Hillsboro Beach commissioners deserve re-election

A few years back, Hillsboro Beach faced crumbling infrastructure and a protracted battle with its northern and much larger neighbor Deerfield Beach over that city’s beach groins, structures that trapped sand and helped Deerfield’s beach erosion issues. The problem, though, was that Hillsboro Beach’s sand eroded away without being replenished. Oceanfront estates worth eight figures watched the sand yanked away by the tides, water creeping ever closer to the homes. Lawsuits were filed. It was ugly.

In 2015, the Sun Sentinel recommended Hillsboro Beach toss out its town commissioners and replace them with newcomers Deb Tarrant and Vicky Feaman, writing that the city’s issues “demand new leadership and new vision in Hillsboro Beach.”

Tarrant won her seat and Feaman kept the one she had been appointed to a few months before. Since then, the town added a town manager position in 2016, replaced its water main in 2018, replaced its sewer main in 2019 and, miracle of miracles, after years of intercity warfare, entered an agreement with Deerfield in 2020 to mitigate beach erosion.

You’d think Tarrant, Feaman and fellow commissioner Barbara Baldasarre could just put up a “Mission Accomplished’ banner and had back to their barrier island homes for a round of frozen drinks, but they’re not quite done yet.

Both the agreement with Deerfield and a project with the Florida Department of Transportation to address flooding on the south end of town have been previously approved but are set to be executed in 2022.

“I would like to finish this to-do list,” Tarrant wrote in her questionnaire. “In addition, I want to maintain the low-key, small-town feel of Hillsboro Beach.”

Given the town’s string of successes since Tarrant came onboard, we see no reason to stop her.

Unlike any other municipality in Broward County that we could find, Hillsboro Beach elects its entire commission in one slate. Voters will have a list of four names on their ballot and can mark off up to three. Whichever three candidates get the most votes get seats on the commission; one candidate will be left out in the cold.

The lone non-incumbent is Frank Kolb, who has lived in the city at least part time since 1986 but has recently retired and is looking to give back to his city. Kolb served as the town attorney for eight years in East Haven, Conn. until November 2019. Along with this, he has years of experience in labor, business and contract law.

We have no doubt Kolb would be a useful addition to the town commission. But when asked whether he had attended town commission meetings or was familiar with town or county issues, Kolb had to answer he had attended few of any and was unaware of many of the town’s previous problems, or even the major transportation surtax Broward County voters approved in 2018.

We would encourage Kolb to get a better grasp of the issues in the town he has adopted as his full-time residence. When he does, he’ll make a useful addition to the town commission. Until that time, given their record of accomplishments, the Sun Sentinel endorses Barbara Baldasarre, Vicky Feaman and Deb Tarrant for Hillsboro Town Commission.