Palm Beach’s annual Town Caucus will arrive a little earlier than usual this year – at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3, in the public meeting chambers in Town Hall.
This year’s will be the 113th caucus, a traditionally genteel, New England-style town meeting where candidates are nominated for mayor or a specific Town Council seat. It typically lasts anywhere from 40 minutes to more than an hour.
The caucus is held on the first Tuesday in December. In past years it has been held in the early evening, but the council scheduled it for 3:30 p.m. this year to avoid a conflict with the Memorial Park Holiday Tree Lighting, which will be at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. That will be followed by the Worth Avenue Association Holiday Tree Lighting at 6 p.m.
Candidates must be nominated, and their nominations seconded two times, by registered town voters to be eligible to run for office.
If there are any contested races, a town election is scheduled for March 11.
The two-year terms of Mayor Danielle Moore and council members Julie Araskog and Ted Cooney expire in April. All three said in November they would seek additional terms and all three filed candidacy papers with the Palm Beach Town Clerk’s office.
A fourth candidate, David Brooker, a retired business executive who lives in Midtown, filed last week to challenge Araskog for the Group 1 council seat, but said Monday he had reconsidered and was not going to run.
As of Monday afternoon, no one else had filed candidacy papers with the Town Clerk’s office.
Moore has been mayor since 2021, when she was nominated for office without opposition at that year’s caucus. She won a second term without opposition in 2023.
Before becoming mayor, Moore served six years on the council. She is a former chairwoman of the Recreation Advisory Commission and former member of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
A lifelong resident and longtime philanthropist, she lives in Midtown with her two daughters and is president of the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation and the Barker Welfare Foundation.
Araskog is a North End resident and attorney elected to the council in 2017 and re-elected in 2019 when she won races against Martin Klein and Rene Silvin, respectively. She was unopposed for additional terms in 2021 and 2023.
Araskog chairs the council’s Ordinances, Rules and Standards Committee and is a member of its Public Safety Committee.
Cooney is a Midtown resident who joined the council in 2021 when he defeated Catherine Rojas in the town election. He was unopposed for a second term in 2023.
He chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee and is a member of its Public Works Committee.
Cooney is a former chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission and former member of the Architectural Commission.
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