North Palm Beach voters are heading back to the polls Tuesday to choose between two runoff candidates seeking the Group 4 seat on the Village Council.
On the ballot are retired real estate pro Ron Okolichany and auto industry pro Kendra Zellner, who received 32.89% and 34.54% of the vote, respectively, in a three-candidate Special Election on March 24.
To win a seat on the five-person Council outright, a candidate must take more than half the vote.
Okolichany, Zellner and third-place candidate David Norris, a former Village Council member, all filed to run this year to replace Kristen Garrison, who died from brain cancer on New Year’s Eve.
Okolichany edged Norris by just 11 votes last week. Zellner took 57 more votes than Okolichany.
A village of some 13,000 residents in northern Palm Beach County, North Palm Beach was developed in the 1950s as a planned waterfront community and remains known for its residential neighborhoods, waterways and a municipally owned country club featuring a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course.
The population skews older, with a significant share of retirees, and remains predominantly White, though Hispanics and other populations have grown in recent years.
Top-of-mind for voters this year are concerns over growth, traffic, environmental preservation and maintaining the village’s character amid regional development pressures. That includes a proposed redevelopment of the former Twin City Mall site along U.S. 1 and Northlake Boulevard that represents one of the most significant land-use decisions facing the village in decades.
Okolichany, a longtime resident, has leaned heavily on his decades of experience in development and construction management while campaigning. His 40-year industry background includes work in real estate acquisition, brokerage and project management.
A North Palm Beach resident since 1972, he has not previously held elected office, but he’s been a regular presence at Village Council meetings and positioned himself as a watchdog on local issues.
Accordingly, Okolichany has emphasized deep local roots, including multigenerational family ties to the community. His campaign has centered on preserving the village’s “small-town” character, adhering to the resident-driven Citizens Master Plan, adopted in 2016, and fiscal restraint.
He supports redevelopment of the Twin City site into a mixed-use “Village Place” concept, but stresses that growth must remain modest in scale.
The Florida GOP has supported his candidacy.
Okolichany, 66, is a Republican. Zellner is 37 and a Democrat.
North Palm Beach elections are officially nonpartisan, though party politics still frequently play into races.
Zellner, a senior operations analyst for an automotive software company and former regional manager for BMW of North America, built her campaign around efficiency, environmental stewardship and hands-on civic involvement.
While she has also not previously held elected office, Zellner has served on the village’s Environmental Committee since 2019 and has been active in local initiatives like oyster restoration and tree preservation.
A roughly 10-year resident, she is running on a platform prioritizing “smart growth,” including skepticism of the current Twin City redevelopment proposal, which she argues should be scaled back to better protect neighborhood character and environmental resources.
Zellner has also focused on traffic safety, pedestrian protections and maintaining affordability, particularly as property tax debates continue at the state level.
She carries endorsements from the local Police Benevolent Association, Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, former County Commissioner Karen Marcus, and former Council members Darryl Aubrey and Bob Gebbia.
Through March 19, Okolichany reported raising $4,506 and spending $2,819 through his village-level campaign account, according to records the North Palm Beach Clerk’s Office provided to Florida Politics.
Zellner, meanwhile, raised $5,111 and spent $4,064.
