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Politics

2 will be appointed to City Council seats

Joe Bernardini and Richard E. Lewis are the only candidates to file for their seats on the Brooksville council. But a Group 4 race is assured.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published September 2, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - You've missed your chance to run for City Council unless your name is Joe Bernardini, Richard E. Lewis, Lara Bradburn or Cecil D. Davis III.

The filing deadline passed Friday with only four candidates in this city of 7,700 applying for the three open positions on Brooksville's council.

Bernardini and Lewis are running unopposed in Groups 1 and 5, seats now held by Mary A. Staib and Ernie Wever - who must vacate their posts because of term limits.

Bernardini and Lewis have each served more than a decade on the council in the past. They will be appointed without an election.

The race in Group 4 pits Bradburn against Davis for the seat held by Mayor Joseph E. Johnston III, also leaving because of term limits.

The Nov. 7 election is unusual this year because a majority of the five-person council will be replaced, meaning the balance of power in the city could shift dramatically.

Last month, for example, the council split 3-2 over whether to open up City Manager Richard Anderson's position to outside applications.

The three outgoing council members wanted Anderson to keep his job without reapplying; the two members who will remain past this year - David Pugh Jr. and Frankie Burnett - voted to advertise his position.

Anderson returned to work Friday, but already, Bernardini has promised to re-examine the contract.

"I think we ought to open the process back up and see what's available," he said. "It was a vacant position and it should have been advertised."

On taxes, the candidates are generally in agreement that they need to be lowered.

Davis, a manager at Scarborough Land Roller & Machine Co., in South Brooksville, said the city should start a public-private business to bring in revenue besides tax money.

At 25, he would be the youngest member on council if elected.

"Most governments - especially city governments - don't think with an entrepreneurialistic mind," he said, when he first announced his plans to run. "That's what I'm doing. I'm trying to bring entrepreneurism to the city government."

Bradburn is a former reporter at Hernando Today and has served on various city boards. She ran unsuccessfully for County Commission in 2004.

As a "fiscal conservative," she said, she finds the city's tax situation a big concern.

"When you have a city that according to the Florida League of Cities has one of the highest tax ratios per capita and one of the highest spending ratios per capita, there seems to be a problem," she said back in April. "Whoever decides to run for council and seek this office needs to carefully and diligently address those issues."

The race promised to have more people in it, until three candidates withdrew in the last 10 days: Herman Scriven was going to challenge Lewis; Pat Brayton, a former council member, was going to challenge Bernardini; and Donald Varn was going to be the third candidate in the race to replace Johnston.

Anyone in the city can vote in the Group 4 election.

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

[Last modified September 4, 2006, 06:55:47]