By Steve Plunkett

    Neighbors of former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella who answered police questions the night of his arrest and then answered questions for an Ocean Ridge police internal investigation are finding they will spend more time answering still more questions.
Marc Shiner, Lucibella’s defense attorney, scheduled 17 depositions in late February and early March of witnesses listed in officers Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik’s initial reports of the Oct. 22 shooting incident at Lucibella’s oceanfront home.
    Besides neighbors and passersby, those deposed included the Boynton Beach Fire Rescue team that was summoned to the scene, Boynton Beach’s fire chief and the MD Now doctors who treated Ermeri and Plesnik after Lucibella’s arrest.
    Lucibella, 63, is charged with felony battery on a police officer and resisting the officer with violence. He also faces a misdemeanor count of using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. He has pleaded not guilty.
    Prosecutor Danielle Grundt issued subpoenas to the same group of witnesses plus Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins and a third MD Now physician to be at the courthouse in West Palm Beach for the jury trial, which is set to start at 9:30 a.m. April 10.
    Circuit Judge Charles Burton has blocked off four weeks for the proceedings, the subpoenas say.
    “Failure to appear will subject you to contempt of court. This subpoena is binding day-to-day and week-to-week until the case is closed,” Grundt says in the subpoenas.
    Jerry Lower, publisher of The Coastal Star, went to Lucibella’s house that night to photograph the incident for the newspaper and is fighting subpoenas for a defense deposition and the trial.
    Lower’s motion to quash the subpoenas says that under state law, case law and the First Amendment, a professional journalist has a qualified privilege “to not be a witness or disclose information the journalist has obtained while gathering news.”
    Town police went to Lucibella’s home after neighbors reported hearing gunfire and said they found the vice mayor and one of their supervisors, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, “obviously intoxicated” on the patio.
    They confiscated a .40-caliber Glock handgun and found five spent shell casings on the patio. Police also took a semiautomatic pistol they said Lucibella had in his back pocket.
    According to their reports, when Ermeri and Plesnik tried to block Lucibella from entering his house, he resisted. They wrestled him to the paver-covered ground and handcuffed him. Lucibella needed treatment for facial injuries, they said, though he declined help from the Boynton Beach paramedics at the scene.
    Lucibella claims he is the victim of police overreaction. Through Shiner, he has said that the officers should not have entered his backyard and that they used excessive force, cracking three of his ribs.
    Lucibella resigned his posts as vice mayor and town commissioner Dec. 7, the same day the State Attorney’s Office filed formal charges against  him.

Former Ocean Ridge police Lt. Steve Wohlfiel talks with his attorney, Ralph King, at a special commission meeting called to confirm Wohlfiel’s firing. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

    Former police Lt. Steve Wohlfiel wants Ocean Ridge to reconsider his firing with an appeal hearing that includes testimony from witnesses who may be reluctant to come forward.
    In a declaratory judgment complaint to Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Wohlfiel’s attorney, Ralph King, says that the town is not following the employee rules in its charter by denying his client a hearing during which he could “present and confront witnesses and other evidence.”
    But Brian Shutt, an attorney for the town, says Ocean Ridge hasn’t conducted appeals that way before, and it’s up to the Town Commission to decide the format.
    “In the past the process followed is one where the person appealing can present their case and if they have some witnesses, who agree to testify, then they may present them,” Schutt told King in an email. “There was no cross- examination or calling of witnesses that do not agree to testify, as this is an appeal.”
    Commissioners decided to postpone a February hearing for Wohlfiel after King, an attorney with the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, filed suit, charging the town had violated his rights and denied him due process.
    The commission voted unanimously to fire the veteran officer in January over his alleged involvement in an October shooting incident at the home of former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella. Town police said they found the two men “obviously intoxicated” in the backyard after neighbors called to report gunshots.
    Lucibella resigned his seat after county prosecutors charged him with felony battery on an officer and resisting an officer with violence, as well as a misdemeanor firearms offense. Wohlfiel, who was off-duty at the home, was not charged, but an internal affairs report was critical of his behavior, citing the sworn testimony of two witnesses who claimed he admitted firing the shots.
    Commissioners agreed to take no action on Wohlfiel’s appeal until the court rules on the disputed process.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Martin O’Boyle, who has plastered Gulf Stream with public-records requests and lawsuits over the past four years, is running a second time for a seat on the Town Commission.
    O’Boyle, whose entry in 2014 made that election the town’s first contested one in 21 years, will be joined on the March 14 ballot by Julio Martinez, former president of the Place Au Soleil Homeowners Association. Martinez’s candidacy, along with incumbent Donna White’s, means voters for the first time can choose two commissioners from among the 93 homes on the town’s west side of the Intracoastal Waterway.
    The four other incumbents — Paul Lyons, Scott Morgan, Joan Orthwein and Thomas Stanley — also qualified to run for office. It is the first time Lyons has stood for election. Commissioners chose the then-chairman of the Architectural Review and Planning Board in August to fill the seat of Vice Mayor Robert Ganger, who resigned for health reasons.
    Each voter will choose up to five of the seven candidates. Commissioners are unpaid; their terms last three years.
    O’Boyle and fellow resident Chris O’Hare have filed thousands of public-records requests and dozens of lawsuits against Gulf Stream since spring 2013 after O’Boyle was denied variances for a remodeling project on his Hidden Harbour home.
    “I entered this election to win and effect change, and with the help of the people, I accomplished all goals,” O’Boyle wrote his supporters after his 2014 loss. He got 122 votes that year; the winners received vote totals ranging from 313 to 325.
    Martinez said all the incumbents were doing a good job, but he became a candidate to offer voters a choice.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Town commissioners promised their Place Au Soleil constituents they would throw their weight behind an effort to block Gunther Volvo from building a three-story garage next to them in neighboring Delray Beach.
    “We are extremely concerned about the effect on our community of a vertical, heavy-commercial, vehicular traffic garage,” Chet Snavely, president of the neighborhood’s homeowner association, told commissioners at their Feb. 10 meeting. “It’s clearly an inappropriate proposal.”
    Snavely said the homeowners will be happiest if Gunther relocated the garage to the west side of Federal Highway, where it would back up to railroad tracks instead of abutting a residential area.
    But the dealership could also reposition the structure elsewhere on its property and perhaps make it two stories instead of three, he said.
    Another major concern of Place Au Soleil is a proposed water retention pond with a bottom at 10 feet of elevation surrounded by a 5-foot berm, Snavely said. The floors in the closest house to the dealership are 12 feet above sea level.
    “One of the three cardinal rules of plumbing, I believe, is that water flows downhill. And 15 feet to 12 feet is downhill,” Snavely said.
    The homeowners group met with Volvo representatives Jan. 23 to get information about the project before deciding to strongly oppose it. Also attending were Mayor Scott Morgan, Town Manager William Thrasher and the town’s staff attorney, Trey Nazzaro.
    “Very tall parking garage, lighting on top — no way that could be screened. That was most obvious,” Morgan said at the commission meeting. “The Volvo people said they could screen it some way. They talked about putting plants up the side of the parking garage to look more aesthetically pleasing, but it was pretty obvious it would have a terrible impact.”
    Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize Morgan to send a “strong” letter of opposition to Delray Beach planning officials, who are reviewing the plans, and to confer with Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein and others in hopes of a regional solution.

Penny Davidson, known around South Palm Beach as the town’s unofficial artist-in-residence,

unveiled her latest mosaic on Feb. 24. Davidson has created dozens of public art pieces

installed throughout the town over the years and says this one depicts ‘the warmth and friendliness

of our wonderful town.’ The Town Council honored her with a resolution recognizing her contributions on Feb. 28.

Dan Moffett/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

    Max Lohman continues to impress the Delray Beach city commissioners with his legal knowledge,  leadership skills and willingness to answer their questions. At the Feb. 21 City Commission meeting, he gave the update he promised when he was hired on Nov. 1. He began by praising the support staff of Sue Kiminas and Cathy Inglese. They have been with the city more than 20 years each.
    “They are invaluable,” Lohman said. “They make the office work.”

    That comment went over well with Mayor Cary Glickstein. “I appreciate that you acknowledge the support staff,” he said. “You’re the quarterback that department needs.”
    Lohman also gave kudos to the assistant city attorneys who work for Delray Beach. He is revising the city’s purchasing policy so that it becomes a checklist that an assistant city attorney can review.
    He’s streamlining other procedures to be able to hand them off to the assistant city attorneys.
    Then, Lohman told commissioners what they wanted to hear: His average cost per month was less than $25,000. In the first three months, through Jan. 31, he has billed the city for $74,445.
    January’s bill was higher than average with so many legal needs, Lohman said. He billed a total of $31,741, which included $2,950 for settlement negotiations in the Atlantic Crossing lawsuit.
    Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura said, “You obviously have the technical knowledge and the personality to do the dual role” — acting as the city attorney and running that department.
    Shelly Petrolia thanked him for making her commissioner’s job easier to do.
    Commissioner Mitch Katz said: “A lot of times you tell me what I don’t want to hear. But you are willing to explain why.”
    Lohman replied, “It’s never wrong to ask a question.”

Additional parking will ease a space crunch.

Rendering by Currie Sowards Aguila Architects

By Jane Smith
    
    Presbyterian parishioners will soon have a more comfortable church-going experience on the barrier island.
    The First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach just received city approval for its $3.5 million renovation.
    Four outer, non-historic buildings on its property were demolished in early February. The bulk of the renovation will start in May, a few weeks after Easter, when the church goes on a summer schedule of holding only one service on Sundays, said Senior Pastor Doug Hood.
    “The church has grown so much in the past four years,” Hood said. Parking for services is at a premium, especially for religious holidays.
    In place of the demolished buildings, the church will add 34 parking spaces. “The city has a new code that dictates space between the cars and landscaping,” he said. That’s why the church was disappointed it could not add more parking, he said.
    “We worked on quite a few renovations to make the parking work. Angle parking is a nightmare for churches with people coming and going for services,” architect Jess Sowards told the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board in late January.  “The 90-degree parking works better. It’s the most efficient for churchgoers.”
    During most of the year, the church rents the 135 parking spaces to the beachfront Caffe Luna Rosa for its valet parking operations.
    The church also owns a parking lot on the west side of Gleason Street that it rents to the city for about $1,720 a month.
    The lot has 39 spaces that are restricted to First Presbyterian parishioners on Sunday mornings and all day on five religious holidays, including Christmas and Easter. One space is reserved for the pastor.
    Most of the $3.5 million has been raised and Hood is confident the remaining $400,000 will be acquired. He told a story of how one elderly couple willingly gave $50,000 when they heard the number of restroom stalls would increase from one to four for both men’s and women’s rooms, which are handicapped-accessible.
    The sanctuary will be enlarged and the porte-cochère entrance will be moved to the middle of the south side of the church with a circular driveway. Lowering that driveway will increase the clearance that rescue vehicles need, Sowards told the board.
    “We will be removing the ridge and lowering the entrance,” he said. To make that change, the church needed only permits from the South Florida Water Management District about the quantity of water runoff.
    The building addition and its new roof will match the existing structure of the historic sanctuary, Sowards said.
    The rear parking area will be level to the church entrance to allow parishioners to avoid using stairs to the sanctuary.

By Dan Moffett

    Manalapan town commissioners will be watching election results in Hypoluxo on March 14 with unusual interest — and unusual impatience.
    The resolution of the Hypoluxo mayor’s race will enable the towns to resume talks over a new water contract. Manalapan is hoping to lock its neighbor into a renegotiated long-term deal for services that will solidify the future of the town’s utility system.
    Negotiations came to a standstill in November when long-term Hypoluxo Mayor Ken Schultz died. Manalapan commissioners hope to jump-start talks with Schultz’s successor, either interim incumbent Mike Brown or challenger David Karpinia.
    Manalapan Vice Mayor Peter Isaac says the delays are costing Hypoluxo’s 550 customers.
    “I mean, it’s ridiculous that government stops when there’s an election,” Isaac said during the Feb. 28 town meeting. “They’re losing $1,000 a day.”
    A Manalapan consultant’s report estimated that a revised deal with lower rates on the table since last fall could save Hypoluxo residents roughly $30,000 a month.
    Manalapan Town Manager Linda Stumpf said as soon as the new mayor is seated, she will try to elicit a response to the proposal.
    In other business:
    • Commissioners unanimously approved a landscaping contract for $46,900 with Chris Wayne and Associates of Jupiter to finish the Audubon Causeway bridge project. Wayne was the only bidder, and commissioners are wondering why the town has had problems attracting bids.
    Stumpf said she invited 30 landscaping companies to submit bids, but only eight did. Outgoing Mayor David Cheifetz wondered if the applications are too complicated.
    Town Clerk Lisa Petersen said she would contact the seven companies that didn’t return applications and ask why.
    • Incoming Mayor Keith Waters said he would look into complaints about management of the La Coquille Club and its relationship with the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. Waters said he hoped to have a report ready by the March 28 town meeting.
    • Waters commended Cheifetz, who decided not to run for a third term, for his service, citing his success in guiding Manalapan through some contentious issues.
    “You were able to bring calm, elegance and a certain sense of order to this town,” he told Cheifetz.

By Dan Moffett

    A divided South Palm Beach Town Council grudgingly voted to give itself a modest pay raise on Feb. 28, ending months of vacillation and often spirited debate.
    With final approval of the new ordinance, council members will see their pay rise from $250 to $300 a month and the mayor’s position from $250 to $500.
    The vote was 3-2, with Vice Mayor Joe Flagello and Robert Gottlieb opposing the measure, largely on procedural grounds. Flagello and Gottlieb said the council should take up the raises in workshops during the next budget cycle and then implement them next fiscal year.
    Mayor Bonnie Fischer, at the council’s urging, has changed the mayor’s position to one that is more interactive with other agencies and communities. Fischer has represented the town’s interests as member of an exploratory group looking at coastal fire-rescue systems and also spearheaded the town’s beach stabilization project, working with state, county and local governments.
    “She certainly deserves a pay raise because of how hard she works — countless hours,” Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan said.
The council’s salaries have been frozen since the town went into an economic tailspin during the last recession.
 
    In other business:
    • Town Manager Bob Vitas told the council that he expects an architect’s report on the condition of Town Hall by mid-March and then the council will have to consider one of two courses to take: either develop a plan to renovate the existing building, or demolish it and build a new structure from the ground up. Vitas said he told architect Steven Knight that the town will need some time to make that choice.
    “I told him that I haven’t put a hard brake on this project but I have put a soft brake on it,” the manager said.
    Council members plan to discuss Knight’s findings at the March 28 town meeting.
    • For more than a year, council members have put off deciding whether to give a new contract to Town Attorney Brad Biggs. They passed on the issue again during the February meeting, but at least decided on a format for the attorney’s evaluation form.
Council members said they would schedule a workshop  — time and date to be determined — to evaluate Biggs’ performance and discuss renewing his contract.
    Biggs has been caught in an administrative and political limbo with the town since early last year when Jordan criticized his performance. She said he was slow to respond to the council’s questions and wasn’t aggressive enough in defending the town’s interests during discussions with developers.
    Flagello, however, called Biggs’ work “outstanding” and disputed Jordan’s claim that he was unresponsive.
As part of a new contract proposal, Biggs offered to work out of an office in Town Hall to allow the council more access. He has asked for a raise from $170 an hour to $180.
    • There will be no election in South Palm Beach in March because no candidates came forward to challenge incumbents Fischer, Flagello and Elvadianne Culbertson.
    “I’d like to think it reflects that residents think we’re doing a good job,” said Flagello of the absence of opponents.

 By Dan Moffett

    There will be no March election in Manalapan because all Town Commission candidates went unopposed.
    But residents will see a sweeping overhaul of government leadership just the same.
    Three new commissioners, a new mayor and a new mayor pro tem are expected to be seated before the end of the month.
    Stepping down as mayor is David Cheifetz, who announced in December he wouldn’t be seeking a third term.
    Commissioner Keith Waters, who was appointed to the Seat 7 Manalapan point position in June, will replace Cheifetz after drawing no opposition in the March race.
    Mayor Pro Tem Chauncey Johnstone, holder of the Seat 3 ocean commission seat, and at-large Seat 5 Commissioner Basil Diamond also decided not to seek reelection. Johnstone will be replaced by Jack Doyle and Diamond by Hank Siemon.
    Both Doyle and Siemon are veterans of the town’s Architectural Commission. Doyle assumes Johnstone’s commission seat but not necessarily his mayor pro tem title, which commissioners are expected to fill through appointment during their March 28 meeting.
    Also at that meeting, the commission is expected to appoint someone to take over Seat 7, which Waters vacated when he resigned to run for mayor.
    Vice Mayor Peter Isaac also was unopposed and returns to his point seat for another term.
    Commissioners Clark Appleby, an at-large representative, and ocean seat holder Simone Bonutti aren’t up for reelection until next year.
    Waters, 57, and wife Valerie moved to Manalapan in 2006. He served on the Architectural Commission from 2007-12, and on the town’s Zoning Commission from 2012-16.
    Waters is chairman and CEO of WPO Development, a national planning and campaign management company that works with nonprofit groups. Originally from Kentucky, he worked in broadcasting with CBS Sports before coming to Florida. Waters holds a communications degree from the University of Kentucky and earned a master’s degree from the University of Miami.
    Among the first orders of business for Waters will be helping to chart the future for the town’s water utility system. Manalapan wants to renegotiate a long-term contract to sell water services to Hypoluxo, and in recent months the new mayor has supported an aggressive approach for getting the deal done. Waters also has been a strong backer of efforts to bring a Publix supermarket to Plaza del Mar.

By Jane Smith

    Delray Beach, which had three lawyers on its five-member City Commission, will lose that majority with the March 14 election.
    No lawyers are running for two open seats.
    Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura, general counsel at Gulf Building in Fort Lauderdale, changed her mind about running for re-election.
    “As a newlywed, having married during my time in office and with starting my position as a general counsel, I need to balance my personal and professional lives with my service as a commissioner,” Jarjura wrote in a late January email to her supporters.  
    She called the commission’s inability to appoint a fifth commissioner to replace Al Jacquet a low point. Jacquet, also a lawyer, resigned his seat Nov. 8 after being elected as a state representative.
    On March 14, Delray Beach voters will select two, three-year commissioners from among candidates with a variety of backgrounds and financial support. The city does not hold a runoff election if a candidate fails to reach 50 percent plus one. The candidate with the most votes wins. Voting is citywide, even though the seats are for two districts.
    For Seat 2, Harvard-educated Jim Chard had both public and private sector working experience in the Northeast before he retired to Delray Beach.
    He has served on the Congress Avenue Task Force, the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board and the city’s steering committee for its comprehensive plan rewrite. If he’s elected, Chard will have to step down from SPRAB and the comprehensive plan steering committee.
    He called himself the “intern emeritus” at a candidate forum, sponsored by the Beach Property Owners Association on Feb. 22.
    For the barrier island, he told the forum that the dunes on the east and crumbling seawalls on the west are its most pressing issues, along with cleanliness of the beach, lack of parking and proliferation of sober homes throughout the city.
    He raised $36,095 as of Feb. 10, the latest campaign contribution report available. That amount, which includes a $10,000 candidate loan, puts Chard at the top of the candidates for money raised.
    His contributors read like a who’s-who of Delray Beach: $1,000 from Scott Porten, $500 from Bob Victorin and $250 from Andy Katz, all three executives of the BPOA; $1,000 from Woo Creative, whose owner, Ryan Boylston, is chairman of the city’s Downtown Development Authority and an owner of the Delray Newspaper, which endorsed Chard; $500 from Jeff Perlman, a former Delray Beach mayor who is an owner of the Delray Newspaper and an employee of Carl DeSantis, who still has a stake in the Atlantic Crossing project; and $250 from Reginald Cox & Associates, the architectural firm owned by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency chairman. His campaign treasurer, Jim Smith, donated $100.
    Chard’s closest financial competitor is Kelly Barrette, a relative newcomer to Delray Beach. She raised $15,995, including a $4,000 personal loan. She and her husband, Jack, moved to Delray Beach five years ago.
    Barrette, who graduated from Tufts University, became immersed in Delray Beach and started a Facebook page called TakeBackDelrayBeach. She wants to stop the proliferation of unregulated sober homes and incompatible development in the city.
    She also told the candidate forum that parking is a big challenge during the season and flooding along the Intracoastal Waterway needs to be addressed.
    Her contributors include Anthony Petrolia, husband of current City Commissioner Shelly Petrolia, who donated $100, and Commissioner Mitch Katz, who gave $100; Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, donated $100; Price Patton, a retired news editor and founding partner of The Coastal Star, gave $500; and Smith, Chard’s treasurer, donated $100.
    Two other candidates who were born in Haiti are the other challengers for Seat 2.
    Anneze Barthelemy holds a master’s degree in social work from Barry University and has worked with the state Department of Children & Families. She told the candidate forum that the city needs representation from the African- and Haitian-American communities.
    The biggest challenge she sees is the growth of the city. During the season, the city is overwhelmed with tourists, making it difficult for full-time residents to move around the city, she told the candidate forum. She also said Delray’s roads and alleys need to be safe and that the beach should be preserved.
    Her father, Otes, retired after 25 years from his job with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.
    She has led several mission trips to Haiti and is working on her dissertation in theology.
    Barthelemy has raised $2,480 for her campaign, including $1,050 in personal loans.
    The last competitor, Richard Alteus, has a public safety background, according to his campaign website. He said the city’s top issues are unregulated sober homes, emphasis on public safety, improving pedestrian safety and solving traffic problems from the overdevelopment of Delray.
    He raised $1,030 in contributions, as of Feb. 10. Alteus did not participate in the Beach Property Owners candidate forum.
    The race for Seat 4 pits Shirley Johnson against Josh Smith Jr.
    Johnson, a retired IBM administrator, has the support of the Northwest and Southwest neighborhoods. She has lived in the city for 38 years.
    Her financial backers include former City Commissioner Angie Gray, who donated $200; two current board members of the city’s CRA, lawyer Herman Stevens with a $100 contribution and architect Reginald Cox with a $500 contribution; $1,000 from Porten and $500 from Victorin, executives of the group that sponsored the forum; and $100 from retired educator Yvonne Odom, who also applied to fill Jacquet’s seat. Johnson was endorsed by the Delray Newspaper for Seat 4.
    She raised a total of $5,308, as of Feb. 10. The amount includes two self-donations of $1,250.
    Johnson’s platforms are sober homes regulation, sustainable growth and losing the politics and listening to the people. The last issue was raised when the City Commission was tied at 2-2 and could not pick a replacement for Jacquet.
    Her competitor for Seat 2, Smith, is a retired educator who has lived in the city for 51 years.
    Last fall, he was the choice of Commissioners Katz and Petrolia.
    Smith raised $6,595, including a $200 self-donation, as of Feb. 10. His notable contributors include Anthony Petrolia, who donated $500; frequent commission critic Ken MacNamee and his wife, who gave $1,000; Marine Way resident Nancy MacManus donated $150; and Seaside Builders contributed $500.
    The biggest issues that he sees facing Delray Beach are unregulated sober homes that are straining the budgets of the city police and fire rescue departments; improving public safety to allow residents to move around safely; and focusing on fixing the city’s seawalls, building sidewalks in neighborhoods near schools and paving alleys in some neighborhoods.
    He wants to unify the residents of Delray Beach after last fall’s divisive national election.

    Ocean Ridge’s elections will fill the Town Commission seat held by James Bonfiglio and an open seat formerly held by Richard Lucibella, who resigned in December. The term length is three years.

Profiles compiled by Steven J. Smith

Richard Bajakian
    Personal: 59; graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in biology; graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where he received his M.D.; 26-year resident of Ocean Ridge; engaged.

    Professional: Currently practices as a neuroradiologist, a subspecialty of radiology; worked at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis from 1991-2001; opened his own imaging center, MRI Specialists, in Boynton Beach in 2002.    

    Political experience: Has never been elected to public office, but served for 10 years on the Ocean Ridge Planning and Zoning Commission.

    Positions on issues: Strong local police force; keeping taxes down; wants a small-town feeling to the community; wants to protect property values; concerned with how activities in other communities might infringe upon Ocean Ridge; wants to maintain natural resources and respond to needs of the community.

    Quote: “My goal is to represent my town’s interest as best as possible and look out for the interests of all the people in Ocean Ridge.”

James Bonfiglio
(incumbent)
    Personal: 63; degrees in history and political science from the University of Rochester; law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, 30-year resident of Ocean Ridge; divorced, no children.

    Professional: Practicing law in Florida since 1979, specializing in mortgage foreclosure defense work for the last 30 years.    
Political experience: Member of the Ocean Ridge Town Commission since 2014; currently the town’s vice mayor.

     Positions on issues: Cleaning up the Woolbright retention pond; road paving; improving radio communications system for the police force; building reserves in the budget for unforeseen circumstances; hooking up south-end communities of town to a sewer system; attending to flooding issues in the north end of town.

    Quote: “We have a pretty good town balance now. We have $156,000 currently in our contingency fund and we’ve allocated $180,000 in capital projects for our road-paving program. We have, I think, $2.5 million in reserves, which is 50 percent of our operating budget. I’d like to get that up a little more, because that’s what we draw on for emergencies. I’m a lawyer and the Town Commission needs a lawyer to help it through these difficult times.”

Don MaGruder
    Personal: 74; MBA in business administration from the University of Miami; resident of Ocean Ridge for 31 years; married, two adult children.

    Professional: 34 years as director of administration for five law firms around the state.

    Political experience: Never elected to political office, but is a current member of the Ocean Ridge Board of Adjustment.

    Positions on issues: Maintain small-town ambiance; oversee the town’s drainage system to check the rising sea levels and ensure flood control; wants license tag recognition cameras installed to maintain security; need police ATV beach patrols for weekends and holidays; concerned with potential overdevelopment in the south end of town.

    Quote: “I’ve attended almost every meeting in Ocean Ridge over the 31 years I’ve been here, so I’m in sync with what’s going on. I believe it’s time for me to give back to my community. That’s why I’m running.”

Nan Yablong
    Personal: 65; master’s degree from Boston University in nursing; resident of Ocean Ridge for six years; married; two children.

    Professional: Served as RN CEO of a health management company for five years.

    Political experience: None.

    Positions on issues: Sees a need for developing and organizing standards of performance in job descriptions for all town employees; wants to maintain quality of life; secure a stable economic future.

    Quote: “We need a mechanism to do performance evaluations for Ocean Ridge town employees that is accurate and can be used in hiring and termination practices. It’s also important to maintain the unique and beautiful seaside quality of our town. I want to represent everyone in our town. There have been times in the past when our Town Commission did not do that. I look forward to a bright future for our town.”

By Mary Thurwachter

    Lantana said no to a crossing agreement with Florida East Coast Railway and All Aboard Florida.
    “This has to do with a second line for All Aboard Florida that they are going to be running through our town,” Mayor Dave Stewart explained during the Town Council’s Feb. 13 meeting, at which the council voted 3-2 against the agreement.
    Tequesta and Lantana are the only two municipalities involved in Palm Beach County that have not signed agreements. Municipalities that have signed are Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.
    Neil Schiller, the attorney representing All Aboard Florida, said the town already has a crossing agreement with Florida East Coast Railway, which owns the property where the railroad crossings are (one at West Ocean Avenue and the other at Finlandia Boulevard and West Central Boulevard).
    “Because Mr. (Henry) Flagler was here so much earlier than all of us, he owns that property and, for cities to cross the property, they have these crossing agreements,” Schiller said. “There are a multitude of crossing agreements from the Keys all the way north to Jacksonville. Some are as old as 1896 and some are as recent as 1958. But they are still in effect.”
    He said that All Aboard Florida, an express passenger rail service that will eventually connect Miami to Orlando, is a sister company to Florida East Coast Railway.
    “I have been hired to have all the municipalities that have crossing agreements with FEC to add All About Florida as a third-party beneficiary,” Schiller said.
    By adding a third-party beneficiary, he said, costs for initial improvements made on the crossings to accommodate the new train would be covered by All Aboard Florida. Each municipality would pick up costs after that.
    Without the third-party beneficiary contract, if something needs to be done on the tracks, All Aboard Florida would have to go through FECR, which would then call the town.
    “We want to be able to work directly with the town,” Schiller said. “FECR is very difficult sometimes, so we want to eliminate that step.”
    Schiller said All Aboard Florida is supporting efforts to create quiet zones in the construction phase of the project.
    Council member Malcolm Balfour said the proposed agreement wasn’t fair.
    “After the first 10 or 11 years, we’ll have to pick up the tab for the maintenance costs, and that seems unfair because we didn’t ask for a 79-mile-per-hour railroad to come through our town. …It’s not going to do anything for Lantana, and that just worries me.”
    Schiller said he appreciated Balfour’s comments, “but the project is occurring. We’re starting this summer. Some of the new trains have been delivered and we’re already testing them.
    “Not signing the agreement doesn’t mean the project is dead,” Schiller said. “Not signing this agreement means we are going to write you a bill for the improvements that were made for the crossings, and we have every right to do that.”
    Stewart showed a railroad plan from 2009 and said the railroad had “a dog and pony show” then and listed where all the railroad stations would be, including Lantana.
    “They were going to be bringing people, we were going to have businesses and there were people in town who owned properties they kept from improving because they thought there was going to be a new train station,” Stewart said. “What happened to 2009? This is what was sold to us.”
    Schiller said the 2009 plan, which he had not seen, wasn’t All Aboard Florida.
    Stewart, Balfour and Council member Philip Aridas voted no to the crossing agreement. Council members Tom Deringer and Lynn Moorhouse voted for it.
    “I don’t have to like it to know it’s in the best interest of the town,” Moorhouse said.
    “This is kind of where we’re at from what the Flagler legacy is telling us,” Stewart said. “We either sign the agreement or you are going to bill us for the work you’ve already done for a rail line that we have no say in and that we will have no impact, no income from.”
    Schiller said the decision to bill the town would be up to his client.
    Over the years, Stewart said, the town had been paying for improvements and maintenance and the right to run water and sewer lines under the tracks.
    “I understand that,” he said. “But there have been a couple of things I asked for. How about the sidewalk and bicycle lane alongside U.S. 1 so that we can make U.S. 1 safer. Have there been any agreements on that?”
    Although Schiller said he had been working toward agreements and to coordinate the best and most expedient way to make that happen, he didn’t have a definitive answer for the mayor.
    At the town’s Feb. 27 meeting, the council voted to invite representatives of All Aboard Florida to return to once again discuss the crossing agreement. This passed by a 3-1 vote with the mayor dissenting. Aridas thought the matter should be discussed more and was able to get Moorhouse and Balfour to agree. Deringer was absent.
    Bringing the attorney back may be pointless, though.
    “There’s not anything to come back for,’’ Town Attorney Max Lohman said. “They’re not going to make any concessions.’’

    Lantana voters will choose from two candidates for each of two council seats. The town has no term limits. Term is three years.

Council Group 3

Tom Deringer
(incumbent)
    Personal: 63; attended the University of Kentucky, but did not graduate; 36-year resident of Lantana; married; two children, seven grandchildren.

    Professional: Worked in sales for General Tire and in 1993 started Palm Beach Tire; still owns company.

    Political experience: Has served for 15 years on the Lantana Town Council.

    Positions on issues: Concerned with which businesses will go into the Water Tower Commons project; interested in preserving the condition of roads in the town; wants to keep taxes down.

    Quote: “I want to make sure that new development keeps coming in to give us more of a tax base to clean up the town and that our roads are in good shape. I like smart growth. We don’t need high-rises, like some of our neighboring communities. I’d like Lantana to stay a small town and I want to work toward that goal.”

Edward Shropshire
    Personal: 64; attended several junior colleges, but did not graduate; 28-year resident of Lantana; married, one child.

    Professional: Works for Cemex, a building materials company; works part time as a defensive driving instructor and has served as a local union rep.

    Political experience: Alternate on the Planning Commission, but has held no political office.

    Positions on issues: Wants controlled development and to maintain Lantana’s small-town ambiance.

    Quote: “I want to upgrade Lantana’s town services such as the building department, code enforcement and Police Department. I want to maintain a quality standard of life.”

Council Group 4

Philip Aridas
(incumbent)
    Personal: 62; graduated from Lincoln Technical Institute in Union, N.J., with a diploma in air-conditioning, refrigeration and heating; 33-year resident of Lantana; divorced; no children.

    Professional: Currently a Palm Beach County park ranger since 2012.

    Political experience: Current member of the Lantana Town Council; sat on Ocean Reef Task Force; served as chairman of the Lantana Chamber of Commerce.

    Positions on issues: Wants the Water Tower Commons project completed responsibly with businesses and amenities that will benefit the town; relocating the Police Department to a larger facility; keeping parks, beaches and public areas and the nature center on Hypoluxo Island updated; street improvements; beach restroom upgrades; road striping.

    Quote: “Lantana is one of the last true seaside communities and it’s my goal to make sure it stays that way.”

Suzanne Gordon
    Personal: 38; graduated from FAU with a degree in business (marketing); Lantana resident for 13 years; married; one child.

    Professional: Worked for Regis, a Fortune 500 company, from 2010-2013 as its South Florida district manager; member of the National Association of Realtors from 2013-present; currently a stay-at-home mother.

    Political experience: None.

    Positions on issues: Safety in the community; bringing in more local businesses; improving the local economy; maintaining local beaches, parks and preserves.

    Quote: “I would like to be a voice for our community and help preserve our town.”

By Dan Moffett

    Ocean Ridge voters will select two town commissioners from a field of four candidates running in the March 14 municipal election.
    All are familiar faces in the community.
    Incumbent Vice Mayor James Bonfiglio is seeking a second three-year term and faces challenges from Richard Bajakian, a Planning and Zoning Commission member, Don MaGruder, a frequent contributor to town meetings, and Nan Yablong, who played a leading role in the unsuccessful recall effort against former Commissioner Richard Lucibella.
    It was Lucibella’s resignation as vice mayor, stemming from an altercation with police at his home in October, that left the commission shorthanded with four members and helped draw the three political newcomers into the race.
    The top two vote-getters will fill the open seats.
    Bonfiglio, a foreclosure and real estate attorney, joined the commission in 2014 with Lucibella, and the two became political allies, supporting the ouster of then Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi and the appointment of current Chief Hal Hutchins. Bonfiglio opposed the 2015 recall campaign against Lucibella launched by Yablong and other Yannuzzi supporters who objected to his removal.
    Yablong helped gather hundreds of signatures calling for a recall election, but a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge sided with Lucibella and killed the movement, ruling the petitions legally insufficient. Yablong claimed that Lucibella was guilty of malfeasance in office and had caused embarrassment to the town.
    “I had lost confidence in a commissioner who would open our town to hundreds of thousands of dollars in liabilities,” Yablong testified during a court hearing.
    During the dispute, Bonfiglio said he “had a hard time finding anyone who would say good things about Yannuzzi,” and later credited Hutchins with “doing a great job of improving the morale in the department.”
    Bonfiglio served for a decade on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, leaving as its chair to run for commissioner. He was a leading opponent on the commission against the Sivitilli family’s continued commercial use of its building at 5011 N. Ocean Blvd.
    Bajakian, a radiologist, also has a background in planning and zoning, joining the board as a regular member in 2012 after serving as an alternate since 2006. He has been an advocate of increasing the town’s floor area ratio, a measure of development density. Bajakian believes a higher FAR increases the town’s tax base and helps attract younger and larger families.
    MaGruder, a current member of the Ocean Ridge Board of Adjustment, is a frequent contributor to discussions during town meetings. He has been a supporter of license plate recognition cameras for police and tightening security measures throughout the town.
    MaGruder has criticized officials for not doing a better job of forcing contractors to fence their construction sites and clean up debris. In recent months, he has successfully lobbied commissioners to fix drainage and overgrowth problems at the Woolbright Road detention/retention pond.

Candidate forum
    The office-seekers will take questions from the public at a candidates’ forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters, on March 9, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Town Hall.

    The city of Delray Beach’s municipal election will take place March 14, as six candidates will compete for two seats on the City Commission. The winners will serve three-year terms.  Despite many phone calls and emails, seat 2 candidate Richard Alteus did not respond to our requests for information.

Profiles compiled by Steven J. Smith

Commission Seat 2

Kelly Barrette
    Personal: 54; graduated from Tufts University with a degree in English; five-year resident of Delray Beach; married, no children.

    Professional: Owned an art gallery in Boston for 15 years then worked as an art consultant for another five years.

    Political experience: Never elected to public office, but volunteered on local political campaigns and with nonprofits such as the Delray Beach Historical Society, the Achievement Centers for Children and Families and the Sandoway Discovery Center, of which she is a board member. Has been outspoken proponent of sober home reform. Also worked with the Florida Coalition for Preservation and the Delray Beach Preservation Trust.

    Positions on issues: Regulation for sober homes; compatible development; quality of life; preserving and protecting neighborhoods; infrastructure.

    Quote: “I want to do everything in my power to make Delray the most difficult place to open a sober home, instead of the easiest place, which it is. I hear the same refrain, which is that residents don’t feel they’re being listened to on development and our neighborhoods. My priority would be to listen to resident-driven agenda. I’m also endorsed by two sitting commissioners, Commissioner Shelly Petrolia and Deputy Vice Mayor Mitch Katz.”

Anneze Barthelemy
    Personal: 39; graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work from Florida International University and a master’s in social work from Barry University, currently completing her doctorate in ministry at the University of Fort Lauderdale; 12-year resident of Delray Beach; unmarried.

    Professional: President and CEO of Rapha Family Services from 2007-present. Founded Anneze Barthelemy Consulting, LLC in 2010, which serves as a consulting company for churches, leaders and individuals wanting a faith-based social services agency.

    Political experience: Served as an adviser to Sen. Daphne Campbell of the Florida Senate and assisted in her election.

    Positions on issues: Reducing the number of sober homes; affordable housing; responsible development of commercial property; economic development; job creation; transportation and safety.

    Quote: “I believe that I possess the strengths that will be an asset to the city of Delray and the residents. As a social worker, my whole career has been about serving, advocating and defending those who are not able to defend themselves. I have the personality, commitment and leadership skills that will unite, encourage and empower the commission to work for the betterment of our city.”

Jim Chard
    Personal: 70; graduated from Pomona College with a degree in government and got master’s degrees in city planning and business administration from Harvard University; 15-year resident of Delray Beach; unmarried; two children, four grandchildren.

    Professional: Retired for the last five years. Over three decades of experience in management, finance, budgetary, economic development and community involvement in both the private and public sectors. Ran offices for three New York City mayors and ran that city’s largest agency, the Human Resources Administration; also headed several successful high tech startups, including a local one, JumpStart Wireless.

    Political experience: None, but has been involved in city matters for the last five years as a volunteer and serves on a City Commission advisory board.

    Positions on issues: Responsible administration of sober homes; the rise in drug addiction, homelessness and crime; addressing crumbling infrastructure; lopsided tax base; job opportunities for younger generation.

    Quote: “I’d like to get the sober home issue under control and under management. I’m not looking for any endorsements from any commissioners up on the dais who might tell me how to vote. I want to be known as someone who comes at each issue fresh, someone who does his own research and someone who makes his own decisions.”

Commission Seat 4

Shirley Johnson
    Personal: 70; has a political science degree from Howard University; 38-year resident of Delray Beach; married, two children, three grandchildren.

    Professional: Retired. Worked in management and systems analysis at IBM for 26 years, from 1971-1997.

    Political experience: None, but helped start the Paradise Heights Homeowners Association and was its president from 1997-2000.

    Positions on issues: Safe neighborhoods; establishing sober home regulations; maintaining historic preservation; establishing sustainable growth.

    Quote: “I am going to be a commissioner who will be available to listen to all parties involved in my city. My slogan is ‘Lose the politics and listen to the people.’ ”

Josh Smith Jr.
    Personal: 76; has a doctorate in educational administration and leadership from Florida Atlantic University; 51-year resident of Delray Beach; divorced; two children.

    Professional: Retired from job as administrator in the Palm Beach County School District, 1962-1994.

    Political experience: Ran for Delray Beach commission in 2015.

    Positions on issues: Sober home administration; safety; overdevelopment in some areas and a lack of development in others; infrastructure deterioration; traffic and parking problems.

    Quote: “Sober homes have wreaked havoc on our city and placed a strain on our police and fire departments, with drug overdoses and deaths at a big cost to taxpayers. My first priority is for the protection of our neighborhoods and the quality of life our residents want and richly deserve. There is nothing wrong with our city that cannot be corrected by what is right about our city — and the right makeup of our commission.”

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes Mayor Mike Hill says the Town Council doesn’t need him anymore and his grandchildren in the Midwest do. So it’s time to go.
    Hill announced his resignation Feb. 23, and with a wave and a smile, told council members he’d “had enough fun” working with them the last three years.
    “I’m not moving, I’m staying where I am [in Briny Breezes],” Hill said. “But we’ve got some very well-qualified people on this panel now, and these are people who probably can devote more time to the issues that are facing the town than I can.”
    Council President Sue Thaler credited Hill, 69, with helping the town break in an inexperienced group of officials and staff after Roger Bennett left the mayor’s position in 2013.
    With a long career as a lawyer and service as an elected official in Highland Beach, Hill guided the council through some tough issues — such as switching to Boynton Beach from Ocean Ridge for police service, developing new golf cart operation rules and placing restrictions on truck traffic.
    “You stepped up to fill the role of mayor when Roger retired,” Thaler told Hill. “You did an outstanding job. Thank you for your service.”
    Hill said he wants to spend more time with his 11 grandchildren and family in Illinois. His wife, Shirley Smith-Hill, died unexpectedly at age 66 a year ago.
    “I want to thank my colleagues and the people of the town of Briny Breezes for letting me serve as your mayor for the last few years,” Hill said.
    Thaler said the council hopes to appoint a replacement soon, perhaps as early as the March 23 meeting. The rest of the Town Council lineup remains unchanged, after no candidates filed to challenge incumbents Thaler and Jim McCormick, whose seats were up for contest in the March 14 election.
    “Not having an election saves us between $7,000 and $8,000,” Thaler said.
    In other business:
    • The town and corporation are planning to work together on an initiative to improve the safety of golf carts and ensure that those used in Briny are properly registered. An older model, gasoline-powered cart caught fire Feb. 14 on Cardinal Drive, damaging the street pavement and a couple of front yards. Alderman Bobby Jurovaty and Thaler say the town wants golf carts to be equipped with fire extinguishers and wants their owners to keep carts mechanically sound. Enforcing registration will help promote that, they say.
    “I’d like to see that as soon as possible,” Jurovaty said.
    • It’s been close to two years since the council started getting serious about putting a golf cart crossing at A1A and Cordova. Progress this year has been slow, but there has been some.
    Boynton Beach police have completed a survey of bicycle and pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk, and the council hopes to use it to convince the Florida Department of Transportation that a crossing won’t compromise safety.
    The project still has a chance to begin later this year.

    Two Lantana Council members will face opposition from political newcomers in the March 14 election.
    Vice Mayor Philip Aridas, who has served on the council since 2011, is being challenged by Suzanne Gordon, 38. She is a stay-at-home mom and Realtor.
    Aridas, 62, is a park ranger.
    Vice Mayor Pro Tem Tom Deringer, who has been on the council since 2002, is being opposed by Edward Shropshire, 64. He is a council watcher, works for a building materials company, is a defensive driving instructor and has worked as a local union representative.
    Deringer, 63, owns Palm Beach Tire, a company he founded in 1993.
    Two large projects Lantana’s Town Council will be keeping tabs on this year are construction of the mixed-use Water Tower Commons development, just east of I-95 on Lantana Road, and construction of Aura Seaside rental units and office space just north of Hypoluxo Road on the east side of Dixie Highway (the former home of the Cenacle retreat house).
    The council will also be coordinating sidewalk improvements on Broadway and north of Lantana Road along North Eighth Street, overseeing roadway repaving  and restriping and refurbishing the former Department of Juvenile Justice building on North 8th Street for future Police Department headquarters.
— Mary Thurwachter

Meet the candidates
    The Lantana Chamber of Commerce will be hosting two pre-election events.
    A debate is set for 7 p.m. March 7 at the Lantana Recreation Center, 418 S. Dixie Highway.
    A Candidates Meet and Greet Luncheon will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 9 at the Old Key Lime House, 300 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana. Attendees will pay for their lunch.

Dorinda Burroughs and her therapy dog, Ginny, work with children

in the after-school program at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Dorinda Burroughs dedicated much of her career to improving children’s lives — working with students with learning, social, emotional and medical needs. Since retiring in 2015, she’s found a way to still make a difference, only now she’s doing it with a little help from a four-legged friend.
    On Wednesday afternoons, the Ocean Ridge woman and her therapy dog, Ginny, head to Paul’s Place — the after-school program of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach — where they spend an hour visiting with the children.
    At the beginning of the year, Burroughs contacted the church’s pastor and Kathy Fazio, the director of Paul’s Place, and asked if she and Ginny could volunteer.
    “When I approached them, they had never done anything like this before,” Burroughs said. “Some of the children were really frightened of dogs and had had bad experiences. So, I sit on the floor with them and we work through their fears or talk through the bad experiences, and usually by the end they’re petting Ginny and giving her hugs or brushing her.”
    Burroughs and Ginny, a 2-year-old golden retriever, usually see six to eight children per visit. Burroughs had the children read books about golden retrievers, and now she plans to have the children keep a journal about their experiences with Ginny.
    Paul’s Place, which was started in 2000, serves a Haitian-American population, with children ranging upward in age from 6 years old. All expenses are covered by fundraising, and volunteers keep expenses down.
    The children come Monday through Friday, 2:30 to 7 p.m. They have a snack, are tutored, and participate in activities such as music, art and sports. Before heading home, they have a hot dinner.
    On Wednesdays, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., they have fun with Burroughs and Ginny.
    “I think having them visit our children has taught them a whole new level of loving and caring for something,” said Fazio. “Ginny has become the mascot of this after-school program. We have a whole bulletin board now that’s dedicated to Ginny, with pictures from weekly visits, and research on golden retrievers.”
    Burroughs only recently started her therapy work with Ginny. But since April 2015, even before she had Ginny, it’s something Burroughs knew she wanted to do. Her granddaughter Reagan, who was 3½ at the time, was being treated in Washington, D.C., for a stage II cancerous tumor on her brain stem.
    One day, when Burroughs was at the hospital with Reagan (who just turned 5 and is cancer free), it was “Doggie Day.”
    “I saw firsthand how the dogs just knew instinctively how to cheer and comfort the children,” said Burroughs, 64. “I saw the children really light up, and forget about their situation, and that they were in the hospital.”
    At the time, she had a very old golden retriever that wasn’t a candidate to be a therapy dog, and eventually had to be put to sleep. So, Burroughs and her husband, Benton, began their search for a new dog. They adopted Ginny, a well-bred but neglected rescue dog, in December 2015, just before her first birthday. 
    “She was just a really sweet, active and fun-loving girl, so we knew right away when we saw her that it was the right thing to do,” said Burroughs.
    About the same time, Burroughs retired and was able to pursue her goal of forming a therapy dog team. She and Ginny received their Canine Good Citizens training and therapy dog training early last year from Fur Life K9 Training Academy in Jupiter Farms. They continued training in northern Virginia — where Burroughs and her husband live part of the year — and received their therapy dog certification from PAL (People. Animals. Love.) in Washington, D.C., this past fall. 
    Besides visiting nursing homes, memory care centers, and the Armed Forces Retirement Home, they have worked with PAWS for Reading, the after-school and library program of PAL, where children, often ESL students, can improve their reading skills by reading aloud to a nonjudgmental therapy dog.
    Burroughs also has taken and passed a pet handler’s course through Pet Partners, a nationwide group that certifies dogs for clinical settings. Her ultimate goal is to work with Ginny at Inova Children’s Hospital in Falls Church, Va.  where her desire to work with a therapy dog originated.
She expects to achieve that goal this summer or fall as Ginny gets more experienced and matures, and can take her exams for the Pet Partners certification.
    Helping children was always at the heart of Burroughs’ professional life. She worked for 15 years as a learning disabilities and behavior specialist with the Fairfax County public school system in northern Virginia.
    The last 20 years of her career, she worked as an educational psychologist and consultant at a large pediatric practice in the town of Fairfax, working with children who had medical needs, and with their families.
    Burroughs, who has four children and three grandchildren, looks forward to having her husband join her and Ginny in their volunteer work, once he retires.
    “There’s a great deal of science and research that shows that when sick children or adults can have positive interactions with dogs, they feel better,” said Burroughs. “It just gives them a lot of joy.”
— Marie Puleo

    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. I grew up in a very small town in Mississippi after spending the first five years of my life in Michigan when my dad was in the Air Force. I attended Mississippi State University, and later the University of Virginia for graduate school. Growing up in a rural area, where everyone knew each other, with strong ties to church and community, certainly shaped me.

    Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of? 
    A. I was a learning disabilities and behavior specialist. I was a consultant at a large pediatric practice. I had many professional joys working with special-needs students and their families, including piloting immersion programs in the late ’80s and ’90s that helped integrate these students into the general education population.
    At the pediatric practice, I evaluated students and wrote programs for them with a team of other specialists. I still communicate with many of my past students and their families. Knowing that I had an impact on their lives and seeing them succeed is truly a gift.
    One of the proudest periods I have had was when my husband, Benton, and I chaired a capital campaign to raise funds (during the recession) for a new Ronald McDonald House in Washington, D.C. We raised nearly $6 million to build the house debt-free. My husband did much of the legal work pro bono. I served on the Ronald McDonald House board for 16 years, the last two as board chair.

    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
    A. It is really important to learn what you don’t want to do, just as much as it is knowing what you will love to do. Try out all sorts of jobs while you are young and develop diverse skill sets.

    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
    A. We found Ocean Ridge in 2002 and are here seasonally, as well as off and on throughout the year. We love the small village atmosphere and the geographic location in Palm Beach County, as well as the convenience to Palm Beach International Airport. People are friendly and welcoming.

    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
    A. The people we have as friends and those friends who walk dogs on Old Ocean Boulevard.

    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A. Classical and instrumental jazz.

    Q. Do you have favorite quotes that inspire your decisions?
    A. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make,” from Jane Goodall. Also “To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and whole heart and a free mind,” from Pearl S. Buck.

    Q. Have you had mentors in your life?
    A. My parents and grandmothers. They all instilled the importance of education, family, faith and service.

    Q. If your life story were made into a movie, whom would you want to play you?
    A. Annette Bening, for her grace and serenity.

    Q.  Is there something about you that most people don’t know but may be interested to know?
    A. I love to try to imitate different accents. I have a very Southern accent and I once had a communications class whereby a professor made us take on different accents and personas. I also journal and write down funny things I hear when I’m out and about. I may compile it into a book. I also want to write a children’s book about Ginny and our therapy work.

By Jane Smith

    The iPic development team is asking Delray Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency for more money, even though it has not closed on its contract to buy the 1.6 acres for $3.6 million from the agency.
    The seventh amended contract had a Jan. 31 deadline, but the agency’s attorney said the contract was still valid. The closing date will be 30 days after iPic secures all of its permits, according to the CRA attorney.
    For the proposed eight-screen, luxury movie theater at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Federal Highway, iPic wants to charge the Delray Beach CRA for its share of operating and maintaining 90 public parking spaces in the project’s garage.
    That annual cost was not adjusted for inflation, which the iPic owners want.
    Then, the theater owners want to be repaid for providing 40 extra spaces, required by the city for a total of 90, with $400,000 in tax dollars spread over 10 years after the project is finished.
    The 90 public spaces could be sold to the CRA as space for condos, iPic’s attorney said. That price was not revealed at the Feb. 23 CRA meeting, nor was information provided on how that concept would work.
    The four board members agreed to let their staff and the iPic attorneys continue negotiating and bring it back at their March 9 meeting. The board members received only partial details at 2 p.m. on their meeting day.
    At the start of the Feb. 23 meeting, iPic’s attorney, Bonnie Miskel, said, “My client bid on a proposal that required 50 public parking spaces.”
    The iPic CEO also attended. “We were supposed to build 50 spaces, now we are building 40 extra parking spaces,” said Hamid Hashemi.
    The Delray Beach City Commission had to approve the project, which it did in March 2016.
     “Specifically, the developer, at the time of receiving approval, understood and agreed to construct an additional (40) spaces to correct what was, in my view, a flawed request for proposal in this regard,” Mayor Cary Glickstein wrote in an email on Feb. 24. He voted for the project.
    Commissioner Shelly Petrolia, who voted against the approval, attended the Feb. 23 CRA meeting.
    “I was shocked at what I witnessed at the CRA meeting,” she said. “I had no idea that additional incentives were in the mix when they got such a sweetheart deal on the property and the alleys for free.”
    CRA Chairman Reggie Cox said, “The extra spaces were agreed to. … At this point in the project you want to recoup some of that cost, I understand that.”
    But that incentive of taxpayer dollars is not sitting well with some Delray Beach residents.
    “It is commonly accepted in Delray Beach that development east of Swinton Avenue does not need to be subsidized by taxpayers,” said real estate broker Chris Davey. “The CRA should take revenue from that area and use it in the northwest and southwest communities.”
    Davey voted against iPic in July 2015 when he was on the city’s Planning & Zoning Board. At that meeting, he said, “They are trying to put 10 pounds of something into a 5-pound bag.”
    With a projected completion date of 2020, the iPic complex will contain a 44,479-square-foot movie theater, 43,880 square feet of Class A office space, 7,487 square feet of retail and a multilevel parking garage with 326 spaces. The bottom two floors will have 90 public spaces that are metered. The city will collect that revenue.
    The CRA staff and iPic have been negotiating the parking cost sharing agreement since December. Initially, iPic had asked for $460,000 annually, which was reduced to $115,348 after taxes and debt service were eliminated.

    The CRA’s consultant, PMG Associates of Deerfield Beach, recommended paying $74,996 annually with just $50 set aside for reserves. The consultant based the amount on a new garage that Fort Lauderdale is building at its beach. It’s a municipal garage but with added touches, said Phil Gonot of PMG.