Boca Raton’s new city council will have its first regular meeting today. Here’s what’s on the agenda:
Creation of a “downtown civic engagement task force”
Mayor Andy Thomson requested the creation of a Downtown Civic Engagement Task Force that, per a memo from City Manager Mark Sohaney, would “facilitate a structured, community-driven process for gathering input regarding the future of Memorial Park and the surrounding public spaces.”
The idea behind the task force is to proceed with a downtown campus plan that begins with community input, as opposed to the Terra/Frisbie proposal that was criticized for moving quickly and with poor communication from the city. Thomson would serve as chair of the nine-person task force, all appointed by the city council.
But a version of this has already been done.
Whatever one thought of the One Boca proposal, it’s undeniable that Terra/Frisbie met residents more than halfway in the development process. Following a series of Terra/Frisbie-hosted listening sessions where residents were invited to provide input, the final One Boca plan was gradually scaled back from 30 acres to 7.8 for private leases and included an enhanced Memorial Park.
If the goal of the Downtown Civic Engagement Task Force is to gather community feedback that will then be incorporated into a plan for the development of the area around the current city hall, arguably that goal was already accomplished by Terra/Frisbie.
Whatever comes of the task force—if the city council moves to create it—the city will still have to make a choice between entering a public-private partnership (P3)—as it did with Terra/Fisbie—or fund construction through voter-approved bonds that will be funded through increases to the property tax. Since a majority of the new city council won their seats due to their opposition to the Terra/Frisbie P3, a deal with developers seems unlikely.
At Monday’s City Council workshop meeting, Councilman Jonathan Pearlman opposed the creation of the task force, arguing, “We don’t need an unelected blue ribbon commission, we should be listening to all the people that elected us.”
Any findings from the task force—which would be appointed by elected officials—would ultimately go before the city council. Pearlman argued that the task force would create “layers” between constituents and elected officials.
On the contrary, constituents could be appointed to the task force.
The council will vote on the creation of the task force tonight.
Memorial Park
The City Council will also consider the replacement of the dedication plaque at Memorial Park that bears the name of the former city council.
Memorial Park became a linchpin of the Save Boca movement which incorrectly claimed that the park was dedicated to World War II veterans. The resolution will replace the plaque with one that “reflects the park’s original designation in 1947, including the members of the Town Council serving at that time” and “acknowledges the sustained civic advocacy and community engagement of residents of the City of Boca Raton in 2025 and 2026 regarding the preservation and future of Memorial Park”—meaning Save Boca.
Per a staff memo, the request comes from “several Council Members.”
What’s not on the agenda
One thing that will not be in the agenda for today’s meeting is the adoption of Save Boca’s ordinance that would require a referendum vote for any sale of lease of city-owned land that is larger than a half-acre.
At yesterday’s workshop meeting, Pearlman, founder of Save Boca, put forward a motion to put the ordinance on tonight’s agenda. Weeks ago, a lawsuit was dropped that would have prevented the ordinance from going on a future ballot to be approved or rejected as a charter amendment. The council was considering how to now move forward with the Save Boca proposals, for which City Attorney Joshua Koehler outlined three options: Adopt the ordinance as is; take no action and let the court decide; make changes to the ordinance and send it to voters.
“To do anything different than putting this charter amendment to the voters is a violation of our mandate and the mission that we entrusted by the voters to carry out,” said Pearlman. “It’s insane to me that we’re saying to ourselves now, maybe the voters didn’t know what they were doing.”
Thomson countered, “I at no point suggested that the people didn’t know what they were doing. They were seeking to have protections places on the alienation of city-owned land.” This could be accomplished, the mayor said, by “taking a little bit of time and thinking through some potential improvements to that language.”
The rest of the council—except Pearlman—agreed. The language would have to be amended with considerations for nonprofit expansions, utility easements, and more.
“I would like to see some protections put in there, such as hospice,” said City Councilor Stacey Sipple, who was part of the Save Boca slate.
Citing similar charter amendments in other Florida cities that put the lease or sale of public land to a vote, Pearlman re-entered the motion to put adoption of the ordinance on today’s agenda. No one seconded.
A repeated, unfounded claim
During Pearlman’s argument for putting the Save Boca ordinance on tonight’s agenda, he again cited the will of “75 percent of Boca voters” who were against the One Boca proposal. According to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, only about 30 percent of registered voters in Boca cast a a ballot in the March 10 election. Pearlman has not responded to requests for comment on how the 75 percent figure was determined.
A bizarre demand
At Monday’s workshop meeting, Pearlman put forward five motions and at each time had to be reminded by Thomson that workshop meetings are not for passing motions or resolutions; they’re for workshopping ideas. The most bizarre motion requested by Pearlman was one to halt construction of a playground at Lake Wyman Park.
The construction would displace a softball field and replace it with a ADA-compliant equipment for children with disabilities to play at the park. The city paid virtually nothing for construction, instead using more than $1 million from a Community Development Block Grant. To halt construction—which has been contracted but hasn’t begun—would mean losing the grant and having the city possibly be on the hook for paying out the contract with the construction firm.
Pearlman made a motion to have the city manager investigate whether construction could be halted while still preserving the grant. He received no second.
Some good news
Last week the City of Boca Raton was presented with two prestigious awards.
For the 19th consecutive year, the City’s Purchasing Division was honored with the Award of Excellence in Public Procurement from the Florida Association of Public Procurement Officials. Per a news release, the award recognizes “excellence in innovation, professionalism, productivity, and leadership.” Boca is one of 25 agencies throughout the state to receive the award.
Boca’s Office of Management & Budget was also awarded the 2026 Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association, an award its won for 43 consecutive years. Per the news release, the award “highlights the team’s work producing a budget document that serves as a clear, transparent, and effective policy and financial planning tool.”
