Five elected officials run Delray Beach: a Mayor and four Commissioners, all chosen at-large to three-year terms with a two-term limit. They sit in numbered seats — the Mayor in Seat 5, Commissioners in Seats 1 through 4 — and together adopt the budget, pass ordinances, and appoint the City Manager and City Attorney who run day-to-day operations.
The current commission has produced some of the most closely watched local government meetings in Palm Beach County. Since Mayor Tom Carney's return to the dais in March 2024 — more than a decade after his first stint as a Commissioner — votes have repeatedly split 3-2 over the Downtown Development Authority, a 2025 millage rate increase, and questions about the city's financial management. The latest seat changed hands in March 2026, when Judy Mollica won the Seat 2 race to replace Rob Long, who left the commission to serve in the Florida House.
Boca Post covers City Commission meetings, the Community Redevelopment Agency (where Mayor Carney serves as Chair), the embattled Downtown Development Authority, the Planning and Zoning Board, the city's $200-million-plus budget, and the Vision 2035 long-range planning process. Our reporting draws on commission agendas, adopted ordinances, the Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller's filings, public-records requests, and direct attendance at meetings.
For broader regional coverage, see Palm Beach County government. For all Delray Beach coverage across topics, see Delray Beach news.
City Commission meetings: first and third Tuesdays of each month at 5 p.m., with workshops on the second Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. All meetings are held at Delray Beach City Hall, 100 NW 1st Avenue. Agendas posted at delraybeachfl.gov.
Latest Delray Beach Government News
The Delray Beach City Commission
Delray Beach operates under a commission-manager form of government, with all five elected officials chosen at-large rather than by district. The Mayor and four Commissioners share equal voting power on every measure; the Mayor's additional duties are largely procedural — chairing meetings, signing documents, and representing the city ceremonially. Operating authority sits with the appointed City Manager, currently Terrence Moore, who was unanimously selected in June 2021.
The Mayor and Commissioners also sit as the board of the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, which administers redevelopment within the city's CRA district.
Tom Carney
Role: Mayor (Seat 5)
Sworn in March 28, 2024, after defeating sitting Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston and former Commissioner Shirley Johnson with 51.7% of the vote. Carney previously served as a Delray Beach Commissioner from 2011 to 2013 and as acting Mayor briefly in 2013. An attorney with more than four decades of legal experience, Carney has also served as Vice Chairman of the Delray Beach CRA and Chairman of the Delray Beach Housing Authority. He now chairs the CRA. Term runs through March 2027.
Recent Coverage of Mayor Tom Carney
Angela Burns
Role: Vice Mayor (Seat 4)
First sworn in to the Delray Beach Commission in March 2023. Elected Vice Mayor by her colleagues at the March 28, 2024 organizational meeting and re-sworn for a new term on March 25, 2026, after running unopposed. Burns serves as Vice Chair of the Community Redevelopment Agency and as Delray Beach's delegate to the Palm Beach County League of Cities. She voted in 2025 to keep the lower millage rate rather than support the 3-2 increase. Current term runs through March 2029.
Recent Coverage of Angela Burns
Tom Markert
Role: Deputy Vice Mayor (Seat 1)
Sworn in March 28, 2024, as a political newcomer after defeating two opponents for the Seat 1 race vacated by term-limited Adam Frankel. A retired corporate executive with previous senior roles at Procter & Gamble, Citigroup, and Office Depot, Markert has lived in Delray Beach for 15 years and currently serves as president of InfraGard, an FBI–private sector cybersecurity partnership. Term runs through March 2027.
Recent Coverage of Tom Markert
Judy Mollica
Role: Commissioner (Seat 2)
Sworn in March 25, 2026, after winning the March 10 Seat 2 election with 40.3% of the vote in a three-way race. A real estate broker by profession, Mollica is the founder of Friends of Delray, a civic news platform, and previously served on the city's Planning and Zoning Board and Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. She replaced Rob Long, who left the commission after winning election to the Florida House of Representatives. Term runs through March 2029.
Recent Coverage of Judy Mollica
Juli Casale
Role: Commissioner (Seat 3)
Sworn in March 28, 2024, returning to the Delray Beach Commission after a one-year absence. Casale previously served as a Commissioner and Deputy Vice Mayor from 2020 to 2023 before losing her seat to Rob Long in the 2023 election. She returned with 42% of the vote in 2024. Casale has been the commission's most consistent public critic of the City Manager's financial oversight and has pressed for changes to the city's impact-fee structure and contract management. Term runs through March 2027.
Recent Coverage of Juli Casale
Terrence R. Moore
Role: City Manager (Appointed)
Unanimously selected as Delray Beach City Manager on June 8, 2021, after the city had cycled through nine managers since January 2013, including interim appointees. Moore previously served as City Manager in College Park, Georgia; Morgantown, West Virginia; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Sebastian, Florida, and held earlier positions in Deerfield Beach. Holds the International City/County Management Association Credentialed Manager (ICMA-CM) designation. As City Manager, he reports to the City Commission and oversees all city departments.
Recent Coverage of Terrence R. Moore
How We Cover Delray Beach Government
The Delray Beach commission has been one of the most actively contested civic stories in Palm Beach County, with public disputes ranging from the Downtown Development Authority's finances to the city's millage rate, impact fees, fire-rescue billing with Highland Beach, and the conduct of meetings themselves. Boca Post's coverage reflects that landscape — meeting recaps, vote-by-vote analysis, and accountability reporting on the management decisions that drive 3-2 splits.
Our sources are the public ones. We read the agendas posted to delraybeachfl.gov, watch or attend each commission meeting, and request and review the supporting documents — staff memos, financial reports, audit findings, Ehrlich-style outside investigations when they are commissioned. For zoning and land use, we monitor the Planning and Zoning Board, the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board, and the CRA. For the DDA, we read the Palm Beach County Ethics Commission's filings and the state's audit reports.
Where information comes from a public record, we identify the record and the date it was filed or adopted. When we report on a commissioner's vote, we cite the meeting and the motion. Boca Post does not paraphrase votes or attribute positions to commissioners except where supported by the public record. Boca Post corrects errors promptly — see our policies page for more information.
Delray Beach Government coverage is reported by the Boca Post News Desk. About our newsroom →
