An overhauled Atlantic Beach Village Board, without a mayor, looks ahead

Atlantic Beach’s new government took control earlier this week before a standing room-only crowd following resignations and expiring terms that have left the village without a mayor and a full board of trustees.

Newly elected trustees Joseph B. Pierantoni and Laura Heller were sworn in Monday, joining trustee Barry M. Frohlinger to form a three-member board.

The board appointed Pierantoni to be acting deputy mayor. Last week, longtime Mayor George Pappas and trustee Charles Hammerman resigned. Hammerman, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the resignation in May of trustee Anthony Livreri, also served as deputy mayor.

“This is a unique opportunity to begin a new era in Atlantic Beach,” Pierantoni said at Monday night’s meeting, reading a joint statement by the board. “During these transitionary times, the residents of Atlantic Beach deserve strong, steady leadership.”

Pierantoni told residents they could “rest assured” that “this transition is being managed with professionalism, transparency, and a shared focus on the well-being of our community.”

The board will appoint a mayor to finish the remainder of Pappas’ unfinished term, and the new mayor will appoint a trustee to fill the vacancy on the board of trustees created by Hammerman's resignation, Pierantoni said.

The terms of trustees Patricia Beaumont and Nathan Etrog expired Monday.

Pappas was reelected last year to a two-year term. The trustees did not announce a time frame for the selection of a new mayor, nor a search process, other than to say that they would make the appointment by unanimous vote.

Pappas’ and Hammerman’s resignations last week followed the approval of a legal settlement to pay Chabad Lubavitch of the Beaches, a Jewish religious organization, $950,000 to end a federal discrimination lawsuit. Pappas had come under criticism earlier this year over the village’s 2025-2026 budget, which increased the property tax levy from $3.4 million to $3.7 million.

Last month, Pierantoni and Heller were elected to two-year terms. 

Pierantoni said the board would listen to residents’ concerns.

“We are committed to better governance, doing the business of the village in an open and transparent way,” he said at the meeting.

Pierantoni, 42, who works as finance director for a media buying and planning company, said he’s lived in Atlantic Beach his whole life. He said he decided to run for office after attending meetings for a couple years, serving on a village finance committee and being unhappy with how the village was being run.

“We're really dedicating ourselves to and taking seriously the fiduciary responsibility we have to the village, committing ourselves to operating in an open and transparent way, and really bringing some much-needed fiscal responsibility to the local governance here,” he said.

He said he wants to engage the community by setting up committees to tackle problems in the village. 

“We're going to be identifying areas that we need help in or that we deem important and start setting up those committees such as an ethics committee, an emergency management sort of disaster preparedness committee,” he said. “We're really taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to this. This is a very unique situation we're in and an opportunity to really start fresh here in the village.”

Frohlinger echoed those sentiments Tuesday.

“As a resident who's attended village meetings prior to being a trustee and for the last year as a trustee, I felt last night's meeting was ... the most refreshing gathering of village residents to hear about the village's future,” Frohlinger said in an interview.