The Grass River Garden Club awarded three grants in 2017: $7,500 to Sandoway Discovery Center to support Title I schools and after-care participation in Sandoway’s Junior Naturalist Program; $6,200 to Community Greening for the planting of trees, creation and maintenance of green spaces and education about environmental benefits of trees; and $700 to Delray Beach Children’s Garden to pay for a handicapped access path. ABOVE: (l-r) Karen Muse, Grass River Garden Club finance chair, with Delray Beach Children’s Garden co-founders Jeannie Fernsworth and Shelly Zacks.

Photo provided

Paul Cienniwa, who starts June 1 as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’s music ministry director,

says ‘music can touch people who aren’t religious. It’s a spiritual experience.’

Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

   Never underestimate the power of music. Paul Cienniwa’s skills as an organist brought him to the church: Playing organ paid his bills when he was a struggling student and, in fact, organ-playing paid a lot better than the minimum wage he made in a sheet music store.
    Music also brought Cienniwa to God. “The music converted me,” said the newly hired director of music ministry at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach.
    But first, music brought Cienniwa east. Born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, Cienniwa earned a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University before moving to New Haven, Conn., to attend the Yale School of Music. He earned a master of music degree in 1997, master of musical arts in 1998 and, finally, a doctorate of musical arts from Yale in 2003.
    Now, after two decades in New England, Cienniwa is on the move again and he is thrilled. The position at St. Paul’s seems tailor-made for the gregarious Cienniwa, who starts work June 1.
    “It’s overwhelming and wonderful and I can’t wait,” he said by phone from Fall River, Mass.
    Cienniwa’s career in New England sometimes had him in the car for four hours a day, with his hand in pies in Boston, Providence and places in between.
    He had been serving as chorus master of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, directing the chorus at Framingham State University, lecturing at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and teaching piano at the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
    He also played organ and harpsichord regularly with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. He performed on a weekly radio show at WERS 88.9 FM in Boston.
    Cienniwa and his wife, Jacqueline Maillet, a middle school music teacher, were ready for a change. But Cienniwa said potential employers were often intimidated by his full plate. Until he met the leadership at St. Paul’s. “They got it,” Cienniwa said.
    But there was one more hurdle. Cienniwa’s wife of just three years had three adult children and a grandchild living in New England, and he didn’t want to ask her to leave them. He didn’t have to. She told him, “Go for it. It’s perfect for you.”
    She will join him here.
    Taking on the position of music director at St. Paul’s is like taking on a mantle.
    Cienniwa is following a legacy left by Dr. Keith Paulson-Thorp, who served as the director of music ministry for more than 10 years and expanded the popular concert series originally founded by Stuart Gardner.
    Thorp introduced jazz concerts and klezmer, which brought more people to the church, and founded La Camerata del Re, a consortium of South Florida musicians who perform with instruments authentic to the time period of each piece.
    Now Cienniwa will add his flavor to the program.
    “I plan to move quite slowly,” he said. “Music is an outreach. It’s a gateway drug to bring people to church. Music can touch people who aren’t religious. It’s a spiritual experience.”
    One thing he does plan to do is start a children’s choir. “It’s the No. 1 thing I want to do,” he said. “I want to engage children in the religious experience. And if I can get kids and carry them through their teenage years, what a wonderful thing.”

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

Hear Cienniwa play at St. Paul’s Church
Paul Cienniwa will perform his first South Florida concert, French Sweets on harpsichord, at 3 p.m. June 11 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. The program will include suites by Francois Couperin, Johann Sebastian Bach and Jean- Philippe Rameau.
Cienniwa is looking forward to his first performance here. “My duty to the art is to be as good as I possibly can and leave the rest up to the audience,” he said.
Tickets are free.
Info: Call 278-6003 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org.

Joewood is a slow-growing shrub with inedible green fruit.

BELOW: Jacquemontia is a native vine with stunning blue blooms.

Both plants are salt-tolerant, making them ideal for our neighborhoods.

Photos by Jerry Lower and Susan Lerner

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

    If you want to attract wildlife while doing less maintenance in your yard, perhaps it’s time to go native. Now is the perfect time to get started by attending the 12th annual Rare and Unique Native Plant Auction.
    The event, which includes both live and silent auctions, will be May 16 and hosted by the Palm Beach County chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society at Mounts Botanical Garden.
    Last year the auction brought in $3,000 the group used to educate the public about the importance of using native plants in the landscape.
    “Planting natives is a big deal,” says chapter President Susan Lerner.
    The FNPS defines Florida native plants as those that would be found within the state before Europeans arrived. “They are the plants that were here before we raped and pillaged the land,” Lerner says.
    Today she and the about 200 members of the local FNPS urge residents to utilize the plants that filled the Florida peninsula before exotic or nonnative species arrived. For example, instead of planting bougainvillea that originated in Africa and South America, think about adding color to your yard with a native orange geiger.  
    Because native plants have developed over millennia, they are well-suited to the area. That means they thrive on the nutrients found naturally in the soil, they need only what rain falls and they shine in the tropical sun.
    And this means there’s little need for spraying, fertilizing or watering, which is good for the gardener and the garden.
    By doing this, you can help create habitats where native insects provide food for native birds, and native butterflies thrive on their requisite host and nectar plants.
    Whether you’re just starting to plant natives or looking for some plants to add to your collection, register to bid on the many lots of native plants that will be available in the live auction, called “Going Native — Harmonious Habitats.”
    This auction will be divided into six sections, including Piney Woods, Scrub-a-Dub and Hammock Time, with each based upon a specific Florida habitat (pineland, scrub and hammock).
    In the Going Coastal section, you can bid on native plants that do well along our beaches, including the joewood, a small tree or shrub the state has deemed “threatened.” It sports tiny white to yellow flowers that grow in small clusters and have an aroma similar to jasmine.
    The plants will be offered in 1-gallon to 15-gallon pots.  Small trees will be auctioned in single lots; smaller items may be grouped.  
    Rufino Osorio, the nationally acclaimed author of A Gardener’s Guide to Florida’s Native Plants, will describe each plant brought up for bid and its growing requirements. And members of the local FNPS chapter will be available to answer questions.
    Meanwhile, the silent auction is a little more “catch-as-catch-can,” Lerner says. “All kinds of interesting things show up, and we often don’t know what will be auctioned until it walks through the door.”
    Lerner urges folks to attend this event to learn more about natives, be introduced to some hard-to-find specimens and enjoy the evening. And no matter how many plants you already cultivate, you may find something you can’t resist.
    “There’s always room for one more in a garden,” she says.

Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley is a certified master gardener who can be reached at debhartz@att.net.

Auction tip
“Before you attend the auction, think about the place in your garden you’d like to fill and how you want to fill it. Do you want to add a little color? Attract butterflies?
“Then think about how much sun and water the area gets. Is it irrigated and damp all the time? Is it on the west side of the house where it gets afternoon sun or the east side where it gets morning sun? Then you’ll know what to look for when you bid on a plant.”  
 — Susan Lerner, president of the Palm Beach County chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society

If You Go
The 12th annual Rare and Unique Native Plant Auction
When: 7-9:30 p.m. May 16; arrive when the doors open and you’ll have time to bid on the silent auction and view the lots for the live auction that begins at 7:30.
Where: The auditorium at Mounts Botanical Garden, 531 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach
Admission: Free. Refreshments available. Only cash and checks will be accepted as payment for auction items.
For more information: 247-3677. Learn about the Palm Beach County chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society by visiting palmbeach.fnpschapters.org.

Campers enrolled in Ocean Adventure in Boca Raton, designed for children up to age 15,

have opportunities to sail, snorkel and surf.

Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

    Summer camp opportunities for children 12 and younger abound. But what about our teens? What are they going to do this summer? Here are a few options.

For water lovers
    Founded in 2009 by boat captain Maya Shoup, Under Blue Waters Ocean Adventure Camp is an intimate camp experience for kids who love the water. Kids master skills for snorkeling, boogie boarding, skim boarding, surfing, paddleboarding, fishing, sailing and scuba diving, and learn about marine and environmental conservation.
    All staff undergo level two background screening, are certified in CPR, AED and first aid, and are qualified and certified in their areas of expertise.
    Camp meets from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, with extended hours to 5 p.m. available, at Red Reef Park, 1400 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton, and is designed for children up to age 15. A four-day camp is $203 for Boca Raton residents, $288 for nonresidents. A five-day camp is $325 for Boca Raton residents, $406 for nonresidents.
    Through a special cooperative effort with the Wild Dolphin Project, Under Blue Waters will offer a one-of-a-kind Wild Dolphin Camp. Campers will focus on the marine research field through interactions with the WDP crew. They’ll learn about dolphin behavior, habitat, current research and conservation efforts as well as boater safety, snorkel and diving safety, paddleboarding, and the environmental conservation of local waterways. Kids complete skin diver and snorkeling courses that will come with an official PADI certification.
    Only 12 spaces are available for this camp, which meets at New Port Cove Marine Center under the Blue Heron Bridge, in Riviera Beach. Camps meet two weeks: June 26-30 and July 17-21. The fee is $450 per week, which includes a mask and snorkel and PADI certification.
    Call 715-0499 or visit underbluewaters.com

For techie teens
    If your house includes a rising freshman, IMACS can provide just the edge needed to excel in technology classes in high school and prepare for the high-tech world beyond.
    IMACS is an independent teaching and educational research institute focused on helping students reach their highest potential in math, computer science and logical reasoning, but the skills campers learn translate across the board no matter what they study.
    Coursework includes university-level logic for mathematics based on the Elements of Mathematics curriculum, and university-level computer science designed for talented secondary school students. They also learn the hands-on skills needed for the design and construction of electronics projects, using resistors, diodes, LEDs, capacitors and integrated circuits, and students get to keep what they build.
    Classes are two hours each, and students can register for up to three classes, which makes a full day of camp. They can even take an aptitude test to assess readiness.
    IMACS is at 23172 Sandalfoot Plaza Drive, Boca Raton. For more information, call 470-1178 or visit www.imacs.org.

For budding thespians
    The Rocky Mountain Conservatory Theatre hosts summer camps at Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton. These full-immersion camps are designed for ages 11 to 18 and are offered in two, three-week sessions from June 5 to 24 and June 26 to July 15.
    Campers will do everything it takes to put on a show. Teens are instructed in acting, music, voice, dance, art and rehearsal, and they break up the day with theater games and improv. Each student who enrolls is guaranteed a part in the summer production. Student auditions take place on June 5, which is the first day of camp.
    This year’s productions include The Addams Family for session one and Guys and Dolls Jr. for session two. Performance dates are June 22-24 and July 13-15. Camps meet from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with early drop-off at 8 a.m. and late pickup until 5:30 p.m.
    Tuition is $900 per session, or $1,775 for both sessions.
    For more information, call 962-1570 or visit RMCTonline.com.

For risk-taking entertainers
    Aspiring circus performers can get training in juggling, trapeze and tightrope walking at Lynn University in Boca Raton. And circus camp is just one of the opportunities offered at Pine Tree Camp.
    Circus day camps are designed for youths up to age 14 and include lessons in juggling devil sticks, riding a unicycle, performing tricks on a trampoline and the trapeze, tumbling, globe walking and walking the low wire. Students also perform on two tough-to-master props, the giant yo-yo and the rola bola.
    Because these are high-risk activities, Pine Tree Camp is focused on safety. Spotters will carefully supervise campers’ stunts and campers will be protected by mats and safety lines.
    Camps meet at Lynn University in three sessions: June 5-23, June 26-July 14 and July 17-Aug. 4. Tuition is $1,085 per session. An overnight camp is also offered for $2,275.
    When they’re not practicing circus stunts, campers stay active with traditional camp activities, from kickball to crafts. Children who want to learn to swim can take lessons. At the end of the three-week session, parents get a ringside seat at PTC’s Greatest Show on Earth. Or at least in Boca.
    For more information, call 237-7310 or visit www.pinetreecamp.com.

For crime-solving lovers
    FAU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice is offering a criminal justice summer camp on its Boca Raton campus, 777 Glades Road. Campers ages 15-17 (must be entering grades 10-12 in the fall) observe and participate in mock crime scenes and mock criminal trials; watch demonstrations by bomb squads, K-9 units and SWAT teams; and visit police marine units, 911 call centers and local FBI offices.
    The program is a partnership among FAU and the Boca Raton Police Department, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI’s Miami office.
    Camps meet June 11-15 and July 9-13. Tuition is $600. Call 297-3040 or visit www.fau.edu/sccj.
 
For kids on the spectrum
    FAU also offers S.O.A.R. — Summer Opportunity for Adult Readiness — for high school students and young adults with autism and similar learning disabilities. Campers live on campus in Boca Raton for one- or two-week sessions. A meal plan provides three meals a day, with vegan, gluten-free and other special dietary options available.
    Activities focus on teaching campers to be more independent. Teens learn social skills, employment readiness, scheduling and time management, and health and wellness, including fitness and nutrition content. They learn to handle stress using meditation, mindfulness and positive aspirations. Campers have access to all of FAU’s facilities, but they also go off-campus for movies and dinner, which build social skills and self-confidence.
    Camps for ages 16-17 meet in one-week sessions June 5-9, June 12-16, June 19-23 and June 26-30. Tuition is $1,400 plus a $75 nonrefundable application fee.
    Camps for ages 18-25 meet in two-week sessions from May 22-June 2, June 19-30 and July 10-21. Tuition is $2,400 plus a $100 nonrefundable application fee.
    For more information, call 213-5450 or visit fau.edu/pcpo/schedule.

For more ideas, visit our Summer Camp Guide at www.thecoastalstar.com

Tuana Yazici (right), a Saint Andrew’s Upper School student, made a presentation to more than 50 kindergartners at Saint Andrew’s. She spoke about protecting sea turtles from plastic waste and explained how sea turtles are at great risk of being harmed or even killed by ingesting marine debris. Following the presentation, Yazici led the students in an art project. Yazici, a native of Turkey, has organized several local beach cleanup efforts and raised money for the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

Photo provided

Briny draws name

from bag to pick alderman

Town Clerk pro tem Bobby Jurovaty grasps a piece of paper he pulled from a bag to decide a tie vote to fill

a vacant seat on the Town Council. It had Chick Behringer’s name on it. Town Attorney John Skrandel watches.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

    For what is believed to be the first time in its 54-year history, Briny Breezes had to invoke Provision 32-32.15b to fill a seat on its Town Council.
    Provision 32-32.15b? That’s the section in the town’s code that tells how to handle things when council members deadlock over appointing an alderman.
    How do you handle things? The answer is somewhat biblical: You “cast lots,” the code says.
    It’s something Briny’s founders put in place to ensure the peaceful transfer of power.
    The events that sent Town Attorney John Skrandel digging through the rule book to find 32-32.15b came to a head during the March 23 meeting. Chick Behringer, who has served on the council for almost a year, and political newcomer Gerald Gross applied for the open council seat and tied 2-2 when the council members voted: President Sue Thaler and Bobby Jurovaty backed Behringer; Christina Adams and Jim McCormick voted for Gross.
    “I didn’t expect a tie,” Skrandel said. Neither did anyone else.
    To break the impasse, the attorney wrote the two applicants’ names on equal-sized pieces of paper and put them into a shopping bag. Jurovaty, who also serves as the town clerk pro tem, reached deep into the bag and pulled one out.
    It was Behringer’s, and he was ruled the winner of a two-year term.
    Before the lots were cast, the council offered both men the chance to apply for the open mayor’s seat. Both declined, with Behringer saying, “I thought I can do more good for the town if I kept my vote.” (The mayor doesn’t vote.)
    To fill that opening, the council unanimously voted for a familiar face, Jack Lee, who served as Briny’s mayor from 2001 to 2007. James Arena also asked to be considered for the position but did not come to the meeting to lobby for it.
    As it turns out, a clerical misunderstanding made the use of 32-32.15b necessary. Town officials mistakenly thought McCormick’s seat was open for contest in the March 14 election but actually, it was Behringer’s. McCormick then filed to run to keep his seat — which he didn’t have to — and Behringer never filed to run to keep his — which he should have. No new candidates filed to challenge the incumbents, and so it fell to the council to fill by appointment the opening left by the mixup.
    Confused? So was Briny.
    During his tenure as mayor, Lee helped guide the town through several unsuccessful attempts from developers to buy Briny and build high-rise condos. He said working with Delray Beach and county officials to resolve problems at Dog Beach was his most significant achievement. Lee also said he was proud of the relationships he was able to establish with state legislators and the Florida League of Cities.
    “I’m good at building relationships,” he told the council.
    Lee, 67, has a long career as a mental health counselor and still practices.
    He has been living in Briny Breezes since 1958, when his family moved to Florida from suburban Chicago, an arrival that predates the town’s incorporation and the obscure but useful 32-32.15b.

Lantana recount upholds 2-vote victory

Newly elected Commissioner Edward Shropshire is sworn in to office March 27 by Town Attorney R. Max Lohman Jr.

as Shropshire’s wife, Lorin, and Mayor Dave Stewart look on.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

    Newcomer Edward Shropshire edged out incumbent Lantana council member Tom Deringer by two votes in the March 14 election. Shropshire won 262 votes to Deringer’s 260.
    That razor-thin margin triggered a recount three days later on St. Patrick’s Day.
    Deringer, who says he has some Irish blood, was hoping for a little luck to give him the victory.
    But that didn’t happen. Initial results held up and Shropshire remained the victor.
    “I’m just happy it’s over,” Shropshire said. “I worked hard, went door-to-door, talked to a lot of residents. I ran on my integrity.”
    He wants to be the new voice of Lantana, but even more a new ear for the town. “I plan to listen and learn,” he said.
    Shropshire, who works for a building materials company, is a local union representative and served on the town’s planning board, said he was proud of the way he ran his campaign, “no backbiting, very cordial.”
    Deringer agreed, saying neither he nor Shropshire was a mudslinger. “That’s not the way we do things in Lantana.”
    Deringer, who served on the council for 15 years, said low voter turnout contributed to his defeat.
    “I thought people who had come out for me before would come again, but not all of them did,” said Deringer, who owns Palm Beach Tire.
    “In past elections, I knocked on every door but this year I had to devote more time to business because we were two men short at work. I knocked on doors, but not all of them. And, unlike my opponent, I did not call to remind people to vote on election day. I think many people forgot about the election.”
    He said the town had been good to him and that he plans to continue to serve in some capacity.
    With a population of 10,867, Lantana has 6,239 registered voters, according to the county’s Supervisor of Elections office. Just 522 voters cast ballots in the Shropshire-Deringer race, translating to an 8.4 percent voter turnout — more than 5 percent less than the average for the 21 municipalities in the county with elections in March.
    While the turnout was low, Mayor Dave Stewart said it probably wasn’t a historic low for the town. “There was a lot of apathy in the ’70s and ’80s.”
    But Stewart and other town officials said the two-vote win by Shropshire was likely the closest race in the town’s history.
    A higher voter turnout, Stewart said, usually favors the incumbent, and a lower turnout favors the challenger. A 12 percent turnout may have meant a different outcome, he said.
    Low turnout also concerns Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher.
    “We have worked hard to establish a uniform municipal election date for 37 of our 39 municipalities and we’ve visited many of the cities who had elections prior to the March 14 election this year,” Bucher said. “We try to emphasize the direct impact that municipal elected officials have on the residents’ everyday life, but people like to vote in presidential elections and the voter turnout for municipal elections is unfortunately lower than we’d like.”
    Deringer, by the way, said St. Patrick’s Day did bring him good fortune, even if the recount didn’t go his way. He welcomed his seventh grandchild to the world later on the day of the recount. “His name is Tobias,” the proud granddad said. “We call him Toby.”
    In Lantana’s other contest, incumbent Phil Aridas beat newcomer Suzanne Gordon, 294-223.

Boca Raton Airport has seen an increase in traffic because of temporary flight restrictions

impacting the area’s heavily traveled airspace.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    When situations are normal, the two-hour Angel Flight that pilot Kelly Gottlieb flies to Gainesville a few times a year with a passenger who needs special medical treatment is fairly routine.
    These days, however, normal has been redefined for pilots like Gottlieb who fly out of Palm Beach County Park Airport at Lantana, thanks to temporary flight restrictions activated every time President Donald Trump is in town.

    Now, Gottlieb says the certainty of the free flight she’s planning for a woman later this month is, well, up in the air because the airport for all intents and purposes is shut down during the president’s weekend visits to his “winter White House” at Mar-a-Lago. She won’t know if that’s going to happen until airspace restrictions are announced just a few days prior to Air Force One’s arrival.

Kelly Gottlieb volunteers her flight time through Angel Flight, which provides

air transportation to patients who need special medical treatment.

Rich Pollack/The Coastal Star

    A former mayor of Manalapan, Gottlieb says unless her passenger changes her early Monday morning appointment to the middle of the week, the Lake Worth woman would either have to take a nine-hour bus ride to Gainesville or find a pilot at the last minute who could fly her out of Boca Raton Airport — which isn’t directly affected by the weekend restrictions.
    The president’s visits — he made five in his first eight weeks in office — and the headaches they’re causing for those flying noncommercial aircraft in and out of Palm Beach County are helping to shine a spotlight on general — or privately owned — aviation in South Florida. It’s considered one of the busiest regions in the country for this kind of air traffic.
    “This area is connected to the entire state and nation,” says Clara Bennett, executive director of Boca Raton Airport. “Because of the density of the airspace and the diverse mix of activity here, the presidential visits are having a significant impact on a large amount of aviation. The impact here is greater than it would be in other places because there is so much more activity.”

    How much activity is here?
    In 2016, according to Federal Aviation Administration numbers, there were close to 500,000 general aviation takeoffs and landings at Palm Beach County’s five public airports. That includes traffic generated by corporate planes and jets, cargo planes, flight schools, commuter flights, air taxis, charters and small recreational or pleasure flights.  
    In Palm Beach County, four of the five airports are operated by the county’s department of airports — Palm Beach International Airport, Palm Beach County Park Airport in Lantana, North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport in Palm Beach Gardens and the Palm Beach County Glades Airport in Pahokee.
    Boca Raton Airport is operated by an independent airport authority, with some members appointed by the Boca Raton City Council and others appointed by the Palm Beach County Commission.
    Numbers of annual operations — the takeoffs and landings — vary depending on the reports being used, but those in the know say South Florida ranks among the 10 busiest areas in the country for general aviation.
    Palm Beach International Airport, which was ranked in 2016 as the 89th-busiest major airport in the country overall by the FAA out of more than 525 airports, is consistently among the five busiest airports in the country in terms of general aviation, according to Mike Simmons, one of the county’s deputy airport directors.
    And officials at the Lantana airport, which averages about 250 flights a day when the president isn’t here, say it is consistently among the 10 busiest general aviation airports in the country. That’s possible in part because of the large number of flight school operations there.  
    With all the air traffic, at times planes are lined up for takeoff at Boca Raton Airport and times when incoming planes have to slow down to get their turn to land in Lantana. But pilots who fly out of Lantana say that’s not really a problem.
    “The same way congestion impacts roads and waterways, there’s also congestion in the sky,” Boca Raton’s Bennett says. “The activity is a reflection of the demand.”
    There are several reasons why general aviation demand is over the top in South Florida, with good weather most of the year being one of the biggest.
    “Flying in South Florida is optimal because of the weather,” says Gottlieb, who has been flying for close to 40 years and is one of several pilots who volunteer flight time for people with special medical needs.
    The good weather also makes South Florida an easy place to operate flight schools, and you’ll find at least one at each of the airports. Lantana airport — known for its flight training — is also home to Palm Beach Helicopters, a helicopter flight training academy.
    “Nobody realizes all that goes on at this little airport,” Gottlieb said.

Economic activity
    The strong South Florida business climate is another factor in the high volume of air traffic. There is a connection between South Florida and the Northeast, especially the New York metropolitan area, with many companies having corporate jets making trips back and forth.
    Palm Beach County’s proximity to vacation areas such as the Bahamas and the Florida Keys also brings a lot of air traffic into the area. Several companies fly cargo to the islands and relief supplies to nations in the Caribbean.  
    Another factor contributing to the amount of air traffic is the number of pilots who call South Florida home. According to FAA records, more than 3,000 pilots are registered in Palm Beach County, with 575 calling Boca Raton home.
    All this aviation has an impact on Palm Beach County, with some of it positive and some problematic.  
    In 2014, the Florida Department of Transportation Aviation Office conducted a study that found aviation in Florida was responsible for about $144 billion in positive economic impact.  
    The study also reported the individual economic impact of each of the 103 general aviation airports and 19 commercial airports in the state, looking at direct and indirect impacts.
    The report estimated that Palm Beach International Airport had a total impact of about $3.4 billion, while Boca Raton Airport had an estimated economic impact of about $173 million. Lantana’s impact was about $27 million and that of the Palm Beach Gardens airport was about $53 million. The smaller airport in Pahokee had an economic impact of about $1.9 million.
    The report also showed that general aviation airports created more than 2,200 jobs, while PBIA created just over 34,000 jobs.

Downside: noise
    The downside to lots of planes in the air is noise. And that, in some ways, brings us back to the president’s visits.
    Over the years, noise complaints at several local airports have tapered off a bit, in part because technology has helped jets become quieter and in part because residents living near flight paths are a little more accepting of the disruption.
    With temporary flight restrictions in place, that has changed.

    At PBIA, where planes now use different flight paths during presidential visits, noise complaints have skyrocketed. In February of last year, for example, there were 27 complaints. This February, there were 150, according to the county. In March 2016, there were 16 noise complaints; this year there were 280 through March 24.
    County airport officials attribute most of the increase in noise complaints to the president’s visits. They also  point out that often multiple complaints come from the same households.  
    The temporary flight restrictions also are responsible for an increase in noise complaints at Boca Raton Airport because pilots who ordinarily use PBIA and Lantana are choosing to come and go out of that airport.
    Pilots flying out of PBIA can avoid going through a somewhat cumbersome screening process by flying out of Boca Raton, as can pilots from Lantana, which is essentially closed when the president is in town.  
    On the first weekend the president was at Mar-a-Lago, Boca saw a 35 percent increase in the number of operations, with takeoffs and landings increasing from 298 on the same early February weekend a year ago to 403 this year. The number jumped 50 percent during the president’s fifth visit on the third weekend in March, with 164 more operations than the previous year.
    During the president’s visits there were 17 noise complaints attributed to the temporary flight restrictions, according to Boca airport reports. There were 26 other noise complaints this year as of late March that were not directly attributed to the president’s visits.
    There were complaints about loud noise from F-15 fighter jets that were deployed when some pilots failed to adhere to temporary flight restrictions. In all, there were more than 35 violations, most coming on the weekend of Feb. 17, when there were 14, according to the FAA.  
    While Boca Raton is seeing more traffic, Lantana is suffering to the point where some of the businesses on the airport grounds, including some of the flight schools, are considering moving.
    The problem, says Dave Johnson, president of Palm Beach Aircraft Services on the Lantana airport grounds, is the uncertainty.
“We don’t know if he’s coming until a few days before,” he said.  
    Although some are moving their planes to Boca Raton when they know the president is coming, Gottlieb says that is not feasible for her when she takes the Angel Flight passenger to Gainesville for a Monday appointment.  
    To move her plane to Boca she would have to drive to the Lantana airport and fly the plane from there to Boca Raton on Friday. Her husband would have to pick her up and take her to Lantana to get her car. On Sunday she would have to drive to Boca Raton for the flight and leave her car there.
    When she came home on Monday she could fly directly into Lantana but then she would have to get a ride to Boca Raton to get her car.
    “There’s only so much I can do,” she said.

— Michelle Quigley contributed to this story

    I’ve begun to notice the subtle signs of spring. Along the roadways are the blooming frangipanis. At the beach is the calm, aquamarine ocean. All around is the impossibly blue midday sky.
    For a place that Northerners complain doesn’t have seasons, there’s plenty going on to prove it’s spring in South Florida.
    Consider the longer evenings cool enough for bike rides to the beach. And how the hum of air-conditioners hasn’t yet become so overwhelming that we have to close the windows at night — allowing us to enjoy the sounds of nesting screech owls and mating pond frogs and wind chimes in the breeze.
    Add to these sensory sensations the mind-boggling number of events and activities available at any given time, and you’ve got the formula for paradise.
    No wonder we have so many tourists in town this time of year. What could be more perfect than a South Florida spring day or evening?
    Of course, I have to confess that not all signs of our spring are pleasant. The mango blooms bring allergy attacks. The winter gardens are wilting. And yes, our spring mornings sometimes hold a haze of smoke from burning sugar cane in the far western reaches of the county.
    But these are temporary defects since that sugar cane smoke paints vivid sunsets as the day ends and those mangoes promise to taste glorious deep in the heat of summer.
    So, until the auto-transport trucks appear on A1A, the humidity begins its soggy embrace and the asphalt starts to burn bare feet, let’s get outside and enjoy these final days of spring. See you around.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Jackie  Reeves and the Spirit of Giving are involved in the Boca Raton Bowl at FAU.

The organization helps distribute thousands of free game tickets to youths.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    It’s difficult to imagine Jackie Reeves’ squeezing one more thing into a schedule overflowing with volunteer work for several local nonprofit organizations.
    Reeves, managing director of Bell Rock Capital, a company that designs and implements retirement plans for companies, is on so many boards and committees that it’s hard to understand how she could fit in one more.
    She is a member of the board of trustees for YMCA of South Palm Beach County. She is on the board of the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce as well as on the board of Leadership Palm Beach County.
    At the same time, Reeves, 50, is running a successful business and raising two teenage daughters with her husband of almost 25 years, Jason.
    Still, she didn’t say no when asked recently to take on the role of president for the Spirit of Giving, a collaborative network of about 60 nonprofit organizations that share resources and ideas. It also organizes three huge events and several smaller ones. Her term, which started in January, doesn’t end until June 2018.
    Ask Reeves, of Boca Raton, how she does it all and she will explain her well-thought-out philosophy of time management. Ask her why she does it, she’ll give you a very simple answer.
    “I do it because I like to help,” she says. “I have a big heart and I want to help move the missions of organizations I work with forward and leave them better off than when I entered.”
    Her desire to help others less fortunate led to her involvement in the Spirit of Giving. An active member and later a president of the Junior League of Boca Raton — which was initially involved in the formation of the organization — Reeves began helping at the group’s holiday gift drive, bringing her two daughters along with her.
    They sorted and packed toys that would be distributed to children served by Spirit of Giving member organizations.
    Reeves volunteered at the organization’s Back to School Bash, which assigns a “personal shopper” who helps kids fill backpacks with school supplies and new shoes and other important items.
    In January of last year, one of the organization’s founders, Ann Rutherford, asked Reeves to join the board. Then in January this year, she was asked to grab the reins and take the leadership position.
  “I said yes because I think I can help make a difference,” Reeves said.
    Reeves isn’t driven by ego, but rather by a genuine desire to have a positive impact on her community.
    “I don’t really need to be front and center,” she said.
    Those who know Reeves well say her passion for assisting others and her wealth of experience make her valuable to nonprofit organizations.
     “A lot of people don’t know how dedicated she is to the community,” says Sue Diener, executive director of Spirit of Giving. “She’s quiet about it. That’s the kind of person she is.”
    As hard as it to believe when you look at all she does — including dancing in and winning the fundraising Boca Ballroom Battle in 2011 — Reeves does take a pass on some requests for her time.
    Her advice to others who want to give back is to think seriously about what they’re going to do and make sure not to overcommit.
    “First, dive into your passion and stay true to that,” she says. “Then be mindful of what you can deliver and what you can’t.”
    One of the activities Reeves and the Spirit of Giving are involved in is the Boca Raton Bowl, an annual college football game heading into its fourth year at Florida Atlantic University. The organization helps distribute thousands of free tickets to youths, who get the royal treatment while watching the game.
    “This is an over-the-moon experience for them,” says Reeves. “It is just so heartwarming.”

    I want to thank the residents of Ocean Ridge for all the kindnesses shared with me during my campaign as your town commissioner. I learned so much from the experience.
    The campaign was a positive, constructive event and I appreciated all of the votes I received.
    I also want to thank the other candidates, Jim Bonfiglio, Don MaGruder and Richard Bajakian, for a friendly, professional campaign.  
    It was appreciated that we candidates could converse and campaign side by side and actually treat each other with respect and recognize each other’s position without making or soliciting negative comments or actions.  
    When it comes down to it, we are still all neighbors in a small town and we all want what is best for all of our residents and neighbors. It was gratifying that we could all be that, a neighbor, a colleague, a friend.
    I wish the new commission all the best and look forward to running again next year.
    I have much to offer and will continue with those efforts over the next year.
Nan Yablong
Ocean Ridge

    For many years, until approximately two years ago, the city had encouraged donations to establish benches with commemorative plaques that would help upgrade the appearance of the beach walk. Frankly, with more encouragement from the city, all of the remaining original ugly wooden style benches could have been replaced.
    Fast forward to the current implementation of the beach master plan and a current city directive to replace all of the existing benches but not to include the original plaques.
    Donation of a bench and plaque implied a meaningful and emotional decision to communicate a special message in an understated manner and to establish a long-term reminder of how Delray Beach impacted the lives of the donors. This cannot be replaced by moving the plaques to a wall or on “sitting elements” in the area of the pavilion that also would be out of place, not decorative, and meaningless.
    It is my understanding that some city officials felt the plaques lent a cemetery atmosphere. I can agree with the large plaques as located on the ground in front of trees along the beach walk, but not the bench plaques that are not a major visual attraction and not noticed until one is close to a bench. Frankly, there is no cemetery or graveyard suggestion in any sense.
    I am writing as a plaque donor and resident of Delray Beach to reevaluate the decision to remove the bench plaques, which would violate the donors’ wishes to maintain selected legacies.
    I also do not feel that a cross-section of city residents would agree that the plaques are out of place or demoralizing, but would recognize the intent.
    I hope the city will keep an open mind to the value of the bench plaques, which would be eliminated if not maintained in place. At this point, Commissioner Mitch Katz has expressed his support in maintaining plaques as originally located on the beach walk benches.
Bob Victorin
Delray Beach

By Rich Pollack

    Bad guys, beware.
    If you’re thinking about crossing into any part of Delray Beach east of the Intracoastal Waterway, you might want to think twice now that the Police Department has a new tool that makes it harder for you to come and go without being noticed.
    Since early last month, police have been using a permanent license-plate recognition system that scans the tags of cars passing by and compares them with what’s in several law enforcement databases.
    While the Police Department is cautious about announcing where cameras are, Police Chief Jeff Goldman says they are strategically placed to ensure officers on patrol are notified when suspicious vehicles, such as those reported stolen or those with expired or stolen tags, enter the city.
    “There is no way to get on or off the island without passing a camera,” he said.
    Cameras are on only the barrier island, but the department has plans to roll them out to more and more locations.
    “The installation on the barrier island is the first of many,” Goldman said.

By Jane Smith
    
    A city agency ceded to the demands of the proposed iPic theater and agreed to reimburse its owner $400,000, contradicting its 15-month-old policy of not subsidizing downtown projects east of Swinton Avenue.
    The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency members also agreed to provide at least $75,000 annually to cover the costs of maintaining 90 public parking spaces in the iPic garage. The early March vote was 6-1, with CRA member Daniel Rose saying no.
    Rose wanted safeguards attached to the assistance agreement in case iPic failed to move its headquarters, sold a percentage of its company or failed to pay its real estate taxes. David Tolces, the CRA attorney at the meeting, said the conditions were part of the sales contract. If iPic failed to meet them, the CRA could take the theater owner to court, Tolces said. When complete in 2020, the iPic complex will boast 497 luxury seats in eight screening rooms with a total of 44,979 square feet and a 42,446-square-foot office building where iPic has agreed to move its corporate headquarters and occupy 20,000 square feet for five years.
    The development also will include 7,847 square feet of retail space and a multilevel garage with 326 spaces, providing a minimum of 90 public spaces. The project sits just south of Atlantic Avenue, between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues.
    At the March 9 CRA meeting, 13 people, including iPic attorney Bonnie Miskel, commented on the project. Miskel gave an impassioned plea that iPic has met every deadline and blamed the city for holding up the valet plan. But a March 10 memo from an assistant city attorney disputes that explanation, saying Miskel and iPic were not responsive to repeated requests to sign documents and present the valet plan.
    At the prior CRA meeting in February, Miskel said iPic had responded in 2013 to a proposal that asked for 50 public spaces.  The sales contract written later with the city, though, called for 90 public spaces. The $400,000 would cover a portion of the cost of providing the 40 extra spaces, Miskel said.
    Six people who were in favor of the theater urged the CRA board to resolve the outstanding issues.
    “The CRA made the best deal in town for those [40] spaces by offering 30 cents on the dollar for the spaces. It’s not a subsidy,” said Bill Branning, the vice chairman/advocacy for the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and former CRA member.
    Two residents with real estate and finance backgrounds spoke against the subsidy.
    “Stop the corporate welfare tonight by voting no,” said Ken MacNamee, a CPA who was a chief financial officer for a Pennsylvania multifamily housing developer and vice president of two thrifts. He’s also a frequent critic of the commission, but he has saved the city money when pointing out no-bid contracts.
    “Delray’s minority community has been given the short end of the stick while the downtown has thrived and flourished,” he said. “There shouldn’t be an additional CRA dollar spent on the downtown commercial development until the alleys and sidewalks are completed in the residential neighborhoods.”
    At their Jan. 14, 2016, meeting, the CRA members decided unanimously to pull back their developer infrastructure assistance agreements from covering the entire district, a 1,961-acre area from the interstate to the beach. The new incentive tool would not be given to any downtown projects east of Swinton Avenue and saved for West Atlantic Avenue, where the agency wanted to encourage development.
    In early February 2016, the CRA executive director sent a letter to the proposed Atlantic Crossing developers advising them of the change in the incentives. The program they applied for in August 2014, when the agency was run by a different leader, ended Sept. 30, 2015.  
    Allen “Sandy” Zeller, a semi-retired real estate and land use attorney in New Jersey, said, “I don’t understand why iPic is now being considered under the DIA program when that program was eliminated in January 2016 for the areas east of Swinton.”
 Zeller returns to New Jersey one week a month to handle redevelopment work for Deptford Township. He also has represented the redevelopment agencies in three New Jersey cities — Camden, Atlantic City and Cherry Hill.
    Under the terms of the Delray Beach CRA assistance program, iPic will use “good faith” efforts to hire at least 20 percent of the permanent theater staff from the local community. The efforts will include holding two job fairs. Tolces requested this condition: that iPic file semi-annual reports on its good-faith efforts to the CRA.
    Separately, iPic and CRA staff are still searching for 90 nearby parking spaces that customers and employees can use while the project is under construction.

    When does a real estate contract not contain a meaningful closing date?
    The issue was raised March 9 at the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency meeting.
    Two people asked the CRA board to end negotiations because the iPic theater owner was on its seventh amended contract with a Jan. 31 closing date. In December 2013, the theater owner agreed to pay $3.6 million for 1.6 acres that once housed the library and the Chamber of Commerce.
    The CRA attorney handling the iPic sale, Donald Doody, said vacant land sales by a government agency are different from residential or commercial real estate sales. He was responding to an email question from City Commissioner Shelly Petrolia, a residential real estate broker.
    “The closing is not a date certain but rather a specific number of days (as in this case) after the developer obtains all the necessary permits, governmental approvals (plat, site plan, etc.) and is in a position to proceed with the development of the land for its intended use,” Doody wrote.
    Other real estate experts, including resident Allen “Sandy” Zeller, say closing dates are important and asked: “Why would iPic seek the extensions if it didn’t need them?”
    Zeller is semiretired from his real estate practice in New Jersey, where he still represents the redevelopment efforts of Deptford Township.
    “If there was not a ‘date certain,’” said commercial real estate consultant Chris Davey, “any seller could be hamstrung for months and years by a buyer who states they are ‘diligently and expeditiously’ pursuing all necessary approvals.”  
    Davey was on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board in 2015 when it denied iPic’s application.
— Jane Smith

Rendering provided

By Dan Moffett

    One of the last impediments to bringing a Publix supermarket to Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar seems to be one of the hardest to resolve.
    The town’s Architectural Commission tried unsuccessfully for a third time to agree with Publix and the mall landlord on what the new supermarket’s sign should look like.
    A majority of ArCom members — Nancy Butnick, Jack Doyle and Henry Laufer — said they were disappointed with the drawings that the company’s representatives brought to the board’s March 8 meeting.
    “I was expecting more,” Butnick said.
    Doyle, who is leaving his ArCom seat to become a town commissioner, said the proposed design was not right for Manalapan.
    “It doesn’t reflect the unique character of the town,” he said. “I was hoping to see something better.”
    ArCom Vice Chair Benjamin Hanani disagreed, and praised the company and the mall landlord, Kitson & Partners, for their cooperation.
    “The developer has been extremely — extremely — receptive to our suggestions,” Hanani said. “I think they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do.”
    A significant example of that cooperation was a concession to mount a black-and-white sign over the supermarket doors, rather than the familiar green trademark Publix logo that the town has opposed.
    After more than two hours of discussion and often heated opinions from dozens of residents, the commission decided to send a list of design requests to the company and wait for its response before taking the matter up again, at the April 12 or May 10 meeting.
    Among the revisions ArCom wants Publix to consider:
    • Changing the black-and-white lettering, perhaps to an etched design such as the sign on the Publix in Palm Beach.
    • Making the sign smaller, reducing the 98-square-foot design and the 4-foot letter P in the Publix logo. Critics of the proposed designs said the height of the lettering could be reduced by roughly half without interfering with the sign’s function.
    • Offering some lighting options that might include illumination from below, soft backlighting or doing away with lighting altogether.
    • Finding an alternative to the bright red Presto! sign that marks the ATM.
    • Eliminating the words “food & pharmacy” from the sign. Most commission members agreed that the words were unnecessary and could be removed to make the sign smaller.
    • Creating a more innovative design. Some critics of the current sign said Publix promised a unique rendition, but what the company delivered is something typical of its stores throughout the state.

By Dan Moffett
    
    The six-year legal dispute between Palm Beach County and its municipalities over paying for an inspector general’s office appears to be officially over. In March, the county agreed to return $223,558 to 23 towns and cities that had contributed to the creation of the watchdog agency in 2011.
    Rather than risk another defeat in the courts, the county decided to surrender and write the checks. Commissioners unanimously approved the refunds with a declaration: “The case is now final.”
    The dispute began in 2009 when the County Commission endorsed the creation of an inspector general’s office, and then county voters overwhelmingly approved it in the 2010 election.
    While voters spoke clearly on having an inspector general to monitor governmental officials and employees, they weren’t asked to decide how to pay the $3 million or more it would cost each year to run the office. The county started billing the towns and cities, based on their sizes and finances, to pay for the agency. In 2011, 15 of the municipalities filed suit, saying the county didn’t have the right to impose charges unilaterally.
    A Palm Beach County circuit judge ruled against the municipalities in 2015, but in December, the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed the decision and ruled against the county.  In January, County Attorney Denise Nieman advised the commission to give up and not appeal the decision to the Florida Supreme Court.
 “Our efforts are better spent reviewing all options available to us in light of the court’s opinion, including but not limited to service contracts with the municipalities,” Nieman wrote commissioners.
    The refunds approved in March represent the payments some municipalities made as the IG office was launched in 2011. Boynton Beach will receive the largest return in the county, $50,971.
    Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Gulf Stream, Highland Beach and Manalapan will receive nothing because they refused to pay and filed suit instead.
    Other coastal communities receiving returns include Briny Breezes ($259), Hypoluxo ($735), Lantana ($5,033), Ocean Ridge ($1,675) and South Palm Beach ($529).

By Dan Moffett

    The arrival of sunny spring beach days means there’s trouble brewin’ at the Beachway Drive crossover in Ocean Ridge.
    The town’s public access walkway over the dune to the beach draws tourists, snowbirds, mainland visitors and residents to a tight intersection where vehicles and pedestrians often compete for the same slice of precious real estate.
    For the last four years, Ocean Ridge has grappled with ideas to deal with the growing number of visitors coming across the bridge from new developments, particularly those in Boynton Beach. Beachway Drive has become a flashpoint for problems.
    Police Chief Hal Hutchins said he received numerous complaints in March about beachgoers “loading and unloading to the point that the entire intersection was blocked.” One motorist parked his car in a clearly marked pedestrian area.
    “I mean, the car was almost on the beach, for cryin’ out loud,” said Mayor Geoff Pugh."
    Frustrated residents in the neighborhood took matters into their own hands and hired an off-duty town police officer the weekend of March 4 to monitor the crossover and keep traffic moving.
    This created another set of problems for some other residents — among them former Commissioner Terry Brown, who complained during the March 6 town meeting that stationing a police officer at the crossway has an “intimidating effect” that suggests the public access isn’t really public.
    “There is no intent on our part to usurp the public’s right to use the crosswalk,” Hutchins told Brown.
    The chief says his officers patrol the Beachway-Old Ocean Boulevard intersection regularly and are poised to respond quickly to residents’ complaints. “If you see any violations, please call us and we’ll respond immediately,” he said.
    Definitions — what distinguishes reasonable loading or unloading from unreasonable idling or parking — continue to complicate matters. Hutchins said his officers are instructed to evaluate incidents at the intersection on a common- sense, case-by-case basis.
    “The officer is trying to look at every situation individually,” he said.
    If a motorist stays behind the wheel while stopping briefly to drop off passengers, no problem, the chief says. If a motorist leaves the vehicle unattended or if traffic backs up because of a prolonged stop, that could warrant a ticket.
    “This is more of an education campaign on our part than anything,” Hutchins said.

Election results
    Political newcomer Don MaGruder coasted to victory in the March 14 municipal election and Vice Mayor James Bonfiglio comfortably won a second three-year term to fill two open seats on the Town Commission.
    MaGruder, a veteran member of the board of adjustments, led all vote-getters with 319, roughly 35 percent of the ballots cast, and Bonfiglio claimed the second seat with 249, about 28 percent.
    Nan Yablong had 168 votes and Richard Bajakian 164.
    Ocean Ridge had one of the highest turnouts in Palm Beach County, with roughly 31 percent of eligible voters participating.

Longtime Ocean Ridge resident Don MaGruder takes the oath of office as commissioner

following the Ocean Ridge municipal election. MaGruder and incumbent

Vice Mayor James Bonfiglio were the top two vote-getters.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

    The felony trial of former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella will take place no sooner than midsummer.
    Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt and Lucibella’s defense attorney, Marc Shiner, both told Circuit Judge Charles Burton they could not be ready for a jury this month. Burton scheduled a calendar call in the case at 9:30 a.m. July 21.
    The trial’s original start date was April 10, too soon for Grundt and Shiner to question all the witnesses, they said.
    A motion Shiner filed on his and Grundt’s behalf said there are approximately 36 state witnesses. Seventeen depositions were scheduled and taken as of March 3, it said, but approximately seven witnesses failed to appear.
    And 13 more depositions were set for April 4, 5 and 6.
    Additionally, the motion said, Shiner anticipated questioning several witnesses on Lucibella’s behalf.
    “As such, the parties agree additional time is needed to complete discovery and prepare for trial,” he said in the motion.
Shiner also waived Lucibella’s right to a speedy trial.
    Lucibella, 63, is charged with two felonies — battery on a police officer and resisting the officer with violence — as well as a misdemeanor count of using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. He has pleaded not guilty and said through his attorney that he is a victim of police overreaction.
    Ocean Ridge police went to his oceanfront home Oct. 22 after neighbors reported hearing gunfire. They confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the backyard patio.
    With Lucibella was one of the officers’ supervisors, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel. Both men were “obviously intoxicated,” the police said.
    They later determined the handgun belonged to Wohlfiel, who was fired for his role in the incident Jan. 4. Wohlfiel is appealing his dismissal.
    Lucibella resigned his vice mayor and town commissioner positions Dec. 7.
    Burton had set aside four weeks for the trial.