Tamarac City Hall.
By Agrippina Fadel
The qualifying period for the 2022 Tamarac elections is over.
On Friday, ten candidates qualified for the three seats on the November ballot, including one for mayor and two for city commission.
Michelle Gomez
Gomez held her kickoff reelection event on January 27. Before she won the mayor’s seat in 2018, she was a city commissioner for District 2 from 2010 to 2018.
So far, she has raised $43,000. Most of the donors are Tamarac residents, according to her April 2022 campaign report.
Gomez, who lives in the Woodlands Country Club, is the president of Saunders, Curtis, Ginestra & Gore, P.A. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from The American University, School of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C., a Master of Arts from The American University, School of Communication, and her Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center. She’s a licensed attorney in Florida, the District of Columbia, and New York.
Mike Gelin
Gelin is stepping down from his District 2 commission seat to run for mayor. So far, the $36,075 he has raised came from donors to his commission seat or from outside of the city, according to his April 2022 campaign report.
The owner of Gelin Benefits Group, an insurance advisory, brokerage, and benefits consulting firm, Gelin lives in Hampton Hills. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Morris Brown College and is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist.
With Gelin out of the race, five people are running for the District 2 seat.
Joseph Lanouette served in the military and is currently in reserve status. He works as a Quality Assurance Specialist for Defense Contract Management Agency and as a professor at Kaiser University. Lanouette is a Woodlands resident.
Stuart Michelson is a former Sunrise City Attorney well-known in Broward’s legal and political circles. Michelson is married to a former Broward County Commissioner and Mayor, Ilene Lieberman. Before taking county office, she was the mayor of Lauderhill. Michelson is a Woodlands resident.
Tyneka Rene is a U.S. Army Veteran and local business owner. While in the army, Rene completed her education at the University of Maryland, earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental management with a minor in biology and a master’s degree in healthcare administration. She is a Woodlands resident.
Dr. Alexandra Alvarez is a real estate investor and business owner. She earned her doctorate in education from the City University of Seattle and currently serves on Tamarac’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Commission on the Status of Women. She lives in Hampton Hills.
Morey Wright is a Managing Director at Innocreative Solutions, a digital strategy, business processes, and technology consulting company with a Pak Mail address in Pembroke Pines. He received his master of arts in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. In 2020, when Wright ran for House District 104, he listed his address in Weston.
Commissioner Debra Placko is not running for reelection, which leaves three candidates competing for the District 4 seat.
Carol Mendelson is a retired Broward County School Board administrator. She has a master’s in speech from Brooklyn College and a master’s in education leadership from Nova Southeastern University. With a background in education and leadership, she facilitated several fundraisers in Broward County, one of which helped build nine schools in Kenya. Mendelson is a Woodmont resident.
David Witman Mountford is a retirement consulting professional. A high school graduate, Mountford considers himself a “self-made man.” After his first career in aviation, he went into finance and worked on Wall Street before switching to a retirement wholesale business. Mountford formed a pension consulting firm, Witman Pension Consulting, L.L.C., located in Coral Springs. Mountford is a resident of Woodmont Estates.
Kicia Daniel is the principal at Pinewood Elementary in North Lauderdale and is a Woodmont resident.
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