Delray voters to decide three-year terms for commissioners

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH  — Now it’s up to the voters.

On Tuesday, Delray Beach city commissioners gave final approval to an ordinance extending the terms in office for mayor and commissioners to three years from the present two. The change, if approved by voters during the March 8 municipal election, would go into effect for commissioners elected in 2012.

Under the proposal, commissioners and the mayor still will be limited to serving a maximum of six years in office but it would eliminate the need for Delray to hold a municipal election every year saving the city between $30,000 and $40,000 in the off year.

Commissioners Fred Fetzer and Gary Eliopoulos voted against the ordinance, although both said they support three-year terms in concept. Fetzer said he wanted the change to go into effect when all current commissioners are either off the board or ineligible to run for another term. Eliopoulos said he preferred to see the change come as part of a broader charter review.

In other business, commissioners approved plans for a solarium atop the Atlantic Ocean Club at 217 and 219 East Atlantic Avenue. The city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board previously rejected the plans because the solarium’s design did not fit with the building’s appearance.

“The top has nothing to do with the rest of building,” Board Chairman Ken Ames told commissioners. “They’re not in harmony.”

But lawyers and architects for the club owners argued that the board’s decision was wrong and should be overturned.  While the club could file new plans, the earliest the board could hear them would be Dec. 8, and that would kill a good chunk of the season for the club, including New Year’s Eve, for which it already has taken reserverations.

“I’m not enthralled with the solarium,” Mayor Woodie McDuffie said, “but I’m not offended by it either. I would like to see the owner get on with his business.”

Commissioners voted 4-1 to overturn the board’s decision, with Eliopoulos, an architect by profession, against.

Commissioners approved a series of waivers to allow the Dalley Law Office to remodel its building at 35 SE 6th Avenue.

Commissioners approved resolutions that allow the city to sell three homes to the Delray Beach Housing Authority for $10 each. The homes, at 614 SW 6th Avenue, 616 SW 9th St. and 1212-1214 SW 2nd Avenue, will be used by the authority to provide low-cost rental housing.