Joel EngelhardtFew voters expected in race pitting Mayor Roger Michaud against challenger Ralph Moscoso.
Amid a lawsuit against a developer over the fate of its marina and the creation of rules that will shape its downtown forever, Lake Park voters have a single question on their March 10 ballot to decide who should be mayor for the next three years.
The choices are nine-year Town Commission veteran Roger Michaud, seeking a second term in the $10,000-a-year mayor’s job, and challenger Ralph Moscoso, a close observer of the town’s operations who has run unsuccessfully for commission twice before.
A third potential candidate, waterfront resident Kelly “Steele” McNamara, dropped out of the race in January.
The winner could take the job with fewer than 350 votes in the coastal town of 9,000 with a $37 million overall budget just north of Riviera Beach. In its most recent election to select four town commissioners, 531 people cast ballots.
Since voters could vote for just one of six candidates to select four last March, one commissioner, John Linden, took his seat with just 77 favorable votes. The highest vote-getter, Michael Hensley, received 143 votes or 27% of the total.
The mayor is a full voting member of the commission and runs the meetings but stands for election on a different year than commissioners.
The race has drawn little money, with Moscoso raising $1,241 through Feb. 6, all in loans from himself. Michaud had $1,680, including $500 of his own money.
Critiques town actions in videos
Moscoso, 58, a 24-year Army veteran who has lived in the town for 11 years, ran a YouTube site called Lake Park News, building a following of 141 subscribers until pulling the plug out of safety concerns after the September killing of Charlie Kirk.
He relentlessly tracked town spending, questioning the need for the town’s downtown Community Redevelopment Agency and criticized the financial terms of the town marina lease to Forest Development, now in disarray after a new town manager questioned the deal and the developer sued over delays.
Michaud, 50, raised two children with his wife, in the house he moved into as a child. He’s a residential field team leader for the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office, where he has worked since 2001.
He opposes the size of the 16-story, 595-unit apartment building Forest Development proposed for Park Avenue and 10th Street, saying, “I’m not totally in favor of that, but I feel something should be there.”
A Kimley-Horn study recommended a seven-story cap.
Moscoso prefers “small-town character,” to “large-scale urban development,” he said in a 10-point questionnaire posted by the Lake Park Society for the Advancement of Civic Engagement.
“Compatibility is lost when development prioritizes maximum density over livability for residents,” he said.
Opposes Oceana subsidy
Moscoso would dismantle the town’s CRA, which got $5.8 million last year, so the city portion of its tax money could be spent on needs throughout the entire town instead of strictly downtown. He would have opposed a $1 million CRA grant over five years to bring Oceana Coffee Roaster’s $10 million headquarters to 10th Street.
Michaud said he supported the decision because the investment brings new property tax revenue, creates jobs and helps attract new businesses.
Moscoso is critical of the town’s “frivolous spending” and salaries for top administrators, detailing his research in YouTube videos and promising a close look at the budget if he’s elected.
Michaud insists spending is “not out of control.”
Moscoso criticized Michaud’s oversight of Town Commission meetings as weak, saying the mayor should have kept Commissioner Michael O’Rourke on point during the Feb. 18 meeting, in which O’Rourke aired several grievances and tried to fire the town attorney.
The mayor has to be “the calmest person in the room” to keep the meeting moving, Michaud said. “Don’t take what you see as kindness as weakness,” he said, adding that he doesn’t believe his opponent has the right disposition to successfully preside over the meetings.
Michaud would not take a position on the terms of the town’s marina lease with Forest Development because the matter is under litigation. Moscoso said he opposed the terms when they were approved in 2023 but believes it is important the town have a private partner to help run the money-losing marina.
Michaud won a commission seat for the first time in 2017, then won reelection in 2019 and 2022 before seeking the mayor’s seat in 2023.
Moscoso finished second with 203 votes in a four-candidate field to fill a one-year opening on the commission in 2024 and last of three candidates to fill a seat in 2023.
Michaud said he viewed elected office as an honor.
“I’ve lived here since 1985. I’m a child of this community,” he said. “It’s truly an honor to be awarded this opportunity to be a community leader in my town. I really care for the people here and I really care for the community.”
Moscoso said he, too, is motivated by caring for the town.
“I care about Lake Park and want it run responsibly, fairly and transparently,” he said in the questionnaire. “Residents deserve leadership that prioritizes basic services, listens to the community and manages taxpayer dollars wisely — not politics or special interests. I’m running to bring practical, common-sense leadership to Town Hall and make sure decisions benefit everyday residents first.”
Joel is a founder, reporter and editor at Stet News. His award-winning newspaper career spanned more than 40 years, including 28 years at The Palm Beach Post, which he left in 2020. Joel lives with his wife in Palm Beach Gardens. He volunteers on the board of NAMI Palm Beach County and the Palm Beach Gardens Historical Society.
