With two incumbents not seeking re-election, there will be two new faces on the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council in March.
One of those faces will be that of former Councilwoman Lisa El-Ramey, who was unopposed for Seat 2 when filing closed on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Five candidates filed paperwork to run for Seat 4. They are Paul T. Coleman II, Steven Hoffman, former Councilman Todd McLendon, Paulo Santana and Brian William Zdunowski. The election will be held on Tuesday, March 11.
The incumbents, Councilwoman Laura Danowski and Councilman Robert Shorr, both chose not to seek re-election.
Danowski was elected to Seat 2 in 2019 and is wrapping up her second three-year term.
“It was never on my agenda to run again,” she said, noting that before her six years on the council, she also served several years on the board of the Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District before it became a dependent district.
Danowski added that she has a new business venture to focus on, as well as upcoming travel plans.
Shorr also opted not to run for re-election in Seat 4. He explained that it didn’t make sense to run when the community recently passed a referendum instituting a two-term limit on council members.
Even though the term limit did not yet legally apply to him, Shorr felt leaving after two terms keeps with the spirit of the referendum, which passed in 2020.
“I encouraged people to run for my seat. That’s probably why there’s so many,” he said.
SEAT 2
El-Ramey was the only person to file for Seat 2 and will replace Danowski on the dais in March. She previously won a special election to a council seat in 2019, defeating now-Mayor Anita Kane. She served two years on the dais, including a year as mayor, before being unseated by former Councilwoman Marianne Miles in 2021.
An equestrian, El-Ramey owns Oak Hammock Farm on B Road. She was surprised that so many candidates filed for Seat 2 while she did not draw opposition.
“I have always allied with the pro-rural preservation mentality,” El-Ramey said. “I was painted in my 2021 campaign as anti-paving, but it was more ‘let’s not do it in a shoddy way,’ and I think I have been proven right.”
In this way, El-Ramey believes that she falls more in line with the current majority on the council.
Once she joins the council, El-Ramey intends to focus on the town’s difficult financial issues.
“Any free money the town previously collected, that money has pretty much all gone away,” she said. “I do believe that, culturally, Americans like instant gratification, but we do need long-term planning for projects.”
She wants to see the council and the town “be more organized and cohesive to show a clear vision of what we want as a community.”
“I think there has been some progress through some state appropriations and grant money,” El-Ramey said, suggesting that the town needs to cast a wider net for available funds.
Since her last time on the council, the town has moved from a contract staffing model to an in-house employee model. That is something that still needs ongoing review, she said.
“I think that there have been efforts made, but I’m not sure we are where we need to land yet,” El-Ramey said.
Traffic, road safety and drainage are other topics that need to keep the town’s focus, she added.
“Working with the surrounding municipalities will be critical to how our community functions in the long run,” El-Ramey said.
SEAT 4
Coleman ran against Shorr for Seat 4 in 2022, losing by just a handful of votes. He has lived in Loxahatchee Groves for nearly his entire life, moving to the community in 1976 as a child with his family.
“I think it is very important for the citizens to have a voice on the council, and I hope to be that voice to ensure that the charter we were founded on, and the way of life that is the reason we all chose to reside here, is maintained and protected for years to come,” Coleman said.
Among the key things he wants to focus on as a council member include, “fiscally responsible spending, a hard look at our ULDC, drainage, roads, and reinstatement of the Roadways, Equestrian, Trails and Greenways Committee (RETGAC) to start.”
Hoffman is a quail farmer. He is running for the council because he does not like what he sees when he attends town meetings.
“There’s a right time and place for everything, and that time is now,” he said. “I went to my first meeting a few years ago, invited by my neighbor, former Mayor Lisa El-Ramey. The meeting was a joke, and a lot of meetings have been since then.”
Hoffman described them as “a cross between the Jerry Springer Show and the Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“Loxahatchee Groves is a microcosm of Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I’m driving a wedge straight between the Democrats and the Republicans, which I call down here the Hatfields and McCoys.”
He wants the council and the community to only focus on Loxahatchee Groves first.
“No wasting the residents’ time with commercial development and adding more rules, laws and regulations than we currently have,” Hoffman said. “The last meeting, there were 257 pages of reading that were on the agenda. We have to clean up our own backyard first before we can entertain anything from the outside.”
Hoffman noted that he has four children under the age of 15.
“This is, hands-down, the best place I’ve ever lived in my life, and I want to keep it as rural equestrian agricultural as long as possible. Loxahatchee Groves is God’s country,” Hoffman said.
He is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, the Loxahatchee Groves Landowners’ Association and Palms West Presbyterian Church.
McLendon was elected to the council in 2016 and served one three-year term before being unseated by Danowski.
“Since I was on the council, our budget has skyrocketed out of control,” he said. “A lot of money was spent on roads, and no drainage was put in, and some of these roads are failing. Literally millions of dollars were spent, and it is coming apart.”
McLendon filed to run in last year’s election but later dropped out of the race. He said he did so to support Anita Kane, who was also running for the seat and is now serving as mayor.
“She has done a fantastic job since she has been on the council,” McLendon said.
With his experience, along with his 18 years of being active in the community, McLendon believes that he can hit the ground running once elected.
His focus would be on “trying to get our infrastructure back under the control.”
That would include more of a focus on drainage issues.
“Major drainage issues have been ignored,” McLendon said. “We need to get back to the basic things and try to get that straightened out.”
Santana has owned equestrian property in Loxahatchee Groves since 2013. Through most of that time, he operated Santana Stables.
“Today, I work with recycling of yard waste, horse manure and hurricane debris, including nitrogen sequestration, mostly out of Belle Glade,” Santana said, adding that his company does stall cleaning at local horse farms, including many in Loxahatchee Groves.
He feels that many areas have lost the necessary natural areas that horses need, and he aims to help protect that in Loxahatchee Groves.
“Loxahatchee Groves is becoming a powerhouse, very strong among agricultural, equestrian and landscaping professionals,” Santana said. “We have probably the last green environment to be preserved. We must optimize the synergy between these industries to work perfectly together.”
His goal on the council will be to “keep it green” and “preserve it for future generations.”
“There have been a few conflicts between the agricultural/equestrian interests and developers,” said Santana, who wants to “protect the community instead of overdevelopment.”
Zdunowski was born and raised in West Lawn, Pennsylvania. He moved to Florida after graduating from college with a degree in network engineering.
“My wife, Ashley, and I bought our home in Loxahatchee Groves in December of 2013,” he said. “As an equestrian family, we love the rural environment while having close amenities.”
Zdunowski works as a senior product line manager for a software company specializing in medical software mostly for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“I ran this year because with Robert Shorr vacating his seat, I wanted to ensure his replacement upheld the rural values of our community,” he said. “As a council member, I will concentrate on the aforementioned rural values, as well as lowering taxes, keeping our existing AR5 zoning and reducing our town budget while increasing efficiency.”
Zdunowski added that as a representative of the people of Loxahatchee Groves, council members “should be beholden to the will of the people and not their own personal interests. I would vow to follow this, having an open door to all.”
