12-year incumbent Michael Martin goes head-to-head with second-time candidate Robert Mitchell for Seat A on the Belle Glade City Commission in the municipal election on June 2, 2020.
Unlike the other 20 Palm Beach County municipalities that had their elections last March 17, Belle Glade will hold their elections this June. This change, according to Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sortory Link, is because of the concerns raised by city officials last year that doing the elections on March, “with all of the media and focus on the presidential election, that the messages for their individual races could be lost.”
Voting will take place even with the coronavirus pandemic for the more than 7,600 Belle Glade eligible voters and 1,051 residents who have requested vote-by-mail ballots. This forces Link to pull off a successful June election although hundreds of poll workers were kept in their homes by the virus. She estimated that Belle Glade could spend $20,000 on this election which will also include personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies.
Martin, in a lived-streamed interview with radio personality Brother Church, said that one of his best accomplishments was getting the commission to work together and be respected by politicians in Tallahassee. He also said he wants to put the $1 million budget in economy to create jobs.
As for Mitchell, he told Lake Okeechobee News that he did not think the commission worked well together to adequately address issues such as affordable housing and sustainable jobs. He believed the city is “not managed well” for the city manager’s $235,000 yearly salary, saying he would even like to take that job.
Source: Palm Beach Post