Two incumbents face challengers in Lake Wales City Commission election

Two incumbents are seeking second terms on the Lake Wales City Commission, with each facing at least one challenger in the April 2 election.

Daniel Williams, elected in 2021 in Seat 2, is contending with a pair of newcomers to politics, Brandon Alvarado and Crystal Higbee. Danny Krueger, who has held Seat 4 since 2022, is opposed by Carol Gillespie.

Both seats have residency requirements, though voting is open to all city residents. Seat 2 encompasses the east portion of the city, while Seat 4 contains the northwest sections, including the Lake Ashton community. The winners of the nonpartisan elections will earn three-year terms.

In the three-way race, the winner is not required to exceed 50% of the votes. Early walk-in voting is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., through March 28 at the Polk County Election Headquarters in Bartow and the Election Operations Center in Winter Haven.

The election occurs while Lake Wales experiences dramatic population growth and the promise of much more, as the City Commission has approved housing developments that will more than double the population. Debates have arisen about how best to implement Lake Wales Envisioned, a strategic guide for development standards.

Brandon Alvarado

Alvarado, 27, is a Lake Wales native and a former drum major for the Lake Wales High School marching band. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida Southern College.

Alvarado previously worked as music department coordinator at Lake Wales High and as director of education for the Lake Wales Arts Council. He is now chief administrative officer for a construction company.

In addition, Alvarado is president of the Lake Wales History Museum and serves on city boards.

He said he is making his first political run because of concerns that the City Commission is not managing growth well. He said he participated in the development of the Lake Wales Envisioned strategy and considers it the way for the city to achieve its potential.

“I didn't like the direction in which Lake Wales is currently going,” he said. “I think right now, we have a voting bloc on the City Commission that has tepid support for Lake Wales Envisioned.”

He included Williams in that four-person bloc.

“I think that it really boils down to — we need three commissioners that are willing to stand up to large, private developers that are going to come in and they're trying to tell our town what it wants to be,” Alvarado said. “They're trying to sell us this vision of Lake Wales that is, quite frankly, ugly and unaffordable, and it's not sustainable.”

Alvarado said he is not opposed to all development but wants commissioners to foster “responsible” growth. He criticized the City Commission for waiving impact fees for some developers and questioned how the city will meet the increased water demands brought by the influx of new residents.

Lake Wales is one of a few cities that have not committed to paying for and receiving water from deep-aquifer wells being constructed by the Polk Regional Water Cooperative.

Alvarado said that a majority of city commissioners seem hostile toward citizens who challenge their actions.

“They label people that speak up at City Commission meetings or question their decisions as agitators,” he said. “We’re not going to agree on everything. That's just basic facts. But when you labeled constituents as agitators, you're discouraging people from wanting to participate in the process. It feels like a punishment to speak to our City Commission because of how hostile they are to differing opinions.”

Crystal Higbee

Higbee, 46, is a California native who has lived in Lake Wales since 2000. She has a background in medical office management and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

A married mother of seven, Higbee is president and CEO of Circle of Friends, a nonprofit that serves adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She said her concerns about the city’s failures to accommodate people with disabilities helped motivate her first run for office, despite an aversion to politics.

Higbee said she also finds city commissioners unresponsive to residents. She cited the panel’s attempts in 2022 to limit speaker participation at meetings.

“I don't think they're a bad set of people; I just don't think they're listening,” she said. “They're definitely not proactively listening, which, I believe we should be sitting down with our city residents, doing these town halls at least quarterly. Take the temperature of the city, see what's going on, get their concerns, and then take it back to the workshops and work on things.”

Higbee said that the city’s quest for downtown revitalization through the Lake Wales Connected plan has created financial burdens for business owners. She said city officials have directed business owners to buy outdoor furniture compatible with new streetscapes, adding to their expenses.

Higbee criticized the City Commission’s approval of so many housing developments, saying Lake Wales is putting “the cart before the horse.” She questioned whether the city has ensured it will have the water supply to serve all the future residents.

“If we are going to be running out of water in five years, why are we continuing to approve these developments without first thinking, again, ‘Can we sustain this? And how will we sustain this if we do go ahead and approve all these developments?’” she said. “You can't do things retroactively. Things don't work out well that way.”

Higbee said she has discouraged supporters from making financial donations to her campaign, suggesting they instead donate to nonprofits. She said she is not advertising on social media and only purchased 50 yard signs.

“It’s just grassroots, word of mouth,” she said of her campaign. “People that know me know that I will fight and fight hard for them and will make decisions on the best for everybody.”

Daniel Williams

Williams, 50, is a Lake Wales native and earned a bachelor’s degree from Austin Peay State University, according to his responses to a questionnaire from Citizen Support Lake Wales. (Williams did not respond to an interview request.)

Williams, senior pastor of The Family Church in Lake Wales, previously worked as a juvenile probation officer, an independent living program manager and a middle school teacher, he reported. He has served with the Lake Wales Branch of the NAACP and other community organization boards.

In response to the questionnaire, Williams said that he is “particularly focused on advocating for and amplifying the voices of the underrepresented population.” He listed “care and compassion” as his chief attributes.

If given a second term, Williams wrote that he would concentrate on promoting economic development and connecting community and cultures. He wrote that he embraces traditional neighborhood designs (TND), a priority of the Envisioned concept, “while supporting superior housing standards.”

Williams wrote that he is “doubtful” that anything can be done to slow the area’s population surge, noting that Polk County is among the nation’s fastest-growing counties.

“Given the data, the most prudent course of action is to adopt a proactive stance and prepare for the inevitable growth on the horizon,” he wrote.

Lake Wales police City manager rescinds planned firing of Chief Chris Velasquez

In another survey response, Williams wrote: “I have always had an ‘open door’ policy, and I believe in addressing concerns directly so that even when we find ourselves in disagreement, our differences will be respected so that, as citizens of Lake Wales, we can move forward together, united in our shared commitment to the well-being of our community.”

Williams wrote that he would support designating a City Commission seat to represent residents who live outside the city but receive city services.

Carol Gillespie

Gillespie is a retired lawyer who practiced in three states, including Florida. She served as a vice president and general counsel for large, publicly traded companies before taking a job with the state of Florida, representing indigent parents in dependency court, she said.

Gillespie, who declined to give her age, lives in the Lake Ashton community, and said she is running in part because she does not think Krueger is independent enough from Mayor Jack Hilligoss.

“Krueger is pretty much just a follower,” she said. “He rarely expresses opinions at commission meetings, and he just about always votes with the mayor. He's a member of the mayor's church, and he's pretty much just a follower of that.”

She added: “I would be an independent voice. I am not a follower of Jack Hilligoss or of any of the other people on that commission.”

Gillespie praised longtime Commissioner Robin Gibson as “the only voice of reason” on the board.

Another motivating issue for Gillespie is the City Commission’s sanctioning of so many development proposals in recent years.

“I'm just amazed by the pace of development in this area,” she said. “And from what I can find out, the City Commission is just rubber-stamping everything that their staff proposes. All of these new developments get approved by the City Commission.”

Gillespie expressed concerns about BizLinc, a business incubator in the Northwest Neighborhood whose operators received a $1.2 million contract from the city. A recent report in the Lake Wales News raised questions about its effectiveness, and the City Commission has since ordered a performance audit.

Though Gillespie said she supports the idea of a business incubator, she does not think that BizLinc’s director has provided enough detail to the city.

“In the two meetings after that article was published, there were no data presented,” she said. “All they had was satisfied clients of the business incubator. … But that's a problem with the Lake Wales Commission. They're not very transparent. So, as a member of the public, it's hard to know what they know.”

Gillespie, who has never held an elected office, suggested that city leaders should take a more inclusive approach. She criticized Hilligoss for ending a tradition of allowing an annual city proclamation for LGBTQ Pride month after becoming mayor.

“I think that's a slap in the face of the LGBTQ community,” she said.

Danny Krueger

Krueger, 77, is a retired sales manager from Wisconsin, he told Citizen Support Lake Wales. He is active with the Polk County Republican Executive Committee and the Winter Haven 9-12 Project, a conservative political group.

Krueger, who did not respond to an interview request, narrowly defeated James Loydd in 2022 to fill a vacant seat. He briefly left the City Commission last year, after Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered that previously suspended Commissioner Kris Fitzgerald be reinstated. But the city attorney determined that Fitzgerald was ineligible to return because she had moved from the city.

Krueger criticized Gillespie in his response to the Citizen Support Lake Wales questionnaire.

“It is clear that my opponent has a gay pride/LGBTQ, pro-abortion, pro-manmade global warming agenda,” Krueger wrote. “With all those questionable ideologies, it’s hard to imagine any good decisions coming out of them. I base my decisions on the truth of God’s word and real science.”

Krueger has repeatedly devoted time in his open comments at commission meetings to dismiss the scientific consensus that climate change is a reality largely caused by emissions from human activities. The Lake Wales City Commission has no authority over abortion laws.

“When I am re-elected, my priorities will remain the same: do what I can to heal the racial divide, make sure growth continues to be managed so that it does not outstrip critical infrastructure (concurrency),” he wrote.

Krueger voted to adopt Lake Wales Envisioned as a guiding principle but has expressed concerns about placing too many strictures on development.

“There is always a tension between personal property rights and ‘we don’t want anything to change’ mentality,” he wrote in a questionnaire response. “Uncontrolled growth I think is a mischaracterization, almost like ‘urban sprawl.’ Growth will happen. If we can predict it, we can mitigate some of the adverse effects of growth so that growth is not such a bad thing.”

Krueger has sometimes suggested at city meetings that residents who criticize the commission’s actions are uninformed.

“When questions and concerns are voiced in good faith, I pass the concerns on to the city administration and follow up,” he wrote in his survey response. “Unfortunately, not all concerns raised are in good faith. There is a small faction in Lake Wales whose only goal it seems is to tear down and destroy. I try to deal with them as civilly as I can. Not always easy.”

Mailers sent to Lake Wales residents feature a photo of Krueger standing with Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. The cards say “Danny Krueger, Law and Order for Lake Wales.”

A spokesperson for Judd said that the sheriff has not endorsed Krueger but does not object when candidates use his image in campaign advertising if they have expressed support for quality law enforcement.

The mailer was paid for by Building a Brighter Future for Florida, a statewide political action committee formed in 2018 and registered in Jensen Beach. Its recent major donors include the Republican Party of Florida, as well as Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Charter Communications and Swedish Match North America, a tobacco company.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Two incumbents face challengers in Lake Wales City Commission election