While dozens of people waited to speak on contentious items on the Palm Beach County Commission's agenda, County Mayor Sara Baxter had a peculiar ask: Put the entire proceeding on pause so she could step out to what she described as a prior commitment.
Baxter's request for a more than two-hour break in the Aug. 26 commission meeting — to attend the Wellington Chamber of Commerce luncheon featuring Related Ross executives — did not sit well with her fellow commissioners. After they objected, Baxter said she would cancel plans to appear at the Chamber meeting.
On that day, the county commission criticized the Transportation Master Plan, rejected a proposal to expand Northlake Boulevard, approved an affordable housing development in the Ag Reserve
after months of neighborhood opposition, and debated a controversial request by the Village of Wellington to annex developments near its boundary.
There were several other items on the agenda as well. It was one of the year's longest agendas of the year. Even without granting the postponement Baxter wanted, the meeting, which began at 9:30 a.m., did not end until 6:49 p.m.
Baxter's request for a pause came just before commission meeting began
Baxter sent an email minutes before the meeting began informing commissioners of a two-and-a-half-hour break to accommodate her attendance at the other event. When she announced she would adjourn the meeting at 11:15 a.m. for what she called "a speaking engagement" before the Wellington chamber, fellow Republican Commissioner Maria Marino objected.
“We have a lot of people here,” Marino told Baxter. “My suggestion is that if you feel you have to leave, we let Vice Mayor Marci Woodward run the meeting, and she will turn the gavel over to you when you return.”
County Attorney Darren Leiser concluded the meeting could legally continue without Baxter’s presence.
Baxter pushed back, saying the items under consideration were important and that she wanted to participate in the discussions.
Marino said she opposed Baxter's effort to postpone the meeting for the two-plus hours.
"I disagree," said Marino.
When both Marino and Woodward agreed the meeting should not be paused, Baxter said she would cancel her appearance at the chamber event. Woodward looked toward Marino and nodded, appearing to agree that the meeting should continue.
In a subsequent response to a query about the give-and-take on the dais, Baxter sent a statement to The Palm Beach Post saying she had accepted an invitation from the Wellington chamber to update small-business owners on county matters that affect their daily lives and livelihoods.
Her decision to accept the invitation, she stated, was made more than a month before the agenda for the Aug. 26 meeting was prepared.
“I own a small business, so I know what it costs to keep the doors open in our county. These job creators took time from their schedules to both hear from county leadership, and to have a dialog about their concerns," Baxter's statement to The Post read.
"The county commission was simply asked to accommodate a break to let me travel there and back for the meeting. That's not a scheduling problem; it's a priorities problem. I've apologized to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, and I'll be back at that podium the first chance they give me.”
Wellington chamber executive Michela Green said in an interview on Aug. 28, two days after the commission meeting, that it would not be accurate to call Baxter’s invitation “a speaking engagement.”
Baxter was invited to attend as an "honored guest," said Green, but she was not the keynote speaker. Baxter's name was not included in the email that the chamber sent to its members promoting the event.
The meeting was called a "Special Event Luncheon" featuring several Related Ross executives who discussed in detail their plans for Village Landing, a mixed-use development in Wellington, featuring a new walkable village center with retail, dining, office, and hospitality.
Mike Diamond is a journalist atThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: County Mayor's request to pause meeting didn't go over well | Exclusive
