District 5 County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger was chosen unanimously as the new mayor of Palm Beach County for a one-year term on Tuesday, replacing Commissioner Shelley Vana, who has held the ceremonial title for the past year.
Berger, who was former Commissioner Burt Aaronson’s senior administrative assistant from 1994 to 2012, was elected in 2012 to replace Aaronson, who left due to term limits.
Berger announced that she would be changing some of the procedural rules, including suspension of night meetings and the reestablishment of regular workshops.
Commissioner Steven Abrams nominated Berger for mayor, which was seconded by Commissioner Priscilla Taylor and carried 7-0.
“I want to thank all of you for electing me, and I hope to do you all proud and work with you over the next year,” Berger said.
Vana nominated Commissioner Hal Valeche to serve as vice mayor, seconded by Taylor, and that also carried 7-0.
“Thank you for placing your confidence in me,” Valeche said. “This has been a terrific experience for me, serving the past three years, and I hope to make the next year and hopefully another term even better.”
Berger thanked Vana for her past year as mayor.
“I think you have done a great job,” Berger said. “We had some meetings that moved along smoothly, we had some meetings that got a little raucous at times, but all in all, I think it was a really great year. I want to thank all the board members for all the hard work we’ve done over the past year.”
Commissioner Melissa McKinlay also thanked Vana for her work as mayor the past year, recalling meeting her for the first time 11 years ago in Tallahassee when Vana was a state representative.
“I had gone up there on behalf of the Junior League, and had the opportunity to meet you and State Rep. Susan Bucher and talk about healthcare and a host of other issues, and I was honored to meet with you and work with you then, and to think that I got to sit on the dais with you as mayor of Palm Beach County has been a privilege to me,” McKinlay said.
Abrams congratulated his south county compatriot on her election.
“I think it’s a testament to you,” Abrams said. “You can now tell the story of starting in the clerk’s office and now rising to the mayor’s position. I think that’s a great story that you have, and you deserved that ascent every step of the way. I look forward to working with you over the next year.”
Vana said that she will support Berger in her new role.
“I want to let you know we have your back,” Vana said. “It’s a tough job being mayor and chair, but you were always there for me as vice mayor. Commissioner Valeche and you will make a great team.”
Valeche pointed out that he and Berger started as commissioners on the same day.
“She has impressed me so much throughout the last three years with her knowledge and studiousness,” Valeche said. “She really takes this job extremely seriously, as you all know, and she gets herself totally up to speed with every issue that comes before us, and her dedication to what she does is really impressive. I’m sure her talents will be well suited to her being mayor.”
McKinlay, who worked in the county’s legislative affairs office from 2010 to 2014 before being elected as a commissioner, recalled when she and Berger were both staff members.
“I think it was 2010 or 2011. You called downstairs, and you were working on the 12th floor as an aide, and I was on the 11th floor as an aide, and you said we needed to do a regular girls lunch,” McKinlay said. “We went to lunch with Wendi Lipsich from Congressman [Ted] Deutch’s office and Michelle McGovern from Sen. [Bill] Nelson’s office. We tried to make it a regular thing, but then you went and got elected to the county commission.”
McKinlay said that it has been a pleasure watching Berger rise through the ranks.
“Now, to see you up here as mayor is wonderful, and I think it sends a very strong message to the other members of Palm Beach County staff that you can start and work your way up, and there is nothing that you can’t accomplish in this great organization,” she said.
McKinlay also pointed out that Aaronson was attending the meeting.
“It’s such a strong testament to the support that you have in your community that you have your former boss, the Honorable Commissioner Burt Aaronson, in the audience,” she said.
Aaronson said that he had come to congratulate his former assistant.
“It’s always wonderful to see a member of your family rise to the heights, and we’ve known each other now for 22 years,” he said. “This county is very lucky to have you as mayor. And I will say this: I accomplished a lot of things, but I never became mayor, and that’s one thing you’ll always have on me.”
Aaronson also congratulated recently promoted County Administrator Verdenia Baker.
“I know that you will follow in the footsteps of Bob Weisman and accomplish many more things over the years,” he said.
Berger announced that she would be making a couple of changes to the rules of procedure that she would like the county attorney to bring back.
“I want to try a couple of things that are old but can be new again,” she said. “I’d like to take my year as mayor and not have any night meetings. I would prefer to go back to all day meetings. I think it has been proven over time that there are very few members of the public, unless it’s a really hot topic that’s on the agenda, who come to the night meetings.”
Berger said that she agreed with a comment Aaronson had made years ago that there were many south county seniors who no longer drive at night.
“I also realize that people work during the day, but I have found that in all the years here, that if it’s a topic of interest to people, they are here in the chambers, so I want us to suspend, at least for my year, the night meetings,” she said.
Berger said that she would also like to renew regular workshops on topics for consideration at regular meetings.
“When I first came to the county commission in 1989 and sat in the clerk’s seat, we had a workshop every month, and the purpose of the workshop was to allow the board and the staff to discuss the topic and allow the board to give direction to staff on whether to move forward,” Berger said. “Then it would come back to the board as a regular item, and public comments would be taken then.”
She added that the usefulness of that process was proven to her at the last county commission workshop where they discussed energy savings and a youth services update.
“It was a relaxed meeting; there were presentations,” Berger said. “There was conversation back and forth, and the board members got to ask all the questions that they wanted. It just proved to me that it’s a direction that I want to take over the next year.”
She added that she would like to take commission comments in writing prior to the meeting, which had been brought up several years ago.
The commission’s regular business included approval of a resolution asking the state to give more money to metropolitan planning organizations serving more than 50,000 residents. McKinlay made a motion for approval, which carried 7-0.
