By Brian Biggane
After working for nearly a year with only four members, the South Palm Beach Town Council completed its roster by appointing Sandra Beckett to the council at its November meeting.
A resident of Palmsea Condominiums since 2018, Beckett has been an active member of the community ever since, serving on the Community Affairs Advisory Board, the Architectural Review Board and the Code of Ordinances Review Committee. She will resign from all three before being sworn in at the Dec. 10 council meeting.
“I think it’s an exciting time to be on council because of the new (Town Hall), and we have a forward-looking Town Council and an excellent management team,” said Beckett, 86. “I’m impressed and I’m proud to be part of this community because I do see it going in a positive direction.”
The council was initially reduced to four members when longtime member Robert Gottlieb resigned effective last December. Gottlieb cited health issues and a reluctance to comply with a new state law requiring all elected officials to divulge their financial figures. That statute remains tied up in court.
Three residents applied and were interviewed to replace Gottlieb, and Elvadianne Culbertson won the appointment in February. Beckett said she didn’t apply at that time because she knew Culbertson from her previous time on the council — in addition to having served with her on the code review committee — and considered her qualified.
But shortly after Culbertson’s appointment, Vice Mayor Bill LeRoy resigned, also citing health issues. Rather than reopen the process to find a fifth member, then Council member Monte Berendes — who would later be appointed to replace LeRoy as vice mayor — moved to keep the number at four for the summer. In September, Berendes decided the time had come to solicit applications once again.
Although resident Rafael Pineiro expressed interest in the job at the September meeting, neither he nor anyone else filled out an application until Beckett did so just before the filing deadline.
“People suggested I should apply, (so) at the very last minute I applied and then I found out I was the only applicant,” Beckett said. “I asked a lot of people and they said they were interested, but not interested in making a commitment like that.”
Beckett is a native of Munroe Falls, Ohio. She spent her career in education, starting in elementary schools, before becoming a school psychologist and special-ed administrator.
She was also a community activist in Ohio, serving on the Tallmadge Board of Education for six years and serving terms as both president of the Tallmadge League of Women
Voters and vice president of the Ohio League of Women Voters. She also developed a leadership training program for high school girls.
“My life philosophy is it’s important to volunteer for your community, your church, and your neighbors, and to be a contributor,” Beckett said.
Her interview with the council was relatively brief, with Berendes offering his concern that Beckett’s ascension to the council would leave unfilled vacancies in her committees.
Resident Kevin Hall said the council should “be more concerned with the top down than the bottom up,” and said the effort needed to be made to find other residents to serve on those committees. That sentiment resonated with the council and Beckett won the seat in a unanimous vote.
In addition to getting the new Town Hall and community center built, Beckett said one of her goals is to foster close communication between the council and the governing bodies of the condominiums.
“We’ve got to work with them with what they’re facing in terms of the recertification process,” she said.
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