Planning for the worst a good thing
How lucky we were with Hurricane Matthew.
On Thursday afternoon, as much of South Florida waited behind shutters and impact-resistant windows, I texted Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie at the city’s emergency operations center on Congress Avenue. Haynie said the word was that winds in Boca Raton and Delray Beach would top out at 90 miles per hour sometime after midnight. That’s Category 1 strength, but forecasters warned that even a slight shift west could make conditions much more dangerous.
As it turned out, Matthew moved more quickly and more north than west that afternoon. The worst winds were on the east side of the storm. On Friday morning, some residents might have wondered why governments and large employers were closed. IPic sent an email to say that the theater complex was open.
But let’s have no second-guessing. Let’s hear no complaints that we got a brush and not a blow. It’s a cliché, but government must plan for the worst, and on Tuesday afternoon the worst looked possible.
For cities, two storm priorities are keeping the water flowing and the sewer system running. Boca Raton places generators near lift stations—they move sewage through the system—before storms and, if power goes out, rotates them until power returns.
“We were juggling generators after Wilma,” Haynie said of the pre-Halloween 2005 hurricane. This time, the power stayed on. The city’s utility department near Florida Atlantic University has a generator and fuel to keep the water pressure up during power failures.
Delray Beach didn’t lose power, but the storm damaged the already inadequate air-conditioning system at City Hall. Some departments were closed Monday. There’s $500,000 in this year’s budget for a new system.
For those of us who went through Frances and Jeanne in 2004 and Wilma the next year, however, it was wonderful to worry only about sore muscles from carrying stuff in and out of the house.
P&Z rescheduled
Hurricane Matthew caused Boca Raton to postpone last Tuesday night’s Community Appearance Board and last Thursday’s Planning and Zoning Board review of Mizner 200, the 384-unit downtown condo project. The next Planning and Zoning Board meeting is Nov. 3.
Good news on pension board
While Boca Raton wasn’t doing business Tuesday night, the Delray Beach City Commission was getting in its meeting before the storm. The meeting was productive.
The city’s pension attorney told the commission that, after two months, the Florida Division of Retirement had agreed that Delray Beach’s new public safety pension program would enable the city to continue receiving about $1.8 million from a state program toward fire and police pension systems. The commission then approved the changes 4-1, with Shelly Petrolia dissenting, she said, because the state approval was not yet in writing.
Pension issues are complicated, but the simple fact is that two years ago Delray Beach had unaffordable fire and police pension programs. Without changes, the city would have faced increasingly larger contributions to the funds – contributions that would have required the commission to raise taxes or cut services.
Changes that the city and unions negotiated will reduce that so-called “unfunded liability.” The change that was at issue with the state, however, could have even more important effects.
A nine-member board had overseen the combined fire/police pension fund. Commissioners complained that the board representation favored the union and kept too many decisions independent of the city, which is responsible for shortfalls from bad decisions.
Now, there are separate police and fire pension boards. The union picks two members, the city picks two members, and those four will choose a fifth. In addition, the boards must use the same administrators as the general employees fund, which has been much sounder.
With the new arrangement, Delray Beach can leverage the $250 million combined fund assets to get better deals from financial advisers and actuaries. The city’s legal department will do more of the work. Delray Beach expects expense savings and better returns, which would further reduce the potential for shortfalls.
Pension reform is arcane, tedious and vital. What Delray Beach did may become a model for Florida cities.
CRA and Creative City news
I reported last week on the new five-year lease between Delray Beach and Creative City Collaborative, the parent organization of Arts Garage. There’s also a new financial arrangement between Creative City and the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.
The CRA has reimbursed Arts Garage for the cost of programming, because the performances bring people downtown. Like the city commission, however, the CRA had questioned Arts Garage’s previous management. The CRA had delayed some payments for last year and had not approved an agreement for the budget that began Oct. 1.
Two weeks ago, that approval came, but it came with conditions. Arts Garage will get $275,000, a slight increase over the previous annual amount. That would be roughly 20 percent of Arts Garage’s budget.
Only $170,000, though, will come at first. The remaining $105,000 would depend on Arts Garage submitting by April 1 a reorganization plan that would “streamline expenses with other organizations in the community.” Arts Garage also must track attendance to show that programming appeals to African-American and Hispanic audiences, not just white patrons.
First Night scales back
There will be changes to another event in downtown Delray Beach.
This time, it’s First Night, which takes place on New Year’s Eve and has grown to the point where it has become costlier in terms of public service and harder for the city to staff, since few employees want to work that night. Unlike the organizer of some privately-run festivals, however, the cooperative’s Stephanie Immelman came to last week’s commission meeting ready to compromise. Immelman, Mayor Cary Glickstein said, “has been willing to think differently about sacred cows.”
Starting this year, First Night will be at one location – Old School Square Park—and will end at 9 p.m. “Making it smaller, local and family-focused,” Glickstein said, “will make it better for residents, businesses and staff.”
Lake Wyman/Rutherford Park
With luck, Boca Raton’s second attempt to improve Lake Wyman/Rutherford Park will succeed. That attempt can get a boost today.
At a workshop meeting, the city council will hear a presentation on the new plan. Five years ago, opposition from neighbors in Golden Harbour Estates killed a Lake Wyman makeover. The new approach is designed to maximize the improvement and minimize opposition.
Timing is one issue. The city hopes that the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND)—check for that line on your property tax bill—contributes some serious money. The city wants to put a launch for non-motorized boats at the northern end of the park, and FIND supports efforts that increase access to the Intracoastal Waterway. The launch also would be at the other end of the park from Golden Harbour Estates.
Mayor Susan Haynie said the city would need to request the money from FIND in April. “Their participation would be major.” Another player could be Palm Beach County, but that part gets complicated.
The county wants to create mangrove islands, like those along the downtown West Palm Beach waterfront. Lake Wyman/Rutherford could be an ideal place. Councilman Mike Mullaugh, though, recalled that in 2011 Golden Harbour residents objected to a possible “manatee-friendly” zone because it might attract mosquitoes. “But that would have been moving water,” Mullaugh said. Mosquitoes breed only in standing, fresh water.
Mullaugh and Haynie said they would welcome county participation if it didn’t pose problems. Both, however, said FIND’s participation is much more important. Haynie said the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District also might participate. Still another issue is the homeless people who live in the area.
Lake Wyman/Rutherford, Haynie said, “has been untouched for many years. It’s underutilized. We have not created an ecotourist attraction. We need to rethink the whole park.”
One priority must be to re-create the trails for canoes and kayaks among the mangroves. They silted up and became unusable many years ago. “Whatever we do,” Haynie said, “will require some aggressive maintenance,” which could be another reason to involve the beach and park district.
I have reported on the idea of moving the city’s motorized boat launch from Silver Palm Park to Lake Wyman/Rutherford. Haynie said a motorized launch would require a much more complicated permitting process. For now, a non-motorized launch at Lake Wyman is “doable and permittable.” Later, the city “could explore” expanding the use to motorized boats.
Mullaugh believes that opposition to a Lake Wyman plan “has died down.” Yet he would he “happy to see any adjustment” that would let the work begin. And with opponents of a restaurant on the Wildflower property acting as if Boca Raton’s future depends on a 2-acre pocket park, let’s see support for restoration of what should be one of Boca Raton’s great parks.
Scheduling note
The regular meeting of the Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency and that council workshop will take place at 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. today, respectively. The change is to accommodate Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown.
