COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 4- KEN KEECHEL

Former Commissioner Keechel deserves to be returned to the Commission in place of the ideological Chip LaMarca, the board’s lone Republican.

COUNTY QUESTIONS

YES on QUESTIONS 1 and 2  

Question 1 is a no-brainer as it would reauthorize the Childrens Services Council.

Question 2 will prove more difficult for many because the Broward School District has proven untrustworthy with oversight of public money in the recent past. Still the money is sorely needed in one of the nation’s ten-largest largest school systems. We urge a “FOR BONDS” vote.

 MUNICIPAL RACES AND QUESTIONS

CORAL SPRINGS

MAYOR – SKIP CAMPBELL

SEAT 4- HOWARD MELAMED

SEAT 5- JOY CARTER

Former State Senator Skip Campbell will bring a breadth of experience and seriousness to a city whose decline in the last 5-7 years has been on full display for the state to witness. Once one of the great cities to live, work and a raise a family in the state, Coral Springs has become more of a running punchline than anything else. Campbell, Melamed and Carter will help to change the trajectory of the city. Carter has lots of local experience as a community leader and is the most  prepared and qualified person to run for City Commission since 2006.

PLANTATION QUESTION NO. 3 – YES 

Strangely the local Democratic Party has come out in opposition to this common sense ballot measure. Plantation is one of two cities in Broward County (the small municipality of Lighthouse Point is the other) that practices a strong mayor form of government. Thirty of Broward’s thirty-two municipalities have some sort of City Manager-council/commission system in place that ensures the professional operation of the city. Currently in the city of Plantation, the Mayor has an incredible amount of budgetary and hiring authority – authority unparalleled in any other large Broward municipality. Coral Springs is a case-in-point of what happens to a city when the governing body becomes overtly political and petty. Plantation, a city that has lost out on many opportunities recently (similar to Coral Springs in that respect) needs to make this change to ensure a professional future. We strongly urge its passage.