Barbara and Mike Soroker have given about $150,000 to the Boca Raton Police Foundation for training and equipment not in the city budget. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Were it not for the quick thinking of two Boston cops, Mike Soroker might not have made it to his fifth birthday.
An obviously rambunctious 4-year-old who snuck out to track down the nearby ice-cream truck, Soroker was hit by a car as he headed back to the house where his family was visiting.
With no ambulance nearby, the two officers who responded quickly put Soroker in a police van, where they helped stop the bleeding and raced him to a hospital where he would stay for 11 months while recovering.
“Without them, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
Now, more than seven decades later, Soroker and his wife of more than half a century, Barbara, have found a way of showing their appreciation for the work of police officers by supporting the Boca Raton Police Foundation and by helping to raise money for the organization.
The couple is relatively new to South Florida, having moved to Boca Raton in 2019 for health reasons. They gave a $100,000 gift to the foundation after seeking it out in 2021 and then late last year created a $50,000 matching gift challenge which raised close to $109,000.
Money from the matching grant will be used to provide training tools for investigators that simulate high-risk scenarios involving people with mental health issues, according to Debbie Levine, executive director of the foundation, which helps fund items and training not included in the city’s budget.
The money raised also will help cover the cost of a training academy for families of law enforcement officers and will provide protective suits and gear for nonlethal force training as well as other items.
Soroker, who is now on the board of the foundation, says that in supporting the organization, he and Barbara wanted to make sure local law enforcement officers received the respect they deserve at a time when the phrase “defund the police” has become part of the national vernacular.
“It just seemed like the right thing to do at the right time,” Soroker said.
Soroker was meticulous in his research before he and his wife decided to support the foundation and the Police Department.
“I literally investigated them,” he said, adding that he spoke to several police officers to be sure the donation would be a worthwhile investment.
In one instance, Soroker walked up to a relatively new Boca Raton officer at Mizner Park and just asked him what he thought of the Police Department.
“He was really glowing about the management and felt that he could grow,” Soroker said. ”I walked away with a very comfortable feeling.”

Support of other causes
The Sorokers support Boca Helping Hands, another organization that passed the couple’s tough scrutiny with flying colors.
The couple also supported their local synagogue and Goodwill chapter while living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
That home was one of 17 they owned over the years, with Mike Soroker’s career taking him to cities in Canada, Japan as well as many in the U.S.
Soroker is an engineer who was a senior executive at a handful of international companies before buying Reliance Network, a company that specializes in building websites for real estate agents. After leaving the corporate world — where he worked for companies including Playtex, Baxter Health Care and Benetton — Soroker in 2000 began consulting. One client was Reliance, a small, struggling organization at the time.
Soroker later bought the company and has overseen its growth to the point where it has between 80,000 and 90,000 agents in its network. Although he gave up his title as CEO a short time ago, Soroker remains chairman of the board and puts in 20 to 30 hours a week.
He will tell you that a piece of his success in business can be traced back to another interaction he had with police officers who mentored him while he was playing basketball with the Police Athletic League in New Haven, Connecticut.
“They gave me the confidence to do anything,” he said. “I’ve always kept that feeling.”

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

By Joe Capozzi

At a special meeting to discuss the process of finding a new town manager, South Palm Beach council members reached a consensus Jan. 30: They’d like the current town manager to stick around a little longer.
It could take at least four and as many as six months before the town hires a new town manager, council members were told during a presentation by an adviser with the International City/County Management Association.
Council members, who were also told they could expect 30 to 50 applicants, agreed it would be in the best interests of South Palm Beach if Manager Robert Kellogg agrees to stay until the new manager is hired. 
At the Town Council’s next meeting, Feb. 14, Kellogg will be asked to agree to a six-month extension during which he can be terminated with notice as soon as a new town manager is hired.  
The council that day also will discuss whether to hire a professional recruiting firm, which can cost $25,000, or use the ICMA services, which are free except for $2,500 in background checks for each candidate and for meals and travels for the ICMA adviser.
Also that day, the council will discuss salary and qualifications for a new town manager. Kellogg, town manager since 2019, is making $105,000 a year. 
Kellogg, who did not attend the Jan. 30 meeting, announced in November that he planned to retire at the end of March. He made that decision a day after councilman Ray McMillan called for his termination, a request that got no support from other council members. 
On Jan. 30, most council members said they didn’t like the idea of hiring an interim town manager or of continuing to give Kellogg monthly extensions, as they have had for part of the past year, until a new manager is hired. 
But McMillan didn’t like the idea of Kellogg sticking around longer.  “I feel like we’re doing everything for him,’’ he said. 
Other council members didn’t agree with McMillan’s characterization. 
“I think it’s doing it for us,’’ councilman Monte Berendes said. “We want to look good as a town. I think somebody new coming in is going to look at us like we’re letting him go with nobody (in charge).’’ 
Vice Mayor Bill LeRoy agreed, saying that if a town manager candidate finds out “we’ve got a manager from month to month, they’re going to think, ‘I don’t want to work for that town.’’’
Near the end of the meeting, McMillan sternly asked why Kellogg didn’t attend. “Why isn’t he out here? Isn’t that part of his job?’’
Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said Kellogg didn’t think it appropriate to attend a meeting that was called for the purpose of finding his replacement.
“It’s embarrassing for him and for us,’’ LeRoy added. 
A majority of council members also agreed the town manager should be a full-time position, shooting down an idea broached at a previous meeting about hiring a part-time manager. 
One potential candidate attended the Jan. 30 meeting: Philip Harris, an executive director in the city manager’s office in North Miami since 2022, according to his résumé. Harris, whom McMillan endorsed at two previous South Palm Beach Town Council meetings, worked in 2021 as an assistant to the city administrator in West Palm Beach. 
Speaking during public comments at the end of the Jan. 30 meeting, Harris said he attended “just to observe the process” and was “very much interested in the town.’’
Former Ocean Ridge Town Manager Jamie Titcomb also attended. Although he told council members he was not interested in a full-time job, he said he was available to offer advice.

I moved to Ocean Ridge in 1973 — 50 years ago last month. For virtually that entire time, I enjoyed — without dispute or interruption — full recreational use of the beach and ocean on both sides of my access pathway through the dune at the end of Tropical Drive.
My wife moved here three years prior to me, but used to visit Tropical Drive from Canada with her parents for several years even before that.
Both of our children, now 39 and 35, grew up and played on that beach through their entire youths.
In 1974, the year after I moved here, a landmark case, City of Daytona Beach v. Tona-Rama Inc., was appealed to the Florida Supreme Court. In the March 25, 1974, ruling quashing the decision of an earlier court, Chief Justice James C. Adkins repeatedly and eloquently affirmed what he variously termed:
• “The right of the public of access to, and enjoyment of, Florida’s oceans and beaches” which had “long been recognized by this court”;
• “The interest and rights of the public to the full use of the beaches should be protected”;
• “If the recreational use of the sandy area adjacent to mean high tide has been ancient, reasonable, without interruption and free from dispute, such use, as a matter of custom, should not be interfered with by the owner”;
• “The owner may make any use of his property which is consistent with such public use and not calculated to interfere with the exercise of the right of the public to enjoy the dry sand area as a recreational adjunct of the wet sand or foreshore area”;
• “This right of use cannot be revoked by the land owner”;
• “The general public may continue to use the dry sand area for their usual recreational activities … because of a right gained through custom to use this particular area of beach as they have without dispute and without interruption for many years.”
Further, Scott Woolam of the Division of State Land, Department of Environmental Protection, states in a Feb. 2, 2022, email regarding the Erosion Control Line superseding the Mean High Water Line in locations proximate to state-funded beach restoration projects: “The resulting additions to upland property are also subject to a public easement for traditional uses of the sandy beach consistent with uses that would have been allowed prior to the need for the restoration project.”
Finally, Ocean Ridge Town Attorney Christy Goddeau acknowledged in a Dec. 5 Town Commission meeting that with the subject beach, there are “other property interests involved regarding the public’s access and easements that the public has … that have been created over the years.”
 I believe the town of Ocean Ridge owes a duty of care to its residents to preserve the above referenced rights.

Chris Currie
Ocean Ridge

By Joe Capozzi
 
Ocean Ridge commissioners finally chose a new full-time town manager Jan. 31, capping a difficult six-month selection process marked by complications right up to the very end. 
Lynne Ladner, who has held the post on an interim basis since Sept. 11 when former Town Manager Tracey Stevens resigned, will be offered a contract for the full-time job at the commission’s next meeting Feb. 6. 
But Ladner wasn’t the commission’s first choice. 
After a full day of interviews with six finalists — including private one-on-one sessions with individual commissioners in the morning and public interviews at a special meeting with the full commission in the afternoon — former St. Lucie County deputy administrator Alphonso Jefferson, 52, emerged as the top choice. 
But during a recess, called so the town’s recruiting consultant could discuss a contract with Jefferson, word spread among a half dozen residents at the meeting about Jefferson’s demotion from his job in 2019 as assistant county administrator in Broward County. 
Residents found articles online reporting that Jefferson was demoted and forced to take a $30,000 pay cut after he was accused of sexual harassment by a former county employee. Although a county investigation determined the allegations were unsupported, Jefferson was demoted for questionable judgment in maintaining a personal relationship with the employee and for sending inappropriate texts. 
The allegations were included in a background report about Jefferson provided to Ocean Ridge commissioners Jan. 23 by Colin Baenziger & Associates, the recruiting firm the town hired for $29,500 to find a new town manager.
“Broward’s Office of Professional Standards found all allegations in [the woman’s] complaint to be ‘unsupported.’ It did so in part because the complainant refused to provide her cell phone and because she did not supply any witnesses to corroborate her allegations. Mr. Jefferson could not provide the texts because they ‘were no longer on his phone,’’’ the Baenziger report said. 
The complainant “and Mr. Jefferson had some sort of relationship. We believe it was consensual, and Mr. Jefferson did send some inappropriate texts. It was clearly a mistake,’’ the report said. 
Baenziger’s report also said: “We have been told that if you hire Mr. Jefferson, it is likely [the accuser] will resurface these allegations in an effort to cause Mr. Jefferson to lose his job.’’
According the report, Jefferson’s supervisor in Broward County told Baenziger that Jefferson’s “work was exemplary and he was always on top of his projects” and that his accuser “had made other allegations against other county employees.’’
Although the allegations were never brought up during the commission’s public interview with Jefferson on Jan. 31, some commissioners said they asked about the report during one-on-one interviews with Jefferson in the morning and were satisfied with his answers. 
But during the recess, some residents found a 2022 article in the Florida Bulldog blog that described salacious texts Jefferson allegedly sent the woman. Some residents loudly complained that the town’s selection of Jefferson was “an embarrassment.’’
When the meeting reconvened, commissioners agreed to consider casting a new vote for town manager.
“Some material has come to light that perhaps all of the commissioners were not aware of, which is what is causing this brouhaha,’’ Commissioner Steve Coz said, referring to the Florida Bulldog article. “Several townsfolk and commissioners thought everybody was aware of this. If they were, they maybe didn’t interpret it fully.’’
Another recess was called while Baenziger met privately with Jefferson. When the meeting resumed a few minutes later, Baenziger said: “Mr. Jefferson has decided to withdraw. He felt that it wasn’t the right fit at this point.’’
Commissioners held a new vote and gave unanimous support to Ladner, who was the runner-up in the first round of votes that supported Jefferson, 3-2.
“I’m thrilled and excited and looking forward to continuing the progress we’ve made,’’ Ladner, 53, said in an interview after the meeting. 
“We have great ideas and a wonderful staff and I am really looking forward to the next several years,’’ said Ladner, whose interim contract was set to expire Feb. 28.
Commissioner Martin Wiescholek, who cast one of three votes for Jefferson, said after the meeting that the texts detailed in the Florida Bulldog were not included in the background report. If they had been, he said he might have cast a different vote.
After the meeting, Jefferson — who would have been Ocean Ridge’s first African American town manager — emailed this statement to The Coastal Star: “I was excited about the opportunity to be the next town manager. This would have been an historic achievement for the Town and me. I respect the will of the distinguished commission, and I look forward to serving an organization that will benefit from my 31 years of public/private/military sector experience.’’

On Jan. 18, the Interim St. Lucie County Administrator requested the resignations of both Assistant  County Administrators, Jefferson and Mark Satterle, Baenziger said in his report. They were both "at will" employees. There was nothing in Jefferson's personnel file.
The search process started July 25 — 10 days after Stevens announced she was leaving Sept. 11 to take the town manager’s job in Haverhill. At the time, commissioners expected to hire a new full-time manager by Thanksgiving at the latest. 
They also opted to save money and rejected hiring a recruiting firm, relying instead on guidance from the Florida City and County Management Association’s senior advisers program, which is less expensive. 
But just 15 candidates applied. After a series of meetings with the commission, all but two finalists withdrew, prompting town officials in October to start over with a recruiting firm.

The opening of Brightline stations in Boca Raton and Aventura has boosted ridership.
The new stations generated 17,682 rides, representing 24% of Brightline’s ridership since the Boca station opened on Dec. 21 and the Aventura station on Dec. 24, the company’s year-end ridership and financial report said.
The ridership increase “revealed strong latent demand for our service in those communities,” Brightline’s report said.
Brightline President Patrick Goddard, speaking during a ribbon-cutting for the Boca station on Dec. 20, said the company’s website saw record traffic when the station’s opening date was announced on Dec. 15.
During all of December, Brightline carried 183,920 passengers, an 87% increase over December 2021.
The cost to ride also is increasing.
The company hiked the price of a monthly pass by about 15% in November, to $229 or $339 depending on the start point and destination.
It expects to further raise prices “after we evaluate the increased demand expected” as a result of the new stations, the report said.
Brightline has started phasing out introductory one-way $10 tickets announced when the two new stations opened. While they were still offered at the end of January, fewer were available then or in February.

— Mary Hladky

Tracks from vehicles that navigate the cul-de-sac have damaged the landscaped circle. Nearby residents have offered to pay for pavers, an alternative the Town Commission may consider. Photo provided

By Larry Barszewski

At the end of Lands End Road, residents are at their wits’ end because delivery and construction trucks trying to navigate the cul-de-sac there have knocked down mailboxes, torn up front lawns and ridden roughshod over the landscaped circle in the middle of the road.
Neighbors Joe Imbesi and Dan Leever asked Manalapan town commissioners at their Jan. 24 meeting to fix the situation by reengineering the cul-de-sac and improving its look. They offered to pay for the cost of pavers to beautify the portion of the road in the cul-de-sac, though they said the town might consider stamped concrete that would probably look just as good and hold up better under the weight of the trucks riding over it.
The main problems, residents and staff said, are that the circle is too large and is off-center.
“The circle has got a diameter of 30 feet right now. That’s 10 feet too much,” Imbesi said. “If you would go down and look at the damage, it clearly delineates exactly where the circle should be. Because you can see that on the east side it’s smashed down, on the south side it’s smashed down. The west side and the north side are intact.”
Commissioners were sympathetic and asked staff to have engineers come up with a fix, which they hope to consider at their Feb. 28 meeting. Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the town would have to check on what’s possible, given that the circle must follow Florida Department of Transportation guidelines.
Imbesi suggested maybe the circle itself should be devoid of landscaping and just have pavers.
“Perhaps if we had stamped concrete, then the 20-foot diameter circle of beautiful pavers, it would be a better look,” Imbesi said. “And it would last and it would stay good looking. You know Manalapan is such a beautiful community, this is atrocious, the way it looks.”
The lone tree in the center of the circle won’t face a death sentence, no matter what is done.
“The tree that’s there currently will be relocated to either the Audubon Causeway or the library,” Stumpf said. “We’re not going to get rid of it. It was a donated tree.”
Although Imbesi and Leever asked for final approval of the selected design since they could be putting up money for the decorative elements, town officials said they could only agree to consult with them on the plans.
“I’ll work with them. I’d like to have their cooperation and input since they live there. It’s in front of their houses,” Stumpf said. “My intent is to make a beautiful cul-de-sac there that the residents that live around it will love.”
In other news, Stumpf told commissioners that all work on a new water main crossing the Intracoastal Waterway between Point Manalapan and the beach should be completed within a few weeks. The crossing is finished, but the town was waiting on asphalt to put the finishing touches on portions of road that were damaged by the work. The new main should improve water pressure to homes along State Road A1A.
Progress is also being made on the town’s sewer study, Stumpf said. The town now expects the requested 30% design work to be completed by April 1, several months earlier than originally estimated.

By Mary Thurwachter

Kem Mason has had it with the hateful speech found on social media and directed at local public officials. During the Jan. 9 Town Council meeting, the first-term council member aimed his remarks at some postings on a private Facebook group called Lantana Raw.
His outburst was fueled by a comment made on the group’s page about using “a vat of sulfuric acid” on an anonymous elected official, who the page’s administrator Catherine Phillips said was stalking her.
In a complaint she filed with police, Phillips said she thought council member Mark Zeitler was stalking her because he drove by her home and remained at the stop sign near her house longer than needed before making a turn.
Mason decried the social media posts, saying “an attack against one town official is an attack against all of us,” but Vice Mayor Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse said he for one didn’t need anyone’s help in being shielded from such attacks.
“I appreciate how you feel, I feel the same way, and there’s no need to protect me, I protect me,” Moorhouse told Mason. “I’ve been trashed for so many years, I’m good. I can take care of me.”
Mason decided to speak out after a concerned citizen brought him a copy of the posts, which he shared by displaying them on a video screen. Zeitler — who at the time had not been publicly identified as the subject — said he would refrain from commenting beyond what Mason said.
Phillips wrote that she was experiencing “creepy behavior” from an unnamed elected official and so was her friend.
Underneath this statement was a picture of a person in a black hoodie with no face, but where the face would be is printed “stalker” in bold red letters.
“The next screen shot shows a comment from Chris Rodgers, one of the 2,600 followers of Lantana Raw, who wrote ‘hmmmm, not good,’” Mason read. “Ms. Phillips says, ‘nope, need you here to show him who’s the boss.’
“Rodgers wrote, ‘A vat of sulfuric acid would work.’ And Phillips replied: ‘True.’
“Instead of discouraging the comment, she supports his suggestion of an act of violence against a Town Council member,” Mason said.
Mason said Phillips has a history of making defamatory remarks about elected officials.
“You’ve called me a liar, a bully and a cheat, along with implying I was taking money for the Kmart project,” he said.
Mason ignored the comments, hoping they would pass, he said, “but now you have gone too far by encouraging harm against an elected official.”
In 2018, Phillips accused former Mayor Dave Stewart of misusing his position to obtain a sexual benefit for himself and soliciting sex from a constituent based on an understanding that his vote, official action or judgment would be influenced. A Florida Commission on Ethics judge found Stewart did not violate ethics law and threw out the claim.

Town or personal issue?
Mason asked Phillips to stop posting such things, “because these claims are nothing to be cavalier about. It hurts a person’s reputation and creates doubt in the people’s minds about their public officials.”
Phillips, contacted by The Coastal Star after the meeting, criticized Mason for attacking her right of free speech.
“I find it very scary and disturbing that an elected official is not representing truths about private citizens such as myself,” she wrote in an emailed response. “Mr. Mason was elected as a Councilman to make policy decisions that affect Lantana and not to use his position as a pulpit to bully constituents.”
At the meeting, Moorhouse, who said he was unaware of the postings and is a friend of Phillips, questioned whether addressing social media issues from the dais was appropriate. “Is it taking advantage of our official position for personal defense?” he asked Town Attorney Max Lohman.
“That’s really not for me to say,” Lohman said. “We could have different opinions on it, it’s not really a legal question. If it were a matter of decorum, it’d be different.”
“This is just a ‘he said, she said’ and goes on and on,” Moorhouse said.
Lohman said this wasn’t so much a legal issue as a personal issue to be dealt with by each council member. He said people could argue on whether it was beneficial to address.
“I know it’s difficult to have things posted about you on social media and spread around, especially things that are not true,” he said. “That’s hurtful and it’s hard to swallow. I think each person is going to have to deal with it differently. As a council, you could come up with a policy on how you’re going to deal with it as a body. But it still wouldn’t prevent the individual from choosing to address it.
“The standard and the bar for proving defamation or slander for public officials, or someone who is in the public eye, is much higher than it is for regular citizens,” Lohman said. “When you bring the tort of defamation or slander or libel, you typically have to show actual damages.”
He said it is always very challenging “when it’s something like this, it isn’t necessarily about the way anybody’s doing their job up here, it’s an ad hominem attack. There’s really no legal position on it because each one of you has the right and the ability to say what you’re going to say …and we can agree to disagree on whether it’s wise or not wise to.”
Mason and Zeitler had filed a police report on the postings and police did speak with Phillips.
As for her stalking complaint, police talked to Phillips and said they couldn’t stop someone from driving on the streets of town.
Phillips previously lodged a complaint against Zeitler during the 2021 mayoral election, saying he threw down a political sign for the candidate she supported, former Mayor Robert Hagerty. That complaint was dismissed after Hagerty chose not to pursue it.
The Facebook posting referring to sulfuric acid has been removed from Lantana Raw, although Phillips told police she didn’t know who took it down. The site lists one other administrator and two content moderators.
Mason wasn’t backing down.
“She went over the line with the sulfuric acid posting,” he said. “That’s a real threat, a serious offense. I’m letting you all know that I’m not taking it. I’m taking something that’s in the dark behind a keyboard and bringing it in the light. And, if you’re going to say things about me, it’s going right up there on the screen, every single time. I’m done with this.”

In other news, Town Manager Brian Raducci announced that a ribbon cutting for the remodeled library is scheduled for 11 a.m. Feb. 22 at the library, 205 W. Ocean Ave. A community celebration will begin at noon March 11 with food trucks, story times and other children’s activities.

Manager’s numbers sound good to council, will get further study

By Larry Barszewski

It’s not clear yet if Town Manager William Thrasher’s proposed formula for paying for flood protection and sea wall restoration in Briny Breezes is innovative math or wishful-thinking algebra, but Town Council members are interested in seeing if his numbers really do add up.
Thrasher says that using his calculus, the town could cover the cost of critical projects — $8.55 million to completely restore its sea walls and $3.5 million to install an advanced drainage system to reduce flooding — and still have $10.2 million available for other needed improvements.
“This is extremely complicated, but more interesting than anything I’ve ever worked on,” Thrasher told Town Council members at their Jan. 26 meeting. His proposal is still early in the development stage and he called his figures “soft numbers” because more study is needed.
However, some of his equations are striking.
The town would have to borrow only $2.5 million to generate the $22.25 million needed for the projects. The borrowed money would be combined with $1 million in reserves to leverage much larger grants that would cover the bulk of the project costs.
At the same time, the town would cut its property tax rate more than 60%.
The tax rate drop would be offset possibly by the creation of a special assessment residents would pay for police and fire-rescue services, so the change would be a wash for residents. The change is needed to open up room in the town’s property tax revenues — already assessed at the maximum level allowed by the state — to cover the cost of future loan payments.
“In order to invest into a sea wall and obtain a loan, you’re going to have to lower the millage rate somehow,” Thrasher said. “I’m suggesting that you direct me to find a way, either voluntarily through the corporation, or through a special assessment, fire assessment, to generate room in the millage rate in order for the town to apply for and receive and then make payment of a $2.5 million loan, or in that range.”
Council President Sue Thaler and other council members, including Mayor Gene Adams, encouraged Thrasher to discuss the tax rate reduction and special assessment ideas with the corporation.
“I think we have to do it, because you have to get started somewhere. If you don’t lower the millage rate, you’re not going to get any kind of loan to be able to take care of it,” Adams said.
“I think this is some very, very good information,” Thaler said.
Thrasher also received support for beginning to meet directly with residents to explain his proposals and answer any questions they might have.
Since 2009, the Briny Breezes tax rate has been at the state cap of $10 for every $1,000 of taxable value. The way Thrasher sees it, the rate could be lowered to about $3.83 for every $1,000 of taxable value if there were a separate assessment — or a transfer from the corporation — to cover public safety and emergency services.
The drop may seem dramatic, but it’s basically the reverse of a step the council took in 2009, when it almost tripled the tax rate to hit the cap. In the years before that increase, the town’s corporation had been making transfers to the town budget that usually covered between 70% and 80% of the town’s fire, EMS and police costs, Thrasher said. With the higher tax rate, the transfer dropped to 29% of those costs in 2009.
Back then, residents received an income tax advantage from being able to deduct the higher property taxes, something they did not receive when paying for the services through the corporation, Thrasher said. That tax advantage for itemizing deductions isn’t really there now for many residents given the changes in tax law over the past decade, he said.
As for taking out a loan to pay for needed work, Thrasher said borrowing money would not be unheard of in the town — even if it might be unusual — and it makes fiscal sense.
“We would be able to leverage what money we have to the greatest possible extent. That would be something we would use the loan money for,” Thrasher said. “Briny has borrowed money before. I didn’t realize it until studying some of the records. Briny borrowed approximately $1 million to fund upgrades to the water/sewer back in 1994.”
Thrasher emphasized the impact of the money would go far beyond a 50-50 match, where each local dollar is matched by a grant dollar. Using other available grants — possibly from private sources, Palm Beach County, the U.S. Department of Transportation or the Federal Emergency Management Agency — as matching dollars for Resilient Florida program grants, Briny would only have to pay about 151/2 cents for each dollar matched, he told council members.
In other action, the council decided to switch banks again, leaving PNC bank to return to TD Bank, which Thaler said is offering higher interest rates that could produce more than $62,000 in additional income for the town over the next year. In the past, the town had been with TD Bank before switching to PNC bank, officials said.

A referendum on the March 14 ballot aims to change Lantana’s charter to put an end to runoff elections.
Currently, a Town Council candidate must receive at least one more than 50% of the votes in a race to be elected. If no candidate gets a majority, a runoff election is held between the two candidates receiving the most votes in the race.
A forced runoff in two council races last year made some elected officials consider a change to a plurality system, where the candidate receiving the highest number of votes in a race — whether or not it is a majority — is the victor. 
The majority vote stipulation has been the rule in Lantana for decades.
Changing the election system requires a change in the town’s charter, something voters need to decide. The council cannot accomplish the change on its own.
Although runoff elections have been required only a few times in Lantana’s history, they cost extra money. Last year’s two runoffs cost about $21,700.
One council member questions the fairness of plurality, since more people could end up voting for other candidates than for the winner.

— Mary Thurwachter

By Steve Plunkett

The head of the Gulf Stream School asked for — and received — permission to boost enrollment past the town’s 250-student cap, but only after attendance exceeded the limit for more than two years.
The school currently has 293 students after enrolling 270 the last school year and 260 the previous year. Enrollment was 232 when Dr. Gray Smith took over as head of the school in 2019-20 amid COVID-related financial troubles, he said.
“Before I begin, I do want to acknowledge that the school is over-enrolled at this point,” Smith told town commissioners on Jan. 13. “We can no longer meet budget at 250.”
Gulf Stream and the school agreed to limit enrollment and future building when the town OK’d construction of second-story classrooms in 1994.
Smith originally wanted to add a prefabricated 625-square-foot building in the parking lot to store food so he could offer students on-campus lunches. But when town officials and school representatives reviewed the proposal, they realized the 1994 agreement would have to be amended first to raise the enrollment cap and second to allow more construction.
“I do want to acknowledge that we’re doing this backwards to some extent,” Smith said. “I do apologize for that.”
Smith said Gulf Stream School’s current facilities can accommodate 300 students without adding any more buildings.
The school also tries to cover its expenses with tuition and fundraisers without touching its endowment, he said.
Its expenses have skyrocketed since 1994, Smith said, going from $42,376 for insurance to $298,000, for example, and from zero dollars for technology to more than $300,000. The school also now employs a full-time security professional and a full-time school nurse.
“Even at 300 students, we would project only a modest end-of-year budget surplus,” Smith said.
He also said the school has minimized disruptions to its neighbors by altering the way parents drop off and pick up their children, with younger students channeled to Gulfstream Road and older ones to State Road A1A. As a result, morning arrivals are finished by 8:15 a.m. and afternoon dismissals take just 10 to 18 minutes.
Police Capt. John Haseley said cars arriving early lead to backups.
“Like all parents, everybody wants to be first. That’s what creates the lines,” Haseley said. “Once the line starts flowing, it moves pretty rapidly.”
About 20 students live close enough to walk to school, Smith said.
Commissioners Paul Lyons, Joan Orthwein and Thom Smith did not want to authorize a 300-student cap without more input from town residents.
Thom Smith, who was on the school’s board of trustees when the 1994 agreement was reached, said negotiations went on for months.
“If you read the history of it, it was thought to be permanent,” said Smith, who added that he was not opposed to amending the agreement.
Orthwein said: “I’d hate to see you next in 10 more years, you say 350 or 400.”
But Gray Smith called 300 students the “tipping point.”
“If you’re managing the school on a day-to-day basis and you’re seeing the magic that happens there, yeah … I would not want to see us move over 300,” he said.
Michael Glennon, who lives at the corner of Gulfstream Road and Lakeview Drive, said the school was one of the reasons he and his wife bought their home in 2020.
“Being able to walk to school every morning is simply unmatched,” he said. “I certainly am impacted by the car line which, you know, no question is sometimes a frustration, but kind of the price you pay.”
To allow progress on the food storage building, commissioners agreed to make the limit 300 students for this school year only, and possibly extending it after hearing from the public. They also approved amending the agreement to allow for the new construction, which will still have to go through review by the Architectural Review and Planning Board and the commission again.
To alert residents, the town will include an item on the school’s requests in its winter newsletter.

The annual lecture and music series at Manalapan’s J. Turner Moore Memorial Library features three nights of entertainment for library members and their guests. Author Donna Scott will start things off when she discusses topics from her historical fiction novels at the library at 6 p.m. Feb. 16.
The series continues at 6 p.m. March 2 with a musical interlude, Duo Arpeggione, with performances by pianist Catherine Lan and cellist Claudio Jaffe.
The series concludes at 6 p.m. April 13 with a lecture on Palm Beach’s gilded age by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, looking specifically at the Flagler Era when Henry Flagler’s railroads began bringing wealthy guests and residents. Library members can be either a resident (membership is $35) or a non-resident (membership is $50). Wine and appetizers are served at each of the events.

— Staff report

Installing sidewalks on both side of Andrews would mean that a lot of driveways, landscaping and utilities would need to be modified. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

The Delray Beach City Commission threw cold water on a proposal to put in sidewalks and bike paths along Andrews Avenue, where beachgoers continue to snarl traffic and cause safety hazards as residents are forced to walk in the middle of the road.
There seemed to be no appetite for transforming the street that runs parallel to State Road A1A, a project that would require the city to reclaim right-of-way by bulldozing picturesque trees and removing homeowners’ walls on a stretch of road that conveys undeniable beachside charm.
The commission would need to pursue funding through a grant from the Palm Beach County Transportation Planning Agency for the project.
The Coastal Star spoke to a handful of residents in the area — none of whom were in favor of the project. But Public Works Director Missie Barletto told the commission at its Jan. 10 meeting that a survey showed that residents liked the idea.
Barletto said 75% of the 114 responses to the survey favored building sidewalks and a majority wanted a bike path of some sort. She shared a comment from a resident who said it was “a terrific idea” to calm traffic.
But another resident responding to the survey called the proposal ridiculous. “These are quiet residential streets, which on weekends are already packed with beachgoers illegally parking and jamming the streets,” the resident wrote.
Jack Barrette lives on Seaspray Avenue and would see his manicured ficus hedge meet its demise if the road improvement project commenced.
“I don’t think anyone understands what a ‘complete street’ project really means. It would take away old-growth trees, hedges and all kinds of other stuff that may be on easements,” he told The Coastal Star.
Barrette said the survey was poorly worded and included part-time residents, so that it did not reflect the unified disdain by homeowners of a project that would turn the quiet neighborhood on the narrow street into a construction zone from Atlantic Avenue to George Bush Boulevard.
At the Jan. 10 meeting, the prior night, Vice Mayor Adam Frankel expressed a similar viewpoint: “This seems to be an area where residents want less traffic and less people. This is just inviting the opposite.”
Deputy Vice Mayor Juli Casale said that while campaigning in the neighborhood for the March 14 election, she could not find one homeowner in favor of the project.
Commissioner Ryan Boylston said an Andrews Avenue revamp is a low priority for him.
The Beach Property Owners Association is taking a wait-and-see approach, wanting to see more details on any plan.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia said she was taken aback by the proposed scope of the project, claiming that the idea of putting in sidewalks started when former Mayor Cary Glickstein spoke to the commission last April and proposed sidewalks just near Atlantic Avenue.
“He was talking about a shorter area, I understand,” Petrolia said. “This body has not asked for this. I question whether the previous mayor actually asked for this because when he was up here speaking, I heard something very different.”
Glickstein told The Coastal Star he never asked for an overhaul of Andrews Avenue as was proposed, adding the survey was “a complete waste of time and lacked context.”
“I never asked for bike paths. There is no room for bike paths,” said Glickstein. The former mayor said he envisioned a sidewalk on one side of the road from Beach Drive to Atlantic Avenue where there is simply no room for pedestrians if there are two cars traveling in opposite directions on the road.
Andrews Avenue area residents who spoke to The Coastal Star didn’t want to give their names but said rogue parkers camp in front of their homes for hours, blocking service vehicles from entering and exiting the neighborhood.
And, indeed, while a Coastal Star reporter asked questions of residents, a bottled water truck was forced to back up on Seaspray Avenue, negotiating the space left by a parked SUV with Michigan plates that neighbors say is a daily beachgoer.
Commissioner Shirley Johnson said that the issue on Andrews Avenue encapsulates the entire problem on the barrier island with parking, forcing beachgoers to park on people’s lawns, hoping they don’t get towed.
“We haven’t done anything to resolve it,” said Johnson, proposing the city build a parking facility near the beach.
In the meantime, commissioners said the city needs to explore erecting “No Parking” signs to keep beachgoers from parking on the easement and residential property on Andrews.
“Then you don’t have that very narrow road where people are walking and biking. There are probably easier things we can do that could both accommodate the residents of the neighborhood and help alleviate some of the problem,” Casale said.

Lisa Morgan of Gulf Stream loves meeting students as scholarship committee chair of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Even the most well-intentioned people tend not to know a lot about the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. Lisa Morgan was one of them when she was nominated by a friend to serve on its board of directors six years ago.
“We jokingly say it’s the best-kept secret in town, but that’s not a good thing,” Morgan said. “You can only do good if people know about you and support you.”
Morgan, whose broad spectrum of philanthropic endeavors includes being a founding board member of Impact 100, soon learned that the Community Foundation, founded in 1972 by Winsome and Michael McIntosh, has awarded more than $200 million in scholarships and grants on behalf of more than 9,000 donors and nonprofits.
Morgan, 62, became chairwoman of the scholarship committee five years ago, an appointment she said has “just grabbed my heart.”
“I felt this is where I need to be,” said Morgan, who has “come into contact with the most amazing young people.”
Fellow board member Tim Burke, the former publisher of The Palm Beach Post who serves as marketing director for the foundation, said Morgan is a huge asset in her work with scholarships.
“She’s a real champion of students in our area,” Burke said. “She’s amazingly passionate.”
The Glades is one area that has long been underserved by philanthropic efforts. The foundation has addressed that with the recent addition of Tammy Jackson-Moore — a community organizer, leader and founder of Guardians of the Glades — to the scholarship committee. Students are more typically identified with the help of high school guidance counselors throughout the region.
“People are often under the assumption that you can only be a philanthropist or establish a scholarship fund if you are a millionaire, but that is not true,” Morgan said. “The Community Foundation donors come from a wide variety of economic levels. It serves as a hub for our community aligning donors with the needs of our community.”
A resident of Gulf Stream since 1994, Morgan is married to Scott, the mayor of Gulf Stream. They have three children: Ashley, who resides in San Francisco; Charley, who is in Dallas; and Bennett, who is in Los Angeles.
In her free time, Morgan enjoys tennis, bridge, cooking, and walking A1A in the early morning to catch the sunrise.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has affected you?
A: I grew up in Pennsylvania, but from an early age, I spent four months of the year in South Florida, usually attending school in a multigrade classroom with other seasonal students like myself where we each worked independently. I then attended Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale for high school, then Vanderbilt University where I earned a B.S. in molecular biology. After college I earned a JD by attending the Dickinson School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. I also earned additional certification as a licensed patent and trademark attorney.
Growing up in central Pennsylvania had great impact on my approach to life and my core values. The people there are generally salt of the earth — patriotic, hardworking, kind and loyal. You could do business on a handshake. I have a great respect for many of the people I employed and did business with, and I still love doing business there.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I began as an attorney with the firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius practicing litigation and patent law, and subsequently my husband and I opened our own firm. I left the practice of law to run a midsize raw materials company producing and selling aggregate, concrete, asphalt and building materials. I actually had a pink monogrammed hard hat that the employees gave me. Little did I know that in addition to being a nice gesture, it was also a way they had a heads up when I was on site because no one else had a pink hard hat! They only told me that years later. I left that industry when I moved to Florida in 1993, and have since been president of a commercial and industrial investment and development company.
In my professional career what I am most proud of is having succeeded in two industries that were at the time — and actually to some extent still are — male dominated. In my time in the construction industry, probably 99% of my employees and business contemporaries were male. In almost all of my interactions, I was the only woman. The same thing remains true in my commercial and industrial development dealings where nearly every principal of the development groups I have dealt with over the years has been male. I was just on a Zoom call this afternoon — six men and me. It has been a challenging road at times to stand confident in the room and garner respect, but I definitely learned how to hold my own.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: To understand that a career and success are not given to you — you earn them through hard work and perseverance. You need to have a strong work ethic. Also, young people should not feel that they are locked into the career they first choose. Life is full of opportunities and you can always pivot! Look at me: I went from science to law to business, and each one of those experiences gave me broader knowledge and shaped me as a person. When I graduated law school, my dad ended a note to me by saying “Go for it!” and I take his words to heart every day.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Gulf Stream?
A: Gulf Stream School was the initial lure. What a unique and wonderful place to educate your children. But the feel of the neighborhood has kept us there. Understated, peaceful and a true sense of community among its residents. My husband and I always say that we are so lucky to have found and live in this place.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Gulf Stream?
A: The camaraderie and sense of community among the residents. The Gulf Stream Civic Association hosts a meet-and-greet event every year, and there is always a great turnout and a very convivial atmosphere that I think exemplifies the neighborhood. It also helps that I can walk to the beach and that groceries and Atlantic Avenue are only five minutes away.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I am reading two. One is for my book group — Horse by Geraldine Brooks — and the other one I have been wanting to read, An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. I recently finished The Code Breaker about the woman who first figured out how to use CRISPR to alter genes which was the basis for the ultimate development of the mRNA vaccines. Amazing stuff. My nightstand has a pile of books in a queue.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: My taste in music is actually quite eclectic. I am a country music fan and that is what is invariably playing in my car. For relaxation, however, I listen to James Morrison, Al Green or the Amos Lee station, and Kenny Loggins’ House at Pooh Corner is still a family favorite from when our kids were young. For inspiration, anything with a great beat, which can range from Motown to disco to the Rolling Stones.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My father was my biggest mentor and inspiration in my life decisions. He taught me the importance of education, to be independent, and the responsibility to actively give back to your community. He also emphasized to me that every person on this Earth has value and you can learn something from everyone. As a result, I would say my friends are as eclectic as my music.

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you?
A: I actually asked my college girlfriends about this one and some of the answers were very funny. But, the consensus was Reese Witherspoon because she is a strong woman who has a playful and fun side. I definitely have a playful side, as my friends will tell you!

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: My husband makes me laugh every day. And my girlfriends.

By Tao Woolfe

Workers were putting finishing touches on the grounds of the $85.3 million Avion Riverwalk last month, laying stone walkways around newly planted palms and flowering trees.
The 10-story luxury apartment building at the southeast corner of Woolbright Road and Federal Highway is scheduled to open in late April or early May, according to a leasing agent who declined to give her name. The leasing office could be open as soon as next month, the agent said.
The building — with 326 units and 41,976 square feet of retail space — was approved by the City Commission in January 2017. Construction work on the building and on the tenants’ parking garage — begun in 2021 — appears to be almost complete.
Earth-moving equipment and pallets of walkway stone occupied the grounds leading from the building to the Riverwalk Plaza parking lot late last month. Men in bright yellow vests kept visitors from walking inside the orange netting surrounding the work.
The project was the site of a construction accident last March that killed two workers.
Boynton Beach police and fire officials reported that part of the concrete structure had collapsed, crushing the workers, identified as Jeremias Mendez, 32, and Eduardo Cruz-Moran, 25, both of West Palm Beach.
The regional Occupational Safety and Health Administration office in Plantation, following a six-month investigation, cited subcontractor Riverblock Solution, LLC with three “serious” violations of workplace safety and fined the company about $25,000.
The OSHA citations specified that Riverblock Solution:
• “Did not ensure the formwork was braced to support the vertical and lateral loads during the dismantling process.”
• “Did not develop safety procedures to ensure formwork was adequately braced during its assembly and dismantling process.”
• “Did not provide training to employees to recognize and avoid hazards associated with the assembly and dismantling of formwork, thus exposing employees to struck-by hazards.”

By Joe Capozzi

The second half of the town’s dune restoration project has been postponed until 2024 because of damage from Hurricane Nicole. 
“We are basically out of luck for anything for dune restoration for another whole year and let’s hope we don’t get hit with any bad storms this summer,’’ Mayor Bonnie Fischer said at the Town Council meeting on Jan. 10.
All beaches in South Palm Beach, a town roughly five-eighths of a mile long, abut private land. As a result, the town must rely on Lantana and Palm Beach to renourish its beaches and dunes. 
Fischer and Town Manager Robert Kellogg learned about the delay in a phone call Jan. 9 with Lantana Town Manager Brian Raducci and Robert Weber, the coastal program manager for the town of Palm Beach.
Sand for the $360,000 restoration project had been stockpiled about 3 miles north of South Palm Beach, on a berm next to the Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course south of Phipps Ocean Park, Weber said. But it was washed away in November when Nicole approached South Florida and made landfall south of Vero Beach.
Officials are waiting to hear from FEMA if they can be reimbursed for the lost sand, Kellogg said in an interview. 
Nicole also damaged the sea wall at the east end of Ocean Avenue at Lantana Municipal Beach, the access point for equipment for the dune restoration. It could be late fall before the sea wall is repaired, Kellogg said. 
“It was unfortunate to hear that but there’s nothing we can do because we are at the whim of what Palm Beach does and also Lantana,’’ Fischer said. “We need both of them to even do anything on that beach.’’ 
The first phase of the dune restoration was completed in May 2021 for $739,000. There is more sand — more beach — on the north end of town near Palmsea Condominiums than on the south end of town, where the limited beach allows surf to pound against condo sea walls. 
“It’s getting very scary,’’ said Fischer, who lives in Imperial House at the south end of town. 

Town Hall architects
For the second time in three months, the Town Council is looking for architects to design a new Town Hall constructed with structural insulated panels. 
In November, the council chose Slattery & Associates over two other firms to design the building. But on the advice of the town attorney Glen Torcivia, council members decided Jan. 10 not to offer Slattery & Associates a contract because of concerns with the firm’s experience with the SIPs method.
The town has issued a new request for qualifications and the council could pick a new firm in March.  
When council members interviewed Slattery & Associates, they were left with the impression that the firm had experience designing buildings that could be constructed with structural insulated panels.  
But after the November meeting, town officials took a closer look at the firm’s experience with SIPs and determined “it’s very minimal,’’ Kellogg said. “We want to have someone that has significant experience in the design phase of installing SIPs.’’

Recertification rules
Town Council members Jan. 10 heard a presentation from Highland Beach building official Jeff Remas on new state recertification rules for coastal condominiums. 
A summary of Remas’ presentation will be shared with representatives of the 27 condominiums in South Palm Beach. 

By Larry Barszewski

The Coastal Star walked away with 15 awards in the annual Florida Press Club competition, including a top award for in-depth reporting. The awards were announced at a Jan. 14 ceremony in Daytona Beach.
The paper received the prestigious Lucy Morgan Award for In-Depth Reporting for its look at south Palm Beach County’s aging condos following the 2021 collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside. The Classes B-C award is given to publications with under 40,000 circulation.
The award was one of three first-place prizes the paper received in its class. Coastal Star reporter Joe Capozzi won the other two first-place awards, one for a story about the heavy pace of burials at the Delray Beach Memorial Gardens Municipal Cemetery during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and the other in the public safety writing category for articles about bicycle-riding dangers, regulations and enforcement on State Road A1A.
The Lucy Morgan Award is the third for The Coastal Star, which also received the award in 2015 for a package about the 1984 Karen Slattery murder and the status of her killer on Death Row, and in 2014 for an article about lessons officials learned from the coastal damage done by Hurricane Sandy.
Judges gave high marks this year for the paper’s report on aging condos, a staff effort led by reporter Joel Engelhardt. The work in August 2021 also won the top in-depth reporting award from the separate Florida Press Association 2022 Weekly Newspaper Contest.
“A journalist’s sacred duty is to distill the critical, but potentially deadly boring details in a way that connects our common humanity. I’m happy to say this has been accomplished,” one Florida Press Club judge wrote of the paper’s entry. “This is a towering achievement in community news, in the scope of information offered, in its compelling prose and the way it grabbed the reader by the throat and wouldn’t let go.”
In the public safety category, another judge lauded Capozzi’s coverage of bicycle hazards on A1A, saying he had “excellent use of first-person accounts to focus the issue.”
The other Florida Press Club award winners this year from the The Coastal Star are:
• Rich Pollack: second place for coronavirus reporting for his article about how charities dealt with fundraising during the pandemic lockdown; and second place for public safety reporting for his article about boating safety on the Intracoastal Waterway;
• Janis Fontaine: second place for her coverage of religion news and third place for education writing, the latter for her coverage of the dispute between St. Joseph’s Episcopal School and St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church;
• Brian Biggane: second place in the “That is so … Florida” category for his article about iguanas on golf courses;
• Tim Stepien: second place in the portrait/personality photography category;
• Charles Elmore and Mary Hladky: second place in health writing for their package about a drop in overdose deaths and what local governments were doing to get money from large opioid lawsuit settlements;
• Ron Hayes: second place for light features based on a collection of his work;
• Jan Norris: third place for travel and tourism writing for her article about a tourism boom locally;
• Mary Kate Leming: third place for column writing for a collection of her Editor’s Notes;
• Scott Simmons, Jerry Lower and Tracy Allerton: third place for feature page design layout;
• The Coastal Star staff: third place for special sections, for the paper’s annual philanthropy and arts sections.

By Rich Pollack

Charges against a 29-year-old Boynton Beach woman accused of killing her newborn daughter and later tossing her into the Boynton Inlet have been reduced to second-degree murder.
Prosecutors now say the death of the infant known as Baby June in 2018 does not appear to be premeditated.
Arya Singh, who was originally charged with first- degree murder by investigators at the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the second-degree murder charges.
Prosecutors with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office have also charged Singh with abuse of a dead human body, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Detectives, in announcing the arrest of Singh late last year, said it appears that the baby — born two days before she was found in the water — was dead before she was put in the inlet.
In paperwork filed with the court, prosecutors accuse Singh of killing the baby by asphyxiation, “although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual.”
Singh’s arrest in mid-December came 41/2 years after Baby June’s body was found on June 1, 2018, by an off-duty Boynton Beach firefighter.
With no one claiming responsibility for the infant’s death, sheriff’s detectives launched an exhaustive search that involved going over hundreds of birth records as well as making several public appeals for information.
The break in the case came when members of the sheriff’s forensic biology unit identified relatives of the father using DNA evidence.
Armed with the lead — gathered in part through a public database — detectives met with the father, who led them to Singh.
The father said he was unaware of Baby June’s birth and has not been charged with a crime.
Singh last month entered a plea of not guilty.