North county elections: Quiet campaign season ahead in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens
It will be an unusually quiet local election season in northern Palm Beach County in 2023.
Only two of the 12 seats up for election March 14 will be contested ― and in the region's three largest communities, voters won't have to go to the polls at all.
Jupiter
There will be no local campaigns in Jupiter. Incumbents Ron Delaney and Cameron May won new three-year terms on the Town Council when no one opposed their bids for re-election.
Delaney has been a council member since 2016 and has owned and operated the home-delivery food service East Coast Foods. May is a Palm Beach County Fire Rescue firefighter/paramedic.
Jupiter voters elected Mayor Jim Kuretski and council members Cheryl Schneider and Malise Sundstrom to three-year terms in March.
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Palm Beach Gardens
Like Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens won’t be having an election at all.
No opponents filed to run against incumbent Chelsea Reed, who is serving as the city's mayor this year, or council candidates Robert Premuroso and Dana Middleton.
Reed won election to the council in 2020 and will leave office at the end of her new term. Premuroso, a banker, served on the council from 2008 to 2017 before stepping down because of term limits. Middleton is a director of the PGA Corridor Association.
Rachelle Litt and Mark Marciano will leave the council this spring because of term limits.
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North Palm Beach
In North Palm Beach, there also will be no election. Only two seats were up for a vote and incumbents won re-election to both.
Vice Mayor David Norris and President Pro Tem Susan Bickel ran unopposed.
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Lake Park
Lake Park Mayor Michael O’Rourke stepped down this month, bringing his three-year term to a close one year early. The commission this month will appoint Town Commissioner Roger Michaud to replace him. Michaud is running uncontested for office.
Michaud’s seat is the lone seat on the commission that will be up for election in March. Three candidates have filed: Patricia Leduc, Rafael Moscoso and Judith Thomas.
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Tequesta
In Tequesta, voters will act on ballot questions but not on candidates.
Molly Young, who is serving the village's mayor, will maintain her position for three more years. Patrick Painter, an attorney, ran unopposed to replace council member Kyle Stone.
Voters will act on a charter amendment that will lengthen council terms to three years from two and limit council members to three consecutive terms in office. They would have to sit out at least one full year before running again. The measure also would require candidates for Village Council to live in Tequesta for one continuous year before becoming eligible to run.
A bond referendum will allow Tequesta to borrow up to $10 million over 20 years to buy environmentally sensitive lands.
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Juno Beach
Juno Beach will have one Town Council seat on the ballot. Council member Jason Haselkorn, who has held office since 2014, is not seeking re-election. Marianne Hosta, Michael Moll and Aldo Rovere are competing to replace him.
Vice Mayor Pro Tem Peggy Wheeler has been re-elected to her seat, as she ran unopposed.
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Lianna Norman covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at lnorman@pbpost.com. You can follow her reporting on social media @LiannaNorman on Twitter. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Incumbents win uncontested council seats in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens
