City debate not short on jabs
DELRAY BEACH — A fiery debate Wednesday was loaded with personal and professional jabs ahead of a sweeping election that could shift four seats on the five-member Delray Beach city commission.
With three commission seats and seven candidates on the ballot on March 13 — and one uncontested candidate — contenders sparred on topics such as education, development and infrastructure. But the back-andforths mostly were commanded by indictments on each other’s characters.
Commissioners Shelly Petrolia and Jim Chard are running for mayor, and Petrolia opened that debate by saying Chard had an unfair advantage. He knew the questions in advance because the hosts sent out an email to coordinators with Chard carbon-copied.
Chard sits on the Chamber of Commerce Advocacy Committee that curates the questions for the debate, so he was included in the email exchange, said Vin Nolan, interim CEO of the chamber.
Chard acknowledged the questions with an email reading, “Great questions my friend,” according to records shared with The Palm Beach Post by Petrolia’s campaign.
“I don’t need the extra time or energy or help,” Petrolia said before her opening.
Petrolia, a five-year commissioner and real estate agent, said she wants to restore civility to an abrasive commission and chaotic City Hall, and keep Delray Beach in its “authentic state.”
Chard, a one-year commissioner and retired business executive, said he also wants to restore civility — but he’s the one to do it.
Chard said he walked into a staff lunchroom and overheard employees say, “‘When she becomes mayor, I’m gonna leave.’
“We need to honor those people, not chase them away,” Chard said.
The most combative debate by far was between candidates for Commission Seat 3 — incumbent Mitch Katz and challenger Ryan Boylston.
Boylston, who sits on the city’s Downtown Development Authority board, allegedly voted on a DDA budget that approved advertising payments to a community newspaper he co-owns, Delray Newspaper, the Coastal Star reports. Boylston’s marketing business, Woo Creative, also does work for some city-funded nonprofits, which might become a conflict of interest if he sits on the commission.
Katz was quick to bring up the allegations, accusing Boylston of ethics violations.
“I have not profited off anything in the newspaper in years,” Boylston later said.
When pressed about education, Katz lauded the city’s education board. Boylston then pointed out he sits on that board.
For Commission Seat 1, three candidates — Richard Alteus, Eric Camacho and Adam Frankel — were cordial in comparison to their counterparts — mostly.
At one point, Frankel, a former commissioner for six years and an attorney, asked Camacho, a political novice who works in tech, to state the city’s millage rate, a tax levied on all properties in the city. Camacho said 19 percent. The millage rate is about 7.21 mills, rarely calculated as percentages.
Camacho, though, won applause from the crowd when he chastised social media, used by many in the city to “cyber bully,” he said. “I don’t condone that.”
Alteus, a former Monroe County Sheriff ’s deputy, said Delray Beach is divided into two — the prosperous Delray and the less-fortunate Delray. The city should focus on affordable housing and programs for youth in lower-income areas, Alteus said.
The debate at Arts Garage drew about 200 people.