Fewer personnel on rescue trucks? — Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore warned the City Commission this summer that if a tax rate rollback was in the mix the current staffing on fire-rescue trucks might need to be reduced.
Moore told the commission he found other ways to make its “no new taxes” plan work. But in his Oct. 25 information letter to the commission, he cited a new operational analysis being done by Fire Chief Ronald Martin that may recommend that there should now be two — not three — people staffing rescue trucks.
He said in his memo that two-person trucks are now the national standard as the National Fire Protection Association has found that it would not negatively affect the community’s emergency response force.
Moore said he expects to bring a recommendation to commissioners during the next several months.
While the operational analysis initially was being driven by a new “24 hours on, 72 hours off” fire rescue schedule that starts Oct. 1, 2025, the city may not wait that long for any rescue truck staffing changes. Moore said “direction is also imminent to consider resulting adjustments during the current fiscal year.”
Long challenges $22,154 court-ordered payment — The attorney for Delray Beach Commissioner Rob Long is challenging a final order in the defamation case he filed against Chris Davey, a former chairman of the city's Planning & Zoning Board.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge James Nutt on Oct. 8 ordered that Long pay Davey $22,154 in attorneys’ fees, cost and prejudgment interest.
Attorney David K. Markarian, representing Long, filed a motion for rehearing on Oct. 23, noting Nutt’s comment at the hearing “to the appropriateness and zealousness of the undersigned’s activity in the case.”
Markarian said in the motion that the comment — if determinative — was inaccurate regarding his work and that of his firm, Jeck, Harris, Raynor & Jones.
Long filed his suit against Davey in February 2023 as he ran for office against incumbent Commissioner Julie Casale.
Davey and Long served together on the Planning and Zoning Board. Davey had used social media to say Long was corrupt and a criminal, according to the motion.
Long went on to defeat Casale — who herself was elected again earlier this year and is now vice mayor.
— John Pacenti
Train depot now city’s wellness center — Renovations at the historic Delray Beach Train Depot, which was severely damaged in a 2020 fire, are complete, with a grand reopening and ribbon-cutting set for 10 a.m. Nov. 8 at the station, 80 Depot Ave.
The city-owned station is situated north of Atlantic Avenue on the west side of Interstate 95. It was built in 1927 and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986.
It will be home to the city’s Health and Wellness Center and Human Resources Department. Trains stopping in Delray Beach now use the Tri-Rail station off Congress Avenue south of Atlantic Avenue.
— Larry Barszewski
Correction: An earlier version of this briefs column incorrectly identified a connection between Delray Beach City Commissioner Rob Long and Chris Davey. The two served together on the city's Planning and Zoning Board. Neither Long nor Davey has served on the Downtown Development Authority governing board.
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