After serving seven years on the Wellington Village Council, incumbent Vice Mayor John McGovern is seeking re-election to the council’s Seat 3. He faces a challenge from local businessman Johnny Meier.
Seat 3 is one of two seats up for election on Tuesday, March 8. The other is the Seat 2 race between incumbent Councilwoman Tanya Siskind and challengers Tony Nelson and Karen Morris-Clarke. The winners will serve four-year terms on the council.
John McGovern
McGovern was appointed to the council in February 2015 to fill the vacancy created by former Councilman Howard Coates’ appointment to the circuit court bench. He was elected without opposition in 2016 and won re-election to a full, four-year term in 2018.
An attorney, McGovern said he loves living in and being active in the Wellington community, where he grew up.
“I love Wellington and our sense of community. There is no better place to raise a family than our village. Wellington is my hometown. After college and early married life, my wife Michelle and I returned to Wellington to raise our two girls and give them the same opportunities I had to attend Wellington public schools and participate in our second-to-none parks and recreation programming,” McGovern said. “I am running for re-election to continue my service to our community so we can keep Wellington moving forward. I know our village, understand our issues and have the experience to get the job done for our families, businesses and all residents.”
McGovern has been on the council through some challenging years, including hurricanes Matthew and Irma, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the village continues working through large-scale capital projects, such as the completion of the state-of-the-art water utilities system, McGovern knows the work is far from over.
“My top focus has been maintaining our village’s fiscal stewardship, keeping all our public schools A-rated and continuing to keep our community a safe place to raise a family and for seniors to thrive. In keeping with these priorities, in the last four years, I have consistently voted to keep our property taxes low, pushed for increased annual funding of the Keely Spinelli [school] grants to $400,000, and voted to invest in new technology and infrastructure for our first responders, resulting in total crime being reduced significantly, and Wellington being considered one of Palm Beach County’s and Florida’s safest places to live, work and play,” he said.
Since his appointment, McGovern said he has found himself driven to keep first-class amenities available to residents while keeping the millage rate as low as possible. He explained that the breakdown of property taxes that go directly to Wellington is only approximately 12 cents on the dollar.
“We are always looking for ways to be more fiscally responsible. Wellington is the fifth-largest municipality in Palm Beach County, with hundreds of employees and a total budget in excess of $100,000,000,” McGovern said. “Wellington is not a small business, but a major municipality whose leaders must be experienced, serious, steady, strong and, most of all, free of naiveté and political platitudes. We want transparency and to let [residents] know they are getting an amazing value from the management of this village.”
McGovern also noted that he has intentionally spent time making sure that diversity, equity and inclusion are front and center for the community.
“For example, I have more diverse committee appointments than any other member of the council. Almost half of my committee appointees are minorities because that is important to me,” he said. “I think that people should know that when they vote for John McGovern, they are voting for continued fiscal responsibility and financial transparency; they are voting for a strong partnership with the PBSO that results in very low crime. They are voting for a commitment to our schools because it provides better citizens and greater property values. They are voting for someone who is committed to making sure that diversity, equity and inclusion are top priorities, in addition to green space preservation and expansion.”
For more information about McGovern’s campaign, visit www.mcgovernforwellington.com or e-mail jtmwellington@gmail.com.
Johnny Meier
McGovern’s opponent is local business owner Johnny Meier, who is a former president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and a member of American Legion Post 360.
“I own multiple businesses within the Village of Wellington. I have interacted with our residents on a daily basis since 2009 and listened to their concerns. I have a real sense of the pulse of the community. I know the issues that trouble our residents as well as businesses,” Meier said. “If elected, I intend on addressing them. I will be their voice and not the voice of special interests.”
Meier and his wife moved to Florida in 2006 and founded My Community Pharmacy two years later. He previously ran a successful Cingular Wireless store for 10 years before relocating. He wants to take his experiences as a business owner and apply it to government.
“I have to scrutinize the bottom line every day. If my business cannot afford something, I do not purchase it. You need to do more with less and learn to say no when no needs to be said,” he explained. “If elected, I will take this same approach to government by being creative, thinking out of the box and will place the interest of the taxpayers first. I will use the three core values that were engrained in me in the Air Force: integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do.”
Meier bills himself as “the can-do candidate” and has set specific goals for his platform.
“My goals will be to stop wasteful spending by the current leadership and cut the budget back while still providing the desired amenities by having a business-minded councilman reviewing contracts and projects,” Meier said. “Due to home values increasing, we should discuss lowering the millage rate to lessen the impact on peoples’ pocketbooks. This also will help keep our seniors here in Wellington, most of whom are on fixed incomes.”
Other goals he has include public safety, attending Palm Beach County School Board meetings to stay current on what children are taught and how they are treated, while lobbying to have better infrastructure, weighing in on the future of the Mall at Wellington Green and preserving green space.
Meier supports turning the K-Park parcel on State Road 7 into something useful for residents. “Many have proposed a botanical garden with walking trails,” he said. “I’m in favor of a project like this, or at least the public’s interest in such an idea.”
He was inspired to run for the council to help his neighbors and fellow business owners, with a focus on keeping small businesses in Wellington a priority.
“I would not allow the destruction of the Wellington Lake Professional Centre, permanently displacing approximately 150 small businesses in our village,” Meier said.
Concern over village deals with the school board, such as new fields built on the Wellington High School campus and the potential addition of a pool at that location, has Meier questioning plans.
“I’m all for building more fields in our community, but… to put them on a high school campus with very limited access to the public is beyond me. If they were built on public land, the public who paid for them would have unfettered access, instead of only after 6 p.m. and on the weekends, if and only if the high school isn’t utilizing them for something since the high school gets priority,” Meier said. “In addition, the taxpayers are responsible for all the upkeep for the next 10 years while the public is allowed to use the fields. Then the public is no longer allowed access, and it is turned over to Wellington High School.”
That situation is an example of what pushed Meier to pursue a seat on the council.
For more information about Meier’s campaign, visit www.johnnymeier.vote or e-mail johnny.meier@yahoo.com.
