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HYPOCRITES: Pompano Beach Commissioners Alison Fournier And Audrey Fesik Knew About Delvin King’s Troubled Legal History For Nearly Eight Months But Remained Silent, City Records Show

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Audrey Fesik, left and Alison Fournier, second from left, with Delvin King at recent campaign event.

As REDBROWARD reported earlier this month, Pompano Beach city commission candidate Delvin King was removed from the ballot after a Broward County Judge determined King did not qualify for the District 4 seat. King was part of an unofficial “slate” of candidates which includes Commissioners Audrey Fesik and Alison Fournier. Following King’s removal, a local Pompano Beach resident attempted to reopen the qualifying period by suing the City and the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office. After a Broward Judge ruled against the resident, Commissioner Darlene Smith was automatically re-elected.

During the September 22, 2026 commission meeting, Fournier and Fesik attempted to paint Smith as the villain for not suing Delvin King before the candidate qualifying period ended in June 2026. Smith had revealed she began to question King’s qualifications in February 2026. (In July 2026, a new Florida law took effect which only gave an opposing candidate the right to question a candidate’s qualifications in court.)

BLAME GAME

During the September 22, 2026 meeting, Fesik asked the city attorney about an obligation to share negative information about a candidate.

“If someone is receipt of information and had concerns about the residency of someone who is qualifying, what should they do,” Fesik asked.

“What should that resident or commissioner do with that information,” Fesik inquired. “So, would you recommend…that person sit on that information for seven months?”

When told there is no legal obligation, Fournier asked if there was a moral obligation. “So it’s just a question of your personal values whether a person wants to bring that forward,” she said.

Fesik also tried to blame Smith for the timing of her King lawsuit. Fesik asked if a commissioner had “any legal obligation to the residents of the City to be honest and forthcoming with that?”

Again, Fesik was informed there was no legal obligation.

But that did not stop Fesik.

She asked if a city employee had an obligation to disclose if they received this information. Again, the answer was no.

WHAT DID THEY KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT?

The grandstanding by Fournier and Fesik tried to paint Darlene Smith as the bad guy for withholding information about the controversial Delvin King. But Fournier and Fesik were made aware of King’s serious legal issues in January 2026, public records show.

Last December, the Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) published a public notice regarding a lease in the northwest part of the City. A local chamber of commerce submitted a lease proposal to the CRA. Audrey Fesik questioned the lease.

Less than a week later, Delvin King through his South Florida Technical College made a proposal for the same property. In exchange for an annual lease of $50,000 King wanted nearly $40,000 to improve the property.

As part of their due diligence, City CRA conducted a basic public records and litigation search of King and his business. The results included felony charges, misdemeanor charges, business evictions and accusations of fraud.

In a January 13, 2026 email to Fesik, Fournier and the rest of the Commission, CRA director Nguyen Tran explained that King’s proposal was rejected “due to the active and closed litigation history for each business entity as well as the individuals associated with these businesses.” Tran included twelve pages detailing the legal cases against King and his businesses.

In a January 17, 2026 email, King claimed the process was “disrespectful.”

Two days later, Audrey Fesik jumped to the defense of Delvin King. In a January 19, 2026 email, Fesik demanded a “stay of execution” of a lease with the original bidder. Fesik claimed there were “serious procedural and legal deficiencies that must be addressed.”

Fesik said she had been “denied” the opportunity to “hear the proposal, evaluate staff’s concerns, question (King) or vote.”

Two days later, Delvin King opened his campaign for the City Commission District 4 seat.

EIGHT DAYS

Audrey Fesik knew about Delvin King’s lengthy criminal history eight days before he became Darlene Smith’s political opponent.

Despite knowing his legal history, Audrey Fesik still wanted to consider Delvin King as a tenant of CRA property.

Audrey Fesik wanted to “evaluate staff’s concerns” about Delvin King, but not once has Fesik stated any concerns about his legal troubles.

Audrey Fesik attended Alison Fournier’s campaign event with Delvin King. The three were all smiles in photographs.

Audrey Fesik and Delvin King posed for pictures at other events.

Did Audrey Fesik ever voice concerns over Delvin King’s fitness to be a Pompano Beach Commissioner?

Did Audrey Fesik voice any concerns when Delvin King joined her as a member of the Broward Republican Executive Committee?

Did Audrey Fesik voice any concerns about Delvin King when was forced into court regarding his candidacy?

Fesik and Fournier were quick to waste the public’s time when they demanded to know what Darlene Smith knew and when did she know it. But they all knew about Delvin King in January 2026.

Why did they sit on this information for eight months?

Why weren’t Fournier and Fesik more forthcoming with this damaging information about Delvin King?

Did their desire to gain control of the commission outweigh any “moral obligation” to inform residents about Delvin King’s serious political liabilities?

Pompano Beach residents deserve answers.

Plantation Residents Want To Pause Comprehensive Plan

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GUEST POST:

OPINION  |  CITY OF PLANTATION

Will Our Mayor and Council Keep Their Promise — or Rush a 500-Page Plan Most Residents Have Never Seen?

Plantation’s 20-year Comprehensive Plan and Florida’s Live Local Act will change how this city looks, moves, and pays for itself. Website notice is not enough.

Plantation is potentially going to adopt a 500-page plan that will guide this city through 2045. Most residents still do not know it exists — or how it will change their streets, schools, taxes, and quality of life.

After neighbors and the Plantation Acres Homeowners Association objected, Council tabled adoption from August 26 to September 9. Two extra weeks is not public outreach. It is a pause. The people we elected now have to decide whether they meant their campaign promise to put residents first.

What the plan is. A comprehensive plan is not a brochure. It is the city’s official rulebook. Once adopted, zoning, housing, roads, parks, water, sewer, drainage, and school planning are supposed to follow it. This proposal replaces the current plan in full. Its own language steers growth toward transit-oriented development and compact building along major corridors — more height, more apartments on commercial strips, more traffic on roads that already fail at rush hour.

What Live Local adds. Florida’s Live Local Act, strengthened again in 2026, lets qualifying projects skip the fight residents expect. If a developer rents at least 40 percent of units to households earning up to 120 percent of Area Median Income for 30 years, on commercial, industrial, or mixed-use land, the city generally must approve it administratively — no rezoning, no plan amendment. The building can match the tallest height and highest density within a mile. “Affordable” under that formula reaches well into middle income. The other 60 percent can be market-rate. Qualifying units also get large tax exemptions, while the extra rooftops still need water, drainage, police, fire, and classroom seats.

Why most people never heard. The city points to its website, legal ads, and two or three workshops. That may check a legal box. It does not reach a city of about 100,000. Roughly 17 percent of Plantation is 65 or older — more than 16,000 neighbors. Many do not own computers, do not read 500-page PDFs, and cannot treat a weekday workshop as notice. Residents are only now learning what this plan is. That is the opposite of informed consent.

The law already allows more time. Florida Statute 163.3184 gives a city 180 days after state comments to hold the adoption hearing — and allows a written extension, with notice to the state. Residents are asking for that extension in writing. Not another short tabling. Time to mail a plain-language summary, put a notice in the utility bill, use social media in everyday English, and hold meetings seniors and working families can actually attend.

Mayor Nick Sortal and Council members Denise Horland, Erik Anderson, Jennifer Andreu, Timothy Fadgen, and Louis Reinstein asked for our votes as people who would listen. September 9 is the test. That night already includes budget business. A 20-year rewrite of Plantation should not slide through as just another agenda item.

We are not asking the city to ignore housing or freeze in place. We are asking elected officials to do what they promised: tell the public, in plain language, what this plan and Live Local will do to daily life — then give people time to answer.

Five things to demand on September 9

1. A written 180-day extension under Fla. Stat. 163.3184.

2. A short plain-language summary, in English and Spanish, before any adoption vote.

3. Real notice: utility-bill inserts, household mailers, social media, libraries, HOAs, senior buildings.

4. Neighborhood meetings people can attend — not only City Hall on a stacked weeknight.

5. Straight answers on Live Local height, density, traffic, schools, water, and the commercial tax base.

City Council meets Wednesday, September 9, 2026, at Plantation City Hall, 400 NW 73rd Avenue. Confirm the time on the official agenda. Register to speak. If you cannot go, email cityclerk@plantation.org and copy the Mayor and Council: do not adopt this plan until residents have been told what is in it, and grant the 180-day extension in writing.

A promise is easy on a campaign flyer. It is harder when the packet is 500 pages long. September 9 will show which one they meant.

***This guest column was written by Plantation resident Mamta Ramoutar. REDBROWARD welcomes opposing points of view***