SOURCES: (top) Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, (bottom) Broward County Supervisor of Elections 63 of 64 precincts reporting (unofficial results)

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

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

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

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

Residents blown away by new bills fear Ian will only multiply toll

By Charles Elmore

Early estimates predict Hurricane Ian will become Florida’s costliest storm ever, but even before it made landfall eye-popping jumps in insurance costs were already arriving in mailboxes and phone apps all over southeastern Palm Beach County.
“After Ian, who knows?” Delray Beach insurance agent Dean Laible said about how high premiums could climb.
A $4,900 annual premium turned into $16,000 overnight for Jerilyn Walter, owner-broker of Posh Properties with offices in Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach and Lantana. She had become accustomed to helping clients stay apprised of insurance issues, only to face a startling increase in August on her own Delray Beach home with a new roof west of Interstate 95.
“I knew it was going to go up a little bit,” she said, in part because the home’s market value had increased significantly. “But triple to over $16K? With no claims? It was shocking.”
She shopped for a better insurance deal but could not find one. She said she has put the house up for sale a year after buying it.
Cash buyers and the super-wealthy may be in a better position to weather the turbulence, but just about everyone else is having to factor in a new reality.
A recent deal to buy a coastal Delray Beach home to be insured for more than $1 million fell through when the insurance premium came in at $22,000, said John G. Backer, one of the owners of the Gracey-Backer Inc. insurance agency in Delray Beach. The buyer purchased a home farther west where insurance was cheaper.
“The Florida insurance marketplace is the worst in the country, and this might be the worst it’s ever been,” Backer said. “And with Ian, it might only get worse.”
A Briny Breezes resident told one agent she would drop hurricane coverage because it simply costs too much. 
Similar stories are coming in at Absolute Insurance of Palm Beach County Inc., where Laible is president.
“A lot of people without a mortgage are self-insuring for a hurricane,” he said, a practice where people set aside their own money to pay for possible losses rather than purchase an insurance policy. “Prior to Ian, people were concerned rates were going to jump 20 to 30 percent again. After Ian, who knows?”
Similar tension roils the market for insuring boats.
Before Ian hit Florida in late September, it was not uncommon to find multiple national name-brand insurers willing to cover craft up to 30 feet, Laible said.
Bigger vessels were likely to have to rely on a “surplus lines” specialty insurer, such as Lloyd’s of London, he said.
Now, all are waiting to see how the market reacts. Already, in some cases a craft that cost $5,000 a year to insure in the recent past is drawing quotes around $15,000, he said.
If people self-insure for wind insurance on their homes, they still could choose to cover other perils such as fire. An important question especially after Ian is whether to take a flood policy, which is usually sold separately from standard home policies. It covers water coming from the ground up, as opposed to, say, rain coming through a hole in the roof.

Crisis facing homeowners
Storm surge and flooding spearheaded much of Ian’s more than $67 billion in estimated damage. Early analysis shows the overwhelming rush of waters also played a big role in bringing about the most deaths from a storm to strike Florida since 1935 — at least 114 in the state.
Yet, for those not forced to carry policies by their mortgage holders, even the purchase of flood coverage has been declining over the last decade amid rising costs and other factors, a Coastal Star analysis found in 2020.
Boynton Beach, Briny Breezes, Delray Beach, Highland Beach and Ocean Ridge all had fewer policies in 2019 compared to 2012 for coverage issued by the National Flood Insurance Program, the provider of more than 95% of flood insurance in the county. In Briny Breezes, the number of NFIP policies fell by more than 40%.
The most concentrated harm from Ian came along Florida’s southwest coast, though its reach extended wider. A tornado spawned by the hurricane caused property damage in Delray Beach, for example, and another possible twister downed a tree at Gulf Stream Town Hall and blew tiles off its roof.
Going without hurricane coverage is an option open only to those who own their properties without a mortgage. It might make sense for people wealthy enough to rebuild out of their own pocket. It is a riskier gamble for those who have most of their assets tied up in their most valuable asset, their home, and now struggle to find income to keep up with the premiums.
Lack of coverage also has implications for the region’s economy and ability to recover from a future catastrophe if fewer people can afford to rebuild.
Florida’s home insurance premiums are rising an average of more than 30% a year, according to the industry-funded Insurance Information Institute. The state’s average bill hit $4,231 over the summer, nearly three times the U.S. average of $1,544.
That Florida average price tag can easily run double, triple — or more — near the coast in a place like southeastern Palm Beach County.

Fewer choices for residents
Inflation and rising home values are keeping more people out of the state’s insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which does not cover properties worth more than $700,000. 
Regulators have been considering raising that limit in markets such as Palm Beach County where options for private insurance have become extremely limited, published reports show. The cap is currently $1 million in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
Samantha Bequer, communications director for the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation, said her office “is still in the process of reviewing all applicable data before issuing a determination on raising the eligibility cap.”
Meanwhile, a dwindling roster of Florida-based companies is writing new policies in South Florida, agents say. 
Boca Raton-based Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., which insures about 180,000 homes, condos and apartments around the state, and subsidiary Edison Insurance declined comment on their outlook for expanding, contracting or keeping their customer count about the same.
The companies are “fully focused on assisting our policyholders that were impacted by Hurricane Ian,” said chief legal officer Stacey Giulianti. “This is our obligation to them. Right now, we cannot comment on underwriting until every one of our insureds receives the help they need to make repairs or rebuild.”
In some communities, slim choices may represent an opening for “surplus lines” companies, which are often based overseas, with rates that are not regulated by the state.

Other reasons for increases 
Some industry groups blame roof scams and lawsuits for making things worse. Florida accounted for less than 10% of the nation’s claims but around 80% of the lawsuits, said Mark Friedlander, Florida-based spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute.
Six insurers fell into insolvency this year and 27 other struggling Florida residential insurers are on the insurance regulator’s “watch list,” he said.
His group estimates the insured losses from Hurricane Ian will exceed $60 billion, making it the second-largest U.S. catastrophe on record behind 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which reached $90 billion in today’s dollars.
“We have forecasted litigation expenses from disputed Ian claims may run $10 billion to $20 billion,” Friedlander said. “This could lead to the failure of several more struggling Florida home insurers.”
But some state legislators have questioned if this fully explains why insurers fail, since companies can generally pass on legal costs in their rates.
In a special legislative session in May, state Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, called it a “joke” that state regulations let company owners put up only $15 million in capital, framing that as inadequate to meet modern financial challenges.
Skeptical lawmakers also have questioned the shifting of money between insurers and affiliated companies that owners control, which can weaken the core insurer.
If the going gets rough, owners of weakly capitalized domestic insurance companies often wind up walking away and leaving consumers on the hook to pay off remaining claims through assessments on insurance bills statewide. One such 1.3% assessment has been imposed this year for claims associated with the failed Orlando-based St. Johns Insurance Co. and other, smaller firms, for example.

Past insurance failures
Official state reports on why insurers fail can take many years to become public, but those that have emerged going back a decade or more offer some glimpses.
Take a 2017 report on Miami-based Northern Capital Insurance Co. It agreed to take up the policies of up to 40,000 Citizens customers, largely in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, before eventually going out of business.
The company’s receiver filed an action against the directors and officers of NCIC for breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and questionable diligence concerning transfers of money, state records show.
The company’s surplus, or money set aside to pay claims, fell to negative $4 million at one stage. Yet it paid substantial “management fees” to a company its owners controlled, and its parent company paid nearly $1.1 million in dividends to “investors” — including current and former company officers and directors, and companies they controlled — a year before liquidation, records show.
A 2016 report on Jacksonville-based Sunshine State Insurance Co. highlighted millions of dollars in payments shuffled between parent and sister companies without written agreements or regulatory approval. It noted a $200,000 bonus for the president the year before state regulators placed the insurer in liquidation. He said in a meeting he felt he deserved a $600,000 bonus, according to the state report.
In 2015, a report on Tampa-based Homewise Insurance Co. found it was crippled by an “excessive outflow of cash” to its affiliated management company, including $63 million in one year alone. That was used to pay, among other things, “significant executive and management salaries and benefits.”
Or consider Hollywood-based Coral Insurance Co., liquidated in 2010. The reasons for its failure included, in the order cited in an insolvency report: mismanagement by officers, inadequate capital and surplus, and underwriting losses.

Hurricane season’s impact
More than 415,000 residential property claims have been filed from Ian as of Oct. 28, with 25.5% reported “closed,” state records show. About 28.2% of the 2,438 claims in Palm Beach County had been closed.
The good news for homeowners and businesses is that only one month is left to the 2022 hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30. They may still get a shock in the mail when their new premiums arrive, but they may at least luck out and not have to file any windstorm claims themselves this year.

Work has stopped on the Estates at Ocean Delray, at 1900 S. Ocean Blvd., with the developer in bankruptcy proceedings and now facing federal charges. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

New Jersey developer National Realty Investment Advisors brought sleek modernism to the Old Florida feel of the county pocket next to Briny Breezes with the townhomes of Gulf Stream Views.
It was the developer behind Ocean Delray, luxury condominiums down Ocean Boulevard where one unit at the three-story complex, dubbed the van Gogh, sold for $7.6 million. NRIA was also behind at least four spec mansions along the same stretch of coastal highway.
But now the firm is engulfed in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and accused by federal regulators of defrauding investors. The company and four of its executives were charged Oct. 13 by the Securities and Exchange Commission with running a $600 million Ponzi-like scheme. 
The June 7 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey stopped work on its ongoing projects. That includes a months-long stoppage at the Estates at Ocean Delray, 1900 S. Ocean Blvd., five distinct homes across the road from the namesake condominium.
There is also a high-end apartment project in the heart of Delray Beach called “The 301” for which the firm says it is awaiting city approval of its plans. Outside of Palm Beach County, NRIA announced in March it would build a 43-story high-rise project in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Where the bankruptcy filing leaves projects under construction or in the planning stages remains to be seen.
Generally, these types of bankruptcies involving real estate have a line of contractors, subcontractors, vendors, creditors and investors looking to get paid, said Steven Wallace, a Florida Bar board-certified real estate attorney and partner with Ward Damon, which specializes in bankruptcy and real estate law.
“If the contractor or subcontractors haven’t been paid, they generally stop work,” Wallace said.
On a sunny Friday morning on Oct. 21, there were no work crews at the Estates at Ocean Delray, which remain pretty much concrete shells. A man sitting in a car outside said he represented a new builder taking over the project and that it had been dormant for four months. He would not identify the builder.
U.S. Construction built Ocean Delray and had started the homes.
Palm Beach County records show 27 liens filed by subcontractors against U.S. Construction since late July — although some appear duplicative.
Fort Lauderdale-based Blackfin Building & Development says it is owed more than $192,000 for constructing the shells of the five homes and other work. Doral-based Suntech Plumbing & Mechanical says it is owed about $345,000. Fire protection, equipment rental, roofing and fencing companies have also filed liens.
Philadelphia-based U.S. Construction sued NRIA in March for breach of contract over a stalled project in Philadelphia.
NRIA, based in Secaucus, New Jersey, alleged in an adversarial lawsuit that the construction company participated in fraudulent construction and development contracts. U.S. Construction denied the allegation in a bisnow.com report and the suit — at least in federal court — has been withdrawn.
Dustin Salzano, the son of former NRIA executive Thomas Nicholas Salzano — who is facing a separate criminal charge — is the co-owner and chief financial officer for U.S. Construction, Bisnow.com reported.
Efforts to obtain comment from the attorneys representing NRIA in bankruptcy and the secured creditors committee about the future of ongoing construction of the Estates at Ocean Delray and other projects were not successful. A call was also made to the attorney representing U.S. Construction for comment.

NRIA projects by dozens
NRIA put up capital for projects in South Florida, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and its home state of New Jersey. It owns a total of 31 completed properties, three near completion and 16 that are under construction or in the planning stages, according to the bankruptcy filing.
The value of these properties currently is asserted to be $225 million.
NRIA delineated its projects into fund properties and personal placement properties, according to its website.
Securities regulators say up to 2,000 investors were sold “membership units” for $50,000 each between 2018 and January 2022.
Gulf Stream Views and Ocean Delray fall under what NRIA called “fund properties” on its website. Both are completed. Neighbors in the County Pocket said they see very few residents inhabiting Gulf Stream Views, which opened in July 2021, though NRIA says sales of all 14 townhomes have closed.
State securities regulators in New Jersey alleged NRIA used straw buyers to create nonexistent sales of certain units. 
Shortly after The Coastal Star asked questions about NRIA’s properties and ongoing projects, the firm’s website links about investment properties stopped working. Any investor inquiries are now directed to the firm representing the official committee of unsecured creditors.

Neighbor worries validated
Marie Chapman, who has lived in the County Pocket for 15 years, says concerns voiced about flooding before Gulf Stream Views was built came to fruition with the construction of the townhomes.
She said the project brought in 16 feet of fill that put the Pocket in a hole where Gulf Stream Views’ irrigation system runs right into homes. Chapman made adjustments to her home so the water comes only in the garage.
Chapman said the news of the bankruptcy and the Ponzi scheme allegations “does bring me and my neighbors some satisfaction, but it would have been better if they were stopped when we raised our concerns with the county.”
At the time of its proposal by NRIA’s luxury home division, NRLiving, residents in Briny Breezes and the County Pocket worried about how Gulf Stream Views’ aesthetic would affect the way of life of one of the last affordable bastions of oceanfront living in Palm Beach County — especially drainage and traffic issues.
Besides the condominium complexes, NRIA has numerous private placement properties where investors’ money is used for new construction or renovation of some prominent properties. 
One such property was the 6,117-square-foot home at 3565 N. Ocean Blvd. in Gulf Stream, which sold to the head of a California investment firm in May 2021 for $14.9 million. It was flipped one year later for $27.5 million to James Sausville, a titan in the food preserving industry.
Another spec property was the 7,592-square-foot Gulf Stream home at 2929 N. Ocean Blvd., which was sold to a trust for $15.9 million in May 2021. That property was then flipped this past March for $26.7 million to a trust associated with Elliott Management, an investment firm that recently relocated to West Palm Beach.
Wallace said private companies like NRIA are able to sell stock or membership interest in the limited liability corporations formed for each private placement property. 
The parent company created private businesses for each of its properties, and all of its 138 active LLCs filed separately for bankruptcy.
These types of investments had been around a long time, Wallace said, but since Congress passed the JOBS Act in 2012 — short for Jumpstart Our Business Startups — companies like NRIA could start soliciting investors directly through television, radio, social media and billboards.
The company employed a nationwide advertising campaign including radio advertisements and billboards located at the entrances of the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. NRIA also advertised on Fox News.
“It increased the ways folks could raise capital and it led to these types of bad actors,” Wallace said.
NRIA’s past and present properties are squirreled away under LLCs in the bankruptcy filing. 
An 11,500-square-foot Delray Beach home at 344 N. Ocean Blvd. sold for $14 million in January. A 7,490-square-foot home at 707 N. Ocean Blvd. in Delray Beach sold for nearly $16 million in March 2021. Two properties at 1200 Palm Trail in Delray Beach sold for $4 million in December 2020.
A map on NRIA’s website shows at least eight other properties, almost exclusively in Delray Beach, that the company apparently flipped.

SEC alleges personal use of investors’ money
The money that fueled all of this construction and renovation came from a classic Ponzi-like scheme where investors were promised up to 20% returns, according to the SEC.
The SEC’s complaint alleges NRIA and its executives used investors’ money to fund personal and luxury purchases for the executives and their families. Investors’ money was also used to pay a reputation management firm to “thwart investors’ due diligence of the executives.”
“In classic Ponzi fashion, these defendants allegedly told investors that they would be paid distributions from profits of their fund when, in reality, payments were being made from the investors’ own funds,” said Thomas P. Smith Jr., associate regional director of enforcement in the SEC’s New York Regional Office.
The four executives named by the SEC are Thomas Salzano, Rey E. Grabato II, Daniel Coley O’Brien, and Arthur S. Scutaro.
The SEC alleges nearly $1.25 million was sent from the NRIA account where fund investments were deposited into Grabato’s business LLC and personal accounts. 
Salzano was charged separately in a federal complaint in March with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. The Justice Department accused Salzano of using a sham loan document with a forged signature in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a $150,000 investment for a purported real estate venture in New Jersey.
Weeks after the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, the New Jersey Bureau of Securities filed a cease and desist order against the company. The company slashed staffing by terminating 60 employees and at the time of the bankruptcy filing was operating with eight employees. 
The bankruptcy states that investors held $540 million in membership interests, there was $10 million owed to creditors and trade vendors, and $38 million owed on outstanding mortgages. 
“What makes this behavior even more callous is that they allegedly took advantage of 382 retirees who had contributed more than $94 million in savings,” the SEC’s Smith said.
Wallace, the real estate attorney, said in these types of Ponzi schemes that once creditors and contractors get paid, investors find themselves at the back of the line.
“In these Ponzi schemes it’s rare these investors get anything,” he said.

By Joe Capozzi

Town officials are taking another step in a long-term plan to preserve submerged land in the Intracoastal Waterway.
On Oct. 3, the Town Commission endorsed zoning changes that will convert 36 acres from a residential use to conservation/preservation. A public hearing and final vote are scheduled for Dec. 5.
“I’m so proud of everybody. This is a really big kudo for us,’’ Mayor Susan Hurlburt said after the commission unanimously approved the changes on first reading. 
The 36 acres are located in two general areas of the waterway: northwest of Town Hall and north of Harbour Drive North.
The land includes 9 acres purchased by the town in April for $1.5 million and 27 acres on five parcels owned by Palm Beach County and associated with the county’s Ocean Ridge Natural Area, home to manatees and green sea turtles. 
Eventually, the town hopes to open the areas for recreation. Preserving the land through the zoning changes, a process that started in April, has won praise from other municipal leaders in Florida, town officials said. 
“We’ve actually been talked about quite often in Florida League of Cities meetings as a good example of what a town can do when it really wants to be environmentally sound and sustainable for the future,’’ said Vice Mayor Kristine de Haseth.
“I think it’s very forward thinking of the town and the commission to have made this happen.’’

In other business:
• The town announced the qualifying period for the March 14 municipal elections will start at noon Nov. 7 and end at noon Nov. 18. Two Town Commission seats, for three-year terms, are up for election: those occupied by Hurlburt and Martin Wiescholek.
• The Florida Department of Transportation’s drainage project on Ocean Boulevard/A1A at Anna Street began Oct. 3. The work is scheduled to last about 90 days.
• The Town Commission started its Oct. 3 meeting with a moment of silence for former Commissioner Nancy Hogan, who died Aug. 31.

Shana Criscitiello (far left) and Carolina Albuquerque purchase fresh fruits and juices from vendor Juan Mejias of My Exotic Fruits at the Delray Beach Green Market. My Exotic Fruits is a farm based in the Redlands area of Miami-Dade County. Read more about the greenmarkets here. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Process to restart with recruiter

By Joe Capozzi

Ocean Ridge commissioners will hire a professional recruiter to find a new town manager after scrapping an initial “flawed” search process that started in July and saw four of six finalists withdraw, including three just days before the commission was scheduled to choose one Oct. 19.
“This has been a little bit of a Jerry Springer show. People have put their name in, then they have withdrawn, then they said ‘Whoops, I didn’t mean to withdraw,’’’ Vice Mayor Kristine de Haseth said Oct. 19 at the commission’s fifth and latest meeting dedicated to the town manager search.  
When the search process started July 25 — 10 days after Tracey Stevens announced she was leaving Sept. 11 to take the town manager’s job in Haverhill — commissioners expected to hire a new full-time manager by Thanksgiving at the latest. 
Now, they hope to find someone by Feb. 28, when interim manager Lynne Ladner’s contract expires. Taking the advice of former Ocean Ridge Mayor Ken Kaleel, commissioners unanimously agreed to hand the process over to a professional recruiting firm, a strategy they initially rejected in July to save money. 
A professional recruiter could cost as much as $28,000, said Town Attorney Christy Goddeau, who will suggest five firms for commissioners to consider at their next regular meeting Nov. 7. 
Considering the problems with the initial search and how town taxpayers may end up spending $1 million over the next five years on the next town manager’s salary and benefits, the recruiting fee will be money well invested, Commissioner Steve Coz said. 
“We are already so enmeshed in a mess. We need outside help,’’ he said. “Spending $28,000 to find a good candidate, and spending another $10,000 on travel, if necessary, is nothing compared to a million dollars.”
To get to this point, commissioners had relied on guidance from the Florida City and County Management Association’s senior advisers program, which provided free recruiting services. The town manager’s job was posted on municipal trade websites and advertised in The Palm Beach Post and The Coastal Star, but netted just 15 applicants.  
Six candidates, including Ladner, were chosen on Sept. 29 and invited to a first round of interviews via Zoom on Oct. 12. One finalist, Ryan Fabbri of South Carolina, withdrew a few days before that meeting.
After conducting the five Zoom interviews, commissioners agreed Oct. 12 to invite all five to a final round of interviews in person at Town Hall on Oct. 19. But commissioners also decided the town would give each finalist just $500 for travel and lodging expenses for the Oct. 19 interviews. 
A day later, the two out-of-state finalists — Steven Crowell of Missouri and Raymond Bossert of Wisconsin — withdrew, leaving just Ladner, Moore Haven City Manager Larry Tibbs and former Sewall’s Point Town Manager Michelle Berger.
On Oct. 17, Berger withdrew.   
Contacted by The Coastal Star, Crowell would not discuss his reasons for withdrawing and Bossert said he had a conflict because he was scheduled to testify on municipal issues before the Wisconsin state legislature Oct. 19.  
Berger, in an email to The Coastal Star, suggested her decision was influenced by comments Oct. 12 from Coz, who told commissioners Berger would not have his support as a finalist.   
“While there was strong interest and support by multiple commissioners, based on the discussions, I thought it best to free up the field for other candidates,’’ Berger said in the email. 
“I have no other official comment,’’ she said, but added this reference from the International City/County Management Association:
“Some managers are bold enough to accept a job offer on a 3-2 or 4-3 vote (depending on the number of governing body members), but this is a huge risk and could lead to a quick exit if just one mistake occurs during your new administration.”
 During the Oct. 19 meeting, Commissioner Geoff Pugh said he thought the commission was close to agreeing on Crowell as the finalist. 
“But I guess he was too cheap not to fly down here to do an interview,’’ he said. “I’m sorry. I don’t believe we should pay. If you are coming down for a job interview then you should be able to foot the bill for that job interview especially if it” might pay $160,000 a year. 
After Bossert spoke to The Coastal Star, he emailed commissioners again on Oct. 18 to make clear his decision to drop out was not related to a lack of reimbursement by the town for travel expenses. He said he wanted the job and could travel to Ocean Ridge for an interview as early as Oct. 21.  
Coz tried to schedule a special meeting to accommodate Bossert. But that idea, polled to individual commissioners by Ladner and Goddeau before the Oct. 18 meeting, was rejected by a majority.   
“Our process is flawed. We need to rework the process,’’ Commissioner Martin Wiescholek said Oct. 19.
Commissioners were prepared to post new job listings and set new interview dates for before the holidays when Kaleel, among a dozen residents who attended the meeting, asked to speak.
“It sounds from the audience like you’re hiring a burger flipper. ‘Let’s put an ad in the local paper.’ You need professional help,’’ said Kaleel, an attorney who was Ocean Ridge mayor from 1998 to 2012.
“Anybody hiring a CEO today goes through an executive search firm. They don’t just put an ad in the paper. They search out for somebody. They get the best qualified candidate.’’

Thankful. What other word better describes November?
It’s not clear why such a difficult month for so many is defined by a word so expressive of gratitude. Are we happy how the year has gone racing by leaving us a year older, or how we’ll soon have fewer hours of daylight to enjoy a walk on the beach? No.
November is not a gentle month. It tends to blow through all the colorful leaves that have fallen in October to lay bare memories of people and moments we’ve lost. Some years it’s a hard month to embrace.
Yet, the festivities of December are just ahead and January is not far behind, with its promise of new beginnings. For that we are thankful.
To kick-start this month of Thanksgiving — and in anticipation of the months ahead — our second annual Philanthropy Season Preview is included in this edition of The Coastal Star as a reminder that the end-of-the-year giving season has arrived. In our Around Town section, you’ll see the usual philanthropy photos, stories and calendar you’ve grown to count on through the years, with the addition of this month’s paid features and advertising packages funded by some of our local philanthropic organizations — or their donors — to amplify their philanthropic contributions to the community and promote upcoming fundraising events.  
As the always quotable Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “One of the most beautiful compensations in life is that no person can help another without helping themselves.”
As the year winds down, we encourage you to help others — and yourself — by contributing to the charitable organizations featured in this newspaper (and to others in the community).
Show your gratitude by assisting them as they make the new year a little brighter for people less fortunate.  

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Claude Schmid of Highland Beach, who served 31 years in the Army, runs Veteran’s Last Patrol. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Col. Claude Schmid was wrapping up his 31-year U.S. Army career when he was assigned to lead the military’s wounded warrior flight evacuations. As chief of operations, Schmid would climb into the massive hold of a C-17 cargo plane — a “hospital with wings” — and welcome injured service members returning home, some still strapped to gurneys.
“I had the opportunity to talk to thousands of injured service members and learn about their stories,” said Schmid, a Highland Beach resident for the past three years.
That experience would set the foundation for Veteran’s Last Patrol, a nonprofit organization Schmid founded in late 2019 that connects veteran volunteers to former service men and women receiving hospice care.
Schmid says that while representing senior military leadership for the wounded warriors program from 2010 to 2013, he saw firsthand “the importance of companionship during moments of great adversity.”
Often those veterans, and sometimes family members, who would be waiting to be escorted off the plane faced an uncertain future of additional hospitalizations or coping with lingering injuries.
“A lot of times you’re scared,” Schmid said. “Knowing someone cares about you and can relate to you is crucial.”
What he saw on the plane was similar to what he sees now with veterans in hospice.
As part of the program he runs as founder and CEO, Veteran’s Last Patrol recruits veterans to carve time for one-on-one visits with those in hospice care, visiting veterans in facilities or in private homes.
The bond volunteers and veterans share from having served in the military can often be therapeutic for both the ailing vet and his or her visitor.
“Most volunteers say they get more out of it than they give,” said Schmid, 62.
Veteran’s Last Patrol holds ceremonies to honor veterans in hospice, often presenting them with plaques recognizing their service and bringing gifts, sometimes including honor quilts.
A third element of the program — now operating in 24 states — is providing support for veterans in hospice care, helping with basic needs and with fulfilling last wishes.
For Schmid, the Veteran’s Last Patrol helped fill a void that came after he retired in 2013. A graduate of Wofford College in South Carolina where he joined the ROTC program, Schmid was commissioned as a tank officer coming out of college and moved up through the ranks.
In 2004 and 2005, Schmid was deployed to Iraq when he was a commander of the Army’s Infrastructure Security Force, which was tasked with protecting critical facilities in northern Iraq, including oil fields.
He returned to Iraq in 2007 as the commander overseeing training of Iraqi soldiers. There were 17 schools throughout the country under his command.
After completing his work with the wounded warriors program, Schmid retired and began searching for a way to translate into civilian life what he learned during his last assignment.
“I was looking for something to do that would have some connection with what I did in the service,” he said.
Schmid traces the inspiration for Veteran’s Last Patrol to his early years, when he listened to his mother talk about her experiences volunteering with hospice patients and the challenges they faced.
“I wondered, ‘What happens to military veterans when they go into hospice?’” he said.
What he discovered is that hospice programs across the country have a tough time getting volunteers and even a harder time getting military volunteers.
Through outreach to veterans organizations, social media and other tools, Veteran’s Last Patrol has filled that void and provided friendship and support to people with not much time left.
Even before he founded the organization, Schmid had begun visiting veterans in hospice care.
“I remember my first patient very well, a vet named Harold,” he said. “He kept telling me he had ‘a wonderful, wonderful life.’”
The name of the organization, Schmid says, reflects the bond between the hospice patients and the volunteers.
“Veterans understand the concept of patrols and you don’t want to go patrolling alone,” he said.
As Veteran’s Last Patrol has evolved, it has created programs that raise awareness and funds to support it. The organization holds an Honor Ride for Veterans and has created Operation Holiday Salute in which people can write holiday cards to veterans they’ve never met.
Last year cards were sent to 7,000 veterans and this year Schmid is hoping to reach 10,000. To be a part of Operation Holiday Salute or to learn more about Veteran’s Last Patrol, visit www.veteranlastpatrol.org. Click on “events” for the holiday salute.

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

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach will be going back to the drawing board as it plans for a new fire station.
At a Town Commission meeting in October, Manager Marshall Labadie discussed plans for a new 10,000-square-foot station that would be built between Town Hall and the water treatment plant.
At the Nov. 1 meeting, however, Labadie announced that a recent site inspection showed that the location would not work, at least not within the budget allotted for the project.
“We just ran into some really bad site conditions,” he said. “It would require much more work than we originally anticipated.”
Labadie said soil conditions and the location of certain utilities would make it difficult for the town to build the two-story station at the preferred location without spending much more than planned.
Another challenge, he said, would be the additional time it would take to prepare the site for a new building.
“We ran into some problems that are insurmountable within the parameters we have to work with,” he said.
Commissioners are hoping to build a station that would work within the $10 million overall start-up budget for the new department approved by voters in a referendum.
Labadie said the town is working with architects to come up with alternatives and will present some potential drawings at a special commission meeting on Friday, Nov. 4.
“We’re having to change direction quickly,” he said.
Labadie said that there is the possibility of finding a location on the town’s governmental property that could accommodate a two-story building, but said he is waiting to hear the thoughts of commissioners.
“A station that meets our needs can fit on the site,” he said. “We have to make sure everyone is on board.”
Labadie said he doesn’t anticipate soil and utility issues on alternative sites.
A new station, town leaders have said, is needed to accommodate the additional fire trucks and rescue vehicles that will come when Highland Beach takes over fire service from Delray Beach Fire Rescue.
The town currently has a fire station on State Road A1A, which is being staffed by Delray Beach until the contract ends in May 2024, but Labadie says that station is too old, too small and below the floodplain.
The town considered rebuilding a station on the same site, but determined that the cost of needing a temporary facility when construction was underway would be too much.
As they consider their next steps, town commissioners face other unexpected challenges, including a significant cost increase in building materials due to inflation and supply chain issues.
Initially, the town budgeted $5 million for the construction of a fire station, but Labadie said the cost estimate has now come to as much as $7.5 million.
Labadie said the town is looking for other revenue sources, perhaps grants from state and local governments.
During the Nov. 1 meeting, Labadie told commissioners the town will be saving about $400,000 by purchasing a used 2017 aerial truck instead of purchasing a new ladder truck.
That truck will be in addition to one currently used by Delray Beach’s fire rescue. The town will also have two rescue vehicles.
Commissioners in April 2021 voted to sever the contract with Delray Beach, believing they could provide better service at less than the estimated $5 million a year Highland Beach pays to the city.

I was surprised to see you publish a photograph of a young man with a surfboard jumping off the north jetty of Boynton Inlet Pier — “taking advantage of the waves created by Hurricane Ian.”
Most years report deaths at the Inlet and one can imagine stormy seas being more dangerous than normal. Posted all over the pier and adjacent bridges are “No Jumping or Diving” signs.
I understand a photographer wanting to capture and share the sheer exuberance of the moment, but at least publish a disclaimer or warning that this is dangerous and possibly illegal behavior.
The last thing we need is a young person hurt or worse from their youthful exuberance.

Ned Jalbert
Ocean Ridge

Inflatable booms that the city of Delray Beach installed at the north end of Marine Way mitigated flooding during October king tides, although rising water from the Intracoastal Waterway made it through storm drains and affected this man’s walk with his dogs. The next major king tides for the area will be Nov. 6-9 and Nov. 23-27, according to the Palm Beach County Office of Resilience. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Larry Barszewski

Manalapan commissioners say the town might be better off with sewers instead of septic tanks, but they’re not sure the benefit of building a sewer system is great enough to justify the cost and aggravation to residents.
Commissioners are concerned the state could mandate a switch to sewers because septic tanks on the barrier island pose an environmental risk, but they don’t know if such a decision would come relatively soon or be decades away.
They would like to have a discussion with town residents about the idea, but they say they need to have more facts and figures first. That means spending more money for a partial design without knowing if a new system will actually be built.
One thing is clear: Earlier thoughts that a sewer project could be underway by spring no longer seem practical.
“Realistically, we’re talking about next year this time making a decision about this,” Mayor Keith Waters said at an Oct. 5 commission workshop held online via Zoom. “The absolute piece that we know of — is a certainty — is we have to have a design before we can move forward, before we can get funding, and before we can have hard answers on anything that we need.”
The commission’s regular October meeting was later canceled, putting off a decision until at least its November meeting, which will be held at 10 a.m. Nov. 10 so as not to disrupt any Thanksgiving holiday plans.
“The fork in the road right now is go or no go,” Waters said about the design for the project. In August, consultant Mock Roos & Associates estimated the overall project cost at $10.3 million.
“I think it’s going to be much more than that, significantly more than that,” Waters said.
At their Nov. 10 meeting, commissioners will consider an $84,520 proposal from Mock Roos for 30% design work on a low pressure sewer system for the town. The design work should produce a more accurate cost for the project. It is also needed before the town can apply for grants that have the potential to reduce the project’s cost to town residents.
In an Oct. 21 email to The Coastal Star, Town Clerk Erika Petersen said no meeting with residents to get their input has been scheduled yet.
“We do not anticipate that would even take place before there is a prelim design or proposal for the work or some other information to share with them,” Petersen wrote.
Commissioners aren’t sure how receptive residents will be to move off of their private septic systems and onto a town sewer system once they know how much it will cost, how disruptive construction will be, how long it will take to complete and what work will have to be done on each residential property.
A low pressure sewer system involves installing a macerating pump on each property. The pump would grind a home’s sewage and push it into a small-diameter sewer pipe that carries it out of town to a treatment plant. Mock Roos says the design work would include two “typical” site plans for installing a pump and pipes on private property.
At the October workshop, Vice Mayor Stewart Satter was most outspoken in his concerns about the plans.
“Do we understand clearly why we’re doing this?” Satter asked. “This is an enormous project — forget about the monetary cost — just in terms of disruption to the town.”
Town elections: The candidate qualifying period for the March 14 commission elections ends at noon Nov. 15. The elections are for Seats 1, 3, 5 and the mayor’s Seat 7. Waters and Commissioner Hank Siemon are term-limited and cannot seek re-election. The other seats are held by Commissioner John Deese and Vice Mayor Satter.

Ocean Ridge Detective Aaron Choban, Police Chief Richard Jones, Hendry County Sheriff Steve Whidden, Clewiston Chief Thomas Lewis and Ocean Ridge Sgt. Richard Ermeri. BELOW RIGHT: The truck was loaded with donations. Photos provided

By Joe Capozzi

A Hendry County sheriff’s deputy who lost her home and car during Hurricane Ian received a trailer-load of supplies and $3,600 in cash from donations by residents of Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes. 
Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones delivered the supplies on Oct. 26 to the Clewiston Police Department, where Hendry County deputies distributed the items later that day to the deputy, a mother of four children who lives in Fort Myers. 
Ocean Ridge police started collecting the donations at Town Hall a week after the hurricane, with initial plans to send them to a small law enforcement agency in or near Lee County affected by Ian.  
Unable to find an agency, Jones said, he saw a post on the Clewiston Police Department’s Facebook page about Hendry County Sheriff’s Deputy Maria Aguirre, a Fort Myers resident who lost four dogs, her vehicle and everything in her home in the storm.
The social media post sought donations for Aguirre, her husband and their four children: two teenage boys, a teenage daughter and a 9-year-old son.
Jones, who worked as a Hendry County sheriff’s deputy and a Clewiston police officer before coming to Ocean Ridge, decided to donate the supplies to Aguirre.
Jones shared Aguirre’s story at the Oct. 27 Briny Breezes Town Council meeting to show “how our positive impacts can go obviously much further than the boundaries we are used to working in,’’ he said.
“None of us knew this deputy or her family. It truly was us being able to help someone that none of us knew.’’
Clewiston Police Chief Thomas Lewis, in an interview with The Coastal Star, thanked Jones and the residents of Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes for their generosity. “There was a ton of stuff in that trailer,” he said.
The Clewiston Police Department posted a photo of Jones and supplies on the agency’s Facebook page with the following caption:
“Want to know what a brotherhood/sisterhood looks like? Chief Richard Jones and the members of the Ocean Ridge Police Department saw a post on Facebook about a Hendry County Deputy that was severely impacted by Hurricane Ian.
“Although they never met the deputy before, members of his agency didn’t hesitate to raise $3,600.00 and additional donations that filled a small trailer. Our town is small, but our law enforcement family is large. Thank you to the Ocean Ridge Police!’’

King tide levels barely came over the sea walls in some portions of Briny Breezes on Oct. 10 — not as bad as in recent years, when at times more than 10 inches of water stood on some streets west of State Road A1A. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

An ambitious plan to protect Briny Breezes from flooding and sea-level rise will be discussed Nov. 15 at a joint “kickoff meeting” of the Town Council and Briny Breezes corporation. 
The meeting, set for 3:15 p.m. at the Briny Breezes Community Center, is a requirement of a $330,000 grant the state’s Resilient Florida program awarded to the town this year. 
Officials with Engenuity Group and Brizaga Inc., which drafted a 144-page flood adaptation plan in April 2021, will answer questions from residents and outline the next steps in spending the grant money.
The $330,000 will help pay for the plans and studies needed to prepare construction-ready documents for enhanced sea walls, an improved stormwater drainage system and other 50-year adaptation measures. 
“This meeting is for all stakeholders,’’ Town Manager William Thrasher said in an email Oct. 18 to council members and corporation officials. “A ‘sea water rise’ work plan and strategies will be the important topics.’’  
The town’s planning and zoning board will meet at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 for a related discussion that “will help set the stage for the resilience conversation that happens at 3:15,’’ board Chairman Jerry Lower told the Town Council on Oct. 27. 
The planning board “will be focusing especially on discussions of short-term alternatives as we ponder the never-ending sea-level rising issues we have on the west side of A1A,’’ Lower said.
The joint meeting could have been held earlier this year. But town and corporation officials, knowing the importance of the resilience issues facing the town, waited to schedule it in November when most residents and snowbirds would be back in Briny Breezes.
Aside from Lower’s remarks, the Nov. 15 “kickoff meeting” was not discussed at the council’s Oct. 27 meeting, other than to announce the date and location.
Mayor Gene Adams did offer a brief related remark when he reminded residents about “the chances for flooding” during the first week in November when king tides are forecast.
In other business:
• Adams said he and Thrasher planned to meet with corporation officials earlier in the day on Nov. 15 to discuss the tax rate, which for years has been at 10 mills, the maximum allowed under state law.
• The council unanimously passed on second reading a new code citation system that will allow police to issue tickets to people who violate any of six prohibitions in the town code, including riding a bicycle without a bell or horn and allowing dogs to run free on the beach.
• The qualifying period for the town’s March 14 election opens at noon Nov. 8 and closes at noon Nov. 22. Three aldermen seats, all for two-year terms, are up for election: Seat 1 held by Elizabeth Loper, Seat 3 held by Sue Thaler and Seat 5 held by Bill Birch. Prospective candidates should contact Town Clerk Sandi DuBose at 561-272-5495 for filing information.
• Briny Breezes residents are encouraged to attend a crime prevention workshop at 5 p.m. Nov. 9 at Ocean Ridge Town Hall, Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones told the council.
Ocean Ridge, which provides police services for Briny Breezes, will unveil several new programs and offer crime-prevention measures.

Editor’s Note: Jerry Lower is publisher of The Coastal Star.

Ousted group wants to trademark historic center’s name as its own

By Jane Smith

While Delray Beach tries to finalize a new manager for Old School Square, there’s now a question about whether the city is even going to be able to keep the name of its historic downtown cultural arts and entertainment campus.
After the City Commission voted 3-2 in August 2021 to end its lease with Old School Square’s longtime former managers, that organization then filed papers to trademark the Old School Square name.
The trademark issue didn’t show up on the city’s radar until an Oct. 20 workshop at which the Downtown Development Authority presented its proposal to help run the Old School Square campus at the northeast corner of Atlantic and Swinton avenues.
Following up on that news, City Attorney Lynn Gelin told commissioners at their regular Oct. 25 meeting that the city still had two days left to challenge the trademark request. A city letter requesting an extension was delivered the next day, giving the city until Nov. 26 to oppose the Old School Square trademark, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Old School Square patrons are finding a confusing situation where the former tenants, who go by the name Old School Square Center for the Arts, maintain the OldSchoolSquare.org website that asks for donations and says, “One year later still sitting empty.”
The private website does not say the city is the owner, but it implies the OSSCA nonprofit owns the 4.4-acre campus.
The website also says the campus is dark, but that is not the case. The Pavilion stage, the Fieldhouse and the grounds have events.
The city’s own website lists the updated events on the Old School Square campus.
During the Oct. 20 joint workshop with the commission and the Community Redevelopment Agency, the DDA presented funding figures that startled some commissioners.
Laura Simon, the DDA’s executive director, proposed a phased approach to reactivating the campus with the three entities contributing potentially $1.38 million. That is almost double the $750,000 requested by the former tenants from the CRA.
"That hit me pretty hard. It’s a big number," Commissioner Ryan Boylston said.
Likewise, Vice Mayor Adam Frankel asked whether the city taxpayers would foot the bill.
The amount includes $175,000 for marketing and rebranding, which may be related in part to the trademark issue.
“Is there a concern that someone else owns the OSS name?” Frankel asked Simon. Regardless of the various venue names on campus, “I still think of it as OSS,” he said.
It costs money to create a logo, and to develop and run a website, Simon said. She wants to create a new nonprofit to run the campus.
Frank Frione, a DDA board member who sold his engineering firm last year, said he wanted the new nonprofit to receive about $2 million. He offered his time to help the DDA reactivate the OSS campus. “We need to fund it accordingly to make it successful,” he said.
Simon said the big focus currently is the holiday season and the 100-foot Christmas tree on the Old School Square grounds near the Cornell Art Museum. The tree will be lit on Nov. 29.
She hopes to have a business plan done in January when the agreement between the city and the DDA will be ready for discussion.
The city ousted the former tenants after a series of financial miscues that culminated with the Crest Theatre building renovation. Commissioners were not informed of its start and the city was not properly covered by the renovation’s bond. The city rented the campus to the former tenants for $1 per year.
When commissioners voted to terminate the lease in August 2021, they gave the former tenants 180 days’ notice. Since then, the three commissioners who voted to end the lease have been criticized by the former tenants on social media platforms, email campaigns and in-person events.
OSSCA sued the city in November 2021 for wrongful termination of the lease. The lawsuit remains active, with the latest filing by the city on Oct. 20. The city objected to the request for a jury trial that was explicitly waived when the lease was signed.
The city also filed a counterclaim the same day to cover damages to the Crest Theatre building when the renovation was abandoned, and the premises not restored. The Old School Square buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

An earlier version of this story had an incorrect quote attributed to Commissioner Ryan Boylston regarding the money being requested to run Old School Square. His  quote has been corrected. 

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream must pay $148,438 for resident Martin O’Boyle’s attorney fees, roughly 25% of the more than $586,000 his lawyers originally sought, and $31,824 in costs mostly for two expert witnesses.
The Oct. 4 decision by Circuit Judge Donald Hafele brings to a close an almost 10-year war between O’Boyle and the town that entailed hundreds of requests for public records, the hiring of additional workers to process the requests, dozens of lawsuits and countersuits, and a hefty increase in the town’s property taxes to pay for it all.
Taking big hits in the judge’s ruling are Fort Lauderdale attorney Mitchell Berger, who asked for $99,255 and was awarded $7,920, and the law firm of O’Boyle’s son, Jonathan, which billed $131,155 but will receive $33,865.
Jonathan O’Boyle declined to comment on the ruling.
Trey Nazzaro, the assistant town manager and in-house attorney, said the judge’s order was “Gulf Stream’s last remaining case in which fees were to be determined.”
Robert Sweetapple, an outside attorney for the town, once estimated the town would be liable for no more than $20,000.
O’Boyle will funnel most of the money to Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co. His umbrella liability policy covered his legal expenses in this and four other cases in which he was involved, court documents show.
The policy “requires O’Boyle to pursue recovery of the expenses incurred in these matters and reimburse Liberty Mutual for the attorneys’ fees and costs advanced on [his] behalf,” his attorney, Elaine Johnson James, told the judge in an earlier filing.
Hafele reserved jurisdiction in the case to consider a potential further reduction of the fees while the town’s attorneys explore what fees Liberty Mutual paid in a separate but related legal action.
The lawsuit sprang from O’Boyle’s request for records concerning the town’s removal of his campaign signs from public rights of way during his unsuccessful 2014 run for Town Commission.
O’Boyle sought all police reports for March 3-4 that year, including “appointment calendars, sign-in sheets and radio communications.”
The town quickly delivered seven pages of incident reports but did not turn over sign-in sheets until three weeks after O’Boyle sued. Six weeks later, Gulf Stream gave him a CD of the police radio transmissions, which the Delray Beach Police Department records and stores for the town.
Hafele issued his decision in the underlying case in September 2016 and O’Boyle’s lawyers asked for reimbursement the following month. In the Oct. 4 ruling, Hafele said the “significant” time lapse was not the court’s fault, but “was primarily caused by issues relating to the parties’ experts” as lawyers on both sides battled over how much Gulf Stream should pay.
Beginning in 2013, O’Boyle and Chris O’Hare, who no longer lives in the town, flooded Gulf Stream with public records requests. In the six months before O’Boyle sought the police records, the town received more than 700 requests.
To accommodate the requests and fight the lawsuits, the Town Commission raised the property tax rate almost 38% in 2015.
In mid-2017, O’Hare and the town agreed to dismiss 36 lawsuits and appeals between them and withdraw all pending records requests. Neither side paid the other’s attorney fees.
O’Boyle’s other notable win came with the dismissal of a federal lawsuit the town filed alleging a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations conspiracy by O’Boyle, O’Boyle entities and O’Hare to extort cash settlements of public records requests. A federal judge dismissed the suit in June 2015; his decision was upheld on appeal a year later.
O’Boyle also tasted victory in July 2013. The town paid him $180,000 to settle 16 lawsuits and about 400 requests for public records he filed after he was denied variances for building projects at his Hidden Harbour home.