VOTE411 Voter Guide

With over 36 years of military service to our country in the US Army and Florida Army National Guard, I bring a history of service, leadership, and government experience to the position including 5 years of combat leadership as a Green Beret. Additionally, I have built a 28 year career in banking and finance including 3 senior executive positions at large mid-sized banks here in West Florida. This experience with the business community in West Florida provided me with an expertise in business and executive management which will provide a professional approach to our island government. These skills have been hard earned beginning at the lowest ranks and commercial employment to my current position as market executive in Banking and Colonel in the Army Reserves. Outside of my professional work, I have long had a deep respect for our environment and waters here in West Florida. This concern created my interest in this position.

The largest issues facing our island community have been a proposed beachfront parking garage, a consolidation of the island governments and services, and the never-ending stormwater mitigation projects. These issues have been mismanaged historically. I plan to approach each issue with a more cooperative effort with our county and state representatives. These issues should be considered from a financial perspective first, as our island community provides the largest source of income to our county. We need to ensure that we are finding the best use of this income to support our community. With a structured approach to financial responsibility, more focused support to the community, and a respect to our environment, I plan to coordinate with our local governments to provide options that will provide an efficient use of tax payer funds while providing additional options for parking, stormwater planning, and consolidation of services within the island communities.

If I could only change one thing in our city, I would choose a better more cooperative and cohesive working environment between our island governments and services. This would extend to our county and state representatives as well. Holmes Beach needs to be more visible and vocal with our concerns for our community to ensure that the island issues are managed at the correct levels of government with open communication and a longer term strategy for our future. By professionalizing our government, we will be much stronger stewards of our community interests and concerns.

The city consolidation initiative will need to be reviewed and analyzed based on the information provided by the consolidation study ordered by our state legislators. When the report is provided this summer, it should be provided to the island governments to review and provide potential INTERNAL efficiencies that can provide a more cooperative future structure based on financial efficiencies, overall community support impacts, city government initiatives, and overall cooperation between the 3 island city governments. With compromise and cooperation, this consolidation can be managed internally allowing state and county representatives to focus their efforts elsewhere.

I served as City Commissioner of Holmes Beach for 3 terms between 2012 through 2018. I was elected Mayor beginning November 2018 and ran unopposed in 2020 & 2022. As a lifelong resident of the city and a third-generation member of the Holmes Family, for which the city is named, my history on the island plus my 30 years in the construction and development industry has been an asset allowing for the city to prosper under my leadership as Mayor. Our city is renowned as being one of the top 10 small coastal cities to live in and one of the top 5 small coastal cities to visit. My unwavering commitment to preserving quality of life, retaining residents, and being a strong advocate for home rule and the environment will continue to be my goal.

The biggest challenge facing our city is the ability to retain self-governance. 80+ bills benefiting special interests have been signed into law in the past 3 years alone that greatly dilute home rule. Governance at the local level is why people choose to live in small cities. Responsiveness to the needs of the communities is attainable as government closest to the people is more accountable, and effective.

I will continue to be a strong advocate for the protection of home rule and our ability to retain balance in our community through self-governance. Communities should be governed by the people who live in them and is enshrined in Florida’s constitution and is essential to American democracy today.

Holmes Beach is second to none. Coastal cities will be challenged with global warming, rising tides, decline in water quality, and increased strength in hurricanes. We as a community must be resilient. Under my leadership we have made great strides to mitigate against these threats. We strengthened building codes and invested millions in improvements to storm-water infrastructure. Our commitment to elevating roads and sidewalks is notable. I am a strong advocate for the environment. Our clean water initiatives in adding infiltration throughout our city reduces our nitrogen loads in our bays. Our islanders4cleanwater campaign helps educate property owners on necessary steps we can all take to reduce our impacts on the waters.

With much praise to the citizens of MC in making their voices be heard at the primary, I am much less concerned about this threat. Special interests were behind decisions being made at the county level as tourism has contributed billions to our economy. I challenge how much though this has contributed to quality of life. Are our children being forced out of the housing market by the vacation rental industry? Are we spending more time in traffic than quality time at home? Would the potential elimination of our cities be just a casualty of this force? We have a truly incredible city, and with courage & conviction, I will always stand with the community and look forward to a partnership with the new county board and our state leaders.