Pompano Beach District 3 Commissioner Alison Fournier is seeking another term, pointing to progress on the SE 6th Terrace bridge, road resurfacing and recreational improvements while arguing for greater scrutiny of city spending and debt.
By Attiyya Atkins
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — Commissioner Alison Fournier says residents looking for evidence of what she has accomplished during her term representing District 3 should look at projects they can see — and one they have been waiting decades to see completed.
At the top of her list is the SE 6th Terrace bridge.
“Residents were promised a higher bridge for decades,” Fournier told Villij News. “This term, we completed the design and permitting and hired a contractor.”
Construction is expected to begin after the McNab Road bridge reopens, she said, to prevent both routes from being closed simultaneously.
“That is real progress on a project District 3 has waited far too long to see delivered,” Fournier said.
The bridge is one piece of a broader argument Fournier is making as she campaigns to remain on the Pompano Beach City Commission: that her record combines investment in neighborhood infrastructure with persistent scrutiny of how City Hall spends taxpayer money.
From bridges to pickleball courts
Fournier points to several physical improvements when discussing what residents received during her term.
In addition to progress on the SE 6th Terrace bridge, she said she led efforts to build new pickleball courts and a skatepark and pushed to accelerate road resurfacing.
She also highlighted policy changes affecting residents’ property, including giving waterfront homeowners greater flexibility in how they use their backyards and establishing a legal path for residents who want to install artificial turf.
“We’ve accomplished a great deal,” Fournier said, “and I’ll keep working to improve District 3 every day.”
But some of the issues Fournier emphasizes most strongly are less visible than a bridge, road or park.
They concern who controls the City’s money — and how much scrutiny that spending receives.
Pushing for more spending oversight
One change Fournier has not been able to secure is reducing the City Manager’s spending authority.
Fournier wants the amount the manager can spend without Commission approval reduced from $200,000 to $100,000.
Her argument is that lowering the threshold would give commissioners — and the public — greater visibility into City contracts and spending.
She says she has not been able to secure enough votes.
“The Commission’s 3–3 divide has blocked this and other efforts to strengthen oversight,” Fournier said.
She intends to continue pursuing the change.
“Approving a budget should not mean giving up our responsibility to scrutinize how the money is spent,” she said.
That emphasis on oversight runs through Fournier’s assessment of her voting record.
Roads, spending, debt and taxes
Asked where residents could look in the City budget and her votes to determine what she actually prioritizes, Fournier pointed to four areas: roads, spending, debt and taxes.
“You would see me pressing for more road paving, questioning spending and debt, and pushing to lower the millage rate,” Fournier said.
She said her push for closer examination of this year’s budget resulted in commissioners looking more closely at individual expenses.
“Because I pushed for a closer review this year, we examined parts of the budget line by line,” she said. “My questions have prompted staff to look harder for savings, and I am proud of that.”
Fournier also points to the City’s millage rate, which was reduced again during this year’s budget process.
For Fournier, the significance isn’t simply the rate itself. She views budget questioning as one of the Commission’s fundamental responsibilities.
“My priorities are visible in the basics we fund, the costs I challenge, and the debt I have voted against,” she said.
The proposed City Hall — and who should decide
Fournier says one of the issues she hears residents discussing more than City Hall itself is the proposed new municipal government complex.
She says residents have questioned both whether a new City Hall is necessary and the amount of money and debt that could ultimately be involved.
“Residents tell me they do not believe we need it, especially at the cost and level of debt now being discussed,” Fournier said.
She compared those concerns to opposition she heard surrounding the Atlantic Boulevard lane-reduction project.
“I heard similar concerns about the Atlantic Boulevard lane reduction, yet that project went forward,” Fournier said.
For a project as consequential as a new City Hall, she says the conversation should extend beyond the Commission dais.
“We need an honest public conversation about what a new City Hall would cost, how we would pay for it, and what other needs that money could address,” she said.
Her preferred solution is straightforward.
“A decision this large should go to the voters.”
A commission divided 3–3
Fournier’s inability to lower the City Manager’s spending threshold also reflects a broader reality that has shaped this Commission term: recurring 3–3 divisions among Pompano’s six elected officials.
Fournier says that divide has prevented her from securing enough support for some of the oversight changes she wants.
But the spending threshold is also part of a larger philosophical question about Pompano government: how much authority should rest with professional City management and how much should require a public vote by elected commissioners?
Fournier’s position is that commissioners need greater visibility before some expenditures are made.
For her, adopting an annual budget does not end the Commission’s responsibility to scrutinize individual spending decisions throughout the year.
That approach has sometimes put her on the questioning side of major City spending and borrowing proposals.
She says she considers that scrutiny part of the job.
The voices missing from City Hall
When asked which Pompano residents she personally needs to hear from more, Fournier did not name a particular District 3 neighborhood.
She named a generation.
“Young people,” Fournier said.
She argues that many of the decisions commissioners make today will have their greatest impact on residents who rarely attend City Commission meetings.
“The decisions we make about housing, debt, jobs, public spaces, and the environment will shape the city they inherit, but few attend Commission meetings,” Fournier said.
Changing that, she said, means government cannot simply wait for young residents to show up at City Hall.
“We need to meet them where they are: at schools, youth programs, community events, and online,” she said.
Fournier wants those conversations to focus not only on what younger residents want from Pompano today, but whether they see a future for themselves in the city.
“I want to know what would make them stay in Pompano, build a career, and raise a family here,” she said. “Their answers should help shape the decisions we make today.”
A campaign centered on oversight and infrastructure
Fournier’s case for another term ultimately rests on two themes that appear repeatedly in her responses: delivering tangible neighborhood improvements while demanding greater scrutiny of City spending.
She points to the SE 6th Terrace bridge as an example of government finally moving a long-promised project toward construction.
She points to road resurfacing, pickleball courts and the skatepark as improvements residents can see and use.
But she also argues that the next Commission must ask harder questions about spending, borrowing and major projects — particularly the proposed new City Hall.
And she wants to continue pushing for commissioners to have a direct vote on more City expenditures by reducing the City Manager’s spending authority.
For Fournier, those issues are connected by a central question: whether residents can see where their money is going and have a meaningful voice in the major decisions shaping Pompano Beach.
“My priorities are visible in the basics we fund, the costs I challenge, and the debt I have voted against,” Fournier said.
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