Let me tell you why I love this town.
I’ve lived here 35 years, all of my adult life. I have seen a lot of change like many of you. but for all the things we can complain about… traffic, lines at Publix, busy restaurants, etc… at heart we are still a “small town”. My younger son recently started driving, he doesn’t like it much, but he does it.
Recently he was on his way to work at Home Depot. He was approaching the light at Sombrero and it turned yellow. He started slowing down but not soon enough. As the light turned red, he was not slow enough to stop and went through it slowly. One of our local sheriff officers witnessed the whole thing. He pulled him over. But he didn’t give him a ticket or call the drug dog. Seeing that my son didn’t have much driving experience, he talked to him. He explained how he should approach a traffic light and used the traffic stop as teaching moment. This touches me. That is the kind of place I want to live.
So how did I get here today? I served on the City council for 8 years, I was Mayor, and Vice Mayor twice. I was given a distinguished award by a state agency of “Hometown Hero” for the charge I led for home rule for Marathon. Since then I’ve been on the planning commission for the last 3 years where I continue to look out for Marathon’s best interests and have a say in our future. – Some people ask me why I decided to run for Council again.
The truth is I really hadn’t planned on it. I have given 11 years to our city in public service. But I have been asked repeatedly to go back and continue bringing common sense solutions to the issues that come up. We have a good Council, the only thing missing is experience.
That’s where I come in. When I was on Council we accomplished a lot of good things. I took the lead on establishing the fire academy program where our high school kids can get certified to be firefighters and EMTs and have a job with our city straight out of high school, keeping families together and hiring LOCAL. I led the charge to institute holiday camps for parents to have a place to bring their kids during school holidays so they can continue to work which helps our local businesses.
I was a leader on bringing the city attorney in house which saved Marathon hundreds of thousands of dollars. And of course, being a part of putting over 800 affordable housing units online in the city. Marathon has issues like a lot of other places. As your representative on the council my priority is quality of life for Marathon residents. Which includes the ongoing housing problem, vacation rental enforcement and of course environmental concerns.
Growth is OK, Growth is inevitable, but growth must be managed responsibly and I know how to do that. Why vote for me? Experience. Having served the city for 11 years I understand the issues and have the institutional knowledge to address them. I am not afraid to hold people accountable. There is no learning curve with me. I can hit the ground running. And on day 1 I will be introducing a customer service policy that will change the way city staff treats the residents.
There will be no more THEM VS. US
Having been there, done that, and standing up for our residents (sometimes standing alone, and that happens) I’ll never back down from doing what’s right.
It’s about bringing SOLUTIONS, NOT Just complaining about the problems. To put it simply, experience, integrity and commitment. That’s why you should vote for me. If you have any questions and want to know the truth, Not what you hear around town, Just ask! I’m an open book.
Most people know me or where to find me. I’m usually at my store next to Frank’s grill where I’m celebrating 20 years in business.