SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections (unofficial results)

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections (unofficial results)

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections (unofficial results)

A week before the March 14 municipal election, Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Wendy Link said 8.758 voters out of 194,000 eligible voters countywide, or almost 5%, had returned their mail-in ballots.

It’s too late to ask for a Vote-by-Mail ballot for this election if you didn’t renew your request by March 4, though you can still do it to vote in future elections in 2023 and 2024. In addition, there is no early voting for the municipal election.

The polls will be open on Election Day from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. You should bring a photo/signature card such as a Florida driver license or U.S. passport with you.

Municipalities holding elections this month include Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Highland Beach, Lantana and Ocean Ridge. For more information or to look up your precinct polling place, go to www.votepalmbeach.gov

--Steve Plunkett

By Mary Hladky

Major construction on the new Diverging Diamond Interchange at Glades Road and Interstate 95 will wrap up ahead of schedule.

A fourth lane in each direction on Glades Road will be completed by March 31, state transportation officials told Boca Raton residents on March 2, ahead of the previously announced May 1 completion date. The roadway also will be paved and striped by then.

“We are working as quickly as possible to get the fourth lane open,” Aurelio Matos, Florida Department of Transportation senior project engineer for the interchange, told residents at a town hall meeting hosted by Mayor Scott Singer. “By the end of the month, we will have the final configuration.”

The fourth lanes will allow traffic to move more quickly through the interchange and improve safety, officials said.

That was welcome news to residents. One complained it took him 23 minutes to navigate the interchange in one direction and nearly 20 minutes in the other.

The project won’t be completely finished until May 1 though. Still to be completed are the removal of old ramps and creation of drainage ponds, which will be graded and sodded.

Work is continuing to synchronize the interchange’s traffic signals to further alleviate delays and congestion.

The FDOT and the city have five cameras on the project, which allows them to make tweaks as they go. Matos said there have been no issues with people driving in the wrong direction.

The project was launched in March 2021. The new interchange opened in “temporary condition” on Jan. 30.

By Joe Capozzi
 
Technological improvements planned for Boynton Beach Fire Rescue’s dispatch center mean Briny Breezes residents can expect faster response times in their tiny coastal community. 
The average response time in Briny Breezes last year was 6 minutes and 53 seconds, said Hugh Bruder, chief of Boynton Beach Fire Rescue, which provides services to Briny under a $453,000 annual contract. Although that’s lower than the recommended national response time of eight minutes, Bruder said he thinks his department can do better. 
“We don’t even like the 6 minutes and 53 seconds. We always try to be better. We want to get here as quickly as we can,’’ he told the Town Council on Feb. 23.
Improvements are on the way. 
Fire Rescue plans to purchase an improved dispatching system that will shave up to 60 seconds off response time, Bruder said. The cost of the system could range from $750,000 to $1 million, money he said would come from a combination of grants and state appropriations.
There is no date for when the system will be up and running.
“The timetable is I wish I had it yesterday,” he said after the meeting. “We’re in the process of searching for grant money.”
That 60-second difference “is huge,’’ he told Briny officials. “As you can imagine, for someone with cardiac arrest who needs oxygen, that’s a very big deal. We are making a lot of moves to try to reduce response times where we can.’’
Bruder reminded the council of another recent addition to his department that benefited Briny. A high-water vehicle, acquired last year, “had a very heavy presence” in November when flood water stirred by Hurricane Nicole swamped the coastal community. 
“That high-water vehicle came in handy and assisted several of your residents,’’ Bruder said. “We are pretty proud of that equipment.’’ 
Fire Rescue also is planning a massive expansion to its dive-rescue program over the next two years, including the purchase of a 26-foot boat, he said.
In other business:
• Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones informed the Town Council that he will be resigning by May 11 to take a job in the nearby coastal town of Gulf Stream. Ocean Ridge provides police service for Briny. 
“Thank you for what you’ve done,’’ Mayor Gene Adams said. “You’ve done a wonderful job at Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes for sure. I’m personally glad you’re staying on the island.’’
• Briny Breezes Corporation announced vote results at its annual shareholders meeting Feb. 22. Only 27.1% voted yes to give the corporate board direction to market the park for sale. And 61% percent of the park’s shareholders voted to change the number of shares required to put future petition items to the community for a vote. What had required 10% will now require 35%.
• The Town Council will hold its annual organizational meeting at 3 p.m. March 21. The next regular Town Council meeting is March 23.

The Delray Beach Tennis Center hosted the Delray Beach Open in February, with American Taylor Fritz (far court) defeating Miomir Kecmanović of Serbia for the title. The stadium will have Team USA vs. Austria in the Billie Jean King Cup in April, with hopes of landing the 12-nation finals in November. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

City part of international event with local players set to compete

By Brian Biggane

Five years after turning professional, Coco Gauff plans to play her first significant hometown tennis event when the Delray Beach Tennis Center hosts a Billie Jean King Cup qualifier April 14-15.
The matches between the U.S. team and Austria are a big catch for Delray Beach. What would be bigger — much bigger — is for the center to land the 12-nation finals, scheduled for November.
Formerly known as the Fed Cup, the largest women’s team event in the world annually plays a weeklong final tournament. Prize money awarded last year totaled $11.4 million, with $2 million going to the winning team.
Gauff, ranked No. 6 in the world in women’s singles, isn’t the only local tennis star who will play for the United States. Boca Raton’s Jessica Pegula, 29, ranked No. 3 in the world, committed to play on Feb. 21, although U.S. captain Kathy Rinaldi said she would not finalize her team until mid-March.
Gauff and Pegula could handle the two singles matches each day, then team up in doubles — as they have done for the past several months ­— if necessary.
The Austrian team will face a daunting task. Its only player ranked among the top 100 is No. 91 Julia Grabher, and Austria has never advanced to the finals of the BJK Cup.

Crowds arrive for a match at the men’s Delray Beach Open last month. Women will take over the courts in April for Billie Jean King Cup matches. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

City is a tennis hot spot
Delray Beach, which has built a worldwide reputation as a tennis hub, has previously hosted qualifiers in 2005, 2007 and 2013 as well as Davis Cup qualifiers, the male equivalent of the Billie Jean King Cup.
City Manager Terrence Moore said a full stadium in April would send a message to the International Tennis Federation, which will pick the finals site in late April after the qualifiers are complete, that the city and stadium are up to the challenge to be finals host.
“That would be fantastic,” Moore said.
DBTC manager Jeff Bingo said the facility did $2.6 million worth of business last year, up from $700,000 just five years ago.
The crowds for the 2023 Delray Beach Open played last month were another indication that the region is ready for a major tennis event to go along with the Miami Open, which starts March 19. Attendance for the week was a tournament-record 63,072, with four of the individual sessions sold out and all box and veranda seating also sold out for the week.
City officials teamed with the Palm Beach County Sports Commission to land the April matches after they were held three of the past five years in Asheville, North Carolina. The economic impact of the first two years in Asheville registered $8 million, giving Delray Beach an expectation the qualifier will bring an impact this year in the $4 million range.
Sports Commission Executive Director George Linley said the partnership with the city and Tennis Center could be renewed during future opportunities.
“Our Sports Commission will look at every opportunity to bring sports to this county,” Linley said. “It’s always based on the amenities and facilities we have. So, we will work to bring the best tennis events we can.”

Coco Gauff (right) of Delray Beach with doubles partner Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton. Photo provided by WTA Tour

Gauff eager to play at home
Gauff, who turns 19 on March 13, said the April event will be special and the prospect of Delray Beach’s hosting the finals would be even more so.
“Delray Beach has truly been a home for me and I’m always happy to come back here,” Gauff said. “It gives me an opportunity to represent my country at home.
“There was a lot of support when I was here (as a fan) in 2013 and I hope there will be even more this time.”
Asked about the prospect of hosting the finals, Rinaldi, a Palm City native who has been captain since 2017, added her support.
“Obviously, how great would that be?” she said. “Coco is super-excited to play in her backyard and have her family and friends come to support her.
“It’s nice to play at home in the United States; it gives us an opportunity to share tennis with the community, and get out and grow the sport, and everybody gets so excited when they can root for the Unites States.”
Last year’s Billie Jean King Cup finals were staged at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, where the capacity of 8,200 is identical to that of Delray Beach. Gauff, who made her debut in the event when the U.S. failed to advance past the Czech Republic and Poland in group play, said that the indoor arena felt smaller than Delray Beach’s outdoor stadium.
Bingo said Delray could “absolutely” meet any criteria it would get from the ITF to serve as finals host.
“We have the stadium court plus five practice courts, and for the ATP 250 we turn a pickleball court into another practice court, so we have six,” Bingo said, referring to the Delray Beach Open. “And if they told us ahead of time, we could convert clay courts as well.”
As for housing tennis fans coming from all over the world to see some of the game’s brightest stars, Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce CEO Stephanie Immelman said the timing of the matches in November would be a plus. She said Delray boasts 1,400 hotel rooms and that Boca Raton and other nearby coastal cities could handle any overflow.
“That’s our shoulder season and we’re just starting to get busy in November,” she said.
“I’m sure the city would be delighted to host the finals, and I know the USTA is very friendly toward Delray Beach, probably because Coco lives here, but they like working with the city.”

U.S. is an 18-time champion
Launched in 1963 as the Federation Cup and changed to the Fed Cup in 1995, the annual event was rebranded the Billie Jean King Cup in 2020, when it was expanded from a two-team final to the 12-team format featuring nine winners of qualifiers, the top two finishers from the previous year and a wild card, which often is the host country.
Last year 110 nations competed. While the U.S. has hosted six times, its last such experience came in 2010 in San Diego.
The U.S. has been champion 18 times, including seven straight from 1976-82, but its last title, in 2017, was its first since 2000. The Czech Republic has won six times in the last 11 years and is second to the U.S. in overall wins with 11. Switzerland won for the first time last year. Russia, which won for the fifth time in 2021, and Belarus have been banned from competition since the invasion of Ukraine.
Gauff, who traveled from the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, to Glasgow last year to play in her first BJK Cup finals, said the Miami Open will be her previous event to the April qualifier, so she should be better rested.
“Home court is definitely an advantage,” she said. “The crowd can really sway the way the matches go, especially in this type of event.”
“We’ve played in all different spots — Hawaii, Washington, San Antonio, Asheville, Tampa — and all have been sold out,” Rinaldi said.
“It’s an incredible experience for our team, our staff, and for the fans because whether you’re a huge tennis fan or just want to come support the USA, it’s been a lot of fun.
“When you’re representing your country it’s a whole different emotion. Anything can happen because everyone’s playing for your country, and there’s no greater honor.”
Single- and two-day ticket packages are available through ticketmaster.com. Visit usta.com/billiejeankingcup for more information.

Tropical Drive resident Taylor Nixon was among those who spoke to the Town Commission against the placement of No Trespassing signs on the beach by the Turtle Beach condos. They said the signs make it appear as if the entire beach is closed to public access. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

Town commissioners, responding to complaints about blight and intimidation, will consider a new ordinance regulating the placement of “No Trespassing” and “Private Beach” signs on the beach in Ocean Ridge. 
The decision to consider the sign rules emerged from a broader, ongoing dispute over public access rights on the town’s beachfront — for years a controversial topic in Ocean Ridge and many other coastal communities across Florida. 
The Ocean Ridge debate has gotten particularly nasty over the past several months, pitting neighbors against neighbors, with accusations flying like blasts of sand.
Caught in the middle is Mayor Susan Hurlburt, who lives in Turtle Beach of Ocean Ridge, a 26-unit condominium community on the battle’s front line — a roughly 300-foot stretch of beach between Tropical and Hersey drives. 
Hurlburt is seeking another three-year term as commissioner on March 14, and the dispute has become cannon fodder for her political opponents, including two commissioners who have endorsed a challenger and who support public access rights directly east of Turtle Beach.

One of the Turtle Beach "Private Beach" signs.

Police Chief Richard Jones identified 141 signs on or near the beach, on roads and crossovers. Of those, perhaps 90 or so signs are on the beach, which is where commissioners are focusing their possible regulatory measures. 
While a sign-placement law may not answer the broader question over public beach access in Ocean Ridge, commissioners hope new rules might help extinguish the lingering tensions that boiled over Feb. 6 when more than 100 angry residents packed Town Hall.
“It has gone too far with this hostility,’’ said Lacey Siegel, a Tropical Drive resident who said she considers the beach “sacred land” where she meditates, practices yoga and sunbathes. “The signs are breaking us apart.’’
Turtle Beach says Siegel and others are trespassing because the beach is the condo’s private property through deeded beachfront access rights. The condo says it erected “No Trespassing” signs to discourage unruly beachgoers who have littered, played loud music and even left underwear on the signs overnight as acts of defiance. 
Those claims are disputed by residents living just north and south of Turtle Beach who have circulated a “Stop Sign Pollution” petition urging commissioners to ban signs below the dune/vegetation line. 
They say the signs are purposely placed in a manner that misrepresents public access rights and are part of a campaign to intimidate anyone who doesn’t live at the condo. 
“The sole purpose of those signs is ‘we are going to intimidate you rubes out there into not using your beach,’’’ said Christopher Currie, who has led the fight on behalf of Tropical Drive residents.
Siegel was one of three women who complained to the commission about harassment from condo residents aiming cameras at beachgoers.
“I have felt violated,’’ said Taylor Nixon of Tropical Drive. “I have been out there in my bathing suit relaxing, reading my book and I have been getting videotaped by some of the neighbors probably to use as evidence of being in their property. That is very stressful and a little aggressive.’’
To bolster their concerns, residents point out that “Keepoffmybeach” is the name of a Wi-Fi network — presumably belonging to a Turtle Beach resident — that is visible on a smartphone near the condo.
Mark Feinstein, president of the Turtle Beach of Ocean Ridge Condominium Association, disputed the comments by Tropical Drive residents as “misinformation” by “a very vocal minority” of residents. He criticized the Town Commission for “giving them a soap box” and an “air of credibility” by even considering a sign ordinance. 
“It’s all a ruse,’’ he said. “What they are attempting to do is make all private beach public beach.’’
The signs, approved by the town, “are necessary because of the transients who would be steered to our beach by the Tropical gang,’’ he said. 
Elliot Zank, who lives on Old Ocean Boulevard just south of Turtle Beach, said he often sees ride-hail drivers dropping off beachgoers at the end of Tropical Drive, even though a sign posted at that spot on Old Ocean Boulevard prohibits drop-offs.
“The signs are necessary … to prevent a major influx of nonresidents from crowding the beach,’’ said Zank, one of several speakers who agreed with Feinstein but were still outnumbered Feb. 6 by people against the signs.
“Removing the signs would violate owners’ First Amendment rights,’’ he said.  

County complained before
Residents living near Turtle Beach aren’t the only ones who have complained to the town about signs on the beach in Ocean Ridge. 
In February 2022, a Palm Beach County government supervisor complained to then-Town Manager Tracey Stevens in a letter about town “signs indicating limits to public accessibility” north and south of Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park.  
The signs “may incur significant financial liability for the town by restricting public access to publicly funded beach areas with active easement agreements in place. The signs should be removed immediately to prevent any further public perception that access is limited within the project area,’’ Andy Studt, a program supervisor for the county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management, said in the letter.
The signs referenced in the letter, which was included in the backup material to the commission’s Feb. 6 meeting, were installed in 2019 at the unanimous direction of the Town Commission to replace previously posted signs that had been damaged or removed. The signs near Oceanfront Park are no longer on the beach, although a town sign at the south end of Ocean Ridge near Briny Breezes still stands.
The ERM complaint was not discussed Feb. 6. Although there are dozens of “No Trespassing” signs at crossovers along Old Ocean Boulevard, it’s the signs on the beach that a majority of commissioners are targeting for rules on where they can be placed or whether they should all be removed. 
“I believe in personal property rights and I also believe in the rights of the public,’’ said Commissioner Geoff Pugh, who said there are probably at least 40 signs that “need to be removed posthaste. It’s blight.’’
Pugh said he has no problem with beach signs against the dunes west of the wet and dry sand. 
“My problem,’’ he said, “is once you get past vegetation line and you see a sign and have to walk around it, that’s when it becomes, why are we splitting the community up?’’ 
Pugh said, “We should create an ordinance for those signs and get them removed because the beach is for all of us.’’  
Hurlburt, the mayor who lives in Turtle Beach, has tried to stay out of the public fight, restricting her comments on the topic at commission meetings. 
Hurlburt and Commissioner Martin Wiescholek are running for reelection March 14, with Carolyn Cassidy the challenger. The top two vote-getters win three-year terms.  
But on Feb. 6, Hurlburt took offense when Commissioner Steve Coz said that the offending signs were posted in the wet sand. Hurlburt said the signs are farther west, 10 feet from the dune in dry sand. 
Coz, a political opponent of Hurlburt who has endorsed Cassidy, blamed Turtle Beach for creating the discord by posting signs in a manner that misleads members of the public into thinking they can’t walk north or south along any part of the beach east of the condo. 
“To have one community cause this horrible rift in the haves and have-nots, among neighbors, among Ocean Ridge residents, it’s just sad,’’ said Coz, who at one point was interrupted by Feinstein shouting at him.
“I’ve never seen anything like this and to think one community can do this to this town really upsets me and makes me angry,’’ Coz said.
Wiescholek said he’s glad the town is finally taking a look at regulating beach signs.
“We had this on our agenda two years ago but we didn’t take action, unfortunately,” he said. Town Attorney Christy Goddeau said she would study case law and present the commission with options for regulating signs. But she warned against an outright ban of signs, which she said would violate First Amendment rights. No date has been set for further commission discussion.
Pugh, noting how residents have complained about the signs at commission meetings since at least November, said it was long past time for the town to be proactive. 
“I’m not going to sit here and not do something because the town might get sued,’’ he said. “Let’s create an ordinance and let’s see what happens down the road."

Related stories: Ocean Ridge: Candidates voice differences at election forum; Highland Beach: Voters asked to submit questions for candidate forum; Lantana: Infrastructure, safety, taxes are top issues in council elections; Delray Beach: Balance of power on ballot in commission elections; Delray Beach: Public safety, park referendums seek $120 million in new property taxes

When it seems as if there are more election signs lining the street than the number of people likely to vote, it must be municipal election season. When police are called, lawsuits are filed and social media allegations fly, residents discover just how much nastiness and divisiveness there can be in our beautiful and affluent area.
And why is that? What has turned our communities into boiling cauldrons of bitterness and aggression this spring?
It’s hard to pinpoint — and this may be a generalization looking at ballot choices in five municipalities — but most of it comes down to money and power. Yes, people have thin skin and feel they’ve been insulted or mistreated, wedge issues get inserted to confuse and divide the electorate, and government finds it difficult to operate in the tug-of-war leading up to election day (some employees even quit).
There’s some predictability to each of these things. What’s disturbing is that there are people — most working behind the scenes — who will do almost anything to control the makeup of each commission for their own special interests.
And it’s not hard to do. In most towns and cities all it takes is a 3-2 vote to change the character of where we live.
This March 14 election it seems no one is running alone: Candidates either have endorsements from other commissioners or are running as teams. Neither scenario gives voters confidence their elected officials will listen to their needs without political pressure. And yes, politics creates odd bedfellows with one side often forcing the hand of the other; but no matter how well-intentioned it is, there almost always is a payout at some point.
We’ve seen it happen all around us, especially in our larger cities.
As voters in a nonpartisan election, it’s our responsibility to look beyond who lives in our neighborhood or condo, belongs to our club, comes to our cocktail parties, or supports the same nonprofit organizations.
There are costly issues looming for each of our municipalities: an independent fire station, aging water plants, septic to sewer conversion, sea wall repairs and most important, rising sea levels and increased flooding that endanger homes and public safety response times.
With growing population pressure in fast-developing South Florida, we need to ask our candidates if they are willing to let the residents vote on big-ticket initiatives or lifestyle-changing legislation. If they tell you no, it’s not necessary, they were elected “by the people” to make the big decisions, challenge them.
They know making lifestyle-changing decisions on their own isn’t the most open way to govern. It’s just the easiest way to achieve their personal goals — or those of their supporters. Push them on their goals and motivations. Look at who endorses them — or funds their campaigns — and ask yourself how they, too, stand to gain. That is sometimes the best tell of all.
Granted, it’s difficult to be an informed voter in today’s divided and politicized climate. At best it requires pulling our boots out of the mud, sorting through the fog of campaigning and voting for the candidates most likely to support the long-term preservation of our community.
Or at worst, we can decide our future by not asking the hard questions and simply going out and counting the yard signs.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Eddie Ventrice — at home with his wife, Elyse, and golden retriever, Bronx — works with the George Snow Scholarship Fund and Men Giving Back. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Faran Fagen

Eddie Ventrice was thrilled to make it through Boca’s Ballroom Battle in one piece, without falling, dropping anyone or breaking anything.
“It was many weeks of practice leading up to the event, and not knowing exactly how we would fare against the competition was nerve-racking,” Ventrice said of the 2019 battle, which he won as top fundraiser.
“To have the support that I did, to give back to the community and be announced the winner was just pure elation, with friends and family cheering me on.”
Ventrice, or “Steady Eddie” as he’s known to his friends and Boca Raton neighbors, raised more than $250,000 for the George Snow Scholarship Fund, which benefits college students.
It’s one of the many nonprofits the community service devotee has supported while living in Boca Raton with his wife and five children.
Ventrice is a founding member of BV Group, a team with more than $2 billion in assets under advisement. He has more than 27 years’ experience in wealth management, supporting the needs of corporate executives, business owners, multigenerational families and professional athletes.
Ventrice received a community service award during the Snow foundation’s Boots & Bling Cowboy Ball event on Feb. 11. But the award won’t lead to any break in his fundraising for the organizations that rely on him.
“After many years of working, I can give back to the community,” said Ventrice, who turned 60 on Feb. 17. “I’m enjoying the success raising funds from the Ballroom Battle to now Men Giving Back.”
The mission of Men Giving Back (www.mengivingback.org) is to fund grants to nonprofit initiatives that positively influence South County.
The organization has surpassed Ventrice’s “wildest dreams” and continues to grow. It raised $500,000 last year with 160 members and is on target for 200 members and $700,000 this year.
“We were able to award grants last year to some of the most deserving nonprofits,” Ventrice said. “We also appreciate the opportunity to bring the community together.”
Ventrice understands what it means to be a struggling young man. He was born in the Bronx, New York. His parents got divorced, and his mom moved the family to Florida, which Ventrice said “was a good move, looking back.”
He grew up in Deerfield Beach, and worked at the then Boca Raton Resort and Club, flipping burgers in high school before attending the University of Florida and majoring in accounting.
Today, he’s nationally recognized as a top adviser by Barron’s, Forbes and Financial Times. Ventrice holds the CPA, CFP and the CIMA designations through Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
His favorite pursuit is using his position to help young men faced with similar challenges to his own. Boca’s Ballroom Battle and Snow foundation provide this purpose.
“It’s a great charity,” Ventrice said. “The money raised sends many deserving children to college. I relate to this since I came from the same background and had to pay for my college with student loans and working 30 hours a week in college.”
In 2019, becoming a dancer in Boca’s Ballroom Battle was “so much work,” he says. When a friend finally persuaded him, he immersed himself in it. He took dance lessons three times a week for five months, concentrating and practicing the routine nearly every day.
He said the attributes that have contributed to his prowess in the community are love, people, passion and drive.
“I laugh every day and I enjoy meeting people from all different diverse backgrounds,” Ventrice said. “Anyone that knows me can tell you that I do have a very serious side, but I’m also able to find the humor and the fun of everyday life. I love interacting with my clients — most I have known for years.”
Ventrice’s hobbies are travel, pickleball, tennis, golf, food, wine and reading.
His wife, Elyse, and their five children — Alec, Zach, Taylor, Chase and Cole — like to travel together. They also enjoy relaxing with a movie on the couch and playing basketball, tennis or chess.
Before founding the BV group, Ventrice was a practicing CPA.

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Related story: Ocean Ridge: Three top officials leaving in latest Town Hall turmoil

By Steve Plunkett

Richard Jones will leave his job as Ocean Ridge’s police chief by May 11 to take the same position in nearby Gulf Stream.
Gulf Stream town commissioners approved the new hire Feb. 10. His two-month-old contract with Ocean Ridge requires him to give up to 90 days’ notice, Jones said.
“I have already started to look for a replacement to fill the position that I am vacating so I can move that process along as quickly as possible,” he said. “I could potentially start sooner depending on what type of replacement I have and what kind of transition we think is necessary.”
Jones, who wore a business suit to the Gulf Stream meeting rather than a uniform, said he would solve the problem of recurrent vacancies in Gulf Stream’s 14-officer police force by building morale and making it “the go-to law enforcement agency in the county.”
“We should be the agency that everyone else is looking to, not only to see what we’re doing operationally and with our vision, but also what we’re doing with our technology and how we treat our staff,” he said.
He would boost morale, he said, “through a method that I believe in — being a worker, not just a police chief.”
“I believe in putting my feet on the ground and doing what I ask my officers to do, to demonstrate to them that I’m with them every step of the way. … It makes them realize that there’s value in their leader and I’m not asking them anything that I’m not willing to do.”
Jones, whose duties in Ocean Ridge include being police chief for Briny Breezes, also said he would be proactive in recruiting and expand Gulf Stream’s searches for potential hires to military veterans and law enforcement agencies beyond the local area.
Commissioners unanimously approved Jones’ hiring.
“We’re delighted to have you and congratulations on your appointment,” Commissioner Thom Smith said.
Mayor Scott Morgan said he spoke with Ocean Ridge Mayor Susan Hurlburt “and while they are sorry to lose him, she could not have been more enthusiastic in her praise of his skill, his vision, his energy, his administrative skills and his ability to take Gulf Stream, as she said, and move our Police Department legitimately into the 21st century.”
Jones, whose departure came as a shock to Ocean Ridge officials, said he was not actively looking for a job until he learned that Gulf Stream planned to look outside its department for candidates to replace retiring chief Ed Allen.
Jones, 42, is coming to Gulf Stream with 25 years of experience, the last eight in Ocean Ridge, where he rose from road patrol to chief and in 2020 was named the town’s employee of the year.
He and his wife, Erin, make their home in Port St. Lucie. They have two sons: Michael, 22, a Marine veteran, and Matthew, 17, a high school student.
Ocean Ridge gave Jones a three-year contract on Jan. 9 after he had been its chief for more than 16 months. His pay there is $115,763 a year. His salary in Gulf Stream will be negotiated.
Allen, who worked in Gulf Stream almost 35 years, announced in early December that he would leave the department on Jan. 31. He was paid $143,771 annually.
Town Manager Greg Dunham said that he received inquiries and résumés about the job from a Palm Beach County sheriff’s command officer in Wellington, a Delray Beach police lieutenant and a Gulf Stream police sergeant. He explored hiring a headhunter firm for $25,000 to $35,000 and using the Florida Police Chiefs Association for a $10,000 or $20,000 search.
As he did that, the town was approached by Jones. Dunham, Morgan and Assistant Town Manager Trey Nazzaro met with Jones for about two hours, Dunham said.
“I found the chief to be intelligent, motivated, experienced and creative with a high level of integrity, diplomacy and sensitivity,” Dunham said.
Jones’ résumé package included thank-you notes and letters of commendation dating back to 1999 when he was a public safety dispatcher in Clewiston.
In 2015 his predecessor, Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins, commended Jones for performing a plainclothes surveillance at Oceanfront Park after a number of cars had been burglarized.
“Based on your tenacity, caring and dedication to duty, you effectively apprehended a subject responsible for a small wave of crime at the Boynton Oceanfront Park, thereby enhancing the safety of the public,” Hutchins wrote.
And in 2021 John Mitchell stopped by the police station for help gathering details surrounding the death of his mother, Ocean Ridge resident Eileen Pettus, after a car accident in Melbourne.
“I was fortunate enough to meet with Lieutenant Richard Jones who offered me, not only his heartfelt condolences, but invaluable insight into how I might proceed. ... Never in my 50 years have I encountered an officer so kind and empathetic, while offering such incredible help,” Mitchell wrote. Jones started the week of his new hiring by persuading the Ocean Ridge Town Commission on Feb. 6 to approve one-time pay raises and benefits increases for his 15 officers for the rest of the year in an effort to attract more officers and retain current ones.
Jones made the request after compiling a survey that showed Ocean Ridge’s officers made drastically less in salary, benefits and health insurance than those on other coastal police forces in Palm Beach County.
Each officer will get a $7,500 salary bump the rest of the year, a $5,000 lump-sum vehicle reimbursement payment and a 50% health insurance match. Money for the changes will come from $213,186 that was freed up by freezing two vacancies.

Joe Capozzi contributed to this story.

By Steve Plunkett

Town commissioners postponed for a second time their vote on Gulf Stream School’s request to boost its enrollment, but they hope to turn the delay into a teaching moment on civic involvement.
Dr. Gray Smith, head of the school, won permission on Jan. 13 to raise the limit from 250 students to 300 for this school year. But Gulf Stream commissioners held off on making the higher student cap permanent without more input from residents and promised to alert them via newsletter.
The six-page newsletter dated Feb. 2 was signed by Mayor Scott Morgan and was packed with information on the town’s accomplishments, but made no mention of the school’s request. That prompted one resident to contact Assistant Town Manager Trey Nazzaro, asking to be part of the discussion.
“This individual said I know that a few residents have concerns and would like to be included in the conversation. So, it wasn’t ‘I oppose it, I think it’s a bad idea,’” Nazzaro told commissioners at their Feb. 10 meeting.
He also noted that Smith’s request to raise the enrollment cap was reported in The Coastal Star.
Commissioner Paul Lyons, whose grandchildren attend the school, said townspeople should keep themselves better informed.
“If a resident wants to know what’s going on they should be looking at the agenda,” he said. “We’re not going to send them a letter every time that something’s going to come up.”
Morgan agreed. “Every time there’s a contentious issue, we can’t be tabling it,” he said.
Morgan had attended a gathering the night before where he said “everybody was talking about it. So informally at least the word has gotten out.”
But Commissioner Thom Smith, who as a school trustee in 1994 helped negotiate the 250-student cap, said he too had heard from people, “and it wasn’t all positive.”
“I’m not saying they’re outraged,” he said. “I think that maybe they would like the chance to come speak.”
Commissioners agreed to table the vote until March 10 and to send each household a postcard after Lyons suggested that the mailing teach residents how to keep up with the town’s decision-making.
“If we could just educate people on, procedurally, if you want to know what’s going on, A-B-C, so they don’t say I didn’t know; i.e., look at the agenda, if you missed the meeting you can see the videos, et cetera, et cetera. So people understand how they can stay in touch with the town.”
Commission agendas are posted outside Town Hall and online at www.gulf-stream.org; the commission generally meets at 9 a.m. on the second Friday of the month; videos of the meetings are available on YouTube.
The school has 293 children enrolled this year. Gray Smith said it needs 300 to make a “modest” budget surplus. He also wants to erect a food storage building to be able to offer on-campus lunches.
“Gulf Stream School is committed to being a uniquely small community school and to being the best neighbor that we can possibly be to everyone in this neighborhood,” Gray Smith said.
In other action, commissioners heard a presentation on placing license plate recognition cameras in the town and will consider a formal proposal at their March meeting.

My family purchased a 100-by-100-foot lot in Ocean Ridge in 1956, and 10 years later built our house at 16 Tropical Drive. Our extended family visited our home many, many times in 60 years. As time passed, and families grew and changed, I finally made this my year-round home for over 20 years. 
One of the greatest joys all my family relished was being able to walk the short distance to the dune, cross over and then smell, hear and see that great Atlantic Ocean. We all feel it is a very cherished freedom. 
In recent years, we realized that we have new neighbors on either side of us with very differing opinions from ours about accessing the beach. We who live on Tropical Drive are not trying to camp out on anyone’s private land. We all just want to cross the dune, not see all those unwelcoming signs saying No Trespassing, Private Beach etc., etc., and walk out to the sand. We only want to ingress and egress as we have been doing for the past 70-plus years that I have witnessed.
Also, from what I have seen through many years at the beach, those signposts could very well interfere with all the sea turtles who might be wanting to lay their eggs exactly there!

— Patricia Kropp
Ocean Ridge

Related story: Along the Coast: Gulf Stream hires away Ocean Ridge’s police chief

By Joe Capozzi

Less than two weeks before an election that could shift the balance of power on the Town Commission, three top Ocean Ridge officials are on their way out. 
Interim Town Manager Lynne Ladner will not get the full-time position, a job for which the commission chose her in January, because of concerns by three commissioners that she has aligned herself with a faction of two commissioners and their community supporters. 
Police Chief Richard Jones will leave by May 11 after agreeing to take the chief’s job in Gulf Stream. And building official Durrani Guy submitted his two-week notice on Feb. 27. Two other Town Hall employees have left since the beginning of the year.
Although Ladner agreed to stay on as interim manager for another 90 days while the town conducts what will be a third search for a top administrator, she will not be considered for the full-time job, a divided commission decided Feb. 27.
The margin was 3-2, with commissioners Geoff Pugh and Steve Coz on the losing end of a vote to finalize her contract as intended. 
The backdrop of the three departures is the March 14 election, when Mayor Susan Hurlburt, Commissioner Martin Wiescholek and resident Carolyn Cassidy are running for two seats. Cassidy has been endorsed by Pugh and Coz, a pair that has been on the short end of votes by a majority made up of Hurlburt, Wiescholek and Vice Mayor Kristine de Haseth.
Among Cassidy’s campaign pledges is to overhaul the building department, a mandate that has been echoed by Pugh and Coz and has prompted concern by employees at Town Hall. 
The latest turmoil came to a head at the commission’s special meeting Feb. 27 to consider Ladner’s contract, an agenda item that would’ve been routine if not for behind-the-scenes communications Ladner had with Pugh and Coz in recent weeks about whether Jones should leave before May 11. Jones submitted his resignation Feb. 10 and under terms of his contract must give 90 days’ advance notice before he leaves.
Those communications came to light in an email Wiescholek said he mistakenly sent to fellow commissioners in late February about “serious second thoughts” he had about hiring Ladner.
In the email, which was meant only for Colin Baenziger, a recruiter hired to help commissioners find a manager, Wiescholek said he was concerned that Ladner “had been influenced by two commissioners to immediately fire chief Jones.’’ 
Wiescholek based his concerns on information shared with him by Jones about conversations the chief had with Ladner two days after he announced his resignation. 
Although Wiescholek’s email never identified the two commissioners, it was made clear Feb. 27, when the email was dissected in a public meeting, that he was referring to Pugh and Coz. 
Pugh and Coz said they spoke individually to Ladner about whether it made sense to let Jones leave before May 11 and replace him with an interim chief. But they said they did not pressure her to terminate Jones.
“I’ve never had a conversation with Lynne about terminating a police chief,’’ Coz said. “I would never have that conversation. It’s ludicrous. Somehow this entire collusion with myself and Geoff and Lynne grew out of fantasy. It doesn’t exist.’’ 
Jones, however, had a different take on his conversation with Ladner. 
Two days after he announced his resignation, “I received some text messages from the town manager indicating that a resident in town had chosen who the next police chief should be,’’ Jones said without elaborating.
A day after that, a Monday, Ladner came into Jones’ office. “I was then informed that the commission wished for me to leave early. At this point I go, ‘The commission?’ It was clarified, ‘at least two commissioners,’’’ the chief said. 
Jones said he was not told, nor did he ask, the names of the two commissioners. 
Before Jones described his conversations with Ladner, Vice Mayor de Haseth said she believed the interim town manager had “aligned herself” with “select commissioners” and “a small faction in this town.’’ 
Ladner also “has exhibited questionable behavior,’’ de Haseth said, explaining how she warned Ladner in her early days as interim manager to be careful about information she receives from town residents. 
“And she told me, ‘Don’t worry about it. I secretly record conversations with residents on a regular basis.’ To which I said, ‘I do believe that is illegal,’’’ de Haseth said. 
Although de Haseth said Ladner told her the recordings “helped her create notes later,’’ she said Ladner was “counseled” by the chief and town attorney not to record residents without their consent and knowledge.
Ladner said, “When I found out that Florida was a two-party recording state, I had not made any recordings to record my meetings, I made sure to take only handwritten notes.’’  
Before coming to Ocean Ridge, Ladner held management and consulting positions in Pinellas County and Pahokee government.
As for her conversations with Pugh and Coz, Ladner said she told them her intention was for Jones to stay as long as he could and help find his replacement. She also said she asked the town attorney about “the cost implications” if the town let Jones leave before the 90-day departure period outlined in his contract.
Ladner was set to get a $142,500 salary in her contract; an earlier version called for her to get $155,000. Ocean Ridge’s previous town manager, Tracey Stevens, was making $132,500 when she left Sept. 11 to become town manager in Haverhill. 
Not only is the town back to square one on finding a town manager, it also has to find a new police chief and a new building official. 
Commissioners voted 4-1 to retain Ladner for another 90 days while they find a new interim or full-time manager. 
“What I see pretty much is a vote of no confidence” in Ladner, said Hurlburt, who called for an end to the “micromanagement” of Town Hall from outside sources. 
“This latest incident is being used by a minority of residents as another political football. Ocean Ridge should be operating with good governance as the priority, not a stage for folks with personal axes to grind,’’ the mayor said. 
“These power plays are doing harm to Ocean Ridge and I’m concerned our town manager might have played right into it.’’
Pugh and Coz also took issue with language in Wiescholek’s email that described “two commissioners who are dead set on burning down this town.’’
Wiescholek apologized to both commissioners for his choice of words in the email. 
The meeting was interrupted multiple times, prompting the mayor to call three separate recesses, when a few of the 40 residents in the audience shouted at commissioners.

By John Pacenti

The Delray Beach City Commission voted last month to hand over the reins of Old School Square to the Downtown Development Authority, but not before some additional drama.
Vice Mayor Adam Frankel complained that at a January DDA meeting on Old School Square, members mocked the city, saying it had no choice but to give the authority control over the city’s cultural center.
“When you state you want to collaborate, you work together and you don’t demean city staff, you don’t demean the city departments and you don’t demean the city. You don’t demean all five of us,” Frankel said.
Frankel, who voted against ending the lease with the nonprofit that ran the historic campus for 30 years, was the lone dissenting vote at the commission’s Feb. 7 meeting to the agreement with the DDA.
“We are negotiating into an agreement with a group that is calling us desperate and that wants us to use millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars — and insulting us on top of it,” Frankel said.
DDA Chairperson Mavis Benson apologized to the commission for disrespectful comments made at the DDA meeting.
“That was not one of our board’s finest moments,” she said. “Our meetings concerning this topic have been robust and they have been full of energy. It has gotten us to where we are today.”
She urged commissioners to move past the rhetoric surrounding the removal of the former operators — the nonprofit Old School Square Center for the Arts, Inc. “We can’t associate ourselves with the past,” she said.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia said that personal feelings had to be put aside — noting how she and commissioners Juli Casale and Shirley Johnson had been personally attacked for the decision over the last year by people taking the side of the nonprofit.
“When you really stop and look at it, we have to do something great here and these are the people to do it,” Petrolia said.
City Attorney Lynn Gelin said an agreement had been made with the DDA where the city did not have to take money from its reserves. The DDA lowered its request from $1.3 million to $1 million.
There is still a matter of the March 14 election, though.
Former Planning & Zoning Board member Rob Long is running against Casale and has said he wants to return Old School Square to the nonprofit. So has Angela Burns, who is running for the seat Johnson is vacating because of term limits.
Petrolia, Casale and Johnson voted to terminate the nonprofit’s lease because of financial reporting concerns and its undertaking of renovations to the Crest Theatre without informing commissioners. Supporters of the nonprofit, such as Friends of Delray, have been very vocal with their criticism.
“We have had to sit up here and take for a full year just a battering,” Petrolia said. “The thing about it is, when you know you are doing something right and you know you can take something and make it better and leave it better, you do it.”

City gets Palm Trail refuge
At its Feb. 21 meeting, commissioners voted 4-1 to take over a preserve near the Intracoastal Waterway from the nonprofit Conservation Florida. The city will agree in perpetuity never to develop on the land.
The nearly 1.5-acre preserve consists of three properties, fronting the Intracoastal and on the north end of Palm Trail. The preserve had a market value of $7 million the last time it was appraised, in March 2021.
Petrolia was the lone dissenter.
“What we are doing here is taking on somebody else’s problem,” Petrolia said.
“I know that area is not ever going to be developed, but we are as a city now going to be assuming all of the problems, the flooding, the things that happen all the time that we get calls about.”
Commissioner Ryan Boylston, though, said that the city doesn’t have many opportunities to acquire land and that he was in favor of taking over the preserve so the city can control it.
Public Works Director Missie Barletto told commissioners that by owning the property, the city could fix the flooding problems and provide something the city does not have: a non-motorized boat launch. “Some place where people can put in kayaks or paddle boards,” she said.
In other news, Delray Beach will be the beneficiary of some $180 million allocated to municipalities for stormwater improvements, including bigger pipes and stronger pumps.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in February the most recent Resilient Florida grants. Delray Beach will get $10 million for Marine Way for sea wall, roadway and drainage improvements. Delray Beach will also receive $2.5 million for the Thomas Street stormwater pump station.

A 7-foot-tall navigation buoy from Dry Tortugas National Park sat on the beach in Manalapan since the middle of January before it was removed Feb. 24. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Larry Barszewski

Cost estimates on installing a townwide sewer system have increased dramatically as Manalapan’s engineering consultant has done additional research on the needed work.
Mock Roos & Associates now estimates it will cost $17.48 million to install a low pressure sewer system, a 70% increase from the $10.3 million preliminary estimate it gave town commissioners last year.
And that doesn’t include the cost to individual homeowners to connect to the town’s sewer lines, which is estimated at between $40,000 and $60,000 per property.
At their Feb. 28 meeting, commissioners asked Town Manager Linda Stumpf to get more information about potential funding sources that may be available to the town before it holds any discussions with residents about a sewer system and what they think about the town building one.
Officials have studied installing a sewer system a number of times in the past, concerned that the town eventually may be forced to put one in because of environmental concerns posed by the septic tanks currently in use. The cost has always turned out to be a stumbling block.
Finding out about potential grants that may be available will help commissioners determine — if they decide to build a sewer system — whether to pay for it all at once or do it in pieces.
The Mock Roos plan has three phases that were presented to commissioners:
• $7.4 million to build the system on Point Manalapan, taking advantage of existing, unused sewer lines on a portion of the Point that were included in the original construction there
• $600,000 for renovating the town’s existing sewer lines that serve the area from Town Hall to the north and that go into South Palm Beach
• $9.48 million for rebuilding the sewer system for the properties along State Road A1A south of Town Hall.
Commissioners decided they’ll move ahead with the repair work for the existing system, which is needed whether or not a new system is installed. The cost covers repairing the current lift station and replacing the sewer force main, which is corroding from the outside.
If commissioners decide to install a sewer system, their current thinking is it would be optional for residents to connect to the system — unless the state later mandates such connections. Each property would need a macerating pump to grind the solid waste and a 1.5-inch diameter pipe to take the waste from the pump to a roadway connection to the sewer lines.
“The town does its part, then people can hook up as they want,” Vice Mayor Stewart Satter said.
The needed residential pumps were going for $5,000 to $10,000 a year ago and now run from $10,000 to $17,000, Mock Roos consultant Thomas Biggs told commissioners.

Go-slower request rebuffed
Town commissioners are envious of Ocean Ridge’s 25-mph State Road A1A speed limit south of Manalapan and have been hoping to get the 35-mph limit within town reduced.
However, they haven’t been able to get officials from the Florida Department of Transportation on the same page.
In a Feb. 3 email to Manalapan Police Chief Carmen Mattox from Rana Keel, a program manager in FDOT’s district office, Keel said the department would not be making a change.
FDOT conducted a speed study on the town’s portion of A1A Jan. 17 after receiving the town’s request and determined a speed limit reduction wasn’t warranted. That study found that 85% of drivers on the stretch from East Ocean Avenue south to the Boynton Inlet were traveling at speeds ranging from 30 mph to 38 mph northbound and from 35 mph to 38 mph southbound, Keel said.
As for Ocean Ridge’s lower limit south of the inlet, Keel said: “Please note that the speed limit is posted as 25 MPH in this small section of SR A1A so drivers can safely reduce their speed approaching a curved road where the reduced speed is needed.”
Mattox has also been in touch with FDOT about flooding concerns near the intersection of A1A and East Ocean Avenue, which experienced heavy flooding in November with the one-two punch from the impact of king tides and Hurricane Nicole.
“We did have some heavy rain at the end of January. This rain did not cause any flooding,” Mattox wrote in his February report to commissioners.
“FDOT is still inspecting their system and making repairs to reduce flooding. Lantana Public Works does not believe their system affects the flooding and chose not to inspect or clean out their drainage lines in the beach parking lot.”

Bye-bye buoy
A large buoy owned by the federal government that washed ashore in Manalapan near 1600 S. Ocean Blvd. had been a headache to get rid of for the town before a crew from the Beach Rakers business finally took it off the beach Feb. 24.
“A lot of work went into getting rid of that buoy,” Stumpf said.
The 7-foot-tall yellow navigation buoy came from Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys and landed on the beach here in the middle of January.
“That’s a lot of drifting,” Mattox said. He didn’t have much success coordinating with the national park until he sought help from U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel’s office, which got the sides together.
“They came and got it and they put it on a boat and shipped it back to the Tortugas,” Mattox said.

Lands End Road cul-de-sac
Details for replacing the circle in the Lands End Road cul-de-sac were presented to commissioners at their Feb. 28 meeting. The current 30-foot-diameter circle would be replaced by a 16-foot-diameter one, making the cul-de-sac easier for trucks to navigate and making it less likely the circle will be damaged.
Cul-de-sac residents had complained to commissioners in January that the cul-de-sac’s circle and its landscaping were getting beat up by traffic overrunning the circle.
The proposal would replace the landscaping in the circle and create a 2-foot-wide strip of pavers around the landscaping, along with a mountable curb that won’t be damaged if trucks ride over it.
Commissioners expect to approve a contract for the work in March.

By Steve Plunkett

St. Joseph’s Episcopal School has lost its bid for an injunction to allow it to continue operating on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Boynton Beach while a lawsuit between the parties is resolved.
The school claims it has an oral, 99-year lease to stay where it is, at 3300B S. Seacrest Blvd., until the year 2093.
The church says the school signed a five-year written lease in 2012 and was given a five-year extension that expired last November. Both sides last year agreed to extend the lease until June 30 while the dispute headed to court.
On Feb. 20, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Bradley Harper came out in favor of the church.
“At this stage of the case, Plaintiffs have not shown that there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits given the absence of any writing which establishes the existence of a 99-year lease agreement,” he wrote, denying the injunction sought by the school and William Swaney, president of its board of trustees and a major donor.
“Further, it appears that the application and interpretation of Canon Law may be necessary to determine the legal rights and obligations of the parties with respect to the lease and operation of the school,” Harper wrote.
Lawyers for the school did not reply to an email seeking comment on Harper’s decision.
An outside publicist, Aimee Adler Cooke, responded on behalf of the lawyers for the church.
“We appreciate the court’s recognition of the written lease agreement that is in effect between the parties. The legal battle waged by the school has been trying, and we remain hopeful that Judge Harper’s ruling will move this matter toward closure for both parties,” Cooke said.
Harper has scheduled a Zoom hearing at 8:45 a.m. March 8 on a motion by the church to dismiss the school’s case for lack of jurisdiction.
The church’s legal team says “numerous Florida and related federal decisions confirm that where a dispute involves matters of Canon Law, internal church organization, or ecclesiastical rule, secular courts lack jurisdiction to resolve the dispute.”
In a separate filing, the school’s lawyers argue that this doctrine does not apply. “The instant dispute is not a theological dispute,” they wrote. “The only connection this case has to theology is that one party is a church.”
The school also alleges breach of contract by the church and misappropriation of restricted charitable donations.
The conflict arose last April when the church vestry decided not to renew the school’s $5-a-year lease. Parents of the school’s 175 students in pre-K through eighth grade scrambled to find a new place for their children in the coming year.
While the two entities share a name and location on Seacrest Boulevard, the school split off from the church in 1995.
That was a year after Swaney gave the church approximately $2.5 million worth of stock in his company, Perrigo, “for the express purpose of the church constructing buildings and facilities for use by the school,” the lawsuit says.
Swaney, the suit claims, made it clear to the vestry that he was making the gift in exchange for a promise, made orally several times, that the school would never be displaced from the property. The church sold the stock and built a gymnasium, library, classrooms and administrative offices.

By Steve Plunkett

“Martin O’Boyle is a Gulf Stream resident who has long disliked town leadership.”
So begins an opinion by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirming a U.S. District Court ruling in Gulf Stream’s favor that the town did not violate the First Amendment rights of O’Boyle, his son Jonathan O’Boyle and their lawyer William Ring.
The trio sued over what they alleged was retaliation by the town over extensive public records litigation and on appeal argued that they did not need to show a lack of probable cause in order to show retaliation.
But in this case, they did have to show the town did not have probable cause, a panel of three 11th Circuit judges ruled on Feb. 8.
The judges gave a short history of the case, which they called “the third in a saga that chronicles Martin O’Boyle’s feud with Gulf Stream and its leadership.” After the town denied him a building permit, he painted cartoons on his house ridiculing the mayor and hung signs criticizing town leaders on a truck parked at Town Hall.
He also began filing public records requests. Between 2013 and late 2014, “O’Boyle and his associates filed nearly 2,000 public records requests — many for vague and hard-to-identify topics,” the judges wrote.
When the town did not respond in time, O’Boyle or his nonprofit Citizen’s Awareness Foundation Inc. would sue Gulf Stream under the state’s Sunshine Law.
In 2015, the town launched a three-pronged offensive against the records requests, which had overwhelmed Gulf Stream’s small municipal staff. It filed counterclaims in one of the records lawsuits in state court and asked for sanctions against Jonathan O’Boyle and Ring; Mayor Scott Morgan filed bar complaints against the two alleging ethical violations; and the town sued the O’Boyles, Ring and several others in federal court under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
But the Florida Bar declined to discipline Jonathan O’Boyle or Ring and the state court declined to sanction them; the state court also dismissed the counterclaims; and the federal court dismissed the RICO lawsuit.
After a town meeting in September 2015, town police saw Martin O’Boyle trying to write on a bulletin board in the lobby of Town Hall and confronted him to get him to stop.
They began arguing and eventually escorted a noncompliant O’Boyle out of the building.
The state attorney later charged O’Boyle with trespassing and disorderly conduct; a state judge dismissed the trespassing charge in August 2021 and a jury acquitted O’Boyle of disorderly conduct.
The O’Boyles and Ring sued the town for allegedly violating their First Amendment rights via the RICO suit, the bar complaints and Martin O’Boyle’s prosecution. The town argued that it had civil probable cause to file the RICO litigation and the bar complaints and that the state attorney had criminal probable cause to prosecute O’Boyle, so the trio could not establish a First Amendment retaliation claim.
The O’Boyles and Ring argued that they did not need to show a lack of probable cause, citing what they considered a similar case, Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, in which the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a false arrest claim to proceed even though probable cause existed to arrest the plaintiff.
The district court at first denied giving a summary judgment to either side. After the parties agreed to a joint stipulation that the town had probable cause to file the bar complaints and to charge Martin O’Boyle with trespass and disorderly conduct, the district judge granted summary judgment to Gulf Stream. The O’Boyles and Ring appealed.
The 11th Circuit judges said under Lozman, along with other elements, where there is “little relation” between the First Amendment-protected expression and the allegedly retaliatory action, a plaintiff must show only that an official act would not have occurred “but-for” the protected expression.
In this case, however, the judges found more than just a “little relation.” Gulf Stream filed its RICO complaint and state-court counterclaims as a direct response to the hundreds of records requests and multiple lawsuits that were draining town resources and manpower, they said. The bar complaints were also closely related to the public records litigation, they said.
And, they wrote, “a layer of independent judgment” was added to the criminal case against Martin O’Boyle when the state attorney pressed charges and not the town police. Case law makes showing “an absence of probable cause” a necessary element of retaliatory prosecution, they said.
The joint stipulation “that there was probable cause to charge Martin O’Boyle with trespass and disorderly conduct was fatal to his retaliatory prosecution claim,” they ruled.

By Joe Capozzi

The town’s 27 condominiums will get reminders from town officials that Airbnbs, Vrbos and other short-term rentals are not allowed in South Palm Beach. 
Unlike many other Florida municipalities, including nearby Lake Worth Beach, South Palm Beach has never had a problem with a proliferation of short-term rentals because town code allows only rentals of at least 30 days. 
The town code is enforceable because it was in effect before state legislators approved a 2011 law that gives broad powers to short-term rentals and prevents most municipalities from regulating them. 
Occasionally, a South Palm Beach condo will appear on a short-term rental platform, which happened recently with a unit in the Brittany, just north of Town Hall, at 3575 S. Ocean Blvd.
“My building has some problems with that. We are nipping it in the bud,’’ council member Monte Berendes, who lives in the Brittany, said at the Feb. 14 Town Council meeting. 
A condo owner in the building had rented his unit to someone, who then advertised the unit on a short-term rental site, said Berendes, who said the condo owner was out of the country and not aware of what the renter had done. 
After residents in the Brittany noticed people they didn’t recognize going into the unit in January, the problem was quickly resolved.  
But Berendes brought it to the attention of town officials, who agreed with the town attorney’s recommendation to remind condo owners about what they can and can’t do with their units.  
Condo owners who want to rent their units under town code must have state and county licenses, Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said.
“The tax collector has an aggressive program where she will go online and if she sees you are advertising your house to rent, you’re going to get a bill from her,’’ Torcivia said.

In other business:
• The Town Council agreed to send a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis in support of the town of Palm Beach’s request for the state to eliminate plans for a bicycle lane along a 1.7-mile stretch of South Ocean Boulevard north of South Palm Beach. 
The state wants to add a bike lane on the west side of the road between Ibis Way and the Lake Worth Bridge as part of a road resurfacing project. But Palm Beach officials think the bike lane would disrupt ingress and egress of condos along the road and would be counterproductive for bicyclists since there are no bike lanes at Sloan’s Curve just north of Ibis Way.
• South Palm Beach has received a $75,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection for a vulnerability assessment. The town was one of seven Palm Beach County municipalities receiving grants totaling more than $1.4 million. 
The others: Lantana $167,000, Belle Glade $200,000, Riviera Beach $300,000, Lake Clarke Shores $123,500, Loxahatchee Groves $350,000 and Mangonia Park $191,415.
• Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies will conduct a traffic safety initiative March 13-17 to remind motorists heading to and from South Ocean Boulevard to stop and watch for pedestrians and bicyclists on walkways in South Palm Beach.
Motorists who don’t stop at the walkways, which are parallel to the road and obscured in some locations by blind spots, will get courtesy reminders.
Deputies will issue citations to repeat offenders. 
The initiative, which follows a successful campaign conducted the week of Feb. 20, is meant to “shed more light on pedestrian safety by educating drivers to stop at sidewalks before pulling onto A1A,’’ Sgt. Mark Garrison said.  
• The council approved a resident’s request to install an aluminum-framed pergola on the roof of 3550 S. Ocean Blvd. When completed, it will be the first such pergola on a condo roof in South Palm Beach.

The new library’s teen area. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

A good half-hour before the 11 a.m. grand opening ceremony for the newer, bigger, far more beautiful Lantana Public Library, its public was already finding seats under the party tent by the new front doors.
The Lantana Middle School Symphonic Band was tuning up. Volunteers were setting out refreshments in the new community room. Dignitaries were greeting dignitaries.
And back in the new teen room, the library director was gathering her thoughts while a friend, Michelle Lee, primped her hair.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Kristine Kreidler said. “I worked 77 hours this week, and 73 the week before.” She smiled. “I haven’t even had time to see my friend’s new baby. I think I’m going to take tomorrow off.”

Town Manager Brian Raducci reaches for the scissors after library Director Kristine Kreidler and foundation Chairman Robert Barfknecht cut the ribbon.

When the speakers had spoken and the doors had been thrown open, the curious would find themselves in a library they may have been in but had never seen before.
Separate rooms for youth and teens, a community room, a private study room and an outside reading garden for book club discussions — all brought together through a bright blue nautical theme to honor the small town’s home by the big blue sea.
Surfboards on loan from the Surfing Florida Museum hang from the ceiling and surfing history panels adorn the walls. In the youth room, a large mobile by installation artist Ashley Nardone dangles handmade turtles and fish from a circle of scalloped waves. Peer up at it and you’re underwater. Even the carpeting is shades of bright blue.
But first there was a ribbon to be cut.
After the band’s 32 seventh- and eighth-graders had entertained with the Copper Creek March, Michelle Donahue, a library foundation board member, welcomed the crowd with a brief history of the library.
“It’s been a long time coming,” was heard more than once this Feb. 22 morning. But did that long time begin in November 2019, when the renovation planning began? Or perhaps 1947, when the Lantana Woman’s Club accepted 900 books donated by the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach and lending began in the Community Church on Oak Street?
Either way, the celebration was a long time coming.
In 1952, the library moved to the old bridge tender’s house and stayed until 1994, when the town bought the former Carteret bank building at 205 W. Ocean Ave. The bank had gone bust three years before, and on April 21, 1996, another grand opening was celebrated.
For the next 27 years, Lantana had a library in a bank building. Now, after this massive renovation, it has a library in a library building.
“Since 1996, you’ve had a library with a bank vault and teller line and a drive-thru window,” the renovation’s architect, Samuel Ferreri of PGAL architects, explained. “By removing those, we were able to increase the library’s space by 33%, to about 5,100 square feet.”
Robert Barfknecht, chairman of the library foundation, reflected on the challenges that had been overcome.
“We had $80,000,” he recalled, “when we dreamed of doing this.”
The county’s 1-cent sales tax brought $400,000, and the Town Council added another $300,000 from undesignated reserves.
There had been delays, a construction company replaced, and cost overruns, but no one lingered on those this breezy blue morning.
This was a morning for looking forward to the new library behind those new doors and looking back at childhood memories.
“I used to take my daughter to the library every Saturday,” acting Mayor Karen Lythgoe recalled. “Now she goes there with her daughter.”
Teresa Wilhelm, president of the Friends of the Library, remembered going sometimes twice in one day.
“I went to the library by the bridge and got two books,” she said, “and if I finished them, I went right back and got two more.”
And then she put in a plug for the Friends.
“It’s only $5. You can sign up your kids to be Friends,” she enthused. “We even had someone sign up their puppy.”

Libraries exceed Starbucks
Brock Peoples, director of the Southeast Florida Library Information Network, offered some perspective.
“There are more than 16,000 public libraries in the U.S.,” he said. “That’s more than McDonald’s or Starbucks.”
But this morning was about only one of those 16,000, and the library director spoke last.
Kristine Kreidler, hair nicely primped, remembered a day back in November 2019. She’d just been hired when Debbie Manzo, the town manager at the time, told her, “We have money for you to design a library.”
Kreidler met with Barfknecht, and the two set to work. Barfknecht focused on the financing while Kreidler designed what the new library should look like and offer.
The Lantana Public Library, founded 75 years ago by women, was being ushered into its future by a woman.
“I always came in to do battle with a town council based on what other librarians at other town libraries had told me,” Kreidler told the crowd. “But never once was that necessary here. This town council was always completely supportive.”
Now the time had come.
Kreidler and Barfknecht posed before the ribbon blocking the new front doors, each with a hand on the traditional oversized scissors.
Some may not have noticed, but the traditional red ribbon was not really red. It was magenta — and the exact same color as Kreidler’s skirt. This was not a coincidence.
Then the scissors snipped, the ribbon fell, and the crowd had its first look at the new old library.
If anyone thought the final cost of $1,505,000 was extravagant, nobody was saying so. The teen room, the youth room, the community room and the dazzling nautical theme throughout with the surfboards, the dangling fish and turtles and the ocean blue carpeting, all brought smiles of approval.
Seated in a corner of the youth room, under the nautical mobile, Catlin and Cameron Snow were especially excited. Along with their daughter, Coral, 2, they had brought a baby carriage.
“Today was supposed to be my due date,” Catlin Snow said, “but C.J. was 21/2 weeks early.”
Finally, the library’s exhausted director could relax a bit and meet her friends’ new son.

On March 11, a community celebration will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at the library, with food trucks, face painting, a bounce house, goodie bags and an introduction to all the library has to offer.
For more information, contact Kristine Kreidler at 561-389-2486 or email kkreidler@lantana.org.