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Mayor’s Message...continued

The city has achieved great progress in upgrading our
utility infrastructure over the past two years.

New 30-inch sewer mains have been installed
downtown. New lift stations were built, and others
rehabilitated. Projects are underway to reduce
stormwater from entering the sewer system and
overwhelming it. The City Commission also ended
the past practice of raiding utility reserves to balance
the budget. That ensures money is available for
more improvements.

We must take this work to the next level, and there is
no time to waste. I have urged city staff to lay out
Phase 2 this fall. I want us to put forth what’s next in
ensuring our water and sewer infrastructure is as
resilient as possible.
One critical element is Fiveash. As you may
remember, outside experts told us that the plant is at In past hurricanes, restoring electricity has been a top
significant risk of failure. The commission will receive a concern. With Dorian, there was an FPL staff person present
recommendation in the next few weeks on whether to in the city’s emergency operations center to provide
undertake a top-to-bottom upgrade or build a new plant. smoother communications regarding their operations. City
management also believed there were improved
Flood preparations are also needed. Dorian came upon us communications with Broward County and other
at a point during a king tide cycle. Consequently, flooding municipalities before, during and after the storm.
would have been substantially worse. The city is working to
upgrade its seawalls and has projects designed and ready I cannot thank enough our team here at City Hall.
Throughout both ordeals, we were able to provide
to go to make improvements in areas that currently
experience the worst flooding. continuous communications to the public as well with
updates posted on the city web site and across social media.
The city has long said that the police station is in such poor Our community was always in touch with events as they
condition that it likely could not withstand hurricane-force winds. were occurring.
Fortunately, voters approved a bond issue this spring to build a
In closing, please remember that Dorian’s passage is not
new station. Plans are now advancing to make this happen.
an end to our need to be vigilant of dangerous weather.
By moving forward aggressively with improvements to Hurricane season runs until the first of December, and we
critical infrastructure, we will be better prepared for major should expect that more storms could form.
storms or accidents and can avoid the frequent problems
that come with aging plants and pipes. The federal, state Also, I urge everyone to do what they can to assist our
neighbors in the Bahamas. Many efforts are underway
and local governments need to come together to discuss
these needs and how to pay for them. to provide support, and they are in desperate need of
the help. HB
When the water main was punctured, Gov. DeSantis and his
Sincerely,
emergency preparedness director, Jared Moskowitz, reached
out immediately offering help. They gave us quick access to
Dean Trantalis
the state’s bottled water reserves, sending some 100,000 Mayor, City of Fort Lauderdale
bottles of water.
The fire departments for Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-
Dade counties also supplied tanker trucks to assist with fire
suppression if needed.

10 HARBOR BEACH Magazine | www.harborbeach.org