Stet NewsGreetings, Stetters! For you today, a fast-track search, a pop in population, a regional outlier and the Armory’s art.
🎉 You, too, can be the next county administrator
The minimum requirement to be the next county administrator is U.S. citizenship, two county commissioners said last week.
Why it’s important: That would make the criteria for the $400,000-a-year job less restrictive than a job as a Publix cashier.
- Cashiers must be at least 14 years old.
Behind the commission’s unusual approach to replace longtime Administrator Verdenia Baker, who resigned effective May 31, is a push to put Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Joe Abruzzo in the job.
Yes, but: Abruzzo, 44, a former state legislator, has never been a county or city administrator. He has a bachelor’s degree from Lynn University. But many counties the size and complexity of Palm Beach require a master’s degree.
“To me the only qualification you need is an American citizenship and an interest,” Commissioner Maria Sachs said at the commission’s March 18 workshop.
Commissioner Bobby Powell, who suggested in a three-page memo that commissioners move quickly, argued against setting minimum qualifications. In the end, commissioners agreed to consider bottom-line standards at their next meeting.
- Commissioners voted 4-3 to adopt Powell’s accelerated approach, with support from Powell, Sachs and Commissioners Sara Baxter and Joel Flores.
- Mayor Maria Marino and Commissioners Marci Woodward and Gregg Weiss argued for a national search.
Powell originally suggested candidates have only until April 1 to apply. Commissioners considered extending that by a week before putting off a final decision until Thursday.
The other side: “A job that pays over $400,000 plus benefits a year and we’re going to make a decision in two weeks? I don’t know any organization this size that would do something like that,” Weiss said.
Zoom in: Marino, Weiss and Woodward said they learned of Powell’s approach from his friend and their former colleague, state Sen. Mack Bernard, who works for the campaign management firm Cornerstone Solutions.
- Bernard’s boss at Cornerstone, Rick Asnani, said if Bernard did approach commissioners, he wasn’t doing it as a paid lobbyist for Cornerstone. That would have been illegal under a state law that bans lobbying of one’s former board for six years after leaving office.
Behind the push may be concern that Abruzzo would not survive strict eligibility standards.
“I don’t understand this rush,” Woodward said in an interview. “The only thing that makes sense to me is they have a candidate picked out and all of this is a show.”
Powell strained to explain his thinking, saying commissioners would know a qualified candidate when they see one.
- “If we don’t think they’re qualified we simply wouldn’t move them to the next round,” he said.
Read more on the machinations behind the commission’s drive to fast-track the search for county administrator here.
Watch the meeting: The discussion begins about 47 minutes into this video here.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to say the length of Florida’s ban on lobbying by public officials after they leave office is six years.
– Joel Engelhardt
🔢 Putting a number on the county’s growth
Nearly 90,000 people have moved to Palm Beach County since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to U.S. Census estimates released this month.
⏰ Why it matters: That’s like adding more people since July 1, 2020, than live in Boynton Beach (population 81,000).
🌅 At the dawn of the pandemic, we thought of ourselves as a county of 1.5 million people.
- Now nearly 1.6 million call Palm Beach County home.
💥 The Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach metropolitan area was the fourth-fastest-growing metro in the United States from 2023 to 2024, the census estimates.
- The region grew by about 123,000 people to 6.46 million.
- That puts us behind only New York, Houston and Dallas metros when it comes to population increase.
👀 How the neighbors are doing: Miami-Dade County’s estimated population on July 1, 2024, was 2.8 million.
- Broward clocked in at 2 million.
- Martin County, 166,000.
- St. Lucie County, 390,000.
🥊 About that population rivalry between Hillsborough and Palm Beach County for the state’s No. 3 ranking behind Miami-Dade and Broward: It’s wicked close.
- The Census Bureau estimates the west coast home county of Tampa has a population of 1,581,426. That’s just 629 fewer than PBC.
– Carolyn DiPaolo
🐣 A fresh look at downtown West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach launched a year of planning for its booming downtown last week with a roundtable at the Mandel Public Library.
What’s happening: The city hired Miami-based urban design firm Zyscovich to update its Downtown Master Plan. It’s the first revision in 18 years.
Why it matters: Thursday’s kickoff focused on economics and housing. It threw into sharp relief how rapidly downtown is evolving.
1. Residential, office and retail rents
The stats presented are stunning. Amid rising prices across South Florida, consultant Paul Lambert, who led the roundtable, calls West Palm Beach an outlier. Here’s why:
- Since 2018, downtown rents, on a square foot basis, have increased by 43%, Lambert said. Prices here are higher than in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Miami.
- At the same time, Class A office lease rates have ballooned 84% since 2018. For comparison, Miami rates have increased 62%. Both markets are commanding as high as $74 a square foot.
- Ground floor rents, where stores and restaurants set up shop, have increased by 35%. In Miami, retail rates are down, Lambert said, because of oversupply.
2. The kind of growth
Before the latest boom, Business Development Board CEO Kelly Smallridge said 70% of her team’s work was growing what was in our backyard.
- “The reason it feels so different today is 70% of what is coming into this area is coming from another state,” she said Thursday. “Employers are bringing hundreds of employees into this area.”
Case in point: NewDay USA, the mortgage lender, brought 300 employees to Palm Beach County three years ago when it leased two floors at 360 Rosemary in CityPlace.
- Jennifer Harrold, senior vice president for Human Relations and a roundtable panelist, said the company intends to hire 300 employees this year. It’s looking for more space downtown, she said.
3. Advantage: Sunshine and water views
“We get companies that say, ‘If I’m going to move into Palm Beach County, I want my office to have water views,’” Smallridge said. “West Palm Beach shines in that arena.
Of note: Zyscovich conducted the downtown master plan under then-Mayor Lois Frankel to refine changes instituted in the 1990s by Duany Plater-Zyberk under then-Mayor Nancy Graham.
What’s next: More information-gathering including two roundtables at the library, an online survey and community meetings.
- 5:30-7:30 pm Thursday, April 24, roundtable on transportation and mobility.
- 5:30-7:30 pm Thursday, May 22, roundtable on placemaking.
– Carolyn DiPaolo
🍊 The Juice
🇺🇸 There are runoff elections today in Jupiter (Phyllis Choy faces Teri Grooms) and Lake Worth Beach District 4 (Greg Richter faces Anthony Segrich).
👍🏼 Related Group of Miami won city approval for Apogee. The 21-story North Flagler Drive 39-unit condo at 49th Street will replace a single-family home. Related Group committed $250,000 to the adjacent Northwood Harbor neighborhood, which will go toward upgrading nearby Spruce Avenue from 45th to 58th streets.
🚫 The civic leaders who wrote a letter to the editor of The Palm Beach Post blasting the firing of Editorial Page Editor Tony Doris submitted an ad for the Sunday edition. They said the paper rejected it.
🌴 The second of five community meetings about the $37 million redevelopment of West Palm Beach’s waterfront Currie Park is 6pm Monday at Safe Harbor Rybovich, 4050 N. Flagler Drive. (Read Stet’s report from the first meeting)
👟 Coco Gauff, 21, the world’s highest-paid female athlete, makes a commercial for her New Balance tennis shoe in Delray Beach’s Pompey Park. The shoe is called the Coco Delray. (The Athletic $$$)
👑 561NSIDER On view: ‘Life or Something Like It’
A new exhibition at the Armory Art Center features a Colombian-born artist who elevates everyday moments in urban life into large-scale eye candy.
In “Life or Something Like It,” Hermes Berrío of Miami draws from street culture and social media symbolism to create his paintings and mixed media.
- The solo show fills all three galleries at the West Palm Beach art center.
What he’s saying: “I capture the vibrancy and complexity of life as it unfolds, sometimes fragmented, sometimes exaggerated, always in flux,” Berrío’s artist statement says.
The exhibition is free and will run through May 9 at the Armory Art Center, 811 Park Place. Call 561-832-1776 to confirm hours.
- The Armory will host an opening reception to celebrate Berrío and his exhibition from 5:30 to 7:30 pm April 3.
- Berrío will lead a walk and talk and Q+A at 6:30 pm April 24.
- Both events are free and open to the public.
– Carolyn DiPaolo
