Residents pack council meeting, cite safety concerns
Related: South Palm Beach: Man arrested after allegedly attacking mother at Mayfair
By Brian Biggane
When South Palm Beach Vice Mayor Francesca Attardi proposed over the summer that the Town Council move its monthly meetings from afternoon to evening, she never could have anticipated the packed house that showed up for the first 6 p.m. council meeting on Oct. 13.
But the time change had little to do with the turnout.
Two criminal disturbances just 17 days apart — one that ended with a deputy shooting a man dead — prompted a crowd approaching 100 to sit through the council’s comparatively mundane agenda for more than an hour before collectively letting their governing body know their opinion that the contract the town has with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is not sufficient to their needs.
The main complaint with the contract, which was drawn up when the town decided to move from its own police department to hiring the PBSO, revolved around the fact there is only one deputy on duty during the daytime, though Sgt. Mark Garrison is almost always working in the PBSO substation in Town Hall during that time.
The first incident, which occurred on Sept. 17, involved one of Garrison’s deputies, Donna Korb, and resident Rex Magann, who asked for and then demanded Korb’s car and gun before trying to take the gun. The two fought and Magann was shot and killed.
Then, on Oct. 4, police were called to the Mayfair House condominium where officials said Chadwick Chauncey allegedly choked his mother and was threatening her with a knife. Chauncey barricaded himself in a bathroom and PBSO backups arrived within minutes, persuaded him to give himself up and took him into custody, officials said.
Chauncey, 30, was arrested on four charges, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and domestic battery by strangulation, but prosecutors on Oct. 29 decided not to pursue the felony charges and charged him only with resisting an officer without violence.
The contract between the town and the PBSO that was signed in 2019 provides for two deputies on duty through the night but only one during the day, and six officers total. Garrison, who was chief of police before joining PBSO when the change was made, said he had eight on his staff prior to the agreement.
“Based on our call volume, one deputy is assigned (during the day) but backup and additional resources are throughout the county as deemed necessary,” Garrison said.
Kevin Hall, who manages the Palmsea, recalled that the council and the PBSO leadership conducted a workshop in June 2019. He understood from that meeting that the PBSO would have two officers on duty at all times, though he said copies of the contract were never distributed to residents.
Of the incident involving Korb, Hall said, “She had no backup. The fire department ended up being her backup. The fire department is not hired to police, but they had to come because we were waiting for them to come from Boynton Beach, and if that bridge was up, it would be another 10-15 minutes before they got here.”
Another speaker, Danny Maduro, who said he only moved to the town in March, said a minimum of two deputies should always be on duty.
“Borrowed help doesn’t count as our staffing,” Maduro said.
“If (the lone) deputy is tied up on a call, a traffic stop, or a transport, no one assigned to this town is free to answer the next emergency,” he added. “That’s a risk for our residents, our visitors, and the deputy already out there alone.”
Lorraine Fortney, a 42-year resident, also said it’s not enough to have Garrison as the only other officer on duty during the day.
“We need backup today; even when (the first) incident happened, there was no backup, and where does our backup come from? And how far away are they? I’m asking.”
Garrison said the answer is the closest district offices, which are in Lake Worth Beach and west Boynton Beach, and patrol cars are typically closer.
“They also have deputies responsible for the Boynton Inlet on A1A,” he added.
Garrison said finding the balance between how much law enforcement is necessary and keeping costs relatively low is never easy.
“If for some reason they decided to add two, three or more deputies, then the tax dollars start rising for that, and a year down the road we could be having the conversation about why (they) are paying so much money. We’re trying not to have a knee-jerk reaction to everything that happens.”
Mayor Rafael Pineiro concluded the discussion by saying he wants to have “a discussion with all the facts” with PBSO management after the investigation involving the fatality is concluded.
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