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Minutes 05-21-51MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COIYNCIL OF THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, AT THE CITY H~LL ON MAY 21, 1951. The City Council convened at the City Hall at 7.30 on May 21, 1951. Councilmen present: Mr. Fo L. Purinton. Mr. Alva Shook Mr. Henry Merkel Mr. C. H. Hood Mr. Clifford Province. The meeting was called to order by the Mayor. Dorothy V.Williams,~ City Clerk, read the minutes the previous regular meeting of the Council on May 7, Mr. Hood proposed and Mr. Merkel seconded a motion that the minutes of the previous meeting be accepted as read. Motion passed unanimously. BILLS 0,KAt~ED FOR PA~.~ENT: Gen'l.Fund. Dave Lanier 46.50 B.B. Fire Dept. 115.50 Jerry Mul$ins 8.13 Oliver Falcinelli 6.31 C. Ivan Peterson Joseph Campbell 33.00 Henry Cooper 31.60 Levi Frederick _33~00 Leonard Harris 35.60 Frank Johnson 35.00 Dave Lanier 45.50 Sam~urray 31.60 Lee Thomas 39.60 Solomon Pitts 33.00 Parker Ward 35.25 Charlie Waters 33.~5 James Forrest 1.90 Good Year Service Store 96.26 Boynton Electric 19.75 Brown & Moseley 56.03 County Mercantile 900.06 Delray Ignition Service 6.73 RoD~Wood & Co. 41.70 Halsey & Griffith 3.50 Royal Palm Ice Co. 4.25 Pierce Tire Co. 36.60 City of Delray Beach 50.00 Water Fund. of 1951. Depos. Fund 7.50 -2- Farmers Implement & Supply 12,55 Eureka Fire Hose 358.68 Shellrock Quarries 3.00 Neptune Neter Co. Glen Murray Trustees, Fia.East Cst.Rly. So. Meter & Reapair Co. Cameron & Barkley Co. Farquhar Machinery Co. Southern Bell Tel.& Tel. 78.A6 Pantry Restaurant 38.95 Rubin Construction Co. 169.25 Deerfield Quarries 174.50 The Court Records Co. 10o00 Watkins 2.87 Ocean City Lumber Co. 56.19 Fla. Power & Light 616.12 Craig Furniture Co~ 9.90 Austin Supply Co. 108,97 ~ercer,s Service Station 43.05 Joseph Campbell 33.00 Henry Cooper 31.60 Levi Frederic k 33.00 Leonard Harris 39.60 Frsnk Johnson 35.00 Dave Lanier 45.50 Sam Murray 31.60 Solomon Pitts 33.00 Lee Thomas 39.60 Parker ~ard 36.00 Charlie Waters 34.00 ~.C.Carver 138.00 Frank Mish N,0,Marshall Jnr. 122.70 H.RoDaugharty 107.30 C.C.~eeks 100.00 D,V.~illiams 112.70 John Bell 96.80 Ruth L.Gr~m!ey .70.$0 John E.Raulerson 117.30 Katherine. ~ ~ Thompson 65.40 ~chard F. Pot~ekus B.B.State Bank for With- holding 226.90 Eli ?Jit~ Tobacco Co. $1.30 Joseph Campbell 33.00 Henry Cooper 26.70 Levi Frederick 33°00 Leonard Harris 39.60 Frank Johnson 35.00 Dav~ Lanier 45.50 Sam Murray 31.60 Sclomon Pitts 33.00 Lee Thomas 39.60 Parker Ward 33.00 Charlie Waters 31.60 Nation,s Business 18.00 2~9.89 26.88 138o62 90. O0 31.96 131.29 7.50 7.50 Veteran,s Constr. Co. Shaw Brothers' 0il Co. Ra~!,s Auto Service Shell 0il Co. B~-yn~on Beach News Elec. Rustproofing Corp. Hill ~g.-Co. John ~iley Jones Co. Lindsley Lumber Co. Joseph'Campbell Henry Cocper Levi Frederick Frank Johnson Dave Lanier Sam Murray Solomon Pitts Lee Thomas Parker Ward Charlie V~aters Leonard Harris A.L.Edwards Allen M. Curtis Howard Lee Cromer Gee. S. Brockway Chase National Bank -3- ~ 31.0o 226.75 5.85 18,55 135,0o 9.00 ,~37o5o 500.00 33.00 31 °60 33.00 35.OO 45.50 34.75 33,oo 39.60 33.00 31.60 39.60 $il,O85.36 665.12 6.560.00 7.50 7.50 (Water Construction) (Int. & Sinking Fund) Mr. Walter Deutsch read a letter covering his pro- posals for fire and w-lnd storm insurance on the City's buildings, including contents. For 80% coverage he quoted a figure of $837.20 for the first year, which he said is 15% less than the book rate. At the end of the first year, the annual figure would be reduced to $669~76 on renewal for four years. He strongly recommended 80% coverage as being sufficient and most general~ Mayor Purinton thanked ~r. Deutsch for the time mud consideration he had given to the matter. In answer to a question Mr~ Deutsch said he proposed to use the Pennsylvsnia Mutual and the Iowa Mutual insur- _nee ~o~panmes and, ~D case of fire or wind storm damage, ne woul~ use any one the regular adjustment agencies em- ployed in the County. The City Clerk read an offer from Mr. Meyers of $812.91 annually for the five-year policy. ~'ir. Hood made a motion, seconded by t~.Merkel, that the City,s insuranca be given to Mr.Deutseh as the lowest bidder° ~otion passed unanimously. A delegation of about nine men from the Negro Civic League being present, the Mayor. called upon their spokes- man to express their views. Frank Smith, Chairman of the League, said there were several matters which the colored people would like to bring before the Council for consideration and action: 1. They desired to have more land allocated as a resi- dential section. They could not expand Eas~ward~ West- ward or Southward, so they must expand ~o the North. In reply to a question as to ~hy not ~estward, Smith replied that Cherry Hills prevented that. The Mayor said there were over 500 ampty lots,- to which the reply was that there was a possibility of e boom r~ising the price of the lots, which at present are about $300. The ~Ma~or expressed the Council's willingness to .get the matter mroned out, and said he had lots for sale at $200. Smith said he had never seen any advertisement abou~ these lots and so did not know the price or what was being offered. The ~ ' mayor sazd any 0olored people who wanted ~o buy lots over there 'could have bought them. When one of the delegates said that some of the lots were $700, the Mayor replied the~ these were for commercial property. Another delegate said that Boynton consisted of seven square miles, and that only half a mile was out aside for the colored people. He requested a subdivision for negroes and said there had been agents who had tried ~o open subdivisions but had been t~rned town by the Commissioners; that there were several people who own lots in Cherry Hills and are not able to build on them. The negroes want the City to go along with them and re-zone some of this 12nd to correct the present overcrowding. He said they would be willing to go anywhere, even to Korea, but they just want some land set aside on which to,build homes. Mr. Shook said that no new line has been ~rawn for negro subdivisions since 192~. The Mayor said the question of overcrowding was new to him, but that of course if anyone owns a piece of land he can hold it for any price he wishes. Smith then drew attention to ~he following needs: 2. Playground facilities for colored children ~o help in overcoming Juvenile delinquency and to keep the children off the strsets. -5- Be~ch facilities for negroes, ~ncluding rest rooms, showers, parking space, etc., ~n order to help them feel that they ere really citizens of this greet American democracy. The widening of the streets in colored town, which, he said, were all too narrow. were that The Mayor said that over two years ago the negroes asked to come forward to express their desires and this was t~e first time anyone had come. AL'delegate asked whether the beach was paid for from taxpayers, money, in which case the negroes were helping to pay for it. The Mayor said that last year taxes received from the negroes amounted to $1,361o6O, which amounted to a little over 5% of the entire tax collection, and that $61,830 of negro property comes under Homestead Exemption. Mr. Shook said that the negro tax receipts were not enough to cover the cost of their garbage collection, and that more has been done in their section in the last three years than ever before. .The Mayor said if the City must spend three times as much as now, he wondered where the~money is to come from. Did they want their taxes increased~ Willie Miller said the main objective was to get the City to consider some of these requests, which they claim as their constitutional privileges. He spoke of their request for a new school in co$ored town and that they had only received an addition of two rooms to the old building. Mr. Hood pointed out that this was a matter for the County School Board and not for the City of Boynton. Mayor ~Qrinton said he fully agreed with their need for e recreation center and added that the Commissioners have been trying for some time to get such a ground, having considered several sites. He asked for cooperation from the Negro Civic League and said the City will work with them one hundred percent°, if land can be found, and that City-owned ~quipment would be loaned for necessary develop- ment. It was stated that two lots had been donated .by Mr. J°~.Pipes for a playground for the use of the Church chil- dren, that a fence was being put around it, and that although other children would be allowed to play there~ it was not a comunity park. The Mayor again said he fully apprecimtes the necessity for such a playground, but where? Willie Miller said there are 500 lots not being Used and couldn't the playground be mad~ there. The Mayor said there might be various odd lots for sale but that the owners of those lots in between might not be willing to sell, and what could be done about that? Mr. Hood asked if the negroes had ever thought of getting their property zoned so that no one could put up a tin shack next to a good house. He suggested they get together and lay the town out~ and said the City Zoning Board would cooperate with their Zoning Board. One~f the delegates asked if the City owned and maintained the Gasino, the Shuffleboard Court, Pence Park and the park across from the school. He was told that the City owned all this property, and maintained the Casino, but not the SSuffleboard Court, and that the park across from the school has all been de- veloped by the women of Boynton Beach. The delegate said that as a City enterprise owned and operated by the City is it not constitutional that every citizen should share the Casino and the beach. The ~ayor agreed but added that there was only 210 feet of beach, and did the negroes want to share it with the whites. The delegate said they did no~ w&sh ~o share it all they wanted was a very small p~rt. It was pointed cud to them that all land outside of the beach was privately owned and was very expensive, even if purchaseable. The discussion ended and the delegation expressed their appreciation to the Mayor and Commissioners for having g~ven them an opportunity to come and express their views. Miller said all they wanted was to have contact with the City CommissiOners and to find out what is theirs, and what there is for them to have. At presen~ they do not know. Mr. Shook suggested that their women get together and do something towards the playground. Miller said all they wanted first was the lend, then there would be no question of having e good park. -7- The Nayor suggested they look around and find out where they could get the land, and they could have a really big park° Police Chief Carver asked Willie Miller to See if someone could be found to build a subdivision, and he was sure they could get the land. The Mayor, in wishing the delegation good-night said he hoped it would not be ~oo long before they came again. Mr. Merkel suggested that one solution for the beach was to secure it from the County, even if it was Some dis- tance away, and that it must be a County business. Mr. Griffdth said the County could not do it without buying property, which would be too expensive. After a long discussion on the possibilities of pro- viding the facilities requested, Mr. Hood asked who owned all the lots West of the Section, where there were many vacant lots. Mr. Province asked whether information could be pro- vided to the negroes showing them who owned suitable lots which could be bought° The ~ayor suggested acreage North of the Section, and asked what the next move should be. Mr. Hood suggested the first step was to find a plot of land somewhere so that they could start a playground, and then get land to the West to be developed. ~r. Merkel suggested cleaning up the streets of the Section. Mr. Shook said they had had more than their 5% share of the taxes spent on them so far. Mr. Merkel thought that if a playground was built further out it might decide Some of the colored people to build homes out there, Mr. Merkel made a motion, seconded by I~r.Hood, that the City Council look into the matter of a playground for the colored section. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Province made s motion, seconded by Mr.5~erkel, that a check for $6,560.00 be forwarded to the Chase National Bank for interest on Water Revenue Certificates. The motion was passed unanimously. -8- The City Clerk read a Resolution covering the payment of $750.00 to the City Attorney for legal fees in connection with the water bonds. Mr. Hood made a motion, seconded by Mr. Shook, that the Resolution as read be adopted. The motion was passed unan- imously. ~.Griffiths read letters which he had written to the Seaboard and Florida East Coast Railways with reference to making Boynton Beach a flag stop. He said the Florida East Coast had replied that the matter will be given careful consideration in msking up the schedules for next Ea~ll, but that no reply had yet been received from the Seaboard. He said he would write agaih to the railways about July if no definite replies had been received by that time. The Mayor said the Lindsley Lumber Company are asking for payment for supplies furdished for the Scarboro house and he hoped that sufficient money would result from the sale of tickets for the midnight show at the Boynton Theatre on Saturday to meet this bill. The Chairman of the Scar- boro Sand had been the then Baptist Minister, Mt. Day, through whom all donations had been received and all expenditures made. The balance now remaining in the bank was $250.00 and the outstanding bills amounted to about $1,200.00. The Council did not 0.K. any of the bills, and about 90% of the labor had been donated. He thought payment of some of the bills might be delayed but the Lindsley people insisted on immediate payment. Mr. Greenwood, Building Inspector, suggested thaD the plumbing license of Wade Green be restored, and the Mayor recommended that this should be done in line with the Build- ing Inspector,s suggestion. Mr. Shook made a mo~ion, seconded by ~.Hood, that the plumbing license of Wade Green be restored. ~otio~ passed unanimously. Mr. Johnny Bell drew attention to the necessity of sprink- lers for the lawn round the Casino, and was authorised to purchase one. -9- The ~Iayor asked Mr. Shook to get together with Mr. Bell ko inspeat the playground equipment received from West Palm Beach, to see if anything can be done with it. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned by the Mayor. ayor. City Clerk. ~te~, ~s~em ~m~ ~aa2 .~s. $~mA, ~e~ein mentieae~ be ~ is hereB~ hel~ ~s a~ expenae off e~usi~n off ~i~ ~a~er ~s~e~,