Heated Exchange in Chambers: Villalobos Asks Commission to Censure Bolton

by Agrippina Fadel January 27, 2022

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Heated Exchange at Commission Chambers: Villalobos Asks for Bolton’s Censure

Commissioners Marlon Bolton and Elvin Villalobos.

By Agrippina Fadel

While the Tamarac city commission meetings rarely go without heated discussions, no conversation between two members has turned as nasty and personal as the one shared by commissioners Elvin Villalobos and Marlon Bolton on Wednesday, January 26.

According to Villalobos, after the commission meeting adjourned, he was in a private conversation with commissioner Debra Placko when Bolton approached them and commented.

Villalobos was surprised Bolton wanted to join the chat, as two “have not spoken or communicated in any way in months” outside of commission meetings.

“I said to Bolton, ‘Bye, baldy,’ urging him to leave the conversation. Bolton replied, ‘Excuse me? What did you just call me?’ So I repeated it, and he just went off,” said Villalobos.

Bolton began a tirade of insults, according to Villalobos, screaming, “You don’t love your wife, you don’t sleep with her, you don’t even sleep in the same bedroom,” and called Villalobos’ spouse “fat.”

“I just erupted – you don’t talk about my family. And this was in front of everybody, members of the commission, mayor and the city attorney, Broward Sheriff’s Office, city manager, and staff,” said Villalobos.

Bolton threatened Villalobos with an article on his website, Tamarac Post – an online blog that Bolton is affiliated with, and who has been caught writing scathing and often questionable posts about city commissioners the mayor under his name.

“I told him to do whatever he wanted with his fake posts,” said Villalobos, adding that the verbal altercation went on in the commission offices.

He added that bringing family into conversations that should be professional is not acceptable at the city commission.

Although a Broward Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant was next to Villalobos, it was city attorney John Herin who tried to get Bolton “out of the hot zone,” according to Villalobos.

He requested a discussion about the censure of commissioner Bolton for his behavior to be added to the next commission meeting on February 9.

commission email

Censure in government is a formal public condemnation of the politician acting against the commission’s rules and standards of behavior. It is an equivalent of a public reprimand.

This is not the first time he brought censuring up. On October 13, Villalobos urged his colleagues to simplify censuring and removing members for disrespectful behavior.

“We spoke about it at the previous commissions, yet we still forget the rules. I am not backing down. For elected officials to be acting in such a demeaning way towards others is unacceptable. It went too far, and it has to end,” said Villalobos.

Tamarac Talk has made multiple attempts to reach commissioner Bolton via his official email and text messages but received no reply.

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Agrippina Fadel

Agrippina Fadel grew up in Siberia and received her master's in journalism from Tyumen State University. A resident of Florida for over 10 years, she also works as a marketing and communication specialist at a local university.