MediaUpdate

​Boyett is running on his experience

By Chris CurryStaff writer
William Dove Boyett started working for the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections in 2000, an infamous year for Florida elections remembered for disputes over hanging chads on ballots and vote recounts.

Of course, Alachua County avoided the turmoil of that presidential election, thanks in large part to the optical scan voting machines former Supervisor of Elections Beverly Hill purchased leading up to the election. Boyett, who had studied computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was hired that year to help out with those brand-new voting machines. While Alachua County was immune from the ballot problems that plagued other areas of the state, Boyett “got hooked with that exciting first election.”

Boyett, 38, stayed with the office and current Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter promoted him to chief deputy supervisor in 2005.

“In that role for the last 10 years, I’ve worked in all different aspects of the office doing budget development, ballot design and equipment prep for every election, poll worker training, site selection and set up for voting locations, voter registration events overseeing the petition checking process,” Boyett said. “I’m versed in all areas of the office.”

Because of his expertise and experience, Boyett said he has presented several times at Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections conferences on voting technology and was part of the FSASE committee to come up with statewide voter registration standards.

Campaigning, Boyett said he would like to make better use of the office’s new, more spacious North Main Street location. When poll worker training and early voting are not going on, he would like to use a large first-floor community room to put on workshops such as a “so you want to be a candidate forum” that explains the rules governing qualifying for the ballot, financial disclosures and campaign contributions. He also would like to use the space to hold workshops for first-time voters or classes on the process for ex-felons to have their civil rights restored and return to the voter rolls.

Boyett said the office also is “primed to try to expand our early voting opportunities” and reach “the outer edges of the county” by the 2018 election cycle. He said early voting should expand to serve east Gainesville and the eastern part of the county and High Springs and Alachua in the northwest. A few years back, the city of Gainesville used Cone Park as an early voting site for east Gaineville. But Boyett said that specific site did not do well in terms of traffic circulation or voter participation and another location would likely do better.

As for the possibility that a push to move Gainesville elections to the general election cycle might resurface, Boyett said there is “so far not enough groundswell of support to make that happen." He said the office could logistically make the change work with “advanced time and notice” to prepare.

Former Alachua County Assistant Supervisor of Elections Jeannene Mironack is supporting Boyett because of his range of experience and expertise.

“Will Boyett has handled everything in the elections office except outreach,” she said.

Mironack said Boyett “understands all the details” of duties and precincting, voter registration, candidate qualifying, poll worker training, public records, absentee voting and early voting.

Through July 22, Boyett’s campaign had 15 contributions totaling $1,320. Mironack and some coworkers at the Supervisor of Elections Office were among the contributors.

Because all candidates for supervisor of elections are Democrats, the Aug. 30 Democratic primary will be open to all registered voters in the county and will decide the race.

William Dove Boyett

Age: 38

Family: Wife, Sarah, 19 month-old daughter

Education: Studied computer science at Georgia Institute of Technology

Work: Alachua County Chief Deputy Supervisor of Elections

Clements running to bring new blood to office

By Christopher CurryStaff writer
Jeremy Clements says the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office needs new blood and he’s it.

As the lone candidate in the three-way race who does not work in the office, Clements said he would bring new ideas and a fresh, outside perspective.

Clements, 36, has never worked in an elections office before. But he does have an educational background and years of work experience in government administration. He has a political science degree from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in public administration from Florida State University.

While in Tallahassee, he began working as an intern in the office of former Gov. Charlie Crist. Clements eventually became the deputy director of scheduling in Crist’s office of external relations, working out his calendar of daily events and meetings. He then moved to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, where he oversaw a multibillion-dollar program that distributes Federal Emergency Management Administration reimbursements to local communities rebuilding after storms floods or some other natural disaster. Clements said he also oversaw the deployment of division staff to areas hit by natural disasters.

He said he feels those roles gave him more extensive budgeting experience than the other two candidates for supervisor of elections.

Family drew Clements back home from Tallahassee to Alachua County. When his stepfather who raised him, longtime local veterinarian Dr. Stephen Shores, fell ill, he returned to run the family veterinary hospital.

Approximately three years ago, Clements went back in the public government work with Alachua County. He is the agenda coordinator for the County Commission, working with the various departments to put their items on the agenda and briefing the county manager and commissioners about the issues that will come before the matter at a meeting. Clements says his current duties also include working as the coordinator for the county’s advisory boards, a role that includes ensuring those boards’ activities comply with county rules.

He also oversees customer service in the manager’s office.

Clements said he would like to bring an increased focus on customer service to the Supervisor of Elections Office. He feels that too often when voters come to or call the office with a question, they are told only Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter is able to answer their inquiry.

“That’s a big issue to me,” he said. “If you have a well-trained customer-oriented staff, I would like to get to a place where that office, when somebody calls, typically they only have to talk to one person to get an answer.”

As for outreach, he said the office needs to increase the focus on spreading the word about the importance of getting out to vote and the different ways to vote.

Asked about the possibility of a political committee again forming to try to move city of Gainesville elections to the general election cycle and away from the schedule of annual elections in the spring, Clements said he is generally in favor of increasing voter turnout in decreasing taxpayer costs to city voters and officials will have the final say on the schedule for municipal elections. What he thinks is even more important is getting out and talking to people and encouraging them to vote.

Martin Whitley, a former veterans counselor at the Alachua County Office of Veterans Services, is supporting Clements. Whitley said he first worked alongside Clements when the office was hiring a junior veterans service officer and Clements was a “consummate professional” in helping them through the process. He also feels that Clements current roles working with the agenda and advisory boards shows his ability to juggle multiple duties effectively. Whitley also said he thinks Clements would bring “new ideas and experience at a higher level” of government to the office.

Through July 22, Clements’ campaign had brought in 37 contributions totaling a little more than $3,750. Retired Santa Fe College Vice President for Administrative Affairs Guy York and some co-workers from Alachua County have contributed.

The Aug. 30 Democratic primary will decide the race for supervisor of elections. Because all candidates are from one party, the primary will be open to all registered voters in the county.

Jeremy Clements


Age: 36

Family: Wife Rachel, three children ages 2 to 8

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, University of Florida; master’s degree public administration, Florida State University

Work: Agenda coordinator for the Alachua County Commission

Barton: Build on voter outreach, educate candidate

By Christopher Curry Staff writer
Kim Barton first came to Gainesville in 1983 to play on the University of Florida women's basketball team. For the past 23 years, she has been a member of a different team — the staff at the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office.

Now Barton, 53, outreach director at the elections office, wants to lead the team. She is running on a campaign that highlights her experience and pushes outreach and voter turnout.

“I love what I do and I’m just looking forward, if the voters elect me, to bringing more outreach to the county voters,” she said. “We want to reach out to everyone, including non-municipalities, and be inclusive to increase voter participation.”

In a three-way Democratic primary race that will be open to all voters, Barton has the most fundraising support in terms of both the number of campaign contributions and the amount raised.

Through July 22, her campaign had received 246 contributions totaling about $19,000. Alachua County Democratic Party Chairman Cynthia Moore Chestnut and Alachua County Republican Executive Committee Vice Chairman Walt Boyer have contributed. Among other contributors: Alachua County School Board member Leanetta McNealy, Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell, Public Defender Stacy Scott, state Rep. Clovis Watson Jr., Gainesville City Commissioner Charles Goston, Alachua Mayor Gil Coerper, former Alachua County Commissioner Leveda Brown, former School Board member Barbara Sharpe and downtown Gainesville developer Linda McGurn.

Former Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Beverly Hill, who hired Barton, also is a supporter.

“She’s a good person for one thing and she’s totally knowledgeable on how the elections are run, how they should be run, how things go on Election Day,” Hill said. “People with that much experience can come into the job and know exactly what it is.”

Barton came to UF in 1983, following her basketball coach from Oral Roberts University. She graduated in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in advertising.

She worked for several years for the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services — a predecessor to the Florida Department of Children and Families — before Hill hired her 23 years ago.

Today, Barton’s job duties include voter registration, voter education and training, recruitment and training of volunteers and Election Day workers, working as a liaison with outside groups that register voters, marketing and advertising and putting information on the office website.

She wants to boost the office’s presence on social media to reach millennials and first-time voters.

“You have to reach people where they are and where they are is on social media,” she said.

Barton said she would like to see school groups use the office's voting equipment in their student government elections in a “youth to the booth” effort to get them interested in voting.

She also wants to have a presence at meetings of neighborhood organizations, such as crime watch groups, to spread the word about registering to vote and voting. Barton said she would like to launch a vote-by-mail campaign to boost participation among those who can’t get to early voting sites or polls.

Barton also would like to see more early voting sites beyond the three now used in most elections. She favors adding a location in the east Gainesville area, though she notes that the city of Gainesville’s effort to add an early voting site at the Cone Park Branch Library didn't draw many voters. She said officials should eye another location in the area that could also draw voters from Hawthorne and the unincorporated county.

On another city of Gainesville election issue, Barton said if an attempt to move city elections to the general election cycle resurfaces, she would be “willing to consider it,” but the decision would lie with city officials and voters.

Barton also favors increased outreach and education for potential candidates through workshops that could explain to candidates, campaign managers and treasurers election and campaign contribution rules.

Because all candidates for supervisor of elections are Democrats, the Aug. 30 Democratic primary will be open to all registered voters in the county and will decide the race.

Kim Barton

Age: 53

Family: husband, James Barton Jr.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in advertising, University of Florida

Work: Outreach director, Alachua County Supervisor of Elections

​By Christopher Baldwin Staff writer
Paula Roettcher came to Gainesville from Germany four years ago to attend the University of Florida.

And while she says she was fortunate to have found mentors, professors and friends who helped her understand what public services were available to her and how to navigate those services as well as help her get accustomed to the culture and to improve her English, many others in similar situations don’t necessarily have that same experience.

“They do not have those kinds of resources,” said Roettcher, executive director of Welcoming Gainesville, a new nonprofit organization that aims to administer programs, activities and cultural events in order to foster a more inclusive community in Gainesville. “They do not have that kind of assistance every day, and it is so much harder for them to become part of this community, even though they really want to."

An event was held Sunday at the Emmanuel Mennonite Church, where the nonprofit’s office is located, to announce that the group is now up and running.

The event, where both Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe and Alachua County Commissioner Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson spoke, also outlined what the nonprofit plans to accomplish over the next few months.

Richard MacMaster, chairman of the board of directors, was the first to address the crowd, which consisted of about 50 people.

MacMaster gave a brief history of how the program came to be, starting with when he and fellow members of the Gainesville Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice first heard of Welcoming America, the national nonprofit that fosters a movement of inclusive communities across the country.

He went on to explain how through talks with former Gainesville city Commissioner Randy Wells, the idea was first brought to the City Commission in February 2015.

After multiple hearings, the City Commission voted unanimously a year later to declare Gainesville a Welcoming City — the first city in Florida to join the Welcoming America network of cities and counties, of which there are currently 100 participating cities and counties, according to Roettcher.

The county followed suit in June, making Alachua County the second Florida county to be designated. Hillsborough County was the first Florida county to do so.

The City Commission then designated Welcoming Gainesville Inc. to develop programs that would help make Gainesville a more inclusive community for immigrants, refugees and international students.

Mayor Poe told the crowd that while he was not in office throughout much of the process leading to the formation of Welcoming Gainesville, he was watching the development intently because community-building is important to him.

Poe said that as we watch this political season unfurl, it makes those concerned with community building, social justice and a love for fellow human beings feel more challenged than ever.

He went on to explain that he thinks this initiative represents so much of what Gainesville already is — an international community that tries to be welcoming to all those who come from all around the world to study at UF. He added, however, that Gainesville also is a very divided and fragmented community with many not understanding what is taking place in certain pockets of the community.

"We now have that common point of concern and interest where we can come together, we can learn, we can share,” he said. “We can grow as a community amongst one another."

Commissioner Hutchinson agreed with Poe that the program speaks directly to the value of the local community.

Hutchinson went on to explain that the county offers various services, such as its veterans services, where county employees help veterans through government bureaucracy in order to ensure they receive the government services they need.

"I could easily see expanding that into a similar sort of service for people who are seeking citizenship and just need a navigator through the system or to better understand the bureaucracy."

Roettcher explained that in addition to extending resources and services to those in need, she hopes the nonprofit will help the community to celebrate the city's diversity.

"We have an avenue to show the rest of the country what Gainesville is about and that we take pride in the kinds of people who live here."

She then went on to talk about the kinds of programs the nonprofit plans to implement, which will include the following:

Participation in “After Orlando: Managing Fears and Welcoming Diversity,” a panel discussion featuring members of diverse backgrounds who have been affected by the recent mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. The discussion will take place at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 in the Bob Graham Center.

“People on the Move,” a traveling exhibit that will offer insight about migrants, refugees and their needs, which will run from Sept. 14-Oct. 10 as part of Welcoming Week, a celebration of diversity by participating cities.

An interfaith donation drive for refugees in Florida that will be held Sept 23-25.

Participation in United Nations Day, which takes place on Oct. 21.

Participation in the Washington, D.C.-based interfaith group “Jews and Muslims Bike Ride,” a cycling event on Oct. 25 taking place from Orlando to Tallahassee.

Planned activities during the Harn Museum of Art Museum Night on Dec. 8, which will focus on diversity and migration.

Other activities and programs include a traveling story theater that will give foreign-born residents an opportunity to share their migration stories, English classes for parents whose children are enrolled in ESOL programs and the production of a guide that features immigrant-friendly service providers and businesses throughout the county.

While the nonprofit is entrusted with the responsibility to create programs and offer services that give meaning to the city’s declaration of Gainesville as a Welcoming City, Roettcher said she recognizes there are other local organizations that do similar work.

She also said she recognizes it can be difficult to connect those different groups and hopes that Welcoming Gainesville can serve as an umbrella organization to link those groups that have similar goals and missions.

"We have no intention of stealing their thunder or reinventing the wheel," she said. "We would rather act as a platform, as a commonly recognized entity that you can come to as an individual or as an organization because you do this kind of work. And we can connect them with other organizations, expand their efforts or publicize on their behalf.

​It’s time for a change on the Alachua County Commission.

Mike Byerly has been a county commissioner for 16 years. In that time, we’ve agreed with many of his positions on environmental protections and other issues affecting our county.

But Byerly’s narrow focus and inflexible approach have worn thin. He has a set policy to vote against every tax incentive for attracting businesses, for example, before even weighing the benefits.

Byerly’s actions involving the Envision Alachua plan proposed by Plum Creek, now Weyerhaeuser, were inappropriate for a county commissioner. He co-founded a group opposing the plan, refusing to give it fair consideration and rejecting the very idea of compromise.

Many residents are frustrated with the status quo in terms of crumbling roads and a lack of economic opportunity in the eastern parts of the county. They want a commissioner who actively engages the community and addresses residents' concerns, instead of acting like he alone has all the answers.

Kevin Thorpe’s history and approach to community problems suggest he would be that kind of commissioner. The Sun endorses Thorpe and encourages voters to support him in his race against Byerly for the County Commission's District 1 seat.

Thorpe has put in the work needed to better understand the challenges facing our county. He has been on a long list of local boards, from the American Cancer Society to Habitat for Humanity, and directly helps community members through his work as senior pastor of Faith Missionary Baptist Church.

Byerly’s campaign has used an excerpt from one of Thorpe's sermons to portray him as being against LGBT rights. Thorpe said the short clip misrepresented a much longer message about hypocrisy in religion and that he supports protections for LGBT individuals, including the county and city human rights ordinances.

Byerly argues his re-election is necessary to stop the Envision Alachua plan and two other environmental threats: a possible highway in western Alachua County and a phosphate mine in neighboring Bradford and Union counties. Thorpe actually agrees with Byerly on the latter two projects, while rightly pointing out that a county commissioner should have broader concerns than just environmental issues.


Our county's economic disparities deserve renewed attention. The solution should include filling gaps in the social safety net, but also using all of the tools at the disposal of government to attract quality jobs to economically disadvantaged areas.

Thorpe would bring wide-ranging experience to addressing these problems. Starting out as a diesel mechanic while attending college, today he has a growing church and a custom suit business. He has chaired the ACTION Network, a network of churches addressing social and economic issues, and is past board chair of Gainesville HIPPY, an early-education program that trains parents to better prepare their children for school.

Alachua County officials shouldn’t sit idly by as companies such as FedEx bring hundreds of jobs to a neighboring county. Thorpe has shown he would be more willing to work with local educational institutions to attract quality jobs, rather than being hostile to all growth.

Certainly any commissioner must be committed to protecting Alachua County’s environment, especially when the state has shown a disregard for doing so. But when county voters see other problems long being neglected, such as roads, it generates distrust in government that makes it harder to pass the initiatives needed to pay for solutions.

Our county deserves a commissioner who seeks common ground and makes all residents feel respected. We believe Kevin Thorpe's experience and approach make him the right person for the job, and recommend voting for Thorpe in the Aug. 30 election.

​Robert Hutchinson: Improving our county's resilience

Our economy is in an unprecedented state of flux, and most people are struggling to understand and cope with these changes. Economic inequity and insecurity are causing the political realignments we are seeing globally, nationally and in our local community.

Individuals, families and communities differ in their ability to cope with trauma and disaster. Our "resilience" determines whether we recover from adversity, threats and sources of stress. Are we — as a person and as a community — able to thrive despite what is thrown at us? And if not, what can local government do to improve our resilience?

In Alachua County, we are addressing resilience, sometimes at the personal level and sometimes at the community level:

● Our Children's Services Council is coordinating the funding that will help all 0-5 year olds, during their most important years of development, to grow up with high quality, affordable child care, nutrition and safety. This is the single best way to prepare children for success in school, while giving parents the freedom and confidence to pursue a career.

● Our mental health and substance abuse programs are improving significantly. With one-third of jail inmates and two-thirds of homeless persons suffering from mental illness and/or substance abuse, we are already paying for these problems. So we are beginning to recognize that evidence-based treatment, housing assistance and occupational re-training are both necessary and cost-effective. The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, but it is human connections — and this is also the strongest indicator of personal resilience.

● Our water resources are under assault — from us. Despite deliberate obstacles from state government, the county is reducing the impacts on our water quality from stormwater runoff, sewage, ill-considered mining proposals and poorly sited development. We are pushing water conservation into government operations and the community so that flow from our springs and wells will not continue declining. Mother Nature is resilient, but she must not make all the sacrifices.

● Our ability to provide basic shelter is a measure of our community resiliency, whether after a natural disaster or as a result of today's economic disasters. Millennials facing student debt loads and low initial earnings are postponing home ownership. Our elderly don't have enough options in housing or the assistance they may need. We must permit and incentivize a broader range of housing alternatives, such as tiny homes, co-housing, group homes and supportive housing. As the university and the private sector provide more student and staff housing close to campus, suburban apartment complexes are evolving into the affordable housing option, but many of these locations are drawing residents with limited transportation options.

● Our transportation system was not designed to accommodate a growing metropolitan area and is woefully under-funded — we can't afford to maintain what we have, much less make meaningful improvements. Each of the past few years, the county has transferred increasingly large amounts from our general fund into road maintenance, a source of funds that virtually none of our peer local governments have to use. Revenues that previously were dedicated for law enforcement, public safety, community support services and other basic functions of government will increasingly be turned into asphalt unless we come up with a more resilient solution for our community's mobility needs.

Fortunately, we have the smartest community in Florida with involved citizens who truly love this place and are committed to making it better for everybody. I'm not done doing my part, and seek your support for another four years of working on solutions.

For more information, visit www.ReElectHutch.com.

— Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson is seeking re-election as Alachua County commissioner for District 3 in the Aug. 30 election.

Larry McDaniel: A life dedicated to service

I have chosen to seek election as your next District 3 county commissioner for a variety of reasons.

I’m married to Verlinda McDaniel, and we have two children and six grandchildren. We enjoy a unique quality of life due to the diverse people and places in our community.

Raised in Hawthorne by extended family, they planted seeds in my life starting at six months old that bore fruit that was different from the garden that existed in Passaic, New Jersey. In middle school, my aunt, Oria S. Dunlap, required that I assist her with her students at Lake Forest Elementary. I was taught servant leadership. In 2003, I was selected as The Sun’s Person of the Year while serving in Iraq.

I was blessed with the opportunity to grow up in a community that cherishes diversity and welcomes progress. I graduated from P.K. Yonge and played four years of basketball at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina, earning a BS in political science and serving in the Student Senate. I worked in the private sector and was employed with the state of Florida and court services for 30 years. I was awarded for productivity while managing a multi-million-dollar budget, serving thousands.

I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves during my employment. As a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, with 25 years of honorable service, I was nominated for the Bronze Star and was the recipient of two Soldier of the Year awards.

My life has been dedicated to serving our community. I have a record of service that is clear as a Leadership Gainesville graduate and serving on the boards of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, P.K. Yonge, CDS Family and Behavioral Health Services and the American Parole and Probation Association. I have been a past president of the Florida Association of Community Corrections, president emeritus of the African American Accountability Alliance, vice president of the Southern Association of Community Corrections, a founding board member of the Guardian newspaper and president of Focus on Leadership.

I’m running for County Commission for the following reasons.

Leading by inclusion:

· Citizens should have access to elected leaders who seek input from all municipalities, community groups and organizations


· Develop eastern and western municipalities joint planning charrettes on job creation, smart growth management and protecting our environment by conserving our environment and enhancing green spaces

· Listen to the concerns of small municipalities

Governing effectively and efficiently:

· I will support appropriate public safety and first responders' funding including technology and staffing

· Will not support rubber-stamped decisions impacting upward mobility, succession planning and equal opportunity

· Support a competitive process for hiring employees at executive and administrative levels

· Support a fair wage for workers for Alachua County


· Create a balance between environmental interests and business opportunity utilizing smart growth, evidence-based practices

Investing in youth:

· Support parks and recreational activities for our children. Investing in our youth has proven to reduce crime and improve community health

· Empower youth to reach their potential. Train millennials to aspire to replace community leaders on commission-appointed boards and committees

· Citizens deserve the opportunity to earn wages that support their families. We must create an environment where citizens’ voices are not silenced by organized efforts of special interests

Alachua County is a special place. We deserve a commission that works for us, represents us and is accessible to us. Together, we can make Alachua County even stronger. I can assure you that I’ll never forget who my bosses are … you, the citizens. I humbly request your vote to serve you.

— Larry McDaniel is running for Alachua County commissioner, District 3, in the Aug. 30 election.

​We’ve had county commissioners of widely varying abilities over the years. Mike Byerly is one who has consistently impressed me.

My first close observation of him occurred several years ago at a long commission meeting about a controversial zoning variance. He had clearly done extensive research on the pros and cons; he was the only commissioner present who had actually walked the property; he was unfailingly polite to citizens on both sides of the issue; and he gave a concise, detailed, fair-minded, and well-reasoned explanation of his vote. All my observations of him since that meeting have confirmed my first impression.

Also, I don’t think he is guided only by environmental concerns. I think he is committed to the present and future welfare of Alachua County citizens — north, south, east and west. And those are the reasons I keep voting for him.

Deidre Bryan

Gainesville

B​eing a county commissioner was never intended to be a career. It was intended to be a part-time job setting policy for the county. That is why we have a county manager who is well paid to administer the policies set by the commission.

Unfortunately the Legislature enacted legislation many years ago that sets county commissioners’ salaries, based on the population of the county, at a level that makes it desirable to continue to seek re-election. Today an Alachua County commissioner makes $73,561 per year plus health insurance and participation in the state retirement program.

Over the last 16 years Mike Byerly has made a career of being a county commissioner. Byerly’s priority has been the acquisition of open space and environmentally sensitive land. Meanwhile, the roads and infrastructure have deteriorated and are in such disrepair that they are dangerous.

Vote for Kevin Thorpe for County Commission and let’s get the roads and infrastructure repaired.

Richard Tarbox

Gainesville

​Kim A. Barton: Expanding voter education and engagement

By Kim A. Barton Special to The Sun
As a native of Memphis, Tennessee, I came to Gainesville more than three decades ago as a college athlete at Florida as a "Lady Gator" basketball player. It was here that I gained my education and received my bachelor’s degree in advertising from the College of Journalism and Communications.

Thomas Paine said, “Voting is the right upon which all other rights depend.” It is incumbent upon the supervisor of elections to ensure that right is never abridged for voters.

For example, in Alachua County, we have witnessed a consistently low voter turnout during off election years. In an effort to turn around this voting trend, the supervisor of elections must be totally engaged with the entire Alachua County community, including all nine municipalities, 12 months a year. The supervisor of elections must be fair, supportive and helpful to candidates and voters.

For the past 23 years I have served as the outreach director of the supervisor of the elections office where my duties include: voter registration; voter education and training; recruitment and training of volunteers and Election Day workers; developing and implementing the high school voter education and registration program; developing and implementing the Partners in Democracy program with 400 businesses, faith-based organizations, schools, governmental entities, community groups and organizations; implementation and oversight of the National Voting Registration Act; manage the work of contract employees; and marketing and advertising; as well as handle fiscal matters of the office.

As your supervisor of elections, I will work to: increase voter participation, expand voter education and improve voter accessibility.

Increase voter participation:

· Improve access to the ballot through partnerships, education and accessibility.

· Expand participation by taking the ballot box to the voters by promoting vote by mail.

· Expand participation by increasing the number of early voting sites to provide accessibility, such as the Martin Luther King Center.

Expand voter education:

Voter education is a 24/7 year-round venture with the voter.

· Partnering with the Alachua County Library, and neighborhood crime watch associations to include educational materials.

· Appeal to Millennials and first-time voters with expanded use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and mobile apps.

· Host quarterly new voter seminars, “Commit to Vote”

· Create and implement the "Youth to the Booth" program.

· Establish the supervisor of elections college internship partnership with the University of Florida and Santa Fe College.


· Expand the high school voter education and registration programs by allowing the use of voting equipment for school elections when available.

Improve voter accessibility:

· Phase in the purchase of electronic poll books for all voting precincts. We currently use electronic poll books at early voting only. More efficient and cost saving. Faster processing of voters at check-in.

· Conduct yearly workshops for candidates, campaign treasurers and managers and others interested in being involved in local campaigns.

· Work closely with adult living facilities and nursing homes to educate citizens about the options available to have supervised voting at their facilities.

· Provide cross-training of employees for more efficient service to the public.

· Making the office more voter-friendly, with the highest quality of professional customer service.

Accountable, accessible and available — my promise to you the voter. It would be my honor to serve as your supervisor of elections. I ask for your vote for Kim A. Barton, supervisor of elections, on Aug. 30.

— Kim A. Barton is one of three candidates for Alachua County supervisor of elections.

William Dove Boyett: Keeping elections fair, accurate and reliable

By William Dove Boyett Special to The Sun
I’m William Dove Boyett, your current chief deputy supervisor of elections, hoping to earn your vote this Aug. 30 to become your next supervisor of elections.

Elections after the events in 2000 are becoming an even more technical and publicly scrutinized field of work. Having started working in elections under Bev Hill in 2000, I have seen these changes first hand, and have the right skills and knowledge to keep Alachua County elections fair, accurate and reliable.

Since I began working in elections, I have dedicated myself to always increasing my knowledge and skills, taking continuing education classes every year to ensure I am up to date on the best practices and newest elections information. I hold Level II certification as a Florida certified elections professional, and have also taken ongoing course work through the national election center, as well as annual training in canvassing of elections in Florida.

My depth of knowledge and expertise is known by our peer elections offices throughout the state, and I am frequently called on to answer questions from other counties. I have also been a guest speaker at the Bob Graham Center, as well as on multiple occasions at the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections conferences. I am always eager to share my knowledge, and look forward to applying it to help train and improve the skill set of all elections staff.

Looking toward serving as supervisor of elections, I am excited by many opportunities for our office. I hope to use our new training and early voting space to conduct public workshops year round. These will let us give the public a chance to learn about the voting process, becoming a candidate, restoring civil rights and many other topics. I also look forward to the chance to fill present staff vacancies, which will allow all staff to have the time to learn skills from throughout the office, ensuring that someone will always be available to answer questions on any topic and allowing us to send knowledgeable staff to participate in an even wider range of activities in the community.

Elections are a growing and changing field, and I foresee the chance to bring many new options to the voters of Alachua County. In 2017, the ability to register online will come to Florida, a process I have been involved in during development, and am excited to see put into practice. Alachua County is also ready to see an expansion of our early voting opportunities. With cooperation from other branches of local government, sites allowing easier access to voters in the northwestern part of the county as well as the far eastern edge of Gainesville and the Hawthorne/Waldo area can be a reality in time for the 2018 elections. I also feel it is time Alachua County joined more than two thirds of the state in using electronic poll books, which make the check-in process faster and more private, and allow our office to provide election records in a much faster manner.

We have all seen the result of elections offices failing to manage their preparations and voting systems with due skill and attention to detail, and I am proud that none of those problems have affected Alachua County. I have the right experience and skills to keep our elections reliable and fair.

My wife Sarah and I look forward to raising our daughter here in Gainesville as I spend many years serving the public as your supervisor of elections. Remember to vote Boyett whether you vote by mail, vote early or vote on Aug. 30.

— William Dove Boyett is one of three candidates for Alachua County supervisor of elections.

Jeremy M. Clements: Learning leadership through experience

By Jeremy M. Clements Special to The Sun
While on the campaign trail, I have had the same question asked of me over and over: “Why should I vote for you versus the other candidates?” My response has three parts that all point toward leadership learned over time and through experience.

I grew up running a local family business and my father was a super voter in Alachua County. He taught me the value of a dollar earned versus a dollar spent, while knowing the effect on the community he served.

I served in the Marine Corps and in the state of Florida governor’s office, which taught me how to manage, develop, cross train and maintain a well-oiled machine of over 1,000 people on a shoestring budget and handling billions of state and federal dollars.

Additionally, I know that I am a servant to the community and the position of supervisor of elections is just that — designed to manage assets of the human kind as well as the material kind to best serve all of the people in Alachua County.

As the agenda coordinator for the County Commission, I have interacted with county employees, the general public and the team leaders for all of the advisory boards within Alachua County. This has really put me back and deeply in touch with the community.

While on the campaign trail I have heard concerns about positions of the balloting machines and absentee ballots. I have heard from people who have extreme difficulty getting to their assigned polling places because of work and time commitments, illness, their own physical limitations from aging and/or handicaps. All of these have one common thread — a low turnout during elections.

As supervisor of elections for Alachua County, I intend to allow the answers to come from the community. We will hold town hall meetings; we will have the website available for people to voice their concerns and ideas; we will have suggestions boxes; and we will get out and meet the community.

Just as businesses have quarterly and annual reports that inform their stockholders and the employees that work for them, there needs to be a feedback system and an after-action report to harness the data from each event or communication with the public. It is imperative that we become proactive to solve the challenges the community sees, not just the view from a building on North Main Street. After all, it is a government of, for and by the people.

At the end of the day, one of the last vestiges of this great country is the right of the people to voice their opinion through voting. The person bearing the responsibility for supervising and ensuring a secure voting process should not only be a qualified leader, but should also know how to serve from a deep place within his heart. The call to service has to be in the person so deeply that it is second nature to that leader.

From my early years in the family veterinary practice, through my time in the United States Marine Corps and my service at the state and now at the county level, I have been blessed with many opportunities to learn from accomplished leaders and have, myself, been entrusted to become a successful leader with a servant’s heart.

Thank you for your time and consideration when reading this column. I look forward to serving you, the citizens of Alachua County, as your next supervisor of elections.

— Jeremy M. Clements is one of three candidates for Alachua County supervisor of elections.

Incumbent sheriff wants third term, says she's earned it

Darnell has drawn praise, even from those who criticize her on other topics, for the emphasis she has placed on mental health and domestic violence.

By Cindy Swirko Staff writer
Sadie Darnell was born in Gainesville 64 years ago and has been in the public eye — and on the front line of crime — for much of it.

There were tragedies: She was the spokeswoman for the Gainesville Police Department in 1990 when five college students were found murdered over a three-day period.

There was farce: She created a brief storm in 2004 when she was photographed in her police shirt, mini skirt, fishnet stockings and high heels refashioned to look like guns, one of which was smoking, for a charity event.

And there was history: In 2006, she became the first woman elected sheriff in Alachua County.

Now, Darnell is looking to hold onto the job, seeking re-election to a third full term. She said she’s earned it.

“My life has been pretty exposed over the years ... particularly when you get into the political realm. I did that self examination ... You have to look at yourself, examine yourself professionally and personally so that you don’t set yourself up for embarrassment. I’m clean,” Darnell said. “Hopefully, what you’ve seen over the years is that I’ve directed the Sheriff’s Office into an area of more community-based attention. I wanted to make more of a difference in the community experience and in victim services.”

Challenging Darnell for the Democratic nomination is former deputy Zac Zedalis. The winner will face former sheriff's Lt. Jack Jacobs, a Republican, in the general election.

Darnell has drawn praise, even from those who criticize her on other topics, for the emphasis she has placed on mental health and domestic violence.

Ironically, though, the case that has gotten Darnell the most scrutiny of late was the March 20 fatal shooting by authorities of Robert Dentmond, 16, in the Majestic Oaks apartment complex parking lot after the teen called 911 and said he was suicidal and had a military-style weapon.

Dentmond initially put the weapon down when confronted, but later picked it up and began backing toward a building. When he refused to obey commands, five deputies and four Gainesville police officers fired. They then learned the gun was a replica.

An investigation of the case by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is not finished. People have questioned whether ASO could have better handled the incident — whether a police dog at the scene could have been released or whether the situation could have been de-escalated without resorting to shooting Dentmond.

Alachua County Commissioner Robert Hutchinson has sparred with Darnell over her budget and the arrest of people for possession of small amounts of marijuana. But Hutchinson, a mental health advocate, praises Darnell because of the attention she has given to the handling of people with mental illness, both on the streets and in the Alachua County jail.

“She is a leading proponent (of mental health awareness) and she doesn’t just do it for public relations purposes. She always shows up at every mental health event and gives very profound speeches about her own experiences — she had to Baker Act her own mom,” Hutchinson said. “She knows of what she speaks and she knows the problems. Our jail does as good a job as any with people with mental illness.”

The Baker Act is Florida’s law allowing for the short-term, involuntary commitment of people for mental health evaluation.

Darnell also is praised for her domestic violence initiatives. The Sheriff’s Office was the first in Florida to use a lethality assessment that immediately puts victims in touch with social services to avert future harm.

Also, representatives of law enforcement, social services and other agencies meet monthly to review high-risk cases.

Teresa Drake, director of the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic at the University of Florida College of Law, said the Sheriff’s Office is a partner in the program.

“(Darnell) has been progressive in terms of domestic violence and sexual violence,” Drake said. “She and her agency have led the way in Alachua County. We are the most progressive county in the state in terms of domestic violence.”

A number of high profile police shootings around the country have law enforcement agencies searching for ways to handle such cases differently, Darnell said.

She added, however, that it is critical for deputies to act to protect themselves and others when confronted with an armed person making threats.

Darnell said that some people may hold the Dentmond case against her when they decide how to vote but added she believes people who understand the situation will “put the responsibility where it lies, and that’s on the individuals who arm themselves and threaten to harm others.”

The Sheriff’s Office is better trained and better organized under her command, Darnell said. She has reassigned people into positions in which they can better use their skills and strengths.

But Darnell added that some of her personnel moves didn’t pan out.

“I’ve made some decisions I wish I had made differently. Candidly, some promotions I wish I hadn’t made. Some people — I’m disappointed in their commitment to the agency and the profession,” Darnell said. “I do work people hard. I routinely ask people, ‘Are you bored? Because if you’re bored I have something for you to do.’ Some people don’t like that and they are the naysayers.”

With another term, and with more money from the County Commission, Darnell said she would like to give more focus to crimes that are growing and coming out of shadows — identity theft and human trafficking.

They are not tracked in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s uniform crime report, which compiles data for murder, rape, robbery, burglary, theft and assault, but identity theft and human trafficking will be included in a new report that Florida will soon be using.

And when those crimes are tracked, the numbers for Alachua County will surprising, Darnell said.

“I have two deputies working on identity theft cases and they each have over 200 cases. If we had proper staffing, could you not say victims of identity theft would be better served? Yes, indeed,” Darnell said. She added of the new crime report, “That’s where we are going to see identity theft off the chart, drugs off the chart, sex slavery of children here in this county.”

Darnell’s career has primarily been in law enforcement. She spent 30 years with GPD before retiring as a captain.

As of the July 29 campaign finance reporting period, Darnell has raised $52,331, topping Zedalis’ $47,325. The money comes from a variety of sources, including ASO employees, several attorneys, some community activists and some notable Republicans.

Darnell drew criticism from some Democrats in 2010 when she supported Republican Susan Baird over incumbent Democrat Cynthia Chestnut for the Alachua County Commission.

As sheriff, Darnell said, she is nonpartisan and goes to events of both parties. Her support for Baird, no longer on the commission, stems from her budget battles with board members.

“They had me backed into a corner. They were not trying to work with me even though I was a solid Democrat, so I said, ‘What’s the harm?’ ” Darnell said. “I go to every campaign meet-and-greet to which I’m invited because I want to hear what people have to say. I want that perspective.”

​Zedalis wants to return team environment to Sheriff's Office

Some of the approaches to work Zedalis learned from one of his coaches, former University of Florida football coach Steve Spurrier, will carry over to his job as Alachua County sheriff if he wins in November.

By Cindy Swirko Staff writer
It’s not surprising that Zac Zedalis believes the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office needs to focus on teamwork and having each other’s back — he’s spent a lot of time on athletic teams in high school and in college.

And some of the approaches to work he learned from one of his coaches, former University of Florida football coach Steve Spurrier, will carry over to his job as Alachua County sheriff if he wins the job in November.

“It’s very similar to being on a sports team. You realize that everybody plays a role and everybody has an important job, whether you’re a dispatcher, a detective, deputy or records clerk, civilian or sworn, at the jail — wherever you are you have a job to do, and if you don’t do your job, we all kind of fail in a way,” Zedalis said. “We need to get back to that, where it’s like a team and a family environment. It’s tough to do sometimes in an organization. But I think of how coach Spurrier kept it — the best person plays. You play until you mess up and the next person gets a shot. That’s about as fair as you can make it.”

Zedalis is the challenger in this contest. The winner of the Democratic primary will face retired sheriff's Lt. Jack Jacobs in the general election.

Darnell has been sheriff since 2006. Before that, she spent 30 years at the Gainesville Police Department and rose to become a captain. In contrast, Zedalis was hired by ASO in 2005. He was a patrol deputy, in the special operations unit, a SWAT team member and detective. He also was a polygraph examiner.

But it all came to an end in February when Zedalis and his now-former wife, ASO Sgt. Kathleen Zedalis, were fired following a July 2015 argument that turned physical. She was initially cited as the defendant in a sheriff’s report.

No charges were filed after a criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, whose report said injuries to both Zedalises could be viewed as defensive in nature.

The two were fired after investigations into multiple allegations of professional misconduct resulting from the incident, as well as other allegations of professional misconduct.

At the time Zedalis told The Sun his firing was politically motivated and he continues to stand by that. Darnell said that is absolutely not true.

Zedalis said he is now doing work for Gainesville physical therapist Randy Brower, for whom he has worked in the past and calls a mentor.

But Zedalis added he is committed to law enforcement and believes he can make changes at ASO that would improve the agency and its relationship with the community.

“We don’t have any community open house meetings. We don’t have any dialogue with the community. We have to push that. We have to open ourselves up and humbly expose that and say, 'OK, to better serve you we have to understand what you need. And the only way to understand is the listen and talk,' ” Zedalis said. “The culture has become in law enforcement us versus them. There should be no disparity between black and white, but there is. It happens everywhere, there is racism everywhere. But we have to make sure we recruit and that our culture at the Sheriff’s Office is that we are serving and protecting everybody.”

Culture is a word often used by Zedalis about the agency. He said the culture of the agency has been shaken both in the way employees deal with the public and internally — Zedalis said employees fear going against Darnell and ASO “has become a self-preservation agency.”

Zedalis grew up in Alachua and graduated from Santa Fe High School, where he played several sports. He attended UF from 1996-01 earning a degree in exercise and sport science.

Playing center for the Gators football team, he was part of the 1996 NCAA national championship squad under Spurrier.

"Zac was a good player for us. He did everything we asked him to and he really played well,” Spurrier told The Sun recently. “He was a local guy and, I tell you, he was one of the strongest high school kids we ever signed. They had a good weightlifting program at Santa Fe, because he was much stronger than most incoming freshmen."

After playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League for a short time, he had a short career in professional wrestling before deciding it wasn’t for him. Zedalis eventually returned to Alachua County and put himself through the Santa Fe College police academy while also working for Brower, and was then hired by ASO.

He was the second man in his family to work for the Sheriff’s Office — his father, Tim Zedalis, had worked for ASO.

Among those who know both father and son is attorney Robert Rush.

Rush, whose son Jake used to be an ASO deputy and has represented clients in numerous cases against law enforcement agencies, donated to Zedalis’ campaign and said he is supporting him.

“I’ve known Zac since he was a kid. His father was an investigator and I knew his dad. Zac strikes me as a very earnest and fine young man,” Rush said. “I think after all this time, it’s time for a change at the Sheriff’s Office ... there is too much baggage with the sheriff and her battles with the County Commission. And there are a lot of disgruntled employees.”

As of the July 29 campaign finance reporting period, Zedalis has raised $47,325. Darnell has raised $52,331.

Among Zedalis’ contributors are several members of the McGriff family, who figure prominently in UF athletics and the local insurance business.

Scott Camil, a Gainesville Vietnam veteran and member of Veterans for Peace, had his share of dealings with police as an antiwar activist. Now, Camil acts as a campaign consultant to local politicians, including Zedalis.

Camil said he met Zedalis last year and, in talking with him, believes Zedalis will bring needed changes to the Sheriff’s Office including its relationship with the Alachua County Commission.

“I have a target range in my backyard and invited Zac to come over and shoot. He told me he didn’t like guns, and that really surprised me,” Camil said. “I believe that Zac can run the Sheriff’s Office for a lot less money than Sadie. I think he can do it without having to fight with the County Commission all of the time.”

Zedalis said his experience at the Sheriff’s Office, along with athletics and work in other fields, has given him the knowledge and perspective to be sheriff.

A key approach to the job will be listening to employees and learning from others, Zedalis said.

“We have so many talented people with different cultures or from different backgrounds, or different areas of the agency or in law enforcement who can help us get better. You have to make sure you involve them in the decision-making, which we don’t do,” Zedalis said. “I have no problem saying I don’t know it all. There is not a soul who knows it all. If you say you know it all, you are lying or you need to get out.”

​Starting a new life almost 5,000 miles away was tricky, but she said she was fortunate enough to have help getting settled in...

Click to read more.

​The Alachua County Commission and Sheriff Sadie Darnell took a break from their budget battles this week, but it will be brief unless both sides find a way to work together.

Cheer: The commission and sheriff, for reaching a resolution their lengthy budget fight. The commission voted 3-2 this week, with Mike Byerly and Lee Pinkoson in dissent, to give the sheriff an additional $300,000 in her budget.

The commission had already increased Darnell’s budget from the previous year, but didn’t give her the level of increase she was seeking, so she appealed the decision to the governor and cabinet. It shouldn’t have come to that, but thankfully there was a local agreement before the state had to act.

Unfortunately there’s now a deficit from this year, due to overtime for deputies, that needs to be resolved. Attention is also turning to next year’s budget, which includes a dispute over money to pay for the sheriff’s aging vehicle fleet.

Darnell should be more transparent with the way she moves around money in her budget, and commissioners should tone down the combative rhetoric about the sheriff and try to make a budget decision that everyone can live with.

​Florida Defenders of the Environment has long recognized the importance of sound comprehensive planning as an effective tool for communities to protect their environmental assets. Indeed, if Florida had enacted sound growth management legislation earlier than 1972, it may have avoided some ill-advised projects such as the failed attempt to build an environmentally damaging Cross Florida Barge Canal.

Recently, FDE has received inquiries about its stand concerning the proposed Plum Creek sector plan. FDE continues to support Alachua County’s comprehensive plan as the best choice for protecting sensitive environmental assets and for safeguarding the economic well-being of all current and future county residents.

We believe that building totally new communities in environmentally sensitive areas of the county simply doesn’t make sense.

Steve Robitaille

President

Jim Gross

Executive director

Florida Defenders of the Environment

​By April Warren Staff writer

This week brought a resolution to the almost yearlong budget battle between the Alachua County Commission and Sheriff Sadie Darnell — and in two weeks it’ll start all over again.

Along with the usual requests from Darnell for more money to deal with her aging vehicle fleet, hire more deputies and increase pay there is a new wrinkle: Overtime for deputies is nearly a half-million dollars over budget.


In a July 22 letter to the commission, Darnell said her chief financial officer, Patty Justice, projected a $300,000 end-of-year deficit in the personnel part of her budget. But when the sheriff went before the board on Monday, she said the amount now has risen to $430,000.

By law, the department cannot end the year with deficit so the shortfall for officers on patrol would have to be covered by reductions in other areas of the sheriff's budget or more funding from the county.

Darnell attributes the higher overtime cost to a number of reasons, including two horrific crimes committed far from Alachua County.

In response to five police officers being killed by a sniper in Dallas in early July, Darnell ordered all deputies responding to calls locally to have backup for the foreseeable future, meaning two officers would answer every call.

Darnell said the extra backup has caused overtime increases and service time delays.

Also, after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012, Darnell took 12 deputies off their regular patrol duties and assigned them to Alachua County elementary schools. Funding for the deputies, known as school resource officers, at that time came from both the Alachua County School Board’s general fund and state funding.

But last year, the School Board declined to pay, in an effort to balance its own budget. Other law enforcement agencies, including the Gainesville Police Department, stepped in and paid for the school resource officer positions in their jurisdictions.


Darnell says the county reduced the law enforcement portion of her budget to reflect the amount the other agencies were paying. But those deputies, the former school resource officers, are still on her staff. Some of them are filling in for other deputies on sick leave or vacant positions.

The commission, in turn, points out that the sheriff’s overall budget actually increased, from $70.8 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year to $71.7 million in the 2015-16 fiscal year. Commissioners have said it's up to Darnell to allocate those funds appropriately.

Also adding to the sheriff’s payroll expenses were additional payouts for sick time and accrued vacation, as several long-time employees began to retire.

During Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Mike Byerly said, “The county commission is not the scapegoat for the overtime deficit.”

When Darnell first moved the deputies into the schools after Sandy Hook she said doing so did not jeopardize public safety, he said.

“When the school board made the decision not to pay the sheriff to provide that service any longer but to contract with other law enforcement agencies, the same positions were then funded by a different agency,” he said.

“There was no loss of law enforcement presence in the schools, there was no reduction of law enforcement presence in the streets, it’s simply a different jurisdiction paying for it,’’ he said.


“So there’s this huge rational disconnect between that action and the sheriff attempting to put her overtime, her mismanagement of her overtime funds, on the county commissioners.”

Lt. Brandon Kutner, ASO spokesma, disputed Byerly's description. "Because the county commission took away funding for 12 officers, it took away the sheriff's opportunity to redeploy those deputies to other areas," he said. Kutner said that is why the department has had to pay so much overtiime rather than more efficiently spending money on patrol.

In this week’s agreement that resolved the dispute over the current year’s budget, which reached Gov. Rick Scott’s office after Darnell appealed to the state, the commission agreed to give the sheriff $300,000.

But the overtime issue is likely to keep simmering. Aug. 16 is the day when the commission and sheriff’s office will crunch numbers for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

“We have to figure out a way to pay for the overtime,” Commissioner Lee Pinkoson told Darnell. “Unless we just send it back to you and say you’ve got to find it within your budget. I don’t necessarily know that that’s a good solution.”

​I disagree with letters lambasting the County Commission for not fixing roads. Apparently these people were asleep at the wheel when the issue came up in 2012 to raise the money to do it. The voters “in their wisdom” voted it down, 67 percent to 33 percent. Only the voters are to blame.

Society has been defined as a “friendly association with others.” The common use of the roads is collaborative. Local utilities as well as safety and law enforcement services, in “friendly association with others,” are provided to the community from community resources.

Those who are concerned about the condition of the roads should help in finding the funding to do it. The County Commission cannot do it by itself without support.

So, what next?

June D. Littler

Gainesville

​By Anthony Clark Business editor
 
As a single mother, Isabell Springer said she had the support of family when she underwent entrepreneurship training through CareerSource North Central Florida that allowed her to build a business.

“I feel very blessed and lucky to have that support but there are many, many people who do not have that same opportunity,” she said.

That is why Springer wrote a letter in support of the agency’s grant application and spoke during a press conference Wednesday as CareerSource NCFL announced that it had received $4 million through the U.S. Department of Labor to provide child care and training for unemployed or underemployed parents.

The founder of LoveED credits the agency’s Startup Quest program with providing her the skills to build a business around her expertise in self improvement and introducing her to an investor who would allow her to launch her products and services nationally, “but I realized there are individuals out there in the community that deserve the same opportunity that I had.”

Once the Opportunity Quest program launches in late fall, CareerSource NCFL and its partners will provide the kind of entrepreneurship training it offered Springer through Startup Quest, as well as technology skills training, paid work experience and childcare for up to 250 parents with children under 13 in Alachua and Bradford counties. There is no cost to the parents.

The idea is to train the parents to create their own jobs through entrepreneurship or prepare them to work for someone else.

As a pilot program in 2011, Opportunity Quest showed that the training made participants more employable, according to a news release.

During the press conference at the CareerSource career center, Alachua County Commission Chairman Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson said that the lack of affordable, high-quality childcare is one of the greatest barriers to people entering the workforce.

To address that, he pointed to the county’s investment with private partners in a childcare center in the Southwest Advocacy Group area and the creating of a children’s services council that will receive up to $1.2 million from the county.

Past CareerSource board chairman Don Davis said the grant will also help remove barriers for employers in finding skilled staff. He said the agency’s training programs have helped startup companies and growth companies with their employment needs.

Jose Luna, chief technology officer of tech startup Eventplicity, supported the grant after participating in the agency’s STEM Ready program to train employees.

Luna said a growing tech company like his benefits from having employees with both technical training but also entrepreneurship training.

“We need talent to have both the technical skills to build our product but also the entrepreneurial drive to solve big challenges,” he said.

Susan Davenport, president and CEO of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, said programs such as Opportunity Quest help when recruiting companies that are looking for skilled workers.

Participants will also have access to CareerSource’s job matching services, skills assessments and training support.

The grant marks the fourth federal that CareerSource NCFL has received for entrepreneurship or on-the-job training since 2011, totaling $31.5 million. The agency was one of 11 awarded $25 million out of 127 applications through the Labor Department’s Strengthening Working Families Initiatives.

​Career Source is receiving a four year, four million dollar grant.

The Career Source Program will be offered in Alachua and Brandford County residents.

The grant money will be used to provide unemployed parents with resources so they can train for new jobs...

Click to read more.

​By Deborah Strange Staff writer
 
Get the Band-Aids, lollipops and cuddly distractions ready: Alachua County’s Control Flu program will administer flu vaccines via shot instead of nasal spray this year.

“We are thinking of all kinds of creative ways to get the kids distracted,” said Kathleen Ryan, the program’s medical coordinator and a University of Florida clinical associate professor of pediatrics.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel voted in June that the nasal spray flu vaccine, or FluMist, should not be used during the 2016-17 flu season because data showed it was less effective than flu shots.

Control Flu offers flu vaccines to Alachua County Public Schools students and raises awareness about the benefits of the immunizations. The program, which piloted in 2006-07 and began consistently in 2009-10, has increased the flu immunization rate every year by offering students the nasal spray vaccine.

But this season, Ryan worries the shots will deter children from getting vaccinated.

“People just have more fear of shots,” Ryan said.

In 2015-16, 14,531 children were vaccinated through the program, said Paul Myers, administrator of the Alachua County Health Department. He said the program has ordered 10,000 vaccines this year instead of the 15,000 to 16,000 expected if the nasal spray were available.

Because of small children’s tendencies to squirm during shots, Control Flu will require parents to be with their children when they receive the flu shot. Doing so will comfort children and help school nurses or UF Nursing volunteers to effectively give children the shot.

“We don’t restrain children under any circumstances,” Ryan said.

Parents must sign a consent form before their students receive the vaccine in schools.

Control Flu targets students, including those attending UF. Immunization rates of those students have been below 20 percent, Myers said, although he hopes it increases.

“We have 50,000 college students in our community and who interact with our community,” he said.

The goal of the program is to build herd immunity, protecting those who cannot receive vaccines by preventing the spread of the flu. College students work in restaurants, gyms, nursing homes, all places where it can be easy to transmit the flu if precautions aren’t taken.

But Myers said the “super spreaders” of influenza are elementary school students, who shed more of the virus for longer periods of time because their immune systems are still developing. Once they’re in school, they can reach other students, teachers, administrators and parents.

“Classrooms are like petri dishes,” Myers said.

Children at least 6 months old are able to receive a flu vaccine.

Although they’re preparing for vaccination rates to decrease, Myers and Ryan hope individuals remember the risks associated with catching the flu.

“The flu is not just your average cold,” Ryan said.

Influenza typically includes a high fever, sore throat and respiratory issues, including coughs and congestion. It can take two weeks to recover from the flu.

And complications can occur, including sinus and respiratory infections and pneumonia. Ryan said she did not know of any flu-related pediatric death in the county since Control Flu started.

Myers said he has gotten the flu vaccine every year. He tries not to flinch when getting the shot, although all that matters, he says, is the vaccine goes where it's supposed to.

“A brief pinch is worth two weeks of misery,” he said.

​County Commission Dist. 3: Hutchinson focuses on core issues

By April Warren Staff writer
 
When Robert Hutchinson learned Paula Delaney was not seeking another term on the Alachua County Commission in 2012, he decided it might be time to resurrect a political career he had ended a decade earlier.

“I said, ‘Well, Paula, what do you think my priorities should be?’ ” Hutchinson recalls. Delaney handed him a copy of the book "Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness."

In it, author Pete Earley writes of his mentally ill son who winds up in the criminal justice system, which is ill-equipped to treat such individuals.

“I read it and it changed my life in terms of how screwed-up our system of dealing with the mentally ill is,” said Hutchinson, who holds a psychology degree from Emory University and whose late step-son battled mental illness.

Hutchinson won election to the commission in 2012 and now he’s vying for a second term, with mental health as a major campaign issue. He previously served on the commission from 1998-2002. Commissioners serve four-year terms. They are elected county-wide but have district designations, Hutchinson’s being District 3, mostly north of Archer Road and south of Newberry road from U.S. 441 west to the county line.

“I’m very proud of what has been accomplished and the reason I’m running for re-election has more to do with that (mental health issues) and continuing that work than anything else,” he said.

Hutchinson has sought to increase the strength of local court diversion programs, to hire county staff with knowledge of mental health services, and to add money to the county’ budget for mental health services.

He also works with the Gainesville Peer Respite Center, the first facility of its kind in the state, which seeks to help those facing mental crisis by providing a comfort and support.

Terrie Mullin, president of the Gainesville chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness but speaking for herself, called Hutchinson’s advocacy of mental health issues “tremendous.”

Mullin, whose daughter has mental issues, recalled Hutchinson first running on a platform of mental health issues and watched him follow through on his promises.

“I am very grateful to Hutch for focusing on it and backing it up with action,” she said.

On the campaign trail this time around, Hutchinson has been emphasizing mental health, substance abuse, and the plight of the homeless as they intersect with the criminal justice system.

He said in about a month many community stakeholders — education institutions, first responders, businesses, health facilities — will sign a compact to begin teaching an eight-hour mental health first aid course to citizens.

“It teaches you the things to say and do when you’re confronted with somebody who’s experiencing anxiety or their suicidal, hearing voices or whatever,” he said. “It teaches you those things to keep them safe and keep you safe until professional help can arrive.” The course also seeks to de-stigmatize mental illness through awareness.

Hutchinson, along with NAMI, is looking to bring elements of a Mental Health Squad to local law enforcement. The squad would be similar to one formed in 2009 by the San Antonio Police Department where officers responds to those in crisis in plain clothes and try to deescalate the situation. Since implementation, San Antonio has seen a dramatic drop in use of force incidents against those with mental illness.

Economic Development

Hutchinson agrees with those who say the east side of Gainesville is hurting economically. But he disagrees with those who blame government.

“People look to government and they say it’s your fault, this happened and government didn’t do something. No, the Chamber of Commerce and their members moved everything west,” Hutchinson said.

He points out that Alachua County Sheriff’s Office opened an office in east Gainesville, the county health department complex moved to the area, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Multipurpose Center opened there.

“The disinvestment is happening by the business sector, so what can we do to change that? It’s tough,” he said. He’s gone on chamber recruiting trips, voted for tax incentives for certain businesses to relocate to the area, he has served as director of the Community Redevelopment Agency that includes the Pleasant Street area and downtown.

“The renaissance of downtown is very much in east Gainesville,” he said, explaining as the revitalization continues areas like Porters and surrounding neighborhoods will see positive effects.

He also favors a comprehensive plan change that would help residents start their own businesses by allowing them to construct a small structure next to their homes to use as a small storefront — like a nail salon, barbershop, real estate office or retail store.

Hutchinson said he knows the east side of the county well, having grown up off Lake Shore Drive. He spent time living in Windsor, where he volunteered as a firefighter and co-founded the Windsor Zucchini Festival, which helps fund the department.

In March, Hutchinson was in the majority of county commissioners who voted not to send the Plum Creek Sector plan to the state for review. Instead, he proposed his own jobs plan. It involves a Waldo Road center bringing jobs and a new mission to aging Tacachale, one of two remaining Florida institutions for the intellectually disabled. His goal is to make the area a center for compassionate care — jobs like nursing, assisted living and therapy.

Tacachale is east Gainesville’s largest employer, with 1,100 jobs, but over time its patient base has shrunk. Hutchinson said this is a better spot for economic development than the sites, some with environmental concerns, proposed by Plum Creek, now known as Weyerhaeuser.

The challenge with the plan is it won’t happen overnight and involves a series of land swaps. Hutchinson says he’s already negotiated with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to notify the county when it decides to close Tacachale.

Rodney Long previously served as a county commissioner for 11 years. He attended the Plum Creek hearings. “ I was just floored by the lack of decorum and the way they were conducted,” he said. During the meeting many in the audience broke out into applause or jeers in reaction of comments from some speakers. At the beginning of the hearings, Hutchinson, serving as commission chair, reminded audience members not to react to comments and if reactions did occur tried to admonished the crowd.

As for the Tacachale deal, Long says he doesn’t believe that’s a viable alternative because the county doesn’t have control over the land the state does. “I don’t foresee the state of Florida giving us this land to allow it to become a job center,” he said.

Marijuana feud

Hutchinson has raised the ire of Sheriff Sadie Darnell by criticizing how many people her office has jailed for misdemeanor marijuana offenses instead of enforcing cheaper options such as issuing notices to appear in court. He suggested she tell her deputies to make the charge a low priority.

“She’s ruining people’s lives, she’s costing us a fortune for no good reason, for something that’s legal in increasingly large parts of the world,” he said.

Darnell has balked, saying that marijuana possession is illegal and that deputies take an oath to uphold the law.

When nothing changed, the commission lowered Darnell’s budget request. When that didn’t work, Hutchinson suggested putting pressure on the deputies through their paychecks.

Hutchinson said when the disagreement went public he heard from many who said they had been busted when being stopped for small offenses. “It was the Easter egg hunt that these cops were going on, it was like they were getting some thrill out of finding it,” he said.

Environmental concerns

Over the years, Hutchinson’s resume has included stints as: Gainesville Regional Utilities’ energy conservation department; planner with the Withlacoochee Planning Council in Ocala; former president of Alachua County Humane Society; helped form the Southeastern Forest Trust; regional board member for Florida Wildlife Federation; and former executive director of Alachua Conservation Trust.

He’s also keyboardist for Weeds of Eden, a group performing original social/environmental commentary piece and co-founded Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery six years ago which provides environmental-friendly burials.

He’s had a hand in putting around 35,000 acres into land conservation including preserving Prairie Creek, Boulware Springs and San Felasco Hammock.

Hutchinson knows a thing or two about the environment, planning and land deals.

“I believed more in the power of real estate tools, that is, purchase and easement and so forth, than I have in regulating the use of land,” he said.

He’s in favor of the Wild Spaces Public Places referendum where voters in November will be asked to renew a half-cent sales tax for eight years beginning Jan. 1, 2017. Money would be used on park improvements and land conservation. Hutchinson predicts far down the road every piece of land will be pre-designated for either development or conservation.

“So the decision that the voters make about it in each community decides whether we’re going to be more development, more conservation or the right mix,” he said. “I think we’re heading toward the exact right mix.”

Candidate bio

Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson

Age: 63

Family: Married 27 years to Meg Niederhofer, retired Gainesville city arborist

Education: Gainesville High School; psychology degree from Emory University; graduate coursework in urban planning at University of Florida.

Work: County Commission chair, senior executive grave digger at Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery.

County Commission Dist. 3: McDaniel stresses inclusion, relationships

By April Warren Staff writer
 
Growing up in Hawthorne, 60-year-old Larry McDaniel remembers when industry was booming.

He recalls a place with four or five independent grocery stores, a robust farming industry with watermelon production and a turpentine industry in nearby Rochelle. He was even a part of it, working in his uncle’s business, Stitt’s Painting.

“I’ve seen it change dramatically,” he said, recalling a place where now any kind of business is hard to find.

McDaniel thinks there are ways to revitalize the area, which is part of the reason he’s running for County Commission.

McDaniel is looking to unseat incumbent and fellow Democrat Robert Hutchinson in District 3, which is mostly north of Archer Road and south of Newberry Road from U.S. 441 west to the county line.

Development

Earlier this year, the commission voted not to send to the state for review a proposal for development in the eastern portion of the county put forth by Plum Creek Timber Company, now known as Weyerhaeuser.

Commissioners cited a number of concerns, including that the plan promoted sprawl, did not meet county environmental standards, and was too far east to help those in east Gainesville with jobs.

McDaniel said he would have voted to move the plan, especially since there are a number of residents in favor of the proposal.

“Moving forward gathers you some other options from some people who are not as vested in the process and not as set in cement,’’ he said. “So you get an outside view from other experts other than your staff.”

McDaniel acknowledged that the job benefits from Plum Creek would have been years off, but leaders should strive to bring about economic development to east Gainesville. He said better landscaping would help to make the area look more inviting.

“Get the business owners who are there and let them be leaders in the process of putting together a plan for changing the face of that community,’’ he said.

McDaniel also speaks of a training partnership with community stakeholders so workers can be trained for jobs to help attract businesses.

“I think there’s lots and lots of things that can be done,” he said. “The difference between me and my opponent and some of the other folks is they look at everything that’s not being built in the core of the city as sprawl.”

Campaign documents show McDaniel has received contributions from businesses and individuals, but his totals are several paces behind Hutchinson's donations.

Stephen Cade, a local businessman in the auto industry, said he is supporting McDaniel because he would be friendly toward business.

"He's not against growth and he wants to fix our roads and those would be the main things (why I'm backing him)," said Cade, whose sister, Phoebe Cade Miles, runs the Cade Museum.

McDaniel also said if elected, he would serve a maximum two terms.

“You have commissioners that think being on the commission is a lifetime commitment,” he said. Serving that long, he said, makes a commissioner think he is the only person who can make decisions for others.

“I believe in succession planning,” he said. “That means I’m going to try to find folks who are willing to serve in government who are millennials that are willing to learn the process … to groom them.”

Every other Sunday for the last two months, McDaniel said he has made his way to T.B. McPherson Recreation Complex off Southeast 15th Street in Gainesville where anywhere from 1,200-1,400 young individuals gather doing various recreational activities.

“Those folks have ideas, of things they want to see happen,’’ he said. “They just don’t know how to make them happen.’’

McDaniel talks to them about government, hoping to get them involved and feel part of the process.

He also said the county should do more to diversify its workforce.

“I understand the internal workings of the county process,’’ he said. “Development of jobs is a big item for me.’’

The county commission has pledged additional funds to diversity efforts in next year’s budget.

Relationships

In recent years, the County Commission has feuded with Sheriff Sadie Darnell over her budget. The county provides the money, and Darnell gets to decide how to spend it.

Darnell insists the county has not sufficiently funded the agency, and an appeal of the current budget is still pending at the governor’s office.

McDaniel has sat through many years of the county’s budget process having retired after 30 years in Alachua County Court Services, where he worked as the manager of the sentencing alternatives division.


“I think there are some valid points on both sides,” he said, but the feud has turned personal.

“We must be responsible as a community to our first-line responders, especially in this time,” he said.

He adds that the sheriff is not the only one locking horns with the board. “Their relationship with other (Alachua County) municipalities is not good,” McDaniel said.

He points to the suit the county filed against the city of Alachua over a proposed Wal-Mart, and the suit against Gainesville over the ownership of an old RTS facility.

“You look around the county and they have been in litigation with most of the small municipalities around the county over several different issues,” he said.

McDaniel said intergovernmental relationships would be one of his top priorities.

“I’m going to try my best to work those things out,” he said. “To be a commissioner that listens, who is out there with the people as much as possible, not just when I’m invited on a formal basis.”

Getting personal

McDaniel served 25 years in the Army, beginning as a private first class and ending with a volunteer deployment to the Middle East from 2002-03 for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I walked away from there with a totally different perspective on life,” he said. “I believe that life was valuable before, but I realized how valuable afterward.”

He also worked for 30 years around the criminal justice system, first as a state probation officer and then with Alachua County Department of Court Services where he retired in 2011 as sentencing aternatives manager. Under his court services tenure, diversion programs increased — many receiving state and national recognition — offender manpower began to be used for county projects and a program that provided intense supervision and rehabilitation to repeat offenders was also begun.

Joe Lipsey remembers starting work in 2004 as the county work release manager and meeting McDaniel, who he now considers a personal friend. He describes McDaniel as someone who is a good listener, has a strong work ethic, is articulate and has a passion for mentoring young men through athletics.

He watched McDaniel work with the staff at court services. "They saw Larry as a leader," he said. "One that they could talk to as a person, who wasn't afraid to stand up for his team or do what was right when it was against the grain."

When asked if McDaniel has any flaws, Lipsey paused.

"If I were going to critique anything I would say that probably the drive to completion becomes the focus and that he is kind of like having blinders on we're going to do this until we finish it," he said.

In retirement, McDaniel is still involved with the Army, has counseled state Department of Corrections clients on substance abuse, and guided young men through a youth basketball program aimed at developing their moral and social character.

McDaniel has been coaching basketball at P.K. Yonge since 1993. “The reason I love it is, because I love to see people develop their skill-sets, but at the same time develop all of the things that go along with eventually becoming a productive citizen,” he said.

Another piece of McDaniel’s past arose during the campaign in the form of financial documents. Official records show McDaniel owes a little more than $81,000 in unsatisfied IRS tax liens from 2001-10.

McDaniel said he is in negotiations with the IRS and has made the issue known to his supporters. “I believe the issue will be resolved within the next couple months,” he said.

Candidate Bio

Larry McDaniel

Age: 60

Family: Married 38 years to Verlinda McDaniel, and the couple has a son, daughter and six grandchildren.

Education: First African-American student to enroll in middle school at St. Patrick’s Catholic School. Graduated from P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School; bachelor’s degree in political science and pre-law from St. Andrews University in North Carolina.

Work: Retired military, retired Alachua County Department of Court Services Sentencing Alternatives Manager.

Commissioners-for-life Mike Byerly and Robert Hutchinson are again running for re-election. Our deteriorated road system would not be as dire if these two were not in office. They wanted to narrow our road widths, all intersections to be roundabouts, and all roadways to have wide sidewalks and bike lanes no matter the right-of-way restrictions or cost.

This all came at a head when Byerly move to design the Tower Road project, which narrowed the lane width, constructed roundabouts at each intersection, and placed enough pavement width for sidewalks and bike lanes to build an interstate lane on each side of Tower Road.

The project cost was $30 million dollars for only three miles of roadway. After wasting $890,000 on design, the commission finally realized that this was a non-starter. We could mill and resurface over 60 miles of existing roadway for $30 million.

But go on. Keep re-electing them. Give them more money to waste.

Ernie Taylor

Gainesville

By April Warren Staff writer
The County Commission and Sheriff Sadie Darnell have reached an agreement over their budget dispute, ending months of wrangling and coming just hours before county representatives and Darnell were to travel to Tallahassee to fight their case.

The agreement came toward the end of the lengthy discussion Monday where the county agreed to the counteroffer Darnell had made last week. The county will give Darnell an extra $300,000, a large step up from the $156,021 it had offered her last week.

“I accept and ask the funding be appropriated in the August draw,” said Darnell, referring to her monthly budget appropriation dollars received from the county.

The motion passed 3-2, with Commissioners Lee Pinkoson and Mike Byerly in dissent.

“Winning or losing a battle today, ultimately, we need to be working together to keep our community safe,” said Commissioner Ken Cornell, who began pushing for a resolution at the start of the meeting. “I am interested in a compromise.”

During the 2015 budget process, Darnell argued the county sliced $936,125 in total from her budget and in October she appealed to Gov. Rick Scott and the state Cabinet.

The county has argued Darnell's overall budget actually increased last year and that the sheriff decides how to allocate those dollars.

Since then, Byerly has been advocating following the appeal all the way through so the parties could hear a final decision from the state. Otherwise, he’s said, the disagreements will just return in future budget cycles.

In January, Darnell said she would accept a $392,214 reduction in her budget — the money that had been earmarked for school resource deputies — if she would receive the $543,911 she believes the county cut from her budget this fiscal year.

The appeal has been winding its way through Tallahassee ever since. On July 14, County Attorney Michele Lieberman and staff attended a hearing in Tallahassee where they presented the county’s defense to the appeal to the Administration Commission. Officials made it clear they preferred that the sheriff and county reach a settlement without state interference.

During a County Commission meeting on July 21, Lieberman recommended the commission make a counteroffer to Darnell, explaining the gesture might help the county’s position if the appeal is heard as scheduled on Tuesday in Tallahassee.

The County Commission then extended a counteroffer in which Darnell would get an extra $156,021 to her budget. The offer included a request that Darnell follow commission policy and Florida statutes by limiting the transfer of money between different parts of her budget and only with commission approval.

On July 22, Darnell rejected the county’s offer saying the figure was “insufficient” to meet needs the department is facing, instead proposing $300,000 as a more appropriate amount.

On Monday, the county went through several iterations of motions that included the $300,000 amount plus various conditions including asking Darnell to get legal clarification on whether or not she can move around money among the four areas of her budget, all of which the sheriff rejected, saying they were not related directly to the issue at hand, which was the budget appeal.

Shortly before the meeting’s conclusion, the county stripped away the conditions and decided to vote just on giving the Sheriff $300,000, which ultimately passed and which Darnell ultimately accepted.

​GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Nearly one year later, the fight over the Alachua County Sheriff's budget is over...

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​ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla -- This fall's flu season is fast approaching and parents in Alachua County will only have one vaccination option for their kids; a shot...

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​ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. — For nearly a decade, Alachua County students have been able to get the FluMist right at their school as a part of the county's Control Flu program...

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