Albin R. Olson the First Village ManagerVT .L.:L A!Ire 11A1.V L; RS
Avillage manager was hired, Albin Olson, and a chief
of the Department of Public Safety, Albert Dudden.
Olson came from Port Everglades, where he was assis-
tant manager. Previously he had worked in the office of
the city manager of Pensacola and was assistant to the
city manager of Daytona Beach. He has a master's
degree from the school of Public Administration at
Florida State University. Olson had spent 36 months
with the Marine Corps in World War II and also served in
Korea with the rank of major.
Formally, a very sensitive gap exists between the
ownership of a developer and the sale to the public,
but this one ran very smoothly. This was largely due
to the honorable performance of the Ross group and
their ability to pick excellent men for key jobs. While
they controlled the Council, in the absence of resi-
dents, their actions were invariably right and in the
best interests of the future home owners. As the
months passed, Jack Schwencke, handling sales to
builders and individuals, saw to it that agreements
were kept and relationships were -harmonious.
A great deal of responsibility on the shoulders
of Al Olson, the Village Manager. Ire the beginning, he
wore several hats: Village Clerk, Village Tax Assessor,
and Village Tax Collector. Until the Village Hall was
completed, he had a desk in a small .room upstairs in
the Winter Club. One of the first things he had to do
was set up a tax roll. This was fairly pimple on the
surface, as there were only two taxpayers- Forth Palm
Beach Properties (the Ross operating entity) and
John MacArthur. There was one other, however, that
turned up in the person of a French Duke who owned
Little Munyon Island. It seems that he had in =�erited
the island and had never seen it. When Olson sent
him a tax bill, a very polite letter came back from
Southern. France with a check for the taxes due
$23.00.
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