Greenacres election: Why the mayor wants three town council incumbents out

GREENACRES — Three longtime incumbents on the Greenacres City Council are seeking reelection on March 8.

Mayor Joel Flores wants all three out of office and is not being shy about it. He's endorsed each of the incumbents' opponents, including a 21-year-old FAU student who will challenge 87-year-old Peter Noble for the District II seat.

Noble has been on the council for nearly a quarter-century. Jonathan Pearce was first elected to represent District IV in 2010, and Judith Dugo has held the District III seat since 2013.

It's time for them to go, Flores said.

“I think they have lost connection with the community," said Flores, serving his second term as mayor. "I’m looking for people that will work and resemble our community.”

According to the 2020 U.S. census, more than 66% of Greenacres' population of 44,000 residents are either Hispanic or Black.

Those demographics are not reflected in the town council's makeup. Each of the five council members are non-Hispanic whites, a group that accounts for just under 27% of the city's residents.

The candidates challenging the incumbents are certainly a diverse lot.

Nathan Galang, a poltical science major at FAU, is the son of parents from the Philippines and El Salvador.

Susy Diaz Piesco, vying for the District IV seat against Pearce, is the daughter of Cuban immigrants.

Leonard Grant, a U.S. military veteran opposing Dugo, is Black.

Flores, who was born in Puerto Rico and lived there until he was 11, said the three challengers "bring a lot of advocacy" to issues affecting residents while the incumbents “have not moved the needle whatsoever, so I think it’s time for a change. Why not?"

Pearce, who lost to Flores in the 2017 mayoral race, said the mayor's open opposition to incumbents in favor of three candidates with no prior electoral experience "makes no sense to me."

'"Best I’m hearing is he just wants to have a more diverse. … He wants to make it a Spanish and Black board," said Pearce, who runs a private equity firm. "He has the right to his opinion."

But it's not only Flores who is supporting Galang, Diaz Piesco and Grant. Vice Mayor John Tharp and council member Paula Bousquet are also backing challenges to their colleagues on the dais.

By choosing to endorse their opponents, Pearce said Flores and the other council members are signaling that "it's sort of like, us versus you."

Dugo, 74, thought the council was "pretty cohesive" and had moved the city forward so she found Flores' endorsements troubling.

"It took all of us by surprise," Dugo said. "It’s very disappointing, and I don’t know what it’s about. Mr. Flores has also been on the council only two (terms), so maybe he doesn’t know the history of our city.”

Flories said it's not personal, but a matter of feeling "the council has lost touch."

District 2 race: There's a 66-year age difference between candidates

The mayor said that is especially true of Noble, who was first elected to the board in 1998. Flores said that Noble is unprepared for meetings and has forgotten how he voted or decisions he's made at previous meetings.

When that begins to happen, "then it’s time for him, I believe, to retire," Flores said.

Noble said there are no issues with his cognitive ability.

"My feeling is he has seen me in action all these years, and he has no reason to make comments of that type," said Noble, a retired stockbroker. "Mentally, I am very wide awake. I am as young as he is mentally.”

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Noble contends that Flores' "end game" is to fire City Manager Andrea McCue "and get her large salary, which he’s never had before.”

As for his young opponent, Noble said Galang is "unemployed, is supported by his mother and lives with his mother."

Galang said age should not be a factor in the election.

“I don’t think being 87 is disqualifying, and I don’t think 21 is disqualifying," Galang said. "But I think it says a lot when the mayor says it's time for something new."

Diaz Piesco, executive director for the Bak Middle School of the Arts Foundation, said she wasn't surprised to receive the endorsements of Flores as well as Tharp and Bousquet.

"The city of Greenacres needs fresh leadership that listens to the community," said Diaz Piesco, 47.

Grant, owner of a printing marketing business, received Flores' endorsement this week and said the mayor was "sending a signal" that "we are approaching the dawn of a new centennial for Greenacres and need to start imagining a diverse city that can represent all of its citizens."

Flores could face a rocky final two years to his second term if none of the challengers beat the incumbents. In Greenacres, the mayor does not vote on issues before the council unless there is a tie vote.

That means Flores, Tharp and Bousquet could find themselves on the losing end of 3-2 votes if Noble, Pearce and Dugo prevail on March 8.

"Things are interesting in the city right now," Flores said. "We'll see what happens."

Greenacres election

District 2

Peter Noble (incumbent)

Nathan Galang

District 3

Judith Dugo (incumbent)

Leonard A. Grant

District 4

Jonathan Pearce (incumbent)

Susy Diaz Piesco

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jmilian@pbpost.com

@caneswatch

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County elections: Diversity a key issue in Greenacres races