Warm Mineral Springs supporters picket outside North Port City Hall in December. (Herald-Tribune archive / 2013 / Dale White)
NORTH PORT — In Sarasota County’s largest and fastest growing city, there is broad consensus that economic growth is key to the city’s future, that the county’s youngest workers need high-paying jobs and that changes must be made at Warm Mineral Springs.
How best to address those issues has sparked one of the most competitive City Commission elections in years, with nine candidates vying for two open seats.
Commissioners are often divided about the city’s direction, resulting in 3-2 votes and acrimonious relations on the dias.
VOTER GUIDE: Click here for candidate bios and Q&A's
Jack Colligan, Jacqueline Moore and Lorenzo Whitehead are running for Seat 4. The incumbent, Mayor James Blucher, has served the maximum of two consecutive four-year terms and cannot seek re-election.
The candidates do not have previous political experience, and believe now is the right time to seek office. Each candidate cites an ability to be a calm influence.
Colligan, after being a city or county employee for more than 26 years, said he knows the problems the city faces and wants to give back, using his skills at budgeting and handling contracts. He predicted that he could be a stabilizing influence on the commission.
Moore said there are opportunities to build trust between government and citizens. The city is in a time of transition, needing a plan and shared vision. She said she knows how to build relationships and can use her life and business experience to serve the city.
Whitehead, a former Air Force Reservist, said he sensed a call to duty as he watched the last two commissions struggling to set an example and lead with credibility and caring. He said citizens should answer the call when their community needs them.
Here are the candidates’ stances on a few key issues:
Warm Mineral Springs
The city and Sarasota County became partners when each paid $2.75 million to buy Warm Mineral Springs in 2010. The two governments disagreed on a long-term plan for the swimming attraction, and the county has offered to sell its interest to the city. Negotiations are continuing.
Jack Colligan
• Colligan: There should be some development, but the city needs to protect the habitat and the springs. Commissioners need to keep the attraction open short-term while deciding its long-term fate.
Taxpayers should have been consulted about decisions concerning the site’s purchase, he said. “I would’ve been happier if the people had had a say in it.”
Marketed properly, the springs could be a good economic driver with a small hotel, a medical plaza and amenities for people seeking health therapies.
Jacqueline Moore
• Moore: Assuming the city becomes sole owner, the focus needs to be on the need for a plan and getting broad-based engagement and support for the plan.
The springs needs to remain under public ownership. Remove the current buildings, move back development from the water and embrace a modest focus on wellness.
“Development and preservation absolutely can work hand in hand,” she said.
Lorenzo Whitehead
• Whitehead: The springs should be preserved, and the city should seek to create a balance between economic development and a park setting. If anything is to be built there, it should be a historic museum or welcome center.
A fiscal plan focusing on how much money the springs makes each month, and how soon the city’s investment can be recouped, must be public.
He envisions development on Ortiz Boulevard, off springs property, to include a walkable neighborhood of shops and residences. Hotels and heavy development should remainon U.S. 41.
Economic development
North Port is the largest city in Sarasota County, with a land mass of 104 square miles and population of nearly 60,000. The average age is 40. Government and business leaders know they need to lure industries to the area to provide high-paying jobs. Workers must learn the skills to fill the new positions.
• Colligan: North Port is an attractive area for businesses with its easy access to Interstate 75. The city must continue to expand the reach of water and sewer lines to accommodate businesses and residents. In a couple of years, the Sarasota County Technical Institute campus in North Port will train people to work at skilled jobs.
The housing market is coming back, and there are still foreclosures available. Perhaps the moratorium on impact fees should be lifted; in the past, the costs were put on the developers.
There needs to be more collaboration with the county.
“Why are we banging heads?” he asked.
• Moore: The city needs to attract employers providing quality jobs and be less dependent on construction and tourism with a goal of people living and working in North Port; 80 percent of the workforce travels out of the city to a job.
North Port has the land and the workforce; it just needs educational, technical and light industrial businesses.
The city’s comprehensive plan already defined activity centers for development, and, with a sense of urgency, a collegial commission can help create an inviting environment for businesses.
• Whitehead: “To start it, we have to revise the unified land development code and learn why it’s turning businesses away,” he said.
Make the necessary revisions to update the outdated and complicated process.
To help pay for growth, he said, bring back impact fees gradually.
“Right now, we have an all or nothing mentality,” he said.
Efficient policies will attract businesses that will offer high-paying jobs. Make properties “shovel-ready” in the city’s planned activity centers to help bring industries to North Port.
Districts
In the 2012 general election, 57 percent of North Port voters decided to amend the city charter and divide the city into five geographic districts, with one commissioner elected from each. The deadline to submit the plan to Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections is Dec. 31. In May, commissioners voted 3-2 to ask voters to repeal that amendment so the five commissioners who can live in any part of the city. The question is on the ballot.
• Colligan: He is not in favor of districting because of the possibility of a lack of qualified candidates. Commissioners need to worry about the entire city, not just a portion of the population.
• Moore: While she does not see a need at this time in the city’s growth to change to a district form of electing commissioners, Moore said the decision to place the issue on the ballot again seems dismissive of the voters’ wishes in 2012.
• Whitehead: The Charter Review Board recommended districting and commissioners put it on the 2012 ballot for voters to decide. Learning that the change could cost millions, they are rethinking the issue. The process will divide North Port, which doesn’t meet the criteria of a city that is ready to be districted. North Port is very diverse in every neighborhood, and it is good that citizens can approach all commissioners with concerns.
Commissioners can serve a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms; the seats are nonpartisan.
If any candidate receives 50 percent of the votes cast plus one in the primary election Aug. 26, the candidate wins the seat. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the votes, the two with the most votes will advance to the general election on Nov. 4.
Commissioners assume their position the first meeting after the election.
The five commissioners, who receive $29,172.12 a year, decide who will be mayor and vice mayor for a one-year term. The mayoral post pays an additional $1,200.
