Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Lake Wales Mayor Jack Hilligoss won an easy reelection victory Tuesday, turning back a challenge from former city commissioner Curtis Gibson in a race that saw record amounts spent, primarily by outside groups. Hilligoss received 1390 votes, or 60.96 percent of the vote, while Gibson took 890 votes, or 39.04 percent. Hilligoss will be sworn in to serve a new three-year term as chair of the five-person commission. Voters also approved a charter amendment that will require...
What has undoubtedly been the ugliest Lake Wales municipal election campaign in memory is coming to a conclusion on April 1, when voters will have a last chance to help select a mayor who will serve a new three-year term. Incumbent Mayor Jack Hilligoss is being challenged by former city commissioner Curtis Gibson. The campaign has been marked by a series of attacks using both direct mail and text messages funded by a "dark-money" political action committee based in Tampa. The...
Two candidates have qualified for the Lake Wales mayoral election slated for April 1, 2025. Incumbent Mayor Jack Hilligoss will face a challenge from former city commissioner Curtis Gibson. Hilligoss is the pastor of High Point Church in Lake Wales, while Gibson is the manager of the Eagle Ridge Mall. The election will also feature a referendum on future elections that, if approved, will require a run-off vote in the case of multiple-candidate races where no one receives a...
Thousands of copies of a political tract containing what many would consider virulent anti-American propaganda have been delivered to the offices of the Lake Wales Charter Schools to potentially be distributed to students. Some 45,000 of the "patriotic" pamphlets were printed, intended for delivery to schools, according to information shared on a Facebook post by the City of Lake Wales. Among the materials they contain is an "essay" that paints a highly-dystopian picture of...
With Florida's Primary Election day fast approaching, Polk Elections officials are reminding every voter to check their registration status. The last day to register to vote for the August 20th Statewide Primary Election is Monday, July 22nd. The Polk County Elections Office will be offering voter registration services around the county to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to register before this important deadline. Mobile registration units will be visiting multiple...
A brief swearing-in ceremony at the start of Tuesday's city commission meeting saw newly-elected Commissioner Carol Gillespie join the board. Gillespie, joined by her husband Gary Robillard, stood before the audience and repeated the oath as read by City Clerk Jennifer Nanek. Gillespie won seat 4 on the five-person commission by a wide margin over incumbent Danny Krueger. The swearing-in event was met with applause from an enthusiastic group of supporters. Speaking during...
After perhaps the closest election in Lake Wales City Commission history, the city's governing board seems poised to propose a change to the Lake Wales Municipal Charter that will provide for run-off elections beginning in 2026. If approved by the commission, the charter change requires voter approval and will appear on the April 1, 2025, ballot along with the election for mayor. The change is under consideration after two three-way races in the most recent cycles left both a...
Last fall, the state agency that investigates potentially corrupt Florida politicians urged lawmakers in Tallahassee to strengthen the state's ethics laws. The Florida Commission on Ethics wanted to tighten conflict-of-interest rules. It proposed legal protections for whistleblowers who reveal wrongdoing. It suggested garnishing the salaries of guilty public officials who refuse to pay their fines. Florida lawmakers ignored all three of those ideas. They decided to weaken the...
A proposal that some city commissioners and staff saw as the best opportunity so far to implement the Lake Wales Envisioned plan died Tuesday night on a 3-2 vote. The concept of a 24-unit single-family community on a 1.46 acre parcel generated intense opposition from residents of the neighborhood, located around the 3.566 acre Lake Alta Park. Commissioners received a letter signed by two dozen of them asking that the proposal be denied, and multiple speakers had criticized the...
The startling result of the District 2 City Commission election as tabulated by the Supervisor of Elections is expected to result in a careful examination of a handful of rejected and provisional ballots that could tip the election, according to sources reached Tuesday night by Lake Wales News. The unofficial results left incumbent Daniel Williams leading challenger Brandon Alvarado by one vote, 939 to 938. A second challenger, Crystal Higbee, ran a distant third, gathering...
City Commissioner Daniel Williams has won a new three-year term after escaping a strong challenge by political newcomer Brandon Alvarado by a four vote margin, leaving Williams reelected with 42.3 percent of the votes cast. A third candidate, Crystal Higbee, took 347 votes. Following a machine recount and a manual recount of "outstacked" ballots, the final margin of William's win was 943 to 939. Alvarado conceded defeat immediately after the conclusion of the recount, and...
A one-vote margin in a Lake Wales election between incumbent Commissioner Daniel Williams and challenger Brandon Alvarado has cast a bright light upon the processes required in the situation by city ordinance and Florida statutes that Deputy Mayor Robin Gibson called "unbelievably complicated." The three-way race for a new three-year term on the District 2 seat of the city commission ended Tuesday with Williams and Alvarado as the top two vote-getters collecting 939 and 938...
Four voters who had provided incomplete information when voting on election day were able to "cure" their ballots through contact with the Supervisor of Elections ahead of Thursday's canvassing board meeting. Their effort has moved the needle in the District 2 city commission election between incumbent commissioner Daniel Williams and challenger Brandon Alvarado, but not enough to avoid a machine recount, which will take place today (Friday, April 5). The canvassing board,...
Carol Gillespie has defeated incumbent City Commissioner Danny Krueger in the race for Seat 4. In an unofficial tally of all votes, Gillespie collected 1,325 votes to Kruegers' 983, or a winning total of 57.41 percent., In the second race for Seat 2, Daniel Williams collected an unofficial total of 939 votes, to Alvarado's 938 votes. The results are certain to trigger an automatic recount. A third candidate in the race, Crystal Higbee, won 347 votes, of 15.6%. There is no...
A last-minute wave of text messages paid for by a "dark money" political action committee in Venice have targeted at least one challenger in a city commission race on the eve of the April 2 election. Carol Gillespie, who is challenging incumbent City Commissioner Danny Krueger, has been the target of what a campaign spokesperson called "an ugly and false smear campaign" by an out-of-town political action committee. The text messages from "Keep Florida Winning" highlight...
With an election only three days away, three of five candidates seeking to occupy seats on the Lake Wales City Commission skipped a last chance to meet and hear from voters. Both incumbents skipped the chance to interact with voters, just as they had a March 4 forum hosted at the Lake Wales Woman's Club theatre. At an outdoor forum hosted in perfect weather at the B Street Center in the city's Northwest Neighborhood, only Carol Gillespie, seeking Seat 4. and Brandon Alvarado,...
Lake Wales voters have been receiving postcards from an out-of-town Political Action Committee that appear to falsely imply that Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has endorsed a candidate in the city commission District 4 race. Judd said that's not the case. The mailers feature a photo of Judd standing next to a grinning Danny Krueger, suggesting that Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is endorsing City Commissioner Danny Krueger's bid for re-election in Tuesday's vote. "I'm not...
The surprise reinstatement of suspended Lake Wales Police Chief Chris Velasquez by City Manager James Slaton at the start of Tuesday's city commission meeting brought a fiery response from City Commissioner Daniel Williams, who held his thoughts through the entire meeting but launched into his angry comments hours later during a commissioner comment period. Slaton had announced the suspension of Velasquez only days earlier after a complaint filed by a local civil rights advoca...
Lake Wales voters will have significant choices to make in two races for the Lake Wales City Commission on April 2, choosing from among candidates who offer sharp differences in their approaches to governing and attitudes toward the challenges confronting the city. All city voters are eligible to cast ballots in the non-partisan district 2 and 4 races. The district 4 race presents voters with the starkest choice in many years as incumbent Danny Krueger faces a challenge from...
With only days remaining before the election, an "old-fashioned picnic-style candidates forum" this Saturday will give Lake Wales voters a final opportunity to meet and ask questions of candidates for the two city commission seats which will be filled in the Tuesday vote. The event, to be held at the city's "B Street Center," will feature "food and drink alongside a lively candidate debate," according to event co-organizer and moderator B L Francis. All five candidates running...
A population boom is expected in Lake Wales in coming months and years as design work or construction is advancing for at least 40 projects within the city limits, in addition to others outside the city. A LakeWalesNews.net calculation shows a total of more than 15,660 new residential units have already met some level of approval by the city commission, with many having already received final plat approval for construction, even as other projects are nearing completion. If the...
Three challengers seeking two seat on the Lake Wales City Commission held the stage at a Monday evening candidates forum after both incumbents failed to show up for the 90-minute event. The election is four weeks away, slated for Tuesday, April 2. Carol Gillespie, seeking seat 4 on the five-person commission, along with Brandon Alvarado and Crystal Higbee, both seeking seat 2, shared their ideas and responded to questions from the audience at the forum sponsored by the...
Mail ballots are now available for registered voters who reside in the City of Lake Wales, as well as voters in Davenport, Dundee, and Haines City who would like to vote by mail in the April 2 Municipal Elections. Lake Wales voters will have an opportunity to choose two commissioners from five candidates seeking seats on the city commission. "No stamp is necessary to return the ballot as the return postage is pre-paid," said Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards. Voters can...
Voters will have two chances next week to see and hear incumbents and candidates for seats on the Lake Wales City Commission air their views and positions on a wide variety of topics during two candidate forums. Events are planned for both Monday and Wednesday evenings, March 4 and March 6, giving registered voters within city limits extra opportunity to become informed. Five candidates will vie for two seats on the commission in the April 2 vote. Although candidates must...
The final ballot is set for the April 2 City Commission election is set, and all registered voters within the city limits of Lake Wales will have an opportunity to choose two two guide the city through the current wave of growth. Area residents outside the city limits are ineligible. Incumbent commissioner Daniel Williams will face two challengers in Brandon Alvarado and Crystal Higbee in the race for Seat 2 on the commission. Williams was elected in 2001, representing...
