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By Agrippina Fadel

Is the City of Tamarac giving one commissioner free publicity in an election year?

Residents call commissioner Mike Gelin’s four-page brochure “a piece of election propaganda,” asking why the taxpayer funds were used to publish and distribute it.

The brochure delivered to residents has official city information and phone numbers. Several people on NextDoor have questioned whether their tax money paid for the leaflet that was “clearly well over $1000 to print.”

Kings Point resident Darcy Schiller brought the brochure to the commission meeting on Wednesday and considers it campaign propaganda for Gelin, paid for by the city of Tamarac.

“On top of that, he misled everybody. The flyer devotes an entire page to thank the community for support for Gelin being vice mayor. He makes it look like he had done all the work last year,” said Schiller.

“This is inappropriate and deceptive — how do commissioners get away with this, and where is the oversight?” said Schiller, reminding the commission that Gelin has a discretionary fund that he is allowed to use. However, in a similar situation, Villalobos sent out Valentine’s Day cards in February 2021 and was “severely lambasted” for “wasting the taxpayer’s money.”

“So why is it what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gender? Why is Gelin getting away with it?” she asked.

Schiller called Gelin’s brochure a “waste of taxpayers’ money” and a “deceitful” attempt to promote the commissioner’s name ahead of the re-election campaign.

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Gelin’s seat in District 2 will be on the ballots in November 2022.

Tamarac Talk has reached out to the city staff for clarification on what funds were used to pay for the brochure. According to the public information office, the mailer was paid for from the city commission’s initiatives account.

Correction: the four-page flyer was not inserted inside the city’s TAM-A-GRAM but mailed out separately.

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Agrippina Fadel

Agrippina Fadel grew up in Siberia and received her master's in journalism from Tyumen State University. Agrippina is also a writer and editor at Draftsy.net. She has been a US resident for over ten years and speaks English and Russian.