Evalyn David, first elected to the Town Commission in 2019, has left the job because of term limits but has been appointed to the town’s Planning Board. Rich Pollack/The Coastal Star
By Rich Pollack
Evalyn David hadn’t planned on becoming a Highland Beach town commissioner.
A lawyer who practiced trust, estate and tax law and was now retired, David had never even been to a Town Commission meeting when she was drafted to run for the position by a couple of her neighbors in the Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina community.
“It was completely out of my wheelhouse,” she said. “I had never done anything like this before.”
By the time all the ballots were cast, David had beaten an incumbent by fewer than 45 votes, receiving 990 votes in one of the most contentious elections the town has ever seen.
Now, six years after her first meeting as a commissioner, David has left the dais due to term limits, but she’s not leaving town government altogether. She was recently named to the town’s Planning Board where she will be able to keep her hand in Highland Beach’s business.
“Now that I’ve invested six years of my life, I don’t want to leave,” she said.
Her fellow commissioners agreed by appointing her to the board and say that David’s skills will certainly be a plus in her new role.
“She is definitely a voice of reason,” said Mayor Natasha Moore. “She is incredibly insightful and always on point.”
David’s six years started at a tumultuous time for the town, but have ended at a time when the commissioners work well together, with unanimous votes the rule rather than the exception.
“I agreed to run because there was chaos at the Town Commission level,” she said.
Also, on the ballot in 2019 when she ran was a controversial proposal to spend $45 million on improvements on an Ocean Walk corridor. That issue failed with less than 10% of voters in favor.
David said that once she won the race, she wondered if she would be successful.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, can I actually do this?’” she said. “It turned out that I could and I’ve done a pretty good job.”
As a commissioner, David attended 173 meetings and took on the unofficial role of motion maker.
She made more than 800 motions, including 119 seconds, to help ensure resolutions and ordinances are presented in a simple form.
“I started making motions because some of the other ones were so convoluted,” she said.
People who have worked with David say a large part of her success as commissioner was her dedication to arriving at meetings prepared. She read backup materials and listened to residents and other commissioners.
“I believe in working together,” she said. “You have to understand that compromise is necessary.”
David, 76, believes that her legal background was helpful on the commission.
“You have to be able to think logically,” she said. “You need to keep things in perspective.”
During David’s time on the commission, the town completed several major projects, including starting its own fire department and implementing a building recertification process.
David is proud of those projects and of working closely with the late Mayor Doug Hillman, who led the charge on both.
David said she enjoyed her time on the commission and is glad that she agreed to run back when she really didn’t know what she was getting into.
“I feel that I did a lot of good for the town and it gives me a great deal of satisfaction,” she said.
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