Commotion event pits candidates from boards
Two hours of political viewpoints filled the room in Council Chambers at Town Hall during Commotion by the Ocean Thursday evening. Sponsored by the Legislative Committee of the Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, the forum involved candidates for the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District Board of Commissioners and Lee County Board of County Commissioners.
BOCC hopefuls Carla Johnston (District seat #1), John Manning (District seat #1), Debbie Jordan (District seat #2), Tammy Hall (District seat #4) and Debbie Jackow (District seat #4) offered opening and closing comments and responded to questions by members of the chamber panel in the first of two parts of the forum. FMB Fire Board hopefuls followed with the same format.
Here is a capsule look at the opening statements, some Beach-related questions and answers and the closing comments for each candidate.
BOCC
1. Opening statements
– Johnston – “This is a difficult time for everybody. Because our times are changing, we need to change the way we are governing. I’ve been the mayor of Sanibel, chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization transportation policy board and LPA, analyst for a county-size budget for the transit authority in Massachusetts and funding coordinator for a city. I’m interested in lean government.”
– Manning – “I’ve had the privilege of serving the people of Lee County on two different occasions -first as a Cape Coral City Councilman for two terms and also a Lee County Commissioner for three terms (1988-2000). I’m past president of the Florida Association of Counties and was involved with the National Association of Counties under finance and taxation committee.”
– Jordan – “I am the president of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association whose members employ over a 100,000 people in our tourism industry. I am also very active in our community with non-profits. I’m the chairman of the River and Blues Festival, which is a volunteer organization that feeds the community and a member of the Kiwanis.”
– Hall – “We have a very unique community. It is a privilege and an honor to serve you as your county commissioner. We need to continue to engage our five cities. We have a wonderful working relationship working with the Town of Fort Myers Beach. Beach re-nourishment on the north side of the pier will begin soon. I look forward to continuing to work with your city council and your mayor.”
– Jackow – “For almost the whole time I’ve lived here (35 years), I’ve been trying to maintain our community as a rural and agricultural place to prevent sprawl and spot zoning. I work at Lee Memorial Health Systems as a clinical lab scientist. The Beach brings back fond memories to me, because I had played in a bell choir in a festival at a church down the street. I want to put people first.”
2. Questions
a) Would you like to see a trolley-only lane on San Carlos Boulevard, and what would you do to either make it happen or to stop it from happening?
– Manning – “We’ve learned of a preliminary study that has been conducted, and we are in the process of absorbing that study. We have to make sure certain people have the ingress and egress from residences and businesses. I personally think it’s a very valuable situation.”
– Jordan – “I definitely believe we need a trolley service here. I use to work on the Beach and would have to leave two hours earlier to make it here on time. I think it would be great not only for us, but for emergency. There is nowhere for these fire trucks and ambulances to go.”
– Hall – “The study shows that the trolley lane has a lot of advantages, but we have to make sure the condominiums and businesses have a ingress and an egress. We need to make sure that people can get to and from the Beach in a timely fashion. I completely support the trolley system we have here.”
– Jackow – “I also support the trolley system. I’ve seen the study, and they are considering sending a lane down Estero Boulevard. It seems impossible for them to widen the roads here. I would be interested in looking at how to do that. I feel sorry for people who live here and have to get to work.”
– Johnston – “I, too, support the trolley. It is possible to find solutions. I’ve seen outstanding work from people who do transportation and land-use planning with communities which have similar problems to this. I would look at the study, the ingress and egress issues and safety issues, and work with the people in the community and experts to try to find a solution to this.”
b) Funny question: What part of a county park would you be and why?
– Jackow – “Historic oak tree that has Spanish Moss hanging off, birds making nests, animals burrowing and providing shade for all who go to park.”
– Johnston – “Bird to nest in one of the trees who would enjoy flying through the park and see how the park changes from day to day.”
– Manning – “Entrance to let everybody in and not stand under the tree while the birds are in the trees.”
– Jordan – “The concession stand to provide food and beverage to have people come, sit down and relax.”
– Hall – “Trail to have the opportunity to have people walk through my path and understand the enjoyment they are having and to have an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful community we call Lee County.”
c) What is your position on the improvements for Estero Boulevard?
– Jackow – “As far as creating frontages for your businesses, I would try very hard to allow small businesses back in. I think it can be done with micro-loans or cutting red tape to try to make this community more whole, so that you wouldn’t have to drive over the bridge to get things.”
– Johnston – “We have to look with the people of the town, the community and the residents at the best possible ways to accommodate both the traffic flow and all modes (trolley, pedestrians, bicycles) for entrance and exit from the businesses and other driveways along the way.”
– Manning – “First thing I would do is restore the Capital Improvement Program back to where it should have been. It slipped two years. I would ask to return the approximately $1.7 million in the 5-year CIP program for Estero Boulevard and start to fund the improvements for transportation and storm water issues.”
– Jordan – “We definitely need to make sure the street is completed. I definitely think there is an issue with water being held on the street, and I would work with this issue to make sure it is taken care of as well as with the traffic situation.’
– Hall – “I agree that we need to bring back into the 5-year CIP. We have a bigger challenge, because we need to do some utility work. That needs to be a partnership with the Beach. There is no sense of fixing the road if we have to tear it up again to deal with the water and sewer issues. We need to look long term at that.”
3. Closing comments
– Jackow – “I want to lower the people’s taxes, and I feel I would be an asset to lower the budget. We also need to concentrate our cities and towns together and refurbish the houses and businesses that have gone to disarray. I believe in increasing mental health and substance abuse services. We need a pharmaceutical data base enacted by the state.”
– Hall – “We are blessed to have the generosity and commitment to our community. We are a global community to work with the five cities we have here, to be able to ensure we have a good economic base, to ensure we have a natural environment and find a balance.”
– Jordan – “I have diligently been the voice of people who cannot speak. I want to continue to do that on a larger spectrum. I know how it is to be diversified, and I know how to make that difference. I will be the voice of the citizens and be able and accessible to you all at any time.”
– Manning – “I am running for the seat I held from 1988 to 2000. I went back to the private sector for the last 10 years working strictly and exclusively with cities and counties throughout the state of Florida helping them with their environment and infrastructure challenges. I have a very unique perspective of what other jurisdictions in the state of Florida are doing.”
– Johnston – “I believe we need this year to be about tomorrow and not yesterday, because we are at a critical turning point in terms of doing what’s necessary and to try to rebuild some prosperity, bring some new jobs and protect what we have. We need to rediscover how many marvelous people there are in the communities of this county, who are really committed to the future and want to find a way out of the mess we are in.”
FMB Fire Board
– Agathen – “I’ve been here approximately five years ago from Wisconsin, joined a group called the Community Emergency Response Team and, in 2007, was asked to run it. I felt I may be able to do some good as a fire commissioner to help get the taxes under control here on the island.”
– Morris – “I came to Fort Myers Beach in 2002, and decided to run for fire commissioner in 2006, because I didn’t like what I was seeing and noticed people didn’t ask questions at meetings. I was elected and am running again to hopefully change the 3-2 votes. It’s time we need to start cutting taxes and do things smarter and not cut service.”
– Harby – “My family moved here in 1946, went through the school systems, joined the Air Force, came back and have been involved in the communities’ activities. I’m past president of Concerned Citizens, Fort Myers Jaycees, and I have held a fire commissioner position for two terms. I see the present direction of leadership of the seated commissioners is not going in the direction that I would like to see it go. When I’m elected, I will make a difference.”
– Schindler – I’ve been here 10 years, and I have no political experience. I have no hidden agenda, no friends or relatives associated with the department. I think that is part of the problems we’ve had before – too many deals going on behind back doors. I’m a certified financial planner who would like to cut the budget.”
a) In this present budget, would you consider closing down one of our fire stations? If so, which one and why?
– Morris – “Before I consider closing a station, I would allow firefighters to go down through attrition during the off-season. To make up the difference in season, I would stack up their overtime so that they can make plenty of money because we would need the extra help.”
– Harby – If the burden fell upon me, my decision would be to close Station #33 along San Carlos Boulevard. The demographics of where we are have changed in the past 1 1/2 years. Iona-MacGregor has a brand new station just down the road. That would be the best solution to a bad situation.”
n Schindler – “We have an administrative building that stands alone. I think, with a little re-modeling, we can move some of the services that are in the administrative building, sell that building and consolidate the resources and move them around to the three different stations. Doing that will save the cost of an entire building for the year. It will have not quite the effect of shutting down a station and have no impact on response to any of the top response times.”
– Agathen – “I’m not for closing any of the stations here on the island because we get back to response times. By closing a station on San Carlos or the south end of the island, you would certainly increase the response times, and you’d have to ask a question of what’s a life worth. We have to look at ways of curbing overtime in order to curb the excessive spending. In today’s market, you will get what the administrative building is worth.”
b) Funny question: What part of a fire truck would you be and why?
– Schindler – “Hose because it gets the work done.”
– Agathen – “Siren to let people know to get out of the way and that we are on our way to help you.”
– Morris – “Driver to make sure the truck gets to where it needs to be.”
– Harby – “Sirens to get our winter visitors off the road and allow our engines and ambulances get by and to our customers.”
c) If elected, what would be your first priority as commissioner?
– Schindler – “I would look at every item on the budget line by line and question each item -start looking where we can take a bite out of it.
– Agathen – “I would look at the basic costs of running a department and sit down to see how the bidding is done. Go to purveyors and say let’s work together. Curb overtime.”
– Morris – “The overall first priority is to cut costs by having more open meetings and workshops and to examine things in the budget as to why do we need a lawyer at every single meeting.”
– Harby – “What is going to have to be done involves a new mentality. And, that is to say that we can’t afford the 31-year veteran fire fighter, so we are going to let you retire. That’ll saves $130,000.”
3. Closing comments
– Schindler – “As a retire lieutenant colonel from the Air Force, I was a commander and operations officer in charge of multi-million dollar budgets. In my second career, as a financial planner, I spent time as a consultant to a major union and have budget experience from the other side. We need budget workshops.”
– Harby – “The only way we can cut cost is to cut how much it costs us to do business. We’ve got to cut some of the 90 percent that’s covered in salaries. Because of their longevity, education and training, that has allowed them to facilitate a high salary. It didn’t matter two years ago, but it matters now since we lost percentages off of our property values.”
– Morris – “A commissioner is all about running a business and doing the budget oversight with a fiscal responsibility. This is what we need from our commissioners. I was a department defense executive for 30 years working with budget, procurement and management administration. When I retired from there, I managed a large community organization and have managed the H&R Block tax office for the Beach. I have the background to do the management, budget and oversight.”
– Agathen – I want to work with the administration and fellow commissioners to control spending. I have previous experience as secretary of a fire department corporation with purchasing fire department equipment, fire department buildings and supplies. As secretary, I was also involved with contract negotiations with neighboring communities. I hope this knowledge will help in serving as your commissioner.”
The Beach chamber panel featured board members Bill Van Duzer, Roxie Smith, Ann Alsop, Ellis Etter, Marguerite Burns, Suzanne Bartels and Andrew Cochrane, the chamber’s 2010 chairman of the board. Questions were asked by Beach Elementary students Ben Faircloth and Lexi Gore as well. FMB Chamber President John Albion was the master of ceremonies for the event.
“I want to thank you for being upfront and genuine about talking about cutting the budget,” said Albion. “That is what this community needs to make the right vote. The one way to say thank you is to get out and vote.”
For other election information, check out the special elections section in this issue.