(Jamaica Observer) Jamaican-American Dale VC Holness was on Tuesday elected mayor of Broward County in Florida.
Holness, the first Jamaican-American to hold the position, received a unanimous vote from the Broward County Commission which is required by charter to elect a mayor and vice mayor each year in November.
Prior to Tuesday’s vote, Holness served as vice mayor.
He was first elected in 2010 to represent residents of Broward County’s District 9, which includes a population in excess of 200,000 and covers more than eight municipalities in Broward County.
Prior to being elected a Broward County commissioner, he served as a City of Lauderhill commissioner from 2004 to 2010. During his terms in office he served as vice mayor twice — 2007 and 2010 — started the Lauderhill Chamber of Commerce and established the Lauderhill Business Incubator.
A practising real estate broker for more than 30 years, he is the president and CEO of All Broward Realty. He is a well-known advocate for small, minority and women-owned businesses, fair wages for workers, improving and providing economic development opportunities for all, and homeownership.
His global advocacy includes positioning Broward County as the centre for international trade with the recent success of the annual Florida International Trade and Cultural Expo held October 9-10, 2019 with representation from 60 countries and nearly 2,000 people in attendance, the largest to date.
At his swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, Holness thanked his predecessor, Mayor Bogen, for his hard work and for “doing a great job representing Broward County”.
He also thanked his colleagues for their vote of confidence.
“The mission of my year as mayor will be to work on making Broward County a better place for all who live here by empowering our community, strengthening our households and businesses, creating policies that afford access to opportunities and by unifying everyone across racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds,” he said.
“We are Broward County, one community for everyone and prosperity for all,” added Mayor Holness.