Tomorrow's Lake Worth City Commission Agenda

Comment Up
Enterprise Zone
I object to the desire of this commission to have an enterprise zone that includes most of the city. Besides the absurdity of that, the part that disturbs me the most is that an unelected and appointed board is being given way too much power and the sustainability Director wants to make the entire city of Lake Worth an Enterprise zone. As someone said, this is nothing more than another CRA on steroids.

The Worst is: d) To borrow money and apply for and accept advances, loans,grants, contributions, and any other form of financial assistance from the Federal Government or the state, county, or other public body or from any sources, public or private, for the purposes of the Act, and to give such security as may be required and to enter into and carry out contracts or agreements in connection therewith; and to include in any contract for financial assistance with the Federal Government for or with respect to the development of the enterprise zone and related activities such conditions imposed pursuant to federal laws as the city commission deems reasonable and appropriate which are not inconsistent with the purposes of this section.

Sub-Regional Sewer System Dispute
Susan Stanton discovered that six municipalities plus Palm Beach State College had not paid what they owed to Lake Worth  because of improper billing or the lack of billing on the part of the city.  This lack of billing and subsequent non-payment by all of the municipalities started in 2007.

It was said then that these cities, all six of them plus Palm Beach State College, owe us to the tune of $10,418,237. We have been trying to collect this money for over 5 years. And again—we have not been able to collect nor have we been able to negotiate one darn dime and the cities even became belligerent. They sought help from Trella White, League of Cities lawyer, who is well known on giving cities advice to fight its citizens. This time it was advice against Lake Worth.

The Municipalities have disputed the amounts claimed by Lake Worth and in 2010 Lake Worth sued  to recover these funds. As required by state law, the Parties convened a chapter 164 proceeding, which resulted in the preparation and issuance of the City of Lake Worth’s Subregional Sewer System Operational Audit in July 2012, as completed by the State of Florida Auditor General (hereafter the “Auditor General”).

After the Auditor General completed its report and submitted a copy to Lake Worth, Pam Triolo, the Mayor of Lake Worth, sent a letter to the Auditor General acknowledging the facts presented in the report. With the policy of this commission to settle all suits whenever possible, Lake Worth  decided to settle its differences, and modify certain terms and conditions of the Subregional Contracts.

Lake Worth is settling for $4,517,594 with Lake Worth's share of that at $3,872,838.