Three Candidates Vying For Seat 1 On Delray Beach Commission

Millenial Black Man and Woman Voting in Election

Photo: adamkaz / E+ / Getty Images

Our Election Spotlight is on the City of Delray Beach, where there are three races on March 19th, including the one for Seat 1 on the City Commission.

The seat is open as Adam Frankel is termed out.

Former Commissioner Jim Chard is one of three candidates in this race. He was elected in 2017, then lost the race for Mayor to Shelly Petrolia the following year. But he says he has spent the better part of 20 years involved in the city on boards.

Chard shares his thoughts on the 2021 vote by the Commission to remove a non-profit that was operating Old School Square for 30 years.

"I don't think the city should be taking over cultural responsibility. I think that's a very expensive proposition. It's highly trained individuals in culture art or art history and to have the city taking it over and spending taxpayer money, it's just not a good thing."

A retired executive from the financial services sector, Chard says the move has cost the city a couple million dollars.

Candidate Tennille DeCoste calls herself the only one in this race with 22 years of municipal government experience. She is a former Delray Beach human resources Director and currently holds that job in Boynton Beach but is on paid leave while the city investigates her job performance. DeCoste accuses the Boynton city manager of making racially motivated statements.

She also disagrees with the move to oust the Old School Square non-profit.

"Now it's on the residents' back to pay the millions of dollars every year because we have nothing going on at Old School Square, which is really sad."

DeCoste says the Commission should have brought the issue to the attention of the city's residents before the decision was made to terminate the lease.

"My biggest biggest point of running for office is we need to bring the residents to the table before we make decisions that's gonna affect our residents."

The third candidate in this race is Tom Markert, a former corporate executive who did not return our calls for an interview.


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