North Lauderdale voters should elect Michelle Jones

Voters in part of North Lauderdale will elect a commissioner in a special election March 14. The only logical choice in our view is Michelle Jones, a chef and culinary instructor who helps people with disabilities through the state Department of Education.

Jones is no stranger to challenges, and this town has plenty of them. North Lauderdale is not confronting its problems, and she will change that, she said: “There’s a lot of stuff that commissioners are not seeing.”

Three years ago, “Chef Jones,” then living in politically volatile Tamarac, unsuccessfully ran against that city’s controversial commissioner, Marlon Bolton, who had been a tenant in her home. She served on the county Human Rights Board and school district diversity board and was a critic, for four years, of deplorable mold at Parkway Middle School in Fort Lauderdale.

Jones, 51, is a single mom who worked her way through college and graduate school. She has dealt with homelessness and a cognitive disorder that makes it difficult to process words, discussed in an annual report on her state work.

A landlocked city of 45,000 west of Pompano Beach, North Lauderdale has seen much better days. Its housing has deteriorated and a lack of rigorous code enforcement is glaring. Driving around, Jones said she was appalled by unkempt conditions.

The other candidate for District D in the southwest part of the city is Darrell Lewis-Ricketts, 71, a member of the city zoning board.

She did not participate in our online interview or submit a questionnaire, raising doubts about her willingness to communicate with city voters.

A commission vacancy arose in November when former District D Commissioner Samson Borgelin was elected mayor. The four other commissioners deadlocked and could not agree on an interim appointment, which Lewis-Ricketts sought.

A third candidate, Kimotta Johnson, 51, a preschool teacher, belatedly discovered she did not live in the district but withdrew from the race too late to have her name removed from the ballot. The city website states: “A vote cast for Kimotta Johnson will not count.”

Sadly, Johnson’s withdrawal means fewer choices for voters. An organizer of food drives and giveaways to lift up low-income people, she has endured hardships in her life and has a passion for helping others, and she should run again.

Jones’ priorities include reducing homelessness among seniors, which she sees regularly in her state job, code enforcement, and improved communication. She sat out the 2022 election, and that was a mistake, but she owned up to it. She praised the city’s popular summer camp programs for kids.

Jones sees a city where residents are estranged from their elected leaders, which can lead to bigger problems — and we agree. Residents don’t know how to access a rental assistance program that could keep them in their homes.

The Jamaica-born Jones appears twice a week on WAVS 1170, a Davie AM station known as “the Heartbeat of the Caribbean.”

Jones first bought a home in North Lauderdale 18 years ago. She has been around long enough to have known Jack Brady, the first elected city mayor, who dressed as Santa and rode around on a fire truck and who brought a sense of togetherness to the city. Brady served for three decades until he died in 2020.

Jones’ candor, perseverance and no-nonsense approach would be welcome additions at City Hall.

The term of office for this seat is two years, at an annual salary of $17,883, plus a $4,200 annual expense account and a monthly cell phone stipend of $60.

For North Lauderdale’s District D City Commission seat, the Sun Sentinel recommends Michelle Jones.

Jones