The Town Council moved swiftly Oct. 25 to appoint former Councilman Robert Gottlieb to serve the remaining five months of Lillybeck’s term.
“I had to resign out of economic necessity,” said Lillybeck, 60. “My business needed me to step up. It made no sense to shuttle back and forth.”
Lillybeck’s family has operated Donut Delite in Moline, Ill., since 1979 and owner Lillybeck has been part of the management team since 1982.
“I love South Palm Beach. I’m going to miss it. I made a lot of friends there,” Lillybeck said from her chilly Illinois home.
Her husband, Steve, has launched an Internet-based construction equipment business that can operate anywhere.
“Do you think I want to spend the winter in Illinois?” she said in her signature raspy voice.
Lillybeck lived in South Palm Beach for six years. “I always had the good of the town at heart. I’m sure they will find a good person to step in,” she said. She said she did not offer any advice on who her successor should be.
“We will really miss Susan with her drive and determination,” said Councilman Joseph Flagello. “She was really starting to come into her own. We will miss her dry sense of humor.”
“Sue had excellent principles and we held her in high esteem,” said Councilwoman Stella Jordan. “Now we need to move on.”
The council moved on to Gottlieb, who served 3½ years on the council beginning in 2005. The town charter requires the council to appoint a new member if less than six months remain in the term for the vacated seat, rather than hold a special election.
“We have a pro-active, composed, fair, impartial and logical individual with all these traits evident during his prior service on the council,” Jordan said.
“I will represent every person and business in this town to the best of my ability,” Gottlieb said after he was sworn in.
A retired yarns and crafts manufacturer, Gottlieb, 71, was first elected in 2005 by a four-vote margin and re-elected two years later. He resigned in October 2008 for health reasons. He said his prostate cancer is currently under control.
In other business, the Town Council voted unanimously to relinquish fire safety inspections to Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue, which handles fire-rescue for the town.
As a result, the town’s 28 condominiums will pay an estimated $100 to $150 annually for the inspections. Town police did not charge for the inspections.
Police Chief Roger Crane and Town Manager Rex Taylor said the drop in police personnel from nine to eight officers, resulting shift changes and the elimination of most overtime for training made the change necessary.
Under the 2004 agreement with Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue, the town had the right to transfer fire inspections to the county’s fire department with 90 days notice. But, for the past seven years, town police performed the annual fire safety inspections.
“They want their inspectors to do the inspections. It’s their people who will go into the buildings (in case of fire),” Crane said of the county’s fire-rescue department.
Jordan questioned the transfer, but Crane said the lieutenant who usually performs the inspections is hamstrung because he must also oversee officer training, which was previously done off-hours with overtime pay.
Jordan asked that condominium managers be notified of the change “so there isn’t fallout.”
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