Related: Town Council election candidate profiles
Related: Mayor's race election candidate profiles
By Brian Biggane
The seemingly endless on-again, off-again struggle to build a new Town Hall for South Palm Beach will be by far the most important issue when four of the five seats on the Town Council are contested in the March 10 general election.
Bonnie Fischer, who has served on the council since 2011 and as mayor since 2015, is being opposed by Rafael Pineiro, who has recruited fellow residents Francesca Attardi and Adrian Burcet to run against incumbents Monte Berendes, Elvadianne Culbertson and Sandra Beckett.
Berendes was elected to the council in 2022, while Culbertson (April 2024) and Beckett (December 2024) were appointed to fill vacancies in unexpired terms. The three top vote-getters will join the winner of the mayor’s race and Council member Ray McMillan — whose seat isn’t up for election this year — on the council.
The challengers all oppose the current plan to build a new Town Hall and prefer the current building be renovated to meet the town’s needs.
Pineiro has been outspoken in his criticism of the council and its many decisions regarding the Town Hall, with the town now just months away from a groundbreaking on the estimated $6.5 million construction project. He would like to void a $161,000 contract with Fort Lauderdale firm CPZ Architects and hire an engineering firm to study whether a new building is needed — or if the current one can be renovated for far less money.
“We want to be open and transparent,” Pineiro said. “What people want is an expert opinion, that ‘this is what needs to be done, this is how much it’s going to cost.’”
The SIPs detour
If the contract with CPZ were to be canceled, it wouldn’t be the first time a deal has fallen through. In October 2021, the council contracted the firm of Synalovski Romanik Saye for $63,000 to explore the options of renovating the current building or building a new one. The following October the contract was terminated after Fischer, upon returning from a meeting of building contractors, told the council a new building could be constructed using the technologically advanced Structural Integrated Panels (SIPs) process for only about $2 million.
More than two years later, in late 2024, the town put out bids specifically asking for firms with SIPs experience. Moonlight Architecture, which specializes in SIPs construction, was the choice in January 2025, but when its financial terms could not be met, the council pivoted to CPZ, which had brought a SIPs expert when it made its proposal.
This past October, CPZ representative Joe Barry told the council SIPs would not be a cheaper option than using more traditional construction and the council voted 3-2 for the latter, with Fischer and Culbertson dissenting.
“I still wanted to go with SIPs but got outvoted,” Fischer said.
‘Nobody paying attention’
As all this was transpiring, Pineiro circulated a petition among residents asking the council to put the brakes on its timeline.
“We walked around asking people, ‘Do you know about the Town Hall?’ Nobody was paying attention, and this was creeping up on us,” said Attardi, who met Pineiro while working on another petition for the council to set aside space for a dog park. “It was in the offseason, when people were gone, and we still got more than 100 signatures.”
Current council members — including those seeking election — are unanimous in their opinion that it’s too late to turn back now. They cite a report submitted by Town Manager Jamie Titcomb that the cost of a retrofit would be more than 50% of the value of the building, which under state regulations would trigger costly renovations to the existing building to meet all current codes and elevations.
“We’ve had meetings about refurbishing the building since back in 2021 and were told, ‘Don’t,’” said Berendes, now the vice mayor. “To do major renovation, that’s not fiscally responsible. You’re going to spend $200,000 on an engineering study and find out the same things we found out five or six years ago. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“This is for the future of the town, something we can be proud of,” Beckett added.
At a special council meeting in early January that attracted an unusually large crowd for a council meeting — some 40 to 50 people — seven residents addressed the council regarding the Town Hall. Five spoke in favor while two, including Pineiro, were opposed.
Building heights
Another issue that has been discussed in town and has gotten attention this election is increasing height limits on buildings on the west side of State Road A1A. The current limit is six stories and, with developers looking to move in and replace structures that are now 40 years old or older, Berendes has said the time is coming when the limits need to be raised.
“I don’t know how much longer they can exist as they are,” he said. “To guarantee we won’t raise the height? No, I won’t do that.”
That doesn’t sit well with Attardi, who moved to South Palm Beach from New Jersey in 2023 and resides in one of those six-story buildings.
“Where am I supposed to go if the developers move in?” Attardi said. “I want to keep our little town the way that it is.”
‘They’re not involved’
While Pineiro has served many years on condo HOA boards in Broward County, his two running mates have little if any experience in governing. Attardi said she has attended “a few” council meetings in recent months while Burcet said he has “popped in” to them on occasion, though all four incumbents insist they have never seen him at one.
Pineiro “has been to maybe four meetings,” Beckett said. “The other two think this is their town, but they’re not involved. They don’t come to meetings, they don’t get on boards and committees and things to get involved in their community.”
Burcet said a work schedule that demands he sleep during the day has made attending meetings difficult.
“But I’m getting information through sources and it’s clear to me nothing is getting done,” he said. “So, if we get the community on the same page we can get things done instead of just continuing to bicker at these Town Hall meetings.”
While the four incumbents up for election expressed gratitude over the large turnout at the special council meeting, there was also frustration that residents didn’t express their interest in the Town Hall project sooner. Council meetings in recent years typically attract fewer than a dozen people.
With groundbreaking approaching, the incumbent council members have a sense the time has passed to start over yet again.
“Why would we even want to consider that?” Beckett asked.
South Palm Beach town election
Election day: March 10
Last day to register to vote: Feb. 9
Last day to request mail-in ballot: Feb. 26
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