No Gardens election in March: Reed, two new members handed seats

The March 2023 Palm Beach Gardens municipal election is over without voters casting a single ballot.

Incumbent Chelsea Reed, former Councilmember Bert Premuroso and Dana Middleton will take office in March after no one filed to run against them during the two-week qualifying period, which closed Wednesday.

While council elections are nonpartisan, Premuroso is a registered Republican, joining Carl Woods and Marcie Tinsley to give Republicans three spots on the board. Reed is a Democrat and Middleton is registered with no party affiliation.

The three candidates won by filing and paying the $1,361 qualifying fee. Their terms will begin in March.

It’s the second year in a row that city residents won’t be asked to go to the polls to elect council members. In March 2022, Woods and Tinsley won new terms without opposition. 

The last contested race was in March 2021, when Tinsley defeated Rob Nanfro to fill the final year of Maria Marino’s term after Marino sought and won a county commission seat.

Reed, 53, returns for a second, three-year term in Group 3, the most allowed under citywide term limits.

“Continuing on as an honorable representative of my hometown is a daily dream come true, and I thank YOU for this continued opportunity,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

Reed lives in The Sanctuary off Hood and Prosperity Farms roads. She raised $10,586 through Nov. 3.

Premuroso, 57, senior vice president at Valley National Bank, will replace term-limited Mark Marciano in Group 1. 

Premuroso served on the council from 2008 to 2017. He is a graduate of Florida State University and lives in an older section of the city east of Military Trail and south of Holly Drive. He raised $20,250 through the end of November.

He’s a fiscal conservative who supports the city’s strong financial reserves. He said in an interview it’s not worth jeopardizing the city’s long-term financial health for a short-term reduction in the tax rate. 

“I would rather not weaken it by things we can’t reverse,” he said.

Most importantly, he would like to see a return to civic engagement. 

“People complain that they don’t know what’s going on in the city. I don’t think that’s fair,” he said. “COVID wiped out three to five years of people wanting to be active and fully on board and do things. … We’ve got to get over that.”

Middleton, 54, chairwoman of the PGA Corridor Association and manager of the local Intelligent Office franchise, won her unrivaled bid to replace term-limited Rachelle Litt in Group 5.

She is a 16-year city resident who lives in Mirasol, is on the board of Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and has been chairwoman of the PGA Corridor Association since 2017. She raised $19,455 through Nov. 3 and did not reply to a request for comment.

“I cannot thank you enough for your support and I look forward to working even closer with the city, our residents and business community,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

With the departure of Litt and Marciano, Democrats lose a 3-2 edge on the council.

joel@ongardens.org

© 2022 Joel Engelhardt. All rights reserved.

Previously published: Council election could be decided without voting