Candidates anointed: No election in eight cities

Voters won’t get to cast ballots to select council members in eight Palm Beach County cities as no one filed to challenge incumbents.

Eight Palm Beach County cities have anointed city council members without voters casting a ballot in the election planned for March 11.

The eight cities and the winners are:

• West Palm Beach: Shalonda Warren and Joe Peduzzi.
• Juno Beach: Diana Davis.
• Tequesta: Molly Young and Patrick Painter.
• Palm Beach Shores: Roby DeReuil and Tracy Larcher.
• Jupiter Inlet Colony: David Shula, Mark Ciarfella and Bill Muir.
• North Palm Beach: Kristin Garrison and Susan Bickel (qualifying closes at 5 pm Tuesday).
• Palm Springs: Bev Smith, Gary Ready and Kimberly Schmitz.
• Lake Clarke Shores: Gregory Freebold, Jon Maples, Taylor Materio and Christy Maasbach.

Of note: All but one, David Shula, are incumbents.

Why it’s important: Most cities determine in November who will be on the March ballot. While some say the lack of challengers indicates satisfaction with existing policies, others say the difficulty of raising money to defeat an entrenched incumbent turns challengers away.

Yes, but: Races are set in Lake Worth Beach, Jupiter, Boynton Beach, Royal Palm Beach, Lantana, Riviera Beach and Lake Park.

Qualifying continues until Dec. 2 in Palm Beach Gardens, where incumbent Marcie Tinsley is running in Group 2 and Charles Millar is running for the seat vacated by term-limited Carl Woods in Group 4. Palm Beach sets aside Dec. 3-4 for candidates to sign up.

Here’s a look at the contested races: 

Lake Worth Beach

• District 2 incumbent Christopher McVoy will face Carla Blockson. 
• District 4 incumbent Reinaldo Diaz will face Greg Richter and Anthony Segrich.

Royal Palm Beach

• Mayor: Incumbent Jeff Hmara against Council Member Selena Samios and Justin Plaza.
• Group 3: Steve Avila, Donielle Pinto and Sylvia Sharps.
• No opponent filed to challenge incumbents Richard Valuntas in Group 2 and Jan Rodusky in Group 4. Plus newcomer Adam Miller wins the Group 1 seat.

Lantana

• Group 2 incumbent Kem Mason won without a vote. 
• Group 1 incumbent Lynn Moorhouse will face Jesse Rivero.

Jupiter

• Mayor: Incumbent Jim Kuretski vs. Council Member Cameron May.
• District 1: Phyllis Choy, Teri Grooms and Andy Weston
• District 2: Incumbent Malise Sundstrom, Linda McDermott and Willie Puz.

Lake Park

• Six candidates seek four seats. Incumbents Michael Hensley, Mary BethTaylor, Judith Thomas and Kim Glas-Castro and challengers Michael O’Rourke and John Linden. 

Riviera Beach

• Mayor: Incumbent Ronnie Felder faces Kendra Wester and Kendrick Wyly.
• District 1: Incumbent Tradrick McCoy has drawn challenges from Joseph Bedford Sr. and Bruce Guyton, who last served on the council in 2015.
• District 3: Incumbent Shirley Lanier has one challenger Cedrick Thomas, who served on the council in 2007.
• District 5: Douglas Lawson, who presides over the council, faces challenges from Madelene Irving-Mills and Fercella Davis-Panier, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2011 and initially filed to seek the District 3 seat.

Boynton Beach

• Mayor: Rebecca Shelton, David Merker, Courtlandt McQuire and Golene Gordon.
• District 1: Incumbent Angela Cruz (winner).
• District 3: Thomas Turkin, Dominick Vargas and Pam Baglio.

Some of the county’s biggest cities — Greenacres, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Wellington and Belle Glade — have no expiring seats to be decided next year.