Michelle Gomez is best choice for Tamarac mayor; Mike Gelin and Debra Placko for commission
Tamarac is growing up in reverse – from largely a retirement community to a city with more young, culturally diverse families.
For city leaders, that means providing parks with shaded walking trails and youth sports fields.
It means encouraging redevelopment with more shopping, dining and employment opportunities.
And it means working to overcome the east-west inequities that can divide this growing community of nearly 70,000 people.
Leading a town with changing needs requires a mix of experience, equanimity and new ideas.
To best move Tamarac forward, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends city voters choose Michelle Gomez for mayor, and Elberg “Mike” Gelin and Debra Placko for the city commission.
Tamarac Mayor
Gomez, 47, is a real estate and estate planning attorney. She’s smart, levelheaded, calm and composed. She’s a good listener and inquisitive. She doesn’t overpromise. She disagrees in an agreeable way, as she did when addressing her support for Broward’s proposed penny sales tax increase for transportation. She exudes the attributes you want in a leader.
Gomez was first appointed to the commission in 2010 to fill a vacancy created when Commissioner Patte Atkins-Grad was arrested on public corruption charges. Atkins-Grad was found not guilty and returned to the commission, but left a month before a recall election, which led to Gomez’s reappointment. She was elected in her own right in 2014.
Gomez had planned to run for re-election to her commission seat, but changed course after Mayor Harry Dressler announced he was retiring. Her late entry in the race for the open seat shouldn’t be held against her, as her opponents do. It’s how politics goes.
Besides, she’s by far the best candidate. She’s got a record of civic engagement, including participation in the Broward Housing and Community Development Task Force, the Broward Planning Council and the Broward League of Cities Education Committee.
She’s also been part of the city’s push to revamp its land development code, which should make it easier for developers to breathe new life into vacated shopping centers.
She’s also helped craft Tamarac’s new Main Street plan, which calls for restaurants, shops, an amphitheater and a splash pad for kids. The goal is to make the city more of a destination spot than a passthrough.
Gomez knows that Tamarac’s aging infrastructure needs work, from improved drainage to better sidewalks.
She offers residents the commitment needed for long-term capital improvements and the political know-how to get them accomplished.
“I have proven to the residents and business communities that I am here to listen and address their concerns; that they will always receive answers to their questions, even if it may not always be the answer they were hoping to hear,” Gomez told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board.
Gomez’s opponents for mayor are Gerald Heller and Elvin Villalobos.
Heller, 82, is a retired business executive and electronics engineer who says he could lure job-producing companies to Tamarac and “take Tamarac out of the shadow of Coral Springs and Sunrise.” Villalobos, 33, runs a home-based monofilament filter distribution company. He says he’s more in touch with the changing needs of the community than his opponents. Tackling traffic problems and improving parks are among his top priorities.
Heller and Villalobos are well-meaning candidates who could well serve Tamarac by volunteering on city boards and committees. But they are not the leader Gomez is.
Tamarac City Commission District 2
Elberg “Mike” Gelin, would bring a good and fresh perspective to the District 2 commission seat being vacated by Gomez.
Tamarac voters may remember Gelin, a 44-year-old insurance consultant, from his unsuccessful run for mayor in 2014.
He wasn’t right for the top post four years ago, but he’s a good fit for District 2, which covers the Woodlands area.
He wants to boost efforts to recruit new businesses, have a more visible police presence to deter crime, and make city government more accessible and responsive to the public.
Gelin would bring an outside perspective to a commission that has dealt with controversy in recent years – from questions about travel expenses to the handling of a tower deal needed to improve regional 911 communications.
He would help the city continue to recover from that public corruption nightmare.
“There’s still a level of distrust with the city commission,” Gelin said. “(Residents) want to see new people, fresh faces.”
Gelin faces Larry Goehrig, a 55-year-old real estate investor, and William Mei, a 48-year-old mortgage loan officer.
Tamarac City Commission District 4
Incumbent Debra Placko, a 68-year-old retiree, deserves to be re-elected to the District 4 seat, which represents the neighborhoods of Woodmont and HeathgateSunflower.
Placko is a former homeowners association leader who used to protest at City Hall to protect green spaces from development.
Now she’s helping the city deliver efforts such as Tamarac Village and other developments that she says have to be “the right project for the right place.”
“I know the community. I know my district. … I’m one of them,” she said.
We recommend Placko because we know her record. We don’t know her opponent, Doug Maesk.
Maesk declined to participate in the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board’s candidate interview. His campaign website says he started a business that provides psychotherapy services. As a commissioner, it says he would focus on “growth, efficient government and building community.”
Those are good goals, but Placko has already shown residents she can deliver.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O'Hara, Andy Reid and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.