Since 2012, Delray Beach has had nine city managers.

Since 1999, Boca Raton has had one.

Leif Ahnell retires on Dec. 31 as Boca Raton’s CEO. Across the city are many visible amenities that were added on his watch: rebuilt and expanded fire stations, two libraries, a Brightline station.

Just as important, though, Ahnell was fixated on necessities that residents can’t see.

During Ahnell’s tenure, multiple tropical storms and hurricanes overwhelmed some cities’ flood-control systems. Water service failed. Sewage backed up. Nothing close to that happened in Boca Raton, where Ahnell has made sure to invest regularly in the underground network of pipes that provide some of the most basic city services.

Ahnell’s background is in finance. As city manager, he became a certified public accountant. All of Boca Raton’s bond programs carry the highest credit rating, which saves taxpayers millions on borrowing costs. In 2003, the city annexed Town Center Mall and the surrounding area—a project that then-Mayor Steve Abrams calls “incredibly complicated.”

Not surprisingly, Ahnell kept a similarly low profile. He rarely talked to reporters. He didn’t attend community events, leaving that to city council members. Ahnell missed his final council meeting last week because he was using vacation time before retirement. He declined all requests for interviews.

But Abrams, who as mayor worked with Ahnell from 2001 to 2008, said that public persona was deceiving. On the job, Ahnell was “an incredible problem-solver.”

Abrams most recalled the three hurricanes of 2004-05. In those pre-GPS days, Ahnell gathered department heads at the emergency operations center. Before them was a map of the city. As calls came in, Ahnell sent employees to fix problems.

“He looked like Gen. Eisenhower,” Abrams said.

After Wilma in 2005, the immediate crisis was a gasoline shortage. Ahnell, Abrams said, secured a tanker in Virginia and sent two city police cars to escort it.

There was more. Knowing that employees might have trouble getting money because of prolonged power failures, Ahnell created a temporary credit union. He created a temporary day-care center by assigning employees who couldn’t work to entertain the children of those who had to work.

Hurricanes were just one crisis that Ahnell and the city faced. In 2001, just after 9/11, an employee at a Boca Raton company died after opening a letter dusted with anthrax. The public feared that it was a second attack from the terrorists who attacked New York and Washington.

In 2008, the financial crisis hit. Real estate values plummeted, and so did property tax revenue. In 2020 came the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though it all, Ahnell remained what current Mayor Scott Singer called “a true professional.” Even during the financial crisis, Ahnell kept the property tax rate low. That has given council members cover and protected Ahnell from the kind of political turmoil that gets managers fired.

It’s an impressive record, and not just one of longevity. Yet Deputy City Manager George Brown, who will succeed Ahnell, said, “Leif would be the first to tell you that it was the team that made it happen.” 

For most of these 24 years, Ahnell worked for successive councils that largely deferred to him. The council long ago stopped giving Ahnell written, yearly evaluations.

More recently, Singer and the council have been less deferential. This has been especially true with planning and development, which is not one of Ahnell’s strengths. The city went through several development services directors before hiring Brandon Schaad in 2016. After several misfires, the city committed to a communications department in 2015.

Brown said Ahnell “is a very funny guy” who “takes a little time get to know people.” He prides himself, Brown added, on having assembled a management team that will remain intact as Brown takes over. Singer said Ahnell “has a very high regard for the staff.”

Brown hopes the public “will come to know better” those staff members “that work for them every day.” Many residents may know little about Ahnell, even though he has worked for the city since 1990. If they like living in Boca Raton, however, they know what he accomplished.

Delray police respond to homeless complaint

In early September, employees of Caffe Luna Rosa in Delray Beach vented to the city commission about homeless people near the beachfront restaurant.

They were taking food from the plates of people dining outsider. They were urinating in public. They had taken over the pavilion. They were harassing Caffe Luna Rosa employees.

More recently, those same employees returned to the commission chambers. This time, though, they had come to thank the police department for its response. I spoke with Chief Russ Mager about that response.

“Did I like it that it happened that way in a meeting?” Mager said. “No.” But he empathized with the complainants, and the department moved to address the problem.

As Mager said three months ago, the city has identified Delray Beach’s roughly 100 chronically homeless persons. Of those, Mager said, between 15 and 20 are “problem children” responsible for most of the complaints.

The problem, he said, moved east—from the 500 block of West Atlantic Avenue to Old School Square, to Worthing Place, to Veterans Park and finally over the bridge. “There was no intent to push it,” Mager said.

But the pattern is familiar to chiefs everywhere. The department then carried out what Mager called “a full-court press” on the beach. with greater presence at all times. Improvements followed “almost immediately.” As Mager said, “It’s not a crime to be homeless.” In this case, though, people were committing crimes.

For now, Mager said, the problem has not resurfaced.

Boca neighborhoods targeted by thieves

Last week, during two meetings, Boca Raton residents also confronted council members and the police department over a different crime problem—auto thefts.

Those residents live in the Golden Harbor and Golden Triangle neighborhoods on either side of Northeast Fifth Avenue and north of Palmetto Park Road. Organized gangs, speakers said, are targeting the neighborhoods at all hours. Cars had been taken out of garages. Among the losses beyond the vehicles were $10,000 in cash and two guns.

One speaker blamed Boca Raton’s “soft on crime” policy. Among other things, residents complained that police officers didn’t pursue stolen vehicles. Instead, they give them “an escort out of our city.”

Police Chief Michelle Miuccio denied the “soft on crime” accusation. Deputy City Manager George Brown said Boca Raton, like most police departments, allows vehicle pursuits only if an officer suspects a serious felony.

Brown cited an incident that happened in 2015. An officer approached a stolen car near City Hall. The driver took off and crashed into a car. At the wheel was a mother on the way to pick up her child. The mother was killed.

Of the thefts in Golden Harbor and the Golden Triangle, Brown said, “More is being done than is apparent.” Arrests may be imminent.

Boca Raton is not alone. Thieves live outside the city. They come in stolen cars and target upscale neighborhoods. Unfortunately, however, some residents make things easier by failing to lock their cars.

Miuccio, Brown and Singer acknowledged, as Singer said, that the city “can communicate better.” But they also stressed the need for prevention.

According to the police department, 93 percent of vehicles stolen this year in Golden Harbor and the Golden Triangle were unlocked. Citywide, the figure is 71 percent. City officials also suggested that leaving cash and guns in cars is a bad idea.

PBC Ethics Commission dismisses final Rob Long complaint

The Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics has dismissed the final complaint filed against Delray Beach City Commissioner Rob Long by an ally of Mayor Shelly Petrolia.

Chris Davey, former chairman of the planning and zoning board, had filed state and county complaints against Long in January. Long had filed to challenge Juli Casale, whom Petrolia was supporting.

Davey accused Long of corruption for not recusing himself from votes as a member of the planning and zoning board. Those votes were on projects represented by an attorney who had referred clients to Long’s marketing firm.

But none of the references were for work in Delray Beach, and a member of the city’s legal department had said Long did not have a conflict of interest and thus could vote. Davey also admitted under oath that he helped to threaten Long with public disclosure of those votes if he did not drop out of the race.

The Florida Commission on Ethics also found no merit to the complaint. The results support Long’s contention that the complaints were politically motivated.

Abusive Boca Middle School teacher fired

As expected, Palm Beach County School Board members last week approved Superintendent Mike Burke’s recommendation to fire a Boca Raton Middle School teacher. Victor Lopez had placed students in a headlock and referred by such names as “Oompa Loompa.” An administrative law judge had recommended suspension.

Future uncertain for FAU’s president search

Florida Atlantic University staff and students go into 2024 with only a bit more knowledge about what will happen with FAU’s search for a president.

As expected, the Board of Governors last week ordered a new search because of problems laid out in a report by the State University System’s inspector general. That search can’t even begin, though, until the board clarifies rules for how committees conduct such searches.

FAU has been without a permanent president for a year. The board’s next meeting is Jan. 24. Perhaps those changes will be ready for approval. The next scheduled meeting is Feb. 21.

Meanwhile, Interim President Stacy Volnick can’t fill any of the other top interim positions— chief operating officer, chief academic officer, dean of undergraduate studies, vice president for fundraising. At this rate, FAU would be lucky to have a permanent president on the job by late summer.

The board’s wish to clarify those policies supports the argument that the board interpreted the report in the way most critical of Brad Levine. He chairs the trustees and also named himself to chair the search committee. One change would prevent such dual roles. After all the back and forth, the most relevant charge against Levine seems to be that he withheld information from other search committee members.

In addition, board members suggested that FAU General Counsel David Kian might deserve punishment for helping a committee member prepare a newspaper commentary that defended the search. But there were no details on how such punishment would happen or what it might be.

Board members congratulated themselves last week for their actions since the university system chancellor halted the search five months ago. The FAU community might not share that sentiment.