Composite of Gulfport City Council candidates answering residents questions before election day. Photos by Leah Burdick.
There are two seats up for grabs on the Gulfport City Council and residents had the chance to learn how the four candidates respond to key concerns of their South Pinellas city. During both forums around 70 people joined to listen to their candidates.
Gulfport City Council, Ward 1
Joe Guenther faces Jennifer Daunch.
Daunch has worked in public service roles and has experience handling emergencies, including FEMA training. She said she is a great communicator and knows how to reach people in the community.
Guenther is a business owner and has served on multiple city boards with community foundations. He said he knows the city from the ground up.
The question “If state legislation reduces property tax revenues, how would you approach budget decisions and what guiding principles would you use for service reduction or alternatives,” was asked.
Guenther said he would explore funding at the federal and state level.
“Property taxes fund essential city services, including police and fire protection, stormwater infrastructure, roads, and parks. Currently, we take in about $7 million from property taxes. So we’re talking about a $3.5 million deficit that we’d have to make up. To address this, this city would need to explore all other federal, state, and county funding sources,” he said.
He said funds will not be cut from the fire and police departments because they are critical for the community.
Daunch said she wants to find a system where Gulfport can manage its’ own money.
“I feel like our property taxes, while now they go to the county and get trickled down to us, we could build some type of similar structure that would go directly to the city for us to manage. We can responsibly manage our own money instead,” she said.
She said this could be from direct assessments like police fees or see what each resident properties taxes are and have them pay the difference.
Both candidates want to find a solution to flooding and maintain water drainage throughout the area. They also said they would invest in Living Shoreline because it can help Gulfport.
Gulfport City Council, Ward 3
In Ward 3, Keri Nelson faces Jennifer Webb.
Nelson has worked in government roles and has lived in Gulfport for more than 20 years. She is active in local programs and events. She said with her diverse career path she has worked with policies and that shapes the community.
Webb is a former state representative and she said she already has relationships with city leaders and administrations. With her background she said she knows how to bring people together and structure funding programs.
The question “Will you continue a more detailed maintenance of the storm drains,” was asked.
Nelson said storm drain maintenance is her top priority and the community can also help with clearing drains.
“We will look at any kind of new technology if there are out there. I’m a big proponent of technology as well. See if there’s any better ideas that other communities are doing. But we definitely need the support of the community for supporting our public works because again, they can’t be everywhere all the time. We also need to make sure that our budget is set so that we have funding because this costs money,” she said.
She also said it’s important to track and look at the way the water flows to ensure it’s properly moving in the right direction.
Webb said there needs to be a more detailed city maintenance of the storm drains.
“Putting these projects from short term to long term and stacking them so we can leverage state funding and federal funding, so the burden of improving these storm water drainage system isn’t being shoulder complete by our residents. We can’t afford it,” she said.
Webb said clearing the drainage system is a number one priority and needs to start today.
Both candidates want to find a way to slow traffic down near Trolley Wall on 49th Street S. They also want to increase city communication during hurricane season and find solutions to people sleeping in their cars.
The municipal election is March 10.
The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area put the event together and wants to remind residents Florida requires voters to request vote-by-mail ballots after each general election. The deadline for these ballots is 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.
Listen to the full audio from each forum below: