Rae Carole Armstrong, who has been the city’s mayor since 1999, announced she will retire in March when her seat is up for re-election.
“It has truly been an incredible journey … for me to be able to grow with the community,” said Armstrong, 72, at the close of Wednesday night’s council meeting.
Armstrong first became involved in city politics by campaigning for her husband, Thomas H. Armstrong, in 1975. The mayor’s campaign strategy of dressing up in a Big Bird costume and waving to voters on her husband’s behalf worked, and Tom Armstrong served from February 1975 to March 1983. Later he became a state representative.
In 1983 Rae Carole Armstrong became the first woman elected to the Plantation City Council.
“For someone of my generation, it is a real privilege and a real honor,” she told the Sun Sentinel in 1999. “It means a lot to me to be able to be that kind of mentor or role model for young women.”
In 1999 she was elected mayor. “I am the captain of the ship, and when a decision has to be made, I’m very firm and will make that decision,” she told the Sun Sentinel at the time. “But at the same time, I will try to build consensus.”
Plantation does not have a city manager, so the mayor runs its day-to-day operations. Little Lighthouse Point is the only other Broward city whose mayor wields such power.
With her retirement, Armstrong leaves her $117,221 salary, but she will get a $58,610 annual pension for the rest of her life, as well as medical benefits.
The controversial pension was abolished after public outcry in 1995, but a handful of city officials vested at the time are still eligible, including Armstrong. No other sitting council members are eligible for a pension or health benefits in retirement.
Among her accomplishments: overseeing economic growth, creating a midtown district, starting citizen programs that promote tree planting, and demanding an audit of the Plantation Athletic League after allegations the program wasn’t being run well.
In October the council agreed to rename a park across the street from City Hall as Rae Carole Armstrong Liberty Tree Park.
Armstrong said it was the creation of Liberty Tree Park that propelled her into politics in the first place. The site was nothing more than a construction storage site for the contractor who was building homes in that area.
She said a neighbor encouraged her to attend a council meeting and get a park developed. After she convinced the council to cooperate, she worked with the Junior Woman’s Club over the next two years to raise the $20,000 needed to make it happen.
According to her city biography, Armstrong earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and education from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga. She has held leadership positions in the Plantation Woman’s Club, Plantation Athletic League, Plantation Chamber of Commerce, Plantation Cultural Arts Board of Trustees, and the Broward County Affordable Housing Board.
Armstrong has three children and four grandchildren.
So far the only person who has opened an account for the March 8 mayor’s race is Councilman Jerry Fadgen.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at or 954-572-2008.
