New Palm Beach County mayor sworn in Tuesday

Palm Beach County’s new mayor, Mack Bernard, opened his tenure Tuesday with a message for President Donald Trump, who was to arrive in the coming hours at his Palm Beach mansion a few miles away.

“I would like to let the president know the new mayor of Palm Beach County is not from a s--hole country. He’s from the beautiful island of Haiti,” said Bernard, a Haiti native, repeating the expletive used by the president in January to describe Haiti and some African nations.

Bernard’s remarks for Trump came when his fellow commissioners unanimously chose him to be mayor, a ceremonial role.

Bernard, a Democrat and former Delray Beach city commissioner, attended Palm Beach County’s public schools, as well as Florida State University as an undergraduate and the University of Florida for law school, and served two terms in the state Legislature. He was elected to the County Commission in 2016.

During Tuesday’s reorganizational meeting, commissioners

also selected Commissioner Dave Kerner as vice mayor.

Newly elected commissioner Gregg Weiss, of West Palm Beach, took a seat at the dais, replacing Paulette Burdick, while Robert Weinroth, of Boca Raton, took the seat of Steven Abrams, who could not run again because of term limits.

“I wish I could stay,” Abrams told the commission. He will become executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which runs Tri-Rail.

Weinroth said his priorities include buying new voting machines to ensure a 2020 election that goes more smoothly than last week, when Palm Beach County’s machines broke down from overuse. He said he also hopes economic development becomes a county commission priority.

“This is the primary driver of prosperity and a standard of living demanded by our residents,” he said.

LOIS SOLOMON/SUN-SENTINEL Mack Bernard signs his mayoral paperwork, assisted by Steve Weiss of the Palm Beach County Clerk’s Office.