By Mary Hladky

    Boca Raton residents and visitors suddenly seem poised to have plenty of alternatives to driving their cars around downtown.
    After talking for months about what type of transportation services should be offered to lessen traffic congestion, City Council members, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board, heard at their June 12 meeting that at least two companies want to soon start service with electric vehicles.
    And the Downtowner, whose departure from Boca Raton in December prompted council members to seek a replacement, is willing to return to the city.
    Mike Trombino, who launched Slidr in Asheville, N.C., last year, said his company expanded to Naples this year, plans to start operating on Columbia, S.C., in July and in four more cities in 2018. It provides on-demand service via an app and by telephone.
    Some cities subsidize his service, but Trombino indicated he might forgo that in Boca Raton.
    The Free Ride, which began service in East Hampton, N.Y., in 2011 and now operates in 11 cities including West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, is planning to start service in downtown Boca Raton and eventually expand to other areas of the city.
    The company also has an app for on-demand service.
    “I believe we will be on the road by Oct. 1,”  said Michael Liss, an attorney who represents The Free Ride.
    Downtowner CEO Stephen Murray, whose company operates in Delray Beach, Tampa and two other cities, declined in March to say why he pulled out of the city.
    “We’re very interested in coming back to the city of Boca,” he told The Coastal Star on June 12.
    City Manager Leif Ahnell said any company could start providing service immediately as long as no city subsidy is involved.
    Even though they are pleased the companies want to operate in the city, council members agreed to proceed in July with a request for proposals from private operators. That process could be halted if Slidr and The Free Ride are operating successfully in the city.
    “I would love to see private industry step up as soon as possible,” said Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers.
    A survey completed in June showed that Boca Raton businesses, residents and visitors want alternative downtown transportation.
    The city posted the survey on social media, emailed it to downtown businesses and sent it to downtown property managers to share with their tenants. The Downtowner emailed the survey to its former Boca Raton riders.
    A total of 1,759 downtown residents, visitors and people who work downtown responded, a far higher number than city officials expected.  In all, 75 percent were interested or very interested in using an alternative downtown transportation service.
    Sixty-five percent favored an on-demand service, while 19 percent wanted a trolley system that would have a fixed route downtown. Most wanted electric vehicles.
    The main reasons they cited for coming downtown were dining, shopping, nightlife and special events. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents live downtown.
    “There is definitely a demand for some kind of alternative service,” said council member Robert Weinroth.

Parking garage discussed
    Council members next turned their attention to building a badly needed downtown parking garage.
    The working assumption has been that the garage would be built on city-owned land behind the downtown library, two blocks north of City Hall and the Police Department and west of the FEC railroad tracks.
    The city has tried for years to find a site closer to the heart of downtown, but landowners have been unwilling to sell their property.
    Some council members began rethinking the location in May after Kim DeLaney, director of strategic development and policy for the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, said library land west of the railroad tracks would not be a good location for the garage.
    Weinroth said he was “probably wrong” to support the library site. Mayor Susan Haynie agreed that is the wrong location.
    DeLaney’s argument “is persuasive,” Weinroth said. “A garage between Dixie and Federal is much more valuable and gives us the garage we need.”
    Council member Scott Singer agreed a site east of Dixie Highway would be best. “But we don’t own it,” he said.
    “I submit that the best solution is proceeding now with the planned site the city currently owns, rather than spend many millions to buy new downtown parcels (something we’ve been exploring to no avail),” he wrote on his Facebook page.
    Council members will address the matter again at a July 24 CRA meeting when they expect more input from DeLaney and a city consultant.

By Mary Hladky

    Years after the Midtown “live, work, play” development was conceived, the project is at an impasse without any of the city approvals needed to move forward.
    Angelo Bianco, managing partner of developer Crocker Partners, tried to change that at a June 12 City Council workshop, as he pressed to have the city’s Planning and Zoning Board consider on July 20 proposed ordinances that set a framework for how the project can be built.
    “Being kept in a state of limbo is not fair,” Bianco said. He later added, “We just can’t not move forward. At some point, you are taking away our rights as landowners.”
    But council members urged Bianco to continue working with city staff to finalize ordinances both he and staff can support. If so, staff will recommend that the planning board and City Council approve the ordinances.
    Council member Robert Weinroth counseled Bianco not to resist more talks and negotiation with city staff.
    “I know you are frustrated,” he said. “Don’t make a mistake by forcing this.”
    The Midtown project, located between Interstate 95 and Town Center at Boca Raton, envisions a place where people will live and walk or take shuttles to their jobs in the area, shopping and restaurants.
    As many as 2,500 mostly rental units would be built on nearly 300 acres where no residential now exists. A Tri-Rail station would be built at Northwest 19th Street to bring people to and from the area.
    City officials like the concept, which is similar to transit-oriented developments springing up across the country designed to reduce traffic and energy use. But the devil is in the details.
    The city annexed the area in 2003 and the original county zoning has remained in place. Crocker Partners and its development partners want new zoning ordinances that would regulate a “planned mobility development” as well as a “transit-oriented development” that would allow higher densities and less space set aside for parking.
    City officials want to make sure the ordinances are crafted to safeguard city interests and avoid unintended consequences.
    City staff and the developers have been working on that and changes have been made. But from the perspective of the developers, the process has been painfully slow, costing them time and money.
    Meanwhile, questions have been raised about whether too much residential would be built, if adequate parking space has been included and if Midtown would further clog area roads.
    Another complication is that the proposed ordinances are just the start of the process. If they are approved, the developers will design the project and then submit plans to the city for approval.
    As a result, the planning board and council have no idea what Midtown will look like. Examples presented by the developers of what they have built elsewhere have created confusion, prompting the developers to explain repeatedly that these are conceptual ideas only, and not what is intended for Midtown.
    As the impasse continued, the council in May called for a “reset” on Midtown, with the city taking a stronger hand to speed up the process. But the city and the developer did not discuss specific points of disagreement at the June 12 meeting.
    Bianco said he thinks the proposed zoning ordinances are ready for presentation to the planning board.
    Deputy City Manager George Brown disagreed. He suggested additional changes that Bianco said he was hearing about for the first time.
    “This is treating us in an unfair manner that does not have precedent with other developers …,” Bianco said. “We just need to move it along.”
    One sticking point is the proposed Tri-Rail station, which Crocker Partners initially said was crucial to the project. The developer wanted the ordinances approved by March so funding for the station was not jeopardized. That deadline, set by Tri-Rail, has passed, but some funding agreed to earlier remains available.
    An April report by Brown says previous versions of one of the ordinances drafted by the developer states that the Tri-Rail station would be “planned, funded and committed to” by Tri-Rail. The city wants the station to be “planned, funded and under construction.”
    The report also says the proposed ordinance states the train station is not required until 1,300 rental units have been approved for development. At that point, up to 1,200 more units could be built if the train station is “committed to.”
    “As proposed, the applicant’s ordinance may result in 2,500 units without a train station,” the report states.
    City staff questions if Midtown qualifies as a transit-oriented development if no station is built, the report said.
    The developer commissioned a traffic survey for the area, which states there will be no additional traffic generated by renters if 1,300 units are built, as long as shuttles are operating.
    The traffic survey was updated on April 25 and May 11, but Brown said in a June 5 memo to the council that staff has not reviewed the updates. That memo also said staff has not reviewed proposed changes to the ordinance the developer submitted on April 27 and May 15.
    Parking also remains a sticking point. Crocker Partners had proposed less parking than required elsewhere based on the idea that renters and others coming to shop and dine would use Tri-Rail and the shuttles.
    Crocker Partners has since increased the amount of parking, but city staff still questions whether it will be enough to meet demand.  One-bedroom units would have one space, two-bedroom units 1.5 spaces, and three-bedroom units would have two spaces.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Storm clouds are gathering again between the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District and the city of Boca Raton.
    The cause of the renewed friction is the continuing failure of the two governments to hammer out a master interlocal agreement to replace a handful of agreements defining which side does what. The district uses its tax dollars to have city workers take care of its parks and pay for the operation and capital improvements at Red Reef Park and some other city-owned facilities.
    District Chairman Robert Rollins said the latest version of the proposed agreement was an improvement over the original, but he still was not happy.
    “For 22 years we’ve had separate ILA agreements that have worked marvelous without any complications that I can see. So to begin with, I’m not sure why we need a master ILA,” Rollins said.
    Rollins rode the train from Tampa to Boca Raton and said he had plenty of time to review the proposal, which the city first offered in December 2015.
    The main sticking point was when a second round of playing fields would be built at De Hoernle Park, which is on city property. The district built the first group of fields in 2012, and commissioners hoped to keep the same contractor. But Boca Raton did not give its OK.   
    “This interlocal agreement has already held up phase 2 for a couple of years if not more,” Rollins said. “I kept looking in here for a statement that said, you sign this ILA agreement and you can get started on phase 2 tomorrow. It’s not in here.”
    Rollins said he also was concerned about not having input anymore on the scheduling of fields, adjusting user fees at parks and the effects of future annexations by the city.
    Vice Chairman Steve Engel said city officials seem to treat the district as if it were a city agency.
    “We’re a state agency, and as such we have a different set of rules that we have to play by,” he said, noting the thousands of district residents he represents who live outside city limits.
    At the district’s June 19 meeting, Arthur Koski, its executive director, said Boca Raton’s proposed budget does not reflect what has been discussed during negotiations of the master interlocal agreement.
    “So that would mean that the actual interlocal agreement would not take effect in the fiscal year ’17-18,” Koski said. “That’s not to say we can’t negotiate it during that year, but it probably would be effective in the following fiscal year.”
    District commissioners thought they reached an agreement on De Hoernle Park at a joint meeting with City Council members in mid-2015.
    “We promised the city we would do sports turf at Patch Reef [Park], we’re doing it,” Rollins said. “We promised the city that we’d do half the beach renourishment; we signed that, we’re doing it. Those are the two things that were hanging us up on this. And so we’ve made that commitment, we’re true to our word when we say we’ll do something. Let’s see if we can’t knock this thing out and get phase 2 kicked off.”
    The two sides planned to meet July 24 primarily to discuss a separate interlocal agreement covering the potential purchase of the Ocean Breeze golf course.

By Rich Pollack

    Small coastal communities in South Palm Beach County continued to have few serious crimes in 2016, with most experiencing crime decreases last year, according to statistics released last month by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
    At the same time, the larger cities in south Palm Beach County all experienced more crime in 2016, as did Ocean Ridge. The increases were driven in large part by a growing number of thefts from unlocked vehicles.  
    Along the coast, South Palm Beach and its neighbor to the south, Manalapan, experienced large percentage drops in crime, with South Palm Beach dropping close to 43 percent and Manalapan dropping by more than 40 percent. Those percentages, however, can be misleading because of the small number of crimes.
    In South Palm Beach, the number of crimes dropped from 14 to 8. In Manalapan, the number of crimes dropped from 27 to 16. Highland Beach, which like South Palm Beach is almost entirely residential, experienced four fewer crimes than it did in 2015, while Gulf Stream had 10 reported crimes, the same as 2015.  
    Ocean Ridge was the exception among the small towns, with 80 crimes, nine more than in 2015. Although the number of major crimes in the town dropped in every other category — including burglaries, which dropped by 58 percent —  the number of larcenies jumped 60 percent from 40 in 2015 to 64 in 2016.  “We believe that about 85 percent of the burglaries to vehicles could have been prevented by people simply locking their car doors and removing their valuables,” said Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins. “If we remove the opportunity, we can displace the criminals.”
    Hutchins said geography and the physical layout of Ocean Ridge may partially explain why the town experienced an increase in thefts while neighboring communities did not. He pointed out easy access to Ocean Ridge from Interstate 95 and explained that there are more public-access areas, including parks, than in other communities.
    In some other coastal communities, a drop in the number of larcenies helped drive an overall decrease in the number of crimes.
    In Highland Beach, which had a 10 percent decrease in overall crime last year, 22 of the 36 reported overall crimes were larcenies. In 2015, there were 32 reported larcenies.
    Police Chief Craig Hartmann gives some credit for the drop to residents, who he says are doing a better job of locking their cars and alerting police to any suspicious activity.
    “We’ve been working with the community to make sure they understand this is an epidemic,” Hartmann said. “We’re putting information out to let residents know how they can avoid becoming a victim.”
    Highland Beach police officers just recently began making presentations at homeowners associations and condo association meetings and began distributing door hangers that say “Always Lock Your Car.”
    Larger cities have also been spreading the word, but thieves have still been able to find many unlocked cars with valuable items inside.
    In Delray Beach, for example, 2,218 larcenies were reported in 2016, 288 more than in 2015.  In Boynton Beach, there were 310 more larcenies in 2016 than in the previous year, and in Boca Raton the number of larcenies increased by 210 in the same time period.
    “Vehicle burglaries account for a large percentage of our crime statistics,” said Dani Moschella, the Delray Beach Police Department’s public information manager. “Most of those crimes were to unlocked cars, and often the victims’ property was clearly visible inside the vehicles. Bags, sunglasses, cash, sometimes even purses, were all left in plain view.”
    In Palm Beach County, the number of overall crimes increased by 2.2 percent, with larcenies and other property crimes largely driving the increase. Violent crimes against people decreased, with the county experiencing 21 fewer homicides, nine fewer rapes and close to 90 fewer robberies, according to FDLE Uniform Crime Report statistics.

By Steve Plunkett

    It’s no secret Boca Raton loves its longtime city manager. Ditto for the city attorney.
    City Manager Leif Ahnell presented the City Council a four-page list detailing 150 projects and activities he oversaw the last fiscal year for an executive performance review June 13.
    “It’s not intended to be a comprehensive list, but it’s just to give everybody some perspective on the services and the scope of operations that we actually are responsible for here and the management,” Ahnell said.
    City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser compiled a three-page, single-spaced “brief overview/highlight” of legal services she provided. The most important function for her office of five, she said, is “to every day kind of anticipate” the city’s legal needs.
    Ahnell’s list noted that in fiscal 2016 the city reviewed almost 22,000 job applications, hired 296 employees and performed nearly 75,000 building inspections. During the recession, Ahnell said, the city stopped giving raises to general employees for four years.
    “As it turned out the city attorney and I went five years with no raises,” he said.
    Since there were no raises, the council also stopped doing performance reviews — until this year.
    Ahnell said he is responsible for a nearly $700 million budget and supervises eight departments with 68 divisions.
    “Really we’re 68 different businesses that we’re kind of running and close to 1,800 employees being managed,” he said.
    More items from the list: City Hall handled about 2,300 public records requests in the 2016 budget year and 43 percent more in the current year. Police answered nearly 60,000 emergency calls.
    “I think that what people don’t appreciate is that, in addition to the 150 items that you’ve discussed here, that you are the conductor of the city,” council member Robert Weinroth said.
    “I really am very impressed by the ability of you to keep this city running and keep the five of us relatively satisfied,” Weinroth said, adding he’d give Ahnell an A “or an A-minus at worst.”
    Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers also was happy with Ahnell’s work.
    “We’re on worldwide lists of best places to live, work, go to school, all those things. … That’s not saying we can’t constantly improve — because I think we constantly seek that and that’s important — and it’s a testament to you and a testament to your hiring and our great staff that you’ve brought here,” Rodgers said.
    Council member Scott Singer called Ahnell a “high-level” manager.
    “I struggle to find an area of improvement to even suggest,” Singer said. “Mr. Ahnell succeeds in areas that I can’t even fathom.”
    Mayor Susan Haynie was equally positive.
    “My only criticism of you is I wish I saw you more out and about town, but I think you’re chained to your desk trying to do all these things,” Haynie said. “Your longevity is a testament to your quality.”
    When it came to the city attorney, Weinroth, who had complained about bad legal advice, was complimentary after Frieser’s successful defense of him in an ethics complaint.
    “On the whole I think you’re doing a very good job,” said Weinroth, giving her a B-plus.
    Singer said he would not want a city attorney presenting a long list of accomplishments.
    “The less that you can put on paper, the less we have to talk about, the fewer lawsuits we have to win or fight, the better,” he said. “It’s what we’re not hearing — that’s good counsel.”
    Haynie noted Frieser’s work on the free-speech zone and other accomplishments.
    “What you’ve done assisting us with the sober home issue was really, really wonderful —the alcohol sales, those were all tough things,” the mayor said.
    There was no talk of pay raises for the two officials.
Later this summer, the council will review Ahnell’s proposed budget for fiscal 2018, which will include money for raises.
    Ahnell has entered the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP, which means he will retire within five years and receive all his retirement benefits for that period in a lump sum or rollover.
    The performance reviews occurred in a nearly empty council chamber at the end of a four-hour, 15-minute meeting that followed a 2½-hour meeting earlier that day.
    Council member Andrea O’Rourke worried that residents missed the discussion of all Ahnell and Frieser do.
    “I think it would be a great idea to publish this list,” said O’Rourke, who suggested putting a special button on the city’s website.
    The lists are attached to the agenda posted online for the June 13 meeting.

By Rich Pollack

    Completion of a new luxury condominium complex as well as several large new homes has helped push property values in Highland Beach to record levels, surpassing those set prior to the economic downturn that began in 2008.
    The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office estimates the total 2017 taxable value of property in Highland Beach at $2.39 billion, surpassing the previous record of an estimated $2.3 billion in 2007.
    The $2.39 billion appraisal this year represents a 7.84 increase over 2016, when taxable property values in town reached $2.21 billion, surpassing the $2 billion mark for the first time since the Great Recession.
    One reason for this year’s increase, city leaders say, is the completion of 3200 S. Ocean, a 20-unit, luxury condominium complex with units starting at $1.4 million. In addition, there have been several expensive new homes built near the Intracoastal Waterway, or facing the ocean on sites where smaller homes were torn down.
    “We’ve had a lot of new construction in town,” Mayor Carl Feldman said.
    There has also been an increase in remodeling of older condominium units as new owners move in.  
    New construction and additions accounted for close to $52 million of taxable value, according to the property appraiser.
    The increase in property values could result in an additional $542,137 in tax revenue coming into town coffers if town leaders choose to keep the tax rate at $3.25 for every $1,000 of assessed value, according to Finance Director Cale Curtis.
    That is a big if, however, since the town is just starting the budget process and a final tax rate won’t be set for several months. How much the town will spend is still to be determined.
    “We don’t have all the final figures in yet,” Feldman said.
    In the past two years, as property values have increased, Highland Beach commissioners reduced the tax rate. In 2015, commissioners dropped the rate from $3.70 per $1,000 of assessed value to $3.50. Last year it dropped to the current tax rate of $3.25.   
    The Town Commission will hold budget planning sessions in the next few months that are open to residents.  
    In other news:
    Highland Beach commissioners voted to disband the town’s volunteer Code Enforcement Board and replace it with a special magistrate — who would act as a judge — to preside over contested code violation cases.
    Last month, commissioners voted to hire attorney William Doney, of the West Palm Beach firm of Caldwell Pacetti Edwards Schoech & Viator, to serve in that position at a rate of $185 per hour.
    The commission selected Diane James-Bigot as the alternate special magistrate.
    Doney, a member of the Florida Bar since 1977, specializes in municipal government and currently serves as a special magistrate in Lantana and Haverhill. He has previously been a special magistrate in Wellington, Mangonia Park and Loxahatchee Groves.
    Town officials say they expect the number of cases coming before Doney to be minimal since most residents and visitors comply with code-violation citations.
    Highland Beach is continuing to search for a full-time code enforcement officer, a newly funded position.

Caitlin Bovery, sea turtle rehabilitation assistant coordinator, records a video of Gumbo Limbo senior aquarist Keith Herman

and manager Leanne Welch as they dump plastic bottles into the center’s near-shore reef aquarium.

The bottles, 70 pounds’ worth, were collected from the beach and surrounding areas. The intent was

to show visitors how plastic and other debris create floating patches of garbage in oceans.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett
    
    First, numbers from the “Marine Debris Timeline” exhibit at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center:
    • Two to four weeks: how long it takes a banana peel or paper cup to decompose in the ocean.
    • 10 to 20 years: the time a plastic shopping bag lingers in the water.
    • 450 years: the long life in the Atlantic Ocean of a disposable diaper.
    The numbers helped frame four days of special activities at Boca Raton’s wildlife sanctuary as center personnel observed World Oceans Day on June 8. The celebration included a coastal cleanup, the “trashing” of an aquarium with plastic bottles and creating a “blanket” of Mylar balloons collected from the city’s beaches.
    Ali Courtemanche and Sydney Jimenez, marine turtle specialists at Gumbo Limbo, needed only a week to gather 53 Mylar balloons left over from beach parties. Taped together, the balloons, which take 50 to 100 years to disintegrate, formed a blanket 21 feet long and 5 feet wide.
    World Oceans Day is intended to raise awareness of how manmade debris affects marine life. The marquee event at Gumbo Limbo was a contest to guess how much plastic was floating in the center’s near-shore reef aquarium.
    In a media-only event that Gumbo Limbo posted on its Facebook page, workers dumped tubs of plastic into the octagon-shaped pool.
    “That was really cool, something we have never done before,” environmental program coordinator Kristin Child said. “We just emptied 70 pounds of plastic bottles and assorted plastic containers into our near-shore reef aquarium, and it is floating around like the Pacific gyre,” an ocean garbage patch.
    Gumbo Limbo senior aquarist Keith Herman said the 70 pounds equaled one-tenth of the amount of plastic that humans drop into oceans around the globe each second.
    Herman decorated the center of the adjacent mangrove aquarium with 34.2 pounds of debris he picked up in just one hour walking on a path to the Intracoastal mangroves on the center’s property. He did not have to cover much ground to collect it.
    “I went within 20 to 30 feet on either side,” Herman said.
    Laura Reams, visiting from Maryland, came closest out of about 400 entries in guessing how many bottles were dumped in the Great Gumbo Garbage Patch.
    “She guesses 1,282 and the actual number was 1,306,” Child said.
    Reams’ prize was to become the adoptive mother of a sea turtle at Gumbo Limbo. Visitors usually donate $50 to adopt a resident turtle or $25 to adopt a hatchling.
    All the plastic in the aquarium was removed and recycled.
    “Please reduce, reuse, and recycle … you can make a difference!” the center urged its Facebook friends.
    Lanai Robinson, who made up the one-woman Team Honeybee, collected a winning 254 pieces of trash in the six-hour coastal cleanup contest June 10.
    “We did not go with weight, because it is easy to pick up big things and harder to pick up the small things,” Child said.
Robinson won a package of reusable water bottles, gloves, grabbers and sunscreen, so she could continue her cleanup work.
The Gumbo Limbo efforts were echoed the following Tuesday in City Hall.
Margaret FitzSimons and Cristina Hicks, the chair and vice chair of Boca Raton’s Green Living Advisory Board, asked City Council members to stop the use of plastic trash bags at the beaches.
    “This really undermines all of the work that Gumbo Limbo is doing to try to eliminate plastic just from our consumer cycle. It ends up in our oceans, and turtles think they’re jellyfish; they end up eating them. And we’re putting more turtles at the hospital at Gumbo Limbo because of that,” Hicks said.
    She and FitzSimons also asked that recycle bins be placed at the beaches.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The year 2017 ushered in a new era of goal-setting for the City Council.
    For the first time, officials posted video of the sessions on Boca Raton’s website, and actions were given completion dates.
    Also, the council did not set five top goals and five high goals. Instead it tasked City Manager Leif Ahnell with making progress in 17 policy areas.
    “Give me the six that are most important to you,” said Lyle Sumek, the consultant who facilitates the sessions.
    Council member Scott Singer was the first to balk, citing the timeline he and his colleagues set for updating the city’s land development code.
    “Some of [the items] have more council action; some of them have less council action. It’s hard for me to prioritize that way,” Singer said.
    Council member Robert Weinroth agreed.
    “We’ve winnowed down hundreds of items to get to these, now 17, and I’m not quite sure whether there is a value to now winnowing it down any further,” he said, adding “these are all priorities.”
    Council member Andrea O’Rourke had similar ideas.
    “If we talk about business retention, expansion strategy and actions, and then compare that to, you know, the city campus master plan, I can’t compare those two in order,” O’Rourke said. “They’re both actions that need to be taken.”
    Ahnell said if all 17 items were staying on the list, the priorities did not matter.
    “We’re going to have to work on all of them,” the city manager said.
    The areas Ahnell’s staff will focus on developing policy choices for the council include the land development code; business retention, expansion strategy and action; and the city campus master plan.

    Others are:
    • the city’s economic development plan;
    • a smart city/technology business development strategy;
    • an innovation office;
    • development process streamlining;
    • human resource planning, succession planning and development/direction;
    • city services and staffing levels;
    • the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District;
    • a Florida Atlantic University campus agreement and town and gown workshop;
    • the university district conceptual master plan;
    • a complete streets policy;
    • a comprehensive waterfront master plan;
    • a downtown traffic alternative study;
    • the Midtown development;
    • and art in public places.
    The council also expects to open the city-owned Wildflower parcel on a temporary basis in September and have its seawall rebuilt, a pathway constructed and an overall design for a passive park completed in September 2018.
    Former Deputy Mayor Constance Scott, who now handles local relations for Florida Atlantic University, was disappointed that no top or high priorities were set, saying that lets the public know what is important to city leaders.
    “I believe in the process,” she said.
    Video of the goal-setting sessions is on the city’s myboca.us webpage. Click on Government, then Agendas & Minutes. The sessions were held May 4 and 5 with the follow-up workshop June 13. Ú

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The city-owned Wildflower parcel on the Intracoastal Waterway now has the papers to prove it’s a park.
    City Council members changed the site’s designation on Boca Raton’s comprehensive land-use plan to “recreation and open space” and rezoned the property as “public land.” Before, the 2.3-acre property at the northwest base of the Palmetto Park Road bridge was labeled “commercial” and zoned for “local business.”
    No members of the public commented on the changes at the council’s June 13 meeting. Neither did council members. The comp plan ordinance required at least four votes for adoption. It and the zoning ordinance both passed 5-0.
    Last July, council members changed part of the vacant parcel from residential to commercial to accommodate a long-planned restaurant. Boca Raton bought the land in 2009 for $7.5 million.
    But voters decided in November to reserve all city-owned land on the Intracoastal for “public recreation, public boating access, public streets, and city storm water uses only.”
    In other business, the council approved hiring Applied Technology and Management Inc. to provide engineering services for a seawater intake and pump station system for Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s saltwater tanks.
    The previous month ATM won the contract to develop architectural plans for the restoration of Lake Wyman and Rutherford parks.

Delray Beach’s team wore pirate costumes during its presentation as the city earned an All-America City award

for the third time. From left are Mayor Cary Glickstein, Education Coordinator Janet Meeks and Joe Gillie,

retired president of the city’s Old School Square complex.

Photo provided

By Jane Smith
    
    The Delray Beach trio came to the All-America City convention with data to show the city had improved grade-level reading and reduced chronic absenteeism among kindergartners through third graders in its public schools.
    But what made Delray’s presentation stand out from those of the 26 other finalists at the Denver convention was the pirate skit — performed in costume.
    Delray Beach won the award from the National Civic League for the third time. It recognizes the best in civic innovation.
Education Coordinator Janet Meeks, Mayor Cary Glickstein and veteran performer Joe Gillie — the retired president of the Old School Square complex — represented Delray Beach at the mid-June convention.
    Meeks and Glickstein held up a treasure map while Gillie gave a dramatic reading of the journey the city made in reaching its grade-level reading goal. They wore tricorne hats, eye patches with skull-and-crossbones logos and long-sleeved navy T-shirts, each with an All-America patch on the upper left chest.
    “It was fun,” Meeks said. “We found gold through reading.”
    No other groups wore costumes at the convention, she said.
    The pirate skit was based on the Palm Beach County School District’s summer reading program, Meeks said. The district has four themes in this summer’s program, including one on pirates.
    The push for the award started in 2012 when the city joined the Civic League’s campaign to improve third-grade level reading levels.
    Delray Beach partnered with the school district to collect data for the city’s public schools from kindergarten through third grade.
    “The whole community worked together, scaling and aligning resources,” Meeks said. “We started with $14,000 to $15,000 of seed money, and now we have $5 million in resources,” including 50,000 books, donated over five years.

Critters in crisis discover

cops are friends — and saviors

Gulf Stream Police Chief Edward Allen holds Chief, a kitten rescued from construction debris.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Resident Peter Klein heard the kitten’s meowing for help from under this mountain of lumber.

By Arden Moore

    Members of the Gulf Stream Police Department stand ready to assist anyone in their coastal town, and that includes those who meow, waddle or swim. In a recent four-day span, a tiny orphaned kitten, seven trapped ducklings and a tangled sea turtle owed their gratitude — and their lives — to police officers who patrol this 2-mile stretch of A1A and part of U.S. 1.
    Chief Edward Allen, who rose up the ranks and now heads this department in his 29th year of service, has learned to expect anything and everything when it comes to patrolling this community that swells up to only about 900 during snowbird season.
    “As a police department in a small community, we don’t have animal control or other departments that bigger cities have, so our department must be adaptable and be able to do a little bit of everything,” says Allen. “But even I must admit, that was one unusual week when it came to critters needing our help.”
    The triple rescue began on a Wednesday when Gulf Stream resident Peter Klein was taking a walk through his once-quiet neighborhood now disrupted by construction crews building large homes in various stages of completion surrounding Klein’s home. “Construction activity in Gulf Stream has been proceeding at an unprecedented pace,” says Klein, a corporate attorney. “With all this activity, there is plenty of debris everywhere and there are plenty of opportunities for animals to get into trouble.”
    During his walk, Klein zeroed in on a strange sound coming from a residential construction site across from his home. As he got closer to a high stack of construction debris, he cringed as he identified the source of the sounds.
    “Mew! Mew! Mew!” came urgent and loud cries from a tiny kitten trapped under the mountain of lumber with nails jutting out, concrete pieces and old scaffolding.  
    “I couldn’t see this kitten, but definitely knew he was tiny and he was scared,” says Klein, who with his wife, Jennifer, happily share their homes with a few cats. “This kitten had the lungs of Pavarotti. It was evident he was in distress and it was truly heartbreaking.”
    Recognizing it was too dangerous to attempt to remove the debris to reach the trapped feline, he tried contacting the construction project manager. Without a response, he then headed to the Gulf Stream Town Hall and told employee Rebecca Tew about the kitten.
    “I went back home and within 10 minutes, it seemed like the entire day shift of the Gulf Stream Police Department rolled onto the site,” Klein says. “Two more town employees also arrived. These guys dug in and shifted every piece of rotten wood on the pile and under the bottom piece, discovered a feral kitten aged 3 to 4 weeks.”
    In the hot sun, Allen supervised and helped as Lt. John Haseley, Sgt. John Passeggiata, Officer Randy Wilson, plus maintenance employees Brian Dietrick and Wayne Songer spent about 45 minutes to remove the pile. As soon as the kitten was spotted, Songer scooped him up in his gloved hand. Jennifer Klein then placed the kitten in a pet carrier.
    “I told them that despite sweating inside your blue uniforms and bulletproof vests, you got right in there and saved a life today,” says Peter Klein.
    The Kleins then drove this injured and dehydrated kitten to the Colonial Animal Hospital in Boynton Beach for medical care.
“He weighed 9 ounces, had lesions on his face caused from rubbing against the wood and was dehydrated,” describes Klein. “I’m about $680 into veterinary bills for him, but he has definitely found a home with us. He is healing and definitely playful.”

Gulf Stream Police Chief Edward Allen and Peter Klein with Chief, the kitten police officers saved

after Klein heard the kitten crying at a construction site.

‘He was tiny and he was scared,‘ said Klein, who kept the cat.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Coming up with a name for this kitten was easy for the Kleins.
    “We named him Chief in honor of Chief Allen,” says Klein. “He was in charge of the rescue and he mobilized these guys. He was the boss and I figured this little kitten will be the boss of me.”
    Allen learned of the kitten’s name a day after the rescue.
    “When I first heard this, I thought they were joking, but I realize it is a compliment to me. And yes, this is the first time I’ve had a cat named after me,” says Allen.  
    Three days later, the Gulf Stream police answered two more rescue calls. Two paddle boarders alerted Sgt. Bernard O’Donnell that they spotted a sea turtle entangled in fishing line out in the ocean. Two more people on water scooters assisted in bringing the turtle to shore and removing the tangled line.
    A team from the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton arrived and transported this 300-pound turtle to the center’s sea turtle rehab facility to care for him while he recoveries from his injuries.
    And later that day, police rescued ducklings in distress. O’Donnell and Officer Ramon Batista answered the call concerning seven ducklings trapped inside a storm drain. They were able to remove the grate from the drain and scoop out the ducklings, which quickly waddled to be reunited with their relieved mother.
    All in a day’s work in Gulf Stream, right, Chief?
    “We certainly had a run on animals in need that week, but we are very glad that everything turned out great,” he said. “We never know what the day will hold for us being in this small town, but it is definitely rewarding to do something for a good cause.”

Arden Moore, founder of www.FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, professional speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Each week, she hosts the popular Oh Behave! show on www.PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.

By Steve Plunkett

    Officer Nubia Plesnik, part of the police team that charged former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella with resisting arrest last fall, has filed a lawsuit against him claiming battery and negligence.
    Lucibella “committed a battery upon [Plesnik] by intentionally causing harmful or offensive contact with [her] by pushing [her] and further physically contacting her during the course of the arrest,” Plesnik’s lawsuit says.
    In a second count, the suit alleges Lucibella’s actions were negligent.
    As a result, the suit says, Plesnik “has suffered and will suffer bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization and/or surgery, medical and nursing care and treatment and related expenses, loss of earnings, loss of the ability to earn money in the future, and/or an aggravation of previously existing conditions.”
    Lucibella has $10 million in insurance for personal liability. Plesnik’s suit says she is seeking at least $15,000 in damages, the legal threshold.
    Richard Slinkman, her lawyer, said Plesnik only wants what a jury feels is fair and just.
    “I can tell you that I do not expect such to be in excess of Mr. Lucibella’s $10 million insurance policy,” Slinkman said.
    The complaint was filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on June 6, but as of June 27 Lucibella had not been handed the lawsuit.
    “He is evading service,” Slinkman said.
    Lucibella did not answer a phone call seeking comment.
    Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins said Plesnik and fellow arresting Officer Richard Ermeri both returned to full duty as soon as they were cleared by their physicians.
    “No special assignments were made to accommodate them,” Hutchins said.
    But Plesnik has not fully recovered, Slinkman said.
    “Though she can fully perform the functions and duties of a police officer, she suffers from pain in her shoulder with activities, including necessary physical activities on the job,” he said.
    Lucibella faces a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence; after reviewing the case the state attorney’s office added a felony charge of battery on a law enforcement officer. The battery charge covers Ermeri only; the resisting arrest with violence covers Ermeri “and/or N. Plesnik ... by offering or doing violence to the person of such officers,” the charging document says.
    Lucibella also is charged with misdemeanor use of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
    Lucibella’s trial, originally scheduled for April and then July, is now postponed until October. His criminal defense attorney, Marc Shiner, and Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt told the judge they could not finish depositions in time for a summer trial.
    Plesnik, Ermeri and Sgt. William Hallahan went to Lucibella’s oceanfront home Oct. 22 after neighbors reported hearing shots fired. 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.
During the arrest, Lucibella was pinned to the patio pavers and suffered injuries to his face and ribs. Shiner has said the officers overreacted.
    Plesnik and Ermeri said in their initial police reports that they went to MD Now, the department-approved urgent care center, Plesnik for “injuries to the left side of my body,” including shoulder, arm, wrist and foot.
    Plesnik, who was hired by Ocean Ridge in March 2013, also reported being placed on restricted duty.
    Officers later determined the confiscated handgun belonged to Wohlfiel, who was fired in January for his role in the incident. He is appealing his dismissal.
    Wohlfiel’s lawyer, Ralph King, petitioned a circuit judge on May 31 to order Town Manager Jamie Titcomb to hold an evidentiary hearing that is required by the town’s charter and would allow Wohlfiel to present and confront witnesses. Wohlfiel also wants back pay until the hearing can be held.
    Town Attorney Brian Shutt would not comment on the Wohlfiel case other than to say Ocean Ridge’s insurance company has hired a lawyer to defend the town.
    Lucibella resigned his vice mayor and town commissioner positions in December.

By Lona O'Connor

    Please don’t call Stanley Althof a sexologist, even though he is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award named for Masters and Johnson, two of the most famous names in sex research.
    “I’m a psychologist specializing in sexual medicine,” he says.
    He is sitting on a loveseat in his West Palm Beach office, under a reproduction of The Kiss, a famous Gustav Klimt painting of lovers embracing.
    Aside from that one genteel reference to sex, you would be hard-pressed to know that this is the office where Althof helps individuals and couples untangle the most intimate aspects of their lives.
    Althof, who lives in Lantana with his wife, Marcie, has long been involved in the process of selecting human subjects for drug trials, including those to correct erectile dysfunction.
    At the moment, he is seeking male subjects for the medical trial of a new drug for premature ejaculation. Premature ejaculation can be episodic or fleeting; each man’s physiology and temperament are different. Or it can continue a long time, sometimes triggered by disease or surgery.
    The men he seeks for the drug trial must be between the ages of 18 and 60, healthy and in a relationship lasting six months or longer. They cannot have problems with substance or alcohol abuse and they must have suffered from premature ejaculation for a long period of time.
    Althof’s practice has focused on all aspects of sexual function, as well as counseling transgender surgery candidates. He has also worked with medical professionals accused of sexual misconduct, and he ran the sexual health center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
    Considered a “key opinion leader” in the field, he has written more than 150 medical articles and developed questionnaires for subjects of drug efficacy trials for Viagra and Cialis.
    The new drug, called IX-01, is being developed by Althof’s longtime associate Ian Osterloh, one of the researchers who identified the active ingredient of Viagra for erectile dysfunction.
    Althof assisted Osterloh in the selection of test subjects for Viagra, and when Osterloh later formed his own company and bought the rights to develop IX-01 to treat premature ejaculation, Althof was a natural choice to help find test subjects. He and others are collecting about 200 subjects nationwide for the trial.
    IX-01, now in its second round of human trials, decreases the amount of oxytocin in the body. In studies on mice, less oxytocin lengthens the time before ejaculation.
    Other researchers tried using a similar method, but with no success. “They were on the right track with the wrong drug,” Althof said, “The drug didn’t penetrate the blood-brain barrier. This one does.”
    So far, IX-01 has helped test subjects to delay ejaculation three to four times longer, with few side effects. The federal Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead for Osterloh’s company to increase the dosage in the second round of tests.
    Althof is not surprised that he has gotten calls from women.
     “Women are often frustrated or angry that their partner doesn’t do anything,” he said. “I’ve already had two or three calls from women asking about the study.”
    After phase 2 of the study is done, a third trial will take place with many more subjects. Then the researchers must present their data to the FDA for consideration. If all goes well, the drug could be on the market in about two years.
    At the moment, IX-01 is the only product being developed by Osterloh’s company, Ixchelsis.
    “There’s a large market for this,” Althof said. “You’re talking millions in research.”
    But not millions for Althof.
    “I get paid a consulting fee, that’s it,” he said. “If the drug works, I don’t get any money.”

A love story at home
    Aside from his work in sex therapy, Althof has a love story of his own.
    Back in the 1960s, Althof’s girlfriend was Marcie Sothern. Their families lived on the same block in Manhattan. But their paths diverged when Althof went to Stuyvesant High School and Marcie attended the High School of Performing Arts.
    They married other people, had families and lost touch for decades. Then, a few years ago, Althof was introduced to the son of the ex-wife of an old friend. The man was new to Cleveland, so Althof invited him to dinner. As they talked, the man mentioned that he worked for Weight Watchers.
    “Oh,” said Althof, “then you must know Marcie Sothern, Carole’s daughter. I dated her in high school.”
    “You dated Carole’s daughter?” the man stammered. “She’s my boss!”
    Carole Sothern founded Weight Watchers’ Palm Beach County franchise and her daughter — married name Marcie Sothern Gorman — later took over as the franchise CEO.
    Both Gorman and Althof were single again and this time they married. That was 15 years ago.
    “And that was without the internet,” Althof said with a smile.
    He moved his practice from Cleveland to accommodate his wife’s many connections here. While Gorman was still a teen, her family had moved to Hollywood, and she attended South Broward High School and the University of Florida.
    After moving on from her duties at Weight Watchers, she returned to her high school specialty, theater, becoming the producer of numerous musicals at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.
    It looks like a match that was meant to be.
    “Marcie in her own right and I in my own right were successful,” Althof said. “Our families knew each other. But it’s all about love.”

    For more information about the drug trial for IX-01, contact Stanley Althof at sxa6@case.edu or phone his office at 822-5454.

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

By Christine Davis

    Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Marcus Neuroscience Institute has initiated a phase-two clinical trial of the immunotoxin MDNA55 in the treatment of patients with recurrent malignant brain tumors.
    Highly toxic to brain tumor cells, MDNA55 targets a cytokine, interleukin 4, which is found on the surface of most recurrent brain tumors. A protein derived from a bacterium associated with pneumonias and skin, tissue and urinary tract infections, MDNA55 is considered a targeted therapy because it is made to attach only to tumor cells. Most normal brain cells have no interleukin 4. As such, the trial aims to kill brain tumor cells and not harm healthy cells.
    The immunotoxin gets to the tumor through convection enhanced delivery, which is a therapy that introduces medication to the brain through tiny catheters implanted in the tumor for several hours.
    “Research to date on the therapy has been encouraging. In previous studies, complete or partial responses were seen in 56 percent of patients with these tumors,” said Dr. Frank Vrionis, director of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute. “Given those promising results, this therapy has received fast-track designation by the FDA, which expedites the development and review of drugs through trials such as ours.”
    Because of the nature of these malignancies and the complexity of the brain, long-term remissions can be difficult to obtain.
    “Recurrences, regretfully, are the norm despite radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy,” said Dr. Sajeel Chowdhary, director of neuro-oncology at the institute. “When they occur, options are limited, as most patients have already received all known available treatments. Our investigation into the use of immunotherapy for them is of the utmost importance and has the potential to pay great dividends.”
    The MDNA55 trial is one of 10 at Boca Regional’s Marcus Neuroscience and Lynn Cancer institutes that are investigating brain tumors, and part of a clinical research initiative between the hospital and Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine.
    For information and enrollment, call Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Office of Research at 955-4800.
                                
    In May, Boca Raton Regional Hospital received the 2017 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines — Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite. The award recognizes the hospital’s continued success in providing up-to-date, evidence-based treatment guidelines to improve patient care and outcomes in the community.
                                
    Patricio Espinosa, MD, MPH, was appointed chief of neurology at Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Marcus Neuroscience Institute. He joined the medical staff at the institute in December 2014 and served as director of neurology since December 2015.

    In his new duties, Espinosa will lead the program’s team of neurologists and provide support to the institute’s clinical and research efforts. He offers specialized expertise in adult neurology, epilepsy and sleep disorders.
                                
    Delray Medical Center performed its first incisionless surgery to treat heartburn.
The transoral incisionless fundoplication procedure, or TIF, uses a new device for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
    Many patients on reflux medication cannot eat certain foods or need to sleep sitting up. Also, long-term use of medication can lead to inadequate absorption of minerals, resulting in bone fractures, explained Dr. Andrew Zwick, gastroenterologist at Delray Medical Center.
    “After the TIF procedure, clinical trials show that most patients can eat and drink foods they avoided for many years. Reflux no longer impacts their life like it previously did.”  Because the procedure is incisionless, there is less pain, reduced recovery and no scar. 
                                
    Congestive heart failure is on the rise, affecting more than 5 million people in the United States. Doctors at Bethesda Heart Hospital and Bethesda’s Research Center, in conjunction with Research Physicians Alliance, are studying a treatment for chronic heart failure through a national clinical trial, DREAM-HF-1.
    Using stem cells, this study aims to enhance the function of the heart muscle by regenerating heart tissue. The treatment involves obtaining stem cells from healthy donors, which are later injected into the heart muscles of study participants via catheterization procedures.
    Cardiologist George K. Daniel, M.D., is the principal investigator, with medical cardiologist Christina Michael, M.D., evaluating the study patients.  For more information, call Bethesda Health Research Center at 374-5020.
                                
    Boca Raton-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America Global has appointed Ankur R. Parikh, D.O., as medical director of precision medicine.
                                
    Whether it’s a silver bullet or snake oil, sales of the essential oil copaiba are increasing, because more than 54 million Americans suffer from some form of arthritis, and side effects of conventional treatment include gastrointestinal bleeding, heart attacks and stroke.
    As a result, new therapies are being tested, including Copaifera reticulata, or copaiba, but researchers from Florida Atlantic University caution that randomized trials are necessary to know whether this treatment is effective, and their commentary is published in the journal Integrative Medicine.
    “The only published data on copaiba on humans includes one case series and one small randomized trial of another inflammatory condition and not arthritis. To complete the totality of evidence, copaiba should be first tested in a randomized trial against a placebo in patients with inflammatory arthritis,” said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., senior academic adviser to the dean at FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and senior author of the paper.
    “If such a trial shows a net benefit, then the next step would be direct randomized comparisons against nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors,” the two common conventional treatments.
Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com

The Delray Summer Sing Experience camp runs each week through July 21 at Church of the Palms.

Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

    The Delray Summer Sing Experience is a summer music camp for kids that introduces a variety of styles from the music of stage and screen to folk songs to hymns and religious music.
    Campers experience ensemble singing, learn voice techniques, choreography, breathing techniques, ear training, rhythmic and melody recognition, and performance techniques. Each week, camp concludes with a brief performance at 2:30 p.m. on Friday in the chancel at Church of the Palms.
    Traci Rane is the camp coordinator and instructor. “Each week we learn new music, so it’s like a new camp each week,” she said.
    Youngsters range in age from 6 to 16, and the camp limits the number of children to 22 to make sure everyone gets one-on-one attention. “We have a lot of staff, so kids get a lot of instruction,” Rane said. Campers can even take private lessons for a fee of $30 for a half-hour lesson.
    Fans of Palm Beach Opera or the Delray Beach Chorale may recognize Rane from her performances with those groups. She also performed with Sarah Brightman and Josh Groban on the “La Luna” tour. She has been teaching voice and piano in Palm Beach County for more than a dozen years. Rane works alongside accompanist Edward Krynicki, and the program’s artistic director is Eric Keiper, who is the music director at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School and Church.
    The camp, in its seventh year, meets from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday through July 21. (No meeting on July 4.) The camp is $200 per week. Discounts are offered for multiple weeks and for siblings attending together, and scholarships are available, Rane said.
    The camp is hosted by and meets at the Church of the Palms, 1960 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Call 389-7024 or 276-6347 or visit www.delraysummersing.org.

St. Mark’s family picnic
    The annual parish picnic takes place after the noon mass on July 16. On the menu? Hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, salads and desserts. Games for the kids, music and a cash bar are part of the fun.
    Tickets: $15 adults, $7.50 for children 6-10, and free for 5 and younger.  Call 734-9330 or visit www.stmarkboynton.com.

Help feed people in need
    CROS Ministries is hosting a lunch and learn program on July 26 to tell people more about the organization. It feeds hungry people in Palm Beach and Martin counties, and its programs include seven food pantries and the Caring Kitchen, a hot meal program in Delray Beach.
    CROS Gleaning is a food recovery program harvesting fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste, from farmers’ fields, culling sites and Solid Waste Authority’s Mango Grove.
    These programs are possible only with the help of community volunteers, and there are dozens of opportunities available for folks who want to be a part of the solution of feeding in need.
    This session begins at 1 p.m. at the CROS Administrative Offices, 3677 23rd Ave. S., B-101, in Lake Worth. Guests then travel to Delray Beach, where lunch will be served. To RSVP, call 699-5113 or email the Rev. Juanita Bryant Goode at jgoode@crosministries.org.

Break Spot offers free meals
    For most kids, summer vacation means more. More time to play, more time to grow, more time to dream. But for children who depend on school lunch (and breakfast) for their basic nutrition needs, summer is a time of less. The summer Break Spot fills that gap with locations that offer meals for people 18 and younger. You don’t have to be a student or even a resident.
    If you know local children  who are “food insecure,” let them know they can find a location where meals are served at www.summerfoodflorida.org.

Back-to-school supplies
    Unity of Delray Beach Church is collecting backpacks and school supplies for local children in need. Bring donations to the lobby on Sundays through Aug. 13, or drop donations off at the church office from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
    Supplies needed include backpacks with pencils, ruler, sticky notes, three-ring binders, spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, pens (blue, black, red), colored pencils, washable felt markers, glue sticks, pink erasers, pencil cases, lined paper, plain paper and crayons.
    Unity of Delray Beach is at NW 22nd Street and Swinton Avenue. Call 276-5796 or visit www.unityofdelraybeach.org.

Summer Singers wanted
    Cason United Methodist Church has a summer program for people who love to sing. You don’t need choir experience or the ability to read music. You don’t have to audition. But you do have to enjoy singing with others. The Summer Singers meet at 7 p.m. Tuesdays at the music studio of Diane Gwynn McWhorter, 7570 Federal Highway, Hypoluxo. Doug Carter leads the choir on Sundays, when it is part of the worship service. Call 276-5302 if you have questions.

Pennies add up to $27,000
    Think pennies aren’t worth a red cent? Think again.
    In 2012, First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach asked parishioners to collect a few cents from each family member at dinner each night. At the end of the month, parishioners brought the pennies in and those funds were earmarked to feed hungry people, recalling Jesus’ command “You give them something to eat.”
    Since the program started in 2012, the church has collected and distributed nearly $27,000 that went directly to people who needed it.
    First Presbyterian of Delray is at 33 Gleason St. Call 276-6338 or visit www.firstdelray.com.

Meetings in July
    Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation & God meets at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at the Biergarten, 309 Via de Palmas, No. 90, Boca Raton, and 7 p.m. the third Thursday at Barrel of Monks, 1141 S. Rogers Circle, No. 5, Boca Raton. Conversation, fellowship, open discussion. 395-1244; www.fumcbocaraton.org.
    The Interfaith Café meets from 7 to 9 p.m. July 20 at South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach. Guest speaker Dr. Janet Sopcheck will speak about the challenges family members face at end-of-life situations. Light refreshments are served.
    The meeting is free, but donations are appreciated. The Interfaith Café meets the third Thursday of the month, and volunteers are needed to assist with a variety of duties to keep this program going. For information or to volunteer, email Jane@Aurorasvoice.org.

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

David McNamara, assistant pro at the Gulf Stream B&T for the past four years, blew past

the top seeds to claim the USTA National Men’s 40 Clay Court Championship.

Photo provided

By Brian Biggane

    Gulf Stream Bath & Tennis Club assistant tennis pro David McNamara not only won the USTA National Men’s 40 Clay Court Championship May 17-22 in Atlanta, but he did it the hard way.
    Unseeded after not playing in a high-level competition for more than five years, McNamara relied on his fitness and countless hours of preparation with B&T head pro Roger Ashcroft to mow down the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 seeds on his way to the prestigious title.
    “I felt going in that I had put the work in, that I was ready,” said McNamara, 40, a native of Melbourne, Australia, who was ranked as high as No. 431 in the world in his mid-20s and has spent the past four years at Gulf Stream.
    Ashcroft said he noticed when he hired McNamara in 2013 that, while his people skills and teaching ability were top notch, his conditioning needed work. So, McNamara embarked upon a daily CrossFit regimen to give him the stamina he would need to survive three-set matches in the Atlanta heat.
    “I had dabbled in a couple of tournaments and when we discussed the USTA National 40s, Roger said, ‘You should play,’” McNamara recalled. “I thought, ‘What the hell.’ But because of who I am, I didn’t want to just go play. I still have enough of a competitive ego that I thought I could win. I wanted to make sure I was ready.”
    McNamara got a break when his first-round opponent failed to show up. That put him against No. 5 seed Constantine Ananiadis of Wellington, Ohio, whom he dispatched 6-1, 6-4. He dropped a set against No. 3 seed Paul Mancini of Alpharetta, Ga., but credited his conditioning for his 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 quarterfinal victory.
    That sent him to the semis against No. 1 seed Eduardo Rincon, a clay-court specialist from Colombia who resides in Kennesaw, Ga. McNamara and Ashcroft did some research and learned Rincon had played in ATP events featuring the likes of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
    “Roger and I were talking after every match and my old college coach showed up,” McNamara said. “Both were telling me the same thing: You don’t need to go for too much, sometimes you’ve got to win ugly, just get it back. He was a good player and I didn’t know if I had enough to beat him, but I was able to pull through.”
    His fitness once again proved decisive in a 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-0 win that sent him to the final against No. 2 seed Samuel Schroerlucke of Memphis, whom he defeated 7-5, 6-3 for the championship.
    “That was a tough match as well, and the first time all tournament I’d felt some pressure,” McNamara said.
    The victory earned him a coveted gold ball as a USTA champion, which was “something I’d always wanted to have on my résumé.”
 It also brought a deluge of congratulatory phone calls, emails and texts, many of them from the Gulf Stream membership.
    “My members were awesome,” McNamara said. “Absolutely fantastic. They were very excited for me. And I was so thankful to Roger, who was the one who had motivated me to have a crack at it.”
    Now ranked No. 15 in the 40-45 age group, McNamara, who has since gone north to his summer job in Martha’s Vineyard, plans to go for more titles, at the Grass Court championship in Philadelphia at the end of August and the Hardcourts in La Jolla, Calif., in late November.
    “I got so many calls and texts congratulating me, I didn’t realize it was that big a deal,” he said. “It was very humbling and very nice. So, it’s motivated me to keep going.”

At the Boca Raton Library downtown, children are treated to a special program on Friday afternoons.

Here, Bookworm Suzy Hammer of the Suzy Hammer Show entertains Maggie Dandrade

and other children.

Photo provided

Amber Prinkey, Palm Beach Zoo educational specialist, teaches children about the Florida pine snake

at the Highland Beach Library. The zoo brings live animals for interactive, educational programs

throughout Palm Beach County.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Janis Fontaine

    Local libraries kicked off their summer reading programs in June, but it’s not too late to join the fun. You might even win some prizes.
    The Collaborative Summer Library Program is designed to keep kids reading through the summer. By sharing ideas and materials and working together, libraries get low-cost posters and promotional materials as well as reading logs and achievement certificates for their programs. This year, the summer reading theme is “Build a Better World.”
    Staff members at local libraries brainstormed and came up with some great books, imaginative activities and prizes for kids who read.
    Each library’s programs are a little different. At the Boca Raton Public Library’s downtown and Spanish River locations, tweens and teens who meet their reading requirements are placed in weekly drawings for gift cards when they log their books online. Each Friday, kids are invited to a weekly summer reading rendezvous held at 3 p.m. The family friendly event features a short show — a magician, a special guest, or a balloon artist — and a chance to check in with other kids on their summer reading accomplishments.
    Most kids have summer reading lists from school, and the summer reading program give kids an added incentive to read. “They get a prize for doing something they have to do anyway,” youth program director Amanda Liebl said.
    The main reason summer reading is so important is the summer slide, and it’s not the kind you find on the playground. Learning experts estimate students can lose as much as two months’ worth of learning over the summer if they don’t practice their reading and comprehension skills.  
    “The summer slide is real,” Liebl said. “You need to offer encouragement to keep their skills up.”
    Parents can help their children become happy readers, Liebl said, by offering them books about subjects they are already interested in or choosing books with familiar characters parents know they like. “Parents should share the books they loved as a child with their children, and set aside time for reading,” Liebl said.
    Parents who read are more likely to have kids who read.
    Liebl says her two boys, age 4 and 7, “are both into silly books. If there’s burping in it, they love that.” The “Captain Underpants” books by American author and illustrator Dav Pilkey are popular with boys that age, and the first Captain Underpants movie, in theaters now, is sure to increase Pilkey’s popularity with the pre-teens.
    Also popular are books by The Office actor-turned-author B.J. Novak, Liebl said. His first offering, The Book with No Pictures, became a bedtime story favorite. For more serious readers, the “I Survived” series, true stories about amazing and harrowing acts of survival, by Lauren Tarshis, also is popular, Liebl said.
    Libraries are devoting more space to kids, and all that shushing is a thing of the past. “We want the kids to be relaxed, to have fun,” Liebl said. “We have a huge selection of books for kids and our library is organized by reading levels to make it easy to find the right book.”
    Kids who need extra practice reading, especially if they’re apprehensive about reading out loud, often excel in the Tail Waggin’ Tutor program where they read aloud to certified therapy dogs, Liebl said. About 10 dogs participate in the program, and kids do need to sign up in advance.
     Liebl said the library has added new classes and activities geared to middle and high school students, including the Maker Lab classes where kids learn about robots and computer coding in a hands-on environment. These weekly classes are made possible by the Friends of the Boca Raton Public Library.

In Delray Beach
    The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Charities, along with the city of Delray Beach Education Advisory Board, have jumped on the summer reading crusade in a big way.
    Suzanne Spencer, vice chair of education for the chamber, is leading the charge to face down the summer slide with a campaign she calls “our social media bucket challenge.”
    The idea of the Read, Rhythm and Rhyme Challenge is to encourage grown-ups to take video of themselves reading or talking about a favorite children’s book, then challenge their friends to get involved. Adults can read with their own children, grandkids, friends of the family or the neighbors’ kids.
    The adults select a favorite book and come up with a short poem, rap, song or other creative way to express their love of the book.    
    They each make a 30- to 90-second video and post it on Facebook with the hashtag #DelrayReadingChallenge. Then adults challenge three of friends to make videos as well.
    Folks who are challenged but don’t want to make a video are asked to make a cash donation instead.
    For more information, visit www.mydelraybeach.com/transparency/read_rhythm_and_rhyme_challenge.php.

What else is going on
at our local libraries
Boca Raton
    For a full listing of summer classes and activities, pick up a Summer Reading brochure at either library, call 393-7852 or visit www.myboca.us/957/Library
    Downtown Library: 400 NW Second Ave. Spanish River Library: 1501 Spanish River Blvd.  Youth Services at ysstaff@myboca.us or call 393-7968 (Downtown) or 544-8584 (Spanish River).
    Summer Reading Age 8 And Younger: The program continues through the end of July with a winner of a new super prize chosen each week. Kids can log their books online, but it’s not required to win. July’s prizes are Finger Puppet Bees “BEE Safe on the 4th!” (July 4); Squirty Tools (July 10); Pixel Sunglasses (July 17) and Grab Bag with lots of choices (July 24).
    Summer Reading for Teens and Tweens: Log your summer reading books with a review of 20 or more words to be eligible for weekly raffle drawings. The numbers in parentheses are the minimum number of books that must be logged (reviewed) to be eligible for the prize.
    The more books you review, the more chances you have to win. Winners are chosen by random drawing. Upcoming prizes include: $15 Whole Foods (3); $15 Cinemark (3); $20 Planet Air Sports (4); $20 Barnes & Noble (4); $50 Visa (5).
    Friday Afternoons at 3: Gather at the library (either branch) for an afternoon show, games and fun.

New teen programming:
    Summer Explorers: 6:30-7:30 p.m. Mondays. July 3: Learn how to build a solar oven using a pizza box and other simple materials. July 10: Comics Pixton. Learn hands-on how to tell a story through comics using the Pixton program. Enrollment required. Downtown.
    Summer Bunch: 4:30-5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Spanish River. Enrollment usually required.
    July 5: Screening the anime movie Spirited Away (PG). No enrollment required but space is limited.
    July 12: Get slimed at this make-your-own slime lesson.
    July 19: Perler Beads.
    July 26: End of Summer Ice Cream Party

Delray Beach
    100 W Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. 266-0194; www.delraylibrary.org
    Earn community service hours by volunteering at the library. Middle and high school kids are welcome to participate in the Teen Advisory Board. Practice leadership skills as a board officer, enhance computer skills as a digital reviewer or collaborator on marketing strategies and materials. If you love to write, a position as a writer or editor of the library’s newsletter might be for you.
    The library has a dedicated teen room for middle and high school kids, where they can read, study or just hang out. July programming for teens:
    BeTween the Lines: A Readers Club meets 4:30-6:30 p.m. July 18.
    The Anime Club meets 5:30-6:30 p.m. July 18.

Highland Beach
     3618 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach. 278-5455; www.highlandbeach.us/departments/library
    The library offers books, DVDs, audio CDs and music for children of all ages. The Children’s Room has two computers with educational games and software.
Ongoing children’s programs (RSVP appreciated):
    Small Fry Story Time: 4 p.m. Tuesdays. For ages 4 and older. Listen to a story, sing a song, do a craft and make some new friends.
    Craft Time: Meets the first and third Thursdays of the month for ages 4 and older. A story and a craft.
    Baby Bookworm Story Time: 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays. Classic and new stories for ages 1-3.
    Bookworm Story Time: 10 a.m. Saturdays. Classic and new stories for ages 1-5.

Boynton Beach
    208 S. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach.  742-6390; www.boyntonlibrary.org
    Building a Better World Reading Club 2017: Meets at 2:30 p.m. Mondays through July 31 in the Youth Services Room.
Programs for kids in grades 6 through 12:
    Teen Gaming: 5-6:30 p.m. July 5, 12, 19 and 26. Play board and videogames using a Wii, WiiU, PS3, PS4 or Xbox 360.  
    Teen Book Discussion: 6-7 p.m. July 6. Chat about the latest YA book.
    Teen Yoga: 3:30-4:30 p.m. July 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31. Angelina Lucia from Bindu Yoga Studio in West Palm Beach leads.
    No Filter Teen Group: 4:30-5:30 p.m. July 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31. Mr. Mike leads a discussion of topics chosen by the group each week. Snacks included.
    Unplugged: 3:30-4:30 p.m. July 11. Old school games.
    Teen Zumba fitness class: 4:30-5:30 p.m. July 11.
    Cut It: 3-5 p.m. July 25-26. Create your own skit, then act it out, record it and learn to edit it using iMovie.
    Brain Food: 5:30-7 p.m. July 25. Hands-on interactive, edible science experiments.

The Donald H. Miller Award for Highest Average/Ranking of the class of 2017 at Gulf Stream School

was presented to two recipients this year — Julie Moquin and Landon Brody. The award was shared

because Moquin’s and Brody’s averages were so close.

Head of School Joseph J.  Zaluski, left, made the presentations.

Photo provided

Dan Friedman of Delray Beach shows a yellowfin tuna caught on a sardine chunk by Capt. Mike Simko,

background, in Northwest Providence Channel south of Freeport, Bahamas.

Finding birds (red splotches) on radar is the key to finding schools of feeding tuna.

Cutting frozen sardines into thirds is standard procedure preparing to “chunk” for yellowfin tuna.

Chunks are tossed out one by one, creating a trail for the tuna to follow.

Photos by Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

    Finding birds on radar is the key to finding schools of yellowfin tuna near Grand Bahama Island — an easy-to-reach destination for South Florida boaters when seas are calm.
    Feeding tuna leave scraps for small sea birds such as sooty terns that follow the schools around the surface of an otherwise nondescript ocean.
    Recognizable by their large wingspans and forked tails, frigate birds tend to circle high over pelagic fish in hopes that small baitfish, such as flying fish, will be pushed to the surface.
    The frigates tend to be the first birds that anglers spot soaring high in the sky when they look for schools of yellowfin tuna in Northwest Providence Channel south of Grand Bahama Island. Flocks of smaller birds often congregate under frigate birds.
    Capt. Mike Simko, of North Palm Beach, led our small group of anglers to several yellowfin tuna during a Memorial Day boat trip to the Bahamas.
    We left Lake Worth Inlet aboard Simko’s 35-foot boat, the KiteKeeper, and arrived at midday to clear customs and immigration at the Sunrise Resort & Marina near Freeport.
    After securing our rooms for the night and eating lunch, we headed south into the deep, blue water of Northwest Providence Channel.
    Everyone watched the horizon, looking for birds, while Simko tweaked the radar on his boat to search for birds. Dan Friedman, of Delray Beach, stood in the bow, scanning the horizon with binoculars.
    It wasn’t long before birds appeared as small splotches on Simko’s radar screen. They appeared and disappeared as the flocks rose from the surface, then settled.
    As Simko ran the KiteKeeper toward the birds, we readied frozen sardines, which had been cut into thirds for chunking.
    When the boat neared the birds, we began to pitch out the sardine chunks, one by one. Simko slowed, then stopped his boat about 100 yards from the birds. A few tuna leapt from the water as they fed under the birds, which were working up and down over the surface as they followed the moving tuna.
    As we slowly pitched out sardine chunks, Simko and  anglers Dan Friedman, his son, Eric Friedman, of Boynton Beach, and Rush Rashidi, of North Palm Beach, set out lines rigged with live sardines and goggle-eyes — live bait we had brought from Palm Beach County.
    After a few minutes of chunking, Simko buried an extra-strong 8/0 circle hook into one of the sardine chunks, set the rod in the rod holder and slowly pulled off line so the hooked chunk would sink slowly just like those we had pitched overboard.
    Simko caught the first tuna of the afternoon on a conventional rod rigged with 80-pound-test braided line and 50-pound fluorocarbon leader. Yellowfin tuna are powerful fish. They test tackle and the strength of anglers.
    After moving several times and tossing out sardine chunks, Eric Friedman caught another substantial yellowfin on a live bait after a taxing fight using a spinning rod rigged with 50-pound-test braided line.
    Mission accomplished: We had a few nice tuna in the boat on same day we had left Palm Beach County.
    Sharks proved to be one of our biggest challenges. They cut the leaders during fights with several tunas, causing us to lose the beautiful, delicious yellowfins.
    After we spent the night at Sunrise Resort & Marina, Simko ran the KiteKeeper back to Northwest Providence Channel on the morning of May 30 to fish for a few hours before heading back to Florida.
    We boated a few more yellowfin tuna, but others were taken from us by sharks. We lost one to backlash on a reel that wasn’t adjusted correctly before the tuna hit.
    Several members of our group slept in bean-bag chairs on the deck of the KiteKeeper as Simko ran the boat back toward Florida. We spotted cargo ships and a Coast Guard cutter on the open ocean.
    Singer Island condos appeared on the horizon about 16 miles from Lake Worth Inlet. We ended our trip around 3:30 p.m. the day after we had left Florida, leaving us plenty of time to clean fish and organize our gear before heading home.

Florida boaters planning a fishing trip to the Bahamas
    Visiting boaters must clear customs and immigration at the nearest port of entry. Boaters must fly the yellow quarantine flag and notify customs when they arrive. Only the captain should leave the boat until it has been cleared. Everyone on board must present a passport and complete an immigration card.
    Boats up to 35 feet must pay $150 for a Bahamas cruising and fishing permit. (For boats over 35 feet, the fee is $300.) The permit is good for two trips within 90 days. (For details, search the Internet for a copy of the Bahamas Boating & Fishing Guide or call the Bahamas Tourist Office at 954-236-9292.)
    When returning to Florida by boat, the boat captain must report the arrival to U.S. Customs and Border Protection by calling 800-432-1216. CBP offers local-boater options (through the Small Vessel Reporting System) that can speed up the check-in process.
    Anglers bringing tuna back to the United States should have an Atlantic HMS Angling Permit for the boat, available online from NOAA Fisheries. Only one day’s catch should be onboard. (That’s three yellowfin tuna per person.)
    Tuna must be intact so they can be measured. The minimum size for yellowfin tuna is 27 inches curved-fork length, measured from the tip of the upper jaw along the curve of the body to the fork of the tail.

Two-day sport lobster season set for late July
    This year’s two-day sport lobster season for spiny lobster is July 26-27.
    A saltwater fishing license and lobster permit are required unless you’re exempt.
    The daily mini-season bag limit is 12 lobsters — except in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, where the daily sport-season limit is six.
    A lobster’s carapace, or head section, must measure more than 3 inches to be legal to keep. Divers must carry a lobster-measuring device and measure lobster under water.
    Egg-bearing lobster must be released.
    Red-and-white dive flags are required by law.
    Boaters must stay 300 feet away from dive flags on the open ocean and 100 feet away in inlets, rivers and navigation channels. Those approaching closer should do so at idle speed.
    The regular spiny lobster season opens Aug. 6.
    For details, go to www.myfwc.com. (Click on saltwater fishing, recreational regulations and lobster.)
Coming events
    July 8: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 for adults or $20 ages 12 to 19. Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
    July 8: Big Dog, Fat Cat KDW fishing tournament based at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores. Captain’s meeting 7 p.m. July 7 at Sailfish Marina. Entry fee $200 per boat through July 2 or $250 thereafter. Call 315-3722 or visit www.bigdogfatcat.org.
    July 15: Full moon wahoo tournament, the second of three summer wahoo events organized by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. Entry fee $60 per team. At least one team member must be a West Palm Beach Fishing Club member. Call 832-6780 or go to www.WestPalmBeachFishingClub.org.
    July 22: Boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. Discounts for ages 14 to 18 and for family groups. Register at the door. Call 704-7440.

Tip of the month
    Boats carry hazardous products that should not be disposed of in residential garbage cans.
    Outdated emergency flares, spent fire extinguishers and old batteries, for example, should be taken to one of the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority’s Home Chemical and Recycling Centers.
    Unwanted fuel, oil and boat cleaning products also should be taken to an SWA facility. Disposal is free for Palm Beach County residents.
    The SWA’s home chemical drop-off locations include:
    • The Central County Transfer Station, at 1810 Lantana Road. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 7 a.m. until noon on Saturdays.
    • The East South County Transfer Station, at 1901 SW Fourth Ave. in Delray Beach. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
    For details, call 697-2700 or visit www.swa.org.

Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Reach him at tiowillie@bellsouth.net.

By Steve Plunkett

A four-year saga over public records that included demands for hundreds of documents and caused Gulf Stream to raise property taxes 40 percent is half-over.

Resident Chris O'Hare and the town agreed June 9 to settle all legal differences.

"This was a total attack on any government as we know it, any legal system as we know it," said Robert Sweetapple, Gulf Stream's outside lawyer.

Still unresolved are multiple cases regarding similar requests town resident Martin O'Boyle filed.

The releases O'Hare and the town signed call for the dismissal of 36 lawsuits and appeals O'Hare filed and the withdrawal of all public records requests, Sweetapple said.

There is also a clause preventing O'Hare from winning legal fees in future disputes.

"What that would do would be to de-incentivize any further litigation over public records. There would be no fee entitlement based on this waiver," Sweetapple said.

O'Hare could not immediately be reached for comment.

Gulf Stream maintained that O'Hare filed expansive requests in hopes that the town could not timely respond and thus run afoul of the state's public records law. In one case last month, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Thomas Barkdull III found that O’Hare "intended to harass and intimidate the town’s employees to generate litigation and fees with ‘gotcha’ type requests.”

Neither side will pay the other's legal expenses.

Mayor Scott Morgan, who ran for office promising to mount an aggressive defense against O'Hare's lawsuits, was elated with the settlement.

"This essentially brings to a conclusion nearly four years of public records abuse and litigation from Mr. O'Hare. It is a testament to the determination of this town not to voluntarily pay out in response to extortion demands," Morgan said.