By Jane Smith
People renting beach chairs and umbrellas at the Delray Beach municipal beach will pay 20% more for daily rentals and 17% more annually than they did last season.
City Manager Terrence Moore, who arranged the mid-January deal, also put a 600 cap on the number of setups (two chairs, a table and an umbrella or cabana) that Oceanside Beach Service Inc. can rent during the peak season and during off-season and holiday weekends.
The daily rental rates increased by $10 to $60 for a setup and annual memberships increased by $100 to $700.
Moore’s decision essentially keeps intact the increases OBS imposed last fall without city manager approval, but he also determined the company should contribute $2,500 to the city’s beach fund to settle the matter.
OBS had offered to contribute $1,500 to charity.
Company President Michael Novatka said in a letter to Moore in November that OBS raised rates because its labor costs had increased by 30% and equipment costs by 60% in the past year. But the company did not respond to a question from The Coastal Star about the length of time that OBS raised its rates last fall without city manager approval.
At a City Commission meeting last month, Moore told commissioners that the vendor “has two more years in the contract, making it in everyone’s interest to work together.”
OBS has a five-year contract that started in January 2019 and allowed 350 setups most of the year and as many as needed during the peak months. The peak months were defined as Dec. 15 through April 30, and on the holiday weekends of Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
The setup number had increased 40% from 250 in the previous contract. The cap is intended to prevent overcrowding on the beach.
After Moore shared the new terms, Mayor Shelly Petrolia said she supported his decision to raise the rates and cap the number of setups. She also said the city is not getting any extra money from the agreement.
As to the $2,500 donation, she has said that OBS should refund those customers it overcharged in the fall, when it unilaterally raised rates.
“We should not be relying on residents, such as Mr. MacNamee, to point out problems with our vendors’ performance,” Petrolia said.
Ken MacNamee pointed out the rate increases and lack of posted rate signs in November emails to the City Commission, city manager and city attorney.
“It is clear cabana rental customers were overcharged and should be reimbursed,” he wrote in a Jan. 22 email to The Coastal Star. “Anything less is capitulating to a … contractor and incompetent city staffers’ failure to enforce the contract.”
Under the 2019 agreement, OBS was able to end gradually increasing penalties for violations that might result in the loss of its contract. The deal now says OBS is subject to a flat $1,000 fee per calendar day for violations in the off-season and non-holiday weekends. Violations during the season or holiday weekends are not mentioned, and what constitutes a violation is not defined.
The five-year contract was negotiated by Mark Lauzier, who was fired as city manager in March 2019. It called for OBS to pay the city $405,000 in the first two years and $415,000 in the last three years.
“I see it as our beach going into a different era,” Petrolia said during commission discussion at the Jan. 4 meeting.
“We had a quaint and quiet beach. We pushed back from commercialization. I see that changing. People came down here and were not allowed to set up an umbrella before a line [in front] of the vendor’s chairs.”
Deputy Vice Mayor Adam Frankel, however, praised the vendor. “Your employees are doing a great job,” he said.
Novatka was asked by The Coastal Star in January about whether the city required invoices to back up his statement about higher costs.
Vice President Sylvia Bednarz responded in an email that anyone who thinks costs have not increased “is not so informed with current events that have impacted the majority of businesses in our country.”
Bednarz provided a list showing the new rental rates in Delray were the same as in the five other Palm Beach County municipalities OBS serves, including Boynton Beach and Boca Raton.
Comments