Dear City of Cedar Key Voters: Last Friday, about fifty Cedar Key voters attended a candidate`s forum sponsored by the on-line newspaper, the Cedar Key News at the Lion`s Club. With the exception of Quitman Hodges, all of the candidates hoping to be elected for City Commission seats on Tuesday, May 6th attended. They
answered an array of questions from the audience. During the next few years, the residents of Cedar Key will witness a multitude of changes in our island community. Face it; whether we admit it or not, they`re finding us. Scan the real estate advertisements in the newspapers or in the windows of the island`s five real estate offices, and you`ll wonder if you`re looking at properties on this island or has someone substituted the pricey property listings from another coastal community in south Florida. Two years ago, the City Commissioners enacted a Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) encompassing all city property on the Gulf side of number four bridge. Formation of the CRA was an important long term planning tool for the City`s future. For the next twenty-eight years, the City will retain an increasingly greater portion of the real estate taxes which we previously paid into the Levy County general fund. Rather than go, with hat in hand and ask the Levy County Commissioners for return of a small portion of our tax dollars to maintain the City`s infrastructure, our future City Commissioners, acting in their capacity as the CRA board of directors,will have tax money at their disposal to insure that the future of our City is ours to control. With the inevitable pressures which will come from growth, we need City Commissioners with foresight, patience and good judgment. We need able communicators willing to study the issues before problems become emergencies. They must be able to work well with the City`s residents, the City`s administrative staff and their fellow commissioners. What used to be a once or twice a month glance at the City Commission`s agenda before a meeting is quickly becoming a far more complex assignment. Future City Commissioners will be mapping what Cedar Key will become and making commitments to spend large sums of taxpayer`s money. With this challenge in mind, I listened closely to what the candidates said during their recent forum. In all elections, voters are given a choice of whom they wish to represent them. I left the Lion`s Club with the positive feeling that if we elect Sue Colson and Heath Davis for the two contested City Commission seats, we`ll have made the wisest choice. With her husband, Sue Colson is an active island clam farmer continuing her pioneering efforts of lobbying the state to lease it`s coastal submerged land for aquaculture uses. She`s a registered nurse and mother of three children. Sue`s tireless devotion to water quality issues placed her in the fray to eliminate septic tanks in Suwannee, and that devotion led Governor Bob Martinez to appoint her to the nine member board of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). During her twelve years as a member of the SWRMD board, Sue`s many projects included being Cedar Key`s advocate for the purchase of Atsena Otie Key, championing a grant which facilitated the removal of all septic tanks from Cedar Key and extended a low pressure sewer collection system to every home on the island. She was instrumental in obtaining a series of grants for the construction a surface water management collection system on the island. She identified what needed to be done, and then she quietly or not sometimes so quietly, went about making it happen. Quitman Hodges is a wonderful man with a remarkable history of service to Cedar Key. Mr. Hodges has given many years of wise counsel, but, at this time in the City`s evolution, we need Sue Colson to help us plan our future. We are extremely fortunate to have a woman with Sue`s experience and energy willing to assume the demanding role of a City Commissioner.
Among the three candidates seeking seat #1 on the City Commission, I feel that Heath Davis is the only candidate with a clear sense of the City`s important past and a willingness to invest the time it will require to protect that precious history. Heath is willing to listen to citizen`s opinions, weigh the pros and cons, seek advice from knowledgeable sources, then make an informed decision. During his recent vacation from politics,he remained involved. He attended City Commission meetings, and he kept
abreast of the issues the City will be facing in the years ahead. Unfortunately, I didn`t feel that either Pat Hibbits or Jim Stanfield had the knowledge or the zealous devotion to our City that would make them a better choice than Heath Davis for seat #1. Pat runs a good restaurant, but unfortunately, he has a long history of conflict with our City`s Building
Administrator, Bob Niffenegger. Previously, when Pat served as a City Commissioner, he never seemed able to separate his personal or business problems from his role as a City Commissioner. As recently as a few weeks ago, he was still fighting a losing battle against the City which he began in 1999. I don`t know Jim Stanfield. I`ve never seen him attending City Commission meetings, or at meetings of the Cedar Key Special Water and Sewer District, at CRA meetings or offering advise and asking questions at the Cedar Key Planning Board`s meetings or workshops. He may be a swell fellow, but does he possess the knowledge and zeal to serve our community wiser and better than Heath Davis? If Mr. Stanfield had been involved during the often boring meetings which take place several times each month as our elected officials chart our future, I might be able to better assess his qualifications. But, given Mr. Stanfield`s absence in those mundane chores of public meetings which contribute to a potential City Commissioner`s education, I feel that Heath Davis is our best choice. Whatever you decide, be sure to vote on May 6th. If you can`t be in town to vote personally, be sure to send in your absentee ballot. In a past election, only one vote separated the winner from the loser. Don`t be reading the newspaper the week after the election and wishing you`d taken the time to cast your vote.
Sincerely,
Jeff Dwyer | 