The Jupiter Town Council election in March is shaping up as a referendum on the town’s hotly contested decision to create its own fire department.
Mayor Jim Kuretski, who championed the department, will face Council Member Cameron May, a firefighter/paramedic with Palm Beach Fire Rescue and a critic of the decision.
Both have qualified to run for mayor in the March 11 election, as have six candidates vying for two council seats. Qualifying ends at noon Nov. 19.
Jupiter is one of dozens of towns and cities in Palm Beach County with elections scheduled for March. The qualifying period for candidates in six other towns in north and central Palm Beach County closes Nov. 19 and five more close later in November or in early December.
May’s decision to challenge Kuretski, who has been on the council since 2001, comes five weeks after a Palm Beach County Circuit judge blocked an attempt by firefighters to call for a public vote on switching from county fire-rescue service to a city-owned and operated fire department.
The Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County Local 2928 gathered more than 7,400 signatures to place the question on the ballot and sued when the Town Council refused.
Circuit Judge Reid Scott ruled in October that the town acted within the law because the firefighters’ question gave power to the voters at the Town Council’s expense, as Stet News reported here.
Changing the balance of power
After the ruling, union President Jeffrey Newsome told Stet that rather than continue the fight in court, the union might try to win control of the council through the ballot box.
Two additional council candidates have voiced support for retaining county fire-rescue: Teri Grooms, who is running for May’s District 1 seat, and Linda McDermott, who is running against District 2 incumbent Malise Sundstrom.
In August 2023, Sundstrom, Kuretski and Ron Delaney cast the decisive votes to sever Jupiter’s ties with county fire-rescue. May cast the lone vote against.
Kuretski, who pledged this would be his final term, emphasized the future cost to taxpayers of remaining with the county, saying it would cost a quarter-billion dollars over 10 years.
“I don’t want to see anything happen that would jeopardize (the October 2026 fire department startup),” Kuretski said.
May’s approach
May, who is giving up his District 1 council seat to run for mayor, won’t commit to reversing the town’s decision. He emphasized the need to hear more from the public.
“The opposition wasn’t ever opposition (to) Jupiter starting the fire department. My opposition was how they went about doing it in the beginning,” said May, a lifelong Jupiter resident. “Taking on a large capital project that was estimated to cost about $60 million, I felt like we should have gone to the residents with that to get their feedback, their approval, before just doing it.”
Despite his initial opposition, May said he has voted “yes” on matters related to the fire department’s creation.
“I didn’t want to just sit on the sidelines and be a ‘no’ vote when, as a firefighter myself, I could have valued input for Jupiter fire rescue,” he said.
When asked directly about whether he would prefer to keep Palm Beach County Fire Rescue or create Jupiter’s own department, May said he would defer to residents.
“I would expect a lot of people, knowing that for how long it’s been going on, they would probably agree to keep (relying on Palm Beach Fire Rescue), which I would support,” he said. “But any decision I make should be based off of what the residents think and what the residents want, not what I personally think or what I personally want.”
The town has begun building two fire stations and hiring key personnel, including a fire chief and a medical director.
Kuretski expressed confidence that the town would meet its deadline to begin responding to fires and medical calls by October 2026.
“I do believe that the leadership, the steps we’ve taken to create our fire department, and the leadership that we’ve already hired, is incredibly talented and respected. …” he said.
It takes a council
The mayor, a voting member of the Town Council, cannot dictate a change in the town’s direction by himself. For instance, the council voted 3-1 to give three years notice to end the decades-long relationship with Palm Beach County. It would take a majority vote to stop spending on the new fire department and revert to the county.
That makes the two council races critical as well.
In District 1, where Andy Fore is not seeking reelection, Grooms would face Phyllis Choy and Andy Weston.
Joining McDermott and Sundstrom in District 2 is Willie Puz, legislative and public affairs manager for the county’s Solid Waste Authority.
Once the election is over, the council would be tasked with selecting a replacement to fill the remaining year on May’s seat.
Beyond the fire department issue, the mayoral candidates are emphasizing other accomplishments.
Kuretski pointed to his long-standing work on growth management and transportation solutions, mainly addressing traffic congestion. As the council’s representative on the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency, he said several transportation projects he championed are close to securing construction money.
May, first elected in 2020, stressed the need for term limits in local government, arguing they encourage more community engagement and fresh perspectives.
“When you don’t have term limits sometimes, you can have an unfair advantage if you’re an incumbent with the name ID, and when someone new steps up to run against an incumbent, it’s very hard to overcome,” he said.
Both mayoral candidates are planning grassroots campaigns. Kuretski said he’s never hired a campaign consultant, while May has self-financed his campaign with a $300 loan to cover qualifying fees.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
