Colorful: Long before tourists celebrated their travels by posting selfie photos on social media, picture postcards were the rage. ABOVE: From the Rainbow Tropical Gardens, a Boynton Beach attraction from the 1920s to the1950s. BELOW RIGHT: A historic postcard from Delray Beach. Photos provided

Memories of U.S. 1 tourist stops come alive in historic collections

By John Hughes

Florida was known for tourist attractions long before it was known for Disney World.

Hard to fathom, but that’s a fact.

Before Mickey and Minnie and being this tall to ride a ride. Before wait times and paid proxies as place holders in admission queues. Back when rubber alligators were prized. Back then, this state was thick as swamp air with attractions that often exploited the nationwide notion that Florida was America’s WILDerness.

Before there was Interstate 95 or Florida’s Turnpike (née Sunshine State Parkway), one two-lane road — U.S. 1 — was the highway to happy for camera-ready guests breaking up the distance with visits to America’s new vacation phenomenon: roadside attractions. They were the shows that made the journey a better part of reaching the destination.

Today there are amusement parks big enough to have their own police forces; maybe even their own ZIP codes.

But back when Big Joe “The World’s Biggest Crocodile” or roadside fruit stands shaped like oranges could draw a crowd, those parks were often owned and operated by families.

Mom and pop vacationers met mom and pop park owners.

ABOVE: Africa U.S.A. had a home in Boca Raton from 1953 to 1961. BELOW RIGHT: Road signs at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Camino Real directed travelers to its 300- acre site.

Such parks were part of the southern Palm Beach County landscape. The Pedersen family in Boca Raton, for example, opened and operated Africa USA — an attraction so popular that Life magazine featured it on the cover. A few miles away, outside Boynton Beach on U.S. 1, Harold and Angela Waite had the family name attached to their bird farm, where travelers took a break from the road to see performances by trained birds, monkeys, alligators and other animals.

The best of roadside parks offered acres of photo ops for visitors eager to snap selfies and post to Instagram or tweet on X or ...

No. When those guests wanted to brag about being somewhere and seeing something that would impress the gee willikers out of the poor saps back home, they bought and sent postcards. Picture postcards. Pay extra and get the colorized ones.

Mail. Stamps. Days to get word to wherever you wanted whoever to know that you were “having a great time.” If it was winter back home, scribble in the local temperature, just to rub it in.

Postcard collector and historian Janet DeVries Naughton has about 3,000 such postcards. She sees them as time capsules, but also as “artifacts to document history.”

About all that’s left, now, from the glory days of Palm Beach County roadside attractions are those postcard artifacts.

The postcards once held personalized greetings and memories. Now, they are links to a past lost to the realization of real estate. Simply put, more money could be made from developing the land for housing and commercial enterprises. The bygone attractions that lured so many here have all but been erased by Florida’s continuous redevelopment.

Postcards provided by Janet DeVries Naughton, Ginger Pedersen, the Boca Raton Historical Society and
the Delray Beach Historical Society.

Ostrich-Alligator Farm and Zoo (1923-49), Lantana

In March 1940, someone named Ella wanted Lottie DePue of Stroudsburg, PA to know that Ella was ‘having a grand time’ visiting Lantana. The temp was 70 and Ella was at the Ostrich-Alligator Farm and Zoo, where owners Frank L. Anderson and E.W. Goolsby invited guests to stroll their 10 acres of monkeys, kangaroos, and yes, ostriches. (Get a photo of one pulling a buggy!) Perhaps the main attraction was Zulu, ‘the largest known crocodile in captivity.’ The land today houses mostly two-legged domesticated animals, including the home of historian Janet DeVries Naughton, who has collected about 3,000 South Florida postcards such as this one.

***

James Melton Autorama (1953-62), Hypoluxo

That determined driver in the company of smiling women is James Melton, owner of the U.S. 1 autorama he opened in Hypoluxo in 1953 — moving his car collection from its original location in Connecticut. A radio and recording star of the 1920s and ‘30s, Melton got his own TV variety show around 1951. The program was sponsored by Ford Motor Co., a perfect union for the automobile enthusiast/performer. The autorama had more than 125 antique cars.

***

Rainbow Tropical Gardens (1920s-50s)

1700 block, North Federal, Boynton Beach. Historian Janet DeVries Naughton sometimes visits the area where the gardens stood; they stretched from U.S. 1 to the Intracoastal Waterway. ‘Some of the structure is still there — parts of the waterfalls, stairways,’ she says. Today, the main building (circa 1929) is home to the Benvenuto Restaurant. In its glory, the Gardens led guests down flagstone paths among exotic flowers and plants and towering palms. It was one of South Florida’s leading tourist attractions.

***

Hoffman property, north of Lake Ida Road on U.S. 1, Delray Beach

It’s the early 1900s. You’re driving north on U.S. 1 outside Delray Beach. The ride is going to get chilly, so you’ve put on your long skirt and boots. But you realize you’ve not gotten that obligatory photo of yourself next to a palm tree. No problem. Stop. Hop out. Snap. Nothing to hinder your souvenir shot except maybe the dust kicked up by the Model T. Take as long as you need.

***

Ancient America (1953-58), U.S. 1 near Yamato Road, Boca Raton

Proprietor E.G. Barnhill was fascinated by American Indian culture. In addition to a replica Spanish Galleon, the 25-acre park held artifacts said to have been from when the Spanish ‘conquered’ Florida (16th century). Ancient America included a Native American burial ground which Barnhill excavated. He installed glass walls for guests who in that era had not yet learned to be morally repulsed by such an idea. Ancient America didn’t grow old.
By the late 1950s, Barnhill had shed the property (now site of The Sanctuary) and moved on to Wisconsin.

***

Africa USA (1953-61), Camino Real near U.S. 1, Boca Raton

Businessman-developer John Pedersen put the ‘wild’ into Florida wilderness when Africa USA’s 300 acres (at $25 per acre) opened. In 1952, his son Jack, like a 20th century Noah, loaded giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, emus, elephants and more onto a ship in Mombasa, Kenya, and unloaded them at the site. In the era before I-95 and Florida’s Turnpike, it lured U.S. 1 travelers, who paid $1.25 to enter and were treated to a botanical garden, boat rides and a ‘safari train tour’ to get up-close to the wildlife. Life magazine picked the park (not Disneyland!) for a 1960 cover feature.

The red outlines show the beach access and slice of roadway property that some Tropical Drive residents were able to acquire adjacent to the white-roofed Turtle Beach condo complex. SOURCE: Palm Beach County Property Appraiser

By Jane Musgrave

When Mark Feinstein opened up the Facebook page for the town of Ocean Ridge, he was stunned to find out that alongside notices of upcoming zoning meetings, blood drives and boil water orders, he had been accused of engaging in a bizarre sexual act.

Repulsed and angry, the 64-year-old lawyer, Turtle Beach condo president and father of three didn’t have to wonder about the identity of the person who used the social media forum to attack him and a former Ocean Ridge mayor.

Sean Currie, a fellow Ocean Ridge resident who has become Feinstein’s nemesis, used his own name when he posted the nasty missives and later admitted he had no regrets about making the unfounded allegations.

The social media posts are among the many strange volleys that have been fired since warfare erupted between residents of Turtle Beach and those who live on Tropical Drive, which runs along the southernmost border of the yellow 26-unit oceanfront condominium a half-mile south of Woolbright Road.

Lawsuits have been filed, an arrest has been made, ethnic slurs have been hurled and political fortunes have been changed. 

“The whole thing is hilarious,” said Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Steve Coz. But, he added, it is also unfortunate.

Ocean Ridge, he said, is a “very friendly, neighborly town.” Since the battle began, it has become less so. People have chosen sides, with Coz’s and voters’ sentiments leaning against Turtle Beach.

Like disputes that have erupted in Palm Beach and dozens of oceanfront communities in Florida and elsewhere, the fight between Turtle Beach and Tropical Drive residents began over sand.

The first salvo came in late 2021 when the condo association posted signs, warning visitors that its beach was private. “No Trespassing Please,” the signs said.

But, while the message on the signs might have been polite, the reaction to them was fierce.

Currie responded by ripping down one of the signs, leading to his arrest on a charge of criminal mischief.

Turtle Beach puts out trash on property the Tropical Drive group bought. Staff photo

Real estate maneuver
The case was dropped when he agreed to reimburse the association $300 for the sign. But by then, he, his mother and six other Tropical Drive residents came up with another way to fight back.

They formed Sunrise Beach LLC and plunked down $40,000 to buy a ribbon of land on Tropical Drive and another strip along Turtle Beach’s oceanfront property. As the owners of the two parcels that are each valued at $988 for tax purposes, the corporation sued Turtle Beach, demanding that the condo association get off its land.

In the lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, the residents claim that the condo illegally uses their property twice a week when Turtle Beach residents line up their garbage bins for pickup. More egregious, they said, are the driveway, gate and electronic keypad Turtle Beach installed on the land in 2020 so condo residents can get in and out of the complex. 

“Turtle Beach continues to trespass by placing their refuse and debris on the property, as well as unlawfully constructing an unpermitted access keypad, and destroying a sodded area,” attorney Robert Hartsell wrote on behalf of Tropical Drive residents.

Traffic tie-ups on the narrow street are routine, according to Currie’s father, Christopher. In court papers, he said, he has “to deal repeatedly on a serial basis with people obstructing my street and my parking area because they are trying to deliver stuff across a locked gate.”

The residents are asking a judge to order Turtle Beach to remove all of the structures and to stop using the land for garbage pickup. They are also seeking an unspecified amount in damages.

Turtle Beach responded to the suit by asking the judge to declare that the association is the rightful owner of the property. Long before the existing gate was installed, the association used the land and maintained it for more than 20 years, said attorney Spencer Sax, who represents Turtle Beach.

The condo has what is essentially squatter’s rights. While the legal term is adverse possession, Florida law allows people to claim ownership of land they have used for seven consecutive years.

Tropical Drive residents and the former owners of the property had to be aware of Turtle Beach’s use of the land yet did nothing to stop it, Sax said. “The association’s use, possession and maintenance of the … property has been actual, open, visible, exclusive, notorious, continuous and hostile to Sunrise and to the world at large for well more than seven years,” he said.

If the judge doesn’t want to give Turtle Beach the land, he should at least give it an easement, allowing the condo association to continue to use it, Sax said. He is also suing the Tropical Drive residents individually and asking that they be forced to pay damages for interfering with the condominium’s property rights.

Libel lawsuit heats up
While that legal battle continues to rage, another one is also playing out.

Feinstein in April sued Currie for libel, claiming the Tropical Drive resident had posted “despicable and disgusting comments” about him on Facebook.

While the real estate lawsuit makes no mention of the dispute over the beach, in the defamation suit Feinstein says retribution drove Currie to publicly — and falsely — accuse him of engaging in a “heinous, despicable” sexual act.

“Currie has an ax to grind with Feinstein ever since his lawful arrest for trespassing and stealing signs which are the property of the Turtle Beach of Ocean Ridge Condominium Association,” attorney Matthew Haynes, who represents Feinstein, said in court papers.

During a deposition, the 36-year-old Currie admitted authoring the Facebook posts but he described his motives differently.

“I made the Facebook posts in hopes that somebody might read it and notice that this is a massive farce and that they would encourage him to stop polluting the beach and harassing his neighbors,” Currie said, according to a transcript. 

He repeatedly said he had no evidence to back up his claims against Feinstein. “Correct, no factual evidence based on sexual activities,” Currie said, occasionally laughing at Feinstein’s lawyer’s questions.

Currie also admitted that he regularly hurled an antisemitic slur at Feinstein. “Multiple times,” Currie said when asked how often he insulted Feinstein by using the denigrating epithet, sometimes punctuating it with an obscenity. He insisted his description was justified.

“Because he is a horrible person and he’s Jewish, so, therefore, it’s an apt derogatory slur,” he said. “I wouldn’t call him the slur for an Italian or a Black person, because he’s not Italian or Black.”

While court records show Currie has offered to settle the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, Feinstein is adamant that the case will go to trial. And the stakes for Currie could be high. Feinstein on Dec. 22 filed a motion, asking a judge to let him seek an unspecified amount in punitive damages. Claiming “there is a reasonable basis that [Currie] acted with gross negligence or engaged in intentional misconduct,” Feinstein argues that simple damages aren’t enough. Currie should be punished. Punitive damages famously can reach into the millions.

“I’m not litigious,” Feinstein said. “I don’t want his money. The whole idea is to let him know his actions have consequences.”

Since he became condo president in 2021, Feinstein said his quiet life has become chaotic. Angry Tropical Drive residents blame him alone for the signs. 

“Mark Feinstein didn’t put the signs on the beach,” he said. “It was a board decision.”

A decisive election issue
Feinstein isn’t the only one who has incurred the wrath of Tropical Drive residents and their supporters. In his Facebook posts, Currie also blamed then Mayor Susan Hurlburt, who lives in Turtle Beach, for “being allowed to pollute our beautiful ocean with hazardous refuse.”

Hurlburt’s role in the placement of the signs became a campaign issue. One of Hurlburt’s opponents, Carolyn Cassidy, blasted Hurlburt for misusing her elected position by pushing forward her neighbors’ and her own personal agenda.

“I don’t think it’s right that the same person who initiated the signs on the beach and sought the permitting for it is presiding over the meeting when these signs were discussed,’’

Cassidy said at a forum shortly before the March election.

While Hurlburt didn’t address Cassidy’s remarks then, she repeatedly said she kept her public and private lives separate.

“I absolutely avoid all involvement in my official capacity with the town that may give even the perception of wandering into self-interest,” she told The Coastal Star in the run-up to the election.

Ultimately, however, in a three-way race, Hurlburt lost the seat she had held since 2019. Cassidy captured twice as many votes as Hurlburt.

Once she was sworn in, Cassidy and other town commissioners, including Coz, pushed to enact a law that limits where signs can go on the beach. The rules, adopted in September, require signs to be situated at the dune toe line at least 200 feet away from any other signs, face east-west, and be no bigger than 18-by-18-inches.

Turtle Beach, which initially installed four signs, has largely complied with the measures, Feinstein said. It removed all but two of the beach signs although a disagreement remains over whether warnings can be placed on both sides of the placards. A code enforcement magistrate hearing is set for Jan. 9.

Feinstein insisted it was never the association’s intent to keep people from accessing the beach or strolling along it. The condo board recognizes that the public owns the land seaward of the mean high tide line and people are free to walk on the wet sand in front of Turtle Beach.

Condo residents, however, were tired of drunken revelers, who were obnoxious, played loud music and prevented homeowners from enjoying the stretch of beach that they paid for in higher home prices and taxes. The signs were designed to stop people from setting up beach chairs and blankets by directing them to a nearby public beach.

Until the uproar, the signs were working, he said.

Precedent for beach access
Tropical Drive residents have a different view.

Gabriele Currie, who is president of the Sunrise Beach LLC and Sean’s mother, called the issue “an emotional one.” She declined further comment because of the ongoing lawsuit.

Instead, she cited a letter the group’s attorney wrote. In it, Hartsell insisted that those who claim private ownership of a beach are on shaky legal ground.

“The general public may continue to use the dry sand area for their usual recreational activities, not because the public has any interest in the land itself, but because of a right gained through custom to use this particular area of the beach as they have without dispute and interruption for many years,” Hartsell wrote, quoting a Florida Supreme Court decision from 1974. 

Beyond legal concerns, he said allowing private landowners to restrict access to the beach is simply wrong.

“This gradual exclusivity of the beaches is shocking to the [consciences] of those who purchased their life’s dream home, living near the ocean and enjoying all of its benefits only to have that dream shattered by no trespassing signs and threats of prosecution,” Hartsell wrote.

For his part, Coz blamed Turtle Beach for igniting an unnecessary and divisive dispute. Cassidy’s overwhelming election showed town residents don’t support what he considers the condo’s beach land grab.

He acknowledged that Sean Currie’s behavior wasn’t acceptable. “He went too far,” Coz said. “But he was fed up. It gets very emotional when you tell people they can’t use the beach.”

He said he hopes that a resolution can be reached.

“It’s so unfortunate — the whole thing,” he said. “I don’t understand why Turtle Beach doesn’t shake hands with Tropical Drive and Tropical Drive would do the same.”

Feinstein said he attempted to talk to a member of the Tropical Drive corporation without success. “It’s hard to reach out to somebody when they won’t talk,” he said.

Now, the issue will be decided in court. “They fired the first shot and we had to react,” Feinstein said.

By Pat Beall and Steve Plunkett

Jamie Daniels made it just 228 days in Palm Beach County’s fraud-ravaged addiction treatment system before overdosing in a local sober home seven years ago last month.

A college graduate and aspiring lawyer, Daniels landed in the heart of a $746 million scheme built on exploiting drug users and bilking insurance companies.

Coastal Delray Beach osteopath Michael Ligotti was a key player and profiteer who pocketed millions from it, prosecutors said. When he was sentenced to two decades behind bars in January, a Department of Justice press release heralded his arrest and conviction as the largest addiction fraud case ever brought by the DOJ.

Ligotti, though, was not locked up. Instead, he remained free as he worked with prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting other fraudsters. And his testimony that led to convictions in two key cases resulted in a federal judge chopping Ligotti’s sentence in half, to 10 years, with the possibility of getting out of prison in 8½ years.

“It is only right,” U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II said of  reducing the prison time on Dec. 8. “Even the 10-year sentence is a significant sentence in this space.”

Ruiz, Department of Justice lawyer Jim Hayes and defense attorney Jose Quinon agreed that Ligotti is a changed man since January.

“In retrospect I’m appalled at how I behaved. I put money before patients,” Ligotti told the judge.

Jamie’s mother, Lisa Daniels-Goldman, attended the hearing in the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. federal courthouse in Miami via Zoom and pleaded with Ruiz “to please not make Jamie a victim again.”

Debbie Howland, whose daughter Ava died in a West Palm Beach sober home in 2018, also spoke via Zoom.

“I got a life sentence of pain, grief and endless tears,” she said.

Millions of dollars in tests
It would be hard to overstate the scope and toll of the addiction treatment fraud sweeping through Palm Beach County by 2013.

The county was an international for-profit treatment destination. Posters plugging addiction help in Palm Beach County greeted arriving passengers at Orlando International Airport. High-wealth drug users could access concierge care in beachfront homes with gourmet meals.

Estimates pegged the industry at $1 billion, making it one of Palm Beach County’s largest industries.

And it was rife with abuse.

A urine test that will detect drugs is cheap. It can be bought for as little as $25 at local drugstores.

By contrast, a single, sophisticated “confirmatory” urine test could reap thousands of dollars from a patient’s insurance company.

People in sober homes and treatment centers were needlessly tested multiple times a week, generating staggering insurance payouts. In one case reported by The Palm Beach

Post in 2015, nine months of urine testing totaled $304,318. In another instance, the parents of a young woman who overdosed in a sober home after four weeks received urine test bills topping $30,000.

But insurance paid only if a doctor would green-light the expensive test as medically necessary.

As medical director for dozens of facilities, Ligotti obliged, said prosecutors. In addition to ordering millions of dollars in needless tests, they said he prescribed addictive drugs to patients from his Whole Health clinic in Delray Beach. That included benzodiazepines, drugs lethally mixed with opioids by people who are addicted.

The scheme reached into the pocketbooks of employees at Amtrak, Bank of America and the state of New Jersey who sought treatment and found fraud, an attorney for Aetna Insurance testified at Ligotti’s sentencing hearing. Aetna and organizations using Aetna paid $24 million to providers in the scheme, he said, but worse was the continuing fallout once it was exposed: It created distrust of addiction treatment by people who might need it the most. 

Even after a federal subpoena issued in 2016 put Ligotti on notice that he was under investigation, he continued ordering tests, an FBI agent testified.

He was indicted in 2020 on 12 counts of health care fraud and money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.

He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count in 2022. Other charges were dropped.

Fallout beyond fraud
Like many other physicians arrested in local treatment fraud crackdowns, Ligotti was never charged with the overdose or death of a person seeking help for addiction.

But the fallout from urine testing schemes extended far beyond financial fraud.

That’s because unscrupulous local sober home owners and addiction treatment operators didn’t need people seeking treatment to stay drug-free.

They needed people with a drug use diagnosis, insurance and a supply of urine, not a commitment to sobriety. As a result, some sober homes advertised as safe and drug-free turned a blind eye to drug use. People hoping for help wound up overdosing.

Jamie Daniels was among them.

Jamie Daniels with his mother, Lisa Daniels-Goldman. Daniels-Goldman and Jamie’s father, Ken, created the Jamie Daniels Foundation to help young adults struggling with substance abuse. Jamie, 23, died in a Boynton Beach sober home. Photo provided by Jamie Daniels Foundation

The Michigan State University graduate clerked at a law firm and was studying for his law school entrance exam.  

But he had struggled to stay sober since at least college, where his family believed he had easy access to opioids.

In July 2016, Jamie, 23, did what thousands of others had done and flew to Palm Beach County for treatment.

On Dec. 7,  he overdosed here.

Then came a wave of insurance bill records totaling tens of thousands of dollars for urine screens and blood tests, including those ordered by Ligotti for Jamie when he was in Michigan, not Florida.

“It’s one thing to have an addiction and not being able to overcome it because the addiction overtakes you,” Jamie’s father, longtime Detroit Red Wings play-by-play broadcaster Ken Daniels, told ESPN. “But then when bad people get involved and they contribute to it, it makes you sick.”

ESPN produced a documentary on the testing fraud and Jamie’s death. When the production crew showed up at Ligotti’s Delray office, he denied ordering the tests. His identity had been stolen, he told reporters: “I’m the victim.”

Evidence in other cases
It’s not clear how many other schemes Ligotti has helped prosecutors identify and take to trial. However, records show he offered evidence in one Central Florida case involving rural hospitals and high-priced bogus drug testing that led to multiple convictions. And the judge in that case found that Ligotti had information on people not yet arrested in “a large number of healthcare facilities across the country.”

“I want them all to have to pay a price for what they did,” explained Daniels-Goldman of her reluctant acceptance of Ligotti’s freedom while he helped put two others behind bars.

But other aspects rankled Daniels-Goldman and others. It was late May before Ligotti finally surrendered his license to practice medicine and another three months before the state’s Board of Osteopathic Medicine formally accepted the relinquishment. In June, his expected prison entry date was pushed back to December in part because he was providing testimony in the Central Florida case. In July, he received court permission to take his family to an upscale resort hotel at Universal Studios.

Ligotti surrendered to the U.S. Marshals Service on Dec. 1.  Defense attorney Quinon asked Judge Ruiz to recommend that Ligotti be sent to a prison close to home and not to the Atlanta Penitentiary.  

“He’s done everything [that prosecutors asked] and he’s done it from the heart,” Quinon said.

You won’t see any “year in review” stories or photos in this January edition. It’s not that they aren’t interesting, it’s just that I’m a Capricorn — always looking forward. The coming year interests me far more than the one in the rearview mirror. So here’s to 2024!

In the coming year, The Coastal Star plans to make some staffing changes. Foremost is that I plan to assume a lesser role in the day-to-day production of the newspaper. After 15 years, it’s time to take more time for myself and focus on some other projects.

I’ll still be around: assigning stories, keeping my eyes and ears on the community, proofreading, and writing this column. I’ll remain executive editor, but we’re bringing a new editor on board to manage the overall assignment, editing and production of news each month.

Many residents (and government officials) already know Larry Barszewski from his years spent covering several coastal municipalities. I hope all our readers will welcome him enthusiastically in this new role.

Larry’s background is in government and community reporting. He has covered cities, counties, school districts and sessions of the state Legislature in his nearly 40 years of work in Florida. He has made stops at the Bradenton Herald, Miami Herald, South Florida Sun Sentinel — including being part of its 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning staff — and at The Coastal Star for the past three years. Larry is familiar with our coastal communities.

Like most of us, Larry is a northern transplant. He grew up in western Massachusetts and earned a political science and journalism degree from American International College there. He received his master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

He lives in Boca Raton with his wife, Maggie, his two adult daughters, and their cat and two dogs (all rescue pets). At St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, he is part of the leadership team of AIM, an outreach ministry serving adults with physical disabilities.

Larry’s goals are straight-forward: good journalism, publishing articles that reflect the communities we serve, holding government officials accountable, providing interesting and informative stories for our readers, and listening to what our readers have to say.

“The Coastal Star has shown that people will support journalism that cares about them and the communities where they live,” Larry says. “I hope, supported by the strong staff that has found a home here at the paper, to live up to that legacy and help ensure it continues.”

I’m thrilled to leave much of my responsibility in his hands.

Mary Thurwachter will continue as a managing editor with her excellent oversight and editing of feature stories and columns. Many readers say these are their favorite parts of our publication. Please thank Mary next time you talk with her. She’s an essential part of our management team.

Steve Plunkett also remains as a managing editor, working with our reporters covering Boca Raton and Highland Beach — as well as doing reporting in other municipalities. Steve also contributes to our editorial decision-making each month. The southernmost communities in our coverage area are unique, and it’s good to have Steve’s oversight and years of local reporting and editing expertise.

We are all excited about the coming year. We feel lucky to be able to continue reporting on Palm Beach County’s lively, diverse, unique and beautiful coastal communities in the South County. These are difficult times for practicing journalism, but The Coastal Star continues to hang tough, and with the strength and depth of our team — and our business partners — we keep looking forward.

Happy New Year!

— Mary Kate Leming, Executive Editor

Michelle Hagerty, who gave the Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County a boost by leading a $374,000 fundraiser in October, loves being at the Boca Raton location. Photo provided by Jack Packard

By Suzanna Boden

For Boca Raton resident Michelle Hagerty, giving back to her community gives her a sense of purpose.

Hagerty began her first year of serving the Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County by contributing to a record-breaking fundraiser, as chairwoman of the fifth annual Securing Our Future Soiree. More than $374,000 was raised for the nonprofit’s hunger relief initiatives.

“I had a great team of people help me put the event together,” Hagerty said. “It was a really positive experience.”

About 15 people on various committees, including planning, decor, sponsorships, and silent and live auctions, had a hand in organizing the event, which was held Oct. 26 at the

Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in Boca Raton. More than 220 guests attended.

The mission of the Boys and Girls Clubs is to help young people reach their full potential. The organization provides a world-class club experience that ensures success for each member. It aims to keep youngsters on track to graduate from high school, as well as assisting with planning for their futures.

Hagerty is most involved with the Boca Raton location, off Federal Highway north of Yamato Road. It gives children a safe place to go to work on their homework and participate in sports. Tutors are on hand to assist with lessons, and the club has a snack and dinner component. About 75 children attend the after-school program daily.

“It’s a place that keeps kids safe and allows them to build good character and maintain a healthy lifestyle,” Hagerty said. “I am becoming more involved because of the event and the friends I’ve made at the organization. I really love going there; it’s such a wonderful place.”

Hagerty, 44, graduated from the University of Southern Maine, where she earned a degree in sociology. Her family owned and operated White Rock Distilleries, where she started selling liquor to bars, restaurants and distilleries after she earned her degree. The family business was sold in 2008.

She and her husband, Michael, met in Fort Lauderdale in 2006 and moved to Boca Raton in 2008. The couple have two children, ages 12 and 14, who attend Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, where Hagerty is a board member.

She is also on the foundation boards of Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. She and her husband also support Florida Atlantic University athletics.

“I think it’s my responsibility, as a citizen of Boca Raton and the surrounding areas, to serve the community,” she said. “I especially enjoy dedicating and serving my time to underserved children. Since my kids are in school, I want to use my time to better my community and beyond.”

Jaene Miranda, president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, was delighted with the turnout at the 2023 fundraiser and she is excited that Hagerty will serve as chairwoman for the sixth annual event.

“Michelle has been a true champion in carrying out our mission, which is to serve those kids who really need us most,” Miranda said. “We have 20 Boys and Girls Clubs in Palm Beach County, and our service to the various communities only exists because community members like Michelle get engaged with our organization.

“Her support was evident through the phenomenal results we had at the soiree event, not only because of the money raised, but also because of the new friends she helped us connect with in the city of Boca Raton.”

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

By Charles Elmore

Two hospitals in southern Palm Beach County received “D” grades for patient safety in a nonprofit watchdog group’s latest report, and Florida landed among the five worst states with declines in hospital patient-experience scores that graders called “disheartening.”

The number of infections that patients acquired in each hospital partially contributed to the below-average grades that The Leapfrog Group assigned to Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital and HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Atlantis. Fewer than 8% of hospitals surveyed nationwide received D or F grades.

At the same time, Florida showed encouraging signs, too, ranking among 10 states with the highest percentage of A grades. Responding hospitals did not always agree with their scores, but voices across the industry acknowledged challenges to retain experienced staffing and other issues coming out of a grueling pandemic.

Boca Raton Regional’s D grade included a worse-than-average score for sepsis infection and other complications after surgery. The score followed a D in the spring of 2023 and a C in the three years ending in 2022.

“Our goal is to provide high-quality, safe care for our patients and community and we take great pride in doing this,” said Gina Halley-Wright, communications manager for Baptist Health South Florida. “We recognize that tools like Leapfrog Group’s ratings help health care organizations continue to improve.”

She continued in a statement, “It is important to note that the Leapfrog grades for the most recent scores were calculated by using data dating back to 2019, and include periods of time when South Florida experienced severe patient surges due to the pandemic. Our health system has taken steps to improve in areas where needed, and we are committed to continuing to use the data to make positive changes.”

JFK Hospital’s D came in part because it performed worse than average on blood infection rates, according to the report. The hospital had been awarded C grades in 2022 and the first part of 2023, after a B in the fall of 2021. Attempts to get comment from the hospital were not successful.

Leapfrog’s roots date to when business leaders gathered in 1998 to figure out a way to offer watchdog grades to help the public. It assigns letter grades to nearly 3,000 hospitals across the nation based on measures of how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.

Leapfrog says it uses up to 28 performance measures to grade hospitals twice a year. The latest scores are from fall 2023.

The scoring methodology is determined by a panel of experts from Harvard, Stanford and other universities. Various categories involve data from one-year or multiyear periods.

Some scores, such as in-hospital infections, draw from publicly available data. Other parts cull information from surveys, in which hospitals do not always participate.

In the latest grades, nearly 30% of hospitals nationally received an A, 24% got a B, 39% registered a C, with 7% drawing a D and less than 1% an F.

Delray Medical Center received a C, its same grade since a B in the spring of 2020.

West Boca Medical Center also received a C, unchanged since the fall of 2021 after B grades in 2020 and the first part of 2021.

“Delray Medical Center and West Boca Medical Center are proud to provide safe, high-quality care to our patients,” said Andrew Lofholm, communications and community relations manager for Palm Beach Health Network.

His group’s hospitals do not participate in the Leapfrog survey, he said in a statement.

“However, Leapfrog may assign a score, but it is based on limited publicly available data from secondary sources that haven’t been verified,” he said. “We take our responsibility to provide the safest possible environment for our patients very seriously, and this is positively reflected in our quality recognitions from multiple other organizations.”

Other area hospitals improved or maintained grades.

Baptist Health Bethesda Hospital East in Boynton Beach was given a B grade, a level it has maintained since the start of 2022 after C grades the previous two years.
Bethesda West in Boynton Beach was assigned a B, up from C in the first part of 2023.

Based on surveys, Florida ranked among the five states with the sharpest declines in scores for nurse and doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicines and discharge information, Leapfrog found.

“In talking with hospital leaders, we believe staffing shortages are one key reason for the continued decline,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.

“Many hospitals are innovating to help make patient experience better, which is critical because these results are disheartening and unsustainable.”
Florida Hospital Association President and CEO Mary C. Mayhew addressed the findings in a statement.

“FHA member hospitals are steadfastly committed to enhancing the patient experience,” she said. “We recognize the recent challenges in various aspects of patient care, such as communication with nurses and doctors, staff responsiveness, and clarity regarding medications and discharge procedures, and agree the results are disheartening.

“These significant concerns stem from the unsustainable workforce challenges that have impacted hospitals nationwide, including staffing shortages and an increased reliance on contracted and temporary staff.”

Patients and families deserve to be fully informed about their conditions and care, she said.

“Efforts are being made to address these challenges,” she said. “By leveraging innovative technology, adopting best practices, and utilizing effective tools, we are focused on improving the quality of patient care. Florida’s hospitals are more than health care providers; they are community partners committed to making sure Florida has the high-quality health care system it deserves.”

Some medical centers in the state managed tough conditions well. Florida’s 38% ranked among the 10 states with the highest percentage of hospitals receiving A grades.

As a group, hospitals across the country tended to see a lower rate of “health care-acquired” infections coming out of the COVID pandemic in 2023, the organization found.

Specific infections measured include Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), Leapfrog said.

In some places, such as southern Palm Beach County, there remains room to improve, if the grades are any indication.

“Now that we have pre- and post-pandemic data for patient safety measures, we are encouraged by the improvement in infections and applaud hospitals for reversing the disturbing infection spike we saw during the pandemic,” Binder said. “However, there’s still more work to be done. It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their health care experience continues to decline.”

To see fall 2023 Hospital Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group, go to https://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org/

Grading care
The Leapfrog Group looked at nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide, reviewing measures of how well the hospitals prevent medical errors, accidents and infections. Here are its fall 2023 grades for hospitals in southern Palm Beach County (and any change from the first part of the year):
B
Baptist Health Bethesda Hospital East, Boynton Beach (stayed the same)
Baptist Health Bethesda Hospital West, Boynton Beach (up from C)
C
Delray Medical Center (stayed the same)
West Boca Medical Center (stayed the same)
D
Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital (stayed the same)
HCA Florida JFK Hospital, Atlantis (down from C)

By Steve Plunkett

The site plans for three more houses on Bluewater Cove won approval after town commissioners gave the developer a quick lesson on Gulf Stream neighborliness.

Bluewater Cove LLC and Courchene Development Corp. were presenting plans Dec. 8 for an Anglo-Caribbean home, a West Indies model and one in Georgian style, a first for the new street at the north end of Place Au Soleil.

The Georgian house had a walkway from the street to the front entry, just like the first three homes the developer built.

“Aesthetically it looks like soldiers in formation,” Commissioner Paul Lyons Jr. said.

“What’s the purpose of going all the way to the street?” Commissioner Joan Orthwein asked. “Do we have a lot of houses (in Place Au Soleil) with a walkway going straight to the front door? I think it’s kind of strange.”

The designers said they were aiming for a “classy” and “formal” look in keeping with the traditional Georgian style.

“Our initial idea of connecting the homes through those walkways that went straight to the entry was because people are not going to walk up the driveway and whatever,” landscape architect Louis Vlahos said.

“That’s how everybody else does it here, they go up the driveway and around. It gives it a track-like feeling to have the vertical sidewalk going to the street,” Mayor Scott Morgan said.

The developer quickly acquiesced. “If you don’t want the sidewalk to the street, the sidewalk won’t go to the street. It’s really that simple,” said Cary Glickstein, president of the 14-home development.

The three homes already had new colors and shutters because of a desire by the Architectural Review and Planning Board to avoid a cookie-cutter appearance.

The three additional homes are all one-story and will join three that are finished — or nearly so — and are marketed for $4.875 million apiece.

Glickstein said he expects to build several two-story residences on the street.

“I know with a very high probability that there will be at least four of the 14 that are two-story. That number may be higher, but I can say with some conviction that there will be at least four,” he said.

One is among the first three that were built. The others will be at the end of the street.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if there are probably six homes that are two-story by the time the subdivision is completed,” Glickstein said. “The reason I say that is I know the two homes on the Intracoastal will be two-story. The home to the west of the north Intracoastal lot will be two-story because there are views down the Intracoastal, and I think the lot next to that may also capture some of that.”

But Glickstein said home buyers prefer one story when that’s available.

“The way that this development was site planned was to encourage single-story development. The lots are wider than they are deep, which lends itself to single-story homes, which … I think is more honorific of what exists in Gulf Stream.”

By Larry Barszewski

When Ocean Ridge’s full-time building official resigned at the end of February, the town scrambled to contract with a company that handles municipal inspections to take over the duties on an emergency basis.

It took two tries, but now, 10 months later, town commissioners say the temporary fix has turned out to be a vast improvement over what the town had previously. They’re not interested in hiring a full-time official again because they say residents are getting better service without one.

“I think we did the experiment. It completely failed,” Mayor Geoff Pugh said, at the commission’s Dec. 4 meeting, about the town’s 2018 decision to hire an in-house building official.

The town hired Wayne Cameron for the position in 2018, then hired Durrani Guy in 2020 after Cameron left. After Guy resigned, the commission voted in April to contract with CAP Government, Guy’s previous employer, to provide the building official services. But the town soon ended that relationship.

“They wanted to transition the town to utilizing a licensed building official that resides out of state and would only be available on-site one day per month,” Town Manager Lynne Ladner said in an email to The Coastal Star. “This was not an arrangement that was in the best interest of the town.”

In late May, the town turned to Hy-Byrd Inspections, which has had contracts with the town going back many years to provide inspection services. Michael Crisafulle, vice president of the family-owned company, now serves as the building official under the current agreement.

“What we want to do here with building is basically leave it as it is, as it’s going now, because of literally … the compliments that we get now,” Pugh said.

While Ladner said there were benefits to having a building official on staff, including better accessibility, Pugh and others didn’t see that as a critical issue.

“We have the owner of the company being our building official. Does he need to be here every day? No. Does he answer questions? Yes. Sometimes, is he a little hard to get? Yes. But is every question an emergency that needs an answer right then and now? No,” Pugh said.

“He has discretion. He uses his discretion. He doesn’t make a mountain out of a molehill,” the mayor added, saying that Crisafulle doesn’t treat people like he’s doing them a favor by coming out to inspect their properties.

Vice Mayor Steve Coz said not only did having an in-house building official fail to save the town money, it did not provide a better service.

“Do we want to return to a building official where it took three to six months to get anything accomplished, versus right now, it’s three weeks?” Coz asked. “I’m a dead-set no against it.”

Stella Kolb was one of several town residents who applauded the commission’s decision.

“This has been a nightmare,” Kolb said of the previous hiring of a full-time building official. “Not only was it a nightmare for our residents, it was a nightmare for the council. The council was fighting with each other. The council was fighting with the town manager. Let’s not reinvent the wheel.”

As part of the plan, the commission did support hiring a second building clerk in Town Hall to help with the paperwork load.

The town also plans to put in a new software system by BS&A for building permits, but Ladner said it could take up to a year to implement the system because of the company’s backlog of work.

The town already had a contract with another firm, Tyler Technologies, but Ladner wasn’t satisfied with its progress. She recommended earlier in the year that the commission end the contract and go with BS&A instead.

The commission in November approved a $13,500 settlement with Tyler. Ladner said the BS&A system will interface better with new financial software that is being installed in January.

Water pipe project delayed — Planned water pipe improvements along North Ocean Boulevard are delayed because the two bids the town received for the work were so far apart: $1.3 million and $2.9 million. Money for the project is coming from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The town must decide now whether to rebid, reduce the scope of the project or find out if another community has a similar project contract on which Ocean Ridge can piggyback,

Town Manager Lynne Ladner said. “If we do end up rebidding this project, I think we will get more bids,” she said.

Comprehensive planning — Commissioners agreed to hire Place, Planning & Design Inc., the firm of Town Planner Corey O’Gorman, to work on a new Evaluation and Appraisal

Report needed to update the town’s existing comprehensive plan. O’Gorman’s firm will work with planner Jim Fleischman on the report. The firm agreed to do the work for not more than $30,000, beating a not-to-exceed $50,000 bid from Chen Moore and Associates.

Art in Town Hall — Commissioners don’t know why art displays that started a few years after Town Hall opened stopped happening in the building, but they’d like to see them start up again. Commissioners are supportive of adding the works of local artists to the walls of Town Hall, some of which may be for sale, on some rotating basis.

— Larry Barszewski

New commissioners David Knobel, Orla Imbesi and Elliot Bonner (l-r) are sworn in to seats on the Manalapan Town Commission. Anne Geggis/The Coastal Star

By Anne Geggis

Three new faces are filling the Manalapan Town Commission dais — and two more await swearing in as the town copes with a new state law that triggered the resignation of four commissioners and the mayor.

Vice Mayor John Deese and Commissioner Simone Bonutti are the only holdovers willing to meet a new state law that requires municipal elected officials to submit Form 6, which is a detailed disclosure of their personal wealth.

That requirement has impacted commissions around the state. But so far, the scale of Manalapan’s commission departures are unmatched in Palm Beach County, which has 10 other municipalities losing members of their elected boards because of the new obligation.

Mayor Stewart Satter ended four years on the dais at December’s meeting. He was elected commissioner in 2019 and became mayor in March 2023.

“I want to thank everyone — it’s been a pleasure,” Satter said.

Deese will take Satter’s mayoral seat and Cindy McMackin, already designated to take Deese’s at-large seat, is expected to be appointed and sworn in at the next commission meeting, on Jan. 23. She will fill the remainder of his term, which ends in March 2025.

Seven people responded to a November call for volunteers, Town Clerk Erika Petersen said. Four have been appointed and three of them were sworn in Dec. 18. They are:

• Orla Imbesi, who works for several family businesses. The mother of four grown children and grandmother of six replaces Commissioner Chauncey Johnstone, whose seat represents the whole town.
• David Knobel, retired from running a for-profit university. The former member of the state Board of Education replaces Commissioner Kristin Rosen, representing Point Manalapan.
• Elliot Bonner, a Florida Power & Light executive. The father of 17-year-old twins replaces Commissioner Richard Granara, representing Point Manalapan.

Dwight Kulwin will replace Aileen Carlucci, representing the ocean section of Manalapan. He did not attend December’s swearing-in.

Bonner and Imbesi both filed documents in November to continue serving on the commission once their appointed terms expire in March — and they were automatically elected because no one else filed to run for their respective seats.

Petersen said plans were to hold a second, 10-day qualifying period starting Jan. 2 so Kulwin can also assemble the qualifying documents to continue beyond his appointed term — or for anyone else who lives in the ocean section who wants to run to file for the seat.

Knobel’s term continues until March 2025.

All three freshly minted commissioners praised the way the town is run.

Knobel, who bought his current home in 2020, said he was prompted to volunteer in the name of steadiness: “I like to stay involved and do what I can to keep stability and level-headedness,” he said.

Imbesi came to the area from Bal Harbour at the recommendation of her Palm Beach friends in 2012. She said her family looked around on that island but didn’t find exactly the house with a dock she was looking for.

“We found Manalapan and fell in love with it,” she said. “It’s the perfect place to live.”

Bonner, also a travel youth baseball coach, said he came to Palm Beach County because of his job, first living in Lake Worth after moving from Baltimore. Manalapan called him farther south to what he describes as “off the beaten path.”

“I looked for a house on or near the water and the house I found, I thought, ‘This is where I need to be,’ ” he said.

He is coming to the dais at the urging of his neighbor Granara, who is stepping aside because of the new financial disclosure requirements.

Former mayor gifts library
The J. Turner Moore Memorial Library on Point Manalapan received a bequest of nearly $102,000 from Peter Blum, a former Manalapan mayor and retired businessman, who died at age 93 in January 2023, Town Manager Linda Stumpf told the commission.

The gift could present something of an opportunity, Stumpf said.

A December yoga program attracted 14 participants to the library and there is talk of doing more, perhaps an evening book club or a class teaching tai chi, a gentle form of exercise to improve flexibility and balance.

Currently, the town library’s posted hours are 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesdays and Fridays in addition to yoga class from 10 to 11 a.m. on Thursdays.

“It’s a good building that’s just sitting there,” Stumpf said.

By Larry Barszewski

A mistake that Florida revenue officials determined “to be in violation of the law” forced Ocean Ridge town commissioners into a special meeting Dec. 21 for a “do-over” of the resolutions they approved in September setting the town’s tax rate and budget.

Town officials used the wrong figures in a published advertisement notifying residents of the September public hearings where commissioners set the tax rate and budget for fiscal year 2024, which started Oct. 1.

Fortunately, with millions of dollars in town taxes already paid by property owners over the past two months, the commission didn’t have to change the tax rate or budget from the ones approved in September. The correction means the town is now expecting to receive $58,738 more in property taxes than previously thought, which will reduce the amount of money taken from its reserve funds to support the budget by the same amount.

“We have an additional $58,000 in the budget, so it is a good mistake, not a bad mistake,” Vice Mayor Steve Coz said.

Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy, who in September had supported approving a tax rate lower than the $5.40 per $1,000 of assessed value that was eventually adopted, wasn’t as forgiving. Cassidy said if commissioners had been aware of the extra dollars, that may have convinced them to drop the rate to $5.35 per $1,000 of assessed value.

For the owner of a home valued at $1 million, that change would have produced an extra $50 in savings on their taxes.

Terry Brown, the only resident to speak at the special meeting, wanted to know who was responsible for the mistake. Town Manager Lynne Ladner took responsibility.

“The law was that we were to use the gross taxable value of the town, not the net, and I mistakenly put the net taxable value in the advertisement. It was my mistake,” Ladner said. She added later, “It was not a mathematical error.”

Brown, however, wasn’t satisfied.

“I think it was noted when you were hired by this group, not the previous group, that you publicly stated that that was one of your weaknesses, budget work,” Brown said. “They know your weaknesses. And there are some other weaknesses, too, which we won’t talk about today. But that’s something that you-all are responsible for.”

While Coz said the mistake shouldn’t have been made, he noted that outside financial consultants hired by the town to review Ladner’s work didn’t catch the mistake, either.

“That’s their entire business — it’s a little [portion] of your business — and they missed it as well,” Coz said. “I’m really amazed at the state. I have new faith in the state. A tiny town like us and they catch that? That’s great.”

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream awarded an almost $13 million contract to do its water main, street and drainage project in the Core District and at the same time began talking about borrowing $7 million to complete its 10-year capital improvement plan.

Digging for the 18-month project could begin as soon as March. Residents will be invited to a town meeting at the end of the month or in early February to get a more precise schedule.

The $12,998,325 bid from Miami-based Roadway Construction LLC was almost $2.5 million higher than anticipated. When the 10-year plan was approved in 2018, the total cost was estimated at $10.5 million. Still to be done after the Core work are similar efforts in Place Au Soleil and the south end of town.

But under a plan created by town Finance Officer Mark Bymaster with help from former Commissioners Paul Lyons Jr. and Thom Smith, the town can take out the loan and repay it without raising property taxes.

“Mark has allowed me to sleep the last two nights. I’ve been so worried about this,” Mayor Scott Morgan said.

Commissioners decided on Dec. 8 that accepting the $13 million bid was better than rebidding the project. Only one other firm responded to Gulf Stream’s request — and its bid was for $16.4 million.

Rebecca Travis of Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers described today’s bidding environment.

“Because there’s a lot of funding available, pretty much every city and town has got projects out there for bid and the contractors can be very selective. And consequently, their prices have been higher,” Travis said. “We have instances where … we maybe get two at the most bidders. In the past we maybe would get five, six, seven bidders. Now we’re getting two, sometimes one, sometimes no bidders. So I think it’s fortunate so to speak that we’ve gotten two on this project.”

Town Manager Greg Dunham said it was too much of a risk to rebid the work.

“We might not get any bids. The city of Delray Beach just bid a large parks and rec project that included a new building and associated parks and rec facilities. I think the job was something around $6 or $7 million. They didn’t receive any bids for that job,” Dunham said.

“Or that you wouldn’t get a higher bid,” Morgan added.

“Correct, that would be the other risk involved is that OK, the numbers are out there. And so we get new bids and they’re all higher than the ones that we got,” Dunham said.

Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro said the Florida League of Cities could help facilitate a loan and cited a recent example of a town getting a 15-year loan at 7% interest.

Bymaster used those numbers to figure out how much money to borrow to enable Gulf Stream to finish the capital improvements with $4 million left in reserves.

“We wanted to keep a scenario where the growth was static throughout the project and at the end of the project still be able to have a healthy reserve for future endeavors,” he said.

Gulf Stream has borrowed money only once: $2.43 million in 2012 to get its underground utilities project started.

Dunham said the town would take the loan in September or October.

“We really wouldn’t need to do this probably until the fall because we’ve already budgeted for this year’s expenses,” he said.

Nazzaro was still working on possibly switching the town’s drinking water supplier from Delray Beach to Boynton Beach. That is expected to cost Gulf Stream $2 million up front, which it would also borrow, but Nazzaro said residents’ water bills would pay for that loan without the town’s having to raise taxes.

“It’s unfortunate we have both of these big projects coming in so expensively at the same time, but my kudos to Mark and to Paul and to staff for working this out in a way that we can do both,” Morgan said.

Travis said Roadway Construction will spend most of January setting up for construction. Morgan asked her to schedule a meeting for town residents, especially those in the Core, in the last week of January or first week of February.

“They’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about the project. No one really knows what to expect, when to expect it,” the mayor said.

The Delray Beach fire station on Andrews Avenue will have to handle a greater workload once the city no longer has a Highland Beach station. File photo

By Larry Barszewski

Plans are in the works for a new beach fire station to serve Delray Beach’s barrier island communities, but it could be years before the replacement for the current Andrews Avenue station is built.

In addition, the city has hired a consultant to help determine how best to replace the services provided by its fire rescue crews in Highland Beach, which handle about 800 city calls a year. The city will no longer have crews there once Highland Beach starts up its own fire department in May.

Fire Chief Keith Tomey told a Dec. 6 meeting of the Beach Property Owners Association at the Opal Grand Resort that the city has applied for a state resiliency grant to cover part of the cost of a new Andrews Avenue station.

The city’s rough estimate for the replacement station is $15 million, and officials hope the grant will cover half that amount. The city also expects to use money from the $100 million public safety bonds referendum approved by city voters in March to cover some of its cost.

While many fire station projects were mentioned in the bond referendum, it’s unclear how much will be available for individual projects, given that the police station itself is expected to take up about $80 million of the total bond.

The city is seeking to tap Resilient Florida grant money because of the location of the station, a block in from the ocean. The current station has reached the end of its useful life, in part because it is “in a highly corrosive environment which has experienced significant degradation of the building due to this exposure,” according to the grant application. The station is also vulnerable to storm surge and rainfall-induced flooding, it said.

The building was “constructed in 1990; prior to the strict revisions of the building code that occurred after Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida in 1992,” the application said. “The anticipated outcome of this project is a new fire station that is fully hardened to withstand a CAT 5 hurricane and more resistant to the types of damage that result from hurricane force winds.”

The new station, which is expected to grow from the existing 8,800-square-foot structure to one that’s 11,200 square feet, will be a challenge to build because of limited space at the current site on the north side of Atlantic Avenue. It may even include underground parking for station employees as a way of saving space, Tomey said.

He also envisions adding a ladder truck crew to the expanded station. The city has a ladder truck on the barrier island in Highland Beach, but that will go away when the town’s contract ends.

Tomey told residents they would see very little difference in service come May. While the city-operated station in Highland Beach has served as an emergency backup for city calls on the barrier island, Tomey said the city’s station on West Atlantic Avenue is closer to some of the barrier island communities.

Response times to the barrier island from the West Atlantic Avenue station should be about the same as from the Highland Beach station, he said. However, a ladder truck or rescue vehicle coming from the mainland could be stopped by a passing train on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks or by a raised drawbridge on Atlantic over the Intracoastal Waterway.

“I want to put a ladder truck there eventually,” Tomey said of the proposed replacement Station 112. “We’re going to need a bigger station to hold three apparatus.”

Regarding the changes ahead after the city’s contract ends with Highland Beach, Tomey said his department has hired the International Public Safety Data Institute as a consultant on the issue.

“We hired them to look at the impact of losing Highland Beach. What is that going to look like? What is it going to look like with us losing a ladder truck and a rescue truck and then leaving us with 800 calls to answer?” Tomey said.

“Usually when they’re coming into Delray Beach, it’s a last resort, nobody else can respond; we have to have them come respond,” Tomey said of the city crews that have been stationed in Highland Beach. “So now, knowing that we’ve got nobody else to respond to those 800 calls, we’ve got to figure out something. Those are some of the things this consultant is going to be helping us with.”

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach town leaders, miffed that a preliminary report from state auditors looking into the arrangement between the town and Delray Beach for fire service was done without their input, want the state to take a deeper dive into how findings were calculated before it releases a final report.

In November, a preliminary audit showed that Delray Beach failed to bill the town $2.2 million, mostly in pension contributions dating back several years.

Faced with the prospect of Highland Beach’s possibly having to pay that money back, Town Attorney Glen Torcivia fired off a letter to Florida Auditor General Sherrill Norman, saying that figure was based on a disputed calculation regarding the numbers used to figure costs.

In recent years, Delray Beach began using the actual costs of the 21.5 firefighter paramedics assigned to the station in Highland Beach to determine Highland Beach’s cost for service, about $5 million per year.

Highland Beach has argued, however, that the agreement between the two municipalities clearly states that cost should be calculated based on the average “in-rank” cost of fire rescue personnel throughout the city.

“We would respectfully request that you not base your findings as to this issue on the city’s contractually incorrect method of processing payroll,” Torcivia wrote. “Rather, we would request that you base your findings on the clear contractual language requiring the use of in-rank averages when calculating salary, overtime, and fringe benefits.”

Torcivia, a member of the team that negotiated the 2016 interlocal agreement, said the reason the contract identified costs of personnel as being based on in-rank average was that Highland Beach had no control over whom Delray Beach assigned to the station in town.

“One of the reasons that the parties agreed on this distinction is that historically the fire rescue personnel assigned to the Highland Beach fire station were more experienced and had often requested assignment to that station,” he wrote to the auditor general. “The more experienced personnel were generally higher paid.”

The dispute comes as the town prepares to start its own fire department in May.

Since being notified of the findings of the preliminary audit, not by the auditor general’s office, which sent its report only to Delray Beach, but by the media, Highland Beach Town

Manager Marshall Labadie and town commissioners have complained about not being part of the audit process and not having the chance to share their concerns and findings with auditors.

“The town has engaged a forensic auditing team and would appreciate the opportunity to provide its report and records to your office,” Torcivia wrote. “We would also appreciate being provided with all of the records that Delray Beach provided your office. It might be helpful to compare the records that Delray provided to your office with the records that Delray Beach provided to the town.”

Delray Beach is planning to hire a forensic auditor itself to look into the matter.

In the preliminary audit report, which focused on the financial processes Delray Beach’s fire rescue department used as part of its agreement with Highland Beach, the auditor listed a handful of findings that showed flaws in the city’s financial systems.

Among the findings were:

• Firefighter salary and benefits amounts recorded in the city’s accounting records and billed to the town did not agree with employee timekeeping records.
• City purchasing policies and procedures did not ensure that goods and services ordered, received and distributed to the town’s fire station were accurately billed to the town.
• For the town’s nonpayment of billed services totaling $517,654, the city did not perform collection efforts in a timely manner.

Torcivia, at a recent Highland Beach Town Commission meeting, said that the audit showed serious deficiencies.

“I would be embarrassed if I was Delray,” he said. “Delray looks like it wasn’t mismanaged, it looks like it wasn’t managed at all.”

By Brian Biggane

The South Palm Beach Town Council is closer than ever before to choosing both an architect/builder and an owner’s representative for the much-anticipated new Town Hall.

The council determined in December that it would interview candidates for the combined build and design position at a special meeting at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 16, with a decision to follow. Each candidate will have 30 minutes to make a presentation.

Town Manager Jamie Titcomb posted invitations in mid-November and reported he had received four responses for the architect position and five for owner’s rep. No meeting was yet set up to interview the candidates for owner’s rep.

The town has determined the building will be constructed with SIPs (structural integrated panels), which consist of an insulating foam sandwiched between two structural facings, which can be fabricated to fit nearly any building design.

A look at the bidders:

Build and design
Alexis Knight Architects: Owned and operated by Steven W. Knight, the firm has provided architectural design for 45 years, including 28 years in Florida and the last 12 in Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach.

Its previous work in the same area includes the new town hall and community center for the Village of Wellington, the South Florida Water Management District Headquarters, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office vehicle maintenance facility, and a Tamarac fire station.

CPZ Architects Inc.: With four offices in South Florida including one in West Palm Beach, CPZ is led by architect Chris Zimmerman, who has 38 years of experience in the field, and Joseph Barry, who has 25.

The company’s résumé includes fire stations in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood, the public safety complex in Coral Springs, and the Meridian Professional Building in Plantation. The company has an extensive history with SIPs, including an apartment complex in Sebring and duplexes in Okeechobee.

Moonlight Architecture: Based in Ohio, the firm boasts that its staff has “positioned ourselves as experts in the utilization of SIPs and associated components.” Its founder and principal architect is Andrew Roehl, and the company employs Erik Scheuermann. He is based in Fort Lauderdale, made a presentation to the council regarding SIPs this past fall and would serve as the architect’s representative.

Moonlight has been in business only since 2018, but in that time has been involved in more than 70 SIP projects, both residential and commercial.

PGAL: Led by former Greenacres mayor and principal architect Sam Ferreri, PGAL has 77 offices across the country, including one in Boca Raton that has existed for 27 years. It has worked at all levels of government: local, regional, state and federal.

PGAL has been involved in the construction of 13 municipal buildings in Florida since 2001, including the Boca Raton Downtown Library and the city’s police and fire training center; and the Greenacres City Hall, public works complex and fire station.

It is also scheduled to complete work on fire stations in Delray Beach and Stuart this year.

Owner’s representative
Colliers: With 25 years of experience and 120 technical professionals available, the firm headed by Senior Director Ken Guyette bid just under $300,000 to manage the project.

Its past projects include the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum and the Met 2 office tower in Miami, an Amazon warehouse in Opa Locka and the Jeld-Wen global headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is also involved in more than $100 million in ongoing construction.

Gardiner & Theobald: Established in 1835 in London, the firm better known as G&T opened its New York City office in 1992 and a Miami office in 2010. Its proposal states it is “the leading project and cost manager in the United States with over $35 billion currently under management.”

The company has worked extensively in the area. Its credits include the recent renovations at Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Its Town Hall project bid is $209,000.

Guaranteed Community Advisors: Led by founder and CEO Andrew Bittner, the Ohio-based firm has recently rebranded from Guaranteed Clean Energy as a means of broadening its scope.

The company, which filed paperwork to operate in Florida only this past November, has completed a number of school lighting projects in Ohio and Michigan. No proposed price tag came with this offer.

J. Kelly Advisors: Led by President Jessica Browdy, the Boca Raton-based firm came under criticism at the December meeting from Vice Mayor Bill LeRoy, who said it should be excluded due to its proposed project price of $1 million.

In business since 2015, the firm has worked on projects totaling more than $1 billion, $458 million of which is involved in ongoing construction. Its projects include renovation of Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, YMCA of South Florida in Miami, and office buildings in Fort Lauderdale and Davie.

NV5 Inc.: Taking a different tack, the Hollywood-based firm offers fixed fees of $12,200 per month during the pre-construction phase and $15,500 during construction. Its gross revenues were $786.8 million in 2022 compared to $706.7 million in 2021, an 11% increase.

The firm offers its experience individually rather than collectively. Project manager Joe Gaudet’s résumé includes Palm Beach County golf venues such as Admirals Cove and Jonathan’s Landing in Jupiter, and Addison Reserve Country Club in Delray Beach.

Safety on A1A — Concerns about the investigation of the fatal November hit-and-run on State Road A1A and the need for more safety measures brought a number of residents to the December council meeting.

Several of the attendees reside at the Barclay, the former home of Hatixhe Laiqi, 73, who was killed while crossing A1A to the sidewalk on the west side.

PBSO Sgt. Mark Garrison said in his monthly report that the investigation was ongoing and no details would be announced until it was done. Two residents addressed the council about installing flashing lights and/or a crosswalk, but Mayor Bonnie Fischer said that will be up to the Florida Department of Transportation.

Fischer said she had spoken to FDOT and that it plans to send a representative to meet with the council soon.

“Everybody knows we’re aware of this problem and have spoken to FDOT in the past,” Vice Mayor Bill LeRoy said. “We can’t take a crosswalk from a street to a blank space, only a sidewalk to a sidewalk. So, we’ve asked them to come back. Something has to be done. We can’t figure it out; they have to.”

Gottlieb vacates seat — Council member Robert Gottlieb formally announced his exit effective Dec. 28 due to health concerns and an unwillingness to abide by the new Form 6 financial stipulations. His four-year term was due to expire in March. Because no candidate filed to fill the vacancy then, the remaining four council members will appoint someone to serve until the 2026 election. Gottlieb served 18 years on the council.

Community Affairs — Resident Bea York Blitzer was appointed to the Community Affairs Advisory Board.

— Brian Biggane

Ryan Heavyside builds custom surfboards and sells Nomad brand clothing at the shop that has been in his family for 55 years. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

When Nomad Surf Shop owner Ryan Heavyside was approached about being the subject of a Meet Your Neighbor feature as a means of getting him better acquainted with his neighbors along A1A, his response was, “There aren’t many people in this neighborhood I don’t know.”

Ever since his grandfather Richard Heavyside bought the building at the corner of Briny Breezes and Ocean boulevards in the early 1960s and leased a 75-square-foot space to Ryan’s father, Ron, to craft and sell surfboards, Nomad has served both surfers and hundreds of thousands of others who have sought to sample a touch of their carefree lifestyle.

Few have embodied that lifestyle more than Ryan, 39. From a modeling career that stretched from his mid-teens to just a few years ago, to a long stretch as a pro surfer, to growing the Nomad brand into an international success, Heavyside embodies the images made famous in Beach Boys songs.

“South Florida is a special kind of place for all of it,” he said.

Heavyside recently picked up a vintage T-shirt that dates to the three businesses that operated on this County Pocket property just south of Briny Breezes some 55 years ago.

“There was Heavyside TV repair, a Pure Oil gas station and in the back Dante’s Den, which was a rock ’n’ roll joint that blasted live music until 5 a.m. My grandmother, who lived upstairs, used to sleep with cotton in her ears. That was a crazy time on this corner.”

The TV repair shop and nightclub eventually were swallowed up by Nomad, and Ryan’s mother, Beth, helped turn the business into a success.

“She passed when I was 12 but she was the reason that our retail business grew,” Ryan said. “My dad (who died in 2018) started building surfboards, but the retail side came from my mom. The way we survive in this business is the clothing side. Surfboards don’t have much of a profit margin. She kept up with the trends.”

While other retail businesses have succumbed to rent increases and the quest to turn every inch of coastal real estate into housing, Nomad carries on.

“The blessing is we own the building and we’ve been in this location for so long,” Heavyside said. “With the inflation in rents since COVID, you’re in business awhile and the landlord says, ‘Sorry, I’m adding a couple zeros.’ It changes the perspective.”

Nomad’s busy season begins in November and typically runs through Easter. Because Nomad is the only bona fide surf shop between Delray Beach and Stuart, its handful of parking spaces likely will be full for a while.

“There’s not many surf shops who build their own custom label through the shop,” Ryan said. “You can walk in and order a board for your own height, weight, color. Now we’re collaborating with people with art and color. That’s kind of a specialty thing. We’re in a kind of specialty retail spot.”

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I’m straight from the Boynton Beach area, born at Bethesda Hospital, so I’m as native as it gets. I went to St. Joseph’s School up through eighth grade, then Atlantic High School for a couple years and then got home-schooled, which brought me into the business. The home-schooling gave me more freedom timewise and that’s when I started getting into modeling, which gave me a lot of opportunities to travel.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I started modeling at 15 and went into my mid-30s, so that was 20 years of that lifestyle. When I was very young my mom wanted me to get into it and I laughed it off, but later on I saw it as an opportunity to build up my savings. The magazines were everything then but now everybody just flips through their phones.
I was also a professional surfer, was on the U.S. Surf Team for one year and otherwise just did it on my own schedule. Competing is kind of a rough go; you’ve got to really be into it, and I look at it more from the enjoyment end.
Every day in this profession, running the shop, is a proud moment to carry on our legacy, being here 55 years — that’s pretty special to keep going. We still build our own surfboard labels. I actually shape all those. I manufacture those boards. It’s cool to do that custom. And we’ve gotten big on making our own brand of clothing. This is the only place you can get the Nomad brand. We do our own artwork.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: What you put in is what you get back. The work ethic these days has changed. You get the kid who’s really after it, you see that, and then there’s one who kind of lags. We’re blessed here, we have a good crew.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in the County Pocket?
A: We’ve always had a house in the pocket, the old-school wood house where my mom and dad lived. My brother lives in that house and I live in another house on the beach. We also have a Nomad rental beach house where people can book it, have surf lessons and enjoy the lifestyle.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in the County Pocket?
A: The commute to work is good. It’s pretty laid back, one of the last old Florida neighborhoods. There used to be a couple in Deerfield Beach, but they’re gone, so the next one is probably up in Stuart or even further north. It’s got that old Florida feel, which is hard to come by these days. It’s kind of got that island kind of style.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I read more The Surfer’s Journal, which is one of the last print magazines that deals with surfing. It’s got short stories but a lot of old ones from the ’70s to newer ones. It’s a bimonthly, glossy cover, a specialty magazine out of California.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I listen to a lot of reggae when I’m chillin’, that’s always been kind of a go-to being from Florida. But inspired, when I’m in the shaping room shaping boards, a lot of old school like Jimi Hendrix, stuff like that. It puts you in that zone. Those big old-school tunes kick in, you get kind of a level of energy kick in. Also, the Rolling Stones, the Zombies, all those classic rock bands with the big tunes.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: The biggest has been my father. Him creating this place, he was always so crafty on building boards, old-school cars. Very big-hearted. He always knew the lady from baseball, or the lady from the bank, and anything to do with surf, he’d remember these people. It was programmed in him to be that guy. Especially since he passed the business down to me.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: At Nomad every day is like a movie, so I’d probably play myself. But if it was an actor, I’d say Johnny Depp. That whole pirate thing kind of blends with the surf theme.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: My wife, Taylor. She knows how to turn something serious into a better situation. We’ve laughed a lot over the years. Especially with my dad around, there was always a joke. We’ve been married three years but been together like 12. We’re hoping to become first-time parents next year.

ABOVE: Open tennis champion Coco Gauff leads her hometown parade as grand marshal of the annual holiday parade down Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. For her next big event, Gauff, 19, is entered in the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 14 in Melbourne. She is ranked third in the world as she tries to earn a second Grand Slam title to go with her U.S. Open victory in September. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

BELOW: Girl Scouts from Troop 24313 ride in their float as part of the parade, which featured more than 70 floats, marching bands, walking groups and dance teams.

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana is the 2023 Small Municipality winner in Palm Beach County’s Read for the Record event on Oct. 26. A certificate proclaiming the victory was presented during the Town Council’s Dec. 11 meeting.

To achieve the distinction, the town sent 37 volunteers — including the mayor, town manager, four firefighters, business owners, residents, and even former residents whose alma mater was Lantana Elementary School — to read With Lots of Love by Jenny Torres Sanchez to six local public schools and daycare centers on Read for the Record Day.

Library Director Kristine Kreidler created a video that included multiple town staff members and officials reading the book aloud — in English and Spanish — at the town’s newly renovated library, which was sent to the schools that requested a virtual reader. The video was also posted on the town’s social media page.

Kreidler and her team created a storywalk with pages from the book in the Town Hall breezeway to promote the day and let kids read the book while exploring Town Hall and its history.

“We posted our RFTR event flyers on the library’s and town’s Facebook pages, on the library’s Instagram and other platforms to demonstrate the town’s commitment to early literacy,” said Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez.

“We held two story times at our library to guarantee that everyone, including toddlers and home-schooled children, could participate in the event,” Dominguez said. “The library guests ate free churros from the BunnBoh Churros Truck and made piñatas and other crafts inspired by the book.”

The annual Read for the Record was launched 18 years ago by the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County to highlight the importance of building early literacy and language skills so all children have the chance to enter school prepared to succeed.

“We had this distinction in the past and were finally able to recapture it,” Mayor Karen Lythgoe said of the honor.

Lifesaving award — Police Chief Sean Scheller presented a Life Saving Award to Officer Arianna Morris during the Dec. 11 Town Council meeting. The July 29 rescue involved a non-verbal 7-year-old boy who had lacerated his wrist in an accident at home. He had been trying to get his aunt’s attention and punched through a window. Morris was first on the scene and was able to calm the boy and apply a tourniquet before paramedics arrived. Palm Beach Fire Rescue also honored Morris, saying the boy might have bled to death.

Employee of the Year — Lantana’s Employee Committee presented a plaque to accounting technician Adam Ganz as the town’s Employee of the Year for 2023. Ganz was chosen for his exceptional work in various roles and willingness to take on new responsibilities.

Town honored — Lantana officials were informed by the Government Finance Officers Association that the town’s annual comprehensive financial report, for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2022, won the GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Finance director Stephen Kaplan and his staff were recognized for their outstanding work. This was the 25th consecutive year that the town received this award.

Assistant chief gets new SUV — The council authorized buying a 2024 Nissan Pathfinder from Alan Jay Fleet Sales for $40,338 for the new assistant police chief.

— Mary Thurwachter