New city manager hired (HN) 11-5-04HOMV-MWN NEB
1-5- 7.00�
Friday, November 5, 2004
Acc-c� zoo�l / p 25
New city
manager hired
By Michelle Kaplan
staff writer
The village of North
Palm Beach is finally
under new management.
Mark Bates, 48,
divorced father of two
from Coral Springs will fill
the void left by Dennis
Redmond who resigned
the position in July after
serving eight months.
Mr.. Bates, the former
North Lauderdale city
manager, took the helm
on Oct. 25.
As city manager of
North Lauderdale, he
supervised a $49 million
budget, 300 employees in
a city of 42,000 residents
"I'm very excited about
being here," Mr. Bates
said. "The village has
such character and
charm."
Mr. Bates said that the
village is reminiscent of
his childhood home of
Boca Grande in the Port
Charlotte area where he
grew up. Mr. Bates plans
to relocate to North Palm
Beach.
Although he sees no
glaring, issues, his goals
for the village are to con-
tinue to improve the vil-
iage's general appearance,
such as the roads, side-
walks, parks as well as the
landscaping around Vil-
lage Hall.
. He noticed that village`
residents have already
done a lot of redevelop-
ment to their own homes,
showing the kind of pride
of ownership he would
like to reflect in the com-
munity's common areas.
Mark Bates
Mr. Bates would like to
redevelop the business
district while attracting
new businesses to the
area.
."To give (North Palm
Beach) businesses that
residents can support and
people can go to work at,"
Mr. Bates said.
Annexation, an issue;
that has been revolving
around thecommunity is
something he has experi-
ence with.
Mr. Bates had been
involved with two annex-
ations in Broward County,
adding 7,000 residents
with two expansions.
He describes annexa-
tion as a long -process,
stressing the importance
of communicating with
the residents so that they
know what kind of com-
munity services .they will
be receiving.
One of the first projects
Mr. Bates will delve into is
the annexation of unin-
corporated territory on
the North Palm Beach/
MANAGER
Continued from page Al
Palm Beach Gardens bor-
der.
As for parks, Mr. Bates
sees a possible expansion
for Anchorage Park when
the water tower will be
taken down, the park
could expand into the
peninsula.
Mr. Bates leisurely pur-
suits include scuba diving,
fishing and he holds a
commercial pilots 'license.
His two children are
actively pursuing their
educational goals.
Brian, 17, a.senior at J.P.
Taravella High School in
Coral Springs is currently
taking college courses.
Stephanie, 21 is in her
junior year at the Univers .
ty of Florida still deciding:
on whether to go on to law,
school or become a dean
of academics.
As far as the challenges of
village management, Mr.
Bates is ready to roll up his
sleeves and get to work.
"I have a lot to learn," he[li
said. "But I'm a willing stu-
dent."