The beer-braised pork shank is a chef’s specialty at the recently reopened Ambassador Grill in The Ambassador hotel in Palm Beach. Photo provided

By Jan Norris

Welcome news for fans of The Ambassador in Palm Beach’s south end: The hotel reopened with a signature restaurant, the Ambassador Grill, featuring a large outdoor seating area to accommodate the protocols for COVID-19.

It’s billed as a “neighbor-hood” eatery with all-American fare. The team behind the 1947 hotel’s redo is the same one that brought the Brazilian Court around decades ago.

The executive chef, Juan Xavier Pareja, has a pedigree with noted restaurateurs Alain Ducasse at Benoit, and Andrew Carmellini at A Voce, which earned a Michelin star.

Both restaurants are in New York.

Pareja has designed a menu around regional U.S. favorites, such as cornbread-crusted oysters with a creamy remoulade from New Orleans, and hot, buttered Maine lobster on a brioche roll reminiscent of New England.

A California red oak grilled salmon with caper brown butter is from the wine country.

Salads and starters include a watermelon gazpacho with fried peanuts, and a barbecue mushroom flatbread.

A few casual items are on the list, including citrus-mojo chicken wings, and the “AAA Burger,” a double smash 6-ounce patty with cheese that aims to compete with other famous burgers made on the island.

Another of the chef’s specialties is the beer-braised pork shank, slow cooked, served with a polenta and bacon gremolata.

Chicken under a brick with a twice-cooked potato, and eggplant parmigiana with smoked mozzarella are among other choices on the dinner-only menu.

Bobby Schlesinger, CEO of the Ambassador group, said the group wanted to capitalize on the existing restaurant facilities, and make good use of the outdoor patio seating that will accommodate diners in the age of COVID-19.

Thus, the seating is socially distanced and safe, he said. Diners sit around an 8,000-square-foot covered pool deck that overlooks the Intracoastal Waterway.

Sunset is prime time, as the restaurant is open only for dinner, 5-10 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

The hotel is open to non-guests.

The Ambassador Grill at The Ambassador is at 2730 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach. Reservations are suggested; takeout orders are welcome. Phone 561-473-9799 or visit www.ambassadorpb.com.

Back in the saddle

Welcome back to chef Bruce Feingold, formerly the longtime chef-daddy of Delray’s Dada. He’s now in charge of the stoves as executive chef at Farmer’s Table in Boca Raton after months of hiatus.

The restaurant in the Wyndham hotel co-owned by Joe Giannuzzi has the tagline: Feel Good Food.

“It was a perfect opportunity for me,” Feingold said. “I’ve known Joey for ages. We’ve both been around. Farmer’s Table is known for the quality of food, creativity and its healthy lifestyle. It’s just perfect for me.”

He said he’ll have things to learn, as well as things to add to an already healthy menu. The support he says he’s received will help him acclimate to the new environment and methods.

“The mantra here is ‘fresh, healthy, delicious,’” Feingold said. “It’s a vegan-style menu — no dairy, gluten-free, everything from scratch. It’s a good thing to learn for our own personal health. We evolve.”

Diners have returned to restaurants that have outdoor dining, and Farmer’s Table has a large courtyard that provides social distancing.

“People are getting out again,” Feingold said. “You can see them smiling — or at least their eyes glistening over their masks. They’re happy to be out.”

The restaurant does a good takeout business, and it has the adjoining Farmer’s Table Express, where customers can come in to the small market and pick up prepared foods or ingredients and whole meals that have cooking instructions on them. They’re popular, Feingold said, and provide a safe outlet for restaurant food in the coronavirus era.

He’s happy to be back behind a stove. “I’m excited. A new adventure for me, so it’s exciting. I got to be honest with you: There’s a phenomenal atmosphere here, and the food is great. I’m very happy.”

M.E.A.T. moves

George Patti is as busy as ever, with the big move of his M.E.A.T. Eatery a few streets south in Boca Raton, and his venture into the meal delivery service.

M.E.A.T. moved out of the office building at Yamato Road on Federal Highway into the strip mall at 2831 N. Federal. It has the same menu as before with award-winning burgers the star, but pulled pork from the smoker and other sandwiches and craft brews are available as well. All condiments and sides are made in-house here.

Patti is also involved in Mealtago, a chef-driven venture that features several days of meals delivered to homes Sunday night for the following week. The partners currently deliver to Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach and Parkland.

“We saw a need, and decided to offer quality meals since there are people who are still not comfortable eating out. It’s grown from six to 20 households per week,” Patti said.

The meals cover diet plans such as keto, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan, as well as traditional dinners.

Each box is enough for two meals, or one with leftovers; most orders are for five meals per week per person, he said.

The price varies, depending on the foods chosen, and the menus change weekly. They are listed at mealtago.com on Mondays, and orders are taken until 2 p.m. Friday.

Catering (delivery only at this point) is also offered, as well as bulk food items.

More information about Mealtago is available on the website.

In brief

Newcomer to the Avenue in Delray is Avalon Delray, a New York transplant. Slated to open on the corner of Northeast First Street and Atlantic Avenue by the end of February, the restaurant will feature a menu with a coastal spin on the modern steak and seafood house. It’s part of the Host Restaurants group. … The popular Elisabetta’s in Delray now has a sister restaurant open in downtown West Palm Beach on Flagler Drive at Banyan Boulevard. They share the same menu. . . . A new chef has taken the stoves at Cafe Boulud in Palm Beach. Chef Dieter Samijn, former chef at Bar Boulud in New York City, is originally from Belgium, and he’s noted for his flair for charcuterie. His first menu is expected at Cafe Boulud in mid-February. Former chef Rick Mace moved over the bridge to open Tropical Smokehouse in West Palm Beach with another Boulud alum, Jason Lakow.

Jan Norris is a food writer who can be reached at nativefla@gmail.com

By Joyce Reingold

The timing was not fortuitous. Just as Florida Atlantic University was poised to open its Marcus Institute of Integrated Health at FAU Medicine in Boca Raton last spring, the coronavirus began spreading through South Florida, triggering stay-at-home orders and shifting many health care services to virtual platforms.

And yet the idea couldn’t have been timelier. Through a grant from the Marcus Institute, FAU Medicine could now include integrative health services under its primary care umbrella, offering patients additional paths to wellness through options like mind-body practices, nutrition consultations, acupuncture and osteopathy.

The center proceeded with its pre-coronavirus planned launch by offering telehealth visits and online wellness classes. As 2020 progressed, the doctors began to see a limited number of patients on-site and continue to do so.

“Once we received this grant, we were able to hire an integrative medicine specialist, Dr. Anton Borja, who joined us earlier this past year, and we launched the institute,” says Dr. Joanna Drowos, D.O., associate dean for faculty affairs at FAU’s college of medicine, associate professor of family medicine and a member of the integrated medical science department. “And so, what that means is that we’re offering integrative health, which is really about a more holistic approach to patient care. It’s not to say that we only look at things that are considered alternative or complementary, or only things that are traditional. We sort of merge everything together, go where the evidence is and make more holistic recommendations to our patients that include a variety of different modalities.”

These modalities include:
• Osteopathic manipulative medicine and treatment: “I went to osteopathic medical school and I spent an extra year in school, working on my skills in osteopathic manipulation,” Drowos says.
“So that is something extra that I love to offer to my patients. It’s an alternative to help them, if they have discomfort. It’s great for a lot of different conditions. … We can use manipulation to alleviate symptoms. Dr. Borja is also a D.O. and does manipulation, but he’s also trained in traditional Chinese medicine.”
• Acupuncture: Borja, the institute’s director, practiced Chinese medicine and acupuncture before attending medical school. He wanted to combine conventional and integrative medicine, taking a holistic approach he says is “more ingrained” in Europe and Asia.
“Acupuncture is fundamentally just working on the physiology of the body, talking about the circulatory system and the nervous system,” he says. “We know that by stimulating different areas of the body, you’re stimulating the nervous system and it creates a cascade of responses that have been well-documented in the research. At its most fundamental, you’re triggering the nervous system and it creates a change in the brain that creates sort of a stress reduction. That’s just one piece of the multiple components that have been found in the research into what acupuncture does.”

The institute also offers nutrition consultations, mind-body practices, and micronutrient, vitamin and supplement infusions as tools for patients exploring ways to manage chronic pain or other ongoing conditions, improve their health, change lifestyles or reduce stress.

“With chronic illness and complex illnesses … it tends to be multiple factors, including the diet that patients have eaten most of their lives, the stress levels that they’re dealing with, the amount of exercise, their socioeconomic condition, their genetics,” Borja says. “And all of these factors play a part in how disease manifests. And so that’s where integrative health can really make inroads and can complement and accentuate conventional medicine, because we’re able to look at a bigger picture and take these things into consideration.”

Drowos says the goal is to develop a partnership between the patient and practitioner, using evidence-based treatments to address their concerns.

“I think of integrative medicine as just good medicine. It’s about how everything fits together,” she says. “We’re sort of bridging the traditional and the nontraditional. It has to be evidence-based. We’re not looking for therapies that are experimental or anecdotal. It’s really about making recommendations that have strong evidence and that are beneficial. … So, I think that we’re physicians with just a little bit of a broader focus and we can look at evidence that may not come to all family medicine physicians or all internal medicine physicians.”

When pandemic conditions have waned and a new normalcy sets in, the institute will be ready to fully blossom.

“The amazing news is that part of the grant covered renting the space adjacent to the primary care practice and we are actually finishing construction on a very large space that’s going to be dedicated to integrative health,” Drowos says.

“There’s a community room for mindfulness activities, a demo kitchen, a room for micronutrient therapy, lots of treatment rooms. … The idea is that once it’s safe to do so, we’ll use our space again and invite people in for all kinds of different classes — yoga, meditation, cooking demonstrations, you know, anything that we can do to sort of promote health because that’s a part of it.”

The Marcus Institute of Integrated Health at FAU Medicine is in the Galen Medical Building at 880 NW 13th St., Boca Raton. For more information call 561-566-5328.

Joyce Reingold writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to joyce.reingold@yahoo.com.

Members of the Delray Medical Center nursing team gather for a photo as they celebrate receiving the 2020 Hometown Heroes Award from the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce in December. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

The Delray Medical Center nursing team was awarded the Hometown Heroes Award for 2020 from the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce, as it honored local health care professionals.

“This year more than ever, it means so much to our team to have our community recognize our nursing staff for their hard work, heroism and amazing dedication during this unprecedented pandemic,” said Maggie Gill, CEO of Delray Medical Center. “We are thankful for all of the support we have received, and we want to remind our community that our hospital is safe, and they should not delay care for a new or urgent condition.”

In January, Michael Nordness became Delray Medical Center’s new chief administrative officer as well as the group chief operating officer for the Palm Beach Health Network. Previously, Nordness served as the chief operating officer at Orange Park Medical Center in Jacksonville. Before his time there, Nordness was the assistant administrator at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, North Carolina.

Jonathan Price is the new chief executive officer of the Faulk Center for Counseling in Boca Raton. Previously, he served as the vice president of grants and fund development for Alzheimer’s Community Care.

After serving as vice president of the Faulk Center’s board of directors, Gwenesia S. Collins, PharmD, has been appointed president of the board. She is currently the assistant vice president of acute care pharmacy for the north region at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. 

The Faulk Center is at 22455 Boca Rio Road.

Kelly Skidmore is the new chief executive officer of Palm Beach Medical Society and Palm Beach County Medical Society Services. Skidmore, who was recently elected to the Florida House of Representatives, District 81, also served as public relations specialist for the Marine Industries Association of South Florida since 2016. She replaces Tenna Wiles, who is retiring after 22 years.

A research team from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine has developed a simplified COVID-19 testing protocol, which can detect minimal quantities of SARS-CoV-2 using samples from nasal and throat swabs as well as saliva, and can be easily used in research laboratories. Results, published in PLOS ONE, have shown that this protocol is efficient.

Study co-authors are Sean Paz, Christopher Mauer and Anastasia Richtie, graduate students in the college of medicine. This work was supported by a Florida Blue Foundation grant.

Palm Health Foundation invested $2,316,345 in solutions to health challenges during 2020, including funding toward COVID-19 relief. The foundation’s Healthier Together initiative grant-making strategy became the platform for rapid deployment of resources and funds in vulnerable communities and inspired organizations across the county to form new alliances during the crisis.

For information about Palm Health Foundation, call 561-833-6333 or visit www.palmhealthfoundation.org. 

The fist-sized bloom of the Hot Princess lives up to its name. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

Many give or receive roses only on Valentine’s Day. But for Debbie Coolidge, they are an everyday affair. “I like going outside each morning to see what roses are blooming and enjoy my coffee,” she says.

Debbie and her husband, Geoff, are owners of Cool Roses, a nursery on 1 acre in West Palm Beach. They offer about 3,000 potted rose bushes each year that they graft, root and grow. These include more than 1,000 varieties known to do well in Florida’s climate and soil.

Think red antique roses, pink Louis-Phillippe blooms as well as hybrid tea and English roses. And don’t forget the climbing varieties perfect on a trellis.

They also recently planted about 50 in-ground rose bushes to use for cutting flowers that clients have requested.

Though they appreciate roses, the couple discovered them only later in life.

In the late 1980s, Debbie was a professional hairstylist and Geoff did construction work. On weekends, they would travel to Sarasota to see Geoff’s family.

For about 10 years, the trip took them past Giles Ramblin’ Roses — a popular rose nursery in Okeechobee. In a hurry to arrive in Sarasota or back home, the couple says the flowers piqued their interest but they never checked them out.

That’s until a long weekend meant they were in less of a rush and Debbie finally convinced Geoff they had time to, well, stop and smell the roses.

Debbie couldn’t resist buying fragrant Double Delights featuring strawberry red, white and yellow blooms. And she picked up a few Just Joeys that produce an apricot confection.

At home, Geoff planted some of the roses they’d bought in the shady circle in front of their house. Then he headed to his mother-in-law’s home near the Intracoastal Waterway in

Lake Worth to plant some there, too.

In time, Debbie’s roses died but her mom’s thrived.

One of the heirloom varieties at the nursery is the Mrs. Dudley Cross, a Key West thornless rose. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

To discover why, the couple joined the Greater Palm Beach Rose Society and later the American Rose Society, where they gained a horticulture education including the fact that roses need lots of sun.

Soon they were having success growing the colorful blooms.

“I’d work construction and then come home to relax by trimming and grafting the bushes,” says Geoff.

Roses can be tricky to grow in South Florida unless the plant itself is grafted onto rootstock that makes it easier for the roses to cull water and nutrients from the soil.

In a busy year, Geoff has been known to have made about 3,000 grafts of 100 varieties of roses onto Fortuniana rootstock.

In the meantime, Debbie was in charge of the misting house where antique rose cuttings were given a spritz of water every 10 minutes until they sprang white thread-like roots.

“Eventually, we had enough roses in the front yard that we were both able to quit our jobs and do this full time,” says Debbie.

Geoff and Debbie Coolidge. Photo provided

But in 2004, the hurricane season brought Charley, Frances and Jeanne to visit. These storms wreaked havoc on the Cool Roses nursery as well as roses being grown in home gardens throughout the county.

So when rose gardeners called to ask Geoff and Debbie for help restoring their wind- and salt-blighted roses, the couple found a new opportunity.

Today they not only graft, grow and sell roses, but also plant and/or maintain rose gardens for 65 clients on the barrier islands from Jupiter Island through Boca Raton.

At the same time, Debbie is raising and selling salvia, rosemary and other butterfly-attracting plants.

“I like to grow different rose varieties and plants that do well with roses, so that we have something for everyone. Especially now that Valentine’s Day is here,” she says.

If You Go
Where: Cool Roses, 888 Chase Road, West Palm Beach
Information: Hours by appointment only at 561-310-8508; Geoffcoolidge@comcast.net; www.coolroses.com
To order: Visit website to see what rose varieties are offered and then call to order for home delivery. Rooted roses are shipped in pots via FedEx.

Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley can be reached at debhartz@att.net.

A pantry in front of Advent Church in Boca Raton provides free dry and canned foods to people in need. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Churches might have the legal right to discuss politics from the pulpit, but should they?

“Our particular tradition is not to use the pulpit for politics, even though we might like to,” said Pastor Andy Hagen of Advent Church in Boca Raton. “The role we have is to present the values of our faith and keep speaking them.”

Those values? “Love and hope.”

Father Marty Zlatic of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church of Boynton Beach agrees: Making any sort of political statement from the pulpit is “a delicate dance.”

“We have to remember that 50% of our congregation is red and 50% is blue. We don’t have a political preference,” he says of the church. “It’s a morality preference. It’s how we treat people and that we respect the dignity of every human being.”

From pure seeds, positive things bloom, he says.

“I preached on Sunday on the gospel John 1:47,” Zlatic said recently. “I didn’t mention any names. The goal is to prepare the message in a way that even someone who opposes it might hear it.”

The passage: “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” In biblical translations, guile means “deceit” or “fraud.”

Most of the time his message is one of hope and healing, Zlatic said, but people need the promise of truth to hope and the knowledge of truth to heal. “People always need to talk about hope.”

“My healing word is ‘understanding,’” Hagen said. “I don’t believe we’re divided. I believe we want the same things, but we’re not convinced we can all get them. Someone has convinced us there’s not enough of the pie to be shared.”

COVID-19 has divided people, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Even though online church service viewership is consistent and more popular than anyone expected, others aren’t so happy to worship from home.

“People are yearning for a human connection,” Zlatic said. “We’re a very huggy church. Praying on the phone, rather than being able to hold someone’s hand, it’s certainly harder. I’ve learned to smile with my eyes.”

To strengthen those connections, Zlatic gave the congregation “homework.” He asked people to take out their church member directory and call someone they didn’t know, just to say hello. He laughs when he says, “I told them to be sure to say we’re not asking for money!”

So far, it’s working out well.

Some kindnesses sprouted organically. The St. Joe congregation spontaneously started the In Touch ministry, where volunteers regularly call homebound congregants to check in on them.

At Advent, Hagen said the church started a small food pantry outside, where people can drive up to drop off (or pick up) food. As the sun was setting, he watched a little girl jump out of a car to put a few cans in the box. It’s been more popular and successful than anyone imagined, he said.

“I think when you focus on love, great things happen.”

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and events. Contact her at janisfontaine@outlook.com.

This was one of six tableaus that depicted scenes from the Nativity story at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Boynton Beach is known for its delightfully chaotic Spontaneous Christmas Pageant, a church tradition that recruits mostly kids from the audience to act out the Nativity story. But COVID-19 forced church leaders to cancel the event, which packs the church to SRO every Christmas Eve.

Not wanting to disappoint the congregation, Dee Zlatic, who leads the children’s ministry, and her team came up with a new idea: six tableaus depicting scenes from the glorious birth story frozen in time so that folks could drive past.

“We had the costumes and props and we had lots of families volunteer to act out the scenes,” Zlatic said. Each vignette allowed families to stay in their respective bubbles in keeping with COVID-19 precautions.

Zlatic was thrilled when, at the last minute, a local petting zoo delivered goats and ponies to round out the final tableau, a re-creation of the Nativity scene.

Charles Milling, with his wife, Julie, and their baby boy, Ellis, just a few months old, took on the role of the Holy Family. Milling, who leads the Christian band Live Hymnal, which performs at the church, also prepared and recorded the Christmas music and the Scripture readings people played in their cars.

More than 300 cars drove through, said Father Marty Zlatic, who was pleased and proud of the turnout and of Dee, his wife.

As people left, John Flynn played the bagpipes and everyone received a keepsake: a clear Christmas ornament handmade by Kyle May that contains the parish’s catchphrase —

“Keep Jesus in your bubble.”

St. Joseph’s remembers victims of COVID-19

On Jan. 20, almost a year after it was first reported that a strange, potentially deadly virus was spreading around the world, St. Joseph’s held a special service to commemorate the 400,000-plus lives lost to COVID-19.

“We knew we were going to do something, but when we saw the luminaries on the National Mall in Washington, we wanted to replicate it,” Father Marty said. “We can’t have 400,000 luminaries, but we can have 40.”

St. Joseph’s parishioners showed up for the outdoor socially distanced event. Since the outbreak, St. Joseph’s has followed stringent protocols, including fogging the church after every service, requiring masks and reserved seating in 6-foot family bubbles, and touchless Communion.

In-person services by reservation take place at 10 a.m. Sundays, and outside services on the lawn begin at 7 p.m. Wednesdays. The church is at 3300 S. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach. 561-732-3060; www.stjoesweb.org.

Bethesda-by-the-Sea to host Empty Bowls event

The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea will host a reimagined eighth annual Palm Beach Empty Bowls, a fundraiser for the Palm Beach County Food Bank, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 26. Guests will be served from a drive-thru to ensure safety amid the pandemic. Delivery is available for large orders.

One in six of Palm Beach County’s 1.5 million residents has trouble getting good meals. Many are children. Because of COVID-19, the demand on local food banks nearly tripled in 2020.

The mantra of this annual fundraiser is “eat simply so others may simply eat,” and it asks each person to substitute one lavish meal for a solemn, simple feast of soup and bread and bottled water. The soup will come from the area’s best restaurants and bread from Old School Bakery.

Tickets are $30, which includes one pint of soup and bread. All proceeds from Palm Beach Empty Bowls benefit the Palm Beach County Food Bank to fight hunger in our community. The church is at 141 S. County Road, Palm Beach. www.pbcfoodbank.org; 561-670-2518.

Diocese’s Mass gets new time slot on TV

The Diocese of Palm Beach’s Sunday morning Mass for the homebound no longer airs at 9:00-9:30 a.m. It airs on CW34 WTVX from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The time change is due to a programming revision by CW34.

Visit www.diocesepb.org/videos to hear the weekly homilies.

Global Sub Dive’s Go America vessel sank 10,000-pound, 7-by-6-foot reef balls Jan. 9 in the Delray Dredge Hole, a permitted artificial reef site roughly .35 mile long by .13 mile wide. CCA/Florida’s South Palm Beach County chapter and No Shoes Reefs Foundation are behind the effort to create a 32-acre reef park. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

Before dawn on the cool morning of Jan. 9, Rodrigo Vera of Delray Beach and the reef construction team from Global Sub Dive loaded 13 concrete reef balls onto a ship named Go America and headed out Port Everglades Inlet, bound for Delray Beach.

By 9:30 a.m., the Go America captain was maneuvering the ship over an artificial reef site in about 65 feet of water off the south end of Delray’s public beach.

After a cable from the ship’s crane was attached, the first of the 5-ton reef balls was lifted into the air, then carefully lowered into the water.

A diver followed to make sure the beehive-shaped structure landed upright on the bottom as intended. Palm Beach County environmental officials observed from a boat nearby.

A scuba diver from Industrial Divers enters the water to make sure the ship sank the reef balls in the correct area of the ocean floor. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The process was repeated a dozen times, each with a slight change in position to place each of the reef balls in predetermined spots at the northeast corner of the artificial reef site — a rectangular depression created when sand was removed for beach restoration.

The new reef balls are located at these coordinates: 26/27.179N and 80/02.941.

Boaters should avoid anchoring over the reef balls because anchors could become stuck in the holes of the structures, said Jena McNeal, Palm Beach County’s artificial reef coordinator.

Anglers can fish over the reef balls by starting generally south and east of them and drifting over them.

Divers can explore the new artificial reef structures — and the fish they attract — by drifting with a support boat displaying a dive flag on the surface drifting with them.

Vera pulled the reef ball project together, working as president of CCA/Florida’s South Palm Beach County chapter and as a board member of the Sandoway Discovery Center.
Country singer Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Reefs Foundation (www.noshoesreefs.org) paid for the reef balls.

CCA/Florida’s South Palm Beach County chapter used a $13,000 grant from Impact 100 Palm Beach County and another $10,000 raised at a CCA banquet to pay for transporting and placing the reef balls on the bottom.

Vera hopes the 13 reef balls will be the first part of a more elaborate artificial reef at the 32-acre site that will become an educational and recreational “marine park.” He is applying for permits for a buoy that would hold cameras transmitting live underwater video from the reefs to the Sandoway Discovery Center and is looking for a sponsor to pay for maintenance of the camera system.

Working through CCA/Florida, Vera also hopes to raise $100,000 to buy, clean and sink a freighter that he said would fit perfectly in the rest of the Delray Beach artificial reef site.

Details about plans for the Sandoway Marine Park can be found at www.delrayreef.org.

Miss Texas wins Silver Sailfish Derby

Capt. Matt Bierley and his team aboard Miss Texas released 12 sailfish in two days of fishing Jan. 7-8 to win top boat in the West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s 84th annual Silver Sailfish Derby.

Capt. Matt Bierley and his team on Miss Texas celebrate with champagne at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores after winning top boat in the 84th annual Silver Sailfish Derby. The team scored a two-day total of 12 sailfish releases. Photo provided

After finishing the first day with four releases, the Miss Texas anglers picked away at the sailfish using live bait under fishing kites south of Palm Beach Inlet.

They finished the second day with eight releases to beat 46 other boats in the derby.

Capt. Nick Carullo and his team on Priceless almost beat the Miss Texas team, but wound up finishing second with 11 releases because one of the team’s sailfish could not be identified on video. Rules in modern sailfish tournaments require each sailfish to be shown on video, along with a member of the crew touching the leader to score the release.

Capt. Mike Simko of North Palm Beach was this year’s top derby angler with a two-day total of nine releases scored on his boat KiteKeeper. The KiteKeeper team also won top small boat, for boats under 35 feet.

York Pottratz of Jupiter finished second in the angler category, with six releases scored aboard Miss Texas.

Capt. Chip Sheehan, who operates Chips Ahoy Charters at Boynton Harbor Marina, finished sixth overall with his team on Reel Synergy, posting eight releases over two days. Sheehan said he found his sailfish off Delray Beach.

Forty-seven boats released a total of 196 sailfish in two days of fishing.

Temporary bag limit increased for kingfish

The daily bag limit for king mackerel, better known as kingfish, is four per angler, up from two — at least until March 16. The minimum size remains the same at 24 inches to the fork of the tail.

The former two-kingfish bag limit will apply again after March 16, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Tip of the month

Want to learn more about tagging and releasing small dolphinfish (mahi mahi) to benefit research about the species? Visit www.dolphintagging.com.

Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Email tiowillie@bellsouth.net.

Kimberly Moen, a veterinarian at Lap of Love, with Morena (right), who died last year. During the pandemic Lap of Love does phone consultations and at-home euthanasia. Photo provided

By Arden Moore

Now, perhaps more than ever, pets are stepping up their A-game when it comes to unleashing compassion, laughter and safe companionship for many of us during this relentless pandemic.

In my home, I am enjoying a full circle of life with dogs and cats of all ages, from young Emma and Rusty to middle-aged Kona and Casey to our stately senior cat, Mikey.

I never take for granted a single day I get to spend with them. And, when it is time to say goodbye to them due to fading health, the farewells will take on added meaning. My memories with them will never disappear.

Last December, my former canine surfing star, Cleo, died at age 17. She was a terrier mix, about 12 pounds soaking wet, but fearless when it came to riding waves. Her surfboard now hangs above the door of my backyard office as a lasting way to celebrate her life.

With all the COVID-19 health restrictions, the safety protocol in veterinary clinics here and all over the country requires pet parents to pull into the parking lots, call the clinics and, with face masks on, hand over their pets to clinic staffers who usher them into exam rooms. You know the drill.

We wait in our vehicles for veterinarians to call us with the results and then wait for our pets to be returned to our vehicles.

That’s why I am glad to see a new field of veterinary medicine being recognized and embraced: pet hospice care and, yes, at-home euthanasia services. Credit a pair of University of Florida veterinary school graduates, Dr. Mary Gardner and Dr. Dani McVety, for leading this effort.

They co-founded Lap of Love in 2009 with one practice in Tampa and now have Lap of Love veterinary centers all over the United States, including one in Boynton Beach that serves all of Palm Beach County.

“Veterinary hospice provides pets comfort, pain relief, anxiety relief and the love they need during the final stage of their life,” says Gardner. “Hospice provides owners the tools to manage their pets not only medically and physically, but also emotionally. Most importantly, we help owners plan for the goodbye.”

The Lap of Love center that serves Palm Beach County is headed by veterinarians Tiffany Matheson, Blaine Brennock and Kimberly Moen. Due to the pandemic, they are exclusively doing at-home euthanasia because hospice appointments require longer periods of contact. So, they now offer formal phone consultations.

“We have a higher volume of calls now than before COVID,” says Moen. “We now need to take added safety precautions in homes, from wearing masks, checking temperatures, spraying down everything we use, disinfecting every square inch to washing our hands multiple times.

“I miss that extra human touch, like shaking hands or sharing hugs at the end. I miss that touch support, but I know we are here to support people and to make sure their pets are as comfortable as possible and that they transition with dignity.”

Moen knows this experience firsthand. She adopted her “heart” dog, Morena, as a pup and together they lived in Arizona, Colorado, California, St. Kitt and Florida for 14 years.

Her black Labrador retriever could “stand up to sassy dogs” and sported a contagious happy nature, but her body was weakening to the tolls of time.

“In February, I knew she was terminal, but I waited for a good day for her to make the transition,” says Moen, who also has a retriever mix named Boca. “I got her a rotisserie chicken and she ate all of it — including fat, seasoning and cartilage. She loved every minute. I gave her a sedative about halfway through the meal. It takes a few minutes to kick in.”

She continues, “Then I gave her a super comfortable overdose of anesthesia and hugged her. She was my heart dog.”

As Moen recommends to other pet parents, she created paw prints of Morena in clay that are displayed on her bookshelf. She plans one day to take Morena’s ashes out to the ocean, a place she loved.

“Morena would squeal with high-pitched delight in pools and in rivers and she would fetch balls in the ocean,” she says. “She was a very cool dog.”

Moen has done zoo internships, was a veterinary technician before becoming a veterinarian and practiced at small animal clinics before she joined Lap of Love three years ago to focus on pet hospice care and euthanasia.

“People don’t have to drive back from a clinic upset, because we come to them,” she says. “They get to mourn in the privacy of their homes. I get to be of service to people facing one of the hardest times of their lives and I am honored to be able to do so.”

HOW WILL I KNOW IT'S THE RIGHT TIME?

Lap of Love veterinarians say end of life depends on the pet. They offer this checklist to help pet parents know when it is the right time for euthanasia. The pet:
• Is no longer interested in food or water.
• Has chronic incontinence (accidents in the house) or is unable to go to the bathroom without falling down.
• Is no longer greeting you when you come home.
• Is no longer patrolling the yard or protecting his territory the way he used to.
• Is no longer grooming himself.
• No longer wags her tail or holds it down constantly.
• Isolates herself from the people or other pets in the home, particularly in places she usually does not go.
• Shows a decreased interest in playing.
• Is unable to stand or walk on his own.
• Shows a change in attitude (depression, aggression, confusion).
• Doesn’t want to do the things he loves.
• Has fewer good days than bad.

To learn more about Lap of Love’s services, visit www.lapoflove.com.

Arden Moore, founder of FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, author, speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. She hosts Oh Behave! weekly on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more at www.ardenmoore.com.

Staff report

The Mutt Derby, which returned to Palm Beach Kennel Club in January, invites people to enter their dogs in a fun race series. The dogs run 300 feet on the track without starting boxes or lures and are called by their owners to the finish line. 

Mutt Derby’s upcoming dates include Feb. 13 and Feb. 27, and on March 20, weight-division winners will return for the finals. At stake will be cash prizes, including $1,000 to the overall champion.

To participate, dogs must be spayed or neutered, up to date with vaccines, on a flea and tick prevention program, and not aggressive toward people or other dogs. Races will be organized by three weight classes. Greyhounds are welcome to observe but cannot race. 

The fee is $20 for pre-registration and $25 on the day of the event. To register, visit runsignup.com/race/fl/westpalmbeach/pbkcmuttderby. All proceeds from the event will be donated to local greyhound pet adoption groups. 

Maura Evans and Katie Rose Brisson paint stakes used to mark sea turtle nests. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Learning the value and joy of public service is an important component of a student’s education at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School in Delray Beach.

Maura Evans, 14, of Ocean Ridge, and Katie Rose Brisson, 13, of Boynton Beach, chose to help Sea Turtle Adventures, a nonprofit tasked with protecting turtle nests along a 3-mile stretch of beach reaching from Gulf Stream to Ocean Ridge, as their service project.

Students at St. Vincent Ferrer are separated into “houses,” and each house chooses a service project, Maura explained. Their house, Équité, chose to work with STA.

If you’ve strolled that beach between May and October, you’ve seen the vibrant orange stakes and the netting that protect the sea turtle nests. Maura and Katie Rose joined forces with about 20 other students to paint hundreds of stakes so they could be reused.

It seemed fitting their house should champion sea turtles because “équité” means justice, Katie Rose said. “Sea turtles are harmless creatures, so we want to protect them.”

Painting hundreds of 2-foot wooden stakes was hot, sweaty work, complicated by social distancing and other COVID requirements, but it taught the kids that public service is sometimes difficult.

It’s a lesson STA’s founder learned firsthand.

Delray Beach native Jacquelyn Kingston launched the nonprofit Sea Turtle Adventures in 2016, but she and her mother, Joan Lorne of Delray Beach, have been permitted by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to monitor nests along a 3-mile stretch of beach in southern Palm Beach County for almost 20 years.

Now a marine biologist, Kingston started her association with sea turtles at about the same age as the kids at St. Vincent Ferrer — as a 12-year-old volunteer at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach (then called the MarineLife Center of Juno Beach).

STA has a three-pronged mission: “to conserve local populations of sea turtles, educate the public about the marine environment, and provide nature-based programs and life-skills training to adults with disabilities.”

After working with several adults with special needs, Kingston knew conservation awareness could enrich the lives of these adults and promote sea turtle conservation and education. STA added the iCARE WAVE program (Work And Volunteer Experience), which offers adults with special needs the opportunity to work for STA in partnership with approved vocational rehabilitation work programs. 

Katie Rose and Maura’s Équité house volunteered with the WAVE program, where they learned about the joy of service.

Last year, the group put native plants on the beach to improve the turtle habitats, which had taken a beating during hurricane season. “It’s super-fun to do stuff with friends, but I like helping people, too,” Maura said.

“I really liked it,” Katie Rose said of her beach day interacting with the adults. She is worried the coronavirus will prevent the event from taking place this year.

And there’s one more factor at play here, Maura explained. The St. Vincent Ferrer house with the most points at the end of the school year wins a trophy (and bragging rights).

Of course, every house wants to win, but Maura says that some people put too much emphasis on winning. “I feel like it’s more important to have fun.”

Whatever happens, Katie Rose said, “I’m proud of our house.”

Elegantly styled and outfitted for culinary pursuits, the kitchen includes top-shelf appliances and a beautiful island for prep space as well as casual dining.

On a secluded street in one of the most sought-after areas of Ocean Ridge, this residence is sited on 80 feet of direct oceanfront. It features 4,700 +/- total luxurious square feet.
Designed and redone in 2019 by renowned architect Randall Stofft, the home has the finest finishes sourced from around the world, including hardwood floors. The design is a warm, yet chic, modern style with five bedrooms, five and one-half bathrooms in the main house, inside laundry room, two garages and a detached guesthouse with full bath.

The foyer presents a spectacular floating staircase and unrivaled ocean views.

Minimalist in its design, the bar has a view of the oceanfront.

The private courtyard entry creates just the right atmosphere for welcoming family, friends and guests to cozy sunset entertaining. Inspired by the ocean, the view-focused living/dining room is designed with floor-to-ceiling windows and doors that bathe the interior with abundant light. The first-floor master suite is a peaceful retreat where people can enjoy the sights and sounds of the Atlantic. The sumptuous Zen-like bathroom features custom design cabinets with a separate tub and shower and spaciously designed closets.

Located on a quiet one-way street in Ocean Ridge, the recently remodeled compound overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.

Upstairs you will find four guest suites with ocean views and private balconies. The grounds offer swaths of lush lawn and tropical landscaping, a saltwater pool, sunken Jacuzzi and an outdoor shower.

Offered at $9,200,000. Contact Candace Friis, 561-573-9966, candace.friis@corcoran.com, or Phil Friis, 561-706-1922, phil.friis@corcoran.com; The Corcoran Group, 901 George Bush Blvd., Delray Beach, FL 33483.

By Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Most years at this time we’d be planning our annual Coastal Star holiday party. We like to kick off the new year by getting everyone who works for the newspaper together for an afternoon of socializing.

Many have worked together in years past at other publications, but now seldom see each other in our distributed work environment.

Missing this annual gathering is difficult. Zoom is good for many things, but can’t replace chatting one-on-one with people you like and respect.

And 2020 was a difficult year for everyone at The Coastal Star.

Beyond basic COVID-19 fears have come cancer and hospitalizations and loss. Siblings, parents, children and grandchildren are far away. The additional freelance work on which our employees depend has dwindled, leaving those not on pensions struggling with finances.

When people miss deadlines, or file lifeless stories or break down in tears during the editing process, I reach into my management toolkit for extra patience. I realize everyone is struggling.

The process of reporting — never easy — became far more difficult in 2020.

None of us is immune from the stress we lived through this past year. And now, covering remote meetings is proving to be a new, difficult challenge. Reporters are often stuck streaming bad audio or relying on town hall recordings acquired days after an in-person meeting; I can’t safely require anyone who works for me to attend an indoor gathering.

So instead of a holiday party (at least until much later in the year), I’d like to use this space to recognize everyone who works to pull together this newspaper each month: You are an amazing and talented team. Thank you for your commitment to providing the best news and information to our coastal communities, both in print and online.

And thank you to our readers for your words of encouragement, and our advertisers for financially supporting the paper this past year.

Here’s to better times in 2021. Happy New Year!

If you’d like to support our journalism efforts with a tax-free donation, please visit https://fpf.column.us/the-coastal-star.

Rebecca Scott has joined the board of directors of Impact 100 Palm Beach County as the group considers 25 semifinalists for $100,000 grants in 2021. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

Meet Rebecca “Becky” Scott: mother, grandmother, philanthropist and dream-maker.

Scott, who has devoted decades of her life to giving back, was recently named to the board of directors of Impact 100 Palm Beach County. The nonprofit organization awards $100,000 grants to nonprofits in southern Palm Beach County for impactful projects that can change lives.

“It allows them to dream big and do something completely different from what they ever imagined,” said Scott, who lives in eastern Boca Raton. “We are excited to be able to give more away because the organization can do so much more with the entire $100,000.”

Scott has always been generous when it comes to giving of her time. She volunteered for years at her children’s school, spent 15 years as a group leader at her church, and served 10 years with Impact 100 as a dedicated member, hosting numerous events before she was named to the board.

She believes participating in the women’s nonprofit as a member is as beneficial to the participants as it is to the grant recipients.

“I think the growth that occurs in the women involved as they pool not only their financial resources but their resources of time and talent creates this wonderful gift to the community,” Scott said. “I am very committed to it.” 

Originally from North Carolina, Scott earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, then attended Duke University Medical Center’s anesthesia program for nurses, where she met her husband, Steven Scott, a medical doctor.

She worked several years as a nurse anesthetist before devoting her life to full-time motherhood. The result? Five grown children, six grandchildren and a lifelong commitment to community service.

In 2019, Impact 100 awarded five $100,000 grants. Grant recipients were the Institute for Regional Conservation; the Center for Child Counseling; Autism After 21; Palm Beach Dramaworks, and Street Waves Corp.

And that’s just one year.

In a decade, Impact 100 has contributed more than $3.8 million in grants to local nonprofit efforts in arts, culture and historic preservation; education; environment and animal welfare; family, and health and wellness.

The organization’s membership has grown to more than 500 members, a number Scott is hoping to raise to 600. Expanding membership is key to the group’s ability to award large grants.

Here’s why: Each member donates $1,000 annually to the grant pool, which is then divided up among top applicants. Five hundred members translates into $500,000 in grant money. And so on.

“It makes a smaller gift become so much more transformative,” Scott, who is in her 60s, explained. “I enjoy it very much. That is why I continued to be involved. My husband and I have always been interested in philanthropy.”

Kathy Adkins said it’s enthusiasm like Scott’s that has ensured Impact 100’s success.

“We are so thrilled to have Becky join our board of directors,” said Adkins, president of Impact 100 PBC. “She has been a dedicated Impact 100 PBC member for many years and brings a wealth of experience and insight from her previous volunteer roles. Becky is a tremendous asset to our organization and we are grateful for her commitment to furthering our mission.”

Scott noted that many are responsible for the organization’s success: “The engine behind the success of this chapter has been the founding members and the fact that they have continued to stay involved for all of these years,” Scott said. “It is completely driven by volunteers.”

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR
Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.

By Larry Barszewski

The Coastal Star captured five first-place awards and eight other commendations in the annual Florida Press Club competition.

The press club held the annual awards ceremony online Dec. 19. The Coastal Star won top awards in its class in five categories:

• Breaking news writing: the team of Ron Hayes, Jerry Lower, Tim Stepien and Rachel O’Hara and staff for their 2019 coverage of Hurricane Dorian.
• Commentary writing: Mary Kate Leming for columns about helping the Bahamas following its Hurricane Dorian devastation, gratitude in the time of COVID-19, and a Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office “snowstorm” in South Palm Beach over providing police services.
• Environmental news writing: Larry Keller for his story about Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s sea turtle crew.
• Government news writing: Steve Plunkett for a compilation of stories he wrote out of Boca Raton and Gulf Stream.
• Religion news writing: Hayes for his story about two Sisters Elizabeth — “Happy” and “Kind” — who came from Poland and teach at St. Vincent Ferrer Church and School.

In addition, the press club awarded second-place awards to Lower for sports feature photography and Joyce Reingold for health writing.

Third-place awards went to O’Hara and Lower for feature photo essay; to Rich Pollack for in-depth reporting; to Jan Engoren, Hap Erstein, Greg Stepanich and Sandra Schulman for arts news writing; to Mary Thurwachter for community news writing; to Mary Hladky for COVID-19 reporting; and to Brian Biggane for sports features writing.

The awards marked the first state journalism competition to honor coverage of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in Florida.

For nearly 70 years, the Florida Press Club, originally called the Florida Women’s Press Club, has honored the best in Florida journalism. Honorees have expanded into digital-only publications, but officials say what draws the judges’ eyes has remained consistent over the years: engaging storytelling.

By Dan Moffett

Ocean Ridge voters will get the chance to choose two town commissioners in the March 9 municipal election after four candidates qualified in December to run for office.

The field includes two familiar names. Current Mayor Kristine de Haseth is running for another three-year term, and former Mayor Geoff Pugh has returned from private life after leaving the commission in 2018.

Two political newcomers round out the field. John Kramer and Carolyn Cassidy both have expressed concerns over government transparency issues as they seek commission seats for the first time.

Incumbent Commissioner Phil Besler decided not to run for a second term after three years in office.

Previously from Westhampton, New York, Cassidy owns a real estate business and has lived in Ocean Ridge for 41/2 years. She has served as vice president of the town’s Garden Club and been active in Impact 100 Palm Beach County, a group that awards competitive $100,000 grants to nonprofit organizations.

“I have a very strong interest and passion for my community,” Cassidy said. “I’m concerned about the lack of communication and transparency government has shown with residents.”

Kramer has owned a home on North Ocean Boulevard for nearly six years. He has been an outspoken critic of the town’s closing of two beach access points near his residence to allow beachfront homeowners to build sea walls along dunes damaged by storms in 2020.

Kramer criticized commissioners for not doing a better job of informing neighbors about the closures and not considering carefully enough the project’s impact on nearby families.

“I think you’re falling into the trap of inconveniencing the many to accommodate the few,” he told the commission during its December meeting.

Pugh is the most experienced candidate. He served six years as the town’s mayor, from 2012-2018, and has 15 years overall on the commission. The owner of a pool construction business, he left office three years ago, saying he wanted to spend more time with his wife and family.

During his tenure as mayor, Pugh helped guide Ocean Ridge through a rocky period of personnel changes during which the town manager, clerk, attorney and police chief had to be replaced. He also led the town’s effort to deal with rapid growth across the bridge in Boynton Beach.

The commission chose de Haseth as mayor in March, and she inherited shaping the town’s COVID-19 response. A founding organizer of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, de Haseth was elected to the commission in 2018.

She cites developing the town’s five-year capital projects plan to upgrade storm infrastructure and initiating the CivicReady emergency alert network as two of her top accomplishments.

“I feel the town is on a positive trajectory,” de Haseth said. “We’ve taken on long-overdue issues and I’d like to see them through.”

Voters will be asked to select two of the four candidates, with winners being the two receiving the most votes.

IPIC’s Mizner Park theater reopened in the fall with social distancing and other precautions in place but now is facing an eviction proceeding in circuit court. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

IPIC theater’s landlord in Mizner Park is seeking eviction of its tenant for non-payment of rent.

The theater has not paid its rent for eight months and owed $635,510 as of November, according to the eviction case filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on Nov. 25 by Crocker Downtown Development Associates. That amount would increase by $79,489 for each additional month that rent is not paid.

IPIC, a chain of 14 luxury theaters across the country, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 5, 2019, as theater patronage decreased nationwide and larger theater chains copied IPIC’s dine-in option and reclining seats.

It emerged from the legal process less than three months later when its assets were sold to an affiliate of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, the chain’s largest creditor.

Like theaters across the country, IPIC was forced to halt operations in the spring as the coronavirus pandemic prompted government orders to close all non-essential businesses.

They began reopening in May.

It is unclear if the pandemic has caused IPIC’s problems, but many moviegoers are shunning theaters nationwide.

Paul Safran, IPIC’s CEO and legal counsel, did not return a call and email requesting comment. A public relations representative of the company did not answer an email query.
Attorney David W. Black of Plantation, who represents the landlord, said in an email that he does not discuss pending litigation.

As of Dec. 16, IPIC had not responded in court to the eviction lawsuit.

Court records show no similar eviction proceeding involving IPIC’s theater in Delray Beach.

Crocker Downtown Development Associates, which is tied to Mizner Park owner Brookfield Property Partners, has in recent months sought evictions of other tenants.

They include the Blue Fish restaurant, which owed $123,105 as of September, Planet Blue women’s clothing store, which owed $185,744 as of November, and Les Bijoux jewelry store, which was behind $457,298 as of May. The Les Bijoux case settled in September, with the company agreeing to pay the amount owed over time.

But Planet Blue is fighting the eviction, saying the city ordered the closures of non-essential businesses on March 25. After the store reopened, business was stagnant because of customer fears during a resurgence of COVID-19.

As a result, it was impossible for the company to pay its rent through no fault of its own, Planet Blue said in a lawsuit filed against Crocker on Dec. 3.

The company asserts that an article in its lease provides that its rent obligation can be modified in the event of a problem such as a pandemic.

While the pandemic may have made it especially difficult for businesses to pay rent, eviction cases are not uncommon. Crocker filed three lawsuits against tenants in 2017, one in 2016 and three in 2015, court records show.

By Jane Smith

The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County was still waiting last month for Delray Beach to finish inspecting its reclaimed water locations.

Then, the DOH will determine whether the information provided is enough to close out its investigation of the city’s reclaimed water program, according to December emails.

“The investigation is ongoing,” DOH spokesman Alexander Shaw wrote Dec. 18.

Delray Beach is trying to avoid civil fines from the DOH, which sent a warning letter on July 1. That letter listed 13 possible violations in the reclaimed water program.

City leaders met virtually on July 22 with the DOH staff to review the possible violations and Delray Beach’s response.

Interim City Manager Jennifer Alvarez told the Beach Properties Owners’ Association members at their Dec. 16 annual meeting that the city was more than 90% finished with its fixes. “We are very close to being done,” she said.

The DOH became involved in inspecting the city’s reclaimed water system on Jan. 2, 2020, when a resident who lives at 801 S. Ocean Blvd. called to complain about a December 2018 cross connection that occurred at her house. The caller did not explain why she waited more than a year to make a complaint.

Cross connections happen when the drinking water pipes are mistakenly connected to the reclaimed water lines. Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater that is suitable only for lawn irrigation.

In February, Delray Beach shut down its reclaimed water system to avoid a citywide boil water order demanded by DOH. The DOH demand was triggered by the 801 S. Ocean resident’s complaint.

After shutting down the reclaimed water system, the city hired consultants and contractors to inspect each reclaimed water installation to make sure it was done properly and included the necessary backflow preventers. Backflow devices are used to prevent the reclaimed water from mixing with the drinking water.

The city spent $1.08 million as of mid-December on fixing its reclaimed water system, according to Gina Carter, Delray Beach spokeswoman. The amount covered hiring outside companies to inspect each reclaimed water location and install missing backflow devices.

Reclaimed water locations that underwent repairs were activated only after the DOH approved.

Delray Beach was hampered in its testing individual locations twice this fall when the South County Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant took over the outfall pipe. The pipe normally carries reclaimed water to the eastern half of the city. During heavy rains, the plant is allowed to send treated wastewater into the ocean because the ground is saturated.

In a Dec. 7 email to the DOH, Juan Guevarez, assistant utilities director, and Victor Majtenyi, deputy utilities director, addressed three unanswered questions the DOH posed to the Utilities Department on Nov. 18.

Two questions concerned how many backflow devices were missing from properties with reclaimed water and how many cross connections had been found.

Steven Garcia, a DOH environmental supervisor, also asked the city to explain the discrepancy between the former utilities director’s report on the 2018 cross connection — when she had said no one became ill — and the telephone complaints of illness made to the water plant during that period.

The exact number of missing backflow devices was determined to be 581 properties after a Dec. 4 record review. The department previously had reported 567. Guevarez and Majtenyi apologized for the confusion.

On the second question, the utilities directors said the number of cross connections found since 2018 was three: 801 S. Ocean, 120 S. Ocean and 1029 Langer Way. The last two were found in April and July 2020.

The low number contradicts what Delray Beach staff had said in a February 2020 meeting with DOH staff. At that meeting, a city staffer said 12 cross connections were found. No explanation was given for the discrepancy. On the third issue, the directors found no telephone records about water customers reporting illnesses but discovered a May 17, 2019, letter, titled Cross-Connection Issue Facts, written by Christine Ferrigan, a utilities inspector. The letter states customers had complained about being sick from cross connections.

On Dec. 3, Guevarez interviewed the city staffers mentioned in the letter.

William Barr, utility locator, recalled a conversation with a resident at 1171 S. Ocean who said he and members of his household were getting sick. Barr passed the information to Scott Solomon, now retired from the city. Barr also said he did not know what happened with that information.

The other staff members mentioned in the letter did not witness or could not recall customers complaining about getting sick.

On Dec. 4, Guevarez did a telephone interview with Ferrigan. She said she told her former supervisor about customers getting sick. She did not send an email or another document before writing the letter in May 2019.

Ferrigan’s former supervisor and other management staff held meetings to discuss the findings of the cross connection report, but Ferrigan was not invited to those meetings. Guevarez was not able to find any other document that might explain the discrepancy.

In the spring, Delray Beach hired an outside consultant to review its reclaimed water system. The city paid him $20,000 for the report, which was supposed to include determining who had responsibility for installing and inspecting the backflow devices.  

He did not find a culprit.

Instead, according to his Oct. 23 report, he found that Delray Beach did not have a point person in charge and lacked “institutional control” over the reclaimed water system.

By Jane Smith

Boynton Beach will have a second person review police payroll reimbursement requests for manatee protection after the county Office of Inspector General pointed out documentation problems.

The OIG report, released on Dec. 21, states that the city and county “have generally adequate controls” over agreed-upon reimbursement requests.

But when the OIG tested 29 city reimbursement requests in a six-year period, it found 15 of 29, or 52%, did not include official payroll records to support the hours worked by

Boynton Beach police officers, as required by the agreement.

The county approved the payments.

After the problem was noted, Boynton Beach did supply the payroll records needed for documentation.

“Going forward, the reimbursement requests will be reviewed by a secondary reviewer to ensure that all paperwork required for submittal is attached,” City Manager Lori LaVerriere wrote in her Dec. 15 response.

Boynton Beach police provide an increased law enforcement presence on the Intracoastal Waterway during manatee season, Nov. 15 through March 31.

The county agreed to pay a specified rate per hour for each officer for on-water enforcement activity and approved court proceedings, according to the agreement. The annual amount is set by the County Commission at the start of each financial year on Oct. 1.

By Dan Moffett

Gulf Stream should make upgrades and repairs today to prepare for rising seas that will strain the town’s stormwater infrastructure in years to come.

That’s the conclusion of West Palm Beach-based engineering consultants from Baxter & Woodman, who presented a King Tide Resiliency Assessment report to the Town Commission on Dec. 11.

The report examined recent problems during king tides, which included a breach of a sea wall along the Intracoastal Waterway and several low-lying areas of street flooding.

The consultants made these recommendations for action to the commission:
• Four existing duck bill-style drainage valves along the Intracoastal north of Golfview Drive should be replaced with more advanced inline check valves. Three additional inline valves should be installed. The cost of each valve is estimated to range from $5,000 to $10,000.
• The town should work with the property owner at 3550 Polo Drive to regrade a side lot that is vulnerable to breach.
• The west ends of Banyan Road and Palm Way need to be regraded to prevent flooding.
• The town should advise owners of The Little Club golf course that its lakes are vulnerable to flooding and could cause problems with the town’s roads and drainage system.

The report relied on a South Florida Water Management District study that found the average high tide has risen approximately 6 inches since 1985, and projections that expect that rate to more than double over the next 50 years.

Commissioner Paul Lyons suggested that responding to the engineering report might require changes to the town’s 10-year, $10 million capital improvement plan for streets and water pipes.

Town Manager Greg Dunham agreed. “The rise of sea levels is not contemplated in the CIP,” he said. “We definitely have roads with dips in them and water just stands there.”

In other business, the commission unanimously approved a raise of about $15,000 for Dunham, bringing his annual salary to $135,000.

Mayor Scott Morgan said the increase was based on a survey of town manager salaries in nearby coastal communities. Morgan said the Ocean Ridge manager — with salary, insurance, car allowance and other benefits — has a $192,000 package. Giving Dunham the salary boost puts him near that, the mayor said, and gets Gulf Stream to “a competitive level.”

Dunham, who came to Gulf Stream from Kenly, North Carolina, nearly four years ago, said he was “humbled by the gesture.” Commissioners praised his handling of public work projects that are ongoing.

“He’s here on weekends, he’s here at nights, but more than that, he is creative, thoughtful and has foresight,” Morgan said. “He has a rapport with our residents. We’re blessed to have him as town manager.”

The raise edges Dunham past Police Chief Edward Allen, whose pay and benefits total $186,534, but he is still behind longtime Town Clerk Rita Taylor, whose compensation package is $196,216.

A shovel moves sand brought in to reinforce a sea wall being installed along beachfronts of three properties just south of Ocean Ridge’s Anna Street beach crossover. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

In February, Ocean Ridge commissioners declared a state of emergency after a series of fierce winter storms damaged 1,700 feet of the town’s coastline, tearing up dune lines and crumbling sea walls.

It turns out relations between neighbors may also have been damaged.

The Town Commission, during its November meeting, approved a plan that would allow a half-dozen oceanfront homeowners to build protective sea walls along their eroded dunes, with three of those homeowners agreeing to spend $70,000 of their own money to build a 20-foot section of sea wall for the town along the Anna Street crossover.

To bring in the equipment for the sea wall project, the town closed the crossover access at Edith Street and Anna Street.

Town officials thought they had a solution in place that suited the neighborhood. But a group of unhappy residents came forward en masse at the Dec. 7 commission meeting, complaining about losing their beach access and questioning why officials didn’t do a better job of informing the public about the project.

“Isn’t it a little odd that most of the people here had no warning and no idea that the beach access is going to be closed?” Hudson Avenue resident Theodore Ritota asked the commission. Ritota said he wasn’t opposed to building the sea walls but objected to closing “simultaneous beach access” points.

“It’s really disappointing to residents like us who buy properties here for the assets then find out an asset like beach access is being pulled out from under us,” said Sharon Monson, a Hudson Avenue resident.

Mayor Kristine de Haseth said the town faced an emergency situation in which the state Department of Environmental Protection made most of the decisions about how repairs would proceed. Commissioners had actually favored a more expansive sea wall project, but state environmental officials wouldn’t approve it.

“All property owners’ desires and needs were taken into account,” de Haseth said. The beachfront homeowners and their dunes, she said, “are the first line of defense for the entire barrier island.”

The commission discussed the project during its November meeting and posted diagrams, descriptions and aerial photos of the plan on the town website, before voting unanimously to approve construction. The work has to be done between December and March to avoid interfering with turtle nesting season.

“I think what’s fueling a lot of this concern is mostly our fault on the communication effort,” said Vice Mayor Steve Coz. But he said the sea walls were urgently needed. “Those houses are on the brink of falling in.”

Commissioner Susan Hurlburt said that although opponents may be “getting an inconvenience for four months,” the homeowners have no choice but to make repairs and the whole town benefits over the long term by “getting a little bit of sea wall out of it.” She said the town was committed to completing the work expeditiously.

The oceanfront homeowners have told the town they are committed to minimizing annoyances for neighbors — for example, the contractors are trying to reduce noise by pressing piles into place, rather than driving them.

“I’m delighted so many people came to the meeting and spoke out publicly,” de Haseth said. “I’d welcome them to come out again and stay involved.”