City Wins One with the Union

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The Unions charges of premature declaration of impasse and failure to provide information were frivolous, unreasonable and groundless when filed" and has recommended to the Public Employers Relations Commission that the City be awarded attorney fees and cost to defend the City Commission contract imposition. See page 49.

Hearing Officer's Recommended Order.

Negotiations with PBSO nearing Successful Conclusion

Message from the City Manager--

At the recent City Commission Work Session, the City Commission directed me to undertake negotiations with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office regarding the Law Enforcement Service Agreement (LESA) for fiscal year 2012. Myself and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw began the negotiations with the express desire to formalize a law enforcement service contract that would maintain the current level of service provided by the Sheriff's Office and be still affordable to the City of Lake Worth.

After two weeks of very detailed and comprehensive discussions, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and I have reached agreement on the terms of the LESA for both fiscal year 2012 and fiscal year 2013. The specific provisions of this agreement are being formalized by the respective staffs of the City and the Sheriff's Office. Both Sheriff Bradshaw and myself anticipate the proposed LESA will be finalized by Wednesday, June 8, 2011.

The proposed LESA was made possible by the collective efforts and commitment of Sheriff Bradshaw, myself, and each of our respective support and command staffs to continue to provide the Lake Worth community with quality law enforcement services, at a fair and affordable price, that protect the safety and welfare of all residents.

I am very much aware and fully understand the real passion and interest of the entire community on this issue, and I would like to urge you all to exercise patience and calmness during the final days of these negotiations in order to have a successful and professional conclusion. I am asking you all to please consider not sending staff, PBSO, City Commissioners and others with emails of concern and support over the next four days. Each member of the City Commission and myself are very aware of the public support for the PBSO contract and I would respectfully request that everyone please respect that Sheriff Bradshaw and myself will be able to firm up the final details of the Agreement for a mutually successful conclusion for both the City and PBSO.

Bob McKnight on Osama

Former state Senator, Bob McKnight and Lake Worth High School alumnus, gives his opinion on the political impact of Osama bin Laden's death.

CRA's new logo for Arts Program

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The CRA's Choice...took 41% of the vote on this blog.


The Winner on Lynn's Little Bit of Trivia with 51%
The CRA says of its choice:
LULA Lake Worth Arts was voted the name for the Arts program formally known as the Cultural Renaissance Program. With the letters LU standing for Lucerne Ave. and LA for Lake Ave., LULA is a perfect fit. Lake Worth is known for its unique downtown and large artistic community. The goal of this program is to support existing local artists, encourage cooperation and build synergy in the arts community. Palm Beach County Cultural Council will be moving to downtown Lake Worth fall 2011.This partnership will add to the concerted effort of the arts community and will create a very unique arts destination. Lake Worth is fortunate in that it is known to be a community with an abundant interest and support for the arts. Through LULA, Lake Worth will soon be the cultural mecca for Palm Beach County.

What a Jerk!

John Edwards indicted.

Fireworks on the 4th in Lake Worth

When does the asking of one question deserve credit for an entire accomplishment? Ask the Lake Worth Herald.

Getting a fireworks display this year can be attributed to several factors. Commissioner Maxwell asked the question, "Can we look into getting fireworks by taking the money from the Special Events fund?" This is the very same commissioner who did not approve the audit or the budget but noticed this fund in it. So, without his question and without the City Commission directing the city manager to look into the possibility, we would not be having fireworks on the 4th. However, the majority of the credit should be given to Kathleen Margoles, the Assistant to the City Manager who fulfilled the last minute request.

Ms. Margoles contacted Zambelli Fireworks, a company in which she has had a long relationship. She was told that they had a last minute cancellation and that they could accommodate Lake Worth's request. Zambelli received verbal approval from the Coast Guard last Friday and City staff will be working on the other permits. The Commission and the public will be informed of the progress at the June 7th meeting.

So a high five and job well done goes to Kathleen Margoles and staff who ran with the request. Sometimes asking a simple question (Commissioner Maxwell's) does get results. Hillary would say, "It takes a village." In our case, it took a team and a staff member who hustled to get it accomplished. Now it will all be up to getting the permitting in time.

Lack of Water contributes to Blight in Lake Worth

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We all know that we have a lot of blight. It is not just in one district of our city but situated in all four corners on almost every street. I consider brown or dead grass blight, as it contributes to the overall negative appearance of our city.

While driving down a couple of streets, Katie and I stopped and took a few photos of some unkempt properties in Lake Osborne Heights, District 1. A few are in the same neighborhood as Commissioner Scott Maxwell whose top priority used to be Code Enforcement until the policing issue came along.

We also noticed that the biggest percentage of the properties seem to be complying with our once a week watering schedule as most had brown grass. Once a week watering is a main reason why our community looks blighted and why all neighborhoods throughout Lake Worth look shabby. No matter how much care you take or how much money you spend, you can never have a green lawn--yards will always look neglected. No one wants to move next door to a" deadbeat," the impression you get when you see a brown, dying or dead lawn.

Homeowner who doesn't know we are on a
once a week watering cycle. We all would
love to have our lawn look like this.

What is totally unfair are other areas outside of our city that buy our water and do not have to comply with Lake Worth's water restrictions.

To get curb appeal and attract home buyers to our city, we must be able to water our grass at least to the point of allowing it to look like green grass, not weeds. It used to be three times a week; then it went down to two and now it is at one day a week. Watering is controlled by the South Florida Water Management District, however, the City Commission has made once a week watering permanent. It has been suggested that even when we have our Reverse Osmosis system on-line, that policy will remain. If so, Lake Worth will always look shabby and blighted.

It's like the guy dying of thirst on the desert--one little dribble of water is not going to keep him alive. And that's what's happening to our city--dying before our very eyes from lack of water. Bring on the rain.

GFOA Award is an Achievement

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Because there are a few who are dissing the recent award received by our City for its comprehensive annual financial report and the recognition received from the GFOA and saying all you have to do is pay a fee and get a certificate of achievement, the following is the answer from the Government Finance Officers Association:

From: John Fishbein
To: lynn113@comcast.net

Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 5:55 PM

Subject: City of Lake Worth, Florida

Lynn:

Not every organization receives an award when they submit their budget. On GFOA's website, under Awards programs -you can see a list of all of the winners and the criteria that we use to judge.

John

From: Lynn Anderson
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 2:06 PM
To: budgetawards@gfoa.org
Subject: City of Lake Worth, Florida

To Whom it May Concern:

The City of Lake Worth recently received a certificate of achievement from your organization. I am wondering about this designation--

1. Do you automatically receive it when you pay a fee? or

2. Does the city budget actually get scrutinized and go through a process of standards set by your organization before a city can receive the recognition?

Understanding that there is a cost to go over a budget, what constitutes receiving a GFOA certificate?

Thanks for your time.

Screaming, Threats & Intimidation pay off

At Tuesday's City Commission meeting there will be eight presentations. First of all I object to the number of presentations. I especially object to Item H. Item H is a presentation from those who are highly emotional and who were organized to keep the PBSO. At the meeting at Compass as well as the meeting at City Hall, members of the community jotted down some "cost saving ideas" to submit to the City before any decision was made regarding the Sheriff and retention of same.

At the meeting on May 25 with the Finance Advisory Board, the city manager, Susan Stanton said that a presentation by these people would be inappropriate in view of the negotiations beginning with the PBSO. Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill said that "it is not in the best interests of the Commission at this time." Commissioner Scott Maxwell, of course, wanted to proceed.

But here it is on the agenda anyway. This is a citizen group that can not stand the word "no." It fights and claws to get its own way. We have heard them on several occasions now. Enough is enough. Reduce your suggestions to writing (some of which are ridiculous) and submit them to the Commission who can, if it so chooses, submit it to the city manager.

In the meantime, let's allow the city manager do her job. Citizens can not do it better.

Remember now, presentations are limited to 10 minutes and the Commission can ask questions.
5. PRESENTATIONS: (there is no public comment on Presentation items)
A. Proclamation declaring Lake Worth as a Florida Paddling Trail Blueway Community
B. Florida Legislative Session update by Representative Jeff Clemens
C. Presentation by the Inspector General
D. Lake Worth Marketing Task Force update
E. Planning & Zoning Board update
F. South Palm Park Neighborhood Association update
G. Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Document Award
H. Presentation from the community regarding PBSO concerns

Ramiccio sends out Press Release

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Town Hall Meeting Event with Mayoral Candidate Tom Ramiccio
Contact: Diana Demarest For Immediate Release
Phone: 561-644-0963
Email: ddemarest@pagepartners.com

Mayoral Candidate Tom Ramiccio will hold a town hall meeting event for residents of Lake Worth on Thursday, June 9th, 2011 at Sacred Heart School in the Madonna Hall from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The address of the venue is 425 North “M” Street in Lake Worth.

“There are many issues impacting our residents and businesses”, said Ramiccio. “I feel it is very important to listen to what is worrying our residents most. I want to hear their ideas about their vision for the future of our city, get to know our residents better and have them get to know me”, Ramiccio said.

“I believe Lake Worth should keep the contracts in place with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. We should not return to the days of costly city-run departments and risk our public safety. We need to address our electric utility and investigate the option of selling our power plant to FPL”, Ramiccio said.

“These issues and many others are the things that I want to speak to residents about. We are at a very critical juncture in our city”, said Ramiccio.

Tom Ramiccio has been a resident of Lake Worth since 1969. He is a former Commissioner, Vice Mayor and Mayor of Lake Worth.

To learn more about his campaign, please visit his website at http://www.Tom4LakeWorth.com.

Cut waste, not Defense - Allen West

Allen West wants more, not less, military spending.

The Heritage Foundation reports: “We have the best soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen the world has ever known…but if they don’t have the right type of strategic goals and objectives, the right type of operational goals and direction that then filter down to the tactical level, it’s like a hamster—no matter how much exertion you are putting into that wheel, you are just not going anywhere,” said West.

West identified four strategic goals he said should be the military’s focus:

1. Deny the enemy sanctuary.
2. Cut off the enemy’s flow of men, materials, and resources.
3. Win the information war.
4. Reduce the enemy’s sphere of influence.

Crime Stats in Lake Worth

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As we continue to pay over $20 million for public safety with the policing being the biggest part of that cost, here are the crime stats, week ending June 1 for 33460

Property Crime 6
Theft 13
Drugs 7
Disorder 6
Family Offense 21
Liquor 9
Robbery 4
Alarm 15
Other 30
Pedestrian Stop 13
Traffic 17
Assault 14

Duck killed on Lake Osborne

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This Mother Muscovy was just run over by a car on Lake Osborne Drive. Something must be done about the speeding on this road. Where is the Sheriff?

Message from FairDistricts

We wanted you to be the first to know that the Justice Department has approved the FairDistricts Amendments. This is great news because it clears the way for full implementation of the new redistricting standards.

Your FairDistricts Amendments have now been approved by the Florida Supreme Court, by the Justice Department, and of course, overwhelmingly by the voters of Florida.

This is your victory - borne of your commitment to fairness in Florida government and your hard work.

Congratulations! I'm thrilled to share this moment with you.

While this is a setback for those who oppose FairDistricts, we know that the Tallahassee politicians will not stop their attempts to continue drawing districts to favor themselves and their political allies. So we cannot rest on this latest victory. We cannot rest until Florida's districts are drawn fairly and approved in court. We need the resources to continue to stand up for the fair districts we have all fought so long and hard for.

Charter School given Special Land Use

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The P&Z met at 6pm tonight at City Hall. They are still meeting as I type.

The first item in the agenda was a request for a Special Land Use to allow a Charter school, Academy for Positive Learning, at 1200 N. Dixie Highway. This building, comprised of 23,460 s.f., was originally a bank and then used for a Pain Clinic.

Concerns were the traffic and the ten portable buildings, 36 and 40 feet long, that will be used for classes while the building is being redesigned over 16 months. There were worries about the surrounding properties, a few of which are residential, the landscaping and more windows on the North Dixie side of the structure. Special conditions were considered of no stacking of cars on 13th Avenue North and a promise from the school for five traffic personnel at key times.

Although most of the Planning & Zoning Board was concerned about the traffic that would be generated twice a day for the 284 students who will be attending, it passed on a 5/2 with Chair Lynda Mahoney and member David Brodie dissenting.

Was there another candidate for Mayor?

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Someone who wanted to run for Mayor

The way I understand it is, Daniel Mulligan tried to file his paperwork with the Supervisor of Elections Office. He never filed with the City Clerk, Pam Lopez. He missed the deadline. He did attend the Orientation last night at City Hall and was there for approximately 5 minutes and left.

Rumor has it he is now going to sue the city.

Mayoral Candidate Debate

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Fire Protection in Lake Worth

Once again, a major contract came before the Commission on March 17, 2009 and a decision had to be made within three days. The questions posed by the Commission were not totally answered and in fact, some commissioners had not even had a chance to read the back-up.

Jo-Ann Golden who was Vice Mayor at that time advised that it would be better if Fire stayed in the city if property values went down. Little did she know how much value would be lost and that we along with the rest of the country would take a long time to come out of a major recession.

The day before this meeting, the County presented the City with the supplemental payment schedule of the agreement: $700,000 for the first two years, $900,000 for the third year and $1.3 million per year for the remaining term. The County also got our equipment. Book value for our equipment was only $500,000 but worth five times that to the City. Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill was against the supplement payments and stated that the agreement was against the best interests of the city.

A big part of the reason to merge were the Pension costs. Under former city manager, Paul Boyer, he recommended that pension benefits increase by 3.73% in 2004. The pension plan turned into a "wealth building benefit for the employees and a burden to the residents." The City now pays 172% of payroll for retirement benefits. Mark Bates, Finance Director, scared the Commission into believing that by merging to the County the costs would be $8.135 million versus $6.8 million with the merger and said that the pension deficit of $13 million would rise without the merger.

Mayor Clemens admitted not even knowing how much was owed on the bond for our fire department building. We would still own it but be responsible for all the costs to maintain it. Clemens seemed to be only worried about how much money the CRA would lose. He was the former Chair of the CRA. He said that the Unions had talked to all the neighborhood associations to let them know what was going on. They told them that the agreement was a "benefit to the city." As it was coming from the Unions, this somehow made it all okay in his mind.

Chief Brice from the County kept pushing the Commission to make a decision and they finally voted 4/1 with Suzanne Mulvehill dissenting. The rest of the commission relied on city manager Bob Baldwin and city attorney Larry Karns to point them in the "right" direction. Retha Lowe admitted not having time to review the agreement but voted for the merger anyway. We always could count on Lowe to go against her better judgment.I was wrong the other night while speaking--Chief Paul Blockson did recommend us going with the County. Karns was eventually fired and Baldwin drifted away to some other city in order to float.

On April 7, 2009, the City Commission approved an Interlocal agreement for Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services with PB County with the idea that the City would be able to reduce spending. Here we are, a little over two years later, once again trying to right the wrongful decision that was made, in a hurry, without proper information. And this is why I continue to harp on the fact that excellent management is the key to our success. We have that now if politics would stay out of it.

The Four

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The four residents running for mayor are as different as night and day.

Tom Ramiccio is the only candidate with experience as an elected official. He wants to sell our greatest asset, Lake Worth Utilities. "I am going to focus on experience," says Tom.

Lisa Maxwell says that she loves this city but wants to give everything away to Palm Beach County--our police and our fire. She favors keeping contracts even if they are unfavorable to Lake Worth and the PBSO contract is just that. "We signed it, we live with it," is her motto.

Javier del Sol is an activist and the only one with the guts to tell the truth--we need our own police department in order to control costs. He believes in strong code enforcement and says it will reduce crime. "We need to get to the roots of our problems," says Javier.

Rachel Waterman is running for office for the first time. Highly educated, she has a strong background in economic development, something that Lake Worth needs. She was a senior planner for Palm Beach County's office of Community Revitalization. "Build on our assets," say Rachel.

2011 Hurricane Season

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How Hurricanes form in the Atlantic Ocean

Season June 1 - November 30
Names of Hurricanes for 2011

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney