Incumbent Ron Mueller and Iliana Ramos Jones — neighbors in Lake Cove Pointe, a gated community in the west Orange city of Winter Garden — have been here before. Next Tuesday, they’ll face off for the third time in three years for the same elected job.

Mueller won the Winter Garden Commission District 2 seat in 2021, besting Jones by 66 votes.

Last month, Jones fell 25 votes shy of replacing him, winning about 48% of the ballots in a three-person race. Mueller finished a distant second, but with enough votes to make the runoff.

Early voting started Monday in the latest contest, where 7,200 people may vote.

Early turnout is expected to be light as this week’s voting may be done only at the Election Supervisor’s office in Orlando, an 18-mile, one-way drive, which can take up to 45 minutes in the stop-and-go traffic commuters often face on State Road 50.

The city did not arrange for a local early voting site.

Four Winter Garden precincts will be open for voting April 16 : Tanner Hall, 29 West Garden Ave.; West Orlando Christian Center, 1301 E. Bay St.; Faith Family Community Church, 305 Beulah Road; and the Oakland Presbyterian Church, 218 E. Oakland Ave.

A commissioner’s position is considered part-time and pays $600 plus health and life insurance.

Jones, 57, has been endorsed by all other members of the Winter Garden City Commission.

Since her loss three years ago, she said, she has been active with civic groups, including The Bloom & Grow Garden Society and the West Orange Chamber of Commerce. She also has served on the Architectural Review and Historic Reservation Board.

In March, she pledged support for “controlled growth” in the city where the population now exceeds 50,000.

“I feel we’re at a pivotal point in time in the city where we can either take it to the wrong side or continue the positive growth we have had,” she said in an interview last month. “We cannot completely stop growth.”Jones has worked in real estate and co-owns with her brothers several family businesses, including Empire Finish Systems, which provides construction framing, drywall and exterior work for housing.

Mueller, 59, has embraced the board’s disdain for him, casting himself as the commission’s “independent voice, ensuring oversight and accountability.” He said he hasn’t missed a meeting in three years and is not afraid to speak his mind.

“I’ve done my job and I think I’ve done it extraordinarily well,” Mueller said.

A Navy veteran who served aboard a nuclear submarine, Mueller worked 15 years in cyber security for Wells Fargo and most recently in enterprise technology for the Walt Disney Company. His re-election website, www.ronmueller.org, lists the commission’s accomplishments since he became a member, including stopping a proposed turnpike interchange at Avalon Road.

Both Jones and Mueller want voters to study their records and judge for themselves who is the better choice.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com