By Brian Biggane
In the 12 years Bonnie Fischer has served as mayor, South Palm Beach has never been in a position to apply for or receive either a state or federal grant. With a new Town Hall building in the planning phase, that may be changing.
When Sen. Bobby Powell and Rep. Mike Caruso made presentations touting their accomplishments in the state legislature at the town’s July meeting, both told the Town Council they’re ready and willing to help the town meet its goals.
“I’m sure there’s something South Palm Beach wants or needs,” said Caruso, who said he’s brought back $45 million in appropriations for his district in the past five years. “We’ll team up on it. I hope you come up with a couple projects.”
Fischer said Palm Beach County had promised to construct groins — rock structures perpendicular to the shoreline that help protect beaches — until a couple of years ago when those plans were canceled.
“They were steering the ship,” she said.
Caruso, whose constituency moved north as a result of redistricting and now includes Riviera Beach, said he secured five grants for that municipality last year.
Caruso said the Sheriff’s Office, which polices South Palm Beach, needs a command center in town. “Bobby and I got one for Riviera Beach,” he said.
Fischer said one factor complicating matters is that the town has no public beach, so securing funds for beach restoration or sea walls has always been tricky.
“We have a lot of sea walls that are close to collapsing,” Fischer said. “It is a very serious issue in our town.”
Town Manager Jamie Titcomb said his 36 years of traveling to Tallahassee to work with legislators should work to the town’s advantage.
“I have relationships with a lot of people up there,” he said. “What that does is it gets you situational awareness — reading the tea leaves and learning how to synchronize our needs with them to see if we can bring home the bacon.”
Toward that end, Fischer and Titcomb had what Titcomb described as a “positioning” Zoom call days before a meeting with Guaranteed Clean Energy, a fiduciary adviser that pairs schools and municipalities with funding and grant resources that potentially could provide as much as 80% of the Town Hall funding.
“We asked if there were thresholds, what kind of leveraging does that get us in the near future, and that’s where they talked about the 80%,” Titcomb said. “They thought they could get as much as 80% funding for these various programs, so if we have $1 million to spend that could be a $5 million project, just using round numbers.”
In other developments:
• A moment of silence was held to honor the recent passing of Betty Sue Shapiro. Said Fischer, “She was definitely a character and will definitely be missed.” Ms. Shapiro was honored at the town’s ice cream social on July 16.
• Nowlen, Holt & Miner, which has previously served as the town’s accounting firm, was given a two-year term by the council.
• The Sheriff’s Office awarded July 2023 Star Resident Award medals to Mary Varpanis and Kathy Liccardi for their roles in the May 8 lifesaving effort by Deputy Donna Korb in the ocean off South Palm Beach.
• A scheduled presentation from Archetype Homes consultant Erik Scheuermann regarding the Town Hall proposal was postponed. Titcomb said he hopes to reschedule “as soon as their schedule allows.”
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