Runoff required for Palmetto Bay vice mayor. Here’s who made it

A former village manager will face a lawyer with some strong supporters in the Palmetto Bay runoff for village vice mayor after none of the three candidates received more than 50% of the vote on election night.

Leanne Tellam, the lawyer endorsed by the mayor and other community leaders, earned just under 50% of the vote. She’s competing with former village manager Ed Silva, who got the second highest vote at about 38%. The runoff will be held on Dec. 1.

The village is full of issues like a major budget deficit, a controversial rezoned downtown development district and heavy traffic problems, and the vice mayor council seat attracted three candidates with ideas to solve these issues. The main concern all candidates for village council addressed this year was how to unify the council that’s recently been known to heatedly clash over issues.

The runoff is shaping up to be just as divisive as the commission, with the two runoff candidates blaming each other for running negative campaigns and not agreeing about whether or not to host a debate before the runoff.

Tellam says she would be interested in a debate with a neutral party, but the organization proposed to hold the debate, Community Newspapers, endorsed Silva ahead of the general election, and she says she does not believe it will be neutral. Silva, an architect by trade, is insistent that the community deserves a debate to hear them on issues before the runoff.

Tellam has served in a number of community service groups, including president of the Junior League of Miami. She first got involved in politics when she began hosting training for women to run for office for Ruth’s List Florida. She said she finally decided to run herself so she can set an example for the women she’s been training and bring some fresh perspective to the council.

She said she’s really enjoyed getting to connect with the community and residents during her campaign and she’s excited to continue doing so before the runoff. She said she believes her community-first approach is what led her to lead the race in the general election.

“I want to continue to preserve neighborhoods for the generations that come after us,” Tellam said. “If voters feel the same way and want someone to represent them, vote for me. If not, outside interests will take this position.”

The outside interests, Tellam said, are developer groups that are deeply connected to Silva’s successful campaign fundraising. Tellam said she differs from Silva because she wants to represent the residents, not just special interest groups.

“The developers most certainly have their candidate, and they’ve been supporting him,” Tellam said.

Going into the election, Tellam was backed by Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham, outgoing Vice Mayor John DuBois and former Pinecrest mayor and county commission candidate Cindy Lerner.

Silva’s position is that Tellam is too connected with people already on the council. He’s worried that she’ll just contribute to some of the issues already circulating on the council.

“She was recruited by the mayor,” Silva said. “Our council is breaking trust with residents on a daily basis, and my opponent is part of that group.”

Silva became Palmetto Bay’s permanent village manager in July 2015. Before that, while serving as interim manager, the county Commission on Ethics and Public Trust investigated an anonymous correspondence alleging that Silva stood “to gain either directly or indirectly through clients, business partners or proxies thanks to [his] position.” The investigator at the time concluded that the role didn’t raise any issues under county law.

Soon after leaving the role in January 2020, Silva became the main architect on a number of development projects the village had approved during his time as a village employee. Many of his campaign contributions came from developers or development-related companies. In September, Silva said he would have clients assign village projects to other architects if he won.

Before his role as manager Silva served as the director of building and capital projects, where he said he built the first countywide LEED-certified park building and the first statewide platinum LEED-certified Village Hall. Silva said his experience in government and development makes him qualified for the position of vice mayor. He said his skill set with the village budget and knowledge of the system make him stand out as the right person for the job.

Silva said he left his position as village manager because he didn’t want to be involved with all the internal disagreement. When he saw that divisiveness overflow into the community, he decided to run for the seat to bring back some unity to the council.

“We can’t have finger-pointing anymore,” Silva said. “We have to take responsibility as council members.”