I Changed My Mind, Because I Haven't Changed My Mind.

My interest in the Village, which is my home, is that it be "the Best [it] Can Be."  I have always strived for that.  I have done what I could to contribute to that interest before it ever occurred to me to try to be a Commissioner.  I moved here in the middle of 2005, and I have been on one Board or another, continuously, since Kelly Mallette first appointed me.  My motto when I ran for Commission was "For the Best We Can Be," and I have a sign that says so in front of me at all Commission meetings.  I participate in everything, and I contribute to everything.

"For the Best We Can Be" is what I believe in, it's what I pursue, and I have not changed my mind about it.  Whether it was solid waste management here, the Codes, annexation, or our new construction and renovation, my guiding principle was whatever I thought was best for the Village, our Village, our home.  I won't claim always to have been right, and I certainly didn't always win, but I will claim always to have had the best interests of the Village centrally and fundamentally at heart.

I've been on the Commission for over 2 1/2 years.  It's a difficult task and a big responsibility.  There are impossible balancing challenges, like balancing what some Village residents want against what other Village residents want, or what some want against what I conclude is best for the Village overall.  There are also people who want nothing, so they can always complain and criticize, no matter what is done or not done, or people who give themselves the job of complaining, without accepting real responsibility.   Their version of responsibility is telling Commissioners what to do, but if what they want done is wrong, it is not they who are held accountable.

In addition, I have drawbacks when it comes to elected office.  I'm not very tolerant of what I consider unreasonableness.  Or obstruction.  Or people whose main interest is themselves.  I tend not to be very diplomatic.

So I decided that after one short term as a Commissioner, I had had enough.  And frankly, I suspected a number of my neighbors, based on their outwardly expressed reactions to me, had had enough of me, too.

I wouldn't call my time in office a failure.  In a number of ways, I would even say it was a great success.   The first huge trouble to which I contributed was the decision to outsource sanitation.  I had previously said I was opposed, but once I had a better chance to learn more about our "in house" management of this function, and what the outsource advantages would be, I changed my mind.  The worst anyone could ultimately say-- worse, for example, than saying the contractor we chose was worse than some other contractor-- is that we might come to feel that as problematic as running our own program is, it's better than outsourcing.  And if someone ever really did come to feel that way, it would be a confident conclusion, because we actually tried outsourcing.

The other big trouble to which I contributed was the culmination of some years of trying to get funding support to renovate our log cabin, and construct a proper Village Hall for our actual administrative functioning.  I claim no credit at all for the hard work that was done to get all that to happen.  It was all Roxy Ross, David Coviello, Ana Garcia, and Heidi Siegel.  And the fact that Rick Scott was suddenly willing to release a lot of State money, which he figured he could use to buy himself a few votes down in Biscayne Park.  But I agreed with every step along the way.  Well, I didn't exactly fully agree.  I wanted to save money on various angles of the project.  But I got outvoted by my Commission colleagues, and I'm really not complaining much.  The results are spectacular, and they will gracefully and wonderfully serve and represent the Village for very many decades to come.

And this is important to me, since I'm a fierce advocate for the life and well-being of the Village.  That goal, like "For the Best We Can Be," doesn't change.  Whether it's good Codes, good fixtures, or good neighbors, if it's good for the Village, I want it.  If I think public art is good for communities, and especially for the Village, I'm behind it.  MLK Days of Service?  Without question.  And if the Village's fiscal foundation is weak, I want it strengthened.  If we need more money, so we can serve ourselves properly, then I think we should raise our taxes.  If we can't or won't do that, then I think we should broaden our revenue base, and do what almost every other municipality in the country does: have a commercial component.  My time on the Commission included all of those kinds of efforts.  I/we didn't always win, but I'm proud of the effort.  It came from the right place.

I decided not to try to spend more time on the Commission.  It can be torturous, and I might not have the right temperament.  So I figured I'd leave it to someone else.  I said so repeatedly.  And publicly.

On August 15, anyone interested could declare candidacy.  One person did.  By August 25, two people had declared.  (There are three seats coming available.)  It wasn't until the end of the day on August 26 that a third person declared.  And the last day to declare is today, August 30.  Today, two more Village residents declared their candidacies.  Unless there's something someone hasn't told me, it appears none of the three incumbents is running for re-election.  One of them told us publicly five years ago, at the start of her term, that she never really wanted to run anyway, and the only reason she did run was that her then (maybe still) mentor ordered her to run, if she couldn't find someone to run in her place.  At least one of the new candidates (maybe two of them) appear to be her stand-ins.  Another new candidate this year ran three years ago, but she had to withdraw, because of serious illness in her family.  Now, she's back.  It's the first time for the other two, one of whom might or might not have lived here for a year, which is the requirement.

In the most superficial way, this solves our problem.  At least numerically.  We have three open seats, and five candidates.  That leaves us with a full Commission.  But for me, there is still a problem.  In view of the fact that my vision for the Village hasn't changed, I do concern myself with whether the prospective new Commissioners best represent the satisfaction of that vision.  And I have to say, it's not completely clear to me that all of them, or at least three of them, do.

So since I haven't changed my mind about the Village, and "The Best It Can Be," then I have to change my mind about not running.  See you at the polls.