The West Palm Beach City Commission on Monday unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 5142‑25 to implement a school‑zone speeding enforcement program and to establish related notice, penalty and appeal procedures under Florida law. The ordinance and a companion resolution (No. 192‑25) designate police personnel to serve as clerks to the local hearing officer for enforcement matters.

City traffic and police officials told the commission the ordinance codifies a program authorized by Florida House Bill 657 and implements the statutory procedures in Florida Statutes sections 316.1895 and 316.1896. "There's no changes to the ordinance other than we went through and added schools that are already designated as school zones," Assistant Chief Tony Spaterra of the West Palm Beach Police Department said during the second reading.

The ordinance lists schools already marked as school speed zones — from Alexander Dreyfus School of the Arts through Yaga — and adopts procedures for using automated speed‑detection systems. Veronica Altuve, city traffic engineer, explained that designating a school as a state‑recognized school safety zone requires an engineering study for FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) concurrence. "One of the requirements is to provide an engineering study…we need to collect the speed of the vehicles, we need to collect the gap of the vehicles…and the type of pedestrian activity," Altuve said, noting elementary and middle schools are the typical candidates for a school speed zone and that high schools are considered on a case‑by‑case basis.

Commissioners pressed staff on next steps for schools that are not currently designated. Altuve said city staff can prepare the required engineering evaluations to seek designation. Assistant Chief Spaterra said additional permitting would be required before any speed‑camera installation, and that the permitting step includes an assessment of any additional danger that would justify cameras. Commissioner Fox asked about vendor arrangements discussed at first reading; Spaterra said the city will proceed toward an RFP process rather than simply piggybacking on an existing contract.

A member of the public urged broad coverage and questioned what speed threshold would trigger citations; Michael Cleveland said the speed tolerances in camera enforcement should be reviewed because he was concerned that the margin could allow vehicles to travel up to 30 mph where posted 20 mph.

The commission also approved Resolution No. 192‑25 designating police department staff as clerks for local hearings tied to this enforcement regime. Both the ordinance and the resolution carried on unanimous voice votes. Going forward, staff said they will prepare engineering studies for additional schools on the commission's direction and that camera installation would follow permitting and vendor selection.