Tom Carney is the mayor of Delray Beach. Regularly, though, City Commissioner Juli Casale appears to behave as if she is the mayor. It happened again during Tuesday’s meeting.
City Manager Terrence Moore wanted $20,000 for a consultant to examine the code enforcement department. The issue arose last month after the arrest of a Delray Beach code enforcement officer; Khatoya Markia Wesley was charged with four counts related to her alleged demand for money from two residents for helping them get around accusations of code violations. Wesley was placed on leave, then fired. Moore said it was because of “policy violations,” not the arrest.
At the Oct. 15 meeting, Casale demanded a response from the administration. At the Nov. 4 meeting, Assistant City Manager Jeff Oris gave a rundown of the Code Enforcement department. Casale wanted more. Were other employees “out there extorting people?”
Moore came back Tuesday asking to hire Calvin, Giordano & Associates, which works for the city in other areas. Casale again took charge of the discussion.
Why not wait for the report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG), which is reviewing the Wesley case? Why not let the city’s Human Resources department do the work instead of spending money on a consultant?
Moore replied that there is no timetable for the OIG report. Calvin, Giordano & Associates, Moore said, could provide an outside look.
“I would really appreciate” a yes vote, Moore said. He could have answers “in a few weeks. I’m really anxious to do what I can.”
But with Commissioner Rob Long absent, the commission deadlocked 2-2. Carney and Commissioner Angela Burns sided with Moore, who said he would work with Human Resources.
This issue might seem minor. From watching the meetings since the new commission took office in March, though, it exemplified the recurring tension between Carney and Casale.
Casale ran as part of a slate with Carney and Markert. Though they called themselves “Tom, Tom and Juli,” Casale was more like Carney’s frenemy.
Carney appealed to business owners. Casale’s political faction, led by former Mayor Shelly Petrolia, is more anti-development and pro-historic preservation. But that faction is aligned against former Commissioner Ryan Boylston. He was Carney’s opponent last March. Support for Carney was a marriage of political convenience.
Though the manager runs the city, the mayor sets the agenda and runs the meetings. Carney can cut off speakers who run past their allowed time. He can cut off repetitive, time-wasting questions from commissioners.
On Tuesday, though, Carney let Casale continue with what amounted to haranguing of Moore. It’s a pattern.
There was the time Casale pulled four items from the consent agenda for “discussion” that amounted to haranguing of the former chief financial officer. None of her questions turned up anything of note, but they did waste 25 minutes. Again, Carney did not intervene.
Fortunately, Carney didn’t allow Casale to prolong discussion of Moore’s evaluation. She gave him the lowest grade, but Carney swiftly called for a vote on Moore’s raise. Even Casale voted for it.
Casale sided with Carney on budget cuts. Like Carney, she has criticized the contract with the firefighters’ union. But I’m told that the alliance is uneasy, and that people wonder why Carney sometimes seems to let Casale set her own agenda.
I believe that the next flashpoint will be over the proposed historic designation for Atlantic Avenue. Carney seems to be opposed. Casale likely will favor it. The topic came up at the end of Tuesday’s meeting, with Casale again interrupting Carney as he tried to make his point.
Moore stepped in to mediate. It may not be the last time.
No charges filed against former Delray Beach code enforcement officer
On Nov. 7, Wesley was released from jail after the state attorney’s office did not file charges.
A spokesman said, “Our office did not file charges because we did not have all of the evidence to prove the crimes.” If more evidence emerges, the office could review the case again.
Boca approves plans for apartment complex
The Boca Raton City Council on Tuesday approved plans for an apartment complex on a crowded street, calling it part of a larger plan to reduce traffic.
The Villas at Boca Raton is a 120-unit project that will include 22 three-story buildings, a clubhouse and a pool at 2600 Northwest Fifth Avenue. Residents of the single-family home neighborhood east of the site asked the council to deny approval.
One resident called the street east of Florida Atlantic “a speedway.” Another called it “a nightmare.” Traffic gets especially bad, they said, during pickup and drop-off at J.C. Mitchell Elementary School to the south. Adding as many as 300-plus cars of tenants would make things worse.
Council members, though, noted that the developer will help the city complete a plan to improve 13 blocks of Fifth Avenue in that area. In two years, work to expand the road from two lanes to four lanes will begin. New trees will be 45 feet tall. The area will be friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists. Bioswales will collect and filter rainwater. Though the developer gets more density, there will be fewer units than a previous proposal for the site that the council rejected.
The city, they also said, needs housing like this. Fran Nachlas said Boca Raton has few three-bedroom rentals. This project will have some. Vice Mayor Yvette Drucker said, “We need more of this product,” aimed at young professionals and, very likely, Florida Atlantic students.
One speaker said the project would degrade a blighted area. Council members said the vacant property itself is blight, and the project will combat it. Approval was unanimous.
Boca approves contract for new city attorney
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the council approved a contract for new City Attorney Joshua Koehler.
He will make $285,000. He would get a maximum of 20 weeks’ pay if fired. Koehler’s predecessor, Diana Frieser, is getting $437,000 after leaving six months before her planned retirement under a contract that the council approved in 2011. State law now caps severance at 20 weeks.
Rankings for local high schools
There was a mild surprise in the latest U.S. News and World Report high school rankings.
It was no surprise that the publication placed Alexander Dreyfoos in West Palm Beach and Suncoast in Riviera Beach first and second in Palm Beach County. They are magnet schools that attract high-performing students. They usually rank highest.
Boca Raton High, though, usually had come just after them. This time, Spanish River was third and West Boca was fourth. Then came Jupiter High. Boca Raton was sixth. At 54 out of 100, however, Boca Raton did score higher than West Boca and Jupiter on college readiness.
Olympic Heights ranked ninth in the county, with a college readiness of 41.1 and a graduation rate of 100%. Spanish River’s graduation rate also was perfect. Atlantic High in Delray ranked 11th among traditional high schools. Its graduation rate was 89%, and its college readiness was 30.5.
Florida Atlantic names interim head football coach
Florida Atlantic named Chad Lunsford its interim head football coach as the school seeks a successor to Tom Herman, who was fired Monday after going 6-16 in two seasons.
Coincidentally, as The Athletic reported, three other schools with owl mascots—Rice, Temple and Kennesaw State—are seeking new coaches. The publication ranks the Florida Atlantic job highest among those four, at B-minus.
According to published reports, one possible candidate is Charlie Weis, Jr., the offensive coordinator at Mississippi. He works for Lane Kiffin, who led Florida Atlantic to 27 victories from 2017 to 2019 and is the most successful coach since FAU started football two decades ago.
