August Meeting Features County Commissioner Steven Abrams

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This year has been a busy one for the Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners. Approving plans for spending the sales tax windfall, dealing with the opioid crisis, sober homes, new development, the future of the Agricultural Reserve and passing bigger and bigger budgets have all been on their plate.

Join us at the Airport Holiday Inn on Wednesday August 23 to hear Commissioner Steven Abrams speak about these and other county issues.

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Steven L. Abrams has been a member of the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners since 2009, winning re-election twice. He had the distinction of serving as the first mayor of Palm Beach County in 2013 and is currently the longest serving commissioner on the Board.

Commissioner Abrams has a lengthy record of public service. He is the former mayor of Boca Raton, elected in 2001 and re-elected in 2003 without opposition. In the 2005 election, Abrams received the most votes in city history and was later named mayor emeritus when he stepped down in 2008 due to term limits.

The Commissioner also served five terms as a city council member in Boca Raton from 1989 to 1999 and was a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Board between 1987 and 1989. Abrams is a past president of the Palm Beach County League of Cities and a founding board member of the Florida League of Mayors.

As mayor of Boca Raton, Abrams gained national exposure and local respect during the first bioterrorist attack in American history when anthrax was discovered at the AMI building in Boca Raton in 2001. He received the Distinguished Service Medal from the Israel National Police for his leadership during the ordeal and testified on national television on the government’s response at the invitation of a United States Senate subcommittee.

Abrams is a member of the Florida and District of Columbia Bars. Prior to moving to Florida, he served in the White House as law clerk to the counsel to President Reagan and current Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

While attending Harvard University, Abrams received the Philo Sherman Bennett Prize for the best government senior thesis and was graduated magna cum laude in 1980. He received his law degree from The George Washington University in 1985. In 2005, Everglades University awarded Abrams an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

Commissioner Abrams was born in Des Moines, Iowa and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He and Debbie have been married for 34 years and have two children.

Currently, Abrams serves as chairman of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority and secretary of the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority. He also chairs the county’s Broadband Committee, Intergovernmental Coordination Program, and the Value Adjustment Board.

In addition, he sits on the boards of the Florida Atlantic University College of Engineering Advisory Board, Metropolitan Planning Organization, National Association of Counties Transportation Policy Steering Committee, and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. He also serves on the Boca Raton Bowl Executive Committee.