Joel EngelhardtThree candidates vie for an open seat while Dana Middleton draws a challenger in Group 5.
The three-way race for an open seat on the Palm Beach Gardens City Council pits a newcomer against two former council members offering vastly different approaches.
A second race pits a council member who never before faced voters against a newcomer known for his work with a local soccer club.
The city of nearly 65,000 residents is considered to be among the best-run in Palm Beach County, with vast financial reserves built on a recent boom in home values and the rapid growth of new communities. Seldom do monthly council meetings draw a crowd or even a controversy as the council backs most decisions with little public debate.
Running Palm Beach Gardens is City Manager Ron Ferris, who turns 80 in July and at 26 years is the longest-serving city manager in the county.
Recent issues over the city’s decision to lease the city’s oldest park to a nonprofit to build an ice-rink complex and the city’s failed effort to annex older neighboring communities with more than 8,000 residents have raised questions about Ferris’ approach and the council’s unwillingness to openly question him.
Group 3 race
The decision in April 2024 to convert Plant Drive Park into a hockey rink thrust Heather Deitchman into city politics for the first time. She’s running against former Council Members Rachelle Litt and David Levy for the seat held by term-limited Chelsea Reed.
Deitchman, 44, is tutoring director and library supervisor at American Heritage Schools in Delray Beach and a 10-year city resident. She is registered with no party affiliation. When she learned of the city’s plans for Plant Drive Park, officials told her to trust the process, she said, “but then you find out the process is rigged.”
“And by that, I mean that every step of the way, there was some permission, some private conversation, some decision made previously that was not part of the official process,” she said in an interview. “And when we found evidence of that and brought that to our City Council, it was either overlooked, excused or we were told that we were somehow incorrect, only later to find that the things we had found and were concerned about were valid.”
While she makes transparency a centerpiece of her campaign, defining it as “ensuring that residents understand” the information the city discloses, the approach drew criticism from Litt, 70, who served on the council from 2017 to 2023 and lost a race as a Democrat in 2024 for a state House seat.
“Saying you’re in favor of transparency is a little like saying you’re in favor of honesty or clean air. It’s obvious. It’s expected,” Litt wrote in her Litt Link blog on Feb. 11. “And by itself, it doesn’t actually say much about your understanding of government or how you plan to make it work better for the people you serve.”
Litt, a retired pharmacist and pharmaceutical sales representative who has lived in the city for 37 years, said council members push back, just not always publicly.
“Just because you don’t see conflict, or drama, on the dais doesn’t mean the pushback isn’t happening behind the scenes,” she said in an interview. “I come in with notes to every meeting. I read everything that I had prepared, but it was all carefully thought out to get those points across.”
Levy, 65, who served on the council from 2004 to 2016 with one interruption to run for County Commission, has made his willingness to push back against Ferris a centerpiece of his campaign. He traces the council’s weakness to the turnover starting in 2016, when five council members, including Levy, lost their seats in 12 months because of term limits.
“That left a very serious experience gap, which the city manager took advantage of, and he has become extremely powerful,” said Levy, a geologist, registered Democrat and 36-year city resident. The council ceded its control over policy to the manager, he said.
“It’s time that a City Council member says: ‘If you’re not following our directives, you need to resign. We’ll accept your resignation right now,’” Levy said at a Feb. 9 candidates forum. “Somebody needs to stand up to Ron Ferris, and I believe I’m the person that will do that.”
Through Feb. 6, Litt has raised the most money, at $51,315; Levy has $21,377; and Deitchman $5,505.
Group 5 race
Dana Middleton, 55, who won her Group 5 seat in 2023 without opposition, faces Damien Murray, 56, a Dublin, Ireland-born naturalized U.S. citizen who ran the Gardens Predators soccer club for 17 years.
Middleton, who has lived in the city for nearly 20 years and is registered with no party affiliation, served five years as chair of the PGA Corridor Association. She and her husband recently sold their local business, Intelligent Office, and moved to Avenir, making her one of two council members living west of Florida’s Turnpike.
She supports Ferris, saying in an interview, “I trust what our city manager does and the processes we have.”
While she has been one of the quietest council members, she said she decided to serve because she likes the staff and the open communication and dialogue with residents.
She agreed that the city could do more public outreach on future projects but defended the city’s approach to eliminating Plant Drive Park. She pointed out that residents have ample opportunity at zoning meetings to address issues before they get to the council.
“You can’t separate lack of knowledge from lack of participation,” she said.
Murray, a FedEx sales executive who is registered with no party affiliation, talks about putting a succession plan in place in case Ferris retires, but when pressed on whether he would support the city manager, said “I would like to see changes made, as he has far too much control.”
His approach, Murray said in an interview, is to enter City Hall with an open mind.
“I’m not trying to rip everything up, but I do want to go in and just kind of see where everything lays right now, see if I can help in any way, be an open mind, listen to the residents and get answers for them.”
Through Feb. 6, Middleton has raised $38,305 to Murray’s $11,800.
On the issues
Stet News spent nearly an hour or more with each of the candidates. This story also considered their responses at the Feb. 9 candidates forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Palm Beach Gardens Historical Society attended by all but Middleton, plus their five-minute presentations on Jan. 27 to the North County Neighborhood Coalition, and their League of Women Voters questionnaires.
Growth and traffic
Rachelle Litt
“I never voted for any project until my questions about how it would impact infrastructure, public safety, traffic and neighborhoods were answered,” Litt said at the North County Neighborhood Coalition forum.
“Anyone who says that they can stop growth is not really being honest about how cities in Florida work,” she added at the Feb. 9 candidates forum. “Growth itself is not the threat. It’s how we manage it that matters. And when I was on council, that’s why I voted for the mobility plan and the workforce housing plan. We use the tools we have deliberately and firmly to create new tools to do that and to help us control growth.”
Heather Deitchman
She emphasized the need for affordable growth as opposed to more luxury living, saying in the League questionnaire: “Palm Beach Gardens is growing out of balance and lacks attainable housing. This forces teachers, nurses, first responders and young professionals to live elsewhere, increasing traffic and straining infrastructure. Without housing options for working families, the city risks losing the people who keep our schools, businesses and services vibrant.”
“The city doesn’t have to say ‘yes’ just because someone comes in with a specific idea. They’re allowed to say ‘no,’” she added in an interview.
David Levy
“One of the biggest issues that we’re facing right now is traffic,” he said at the candidates forum, listing his efforts as a council member to improve traffic flow by advocating a right-turn lane at Military Trail and Northlake Boulevard and by removing the option to extend Donald Ross Road west of Jog Road along the boundary of the Loxahatchee Slough.
Dana Middleton
“Traffic is a challenging time, and especially in our western communities,” she said at the NCNC forum. “I work closely with CSX, FDOT, the county and our city to advance key projects like Coconut Boulevard, Northlake Boulevard, State Road 7, to make sure they’re moving forward. And I’ve also worked to make sure traffic signals are adjusted as needed. I’m committed to holding stakeholders accountable to ensure these projects move forward efficiently.”
Damien Murray
“I believe Palm Beach Gardens can grow but it must grow smarter,” he said at the NCNC forum. “Development should be balanced, well-planned and focused on protecting the character of our city.”
He called overdevelopment the biggest threat facing the city in the League questionnaire. “As a rapidly growing city experiencing a significant population boom, the city is struggling to keep infrastructure — such as roads and utilities — in pace with development.”
Annexation
After a seven-month campaign, in March 2024 voters in well-established neighboring communities went to the polls to decide if they wanted their homes to become part of Palm Beach Gardens. A resounding 93% voted no.
Rachelle Litt
“I don’t think large annexations should be forced,” Litt said in an interview. “And if the city learned anything from that debacle it was that the residents didn’t ask for it, they didn’t trust the process and they didn’t understand what the benefits were — the educational piece was missing.”
Heather Deitchman
“We obviously should have courted residents versus them feeling as if they were being taken over,” she said at the candidates forum. “One of the things that I feel we could have done much better, would be to make sure that we’re accountable when things don’t work out, so when things failed miserably and publicly, there should have been a feedback loop.”
“The pattern of behavior is, we don’t communicate until we have what we want to say,” she said in an interview. “We don’t consider that other people might have different opinions.”
David Levy
He referred to the annexation initiative as an epic political failure, “the equivalent of losing a football game 60 to nothing.” The city needed to court neighbors earlier, he said, suggesting sending a questionnaire to determine if enough neighbors had interest.
Dana Middleton
The city could have done a better job of educating people on the annexation, she said in an interview, but she didn’t have an opinion of the city’s actions since she had only been on the council for five months when the city manager first raised the issue in September 2023.
Damien Murray
He faulted the city for not selling itself better to neighboring residents.
Why they’re running
Rachelle Litt
“I’ve been living in the community for almost 40 years. It’s my home. My kids grew up here, they had an amazing life. Our quality of life is awesome. We have a great city. That’s why everybody wants to be here. And I feel I am the best-qualified person to make sure that we stay that way. With the current institutional knowledge of how the city works, who our partners could be, the connections that I’ve made over the years, I’m not one who can just sit back and let things happen. So, no, I don’t have to do it. It’s something I’m passionate about doing.”
Heather Deitchman
“I didn’t start this process because I wanted to campaign. I started this process because I wanted to be more civically engaged and learn more about how city processes were handled. That led to where I am now, which is wanting to run and fix some of these — what I’m gonna call — shortcomings.”
David Levy
“I see some issues with the city. Term limits, you know, wiped out five council members all within a year … and that left a very serious experience gap,” he said in an interview. “I believe that the City Council has foregone their oversight responsibility and they basically cede the control of pretty much policy and administration to the city manager. … And I have some concerns that the organization chart has become upside down,” with the city manager on top and the council and residents below.
Dana Middleton
She decided to serve because she likes the staff and the open communication and dialogue with residents on the city’s needs. “I’m always available to the residents and the business community,” she said in an interview.
Damien Murray
“My years of leadership in the community has taught me how to listen, how to bring people together and how to solve problems,” he said at the NCNC forum. “I don’t come with an agenda driven by politics or special interests. I come with a commitment to serve. I’m ready to stand up for residents, protect our quality of life and help guide Palm Beach Gardens forward.”
Watch the Feb. 9 candidates forum video here.
Watch the North County Neighborhood Coalition video here.
Joel is a founder, reporter and editor at Stet News. His award-winning newspaper career spanned more than 40 years, including 28 years at The Palm Beach Post, which he left in 2020. Joel lives with his wife in Palm Beach Gardens. He volunteers on the board of NAMI Palm Beach County and the Palm Beach Gardens Historical Society.
