots fired. They confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the backyard patio.
The gun was later determined to belong to Police Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, a friend of Lucibella’s who was visiting.
During the arrest, Lucibella was pinned to the patio pavers and suffered injuries to his face and ribs. Savino said in her initial police report that she went to the department-approved urgent care center for “injuries to the left side of my body,” including shoulder, arm, wrist and foot. She also reported being placed on restricted duty.
Lucibella sold his home at 5 Beachway North in June 2021 for $8.6 million after buying a $1.7 million house in a county pocket next to Jupiter.

By Larry Barszewski

Briny Breezes officials are considering a citation system to enforce applicable town codes, but they have to decide if some of the infractions should even be on the town’s books in the first place.
“Something as simple as spitting on sidewalks, that’s not something that I think you want the Police Department enforcing,” Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones said at the Town Council’s July 28 meeting. His department provides police services to the town.
The council’s goal is to have a system, similar to one in place in Ocean Ridge, that would allow police to ticket code violators. The fines for the offenses would be fixed at a set amount and violations would not have to go before a special magistrate.
“Many of the listed violations do not lend themselves to traditional code enforcement, where you would go before a special magistrate and seek daily fines until there’s compliance,” Town Attorney Keith Davis said.
But Jones, who was originally receptive to the idea, was surprised by what his officers might have to undertake.
“I did not anticipate seeing such a broad list of ordinances that were being expected for us to enforce through the citation process,” Jones said.
The codes also include many violations already covered by state law, he said.
The council asked Davis to meet with Jones to narrow the scope of what ordinances would be good to have in a citation program, leading to another issue.
“If you can’t or you’re not going to enforce them, do you want to keep them on the books at all? That’s a much bigger discussion, but that may be a discussion that needs to happen,” Davis said.
The council agreed and said it would be good to do a deep dive into the town’s ordinances and winnow out code violations that aren’t needed or could be covered in the corporation’s regulations instead.
Among the items covered by the ordinances are requiring a bell or horn on a bicycle, prohibiting spitting on sidewalks and other public places, disturbing religious worship, not allowing bike riders on sidewalks and even outlawing things like odor and “unnecessary noises.”
When the ordinances to be enforced through citations are determined, Davis suggested breaking them into categories with differing fines:
• Class 1 (less severe) violations: $50 fine for a first offense, $100 for second, $250 for third and $500 for fourth and subsequent violations. Examples could include careless riding of a bicycle or gambling.
• Class 2 (midrange) violations: $100 for first offense, $200 for second, $300 for third and $500 for fourth and subsequent violations. Examples could include having a fire on the beach or indecent exposure.
• Class 3 (more serious) violations: $250 for first offense and $500 for each subsequent violation. Examples could include building a fire without a permit or damaging dune vegetation.
“Regardless of the class, I think there are a lot of things on here that should be removed,” Alderman Bill Birch said. “I don’t know anybody in Briny Breezes that is going to call the police over odor.”
Davis is expected to bring back additional information for the council’s Aug. 25 meeting.

Shooting in town
In other matters, Jones briefed the council on a shooting that took place in the town between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. on July 27.
“The victim in this case is doing well, is recovering,” Jones said. “This seems to be a very specific, isolated incident and I would not be concerned for the public safety of every other resident at this moment in time. If we get to a point in our investigation where we change that, we will definitely let the community know.”
When contacted by The Coastal Star following the meeting, Jones said he would not release the police report because it is an active investigation.

Update: The Police Department released a copy of the police report on Aug. 3. It said the 70-year-old victim told police she had been sleeping, but woke up at 11:30 p.m. in pain. When she went to the bathroom at about 1:30 a.m., she noticed she had been shot in the hand near the wrist. A neighbor who drove the woman to the hospital told police she heard what could have been a gun shot sometime between 1:30 and 2 a.m., but wasn't certain. The victim told police she lives alone and there are no guns in her home. The bullet was lodged in the woman's hand when she went to the hospital, the report said.

Tax rate’s a 10 — again
The Town Council also set the town’s preliminary 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. The first public hearing on the town’s budget and tax rate will be at 5:01 p.m. Sept. 8 at Town Hall.

By Jane Smith

A former Delray Beach water quality inspector, who was reorganized out of her job in January, has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, the city manager and the Utilities Department director.
Christine Ferrigan, who received Florida whistleblower protection in September 2020 from Palm Beach County’s inspector general for her reclaimed water information, said she was let go in January — five days after she filed a written retaliation complaint against two of her Utilities Department supervisors.
The city, though, has another reason. City Manager Terrence Moore said in January that Ferrigan’s position was eliminated in a reorganization “done for efficiency and austerity reasons.”
This is Ferrigan’s second legal action against the city this year and the first one against the city manager and utilities director. The city declined to comment about the suit, which was filed July 25.
“The City is unable to provide information on matters that are under litigation,” wrote Laurie Menekou in a July 27 email response to The Coastal Star. Menekou is the outside spokeswoman on matters concerning the Delray Beach reclaimed water system.
In Ferrigan’s lawsuit, she alleges her U.S. and Florida constitutional rights were violated. She is seeking back pay, a promotion similar to the ones she had applied for but was not selected, and compensatory damages against the three defendants. She’s also seeking punitive damages against Moore and Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry “for her pain, emotional and mental suffering, stress, humiliation and reputational harm.”
Her first legal action, a complaint filed in April with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, named only the city. It also asked for her son to be reinstated with back pay to his position in the Public Works Department, from which it said he was fired March 2 in retaliation against Ferrigan.
Though her son’s name was not mentioned in the suit, the only male to be fired that week was Cody Moss, who had been a parts expediter in the Fleet Division of Public Works, according to information the city provided The Coastal Star. He also shared a home address with Ferrigan.
Moss, who was hired in May 2021, ran afoul of his supervisors over ordering parts electronically instead of over the telephone, the department’s preferred method, according to written reprimands dating back to December in his personnel file. Moss was still in his probationary period at the time he was fired.
One of Ferrigan’s attorneys, Ezra Bronstein, described the difference between the two legal actions as “strategic.”
The available remedies from OSHA are for violations of environmental law, Bronstein said, not of Ferrigan’s constitutional rights.
“Ferrigan is the type of person the whistleblower law was designed to protect,” Bronstein said. “She was raising the red flag about the treated wastewater in the drinking water. ... And then they had her train her replacements.”
Since December, Delray Beach is operating under a five-year consent order, an agreement with the state Department of Health stemming from the city’s reclaimed water problems.
On Dec. 7, the city hand-delivered a check to the Health Department, as required in the consent order. The check covered a $1 million civil fine and $21,193.90 for costs and expenses of the Health Department’s investigation.
The Health Department began looking into the city’s reclaimed water system in January 2020, when a South Ocean Boulevard resident called to say she was not properly informed of a cross connection found on her street in December 2018. A cross connection occurs when reclaimed water pipes carrying highly treated wastewater used for lawn irrigation are wrongly connected to the drinking water lines.
After the Health Department became involved, the city spent more than $1 million on inspections and adding missing backflow preventers to stop the reclaimed water from mixing with drinking water. The city’s reclaimed water program began in 2008.
Ferrigan, hired in June 2017, claims she ran afoul of city management because of the information she supplied to the Health Department during its investigation. That included information about illnesses potentially linked to the cross connections.
However, an investigation by the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General completed in May 2021, done at the request of the Health Department, was not able to link the illnesses of the South Ocean Boulevard residents to the reclaimed water.
This is Ferrigan’s second whistleblower battle with a South County coastal city.
She claimed whistleblower status in 2008 after she was fired from Boca Raton’s water department. She sued the city over the firing.
Ferrigan received $322,500 and her attorneys $215,000 in a settlement with Boca Raton’s insurance company in 2014 the day before the trial was to start. The city did not admit any wrongdoing.

By Jane Smith

The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency will let federal officials decide if the former operators of Old School Square broke any rules when accepting federal pandemic-related aid.
The CRA board directed staff on July 14 to send a letter to the Small Business Administration’s Inspector General Hannibal Ware, pointing out the possibility that the former operators may have double-dipped when spending the federal money.
The CRA has talked about suing the former operators — Old School Square Center for the Arts — to recoup $187,500 it had given the group for the 2021 fiscal year. The group has not provided requested financial records to the CRA, which terminated its contract as of February.
Instead of suing or spending money to cover the costs of pursuing the group’s financial records, Deputy Vice Mayor Juli Casale suggested the new course of action.
“But what we know, today, from (the city’s) internal auditor there was an issue of double-dipping,” Casale said. “Why don’t we just report that and have that other government entity investigate and get back its money.”
The letter was sent via email and certified mail on July 25 by the CRA’s outside counsel, Sanaz Alempour.
The former operators received a $309,735 paycheck protection loan that was later turned into a grant. The money was supposed to be used for employee salaries to cover those laid off at the start of the pandemic. The CRA was concerned that it may have already paid for those salaries through funding it had given the operators. The former operators did not respond to The Coastal Star’s request for comment.

By Tao Woolfe

Although a Police Department merger with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office was not on the Boynton Beach City Commission’s Aug. 2 agenda, more than 20 members of the audience spoke out against the idea as the topic dominated the meeting.
The residents’ slogan was “say no to PBSO,” for several reasons. They cited the sheriff’s refusal to use body- and dash-cams; refusal to carry Narcan to treat narcotics overdose victims; and what they said was PBSO’s generally poor record of dealing with minorities.
The comments were spurred by PBSO’s 11-page proposal to the city last month outlining what the office said would be “greatly enhanced security and depth of law enforcement.” The annual estimated cost would be $42 million.
Boynton Beach’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2022-23 calls for a total of $38.3 million for police services.
Commissioners agreed the proposal did not offer enough detail about costs and services.
“Citizens of Boynton Beach, I hear you,” Commissioner Woodrow Hay said. He made a motion that the city immediately cease negotiations with PBSO. But the motion failed because the other commissioners said they needed more information — and community input —before making a decision.
Mayor Ty Penserga asked city staff to present a comparison of services, staff and budget offered by the Boynton Beach Police Department and the PBSO. No date was set for the presentation.
The possibility of bringing PBSO in to replace the Police Department was raised following months of anger — especially from the Black community — after a 13-year-old boy was killed during a high-speed police chase Dec. 26. The boy, Stanley Davis III, crashed his dirt bike at 85 mph on North Federal Highway with Officer Mark Sohn in pursuit.
Members of the youngster’s family, friends and supporters have crowded into City Commission meetings for months, asking for the city to fire those responsible.
Nevertheless, residents of all races reiterated Aug. 2 they do not want the PBSO to replace the city’s Police Department. Instead, the force should be winnowed of bad officers and more enlightened policies enacted, they said.
In a statement released on July 28, Penserga said no decision would be made about merging with PBSO until there is “significant community input, staff and commission reviews, and robust public discussion, including public hearings with citizen input.”
The 11-page proposal from Sheriff Ric Bradshaw was sent to Penserga on July 21. It came in response to an overture earlier this year from then City Manager Lori LaVerriere.
In early April, the City Commission had asked LaVerriere to look into potential benefits of contracting for police services with PBSO.
According to the response, Bradshaw believes the city would benefit mightily.
The proposal claims PBSO would focus on communication, customer service and community policing. Specifically, the sheriff said, the city would benefit from gaining the “experience of advanced, cutting-edge training, equipment, and technology.”
The proposal says the PBSO would absorb the Police Department personnel, although the sheriff would replace the police chief. PBSO would handle hiring and training, union negotiations, and liability resulting from the actions of law-enforcement personnel.
“In a contract for law-enforcement services, the city is the customer, and we provide the service,” the sheriff wrote. “Boynton Beach retains their sense of ownership by allowing the same employees to service the city while maintaining input in a productive forum with PBSO.”
The officers would operate out of the existing Police Department facility. Police vehicles would say Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, and City of Boynton Beach in smaller letters. “No local control will be lost,” the proposal says.
Here’s what residents could expect, per the PBSO proposal:
• Sworn deputies providing 24/7 patrol, 365 days a year.
• Enforcement of state statutes and city ordinances.
• Community policing philosophy.
The proposal explains community policing as a way residents can connect with their community and its services.
PBSO says it uses crime analysis to develop strategies to reduce crime, improve neighborhood appearance and create a sense of pride and ownership among the residents, the sheriff wrote. Officers act as liaisons between the communities and outside agencies and service providers.
Healing the rift between the police and the community is especially important to Boynton Beach, officials have said.
Sohn was cleared of all charges in late March by a Florida Highway Patrol investigation. FHP concluded Davis was unlawfully fleeing an attempted traffic stop and going 85 mph in a 35-mph zone.
The Boytnon Beach Police Department is still conducting its own investigation.

Elva Culbertson of South Palm Beach served on the Town Council and now writes a monthly newsletter for her condo about what’s happening in town government. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Elvadianne “Elva” Culbertson spent much of her adult life analyzing military maneuvers and strategy for a Washington, D.C.- based U.S. Navy think tank.
Nowadays she analyzes the governmental maneuvering of South Palm Beach for a monthly newsletter she writes for the Southgate condominium. She rarely misses a town meeting.
Both jobs require similar skills — persistence, close observation, objective analysis, an ability to drill down to the core of an issue, and a keen interest in current affairs.
Culbertson’s wry sense of humor adds a refreshing layer of whimsy to otherwise serious topics.
“You know the old joke — I can’t tell you exactly what I did for the Center for Naval Analysis or I’d have to kill you. But I was a documentation analyst,” Culbertson said. “I looked at military strategy and naval exercises for ships, subs and aircraft.”
Culbertson was one of few women in the field at the time, and her work was prized for its attention to detail. She specialized in anti-submarine warfare strategies.
More than 30 men on maneuvers at sea would report on their ships’ effectiveness and weaknesses, and Culbertson would “put it all together and give an analysis of it.”
Later on, Culbertson worked in environmental research and then returned to naval strategy.
Upon retiring from military life 17 years ago, she moved to South Palm and took a job writing the town’s newsletter.
She found the job “stifling,” saying her work was so heavily edited by a council member it barely resembled her original text.
After leaving that job, Culbertson served on the Town Council for 21/2 years, first as an appointee and then winning the seat when she was unopposed.
In the past couple of years she has enjoyed a more private life with Denny, her husband of 36 years. She has two sons and a stepson.
Culbertson says she attends almost every town meeting — including advisory board meetings — and reports back to her neighbors via the Southgate newsletter.
“I think I am considered the elder statesman,” among the town officials, she said.

— Tao Woolfe

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you? 
A: I started out in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, replete with Revolutionary War history, and went to a high school for “gifted girls.” That, coupled with being an accountant’s daughter, made me incredibly focused on detail — a factor which has been both a blessing and a curse.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: A young woman starting a career in the early ’60s did not really have the advantage of looking at her job as a profession. It was a time of, “It’s nice you graduated college, honey, how fast do you type?”
But I started out in a social planning agency (the forerunner of the United Fund, which evolved into the United Way), where I gathered statistics for over 200 health and welfare facilities ensuring that services were provided where most needed.
I moved to the Washington, D.C., area where I worked for the Navy think tank, with which I still maintain contact; there I mostly reconstructed naval exercises.
Next, in Massachusetts I worked for an environmental research company at the dawn of the passage of the Environmental Protection Act. As a documentation specialist, I turned input from 17 disciplines into cohesive environmental impact statements.
Lastly, I returned to D.C. where I was employed by a federally funded research center — again supporting the Navy. Here my responsibilities increased to coordinating multiphased efforts concerned with expanding intermediate maintenance activities’ repair capabilities; preparing generic integrated logistic support detail specifications and associated contract data requirements lists for naval aircraft; and serving as administrative and graphic coordinator for an extensive portion of the Naval Sea Systems Command integrated logistic support training program.
That was where I had my proudest professional moment because I was awarded a letter of commendation from Adm. Robert Long, program executive officer of tactical aircraft programs, for my “part in the F-14 Program’s winning of the 1997 Secretary of Defense Superior Management Award.”
Although not far behind was winning first prize in international competition as newsletter editor for the Washington, D.C., Society of Logistics Engineers. They granted me an “Award of Excellence for Significant Contribution to Attainment of the Goals and Objectives of the Society.”
Then there is also a bit of pride in having an article I co-authored in a college textbook referred to as one that “will serve as an essential reference to all social impact assessors.”

Q: What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?  
A: While you ought to choose a career in which you have the potential to make a comfortable salary, more importantly you need to choose a field that will hold your interest, recognizing also that it is bound to change somewhat, so you also need to be flexible.
If you come to a point where others might perceive that you have failed, recognize that at worst it was a mistake, and in any event it is a learning experience. Move on, always maintaining your self-esteem.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in South Palm Beach?
A: To tell you the truth, I wound up here because one of my sons had looked at South Palm Beach after he accepted the position as treasurer of the South Florida Water Management District. He really liked what he saw [at Southgate condominium] but felt his neighbors would be older than his social preferences allowed. Well, as I was clearly old enough to be his mother — if that’s all that was the matter — I was ready to move in.

Q: What is your favorite part of living in South Palm Beach?  
A: South Palm Beach is a family — big enough, small enough, close enough, remote enough and financially stable. COVID has degraded that somewhat, but I have high hopes we’ll get back to enjoying each other’s company.
If we wind up with a new Town Hall, let’s hope we go for Mayor Bonnie Fischer’s idea of structural insulated panels so we can go back to spending money on events for the townspeople instead of millions of dollars for a building beyond our best interests.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. It’s this month’s South Palm Beach Book Club’s choice. While often the choice is not one I would make independently, I relish discussing the story with the others, a pleasure I do not have with my independent selections.

Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?  
A: Before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, I would have said the 1812 Overture, but now it doesn’t feel right to celebrate Russian victory. I guess I need to find another candidate. As far as relaxing, I go for flute and piano on YouTube — no vocal.

Q: Do you have a quote that inspires your decisions?  
A: My mom used to always quote, “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone. For this old Earth must borrow its mirth, but has trouble enough of its own.”
It might not seem inspirational, but it helps to remind you that whatever you are facing is small compared to global issues. So, maintain a positive attitude and you’ll keep your friends (and your willingness to keep trying).

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions? 
A: I’m not sure whether you can call family members mentors, but I really lucked out in that category. I had grandparents who came to this country with nothing but the desire to make a good life in America; parents who loved their kids and saw to it that they knew where they came from and where they were going; and siblings who set such good examples of joy and compassion. What else could I ask for?

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A: If it can’t be my granddaughter, I’d go for Mary Steenburgen. She’s versatile and accomplished with a warm smile and a quick wit. OK, she’s not exactly my twin, but she’s a good actress.