Snapshot of First Term Achievements by Commissioner Cara Jennings

Energy/Utilities:

• Proposed and passed the “Cool Cities” ordinance and subsequent Climate Protection Task Force. The Cool Cities program mandates the city to cut emissions through policy and purchasing changes to meet or beat the targets of the Kyoto protocol. The empanelled task force outlined purchasing, operations and policy changes to help the city meet the emission reduction goals. The city is moving forward with these changes.
• Proposed and passed partnership with FAU’s Ocean Energy Center to explore a future pilot project within the City of Lake Worth to capture and utilize ocean energy. The combination of Lake Worth’s public beach and public utility makes us a great candidate for this type of forward thinking energy program.
• Spearheaded the incorporation of renewable energy in all long term electric utility contracts and planning. We are currently negotiating a net metering contract with FMPA and reviewing the feasibility of investing in renewable energy power generation.
• Pushed for the analysis and re-negotiation of the Florida Municipal Power Association contract, the cities bulk energy provider to assess options for more competitive electric rates. We have hired Energy consultant Sue Hersey to provide us options for our purchase of wholesale energy.
• Reduced outages and improved reliability of electric transmission and distribution
• Proposed and passed funding for city rainwater catchment water conservation program. This new program will be rolled out this year providing a rebate, incentive, or discount for the installation of rain gutters and rain barrels on business and residential properties. Funding comes from the cities Stormwater Fund.
• Proposed and passed the creation of a long term water conservation plan for the cities water utility. This plan is being created by staff and will include re-use of water for park irrigation, residential low flow water use requirements for new construction, rainwater catchment program and policy changes to ensure water conservation.

Financial Accountability:

• Passed creation of a permanent internal auditor position. The auditor has been tasked with changing the cities un-paid electric billing process, a cause of over a million in lost revenue to the city, changing our internal check request process that was being abused and is now auditing our payroll system – as personal costs are the cities largest expense.
• Passed restructuring of City departments to provide for better checks and balances. The most significant change was moving utility billing so that it reports directly to the finance department, not the utility director
• Proposed and passed timeline to ensure FURDAP pool renovation grant funds ($200,000) were expended on time
• Proposed and passed budget changes that followed mandated tax cuts with least possible impact on delivery of city services.
• Proposed ordinance to prohibit campaign contributions from vendors under contract with the City of Lake Worth. The ordinance failed on a 3-2 vote, but prompted the scheduling of a workshop on new ethics policies. Modeled from New Jersey statutes, the ordinance would have included penalties for any business intending to or currently in a contract with the city from contributing to city political campaigns.

Public Safety:

• Increased community policing in crime hot spot neighborhoods funded through the CRA board. I proposed an additional funding allocation after meeting with neighbors and the police in the SOSA (South of Sixth Avenue) neighborhood. Funds for community policing efforts in the CRA district, focused on neighborhoods experiencing violent crimes and burglaries.
• Proposed and passed the Lake Worth Resource Center through a partnership with The Mentoring Center, PBCC, Adopt-A-Family, area churches, city/county non-profits and resident volunteers. Modeled after Jupiter’s El Sol Center, we will offer education and employment opportunities for city residents including workshops on Code Enforcement, opening a bank account and community policing. The opening of the center will make it illegal for people to seek curbside employment. Some goals of the center are to reduce the number of violent street crimes, improve integration of new residents, and offer increased educational programs for all residents.
• Proposed and passed commission participation in the “Ride with a Commissioner” Citizen Observer Patrol program. Each commissioner will pick one day per month to ride as a Citizen on Patrol. A resident COP member will ride along with them, providing an extra incentive for residents to participate in the program and a one on one opportunity for concerned residents to show elected officials their neighborhood concerns. This was passed during the Sheriff merger process and will be implemented in the upcoming months as we transition with the PBSO.

Quality of Life:

• Proposed and passed a lease agreement with the Health Department to re-open the free public health clinic on “F” Street and Lucerne Ave. The clinic is scheduled to begin offering full medical health services in 2009.
• Proposed and passed historic intervention in the Town of Palm Beaches Reach 8 permit to ensure the potential impacts on Lake Worth Beach are considered in the permit approval.
• Proposed and passed a change to code policy regarding the amount of time given to families when being evicted by Code enforcement. The requirement used to be 24 - 48 hours, now it is two weeks under the agreement that all urgent health/safety issues are resolved.
• Proposed and passed over $300,000 towards rehabilitation of our city parks through state, county and private funds. Howard Park, Memorial Field, and Sunset Ridge will all be getting face lifts in 2008-2009.
• Proposed and passed an anti-war ordinance against the surge in Iraq.
• Collaborating with county Environmental Resource Management department, environmental non-profits and the city to expand the Snook Islands project to include seawall areas at Bryant Park.
• Worked with non-profit youth service providers, city recreation department and the county for an on-going successful Youth Empowerment Center.
• Approved the 19 years lease agreement with For the Children youth program to provide free/low cost youth programs at the Historic Osborne School. Helped to place the 99 year For The Children lease on this year’s ballot to assist FTC’s efforts in securing long-term program funding.