Royal Palm Beach's Longtime Mayor Faces A Challenger

Voters voting in polling place

Photo: Hill Street Studios / DigitalVision / Getty Images

Five days to election day in Palm Beach County, including the municipal races like the one in Royal Palm Beach for mayor.

73-year old Fred Pinto is the incumbent and has served on the Village Council since 2003. Multiple attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful.

His challenger is 34-year old Steve Avila, who was raised in Royal Palm Beach and now co-owns a China-based college admissions consulting firm. He says he has plenty of time to hold the office of mayor in Royal Palm Beach as he works remotely and the Village Council spot is a part-time job.

"It's a very flexible job and actually Royal Palm Beach's population is that of 39,000. We have a village manager. They're the ones who are tasked with doing the day to day activities and we are basically a council that helps with the decision-making."

Among his priorities, Avila says he would like to see the village implement term limits, something it doesn't currently have.

Something else the village doesn't have is an invocation before Council meetings, unlike many municipalities across the county.

"And the incumbent is on the record as saying that he doesn't think that Royal Palm Beach's Village Council meetings should star with an invocation."

There are no other races in Royal Palm Beach as council members Jeff Hmara and Selena Samios ran unopposed.


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