Meet Crestview’s Precinct 2 City Council candidates
Sylvester Echols
Echols is campaigning to keep his seat after his appointment to replace Councilman Ryan Bullard in early 2026.
In addition to his eight months serving on the City Council, he has almost 50 years of experience, both in the U.S. Air Force and in security at Eglin Air Force Base.
He’s running on a platform of community, with a slogan: “bringing Crestview together.”
“Division is not the way that we’re going to survive anywhere,” he said.
He recognized the challenge that the city of Crestview faces in budgeting ahead of Amendment 3, in terms of maintaining funding for public safety initiatives like police and fire services.
“When we talk about a property tax cut, it’s not an easy thing to say to people – not to vote for that,” he said. “I do want people to understand the impact it could have on the essential services that the city provides.”
He said, if re-elected, he would encourage engagement between residents and government through further town hall meetings and social media but would also encourage further dialogue between residents themselves.
“Let’s get to know who our neighbors are,” he said. “Because, for example, we’re facing this hurricane, and our first response in any community – it’s going to be our neighbors.”
April Rencich
Rencich is a local business owner and mother, running for City Council to preserve Crestview’s quality of life for families, youth and small businesses.
She has been involved in politics since 2017, going to local meetings and leading community clubs.
“I think it’s my time to serve,” she said.
Managing five businesses alongside her husband and former City Council member Andrew Rencich, she said she’s well-versed in the community and in Crestview’s small business scene.
She anticipates a challenge for Crestview in November’s ballot initiatives, particularly Amendment 3, when it comes to careful spending. She hopes to balance a mindful and deliberate city budget without sacrificing quality of life for Crestview residents.
“We do not want to take jobs away from anyone here,” she said. “We just need to make sure it’s spent wisely.”
She emphasized the relationships she has built through her companies, with the local community and with county and local government.
“I’m very easy to find in the community with the businesses,” she said. “They just need to reach out, and I am here to listen.”
She said, if elected, she looks forward to advocating on behalf of Crestview residents to the county and the state, if necessary.
Louis Rodriquez
Rodriquez, a U.S. Air Force veteran of 24 years and a federal employee of the U.S. Navy for 14 more, hopes to translate his federal civil service to local service on Crestview’s City Council.
Having lived in Crestview since 1996, he worries his precinct and community have been overlooked in recent years.
“I want to be the person who gets information out to people,” he said. “Like, ‘We haven’t forgotten about you,’ you know?”
Rodriquez hopes to “trim the fat” from Crestview’s budget, prioritizing the completion of ongoing projects and guaranteeing that Crestview has the necessary transportation infrastructure to continue growing.
“There’s no such thing as expanding if we don’t have certain things in place,” he said. “I want to get the infrastructure completed, so we can not have so much hardship for the people of Crestview.”
If elected, he wants to find a balance between bringing more business to the city and developing the infrastructure to handle it, with some extra fiscal responsibility to account for the uncertainty imposed by Amendment 3.
“I want to leave a mark,” he said. “To know that I did something for the city of Crestview, for the community, for the youth, the seniors and everybody else in between.”
