Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
In Lighthouse Point, Troast clearly best choice for mayor
In the March 17 election, longtime Lighthouse Point Mayor Glenn Troast faces a challenge from Everett Marshall III, the former mayor of a small town in New Jersey.
There’s no doubt that voters should reelect Troast, who is running for a third term. He has a proven track record as the mayor of this affluent waterfront community of 11,000, which is nestled between Deerfield Beach and Hillsboro Beach in northeastern Broward County. And his opponent makes an unpersuasive case that he is a better fit.
Troast is keeping city infrastructure projects on time, on budget and largely as promised in the $16.5 million bond issue that voters approved in November 2018. The projects include replacement of the old fire station and a new community center that will double as an emergency operations center.
Troast also is addressing the challenges of climate change and rising sea levels on the city’s drainage system and 2,000 feet of seawalls. Lighthouse Point, he told us, is among the first cities in Broward to raise its seawall to four feet.
The city also is repairing its bridges, he said, based on the recommendations of the state Department of Transportation. And it has gotten Broward County to “line” its sewer pipes over the last five years, and pushed for those that cannot be lined to be replaced. Troast is committed to avoiding the sewer pipe crisis that confronts Fort Lauderdale.
These are smart moves by an elected official who, with his commission colleagues and city staff, is thinking ahead and staying on top of things. It’s also an ambitious agenda for a part-time job that pays $18,000 a year.
In explaining why Troast should be replaced, Marshall told the Sun Sentinel that the mayor, the city commission and the administration “need to be more responsive to the people.” He said it took the city 18 months to erect a batting cage and took one resident “quite a while” to get the sidewalk fixed near her home. Additionally, Lighthouse Point Road was “rough” after being paved, though the paving was done by Broward County. And “puddles” between 27th and 29th avenues need to be addressed.
Troast said the lady complaining about the sidewalk is one of Marshall’s supporters. He said the sidewalk required a costly redesign, which is why it took 18 months to complete. He said the city works well with Broward County on completing road and sewer projects. He agrees the puddles need to be addressed.
Marshall said, if elected, he would convene a committee of 40 residents to come up with a list of infrastructure priorities, from bridges, to roads, to seawalls.
Marshall also suggested his decades of experience as mayor of Newfield, New Jersey would help him run Lighthouse
Point. Newfield is a tiny borough in South Jersey with a population of less than 1,600. Lighthouse Point is about seven times larger.
Troast told us that Marshall is “misleading” voters with his claim to have lived in the city for the past 10 years. He said his opponent lived in New Jersey until at least 2014, when he was still a member of the Newfield borough council. Marshall also was the subject of a 2013 recall drive by a group of Newfield residents. “That’s why I don’t think he should be mayor,” Troast said.
Marshall acknowledged that he traveled back and forth between New Jersey and Florida to attend Newfield borough council meetings until 2014, but said he and his wife purchased a home in Lighthouse Point in 2010.
The South Jersey Times newspaper reported that in late 2013, Newfield residents launched an unsuccessful campaign to force Marshall, then a borough councilman, and the council president from their posts in connection with a three-yearlong feud between the council and the volunteer fire department.
Asked about the recall petition, Marshall said, “I don’t remember it.” We found his answer dubious.
The Sun Sentinel recommends that Lighthouse Point voters reelect Glenn Troast as mayor. He’s clearly the better choice.