OSTROV EYES WELLINGTON COUNCIL SEAT SEE STORY, PAGE 3
PAFFORD: PAY ATTENTION TO TALLAHASSEE SEE STORY, PAGE 13
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE
Volume 30, Number 24 October 30 - November 5, 2009
GOLF TOURNEY HELPS RIVERA FAMILY
Wellington Fall Festival A ‘Spooktacular’ Time For All At Village Park
The Village of Wellington and the Palms West Chamber of Commerce joined Royal Palm Nissan and Mazda to present the Fall Festival last Saturday at Village Park on Pierson Road. Page 2
Weisman: County Faces Bleak Outlook For Future Budgets
One month into the new budget year, Palm Beach County Administrator Bob Weisman already is warning the Palm Beach County Commission that it will have to raise property taxes or make massive budget cuts next year. Page 3
Runners Enjoy ‘Horse Country Ten-Miler’
The Wellington Runners Club and the Village of Wellington presented the Fifth Annual Horse Country Ten-Miler last Sunday. New to the race was Sebastian’s 5K Run/Walk, held in memory of nine-year-old Sebastian Sarmiento, a Wellington boy who recently lost his battle with cancer. Page 5
Census Rep To Groves: Help Us Count Everyone
Loxahatchee Groves, a rural community where residents expect their privacy, must get locals involved in the 2010 Census to help get the accurate count essential for the community’s future. That was the message of a U.S. Census Bureau representative at the Thursday, Oct. 22 meeting of the Loxahatchee Groves Landowners’ Association. Page 7
Opinion Make Halloween Safe For All Involved
Make sure your children play it safe this Halloween. There will be plenty of scary movies to watch on TV — there’s no need for real-life horror stories to ruin the fun. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 2 - 13 OPINION ................................ 4 CRIME NEWS ........................ 6 SCHOOLS ..................... 14 - 15 PEOPLE ........................ 16 - 17 COLUMNS .................... 23 - 24 DINING ......................... 27 - 30 BUSINESS ................... 31 - 35 SPORTS ....................... 37 - 40 CALENDAR ................... 42 - 44 CLASSIFIEDS ............... 45 - 53 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The third annual James Ryan Rivera Muscular Dystrophy Golf Tournament was held Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Binks Forest Golf Club in Wellington. Rivera was diagnosed in 2007 at the age of five with Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease. Proceeds from the golf tournament will go to the Rivera family to help offset costs related to the illness. Shown here, event committee members gather with the Rivera family. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Wellington Council Debates Changes To Village Sign Code By Lauren Miro Town-Crier Staff Report Digital signs and “for lease” signs on commercial property would be prohibited under Wellington’s revised sign ordinance if the Wellington Village Council gives final approval to the new rules next month. On Tuesday, the council approved the first reading of a revised sign code that includes 21 changes. Event signs and directional Aframe signs will be allowed only if they’re removed promptly, and seasonal equestrian signs and flags that are often seen on public roadways directing spectators to equestrian venues will be replaced by permanent village-installed signs. Council members, expressing frustration with multiple “for lease” signs speckling commercial properties, agreed that vacancies would have to be advertised on existing monument signs. Also,
plazas will be allowed only one multiple-tenant monument sign per entrance. Under the new ordinance, property owners will have to use these signs to advertise space for sale or lease. Councilman Matt Willhite said the change was made to prevent monument signs that served no purpose but to advertise available space. Vice Mayor Dr. Carmine Priore worried that the change would hurt business owners who may be unable to advertise on the signs because of space constraints. “If the sign only allows for X number of places, the guy who may want to buy it and get his name out there is cut out,” he said. Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto said that, customarily, the businesses advertised on the sign pay an additional fee to have their names there. But a plaza with multiple entrances could include different businesses on each sign, said Eco-
nomic Development Director Martin Hodgkins. Hodgkins said the village is trying to avoid the “ubiquitous gang signs” that can be found in West Palm Beach and feature 20 or more tenants on a sign. Councilman Howard Coates Jr. said he favors reducing signs around the village but is concerned with real estate signs taking up a place where a tenant could advertise. “There is going to be a direct cost to landlords in this community because they get premiums from businesses to put their names on that sign,” he said, calling for a compromise with a smaller additional sign to advertise “for lease” space. Mayor Darell Bowen disagreed and said the for-lease signs were “ridiculous,” and Benacquisto said that if the council gives landlords the ability to put up temporary signs, she was concerned that See SIGN CODE, page 4
Serving Palms West Since 1980
Youth Baseball Leader Under Investigation For Embezzlement By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Former Royal Palm Beach Youth Baseball President Michael Infante is under investigation for possibly embezzling $50,000 from the non-profit sports league. Other RPBYB board members approached Royal Palm Beach Parks & Recreation Director Lou Recchio in September about possible misappropriation of league money, Recchio said Wednesday. The village began investigating, and then brought in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. “The suspicious transactions were in excess of $50,000 since 2006,” PBSO District 9 Capt. Eric Coleman said. “We are currently investigating that information. There were some large checks issued to Mike Infante that don’t appear to be any authorized expenses.” Infante, who has not been charged with a crime as of Wednesday, was just recently replaced as RPBYB president. Coleman said Infante is now living out of state, but is cooperating with the PBSO investigation. “He has taken some responsibility for some of this,” Coleman said, declining to say where Infante is now living. “Once this all comes to a head, it will all be made public.” Coleman noted that the league has installed Scott Houk as its new president. He credited the RPBYB board for launching the investigation. “Once this information became known, they did the appropriate thing and went to the village, and in turn went to law enforcement,” Coleman said. “The league, the village and law enforcement are all working together to address this.” Royal Palm Beach Youth Baseball has had an agreement with
Royal Palm Beach since 2001 to be the village’s official youth baseball league provider. More than 500 youngsters ages four to 16 participate in the program. After Infante moved, the remaining board members informed Recchio that they needed to do some reorganizing. They also informed Recchio of suspicious financial activity. Among the checks Infante wrote to himself were two large ones, one for $35,000 and one for $15,000. “Those are the ones of most concern,” Coleman said. “The others are a couple of thousand here, a couple thousand there, but it is going to be a long-term investigation that will probably take months. We will have to do a forensic accounting basically for the last eight or nine years to take a good look at everything just to be thorough.” Recchio said the village is taking steps to see that similar events cannot happen again. “It’s a fact-finding mission on our part to see if there are any other irregularities in the financial aspect of the league,” Recchio said. “Mike has come forward and has been very cooperative. As a village, we will look into making some changes on our end to make sure we have stricter controls in place.” Part of that process will be working with the PBSO on the RPBYB investigation. “We have given the league a written request that we want all their records, and they are in the process of turning all those records over so we can go through them,” Recchio said. Coleman said Infante had admitted some financial stress and some possible accounting errors. Coleman added that it was too See INFANTE, page 18
RPB HOSTS FALL FEST
County Unveils Proposal For Inspector General’s Office By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Palm Beach County’s proposed inspector general’s office could be created along the lines of a similar office that exists in MiamiDade County, and it could be paid for with a charge to the governments who contract for the office’s oversight — those were the recommendations that county staff presented at a two-day workshop this week attended by dozens of state and county leaders. Creating an inspector general’s office was part of a grand jury report released in May following several indictments of county and city elected officials in recent years. “Because it was such a serious
matter, we are addressing it today in ordinances that are being proposed that the county commission is imposing on themselves with strong penalties, hoping the rest of the entities join in voluntarily,” said County Attorney Denise Nieman, whose staff drafted the proposed ordinances to create the inspector general and a commission on ethics. Tom Lynch, president of the Palm Beach County League of Cities, led the discussion that included state senators and representatives, business leaders and representatives from the Palm Beach County School District and various municipalities. The grand jury report emphasized the Miami-Dade office as a
model, and Nieman said the county legal department researched inspector general offices across the United States. “We think what we have drafted actually exceeds what we have seen to date, so it’s very strong,” she said. “It addresses all the issues and more that the grand jury recommended to us.” They also shared their draft ordinance with the Palm Beach County Ethics Initiative and the State Attorney’s Office and made adjustments, Nieman said. “It has been very productive; those discussions are ongoing, and we hope to all be on the same page soon.” Independence and funding are See INSPECTOR, page 18
Royal Palm Beach hosted its Fall Fest last Friday at Veterans Park. The event featured magic, games and candy for kids, a scarecrow contest and more. Vendors were on hand to sell seasonal merchandise. Shown here, Christina and Adrian Atti with dog Mila dressed as a bumblebee. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 7 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
New Landscape Plan Integrates RPB Village Complex By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report A new landscape, pathway and parking scheme will tie together components of the Royal Palm Beach municipal complex under a plan recommended for approval Tuesday by the RPB Planning & Zoning Commission. The scheme ties in a new, nearly completed 7,800-square-foot multipurpose building that will house some fire and police operations and a fitness center, and serve as the village’s emergency operations center, said Development Review Coordinator Kevin Erwin. A new plaza will connect the new building with the existing village hall, fire station and police station within the complex, located on 16.58 acres at the southeast corner of Okeechobee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards. Donald Hearing with Cotleur & Hearing Inc. Landscape Architects said the project will improve con-
nectivity between the new and old buildings. The design will include a path to a gazebo that already has been built on the lake in front of the Village Meeting Hall and a roundabout with parking on the south side of the municipal building. “Our goal was to try and change the circulation to allow the area between to be a gathering place,” Hearing said. Hearing said the new roundabout on the south side of the municipal building will improve handicapped access. The street that used to run between the municipal building and village hall has been removed, and in its place will be a plaza where people can congregate. The design will preserve certain old elements of the previous landscape, including an old monument and flagpoles. Four large planters will be placed in the plaza. Each will hold two royal palms and also serve as seat walls.
“They will be 20 inches above the ground, and you can sit around the plaza,” Hearing said. “We are also introducing benches and bike racks and pedestrian scale elements to make this more of a pedestrian community gathering place that can be used more for the days that we have functions. It will be a gathering place so people can meet at the post office and enjoy the benefits and amenities here.” Residents will get more enjoyment from the lake once the new design is complete, Hearing added. “Probably few of you have walked out back to look at the wonderful view that exists all the way around the lake,” Hearing said. “There is a huge patio out back that opens up to the lake that probably 99 percent of the public in Royal Palm Beach never even knew existed.” The remodeling project will create a sidewalk all the way around
the lake that will be detailed with a stainless steel rail. Although the village’s namesake royal palms will be present in the landscape, the focus will be on native plants. “The dominating landscape feature is on the native vegetation that exists on this site,” Hearing said. “We’re trying to bring out that beauty with pines and cypress. Since we’re adding irrigation, we’re trying to be responsible in terms of where we’re irrigating.” Some existing grass areas will be removed and replaced with pine mulch around the pine trees, which Hearing said do not thrive with irrigated water. Shrubs, including native fire bush, wild coffee, beauty berry and saw palmetto, will be scattered throughout the pine mulch areas, making them more environmentally friendly for wildlife and reducing maintenance costs. “Now you won’t have to weed
around every tree,” Hearing said. “That theme is being incorporated throughout. Some smaller trees, some smaller pines, some smaller cypress will begin to take over from where some of the older ones are dying. Some of them have taken a beating through the past few hurricanes.” The landscapers also plan to add more color with royal poincianas, which have brilliant purple blossoms; tabebuias, also called trumpet trees for their large bright yellow blossoms; and jacarandas, which have blue flowers. “We’re adding them around the lake for color and to enhance the overall beauty of the campus,” Hearing said. “The overwhelming theme is native; it’s 99 percent Florida native xeriscape plant material.” Hearing said his firm is being careful not to rip out some of the existing plant material. “We are See LANDSCAPE, page 3