Highlights from Lake Worth City Commission meeting

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HIGHLIGHTS from Tuesday night's City Commission Meeting--at least the LW Herald editor was not called out as a "terrorist!"

1.  PRESTON SMITH, Atheist.  He is a school teacher in the public school system.  No one can get any information even through the Freedom of Information Act.  School teachers are privacy protected. However, I find it incredible that the public can't get a biography of Mr. Smith. I would like to know who is teaching our kids.

2.  VARIANCES:  All you have to do is ask for one and you will get it. One was given at 728 North Lakeside Drive (Bob Lepa, friend of this commission) and the other was granted to the owner of 1752 North Lakeside Drive.

3.  BOUTWELL ROAD:  Ownership and responsibility of road transferred from the county to Lake Worth. No cost estimates given of future maintenance.

4.  FLOOD INSURANCE:   We are spending $13,478 to ensure the golf course barn insured for $231,100 and contents worth $346,500.

5.  EVENTS LIABILITY INSURANCE:  Policy with Plastridge Insurance as the agency, (Brendan Lynch is CFO and producer) in the amount of $29,730.89.

5.  AFFORDABLE/WORKFORCE HOUSING:  119 units to be built by Affordable Housing Solutions. The city granted them a variance to build on the 4.71 acres.  Lake Osborne area will be known as the affordable housing capital of south Florida. This commission has approved of more affordable housing than any other past commission. Some might think this is a good thing.

6.  ELECTION COST OF AUGUST 26, 2014.  The City held an election on August 26  to approve a general obligation bond in the amount of $63.5 million for infrastructure. The city lost. The commission agreed to pay for the cost of the election in the amount of $1,957.49 but vetoed the cost reimbursement for the Supervisor of Elections legal costs.  Although the City instigated the legal costs but won the opinion from the Florida Elections Commission on counting the 14 provisional ballots (which did not make a difference in the outcome of the election), the  city will be sending the Supervisor of Elections a bill for their legal expenses. The question is, what were the legal fees charged to Lake Worth by our city attorney to take on the SOE in order to soothe the emotions of this commission for losing the election?

7.  OBTAINING A VALUATION ON OUR ELECTRIC UTILITY:  (a) The Fair Market Value Appraisal seeks to determine a price for the Lake Worth Electric Utility System serving approximately 26,000 customers in the Southeast Florida market.  The cost for this analysis is $85,000. (b) The Economic and Financial Value of the Electric System seeks to obtain an economic value to the City of Lake Worth. Cost $46,000. Both agreements were tabled until January 20th meeting.

We have wanted to know the value of our utility for years now and I am all for obtaining an appraisal in spite of the fact we can not sell the utility now because of other contractual obligations in effect with Stanton coal and St. Lucie Nuclear. We need to know the value of this asset before we can even think about ever  selling it and then adjust it up or down at the appropriate time, if that ever occurs. The present value might be a big surprise to everyone. This is a small price to pay to know where we presently stand and if it will ever be feasible to sell it.

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant