Simone Spiegel sits at her desk at Samco Properties, a commercial real estate company of which she is vice president and co-founder. She also is board president and chair for the Fuller Center, a Boca Raton nonprofit. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Tao Woolfe

Simone Spiegel’s office desk bears a ceramic nameplate identifying her as “First Lady.”
Although it is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek title, it seems fitting for Spiegel, a woman of so many actual titles and responsibilities.
Foremost, she is vice president and co-founder of Samco Properties, a nationwide commercial real estate company based in Deerfield Beach.
She is also president and board chairwoman for the Fuller Center, a huge, Boca Raton-based nonprofit providing early education, meals and after-school care to children of lower-income workers.
“The Fuller Center is just incredible,” Spiegel said. “Children who might otherwise not have the best chance to succeed receive a quality education and after-school care. The teachers are wonderful.”
Ellyn Okrent, the CEO of the Fuller Center, used similar superlatives when describing Spiegel.
“She is genuine, honest, brilliant, supportive, amazing,” Okrent said.
Although Spiegel, 63, seems soft-spoken and reserved, she can be a tough negotiator.
Okrent gave this example: The Fuller Center is planning a new building for one of its two campuses. Recently, Okrent and Spiegel met with a group of contractors and engineers to discuss the plan.
“They were all men, sitting around the table and speaking about technical details, and zoning issues,” Okrent said. “Simone listened for a while and then in her ladylike way, put her hand up and said, ‘No, no, no, that’s not the way to do it.’ She knows her stuff and she doesn’t let anyone take advantage of us.”
The men did not know that Spiegel came to the table equipped with deep knowledge of real estate, construction and zoning from her 40 years of helping Samco acquire, redesign and construct shopping malls and office buildings.
In addition, Spiegel was armed with a law degree from Nova University Law School, where she honed her negotiation skills.
“I don’t really practice law, but it comes in handy,” said Spiegel, whose office is filled with real estate books, plants and photos of her husband, Sam, her two daughters, and her two grandchildren.
On the wall, Spiegel displays her diplomas from Nova and from her bachelor of arts in economics from Harvard University, plus a quilted tapestry of green, gold and red made by a friend.
Spiegel said her husband also obtained his law degree from Nova, but that’s not how they met.
When Spiegel was attending Harvard, she came to South Florida to visit her father. Her dad introduced her to Sam Spiegel, whom he had met — and liked — while conducting a real estate deal. The couple went on a date, fell instantly in love, and shortly thereafter, Sam asked Simone to marry him.
“We married as soon as I finished college,” Simone Spiegel said. That was 1982, the same year they co-founded Samco. The business grew and grew, and now owns and operates 3.5 million square feet of commercial real estate across 19 states.
The couple has lived in Highland Beach for 19 years, Spiegel said, and is quite content there.
“We live in a nice, quiet building. We love walking on the beach and the kids love visiting us there,” she said.
The Spiegels also have ties to Boca Raton. They’ve been members of Temple Beth El for 38 years. They support the Boca Raton Museum of Art and Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
Simone Spiegel — who lost two close family members to drug overdoses — also donates to Overdose Lifeline Inc., a nonprofit in her hometown of Indianapolis that helps addicts and their families cope with substance abuse.
But her passion is the Fuller Center, which not only cares for and educates some 900 children a year, but supports their hardworking parents.
The center provides services to ensure that children go home each night to self-sustaining parents able to provide safe, healthy and enriching homes.
Okrent said Spiegel has greatly helped the center during her 15 years of involvement — eight of them on the board. Okrent said she was thrilled when Spiegel became the president and chairwoman.
The two women talk nearly every day by phone or by text about the center’s challenges and victories.
“She’s everything a CEO would dream of as a board chair,” Okrent said. “She’s incredible.”

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

I just received your September issue and was shocked to read your front-page article on “Suffering summer of sargassum” full of inaccurate information. I and South Florida would appreciate the honest truth be published regarding our beaches and sargassum/human waste handling.  
Even though FDEP, FWC, the town of Highland Beach and both tractor companies all use the words “clean the beach,” the beach has never been mechanically cleaned by either tractor company since they started operating 40 years ago.
No one should be using the word “clean.” Nothing is removed from our beach. There are not two teams working, with one clearing large debris and trash from the seaweed, and nothing is buried — and should not be since the weed is intermingled with human garbage.
Both weed and human garbage are just rearranged and raked under to rot and smolder, creating more and longer-term gases along with the accumulation of garbage.
The tractor operations consist of one tractor with a simple rake and roller attached to the back and a front bucket. The weeds and garbage are left in disarranged mounds amid tractor ruts, partially covered with sand to fester.
The tractor companies sign the FDEP permit to clean the beach, they advertise they clean the beach, and they bill their clients for cleaning the beach — and clean nothing? All the while trespassing and rutting up all beachfront property owners’ property, causing damage to the dune system and sand loss.
You are more than welcome to sit on my beachfront patio and watch the tractor operations. I also have hours of video and hundreds of photos.
I enjoy reading your newspaper and it shows the research and knowledge that goes into most articles, and I believe that your group works for a better Florida and its beaches. Please research anything to do with any tractor company’s statements. They have been lying for 40 years and I honestly think that they have convinced themselves and now believe they are providing a good environmental service.

Robert Patek
Highland Beach

I am appalled by Kristine de Haseth’s comments, and her veiled attempt at an apology only demonstrates her true feelings. Totally inappropriate for a commissioner to say in a recent town communication, “Don’t think for one second that the inmates will be allowed to run the prison again. Those days are in the rearview mirror.”
First of all that is a threat, not a figure of speech; it is inexcusable that someone elected by the residents disgraces herself and embarrasses the town. 
The town of Ocean Ridge deserves better than this behavior from our representatives. She should do the right thing and resign.
No one buys her “figure of speech” apology. I for one would love to know who the inmates are? It’s obvious Ocean Ridge is the prison. We need truth and transparency in this town.

Stella Kolb
Ocean Ridge

The city of Delray Beach appears hellbent on selling off some of our precious public open space for a quick fix to get some money from developers to repair our historic, albeit neglected, golf course.
The city plan requires the destruction of several holes at the very least and then redesigning a course already designed by two of the foremost golf course architects of the 20th Century.
The southern nine holes were designed in the 1920s by famed course architect Donald Ross. The northern nine were designed in the 1960s by acclaimed golf course architect Dick Wilson.
Will the new course be designed by a world-class golf course designer or an apartment developer? Is the new design required to be designed by renowned golf architects as part of the RFP?
In north Florida, Dunedin is faced with a similar dilemma for its run-down 18-hole Ross-designed course. Yet, their municipal leaders are not selling parts of the golf course to “save it.” Dunedin is seeking state grants of up to $500,000 a cycle for two cycles.
They have reached out to the Donald Ross Society in Pinehurst, North Carolina, for advice. Their budget to restore the entire 18 holes is estimated at $3 million to $4 million.
Why does Delray need $10 million? It is clear their strategy includes more than just a golf course.
Further, it is unclear just how many of our course’s 150 acres are on the block. 10 acres? 15? 20? Between 8% and 24% of precious green space will be lost forever.
About 40 developers, home builders and engineers from approximately 25 companies attended a pre-bid session at the golf clubhouse in mid-September.
While there is clearly commercial interest in building offices, dwellings and even hotels on the property, it is growing increasingly clear that these potential bidders do not have the restoration of a classic golf course in mind.
Regardless, it will no longer be a community-affordable golf course, clubhouse and natural habitat.

Jay Alperin
Former mayor, Delray Beach

Library renovation nears completion

By Mary Thurwachter

Raising the tax rate is seldom popular and certainly isn’t this year either, as evidenced by the many residents who spoke against a tax hike during workshops and public hearings in recent months. But the rate is going up in Lantana, from $3.50 to $3.75 per $1,000 of taxable value — despite a 15.8% increase in the town’s tax base.
Town Manager Brian Raducci said the Town Council dipped into the town’s savings last year to cover expenses, rather than raise the tax rate or make additional budget cuts. That led to an even bigger budget gap this year, he said. Savings are typically used for one-time costs like capital projects, not for ongoing expenses.
During its Sept. 21 public hearing, the council voted unanimously for the 7.1% rate increase needed to balance the $15,243,834 general fund budget for the year starting Oct. 1.

Related: South County's new tax rates, taxes and budgets

Dozens of residents said the tax increase was unnecessary in a year when property values soared, many people are struggling to make ends meet and the town has no debt.
Tammy Gianfortune of Hypoluxo Island said she opposed what she calls “a double tax increase” on Lantana citizens.
“I suggest it’s a double tax increase because the town is gaining from the record rise in taxable values of our properties, a 15.8% increase,” she said. “Additionally, you’re choosing to raise the millage from the $3.07 per $1,000” rollback rate “to $3.75 per $1,000 — a 22% increase. I’ve got to suggest that combination is extremely aggressive.”
She said she understood that inflation has hit all parts of the budget. “But I also understand the same issue is hitting every homeowner’s pocketbook as well,” Gianfortune said.
“Other Palm Beach County cities have chosen to use their property-value-driven tax increase to cover their cost of inflation and chosen not to increase their millage rate, and some are even reducing their rates,” she said.
Raducci defended the rate increase, saying people don’t realize that last year’s budget was adopted with an $800,000 deficit. “It was balanced because we used fund balance [reserves] to balance the budget,” he said. “But we were still upside down by about $800,000.”
That meant that this budget year, even with $700,000 in new revenue, the town was still “$100,000 in the hole,” he said.
“I don’t think a lot of people realize that. And that’s not something you want to do repeatedly year after year,” he said, especially considering the significant increases in the costs of labor, contracts and insurance.
The council exacerbated the funding gap in December, when it awarded an additional 1.5% salary boost to town employees, a continuing expense estimated at $55,000 last year alone. The council at that time also approved one-time employee bonuses of up to $2,000, which were estimated to cost $110,000.
Raducci said municipalities usually use their reserves for things like one-time investments. “You do not want to use fund balance to maintain your operating cost, and that’s really what this is being used for,” he said of the current tax increase.
“But sometimes it’s necessary and we feel like if you don’t do this and we have to cut costs even further we’re going to be cutting into what we call essential services,” he said.
The new budget again relies on $126,440 in undesignated reserves to balance its revenues and expenditures.
Finance director Stephen Kaplan said some of the general fund items include:
• A 5% cost-of-living adjustment for general employees and between 7.5% and 8.5% for police.
• $1.5 million for the town’s two pension plans.
• Additional hours for part-time library employees so at least two people are on duty at any given time.
• Transitioning from a part-time to full-time lifeguard position.
• Infrastructure surtax — or penny tax — dollars supplementing funds already budgeted for the ADA beach ramp, replacing the wooden decking rafters at the beach, and to continue the street paving program.
• American Rescue Plan Act money being used for vehicle replacement and sea wall projects at Bicentennial Park, Sportsman Park and the beach.

Details on library work
Progress is speeding up on the $1 million library renovation project. That’s what Town Council members learned during a Sept. 12 meeting, with library Director Kristine Kreidler saying the grand opening is tentatively expected late in October or in November.
“If you’ve driven past the library, you can see it is painted outside,” she said. “It is painted inside, as well, and the wave wall that separates the children’s area from the main adult area has been put up. There’s air conditioning inside the building now. Landscaping should be finished soon. And the pavers have been put in the front in the garden.”
Some special creative touches will include sea lantern lights and a mobile in the children’s library.
Construction on the library at 205 W. Ocean Ave. has been fraught with problems, most notable the discovery in December of the lack of proper licensing by the original contractor. That halted construction until mid-May, when West Construction Inc. of Lantana took over after the town approved a contract to finish the project.
The renovations will improve how space is used in the library and add a meeting room and outdoor reading garden. The changes include ADA-compliant restrooms, a centralized circulation desk, special spaces for children and teens and a community center for adult activities. 
The library is temporarily housed in the Recreation Center at 418 S. Dixie Highway.
In other news, the Town Council met the new president of the Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce, Natalie Stolbach, a longtime member and a board member. She replaces Dave Arm, who retired in September after 10 years. Stolbach and her husband, Barry Stolbach, own and operate Barry’s Jewelry Spa in Boynton Beach.

By Mary Thurwachter

  In a surprise development Sept. 21, Lantana Mayor Robert Hagerty announced his resignation halfway through his first three-year term.
Hagerty, 57, has served since March 2021 after defeating 21-year incumbent Mayor Dave Stewart. Hagerty, a former police officer, spent most of his career working in Lantana.
“I had no intention of going back to work when I retired” from the Police Department, “and here I am working on a second career,” Hagerty said. The new job in construction means relocating to Orlando, something he plans to do by Oct. 10. He said he brought the topic up because the next town meeting is Oct. 24, after he will have left Lantana.
He thanked town staff, fellow council members and residents for their support and said the decision to leave came “after a lot of thought and discomfort” on his part.
Hagerty didn’t respond to The Coastal Star’s request for further comment on his departure. He has come under criticism for missing multiple meetings since his tenure began.
The final budget public hearing where he made the announcement was sparsely attended.
“I wish more people were here to have said this to,” Hagerty said. “I thank everybody in attendance tonight.”
Reached by phone after the meeting, Vice Mayor Karen Lythgoe said Hagerty’s announcement came as “a big surprise” that night, although she had expected it for a while. “I just figured the work was getting in his way and he was getting torn both ways. I expected it before now and as time had gone on, I thought well, he’s just going to keep going to the end of his term,” she said.
Lythgoe is acting mayor temporarily, she said. “The seat will go on the ballot in March, when my seat is up also.”
After a workshop meeting to discuss Hagerty’s resignation on Sept. 27, Lythgoe said she would make a run for mayor during the March election and not seek re-election to her Group 4 seat. Should she win her bid to become mayor, the term will be only until March 2024, at which time she would need to run again.
In an email to The Coastal Star, Town Attorney Max Lohman said the council had several options:
• Leave the mayor’s seat vacant until a special election in March 2023 to fill Hagerty’s unexpired term, which goes until March 2024. Until the election, the vice mayor would serve as acting mayor. This is the option the council has chosen.
• Appoint someone to serve as mayor until a March election is held to fill the remainder of the mayor’s unexpired term. The vice mayor would have served as acting mayor only until the council makes that appointment. • The council could also have chosen to appoint Lythgoe mayor until a March election, then appointed someone to fill her council seat for the remainder of her term, Lohman said, but he added “this option is unnecessary, because as vice mayor she serves as mayor in the absence of the mayor already.”

By Larry Barszewski

New gatehouse security guards, increased wages for town workers, and planning money for a town sewer system are all included in a new $7.3 million Manalapan town budget effective Oct. 1.
Town commissioners on Sept. 27 approved the 25.2% general fund budget increase along with a reduced property tax rate of $3 for every $1,000 of assessed value — a rate that will increase taxes paid to the town by 21.2%.
Mayor Keith Waters said much of the increase is being shouldered by new property owners in town, where property values soared 28.2% this year, fueled by the pandemic’s heated housing market.
“We are delighted, with what’s going on in the community, to lower the millage (property tax) rate and at the same time provide additional funding for the operation of the town,” Waters said.

Related: South County's new tax rates, taxes and budgets

The commission lowered the tax rate 5.3%, from $3.17 per $1,000 of assessed value, which will reduce the tax bill of property owners with homestead exemptions.
However, more than half the properties in town are not homesteaded, making them less protected from higher taxes.
The new budget includes:
• $264,532 for a contract with Cambridge Security Services Corp. to provide services at the town’s gatehouse on Point Manalapan. Commissioners approved the contract at a special meeting Sept. 16 after receiving complaints about the previous company.
• A 5% raise for all employees and a 5% “one-time inflation adjustment” for them. Unlike a salary increase, the inflation adjustment — or bonus — will not be added to an employee’s base salary. The authority for the inflation adjustment was approved by commissioners at the special meeting Sept. 16.
• $593,684 for capital equipment and improvements. Among the capital items are $166,684 to renovate the Police Department squad room, $143,865 to replace two police vehicles and the town manager’s vehicle, and $60,000 for a new generator.
• A $520,000 transfer to the utility fund to cover some of the professional service fees for work being done with the town’s septic-to-sewer project, and for other utility project capital costs.
Under the approved tax rate, the town is expected to collect $5.6 million in property taxes, which is $1 million more than in the previous year.
The commission approved a total town budget of $14.5 million. Besides the general fund budget, which covers nuts-and-bolts expenses of town government supported in part by property tax collections, the town has a utility fund budget of $7.1 million and a library fund budget of $61,500.
In other action, the commission voted to no longer require Ocean Boulevard property owners seeking to create or demolish a pedestrian passageway under State Road A1A — connecting the eastern and western portions of a property — to go before the town’s Architectural Commission for approval.
Officials said that commission’s review isn’t necessary since the tunnels aren’t visible. The tunnels still must adhere to other existing town building regulations and reviews.

By Joel Engelhardt

Republican state Rep. Mike Caruso has been the sole House representative for the South County barrier islands since 2018. That ended with redistricting based on the 2020 U.S. Census.
Now he’s running in Republican-leaning District 87, which includes the barrier islands north of the Boynton Inlet, hugs the coast northward through Palm Beach and Singer Island and takes in half of Palm Beach Gardens and a slice of Jupiter. 
The change forces him out of his longtime Delray Beach base. He is keeping his oceanfront Delray home but moving into a downtown West Palm Beach condo to live in the district. 
Caruso, 64, an accountant, beat back an August primary challenge from his political right, winning two-thirds of the vote against Jane Justice.
On Nov. 8, he’ll face Democrat Sienna Osta, who in her only previous race ran unsuccessfully for Florida House District 88 in 2020.
Instead of a single House member, as in years past, the barrier islands from Boca Raton to South Palm Beach will be represented by three House members under newly drawn maps approved by the Legislature in February.
In Boynton-Delray dominated District 90, Democrat Joe Casello takes on Republican Keith Feit. Boca-centered District 91, which encompasses all of Boca Raton as well as the coast nearly to the Delray Beach line, pits Highland Beach Town Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman, a Republican, against Boca Raton Councilman Andy Thomson, a Democrat.
Osta, 34, a first-generation Lebanese-American lawyer who lives and works in downtown West Palm Beach, was spurred to run by a desire to do more than just post on social media as Black Lives Matter protests erupted during the coronavirus quarantine months. 
Prompted by the media attention to the Gabby Petito missing persons case and lack of similar attention for cases involving Black and brown women, she is ready to propose legal requirements that police must meet within the first 48 hours of a missing-person report.
“We have Amber Alerts for minors up to 18 years old,” she said. “What about the rest of us?”
She also would focus on support for women’s rights and fixing Florida’s unemployment compensation system.
Caruso said he would emphasize measures to combat rising prices. 
“This election comes down to inflation, inflation, inflation,” he said. “Whether gas, rentals, food or interest rates, people are concerned that if they’re feeling the pinch, their young adult children are really feeling the pinch.” 
Steps the Legislature can take include suspension of the state gasoline tax, which it agreed to do for October, and reducing the commercial lease tax. Other actions: raising salaries and bonuses for teachers, police and firefighters. 
Caruso said House leadership has asked him to examine ways to reduce property taxes and he’s confident Republicans can find a way to keep property insurers from canceling policies over such items as the age of a roof.
He supports the GOP-enacted 15-week ban on abortion as “good law.” 
Through Sept. 9, Caruso had raised about $186,000, with about $61,000 remaining, to Osta’s $4,500.

District 90: Casello vs. Feit
Joe Casello has never campaigned in Delray Beach before. 
He’s a fixture in Boynton Beach, where he served five years on the City Commission before jumping in 2018 to represent the city in the state House. 
But newly drawn District 90 splits his district between Boynton and Delray and adds the barrier island from the northern tip of Highland Beach through Ocean Ridge.
As a Democrat, Casello, 70, is realistic about what he can accomplish in the state House. 
“One party dominates,” he said. “To get things done, I take pride in working across the aisle, earning their respect. In the end, it’s the agenda of the House speaker or Senate president and DeSantis. That’s just how it goes.”
While he says he won’t “bad-mouth” Gov. Ron DeSantis, he criticized actions he called “self-promoting,” like sending migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. 
“I will never be a Ron DeSantis supporter. I think he has control to do a lot more good than what he’s doing,” Casello said.
He objected to the Republican bill capping abortions at 15 weeks without exceptions for rape or incest and said he expects next year’s fight to revolve around a six-week ban, as approved in Texas.
He called his opponent, Keith Feit, “a far-right Republican.”
Feit, 47, a middle-school teacher at The Weiss School in Palm Beach Gardens with a home in Boynton Beach, took issue with Casello’s voting record. 
“I’m not in this race because of any personal animosity toward Joe Casello. My concern is the way he voted,” Feit said. “He’s not representing the people.”
He cited Casello for opposing the Parental Rights in Education Act, educational choice and keeping critical race theory out of classrooms.
“I believe parents need to raise our children, not the government or administrators,” he said. “My representative votes against legislation that would keep that (sexual orientation) out of kindergarten to third grade. That’s not looking out for the kids. It’s a war on parents.”
DeSantis, he said, “hit it out of the park” on education. 
Feit said he supports the recently enacted 15-week abortion ban, although he would make exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother. “Four months is enough time for a woman to decide whether or not to keep her baby,” he said.
While Casello raised $26,000 through Sept. 9 and spent $21,000, he has a political committee, JC PAC, that has raised $90,000, mostly from firefighters, and spent $11,000.
Feit has raised $20,450 and spent nearly $7,000. 

District 91: Thomson vs. Gossett-Seidman
A Highland Beach Republican takes on a Boca Raton Democrat in the most competitive state House contest awaiting barrier island voters.
Peggy Gossett-Seidman, a 31-year Highland Beach resident and town commissioner since 2018, is running for the open House District 91 seat against Andy Thomson, a Boca Raton resident since 2016 and City Council member since 2018. 
The Boca-centered District 91, formerly represented by Emily Slosberg-King, used to run entirely inland. Now it encompasses all of Boca Raton and much of west Boca, as well as the coast nearly to the Delray Beach line.
The 2020 presidential results, with District 91 voters going 52% for Joe Biden and 47.5% for Donald Trump, offer Thomson an advantage. He calls himself a moderate able to work across party lines in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Gossett-Seidman says her ability to get legislative approval for three bills providing $1.1 million for Highland Beach projects indicates her ability to work in Tallahassee. 
“This isn’t just a popularity contest in Boca Raton,” she said. “It’s about how you get things done.”
Thomson countered that DeSantis vetoed the spending. “I’m not sure I buy that she will be able to bring more resources back,” he said. “It’s not borne by recent history.”
However, in July, the town received $375,000 toward a new fire station and $275,000 to rehabilitate sewage lift stations from a joint legislative committee. Gossett-Seidman said the governor anticipated that money being available when he made his vetoes. 
Gossett-Seidman, 69, a former newspaper reporter, defeated Christina DuCasse with 52.5% of the vote in the August primary. She credited her victory to knocking on doors and her work in Tallahassee.
She said she would focus on fighting inflation by reining in property insurance costs and fighting high housing costs. She pointed to her “reporter’s mentality” for helping to save Highland Beach $2 million a year by severing its decades-long relationship with Delray Beach for fire rescue services.  
On abortion, Gossett-Seidman supports the state’s 15-week ban but said she doesn’t expect the Legislature to seek an outright ban.
Thomson, 40, a lawyer with a degree from the University of Miami, points out that the Florida Supreme Court has upheld the right to abortion through a privacy right in the state Constitution, making it difficult for Republicans to enact an outright ban. He said he would not support criminalization of abortion. 
Thomson, who did not have a primary contest, is a father of five children, ages 1 to 10. He jogs 3 to 4 miles several times a week, picking up litter along the way and challenging himself to cover all 500 miles of city streets every year. 
He said he would press for action on housing affordability. One key is to do more about property insurance than what emerged from a special legislative session earlier this year. 
Gossett-Seidman too anticipates more action on insurance, saying legislative leaders already have indicated an interest in reconsidering the issue. 
“That the Legislature is looking at it again tells you everything you need to know about how effective it was,” Thomson said.
He also would push for stricter gun background checks and red flag laws that would allow family members, not just police, to seek gun confiscation. 
Through Sept. 9, Thomson had raised nearly $208,000 plus a $30,000 loan from himself. He still had more than $200,000 to spend. 
Gossett-Seidman raised $95,000 and lent her campaign $200,000, about the amount already spent as she heads into the general election.

Senate races
Democratic-leaning District 26, which runs along the coast from Glades Road to the Boynton Inlet and spreads as far west as Belle Glade, pits state Sen. Lori Berman, a Democrat, against Steve Byers, a Republican. Berman, who has served in the Legislature since 2010, has raised $134,000. Byers raised $1,700 and lent his campaign $54,800.
Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky is running against Republican William Reicherter in Broward-dominated District 30, which includes Boca and west Boca south of Glades Road. Polsky has raised $150,000 while Reicherter has raised $11,500.
The barrier islands north of the Boynton Inlet fall into Senate District 24. Those residents will choose between Democratic state Sen. Bobby Powell, who has raised $103,000, and Republican Eric Ankner, who has raised $3,300.

County Commission
The barrier islands from Boca Raton to Palm Beach fall into Palm Beach County Commission District 4, which features Democratic incumbent Robert Weinroth, a former Boca Raton councilman, against Republican Marcia “Marci” Woodward.
Woodward, who wrote on her website that she is running because she opposed county coronavirus pandemic mandates, raised about $45,000 through Sept. 9. Weinroth had raised $314,000.

The metal sign with wood framing looks similar to the wooden one but needs much less maintenance. Photos provided

By Joe Capozzi

Ocean Ridge officials take pride in the town’s appearance, and that includes the aesthetics of basic informational signs on public roads.
For 18 years, distinctive wood signs have created a unique character along Old Ocean Boulevard, the town’s oceanfront promenade popular with walkers, cyclists and cars. 
But a slightly new look to the signs is on the way after commissioners agreed to spend up to $14,500 on new signs made of metal and wood, which will reduce maintenance costs in the long run. 
“As you walk down Old Ocean you’ll notice many of them are faded and … the wood is beginning to rot and a lot of those signs are in pretty poor condition so they would all need to be replaced,’’ Police Chief Richard Jones told commissioners on Sept. 6. 
While the wood signs, with the carved turtle designs, have a unique look, they require painting every two to three years, a process that can be tedious and time-consuming for the city’s maintenance department, he said. 
And because the lettering on some wood signs isn’t reflective, they don’t meet Florida Department of Transportation standards. 
The new signs would have information such as the speed limit and “No Parking” on vinyl attached to a metal base, which would be embedded in a wooden frame and backer. 
“Instead of having a wood sign, you have all the grain and character of that sign but on a printed reflective material that could meet DOT rules and create a lack of maintenance,’’ the chief said. 
“These would be maintained every five years. If faded, they would simply require a new sticker overlaid on an existing sticker.’’ 
The new hybrid signs will include wood framing and like the existing signs, will be installed on wood posts.  
State Road A1A will continue to have metal signs. But Old Ocean and the streets leading to it will have the hybrid signs that are expected to keep the character of the wood signs.
“I’m definitely for the combo. It just maintains the look of our town. You don’t want to cheap out on certain things,’’ Commissioner Geoff Pugh said. “The look of the town needs to stay the way it is, which is very well manicured.’’
Jones said he also plans to meet with residents on Fayette Drive, where multiple signs are attached to single posts, about a single sign containing all relevant information. 
“The problem we are running into on Old Ocean and other areas is that we are so sign-polluted,’’ said resident Victor Martel.
To improve safety on the road, he suggested the city add the words reading “Bicyclists must stop’’ beneath existing stop signs.
“That will get rid of (cyclists) because half of them won’t want to come anymore. But let’s stop polluting with signs we cannot enforce,’’ he said. 

Town manager selection
The commission was scheduled to hold a special meeting Sept. 29 for the selection of candidates for the full-time position of town manager.
At the meeting, an adviser with the Florida City and County Management Association was expected to recommend five finalists from a list of 15 people, including interim Manager Lynne Ladner, who have applied for the job. The finalists chosen Sept. 29 will be interviewed beginning at 9 a.m. on Oct. 12 at Town Hall. Residents can meet the candidates from 4-5 p.m. prior to final selection at 6 p.m.

Porter Street crossover
Repairs to the popular Porter Street Beach crossover, originally scheduled to start Sept. 12, have been delayed until Oct. 20 because of contractor scheduling conflicts.
Once the work starts, the crossover will be closed for about eight weeks.

Tracey Stevens meets resident Robert Sloat after her last meeting as Ocean Ridge town manager. She took the same job in Haverhill. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

Town commissioners Sept. 19 approved a tax rate of $5.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, the same as the current rate, to pay for a $10,087,221 budget for the year that starts Oct. 1. 
Homeowners will still see a rise in their town tax bills because of an 18.26% increase in property values across Ocean Ridge. 
The new spending plan, 14% higher than the current year budget, uses $36,000 from the town’s reserves.
No one attended the final public hearing Sept. 19 when commissioners unanimously approved the spending plan and tax rate without comment.
But at the first public hearing on Sept. 6, commissioners voiced support for departing Town Manager Tracey Stevens’ final spending plan.
“To balance the budget with $36,000 is a pretty good job and without raising the tax rate. Even though it is a tax increase, still we didn’t raise the tax rate,’’ Commissioner Geoff Pugh said. 

Related: South County's new tax rates, taxes and budgets

With a $5.50 tax rate, the owner of a $1 million home will pay $6,504 in town taxes next year, about $1,000 more than was paid this year. 
Some commissioners said they would have liked to lower the rate but agreed the current rate is needed to help pay for much-needed improvements to stormwater and drainage infrastructure.
“The town is getting older and that’s why we couldn’t reduce the tax rate,’’ Commissioner Steve Coz said.  
“The main infrastructure issues we have are draining and water pipes,’’ he said. “When public works or outside contractors come in to deal with our pipes, they are shocked because they are from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. We are lucky enough to have a couple from the ’70s. So it’s an expense that’s going to be with us for a few years, hopefully not more.’’
At the Sept. 6 meeting, commissioners learned their new budget will not have a $10,000 contribution that had been promised from the Crown Colony Club for the installation of a crosswalk.
Stevens said the town has spent $36,000 on the project, which originally was expected to cost $20,000, half of which would have been offset by the donation. But Stevens said Crown Colony may not make good on its promise because of unexpected repairs to a sea wall.
The town will pay the $10,000 from its contingency fund. Coz said the club is working on a plan to make good on the donation.
The budget’s final public hearing Sept. 19 was the first commission meeting with interim Town Manager Lynne Ladner. It lasted six minutes.
In other financial news, town officials announced Sept. 6 that Ocean Ridge has received its second chunk of federal American Rescue Plan Act money in the amount of $489,835.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach city commissioners unanimously approved at their Sept. 19 meeting asking voters to approve a $100 million public safety bond.
If voters say yes on March 14, about $65 million would be used for a combined Ocean Rescue headquarters and Fire Station 112, and for renovations at three other fire stations.
The city has not provided a cost estimate for the police headquarters project involved. Given the fire rescue projects, that would leave approximately $35 million for police headquarters, unless further changes are made or grant money or other revenue is available to offset the cost of some of the projects.
The public safety bond will be on the ballot along with a separate $20 million parks bond referendum.
Fire Station 112 would move from Andrews Avenue to the Ocean Rescue location at Anchor Park, 340 S. Ocean Blvd., where officials estimate a combined facility would cost between $15 million and $16.3 million. Fire Station 112 also serves Gulf Stream.
Other fire station renovation estimates are:
• $20.2 million for the Fire Rescue headquarters at 501 W. Atlantic Ave.
• $24.4 million for Station 115 on Old Germantown Road.
• $4.6 million for Station 114 on Lake Ida Road.
Although the current police headquarters had supposedly been designed with room to grow, it was no longer adequate just four years after it was finished in 1987. A 2018 study done by CPZ Architects of Jensen Beach found the police headquarters needs three times its size of 36,655 square feet.
Regarding fire rescue services, Fire Chief Keith Tomey said at a Sept. 6 commission meeting that the city needed to plan for the split when Highland Beach takes back the fire station on the barrier island in May 2024.
That station responds to 700 calls annually on the barrier island portion in Delray Beach, Tomey said. Combining the Ocean Rescue headquarters with Fire Station 112 will allow the department to add a ladder truck there and not have to wait for one to come over from the mainland, he said.
Ocean Rescue headquarters will occupy the third floor and Fire Rescue will be on the first and second floors. Ocean Rescue also will have a bay on the first floor.
The Andrews Avenue land, about .5 acre, is valuable, Tomey told commissioners. The city can either sell it to offset the cost of the combined facility or build a small three-story parking garage and charge for beach parking.
Because the combined facilities building faces the ocean, it is eligible for a Resilient Florida Grant, Public Works director Missie Barletto said at the Sept. 6 meeting.
Tomey said the city’s fire stations were designed more than 30 years ago without plans for growth. “They were designed at a time when we had two firefighters on an engine/ladder truck and two on a rescue vehicle, now we have three,” he said.
The city also had very few women as firefighters. Now it has 31. “Why is that important? Because they share the restrooms and shower facilities,” Tomey said. They “are stuck with one restroom and one shower facility.”
WGI Inc., a construction engineering firm, was hired in the spring to create the fire rescue master plan. The firm reviewed four fire stations, along with the Ocean Rescue headquarters, for interior programming and space allocation requirements, code compliance and building structure that can handle wind speeds up to 210 mph.
At the four fire stations, WGI found failing concrete, rusting steel, missing hurricane strapping needed for trusses and studs, concrete block walls needing reinforcement to withstand higher wind speeds, and foundations needing enlargement.
One other fire station was not reviewed. Fire Station 113 on Linton Boulevard, just east of Southwest Eighth Street, is under construction with staff staying in trailers in the nearby Miller Park parking lot.
The public safety bond is estimated to cost $107 a year for 30 years for a home valued at $250,000.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach city commissioners passed a $20 million bond referendum for parks improvements at their Sept. 19 meeting after removing projects that required 83 Australian pines at Atlantic Dunes Park to be cut down.
The vote was unanimous after the proposed work on the ocean side of the park was removed from the proposed referendum. The bond issue will go before city voters March 14, along with a separate $100 million public safety bond referendum.
Three Delray Beach residents gave impassioned pleas to save the Australian pines at Atlantic Dunes Park at the meeting.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia then asked that the ocean side improvements be removed from the proposed parks referendum.
“I don’t want the trees to be the focus of the bond issue. It would be controversial,” she said. The rest of the park’s improvements are needed, she added.
Parking lot work on the west side of Atlantic Dunes Park, which is divided by State Road A1A, will be included in the bond. That includes upgrades to the storm drainage system.
Resident Sandy Zeller, who also sits on the city’s Planning & Zoning Board, said he was concerned that the bulk of the money for Atlantic Dunes would be used to remove the Australian pines on the ocean side.
“They are historic pines, been there 50 to 70 years,” he said during the public comment portion of the meeting. He suggested a formal study of the shade canopy the pines provide, comparing it to the Australian pine canopy over A1A that Gulf Stream was able to preserve in 1996. The town lobbied the state Legislature for two years to keep the trees from being cut down.
Resident Gayle Clark called the Australian pines in Atlantic Dunes Park “tall, stately and slender. You go into the park and immediately feel the cooling effect of the pines.”
Paul Ludwig, who has lived in Delray Beach since 1978, sent the commissioners a petition with almost 1,000 signatures of people who didn’t want to see the Australian pines replaced by an outdoor grilling area and a playground.
He also dismissed the suggestion that the pines are considered invasive. The ocean section of the park where the pines are located has condominiums to the north and south, the ocean to the east and A1A to the west. “There’s nowhere for them to invade,” he said.
The pines provide “40,000 square feet of shade, and they block the light for the nesting sea turtles,” he said. The pines offer homes to roosting herons and egrets.
The parks bond also has improvements to Catherine Strong Park, where the city plans to cover an artificial multi-purpose practice field, provide covered basketball courts, add a walking trail and improve the splash pad. The park is on Southwest Sixth Street, just east of Interstate 95.
At Miller Park, on Southwest Fourth Avenue south of Linton Boulevard, the city plans to add outdoor pickleball courts, said Sam Metott, the city’s parks and recreation director. But that’s only after fire rescue staff moves from trailers at the park into a rebuilt station on Linton Boulevard, he said.
Other improvements will be made throughout the city’s park system, including restroom renovations, improved lighting and facilities improvements, he said.
The bond language will return to the commission this month for final approval. The parks bond is estimated to cost $22 a year for 30 years for a home valued at $250,000.

By Jane Smith

The Delray Beach City Commission narrowly approved a $166.6 million budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, a nearly 9% increase over the previous $153.3 million general fund budget.
Commissioners at the final public hearing on the budget Sept. 19 also unanimously passed a tax rate of $6.51 per $1,000 of taxable property value, a slight decrease from the previous year’s $6.66 per $1,000 rate.

Related: South County's new tax rates, taxes and budgets

Commissioner Ryan Boylston, who was on the losing side of the 3-2 budget vote, had wanted the federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars in it to be used for affordable housing. “It’s a real issue,” he said. “The $3.4 million should be used for affordable housing.”
Boylston had proposed tapping the city’s reserves of nearly $45 million to balance the budget. That figure equals 27% of the city’s general fund budget, which is more than $3 million higher than the 25% figure that commissioners said they were comfortable keeping in the reserves for emergencies such as hurricanes.
Also voting no on the budget was Commissioner Shirley Johnson, who was generally displeased with the allocation of tax dollars. “We need more money for sustainability,” she said.
Two significant budget expenses are yet to be decided: the city’s Freebee free ride service and a salary review of department directors.
At a November workshop, staff will bring ridership numbers to help commissioners decide if they want to expand Freebee, which uses open-air electric vehicles to transport residents and visitors. The city is taking over the cost from the Community Redevelopment Agency, which can’t spend its tax dollars on services outside of the CRA’s borders.
Vice Mayor Adam Frankel said he did not think it was fair to make property owners west of Interstate 95 pay for the free rides, which are currently limited to Atlantic Avenue between I-95 and State Road A1A, including three blocks north and south of Atlantic. He wanted to cap the cost at $508,205 and keep the CRA footprint.
Boylston wanted to expand the service to include the Tri-Rail station on Congress Avenue west of I-95 to pick up students, downtown workers and city employees. That would bring Freebee’s estimated cost to $841,040. Frankel said that expansion still wouldn’t be serving the city’s west side.
Also in November, the commission will review salaries for department directors again. Deputy Vice Mayor Juli Casale said at the first budget hearing on Sept. 6 that a majority of the directors were not making as much as police captains whose salaries were raised in a spring collective bargaining session.
But Frankel disagreed with the comparison, saying department directors “are not wearing a gun, putting on a bulletproof vest. … No one is risking their lives.”
The cost of balancing the pay scales citywide would be nearly $181,000. But it is not just a one-time cost, Mayor Shelly Petrolia said. The increase would raise the cost of the directors’ pensions and future salaries.
Most of the budget increases come from higher health insurance costs, fuel price increases, hiring more staff, a return to in-person training now that the pandemic has subsided, merit pay increases and the city election in March, said Finance Director Hugh Dunkley.
In other action, the City Commission at a special meeting Sept. 23 gave the Downtown Development Authority unanimous approval to lead a group to make the Old School Square campus active again. A tri-party agreement among the DDA, the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency will be needed, as well as money to host the events.

By Rich Pollack

For years, motorists traveling north on State Road A1A though Highland Beach have complained about the backups at Linton Boulevard caused by too many cars turning west in too short of a turn lane, especially during season.
Now there may be a glimmer of hope for a fix — but it won’t be for a while and will come as part of an $8.8 million resurfacing project that is certain to disrupt traffic for a year and a half beginning in spring 2024.
During a late August public meeting, Florida Department of Transportation representatives provided an overview of the work, which will affect all of Highland Beach and parts of Delray Beach.
The project will include a 5-foot bike lane on each side of the road as well as improvement to drainage in the swales, designed to keep water from ponding on the highway.
“It’s going to be disruptive, but in the long term it appears some long-standing issues will be addressed,” said Town Manager Marshall Labadie. “It’s promising.”
Following a brief presentation, project manager Brad Salisbury and the team took questions from residents, with many expressing concern about the headaches that will come from periodic lane closures and others concerned about the impact the project will have on trees and shrubs in the right-of-way.
Several residents also expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the drainage project, worried in part about pollutants making their way into the Intracoastal Waterway.
It was the disruption, mostly to traffic, that drew many of the questions from people who will have to navigate lane closures as they come and go from their homes.
“I’m just concerned about what life will be like for that year and a half,” said Toscana South resident Fred Levy. “It will be a disaster.”
Salisbury acknowledged that concern and said that message boards at each end of the project will warn of delays and encourage motorists to seek alternate routes.
The engineers also said that major pavement work likely would be done at night when there is less traffic.
Residents were told that the work would be done in sections and that, said Highland Beach Commissioner Evalyn David, would give them an opportunity to minimize disruptions.
“This is something we need to do and it’s going to come with interruptions that will require people to make adjustments,” she said. “If you don’t want to deal with delays, plan around them.”
David said the FDOT is planning a follow-up meeting early next year, and she is urging residents to learn as much as they can about the project.
“People will have options in deciding how they’re going to deal with the disruptions,” she said.
The traffic headaches at Linton and A1A were raised by Michael Owen, who lives just north of the Highland Beach town limits and urged the engineers to address the long backups in the northbound lane during season.
“The intersection of Linton Boulevard will be ridiculous,” the Delray Beach resident said. “We need that fixed more than we need other improvements.”
Salisbury said the project design calls for the extension of the left-turn lane, which should help reduce congestion.
Another major concern of residents was the future of landscaping in the FDOT right-of-way when the road is widened to include bike lanes.
Landscape architect Aaron Wilbur, who is part of the team working on the project, said that the state will try to move as many trees as possible but not shrubs, because they don’t move well.
“The whole strategy is preservation as much as possible,” he said, adding that the team would restore irrigation systems in the swale areas.
Like the concerns about the Linton Boulevard intersection, standing water on A1A has long been an issue for Highland Beach residents. To address that, the FDOT will look at putting drainage systems in swale areas that will filter water as it permeates the soil.
Although Salisbury and his team answered many of the questions, the engineer said some of them have not yet been fully addressed in the plans. He said the department is looking into scheduling another meeting where more questions will be answered.
FDOT is also planning a construction open house prior to the start of construction.

Ocean Ridge resident Kathleen Haden, co-owner of Good Vibrations Music, uses tuning forks for sound therapy at her studio. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

A role in a movie 10 years ago proved to be a pivotal point in the career of Ocean Ridge sound therapist Kathleen Haden.
When Haden played an aqua therapist in The Keeper of the Keys in 2012, she often gave free sessions to other cast members to relax them before filming. Another sound therapist, Regina Murphy, asked Haden to do her session at a pool at Murphy’s house.
“That’s where she introduced sound frequencies to us,” Haden said.
To say Haden and her partner, John Anthony, took it from there is an understatement.
Their company, Good Vibrations Music, which has a studio near Two Georges in Boynton Beach, has since used sound and water therapy to help heal injuries and improve the lives of hundreds of clients.
“Our bodies are like an orchestra,” she said. “Everything is fine-tuned when we come into the world. As disruptions happen, we get out of tune, out of sync. We bring your body back in sync so it can operate in tune again.”
Haden’s success stories include an Olympic-level snowboarder who suffered a broken wrist and, thanks to sound and water therapy, was back on her board within six weeks; and a swimmer who was under anesthesia for 7½ hours while undergoing open-heart surgery and is now swimming the best times of his life.
Since they moved to Ocean Ridge in 2011, Haden and Anthony have often staged events at Cox Science Center in West Palm Beach and have taken their program to high-end developments in Palm Beach County such as Admirals Cove, Lost Tree Village and PGA National.
While the medical community has often been reluctant to implement their methods, she said that attitude has been changing; Jupiter Medical Center is among the many hospitals around the country that have come to incorporate those methods.
Haden and Anthony have four children, daughters Christine and Paige, and two sons named Aaron, each from a previous marriage. She enjoys travel and paddleboarding, and her love for turtles has led her to work with Sea Turtle Adventures in West Palm Beach.
For more information, go to https://goodvibrationsmusicco.com.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where my mom was an educator, and my dad was an engineer and entrepreneur. I went to private Catholic schools. I learned so much in those schools: how to treat others with honesty, integrity, compassion and love.
We were exposed to helping others through volunteer work, working in shelters and helping with special needs children. We were taught how to integrate information taught but also to venture out and see all perspectives. We were encouraged to deepen our learning experiences and do something good for the world, remembering who we were and always continue learning.
That philosophy has impacted my entire life. I went on to major in kinesiology/biomechanics and minor in dance at Texas A&M and completed certifications in water therapy, aerobics, yoga, Pilates, personal training, massage therapy, reiki, sound therapy and visionary coaching.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of? 
A: I have worked in the health and wellness field most of my life, owning wellness centers in Texas, Colorado and Florida. I am most proud of my accomplishments in the arena of water and sound therapy. We are very proud of tools we have created that assist people to heal their minds and bodies and relieve their stress, anxiety and chronic pain.
Through our nonprofit, Good Vibrations Music Co., we have developed speakers we use in sound therapy, which play music composed by my co-founder John Anthony, which contain specific frequencies for bringing harmony and balance back to our bodies. 
We support causes such as autism, Parkinson’s, PTSD, trauma and Alzheimer’s. Our music and vibrational products are a great way to introduce sound therapy into one’s life. Our speakers are a small and powerful aid to restore our bodies back to harmony. The speakers can be used independently in your home.
We also have developed yoga platforms, massage tables that connect with the speakers and vibrate in cadence with the music. In our water therapy program, clients float in the water, supported by assisted floating devices while the speakers play our frequency infused music. 
People who have participated in either the water therapy, sound therapy or used the speakers in their homes have reported very positive experiences, such as sleeping better at night or helping them feel better during the day. 
Our mission is to help establish a new health paradigm that embraces vibrational medicine as a prominent alternative method for improved health and wellness.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today? 
A: My best advice is to do what you love. I was given the gift to try different things throughout my life, and each path took me to the next, to doing exactly what I am doing today. Network in the field you want to be in, find a mentor to guide you and continue learning throughout your life.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge? 
A: We were looking for somewhere to move closer to the ocean and Caribbean to do our sound and water therapy. We were contracted by a retreat center in West Palm Beach to build a waterbed sound table, so with a friend’s introduction to Delray Beach, we found our first home here in 2013. A co-worker lived in Ocean Ridge. We fell in love with it and knew that would be our first beach house. We have been here ever since and love it here.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge? 
A: The quaintness of the town, the community of fellow beach people who share surfboards, stories, lifestyles that surround the ocean life. I love the amount of artists, authors, musicians and creative people who live here, sharing their gifts. The beach is one of the best around, and being able to bike, walk daily and paddleboard as often as possible is the biggest gift ever. The turtles are magical and learning about them has been an amazing journey. This is a one-of-a-kind beach town.

Q: What book are you reading now? 
A: Matt Kahn’s The Universe Always Has a Plan. It reminds us that we are always being provided for on this journey of life.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: To relax I listen to our music that we produce, which can train your brain to slow down and unwind. Having stories told of someone who doesn’t sleep getting a good night’s rest listening to our music is worth it all. Our music contains specific frequencies for bringing harmony and balance back to the body based on scientific studies and protocols. For inspiration, I love country, dance, Beach Boys and Motown.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? 
A: I have had several. My most recent are Dr. Lyn Canon and Regina Murphy, who have taught me everything about frequencies, sound, vibration, healing, raising consciousness and water. Both these ladies changed my life and the path I am on today. I call them my human angels.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you? 
A: I would want Carrie Underwood to play my life. I grew up listening and watching her career soar to where it is today. Her values, integrity and compassion have never changed. Being in the music business, that is very hard for most people.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh? 
A: My family, friends, grandkids and funny shows all make me laugh. Laughter is the best medicine ever.

By Joe Capozzi

Less than a year after hiring an architectural firm to draw up plans for a new Town Hall, the Town Council has terminated South Palm Beach’s $63,000 contract with the firm.
Without comment Sept. 19, the council voted unanimously to end the agreement it approved Oct. 12, 2021, with Synalovski Romanik Saye.
After the meeting, Mayor Bonnie Fischer said the firm’s services were no longer needed since the council is considering a cost-efficient construction system using structural insulated panels, known by the acronym SIPs.
Building a new Town Hall with the SIPs process could cost about $2 million, a significant savings from the $6.5 million estimate offered by the architects, Fischer said.
The town is preparing to seek formal requests for contractors familiar with the SIPs process.
“If this process is what we think it is and the price is affordable, we might as well move forward,” the mayor said in an interview.
“I would like to see whatever we do be a focal point of the town, not just a Town Hall per se but a community center with a coffee shop that would attract people that walk every day along the walkway.”
A community center, she said, “is a need and a want of the people of South Palm Beach in my opinion.”
Since 2016, the town has spent about $114,000 on studies and drawings for a new Town Hall.

Councilman wants to ban use of firms with ESG rules
Town Councilman Ray McMillan wants South Palm Beach to join a Republican-led movement across the country that steers public money away from companies with so-called ESG policies that prioritize environmental, social and governance issues rather than pure profits. 
“I think it would be good to protect our town, whether we are a small town or not,’’ McMillan said Sept. 12 when he asked the council to consider a resolution banning ESG at its next meeting Oct. 18.
After McMillan first mentioned the resolution in August, Town Manager Robert Kellogg said he conducted a survey to determine which, if any, of the county’s 39 municipalities have ESG bans. 
“I got a response from 18 or 20 and none have taken any issue on this,’’ he said. 
“We could be the first,’’ McMillan replied.
It’s unclear which, if any, companies doing business with South Palm Beach have ESG policies.
McMillan’s request came a month after the Town Council voted 4-1 to apply for a state grant to pay for assessing South Palm Beach’s vulnerabilities to flooding and sea level rise. McMillan voted no.
Earlier this summer, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to steer Florida’s state pension funds away from investment managers with what he called “woke” ESG policies focusing on issues such as climate change and diversity.
If DeSantis’ plan succeeds, it could prevent the state from doing business with such investment giants as BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc., and State Street Corp., which control $20 trillion, according to news reports.

New town attorney
Town attorney Aleksandr Boksner has left the Torcivia, Donlon, Goddeau & Rubin firm to take a job as deputy county attorney for Sarasota County. Glen Torcivia, with assistance from attorney Kara Land, will return as the town’s attorney. 

Town manager evaluation 
At a special meeting on Sept. 23, council members gave Kellogg an average score of 3.26 on a one-to-five scale.
Council members discussed their annual performance review of Kellogg, calling him “acceptable,” but expressing unhappiness with limited staffing at Town Hall and public perception of the permitting process.
They are expected to discuss the manager’s contract renewal at the council’s next meeting on Oct. 18.  

Remembering Schulmayr 
At the Sept 12 council meeting, Fischer announced plans for a memorial celebration Oct. 30 for the late Pat Schulmayr, the former South Palm Beach vice mayor who died in June. 
The celebration has a saucy name, which Fischer said is meant as a term of endearment.
 “I have to tell you what it’s going to be called and I don’t want anybody to take offense of this,’’ she said from the dais. “But it’s something I thought of that has true meaning to any who knew Pat. Is everybody sitting down? ‘The Irish Bitch Bash.’’’
As a few chuckles echoed inside the council chambers, Fischer explained that Schulmayr “always referred to herself as ‘the Irish bitch.’ … If it’s not too offensive, I think it touches the essence of this woman.’’ 
When the formal invitations go out, Fischer said the party’s title will either be in quotes or perhaps with the word spelled “B-tch.’’
“She would love this name,’’ Vice Mayor Bill LeRoy said. “She would be thrilled.’’ 

Saluting Queen Elizabeth II
The council opened its Sept. 12 meeting with a moment of silence for Queen Elizabeth II and for the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 
The queen, who died Sept. 8, “epitomized public service,’’ Fischer said. At the end of the council meeting, LeRoy devoted his remarks to the queen, saying he felt as though “she was our queen as well.’’
“Our presidents come and go but she was there for 70 years,’’ he said. “She’s always been in our lives. I thought about that the other day how much affection I’ve had for this woman who I never met.’’

Mary Kate Leming contributed to this story.

By Joe Capozzi

Town Council members voted Sept. 19 to give South Palm Beach homeowners some financial relief by lowering the tax rate next year to $3.45 per $1,000 of assessed value. 
In July, the council had set a tentative tax rate of $3.50, the same as the current year, to pay for a $2.4 million budget for the year starting Oct. 1.
While many residents may welcome the lower rate, they still could see a rise in their tax bills because property values across South Palm Beach went up nearly 13% to a record $516,863,500. 
At a public hearing Sept. 12, Mayor Bonnie Fischer asked town accountant Beatrice Good about the possibility of lowering the rate even more. But council members agreed to stick with the $3.45 rate until they know the costs of building a new Town Hall. 
“Until we get it built, it’s ill advised to roll back the rate,’’ Town Manager Robert Kellogg said, pointing out that there’s no guarantee the robust values across town will continue next year.
“This is unsustainable what we are going through,’’ he said. “I hope we don’t experience what we experienced in 2008 and we see a significant collapse in the housing market. If we do, we’re going to be back in the same position you were up until last year in recouping that (lost) property value.’’
Property values in town dropped 47% during the Great Recession from 2008 through 2013, Good said.
“Our recommendation is absolutely you have room to give back but you should stay on course and hold on to the revenues being produced by the town for future needs so you don’t have to raise the (tax) rate in the future,’’ she said. 
Kellogg said he’s confident the town will have revenue to pay for a new Town Hall. The costs could range from $2 million to $3 million.

By Larry Barszewski

A plan to get Manalapan homes off septic tanks and onto a town sewer system could take a major step forward in the coming year, with hopes the town can secure a large grant to keep its expenses to a minimum.
Town commissioners still must decide which type of sewer system they prefer — or if they want to do a project at all. They tentatively scheduled a 1 p.m. Zoom workshop for Oct. 5 to come to a consensus.
At a Zoom workshop on Sept. 27, commissioners heard a presentation from O’Neill and Associates, one of several firms the town plans to consider to help secure money for a project.
The firm is headed by Tom O’Neill, a former lieutenant governor of Massachusetts and son of former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill.
“What we are looking for at the end of the day is not really so much a loan, but is there grant funding available,” Mayor Keith Waters said. “Is there something that will offset the cost of doing this through governmental grants, through other options?”
O’Neill’s team said that’s something it could “tee up” in discussions with Mitch Landrieu, the White House chief of infrastructure oversight. O’Neill said he would need town demographic information to support a grant.
“We have to build arguments in order to go to Washington,” O’Neill said. “We’re going to go find out if there’s a grant program that we can find that is tailor-made for you.”
Waters said the town shouldn’t lose out just because of its high per capita income.
“The dollar I pay for taxes is no different than the dollar that the Lantana guy pays. I just pay more of them,” he said. “We’re funding everything around us five and six times and we’re not getting the benefit of what they get for free.”
The emphasis should be on averting what could become an environmental catastrophe, Waters said.
“Our single strongest argument is we are a barrier island and if something happens to us, then all of these septic tanks,” the sewage “goes everywhere,” he said. “We need to be part of a system that protects us and everyone around us.”
Commission discussions in August and September have leaned toward creating a low pressure sewer system. Each property would have a macerating pump, which would grind a home’s sewage and push it into a small-diameter pipe that would carry it to a wastewater treatment plant in Lake Worth Beach.
The cost estimate for such a system is $10.3 million, says the town’s engineering consultant, Mock Roos & Associates. The company can’t develop a firm price until the commission picks the type of sewer system.
Vice Mayor Stewart Satter said the cost doesn’t seem as high as people might think for a sewer system. The mayor concurred, saying that’s the cost to fix “a bad driveway on most properties.”
A bigger concern might be the disruptions caused by sewer construction. “It will be invasive,” Waters said. “If this is not accepted as progress, then it’s going to be a difficult process no matter what it costs.”
Each property would need to have a pump to grind the sewage. The estimated cost for a macerating pump was $9,000 installed, consultants said.
Some homes already use such pumps for their septic tanks. Those may work in a new system as well, officials said.
Homeowners who have recently installed septic tanks may not want to switch immediately to a new system, Town Manager Linda Stumpf acknowledged. The town could have a system where connection is available and a base charge is assessed, but it would be left to the individual property owner when to start using the sewer system, she said.
“The actual cost for them monthly would not happen until they started sending water through,” Stumpf said.
Mock Roos also presented information about gravity and vacuum sewer systems, but they were more expensive and had other issues that concerned commissioners.