COOPER CITY, Fla. – Gladys Wilson thought she'd seen just about everything at city hall in Cooper City. She was wrong.
The 81-year-old former commissioner and activist was caught off guard when a Cooper City Commissioner said a couple of words to her while Mallozzi was on the dais at the January 8 commission meeting. It was a lesson in just how low the level of civil discourse can go.
"I could hear 'blow me' just as loud as possible," said Wilson. "It was uncalled for."
The remark, which is caught on tape, has led to a call from one resident, Bob Sands, for Mallozzi to resign. Sands wrote in an email that he spoke to Mallozzi about the remark and she claimed that she said she had to blow her nose.
The problem for Mallozzi: The words are caught on her city's own video during the televised meeting. Numerous calls to Mallozzi were left unreturned and no one answered her door today.
The remark came after a heated back-and-forth with fellow commissioner John Sims.
"I don't want somebody like Commissioner Mallozzi, quite frankly, going to the Broward League of Cities and voting on some ridiculous thing I don't want to support," Sims said during the meeting.
He also brought up a visit by Mallozzi to Plantation City Hall last year when she asked the council there to raise taxes by nearly a third. At that meeting she didn't mention her elected status -- or the fact that her husband was a Plantation police officer.
Mallozzi returned fire on Sims, mentioning a racially charged and controversial Facebook posting Sims made last month.
"Like your vile Facebook posting, it is my constitutional First Amendment right of free speech to go to any commission meeting," said Mallozzi.
From the audience, Wilson, who is fiery critic of the commissioner herself, said to Mallozzi, "That's disgusting."
Mallozzi then looked at Wilson and said, "Blow me."
"She's an awful role model for a city commissioner," said Wilson.
Wilson knew it was profane but was a bit confused.
"I didn't know what it meant," she said laughing.
"Who told you?" asked Local 10's Bob Norman.
"I'm not going to tell you," said Wilson.
Sims said he wants Mallozzi censured. Wilson said she simply wants an apology.