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Riviera Beach mayor previews draft action plan focusing on water, housing, jobs and communications
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Summary
Mayor Douglas Lawson presented a draft action plan built from resident listening sessions that lists seven priorities — including water and infrastructure, affordable housing and improved communications — and asked council members for one-on-one meetings to fold priorities into the fiscal budget.
Mayor Douglas Lawson on Aug. 20 presented a draft "action plan" compiled from city listening sessions and asked council members to meet one-on-one so the plan's recommendations can be considered during the upcoming budget process.
Lawson told the Riviera Beach City Council the draft centers on seven priorities: quality water and infrastructure; affordable workforce housing and homeownership; economic and small-business growth; education and school readiness; transparent governance and employee morale; social services and community care; and branding, marketing and communications.
The mayor said the communications work is the nucleus of the plan. "The number 1 priority outside of these 7 things was branding, communications, and marketing," Lawson said. He proposed expanding the communications team, hiring a public relations and communications manager and dedicating a utility-district communications position to improve messaging about water system work.
The plan includes concrete proposals and markers, Lawson said. Among items mentioned were auditing the utility district's billing systems, distributing free at-home water-test kits, park renovations (Monroe Heights was cited as an example), and a "live-work-play" program with down-payment assistance of up to $50,000 for city employees and targeted assistance for educators ($15,000 noted for Palm Beach County educators).
Council members applauded the outreach behind the draft and raised points for follow up. Chair Shirley Lanier and Council members thanked the mayor for the listening tours; several said the proposals reflected long-standing community priorities. Councilmember Tim Miller Anderson and others emphasized youth engagement, name-checking a planned media/communications component that could include youth programming.
City staff said portions of the mayor's list are already included in preliminary budget work and that some items would require new investment or reallocation. A chief-of-staff present told council that many items are already identified in the city's draft budget and others would be new investments needing deliberation.
Lawson asked for one-on-one meetings with each councilmember before the next budget workshop so the plan's ideas can be integrated or adjusted. The mayor said the document remains a draft and will be released to the public after council one-on-ones and edits.
Council members asked for additional fiscal detail. Councilmember Bruce Guyton asked the mayor to clarify budget markers he cited; Lawson said the numbers were markers and not firm budget requests. Council members signaled support for the overall priorities but emphasized the need to identify funding sources and revenue that are not property-tax reliant.
The mayor's proposal drew public-comment discussion on related topics later in the meeting, including water quality and communication concerns from residents and community groups.
