A screenshot of the Clewiston Chamber of Commerce's candidate forum for the Clewiston City Commission.

CLEWISTON- At a candidate forum streamed live on Facebook by the Clewiston Chamber of Commerce, three incumbents and two challengers faced community-submitted questions ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Throughout the forum candidates offered their thoughts on rising utility bills, the promise of Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) grant money, and Amendment 3’s looming hit to the city budget.

The candidates vying for a Clewiston Commission seat are three incumbents: Hillary Hyslope, Barbara Edmonds, and Mali Gardner; as well as two challengers, Jennifer Evans and Derek Hughes.

Questions:

1. In addition to your role on the commission, what is your community involvement in Clewiston?

The incumbents leaned on long committee résumés.

Gardner listed Rotary, where she is president for 2026–27, plus the Clewiston Kelly Foundation and Campbell/Francis Niles scholarship committees, the library, the museum, and her EDC education task force work.

Hyslope, who moved to Clewiston in 2014, pointed to a decade running the Chamber of Commerce, ten years each on the tourism council, the EDC, and the Sugar Festival committee, and her vice presidency of the South Florida Agricultural Foundation.

Edmonds kept it local: business owner, CRA board, and 17 years with the Sugar Festival.

The challengers drew on different credentials.

Evans ran through her school and youth-sports roles, such as teacher, PTO president, School Advisory Council vice president, Little League coach and board member.

Hughes offered a homespun definition of civic life, supporting local businesses, helping neighbors, attending community events, and being available when people need him.

2. If you could guarantee one major project or improvement completed during your term, what would it be?

The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), and the grant money flowing through it, was the centerpiece of two incumbent answers.

Hyslope said she wants the Community Redevelopment Agency program operating at full speed: “When a business invests in Clewiston, Clewiston should be investing in that business.” By the end of her term, she said, a visitor should see a visible difference driving through the business district.

Edmonds agreed that CRA funding is now in place to remake the look of Highway 27 and downtown, and cited $42 million the city has attracted in grants and appropriations for infrastructure.

Gardner aimed at the Francisco Street gateway into town and toward Lake Okeechobee, landscaping, lighting, and pavement, saying the money is there and she wants it finished.

Evans would take on a comprehensive review and update of the city charter, adopted in 2012, with legal counsel, staff, commissioners, and residents at the table. Derek argued for the basics first: water, sewer, and roads. “Necessities before extras,” he said, and growth must be responsible so it adds no new financial pressure on residents.

3. If revenues got tighter, would you raise taxes, reduce services, or delay capital projects?

No candidate volunteered to raise taxes first.

Hughes said government should look at itself before ever asking residents to pay more and bring maintenance in-house to cut costs while protecting public safety and contractual obligations.

Evans favored delaying or phasing non-urgent capital projects, but never public safety or critical infrastructure.

Edmonds said the city should look everywhere else first, such as more grants and state and federal dollars, public-private partnerships, wiser spending, and, if voters themselves choose lower revenues, the discipline to operate within its means.

Hyslope noted that most of the city’s $57 million budget is fixed costs, so efficiency is the lever that exists. She issued the night’s sharpest budget warning: if Amendment 3, which would raise the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, passes on November 3, the fiscal 2027–28 budget loses about $1 million right away, and every city will be chasing the same shrinking pool of grants.

Gardner, meanwhile, said every professional-services contract in every department should have to justify itself and face competitive bidding: “We’ve always done it this way” is not a justification.

4. Name one city expense you would review for possible savings, and why.

Outside contracts were the most-cited target.

Gardner doubled down on reviewing professional services and outside contracts so each one justifies itself.

Hughes agreed: cut contractual services and keep maintenance work in-house.

Hyslope argued for growing revenue instead of trimming expenses, citing the golf course’s irrigation partnership between U.S. Sugar and First Bank as the model, adding that better food and beverage, pro-shop improvements, more tournaments and events, and joint marketing with Hendry County tourism would pull in coastal visitors.

Edmonds said she would survey residents and business owners on what matters most before touching anything, so limited dollars serve the greatest number.

Evans turned to utility operations saying that residents pay steep bills and deserve to understand them, so she would review operating expenses and billing practices and get answers on the appearance and quality of the water.

5. What is one thing the city should do differently, and why?

Communication was the night’s most repeated demand for change.

Hyslope said the city must communicate earlier, more often, and more clearly, saying that posting on social media isn’t communicating. Good communication, she said, shouldn’t depend on who happens to be working at City Hall.

Edmonds also wants more public education. She said she has met with the city manager and building director about brochures explaining city services, projects, and water issues.

Evans backed the theme on utilities specifically: when bills change, explain plainly what changed, why, how it was calculated, and who to call.

Gardner wants zero-based budgeting, citing the James Madison Institute’s “Every Dollar Justified” paper, and said the city should continue the internal DOGE-style review it began three years ago, especially with Amendment 3 approaching.

Hughes called for greater transparency and a stronger, more involved commission, arguing that too much authority has concentrated in the city manager.

6. What is your approach to concerns about current utility bills?

The challengers demanded answers and numbers.

Hughes said he would first fully understand what makes up the bills, reviewing rates, operating and administrative costs, and long-term capital needs, then benchmarking against similar municipal utilities, Hughes added he’d cut city expenses before asking customers to pay more, though he refused to promise rate cuts until he has seen the numbers.

Evans wants the data in front of residents in terms they can understand, and any billing or cost problems she finds fixed, saying that residents deserve accurate bills and real transparency.

The incumbents reached for education and the city’s metering tools.

Edmonds pointed residents to the automated meter infrastructure and the online portal at clewiston-fl.gov showing daily usage, while noting outside pressures like natural gas prices and grocery-store inflation that the city cannot control.

Gardner said the city passes its electric costs straight through and bills by usage. Adding that the fix is helping residents understand the charges and cut their usage, starting with checking for water leaks.

“I live here too,” said Hyslope, who described pressing the city manager to lay out every option to lower or stabilize the cost adjustment, including reducing the transfer from the electric fund into the general fund. She also wants smart meters to text residents about abnormal usage, like leaks, before the bill arrives.

Election Day is Nov. 3, when in addition to the Clewiston City Commission race voters will also weigh in on Amendment 3, the homestead exemption increase that several candidates described as an immediate $1 million risk to the city budget. The top two vote-getters in the commission race will serve four-year terms while the third-place finisher will serve two years.