$1.1 MILLION CHECK ENDS ROAD ISSUE SEE STORY, PAGE 3
HELP NAME THE NEW CARPATHIAN LYNX SEE STORY, PAGE 7
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TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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Wellington Council Attempts To Settle Differences Between Staff And Equestrians
Volume 43, Number 16 August 12 - August 25, 2022
Serving Palms West Since 1980
READY TO HEAD BACK TO SCHOOL
The Wellington Village Council acted as a mediator Tuesday, Aug. 9, attempting to settle years’ worth of differences that have simmered between village staff members and members of Wellington’s Equestrian Preserve Committee. At issue were revisions to the Best Management Practices (BMPs) that Wellington requires equestrian properties to adhere to. Page 3
Westlake City Council Talks Education And Law Enforcement
Ahead of this week’s opening of Palm Beach County public schools for the 2022-23 school year, Westlake City Council members were focused on education when they met Tuesday, Aug. 2 for their regular monthly meeting. The council named Santa Rosa Lane resident Dr. Anita S. Kaplan to the city’s Education & Youth Advisory Board. Page 4
Cigar Lovers Will Enjoy A Visit To The New Stogies Cigar Lounge
If you are a cigar lover, then you should certainly plan a visit to the newest cigar lounge serving central Palm Beach County. It’s called the Stogies Cigar Lounge, and it is located at 8480 Okeechobee Blvd. Stogies is more than just a venue to go to smoke a cigar. It provides a place to relax, mingle with fellow clients, enjoy a meal, and listen to jazz and blues music. Four months ago, owner Rafael Morera, a longtime cigar smoker and aficionado, opened Stogies Cigar Lounge for business. Page 13
The Village of Wellington held its annual Back-to-School Bash event on Saturday, July 30 at the Wellington Community Center. Hundreds of children pre-selected by the village’s Community Services Department received backpacks filled with school essentials, a school uniform and a new pair of shoes. Shown above, the Jean family came out to enjoy the fun at the back-to-school PHOTO BY CALLIE SHARKEY/TOWN-CRIER event. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5
New Principal Brings TechSavvy Attitude To Polo Park
By Louis Hillary Park Town-Crier Staff Report Water-loving Wellington High School graduate Dr. Jennifer Galindo once had dreams of living on a boat and studying sharks. Now amid the stables, equine estates and sprawling green practice fields along Lake Worth Road, she’s making plans for maintaining and improving one of Palm Beach County’s top schools — Polo Park Middle School — as its new principal. Galindo was named to the post in July after eight years as principal at Grassy Waters Elementary School. “I’m very excited to come back to Wellington. I remember when Polo Park was being built. It was state of the art… and I think it still is. It’s exciting to be part of that,” she said. When Palm Beach County’s public schools opened Wednesday, Aug. 10 for the 2022-23 school
year, Galindo got her first chance this week to see the halls filled with 79 teachers, 40-plus support staffers and almost 1,200 students. Born at Good Samaritan Medical Center, Galindo was raised in Royal Palm Beach, where she attended H.L. Johnson Elementary School and Crestwood Middle School. After graduating from WHS in 1997 and heading off to the University of Florida, she realized that neither marine biology nor public relations were for her. So, she returned to what might be called “the family business” — education. Her mother, Barbara Terembes, was a longtime teacher, assistant principal and administrator with the School District of Palm Beach County. Six weeks into her time in Gainesville, Galindo switched her major to elementary education with a focus on the intermediate grades, four through six. At UF,
Royal Palm Beach Football Team Preps For A New Beginning
There’s a new head football coach roaming the sidelines at Royal Palm Beach High School this fall, and he expects different results in the win-loss column this season after a difficult campaign last year. The Wildcats’ new gridiron leader is Chuck Kenyon, and he is asking his players to trust his vision and give maximum effort. Page 21 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 18 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 SPORTS......................... 21 - 23 SCHOOLS.............................. 24 PEOPLE................................. 25 BUSINESS............................. 27 COLUMNS............................. 28 CLASSIFIEDS................ 29 - 30 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Paul Damico the Fraternal Order of Police and the PBA, the AFL-CIO and the Hispanic Political Action Committee. “My endorsements are over the broad spectrum of everyone,” he said. “For instance, the Na-
By Joshua Manning Town-Crier Staff Report A construction issue that stopped the fluoridation of Wellington’s municipal water system over the past two years will be rectified soon, but Wellington Village Council members are not happy with the fact that they and the general public were not informed of the change. “For me, the most important thing is being transparent with our residents,” Mayor Anne Gerwig said at a workshop session Monday, Aug. 8. “I’m incredibly embarrassed by this.” After a unanimous council vote in 2017, fluoride was re-added to Wellington’s water system, reversing a vote by a previous council. The supplement was added to the
water through a temporary system until May 2020 when the fluoridation system was taken offline temporarily as part of a planned construction project to expand and modernize the village’s water treatment facility. The project was initially scheduled to be completed in September 2020. While the majority of the work was completed under the initial contract, as a result of contractor delays, several aspects of the project fell behind schedule, including the installation of a new, permanent fluoridation system, Village Manager Jim Barnes explained. While the fluoride interruption was originally expected to last 90 See FLUORIDE, page 14
WELLINGTON HOSTS END-OF-SUMMER PARTY
Dr. Jennifer Galindo even first-year students go into schools, and that was all it took for Galindo to know that she had made the right choice. “I fell in love with the classroom and never looked back,” she said. “My time in [Alachua County schools] let me see students from See GALINDO, page 4
Judge Damico Faces Attorney Velez In County Court Race
By Callie Sharkey Town-Crier Staff Report For the first time since his appointment in 2001, Palm Beach County Court Judge Paul Damico finds himself challenged for his Group 9 seat, running a race against attorney Karen Velez. Voters will have the final say Tuesday, Aug. 23 in this rare case of a sitting judge facing an election challenge. “I’ve been a judge for 21 years. It is an honor and a privilege. I was one of 52 people up for the appointment, and I was up for reelection in 2004, only two years later. Not a member of the bar opted to put in against me,” said Damico, who repeated this process in 2010 and 2016. “But I have never believed in these 20 years that I have been entitled to have this seat. I serve at the pleasure of the people.” Damico comes into the race with a wide array of endorsements from organizations such as the IAFF, the Human Rights Council,
Wellington Fluoride Glitch Raises Council Concerns
Karen Velez tional Organization for Women. A member of their panel came to my courtroom on a Friday, watching me preside over a domestic violence case. Saturday, I received their endorsement. I was See COURT, page 7
On Friday, Aug. 5, the Village of Wellington held an end-ofsummer party at Tiger Shark Cove Park in cooperation with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue. Kids were treated to bounce houses, face painting, music, horses and Kona Ice while visiting with PBSO deputies and touring fire-rescue vehicles. Shown above are Mounted Unit deputies Brian Daly and Michael Valenti. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 18 PHOTO BY ERIN DAVISSON/TOWN-CRIER
Groves Council Discusses Solid Waste Issues With Contractor Coastal
By Joshua Manning Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council met with a representative of its solid waste contractor Coastal Waste & Recycling on Tuesday, Aug. 2 and approved an emergency fuel surcharge due to high diesel fuel prices. The council also discussed the future of its recycling program and ways to streamline its vegetation waste removal process. Attending the meeting was John Casagrande, senior vice president of business development for Coastal. While there was considerable discussion, the only action item was regarding the fuel surcharge. An unexpected increase in diesel fuel costs is one of the
contingencies listed in the town’s agreement with Coastal. “This year, as you know, fuel costs have escalated tremendously,” Town Manager Francine Ramaglia said. “The solid waste contract includes a provision for an extraordinary rate increase for fuel. Mr. Casagrande, representing Coastal, sent us a notice of an increase.” Casagrande’s initial request was for an increase of $2.67 per unit, per month for the upcoming year. “After negotiations and other cost-saving measures, the increase was reduced to $1.53 per unit, per month,” Ramaglia said. That rate will stay in place until prices go down, and at the end of the year, actual fuel costs will be See COASTAL, page 4
Mark Bellissimo Announces ‘Wellington 3.0’ Initiative
Mark Bellissimo, managing partner of Wellington Equestrian Partners LLC (WEP), has announced an initiative dubbed “Wellington 3.0” that aims to transform Wellington into the “Equestrian Capital of the World” for sport, commerce and lifestyle. The initiative aims to transform Wellington from the “Winter Equestrian Capital of the World” to a year-round equestrian destination. Bellissimo noted that 2022 was a record year for show jumping, dressage and polo in Wellington. The events attracted more than 5,000 families from 50 states and 43 countries, and contributed an estimated $200 million of annual economic impact to Palm Beach County.
With this success, he said, come challenges and a need for reinvention driven by the growth of the events, new market demands, new competitors and the significant migration of full-time residents to South Florida. According to Bellissimo, the jumping and dressage events are rapidly outgrowing their venues and require significant improvements to support demand and to elevate quality standards. If not addressed, competitors with newer, larger venues will challenge Wellington’s stature as the premier destination. “Our equestrian venues and the events are at the core of our success,” he said. Equestrian Village, the current home of dressage and specialty show jumping events, is not ide-
ally located, creating operational conflicts and inefficiencies of moving thousands of people and hundreds of horses across Pierson Road and South Shore Blvd. daily throughout the winter, he explained. This dynamic creates high levels of unnecessary traffic conflicts and inconveniences to both participants and residents who traverse those two busy roadways. Bellissimo added that there is a significant lack of integrated residential options. The vast majority of Wellington’s housing options were built before 2000, and Wellington is almost at full build-out. There is high demand and limited inventory for a broad range of golfcart accessible residences, which See BELLISSIMO, page 14
The ‘Wellington 3.0’ initiative would greatly expand the size of existing showgrounds.