COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

When Vero Beach voters go to the polls Nov. 4, they will have an opportunity to elect a candidate who could well become one of the most thoughtful, reasoned, deliberative council members to serve the city in decades.

Drawing an analogy from his avocation as an archeologist, Randy Old, who chairs the Vero Man project as well as an archeological group in Jordan, explained to members of the Taxpayers Association this week that he has worked to better understand the issues facing the City by first gathering as much information as possible.

Old has twice meet with representatives of Florida Power & Light, traveling to Orlando to meet with leaders of the Florida Municipal Power Agency and with executives of the Orlando Utilities Commission. He has read every available document related to the electric sale dating back to 1979.

Old sat through all five days of recent budget workshops, has met numerous times with City Manager Jim O’Connor and Finance Director Cindy Lawson. He has also met with every department head in the City. Perhaps with the exception of Vice Mayor Jay Kramer, no one in the seven-candidate field understands the City’s budget and its financial challenges as well as Old.

To build bridges and to better understand what people are thinking, Old has reached out to representatives of the disparate groups and factions within the Vero Beach. Seemingly, there is no one he would not be willing to meet with to better understand the differing views held by the City’s varied and now divided constituencies.

Old’s rational, dispassionate, analytical approach to decision making and problem solving, coupled with his gentlemanly, unassuming and self-deprecating nature and calm temperament, may leave more strident partisans wondering if he has enough fire in his belly. Those who read Old that way are confusing motion with progress, and they are mistaking pro-sale passion with purposeful persistence.

In the case of the electric sale, for example, pro-sale partisans dismiss Old because he will not pretend the City can get out of its FMPA contracts simply by insisting on having its way. What they are missing is the fact that Old’s approach to seeking win-win solutions is far more likely to lead to a successful conclusion of the power sale and any cavalry charge the so-called pro-sale candidates would mount.

At least two of Old’s answers given at recent candidate forums are revealing of his balanced, nearly agenda-free approaching to understanding the very complex issues facing the City.

When asked what he would do differently from previous City Councils to conclude the power sale, Old did not pander to the largely pro-sale crowd, but instead offered an honest, thoughtful answer. Old explained, “I don’t see a way through it. I don’t see an answer to it.  It has got to be an expert that finds their way through this.  Suing is not going to do it.  What happens when you sue, and I have been through many, many, many lawsuits, is that you end up with some people saying not, ‘no,’ but,  ‘hell no, I’m not going to deal with you.’”

“I think you’ve got to back up and start again,” he added.  “This is a very tricky situation and I don’t see any way through it right now, but I am not against trying hard to do that.”

Answering the question, “Do you feel the City is in a healthy financial position?,” Old followed two candidates who drew applause after claiming the sky is falling in on Vero Beach. Old, an experienced banking executive, put the issue in perspective.

“If we address the financial condition of the City now, it’s got an A+ credit rating, and I think that’s a very good credit rating for the City. A lot of cities are not as strong as we are.

“If you look over the last number of years, we have had a decline in property values of about 30 percent. We’ve had declining revenues, and we’ve managed it very well by cutting expenses, by reducing our staffing from about 543 to 390. We’ve done a very good job, and we have not raised taxes. In fact, the millage rate has gone down 10 percent.

“I went through the budget process for five days. People did a really good job of managing and sticking to the budget and watching each department. I think the City is managed very well financially, and is in good financial shape.

“Yes, we have these benefits that are an issue. Healthcare is definitely an issue and we have to address it. We are addressing it according to code right now. We are paying as we go, and that’s good. We would love to be able to fund it, (to fully fund the currently unfunded post employment benefit liabilities), but in the kind of a situation that we are in right now we can’t fund it. But we are being very responsible. We are doing a very good job.”

Hidden agendas, simplistic solutions to complex problems, a limited grasp of relevant fact, narrow mindedness, and a refusal to understand differing views have for too long weakened the effectiveness of the City Council.

For Vero Beach voters who want to see a return to civility and, just as importantly, a return to rational decision making, Randy Old is a hopeful, refreshing alternative.