All six candidates for Vero Beach City Council accepted Inside Vero’s offer to publish guest columns.  Read the full text of each guest column.

Tracy Carroll

Through 3 elections, 2 referendums, and 1 survey of rate payers, the City of Vero Beach voters have overwhelmingly expressed their support for the sale of the city’s electric system, to the only interested party – FP&L. Throughout this process, I have continued my efforts to bring substantially lower electric rates to our families and businesses. I have spent countless hours in meetings over the last three years with the result of a contract providing significant rate savings to each and every City utility customer: residential, business, school and hospital. Unlike others running for office, I have NEVER wavered on the Electric Sale during any vote since first taking office nearly three years ago. I will not allow the nay-sayer/no-seller handful in our community from dissuading me to be, in this election, the SOLE vote for the SALE.

I have spearheaded resolutions based on our Country’s mandate of strict separation of church and state, and we have adopted rules for proclamations and prayers during Council meetings. Each individual and family may practice as they choose, but now, at City Hall, all are treated equally under our Codes.

I have represented the families and businesses of our City with energy, conviction, thoughtfulness and dedication over these past three years.  Each family and business has a choice, when deciding to move into Indian River County, to accept the Code of Ordinances of a municipality, or move to the County.  Our Code should be clear to all, and should be changed or modified as the public voices are heard, when these modifications fall within State law. Based on communications from many homeowners about short-term rentals, I will commit to working with our City Manager to craft new Codes for business and residents that meet all laws, allow property and neighborhood rights, and continue “Keeping Vero – Vero!”

As the only owner of a Vero-beach business on the City Council, I pay many taxes – a City business tax license, the County tourism tax, and property and sales taxes to both. I have taken great care through the last three cycles of budget hearings to stand by all property owners with the goal of lowering taxes, by decreasing City staffing, while continuing to provide for the important services we expect from our beautiful City. I hope to improve economic development by sustaining the Airport Enterprise Zone, through representation on the County Tourism Board, and working closely our historic Downtown Business Improvement District.

I will continue to represent our City throughout our region, through my voluntary membership in the Chamber of Commerce, on the IRC Metropolitan Planning Board, the Treasure Coast Council of Local Governments, and my newly appointed position as the sole Treasure Coast representative in Class XXXII of Leadership Florida. You can find me volunteering with Rotary projects, at my teenager’s school, or with Republican activities in our community. My door is open, please call me at City Hall to discuss issues of importance to you!

Amelia Graves

There are lost of labels in politics, but if I had to pick a label for myself in this election it would be Conservationist.  A conservationist advocates or acts for the protection and preservation of the environment. Well, my environment is Vero Beach and I am acting to preserve it by running for City Council. As a fifth generation resident of Vero Beach more of my family has been born, married, resided, and buried here than anywhere else on earth.  My heritage and Vero are intimately linked, this is a love affair that runs deep, and I want to preserve my hometown for generations to come.

Being born in Vero Beach there are distinct values you are raised with and see mirrored back by the town; at our core is a sense of community.  Vero Beach is a town of neighbors. I remember shopping at Alma Lee’s dress shop for Easter or ordering my new uniform for Girl Scouts. Getting my ballet shoes at Scott’s Sporting Goods. These businesses invested not only in their customers, but also in the community. Often times they knew what you needed before you asked, they took the time to know you.  I want to conserve this sense of community and keep Vero a place where small businesses prosper and their customers count on them.

Admittedly, growing up in Vero sent me out into the world slightly naïve, due to the security I felt on our streets, parks, and neighborhoods.  Thanks in no small part to the Vero Beach Police Department. If you check the news lately you cannot help but be reminded of the high caliber of our Police Department. These officers put the safety of our community above all else. From officers like Sean Toole receiving a life saving award for the sixth time, to Captain Keith Touchberry becoming the Chief of Police for Fellsmere. I want to conserve this resource. As a community we will not retain these fantastic men and women if we do not offer upward mobility to our officers.

Field trips and summers meant days at the beach or the river; we are privileged to have the Indian River Lagoon in our back yard. The Lagoon is an economic driver of our community and we must act now to ensure that we remain a world-class tourist destination and protect property values. No surprise, the citizens of Vero Beach are coming together right now to work on conserving this resource.  The City needs to lead by example in protecting our Lagoon and follow best practices like others in the community, such as the Golf Course at the Vero Beach Country Club. They have set a high standard for the way they maintain their greens to lessen the impact on the Lagoon.  Or Paul Dritenbas who has worked tirelessly to protect some of the remaining healthy seagrass in the Lagoon.

Vero Beach requires a council that understands Vero’s values and will conserve our quality of life when planning the City budget, such as maintaining Crestlawn Cemetery and the City’s dog park.  Vero must be judicious in outsourcing contracts for City work. Our tax dollars should not be leaving the City to be spent in other towns or counties. Every effort should be made to keep Vero tax dollars local to be spent in Vero Beach

The nostalgia for growing up in Vero does not have to be a by gone era. We can keep our most important traditions alive while moving into the future and improving upon the past, if we remember our core values as a community.  Lately, certain members of City Council have forgotten their job description and have displayed a lack of respect for our community and its citizens. This disregard for the legacy with which they have been entrusted to protect should stir a call to action in every resident who calls Vero Beach home.  It is time for a change.

So, I am asking the community to come together as stakeholders and determine Vero’s trajectory. Our future can be prosperous while celebrating our traditions, but it requires leaders who are accountable to the neighbors and community that elected them to office. Vero is my home, it is my past, it is my present, and I hope it will be my future. Please join me as a fellow conservationist and protect something so near and dear to our hearts by voting for me, Amelia Graves for Vero Beach City Council.

Joseph Guffanti

Brian Heady

All I want is your second vote. Inside Vero has asked for a 700 word submittal. I don’t need 700 words to say Vero Beach is in trouble. The list of issues is long. And residents who pay high electric bills have had enough. The millions spent on lawyers is ridiculous. And we have a current City Council incapable of fixing anything.  If you want to know what kind of councilman I will be read the book by Kris O’Brian Liars Cheats & Thieves …. A Story of a Florida municipal electric provider, and electrifying choices.   If you can’t find a copy at a local outlet or the Vero Beach public library call me. 696-4242.  I’ll get a copy to you. After you read the book you will understand.  All I need to make a difference is your second vote.

Warren Winchester

Standing for public office is no easy decision to make and is one that should never be made without a full and careful review and analysis.  Having just this week made the decision to again stand for public office, I had to look at my motivation and the obstacles one faces. I last served in the late 1990s and many people will quickly say “we have heard his version of Vero Beach”. Many voters who will wonder, “what is he up to now?”

The truth is, Council has made a decision to sell our full electric assets to FPL. Many people will not understand why I object. It is simple, there has been no independent judgment of  it’s value. I have tried to look carefully at what the “sell” component of the council are telling us. I think they have taken a minute spot in time and said “SELL”. I do not think they have understood that selling is really the end of an era, and the end of Vero Beach being an independent, low tax city.

Most of our citizens don’t realize that selling the Electric Utility will result in significantly higher taxes on your homes. The bottom line is that government as we have enjoyed it these many years, costs money, lots of it. I’d have a lot less skepticism if we had a full review of our community and the things we like for our city to stand for. We have not done that review.

Selling to FPL places us under the thumb of a public company and under a non-elected board, many of whom have never been to Vero Beach and have no exposure to our special “little city by the sea”.  Electricity is not cheap now and shifting to a position in which we have no control over our future is foolhardy. One needs only to look Glenn Heran and his political action committee. FPL funded him big time and he has more money at his fingertips than not all candidates will be able to raise. Odds are that Heran will fund those who say “sell”, for many thousands of dollars.

The people of Vero Beach through a couple of referenda, have agreed with that position. I’d have no argument if it were a TRUE arms length decision. It is not, and never will be, if we continue to elect the same people to office. I’d have no problem with a decision to “SELL” if it were handled in accordance with Florida statutes that govern the value of a commodity. What we have before us is a back room deal negotiated without full public disclosure and input. If we could clearly state that we are getting the “best deal possible” then OK, but we are not. We have foolishly refused to let other entities bid on the value. The current Council has refused to do that.

We have paid the current attorneys over $1,500,000 to present the case for Vero Beach to vacate agreements we made with over 20 other cities from Key West to Jacksonville Beach.

Breaking those agreements makes us the pariah of the entire state, and such action is going to result in other lengthy and costly lawsuits.

The citizens of Vero Beach have the option: sell at Fire Sale prices, or buckle down and ask those who represent you to open the process to all interested parties. If you doubt how my opponents will finance their election, you need merely look to at where they get their money.  FPL puppets are not in the best interest of Vero Beach.

Richard Winger

What does “Keep Our Vero Vero” Mean?

It means nothing less than Vero Beach aspiring “to be what it always has been…, but with the advantages and conveniences of the future.[i]”

And what has it always been?

It is a place:

• where the best of ‘old Florida’ is nurtured;
• filled with community pride, but not boastful or arrogant;
• with well-kept private property and public land;
• where people work together on issues;
• that embraces a respect for the natural environment and its history;
• where you can ‘fall in love’ on your first visit and, ultimately, make your home;
• That does not succumb to trends, but establishes its own image.

Our predecessors had the vision to mold today’s Vero Beach.  So, we have a superior environment, with 17 manicured parks, prompt police, full-service beaches with clean rest rooms, twice weekly garbage pick-up, recreation for our children, and so much more.   We have Memorial Island to remember our veterans, plus a self-funding cemetery where many of our visionaries rest.

I do not agree with those that say Vero Beach has to become more like our neighboring cities in the south of Florida.   There is no economic need now, nor will there be after the sale of the electric utility.  I, among others, have the solutions; They are predicated upon using the cash now employed in our utility to resolve our employee benefit deficits and continuing to restructure the City organization.   There is no need now, or in the future, to give up what makes us special.

What we also have now, and always have had, is a paradise for developers who are willing and able to contribute to building a community that continues to embody the spirit that is Vero Beach.  The question is, what kind of development will we embrace and support going forward?  It certainly is not the urbanization of so many cities in Florida.   Rather, it should be built upon extending what our predecessors wanted; so that the “little paradise” we have come to enjoy, is here for those that follow us.

Vero Beach will still change with time. It will continue to mature as a community, and be influenced by outside actions. But, its inherent qualities and values can be kept prominent, as long as those citizens who believe in this special place work together in a proactive manner, and as long as we insist on keeping and improving what we have.  Vero Beach needs to be cared for like a precious jewel, with diligent care, respect, and responsible action.

Please vote in November and make it clear that you want to keep and improve all that makes this place special.