The Town Council bid a fond farewell to retiring member Bobbie Lindsay at its meeting on Tuesday and named member Ted Cooney to succeed her as its president.
Nicki McDonald, a former zoning commissioner and North End resident, was sworn by Judge Lisa Small to serve a two-year term in Lindsay’s Group 2 seat.
“It’s a bittersweet day,” Mayor Danielle Moore said. “We have someone new joining us, which is always exciting. But we have an amazing leader who is leaving.”
McDonald was nominated without opposition at the December 2, 2025, Town Caucus to take the Group 2 seat after Lindsay announced in October that she would retire when her fifth term expired this month.
Council members Lew Crampton and Bridget Moran, whose two-year terms also expired this month, were sworn by Small to new two-year terms.
Crampton, a South End resident, was re-elected to a fifth term in the Group 1 seat in the March 10 town election, when he beat back challenger John David Corey’s bid to unseat him. Corey is a Midtown resident and former architectural commissioner.
Moran was nominated without opposition at the December 2 caucus to serve an additional term in her Group 3 seat. A Midtown resident, she joined the council in 2024 after defeating Corey in that year’s town election.
The council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to name Cooney as its president for the coming year, with Moran, McDonald, Julie Araskog joining Cooney in the majority vote. Crampton voted for himself for president.
Cooney was a longtime member and chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission who left that board in 2020 when he was ineligible to serve another consecutive term. He joined the council in April 2021 after defeating Catherine Rojas in that year’s election and was nominated without opposition to serve additional terms in 2023 and 2025. He is a Midtown resident and is, at approximately 40 years old, the youngest member of the council.
Crampton was re-elected president pro tem for the coming year on a 3-2 vote, with Cooney and Araskog joining Crampton in the majority. McDonald and Moran voted for Moran.
Lindsay spent five terms on the council after being nominated without opposition to serve in the Group 2 seat in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024. The North End resident was appointed to the town’s Shore Protection Board and Planning and Zoning Commission before joining the council.
The council and Mayor Danielle Moore thanked Lindsay for 10 years of service as a council member and her steady leadership as council president during last two years.
Moore, who was a council member and council president before becoming mayor in 2021, said she didn’t know Lindsay very well when they first began serving together.
“The two of us worked so well together,” Moore told Lindsay. “More than anything else I want to thank you for being my friend and for being my guiding light on the [council] desk.”
Crampton and others praised Lindsay for her leadership in pushing for a full $38 million renovation of the Town Marina. The new marina re-opened in November 2021 with floating docks and all-new facilities, and has generated $15 million in annual surpluses, roughly four times the surpluses of the old marina. The marina profits are being used to pay down financial shortfalls in the 10-year townwide underground utility conversion program.
Crampton also praised Lindsay’s environmental record. He cited her role while on the council in helping to organize the three Songbirds environmental forms at Town Hall that resulted in the reduction of pesticide use on public and private properties in the town, and which have led to greater use of native plants in landscaping designs.
Before joining the council, Lindsay was a leader of the Save Our Inlet Coalition that successfully blocked a federal expansion of the Port of Palm Beach. The coalition said the expansion was unnecessary and would have been environmentally detrimental.
Moran and Araskog thanked Lindsay for helping them get up to speed when they first joined the council, particularly on matters regarding shore protection.
Former council member Margaret Zeidman, who preceded Lindsay as council president, cited Lindsay’s push for reconstruction of the marina as an example of her visionary leadership.
“You really pushed us in that direction by educating us in what [the marina] could be,” Zeidman told Lindsay. “You had a vision for the town as to how to protect and preserve it … That’s what you have done. Having a visionary leader is quite unusual.”
Lindsay said she was fortunate to work with a talented town staff and with elected officials who shared her values.
“I was dealt the nicest deck you could possibly imagine,” Lindsay said. “We all loved the town of Palm Beach. We all understood its DNA and were absolutely committed to keeping Palm Beach, Palm Beach. It was a team effort.”
Lindsay said she and other council members had a steep learning curve when they joined the council during a period of serious employee retention problems in the public safety departments caused by deep cuts to retirement benefits enacted by a previous council.
The council corrected the problem by boosting employee salaries and pensions so they are more competitive in the local market.
“I knew nothing about pensions,” Lindsay said. “It was a learning experience for all of us. But it really taught us how to work together successfully toward a common goal that brought us all together.”
Looking ahead, Lindsay, who in October publicly endorsed McDonald for her seat, told McDonald, “You will be great and I can’t wait for you to take over.”
At the Palm Beach Civic Association’s Annual Meeting on Monday at the Flagler Museum, Civic Association Chairman Michael Pucillo praised Lindsay for her steady, knowledgeable and balanced leadership as a council member and council president.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Alfred “Skip” Aldrich and Rick Salvadore, co-chairmen of the Citizens’ Association of Palm Beach, presented Lindsay with a certificate of appreciation from that organization, which represents roughly 40 residential buildings south of Sloan’s Curve.
To receive Palm Beach TV, Our Town News, The Civic and more in your inbox sign up HERE.
To sign up for text notifications from Palm Beach Civic Association go HERE.
Our Town sponsored by:
