Loxahatchee Groves resident Thais Gonzalez is challenging Mayor Dave Browning for Seat 4 on the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council. The election will be held Tuesday, March 15.
Gonzalez, a community activist who has been critical of town policy in a number of areas, recently sat down with the Town-Crier to explain why voters should choose her for the council seat.
Gonzalez has a diverse cultural background. She was born in Chile to a family with German, Italian and Spanish roots. She has been in the United States for 23 years, arriving at age 21. Gonzalez lived in California for 11 years, then Illinois, where she managed a polo club. She followed the polo season to South Carolina, where she met her future husband, Carlos.
After a return trip to Chile following the death of her father, Gonzalez returned to Illinois, and then back to South Carolina. “Then, my husband and I got together, so I never left South Carolina,” she said. “We decided to form a family.”
Her husband is a horse trainer who has been training and selling high-end polo horses for more than 30 years. They traveled frequently because of equestrian season, but eventually chose Loxahatchee Groves as the place to raise their family in 2010. Their two boys are 8 and 9 years old.
“We loved it,” she said. “I think it is an awesome place to raise children. My children run around, they play.”
Gonzalez previously avoided politics, considering it a waste of time. However, her experiences with the town changed that. “I moved to Loxahatchee Groves thinking we were going to have our barn, our horses, our happy life,” she said. “A year and a half, two years later, I have two properties, and all of a sudden I have code enforcement knocking on my door. I had councilmen coming to my house.”
She claimed that her problems stemmed from a dispute with a neighbor and ended with Gonzalez feeling as though she and her family were being harassed.
“I like to inform myself,” she said, noting that she started doing research to learn more about agricultural legislation.
The neighbor complained about code enforcement regulations regarding clearing land, digging a pond and issues that come with raising horses, such as manure and flies.
“Those were the accusations. When we bought that property, it was overgrown. You couldn’t see anything,” she said. “I cleaned it; I didn’t clear it.”
Gonzalez went to the town for answers and was told that without implementing best management practices on her property, she wasn’t considered agriculture.
“They blew me off. They didn’t look at the paperwork I had or anything,” she said. “This is the issue I have with the town.”
Gonzalez got deeply involved in the issue. She called Tallahassee, the Florida Department of Agriculture, then-County Commissioner Jess Santamaria, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office and other officials.
“To make a long story short,” she said, “Palm Beach County told the town, ‘You guys are wrong. What you’re doing is wrong. You have no authority; no jurisdiction. She is agricultural classified. She is bona fide. She does not have to abide by the town’s rules.’”
After two years of fighting, the attorney general was consulted.
“I’m classified agriculture. I’m bona fide agriculture,” she said. “It took me two years of fighting.”
Gonzalez feels that the town’s leadership needs a change.
“I am very involved. I moved here because of what the town is. I want to protect it. I’m raising my children in this town,” she said. “I look for answers. I am proactive. I fight for what I believe in, and I am very passionate.”
Her passion, she said, could be considered a weakness by some, but she considers it a strength. “I think that I have new ideas and a lot of passion for this town,” Gonzalez said.
Her top accomplishments include learning the laws to prove she was right in her fight against code enforcement.
Gonzalez listed road problems, attaining more grants and better planning as the top three issues in the campaign.
“The town incorporated 10 years ago to protect and preserve Loxahatchee Groves. In order to do that, you have to plan; you have to negotiate. You have to apply for grants,” she said. “What I feel they have been doing is patching Loxahatchee Groves here and there.”
The way the roads are fixed, she explained, is not organized.
The relationship between the town and the Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District should be divided with the town responsible for roads and the LGWCD responsible for water, if both entities must exist.
Gonzalez believes that the best way to approach the necessary road improvements is to make a detailed plan.
“It’s not about me. It’s about what we can do and what people want,” she said. “I love dirt roads. I do. Not dusty. Dirt. Good-quality dirt roads, to me, they’re beautiful. But I have been around town, knocking door to door, talking to everyone I can talk to, and I realize that most people want it paved. I have to be fair. If most people want it paved, maybe that’s the way we should go.”
Deciding what type of material should be used and whether the town can afford it still needs to be determined, Gonzalez said.
“I think the town has a very, very professional management company with a lot of knowledge, and they should take advantage of that, but they don’t. The council doesn’t take advantage of the tools they have. That’s one of the big reasons why I’m running, because I feel that all of these tools are available and they’re not using them,” Gonzalez said.
The town is not providing road maintenance service to an acceptable level, she said.
As an elected official, Gonzalez would be someone who respects people and listens.
“I’m trying to be a real public servant,” she said, asserting that code enforcement in Loxahatchee Groves has been selective and based on favoritism.
Gonzalez noted that she has managed 50 people as a supervisor in a call service and learned how to positively direct individuals toward improvement.
When asked about the future of Okeechobee Blvd., Gonzalez likes the idea of two roundabouts and something else for speed control to slow traffic.
Southern Blvd. was intended as the commercial corridor for Loxahatchee Groves, she explained, and if commercial is brought to Okeechobee Blvd., extra care must be taken.
“Ten years since incorporation, and our ULDC [Unified Land Development Code] has too many loopholes. It’s not protecting us,” she said. “If it’s up to me, I’m fixing that before I fix anything else.”
The town management company, she said, is doing an excellent job.
“I really admire them. I think they’re very, very professional. And not only that, but they’re also good people, and it’s kind of hard to find the combination. I think they’re very dedicated, and I think they love what they do,” Gonzalez said.
The current town management is better than in the past, she said, when she felt as though her concerns were ignored.
The town’s budget, she said, needs to be better planned out.
“We need to plan, plan, plan and find out,” she said. “We need to look for resources. There are many resources available, and this town council is not searching or looking. It’s almost like they’re sitting on those chairs, and they’ve been there for too long.”
Gonzalez envisions the future of Loxahatchee Groves as the town where everyone wants to live.
“We are going to keep it so unique,” she said. “We want to keep it big lots, agriculture. I really want to protect this town. It’s going to be the last frontier for real. When everything else is built around here, we’ll still have our natural lifestyle.”
Gonzalez was active in the fight against allowing Palm Beach State College’s new Loxahatchee Groves campus. Describing herself as “pro education,” she said her goal in that fight was to get a referendum so residents could make the decision about the campus before it was approved.
It is her belief that most Loxahatchee Groves residents were not in favor of allowing the college campus, which Gonzalez said will have a huge impact on the town.
Now that the project is underway, she thinks the town should make the best of it. “It’s here. Let’s do the best that we can. There’s nothing we can do. We don’t have jurisdiction over it,” she said.
Gonzalez chose to run against Browning because the seat was open.
“It’s nothing against him,” she said. “I think he’s a real good ol’ boy. I think he has his heart in the right place.”
However, on the council, residents need someone more proactive, who is willing to fight for the town, Gonzalez said.
“In all the years he’s been there, he hasn’t done anything wrong,” she said. “But, I would have loved to see him bring things like the ULDC and say, ‘Hey, there’s a problem here. Let’s change it.’”
Gonzalez has faced criticism that she is a single-issue candidate focusing on equestrian issues.
“I am an equestrian, no doubt; but that’s not my issue,” she said. “I happen to be an equestrian, but what I am is agriculture. I do an agricultural activity.”
Gonzalez suggested a greenway around the town, where everyone could use a horse or bike to get around the town. “We have all of this wild beauty,” she said.
Gonzalez supports Todd McLendon’s bid to unseat incumbent Jim Rockett in the race for Seat 2. They are running separate campaigns, with many common goals, she said. Gonzalez ran McLendon’s previous campaign three years ago. “I think he is going to win. I hope I am going to win,” she said. “I think he will have an easier time winning.”
Gonzalez categorizes researching, dedication and passion as her strengths. “It’s hard for me to let go sometimes,” she said. “I’m very passionate.”
Gonzalez said Browning projects a good image as everyone’s grandfather, is a good man and his heart is in a good place. However, he has not been a strong enough advocate for the town. “As a grandpa, you can’t just give candy to the grandkids all the time,” she said.
Gonzalez wants voters to vote for her because she wants what is best for the town. “I’m willing to put in my time and effort to fix the problems and protect our town; protect our lifestyle,” she said. “Because it’s not so much as a town, it’s our lifestyle.”
Her goal is to fight the development interests that look at Loxahatchee Groves and see cheap land. “For us, every decision we make as a town is jeopardizing or putting at risk our lifestyle,” Gonzalez said. “That’s what I’m fighting about.”
