At the November 18, 2008 Board of County Commissioners meeting, the board took the following action:

Reorganization – newly elected Commissioner Shelley Vana and reelected Commissioners Karen Marcus, Burt Aaronson and Addie Greene took the oath of office. The board voted to reduce the term for the chair and vice chair from two years to one year, elected Jeff Koons chairman and Burt Aaronson vice chairman, and recognized outgoing Commissioner Bob Kanjian for his 15 months of service.

Water Utilities – authorized staff to issue up to $90 million in water and sewer revenue bonds to fund construction of a recycled water facility for Florida Power and Light’s new West County Energy Center plant near 20-Mile Bend. FPL is required to repay the entire cost of the bonds with no cost to taxpayers.

Roads – approved on preliminary reading and advertised for public hearing on December 2 amendments to the county’s five-year road program. The board tentatively agreed to free up $28 million for Palm Tran by delaying seven proposed road projects and removing eight others from the five-year plan.

Housing and Community Development – approved an application to the U.S. Department of Housing Urban Development (HUD) under its Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The NSP grant is a special community block grant allocation created to address the problem of abandoned and foreclosed properties and to provide housing opportunities for very-low income persons or families. Palm Beach County has been allocated $27.7 million in federal CDBG program funds, which require no local match.

Fire Codes – adopted the updated Florida Fire Prevention Code, effective Dec. 31, 2008. Local amendments include a revised fee schedule, increasing fees for plan review and inspection due to the increased cost of providing those services.

Small Business Assistance – adopted a fee schedule for processing certification, modification of certification, and recertification applications for the Office of Small Business Assistance; approved the SBA’s 2003 through 2008 annual reports.

Advisory Boards – appointed Charles McCrosson to replace Robert Gottlieb as the Seat 9 municipal representative on the Green Task Force on Environmental Sustainability and Conservation; appointed Edwin Wechsler to replace Seymour Lubetkin on the Water Utilities Advisory Board.

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