BCC Briefs

At the December 1, 2009, Board of County Commissioners meeting, the board took the following action:

Ethics Reform – approved on preliminary reading and advertised for public hearing on December 15 ordinances establishing an independent office of inspector general, an independent five-member commission on ethics, and a local code of ethics.

Pain Clinics – agreed to consider imposing a moratorium on new pain management clinics in unincorporated areas of the county and directed legal staff to research rule changes that would enable the county to stop issuing new occupational licenses. The board also agreed to send a letter to the League of Cities urging municipalities to impose similar moratoriums.

Climate Change – adopted the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, a coordinated climate change strategy with Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Legislative Affairs – discussed the county’s proposed lobbying agenda for the upcoming 2010 Florida Legislative Session.

Energy Efficiency – authorized staff to apply for up to $50 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funds. These are federal monies that require no local match.

PREM - approved on preliminary reading and advertised for public hearing on December 15 an amendment to the Property and Real Estate Management (PREM) ordinance that would require all purchases, sales and exchanges of real property other than interdepartmental transactions to be approved by a supermajority vote of the BCC.

Palm Beach Yacht Center – approved an amended waterfront preservation easement for the Palm Beach Yacht Center assigning the county all residential development rights on an additional 1.5 acres (9.7 acres total) of marina property.

Stub Canal – conceptually approved an interlocal agreement to reimburse the City of West Palm Beach $500,000 for storm water improvements in the flood-prone Howard Park/Stub Canal drainage basin.

Fire Rescue - approved on preliminary reading and advertised for public hearing on December 15 an ordinance amending the boundaries of the Fire Rescue MSTU to include the Town of South Palm Beach.