Welcome, everyone.

Thanks for coming out this after My name is Matt Jacobs, I'm the director of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service It's wonderful to see such a gr on such a hot Sunday afternoon in late June in Gainesville.

The first thing I want you to kn is if you need to update your voter registratio please feel free to do so.

We have a table in the bac where we can assist you with tha We are a registere third party voter organization, so we can help you do that proce and walk you through that.

So again, please feel free to do so if you need to.

I just have a couple of quick responsibilities and Ill get out of the way and let the show commence.

The first thing I want to do is thank yous.

The first is to our partners, the League of Women Voters.

We've been partnering with the of Women Voters on these candida forums for a few year now, and it's a great opportunit for us to engage with the commun a little bit more.

And it's a great opportunity for people from the community to hear from our candidates for our local elections.

And so thank you very much to t of Women Voters for that.

Yes.

I also want to thank the team he at the Graham Center.

Marianne Vernetson, our associa director and public programs coo Teresa Cornacchione our civic engagement coordinator Dorothy Zimmerman, our communications director.

They do a tremendous amount of and they're very ably assisted by some of our student assistant I want to particularly note Isa and Leah Edwards, you've both do a tremendous amount of wor helping pull this together as we So thank you to Isa and Leah as You guys do a fantastic jo and we're delighted to have you Thank you also to you guys, our It's incredible to see this kind of turnout.

This is really really important for our communi And it's great to have you all h in Pugh Hall in the Ocora.

I'm going to have one more thank to do as well.

But before I get to that I also want to recognize Bob Gra Bob was a pillar of community service, civic engagement and public service and public leadership, and he founded the Center to be to continue that.

And certainly this demonstrates the value of public service, civic engagement and public lead And so certainly we want to rec his memory and his legacy as wel Lastly, I want to thank the cand So local governmen has far more impact on our day to da lives than national government e Right?

You know, it's not the White Ho that's getting your garbage pick It's not the White House that co utility bills.

It's not Congress thats determining sort of what's going in your local zoning issues, what's happening at your school any of that stuff.

Right.

Local government is what really in our day to day lives.

And our candidates aren't her for the glamor of the position, Right?

You know, local governmen doesn't have the big salaries, doesn't have the glamor doesn't have the high end media Local government officials, the who are here today, regardless of whateve your individual politics may be as an audience member or as a ca Our local government candidates deserve our thanks and our respect for being willi to serve their members of our co We see them in the grocery store We see them walking down the str We see them in our neighborhood in our communities on a daily ba They are a part of us, right?

And they're here because they wa and engage and serve with you.

And so I want to give a quic round of applause to all of our and thanks for your willingness My last responsibility is to int Janice Garry, president of the League of Women Voters, and so, as I said, we cannot pull this off without their partnership.

And we really d thank them for working with us o And so, please, Janice.

And I have a script to follow, but I want to say that I didn't the lion's share of this work.

It was Gwen Wagner, Diana Boxe and other people in the league did far more than I did and I appreciate it very much.

Good afternoon and welcome to the League of Women Voter Primary Election Candidate Forum I'm Janice Garry president of the League of Women Alachua County and along with the Bob Graham Ce for Public Service we welcome yo and thank you for being here.

We appreciate your viewership and we appreciate the participat of the candidates.

This forum is open to the public and an open forum such as this is the essence of and the freedoms we enjoy in our The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization which promotes democrac through voter education and advo We do not endorse candidates or political parties, but for more than 100 years, we have studied and supported state, local and national issues I remind you that no recording i any medium is allowed.

No part of a vide may be used in a political adver The content of this forum is th of the League and the Bob Graham which will record it and make i to the public after the event.

Post foru viewing will be possible on the and the Graham Center's YouTube The links will be appearing on our web pages.

For each panel, we will introduce ourselves an we will explain the format of th which participants have received in advance.

All candidates have also receiv and agreed to the forum rules.

They are the standar rules used for all League forums Questions were prepare and selected by members of the L Candidates who appear by nam on the primary election ballot for sheriff, county commission, school board, City of Gainesvill commission, and state representative were in to participate in today's forum.

The views expressed in the forum are those of the candidates and not those of the League.

We'r beginning today with the sheriff Good afternoon.

I am Gwendolyn Saffo, Vice President of the League, and I will be the moderato for the Alachua County Sheriff p There are three Democrat candida who will be on the primary ballo for the sheriff seat.

Mr. Peter King, Mr. Chad Scott, and Mr. Latrell Simmons.

The winner will run against the current interim sher Emery Gainey a Republican, and Pamela Marshal who has no party affiliatio in the general election in Novem The Alachua County sheriff is elected in a partisan electio and serves a four year term.

However, there is no term limit.

So the format of the forum will be as follows.

Each candidate will have one min for an opening statement.

This will be followed by three q You will each have one and one h to answer the questions.

You will be able to see the time that will indicate the remaining at 30 seconds and stop.

When you, when your time is up p [Crowd laughing] Your microphone may or may not b We will begin with opening statements in alphabetic Mr. Peter King.

Your statement, please.

Good afternoon.

I think it's bet Thank you to the League of Women and the Bob Graham Center.

I do appreciate appreciate you putting on this forum.

Okay.

All right.

I'm Peter King.

I'm a lifelong resident of Alach I went to P.K.

Yonge High School for 12 years, graduated in 19, 13 years excuse graduated in 1984.

After high school, I enliste in the United States Army Reserv where I served for 20 years, retiring in 2005.

After that, I was hired at the Alachua Coun Office where I started my career and I am two months, I was two m shy of hitting my 24th year.

I'm a servant leader.

My plan is to make Alachua Count the safest county in the stat and eventually in this country.

We're going to do that through strong leadership, a leadership with empathy and co And it's about making this comm like I said, the safest in the c and in the state.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. King.

Mr. Scott, your statement, pleas Good evening.

Thank you guys for coming.

My name is Chad Scott.

I was born in Newberry.

I went to college at Bethel Col where I received a bachelor's de After college I got my first job at the North Evaluation and Treatment center where I work with NGI and ITP pa which is not guilty by reason o and incompetent to withstand tri After that, I got hired by the A sheriffs office in 1990.

I worked in patrol.

I got promoted to sergean where I worked at the street cri First of all, I was a school re officer as well, when I was at N and I taught the first criminal class for school resource.

After that, I went to the Alachua police departmen where I rose through every rank.

Then I got the chief positio and we encountered gun violence, which is plaguing the community right now.

We put it to bed through collabo with local and federal officials We gained control of the situati But thank you so much, Chad Scot Thank you, Mr. Scott.

Next, Mr. Latrell Simmons, your statement, please.

Latrell Simmons, candidat for sheriff of Alachua County.

A little bit about my campaign is that it's based on proven leadership, experience and transparency.

My experience over at the Alachu County Sheriff's Office I was there for a little over 22 During that time I held a variety of different po Major of operations, major of su services.

The chief inspector, the assist director, as well as security op commander among a variet of other leadership positions as A little bit about my platform.

I plan to focus on gu violence, traffic safety, mental and some other concerns that ar our community, the homelessness.

While most people may not thin that it's a law enforcement conc very well is.

Homelessness.

Homeless people, as well as those that suffer fr health, often end up in the jail And that is not the place for th We must find other alternatives Traffic safety.

We all drove to get here s we know how traffic is out on th Gun violence.

We must do something about it im and focus on our youth.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now move on to our quest As a reminder, you will have on and one half minute to answer.

We will start with the second c alphabetically and then rotate t in which the candidates respond to the questions.

The first question is what do you believ is the number one thing that nee to change at the sheriff's depar and how would you change it?

We will begin with Mr. Chad Scot Your answer, please.

The first thing I want to focus at the sheriff's office, if you deal with people on the i I think you have to deal with p that are competent, capable, con in their jobs, and also have th and the empathy and love of peop The first thing I want to encounter is on the inside and to build emotional intellige within people.

If you cannot get along on the i how are you going to expect peo to deal with folks on the outsid So I want to focus on relationsh and leadership.

Leadership within the sheriff's that's that with people that have passio and love and empathy for other p You know, without that, you don't have anything.

We deal with people at the most times of their lives.

When you talk about somebody who has been a victim of rape or gun violence, so we have to have empathy.

You have to have passion.

And I don't expect us to deal with people on the outside if we're not dealing properl with each other on the inside.

So my focus will be on peopl that are competent, capable and and coupled with passion, passio for the job and empathy and love That's the first thing That's the first thing we have t Because if you don't, there's pe in all instances wearing a unif that don't need to be wearing un So we have to focus o positive relationship with our c That's where it starts.

Thank you, Mr. Scott.

Next, Mr. Latrell Simmons, your answer, please.

There are quite a few things that I would change over at the Alachua County Sheriff's But the primary concer that I have is with the leadersh and the administration.

Right now I want, when I become sheriff, I'm going to bring in a diverse group of people who are experience and care about their employees.

I personally fee that if we take care of our empl they will take care of the commu that they serve.

There have been throughout histo that there's a divide between whether you work at the or on the law enforcement side and also in other areas.

We are all human.

We all signed up to work at the County Sheriff's Office to serve this Alachua County com and beyond.

Therefore we should treat, the administrat should treat all of their employ the same way.

And I believe, like I said previ that that will pass over to you as citizens with the that we provide.

I can go on and on about the tr I want to implement within the a for our personnel, but I'm limit to a minute and 30 seconds.

All right.

So after I still have 12 minutes or 12 se after this forum please come upstairs and see me and we can continue this convers about the Alachua County Sheriff's Offic and how you can be a part of it Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Simmons.

Mr. Peter King, your answer, ple Yes, ma'am.

Like Latrell said, it's thats many things need to at the Alachua County Sheriff's But for me also it has to start with leadership.

A leader thats like, just compa working hard with the communit and working hard within the agen It has a lot to do with sympathy And we have to train our deputie to do what's righ based on the leadership style.

I believe that leadershi a leader needs to lead with comp He needs to be really focused on bringing up what's right to do what's right within the agency.

There are leaders now within the agency that lea only because they are in a posit We got to have somebody that's passionate about leaders and not just being in the positi So once we get leaders in ther that are passionate about leadin with the passion and not being a position, things are going to We have to have our command sta be a reflection of our community Alachua County is a diverse, very diverse community, and right now our command staf isn't a reflection of our commun So we've got to change, our comm and make it be a reflection of our community and also have be a reflection of our community It's one sided.

There are a lot and there are a lot of good peop at the jail that have some issues and thing that over there are somewhat one So we need to change the diversity of agency and bring in people with compas thats going to lead with passio Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. King.

Our next question is what strate you us to build and maintain community We will start with Mr. Simmons.

Your answer, please.

All right.

What strategies will I use to bu and maintain community trust?

Well, if you look over my histo at the Alachua County Sheriff's you'll see tha the majority of it was involved in the being out in the communit I was a school resource deputy for several years.

I was a supervisor over the prog Some of you may have had family that attended the Washington DC Safety Patrol trip.

I believe I went up there at least ten times with 1200 kids or so and parents and chaperones.

But we must engage.

We must engage in our community.

And you can't do that from behin the desk.

You have to get ou going to all parts of Alachua Co which is quite frankly, I don't it's being done right now.

There are certain sectors of Alachua Count that get the sheriff's office at while others don't.

And the ones that don't nee the sheriff's office attention t That's where you have violent cr occurring.

And one way to prevent that is our young people engaged in some All of my kids played sports gr and I believe that gave them som to do when they left school for and then they came home at night We must engage in our young peop if we want to see a change in the gun violence and to develop the community's at the Alachua County Sheriff's That's all I have.

Thank you.

Mr. King.

Your answer, please.

Great strategy is what we're go to need to build trust in this c And unfortunately I got to echo what Simmons said.

We got to be in the community.

We got to have programs and have outreach programs to make in the communitie where we having some issues at.

Me, personally, I was al I would be out there in the comm I would go from community to com We also we got to have a leade that when you go in the communit where we're having some issues a community has to be able to receive that leader, that She And I'm that person.

My personality in every communit I go in to, working with, I served warrant for twelve years, I was in schoo also, and I built relationships in all of these communitie cause they came through our our and now since they were my stud now they're adults and they have So the relationship that I've bu with them during the school time, during the school years is a strong relationship that I And everybody have dispersed to different communities.

I've lived in a lot of those com I know how to relate to those co They have to have somebody they can relate to.

And by relatin and being, living in the past, the going through the same thing that they went through, they can understand and we can r So it's going to take somebody going out into communities, being in those communities, est a relationship and build a relat making a strong relationshi and a strong rapport, then we wi I will have a strong strateg and we will fix things in the co Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. King.

Next, we'll hear from Mr. Scott.

Your answer, please?

Well I've been I've been in law enfor for 34 years and I've served in every capacit that you can possibly serve in in law enforcement.

And I have much love for and empathy for people.

But as far as regaining the trus and respect is it's people call me today every day but you have to have transparenc You know you have to be able to communica with the peopl and get your narrative out first You got to communicate with the People want to hear from you.

If something happened, they want to hear from you.

We got to get the narrative out The other thing is accessibility You got to be accessible to the People got to be able to reach y People got to be able to give yo You got to be accessible.

If people know me, Chad Scott, when they call me, I answer.

I answer my phone.

You don't have to call my serge my lieutenant, or any other pers other than me People want to hear from the she Not the undersheriff, the sherif You have to be accessible.

The third thing is dedication.

I have been dedicated.

I have been dedicated to my comm for 34 years.

And believe it or not, I've never called in sick.

Never calle in sick because I love my commun So when when you talk about trus that's trust.

That's when people trust you.

When theyll be able to cal you and be able to get an answer When yo when it comes to public records When they want to know something Tell them how to get it.

Tell them how to get it.

That's because that.

That's what they want to know.

You have to be accessible.

You have to be transparent, and to be dedicated to your communit And I have done that.

This is nothing about Chad Scott This is about my community in wh and which you love.

So I can protect your kids and your children.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Scott.

Now for the third and final ques Gun violence continues to be on the rise in our community.

What policies, preventative meas or program do you plan to put in place to c this public health crisis if elected to this office?

We will begin with Mr. King.

Your answer, please.

Gun violence, yes, is definitel this community in this county.

What I think is important that we have to reach back, do something think, think a way out of the bo There are some people that have this road before.

They have committed some of thes They use guns and gun violence.

They have since done their time.

Now those people want to come b and give back to the community and pull our youth away from the What's important, we got to have have them come in, talk with ou youth, guide them along the righ We've got to have programs for t after school.

Program for them to be involved with tha the righ way to go and how to deal with c There's a lot of conflict resol that we can put in at our school We did it at Eastside for years and our fight went down because it was a conflict resol that was mediated by their peers So with the gun battles we bring in people that have bee that road before, have them int with our youth, get the programs show them how to make a better d and from there move on and keep contact and reinforceme and constant contact to ensure they don't go back to decisions to use gun violence.

Gun, go to gun violence.

Its very important that we think out of the box and bring peopl that we never would expect to co and do these things for u is people that serve in this com That's how we're going to do it.

That's my way of getting this th taken care of.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. King.

Next, we'll hear from Mr. Chad S Your answer, please.

I've been on a street crimes uni and I've been a supervisor on t crimes unit dealing with gun vio Right now there's consequences and repercu because these these guys and th shooters, they're killing each o So the model that you have to us right now is called an ILP, which is intelligence led polici You don't focus on the people.

You focus on the problem.

You know, you have you have crime analysts that's putting data together when these things happen.

And then you have data that you directly on that problem.

There's no way around that You have to focus on the problem However, there's another par that we need to focus on as a co is early intervention.

Statistics say 0 to 5 i when a child's mind is developed The main part of the development is 0 to 5.

So as a police department we have to collaborate with othe such as in the school resource p business owners, community leade and and clergy to find out how can we get to these kids early, early intervention.

You have Big Brothers.

You take, they Take Stock in Chi to deal with this issue.

But if you look around if you look at Grand Theft Auto, you think about all these video and these these mothers that's working and not paying at These kids are shooting each oth So we have to get information o to these parents that say, hey, we've got to find other things for them to do.

We've got to find sports, theater, anything.

But collaboratively we have to get this on the table with all agencies, school board Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Scott.

Mr. Latrell Simmons, your answer Thank you.

I think this is one of our biggest problems.

I know for a fact that this is of our biggest problems in our c We're losing way too many live of young people in our communiti The better.

Thank you.

All right.

What are we going to do about gun violence in our commun Because I can tell you tha the sheriff's office can't do it We need our communit there with us to be our eyes, ou and the suppor when we start rolling out initia One of the things that was allu to previously by the other two c was a school resource program, an extremely strong program in o And as I mentioned earlier, I was a school resource officer as well as I supervised the unit for many years.

Peter King mentioned that a lot of those kids come back and talk to yo after they graduate high school.

That is where you ge some of your intelligence from because they're out there in those communities, the same communitie that don't have the necessary re And as the sheriff of Alachua C I would partner with other agenc throughout the count to provide resources to those co so they don't have to go out and sell drugs, so they don't have to go out and In addition to that youth dialog there is a barrier between law enforcemen and our youth in this community.

We had youth dialogue going str at the Alachua County Sheriff's while I was there and we establ so many wonderful relationships.

In additio to that, mental health for our y and also provide jobs and resou in those communities that need i Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Simmons.

This ends the panel for the Alac County Sheriff seat.

Thank you so much candidates for participating today.

The next panel will be the prima election candidates for county c Good afternoon.

Im Rhonda Sibilia, a proud memb of the League of Women Voters and I'm going to serve as moder for County Commission District 1 There are two Democratic candida for County Commission District that will appear on the primary They are Mary Alford and Dejeon We welcome you an thank you very much for being he Now, Alachua County commissioners are elected for a four year term with no ter Seats are elected by residents in that district.

And at the time of the election, the candidates must live in the in which they represent.

District 1 is kind of southwest Gainesville and going down sout and western part of Alachua Coun The format for the forum will be as was previously.

Each candidate will have a minut for their opening statemen and then they will have three qu and they will have a minute and a half to answer them.

Somebody messed up the papers.

Sorry, they will have a minute and a half to answer.

There will be three questions to and I'll rotate the orde in which the questions respond.

And as before, and I don't kno if you saw how the sheriff's can did, but you'll be able to see indicating that the remaining ti at 30 seconds and then stop when your time is up, please.

We will now begin with the candi opening statements.

You have one minut and we will begin in alphabetica So, Mary Alford, would you pleas give your opening statement?

Good afternoon.

Alachua County is a special pla that's full of really wonderful a really wonderful environmen and really awesome amenities, li the cultural aspects of the Uni of Florida, our springs and our And that's one of the reasons I've chose to stay here in Alachua County.

I was born and raised here, went P.K.

Yonge, I went to Santa Fe as a single mom with four kids, and I went to the University of and it took me ten years, but I ended up with a degree in eng and a master's of engineering.

I've been a small business owner I've specialized in sustainabili and affordable housing and in the environment.

I've also been broke.

I've been housing challenged and I understand the challenges that many folks h in Alachua County face.

I believe our county government is doing a great job and I would like to keep doing t And I hope that after this foru Ill have earned your vote in Au Thank you.

Thank you.

Dejeon Cain, may we hear your statement, plea My name is Dejeon Cain.

I'm home grown from Gainesville, I'm currently a business owner, I own Fortitude Security.

I also train people for their G and their D license in security Also in this community, I was br at Gainesville High School.

I also went to Howard Bishop Mi School, and I love to say that I baby because so many peopl forget about AGH, but I was born It is so importan in our kind of government that w a leader that understands, a lea that won't leave the job or just come to the jo for certain times or certain per but understand that we need a le that listens, that cares, that understands the needs of the community.

It's important that when you co and you talk to us, that we list what you what you have to say.

And I love this community and I to fight and continue fighting.

This is my third time.

I almost won in 22 and lost by 2 And I'm not through.

I'm going to continue until we push to the limi to get the leaders that we deser So I ask you for your vote on the 20th of August.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you, Mr. Cain.

And thank you candidates.

We will no move on to our prepared question You will have one and a half minutes to answer, and we will begin with the second candidate alphabetically and then rotate t in which you respond.

So for our first question we will begin with candidate Dej The county has recognized the i of climate change and has starte implementing policy change that include resiliency and miti What step do you think the county should t to ensure that we collectively r our local carbon emissions?

Well, I believe that we need to with our local companies and we need to talk about this i even with the community, because one thing that has been is our communit as far as talking to them, seein and letting them know that, hey, climate is real.

Climate change is real.

I was speaking to someone before I came in here and we were just talking abou how real it is and we have to ta seriously.

But we also got to really really talk to the scientists.

We got to really really talk to our people in our and see where they stand with th And we work together.

That's one thing we we're missin We got to work as a team to get climate change where it n and hear everybody's opinion.

And let's let's work from there to get it done.

Ms. Alford, your response, pleas The county when I first was elec four years ago, we have I started serving on the Water and Climate Advisory Board.

This is a joint board with the Gainesville, and we have ordered vulnerability analysi that's being finished up this ye We have some, you know, good and in that vulnerability analysis and it's going to require a lot to take that information and and come to some good, stron policy change to put those recommendations to We also have a Citizens Climate Advisory Board, that's one of our best climate advisory boards that we have, some really strong, smart people sit on that and we actually have recently had openings.

So I hope that some of you look at that and consider apply if this is of interest to you.

But, you know, we do listen to our citizens and we do do the work with the e that are in our community.

And we do have a lot of work to I could -- this is my field.

I could spend a long time going the all the list of things that we need to d to lower our carbon footprint.

But I will say that we are doing We are lowering our carbon foot with each of our construction pr with each of our choices with the fact that, you know, we Well, I'll I'll leave it at that But we can talk about this for a upstairs, later.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And our next question starts wit Mary Alford.

What strategy or strategies will you employ to respon to public concerns and criticism Strategie to, okay, very general question.

I think the number one strateg is to hear the concern and and s when people come to you with a c it's not what they're saying at It's a deeper, more entrenched c that's there.

And so hearing what our communit has to say with an open mind, with doing the background resear what's being said, and understan that when person after person after person comes to you with a and other people say it's not a it probably is a problem.

You know, we've been hearing hou was a concern in this county for for year and years and years and years.

Right now we have 60,000 people, 60,000 pe a day that commute into Alachua because they can't afford to liv So we didn't listen to their con We didn't address that back when it would have bee a much easier thing to accomplis So I believe that the number one thing to do is to hear people and believe t when they say they have a proble And I'm just going to leave it a Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Cain, your response, please.

So, first of all I believe that we must hear the We must spark the change and we must save the people.

So those strategies is what we n First of all, I think the count commission does a great job with But I think we can sharpen up.

The race that we're in right now, it's a district race.

So what are the needs of Archer?

What are the needs of Micanopy?

What are the needs of southwest Gainesville?

That is important.

And I think being accessibl and also allowing them to call y for instance, with my campaign since we started, you can call and we'll talk to you right away 3522830288.

And that's 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Call, ask question you can donate or whatever you n But we have to have those line of communications open.

And not just that.

If you call my cell phone and yo Cain, I want to go to lunch well, let's go to lunch on me.

It's important that we have tha and not just talk about that fee Far too long, we've talked abou but there has not been any actio And with my leadership, I'm ready to bring that in.

And I've been doing it the whole I ran.

I did it in 22 and I'm going to continue to do because that's what we need, someone that understands the needs of the people and they're accessible to our constituents.

Thank you.

You may be facing a lot of lunch in the future.

I'm ready.

And for our next question we will begin with Dejeon Cain.

How would you describe the balan between progres and tradition in Alachua County?

Well, let me say this.

We are making progress.

We are, but it's not quick enoug We've been left behind too long.

We have too many things troubling our communities and too many things that people are dealing with, too many governmental entities.

Archer, Micanopy, theyre deali water issues and infrastructure We shouldn't have that.

We have the resources.

So we've got to work with them to get that done.

So the balance is okay, but I b the balance can get better with leadership, better communicatio together all to just make it wor We got to work together.

That's just the key thing.

We got to sto choosing what we're going to do and we've got to work with our municipalities and work with our mayors and ma that we work hard to get it done Thank you.

Thank you.

Mary Alford, your res I remember the meeting where they mad the decision to take down Old Jo Old Joe was a Civil War statue that sat on the green at the Ala County Courthouse.

And there was a lot of discussio about tradition.

And then I was there just this p after Old Joe had found another When we put up a new statue called Sankofa.

And it was in honor of a woman named Patricia Hillia who was a true visionary of progress, whil she also, you know, valued the t of of many things.

If you knew her, you know what I was talking about.

But, you know, watching that new be unveiled and seeing, seeing progress was real valuable to me.

And I think there's a role for t I think that we have to carefull the traditions that we have in our community and see where you know, where they fit our nee see if they are honoring our values and our commitments today And sometime those traditions are important.

You know, the tradition of gove the tradition of public discours the tradition of of government i But there's also a time for prog Thank you.

Thank you.

And this ends the pane for County Commission District 1 I want to thank you candidates for being here.

The next, the next panel will be the prima election candidates for school b Im Isabell Garcia and Ill be the moderator for the Alachua County School Bo District 2 and 4 panel.

There are two candidates for th 2 seat, Diyonne McGraw and Thoma There are two candidates for th 4 seat, Leanetta McNealy and Lew Welcome, candidates and thank you for joining us tod The Alachua County School Board members are elected in nonpartisan elections and serve four year terms.

All registered voters in Alachua regardless of where you live or party affiliation may vote for all school board me The seats are elected by the county at large but candidates must reside in th they would represent.

The format of the forum will be as follows.

Each candidate will have one min for their opening statement.

Following the opening statements I will read question prepared by the League of Women Each candidate will then have o a half minutes to answer these q There will be three questions in I will, I will rotate the orde in which the candidates respond.

Candidates you will be able to see the time that will indicate the remaining at 30 seconds and stop.

Please stop when your time is up If you do not, your microphone may be muted.

We will begin with candidates opening statements.

You each have one minut and we will begin in alphabetica District 2, Diyonne McGraw, your statement, please.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

I am Diyonne McGraw and I am still your candidate who has been committed to serv and I have the courage to lead.

In the last 18 months, when we 2022, I have been very visible.

Actionable.

I implemented a barber class at Eastside High School, and we have a second one coming.

I visited over 90% of our school in the first two weeks to build those relationships.

Im here for my teachers our parents and our administrato Also, I created a municipality, joint municipality meetings with surrounding municipalitie to assure every voice is heard.

I also created a community wide and that has been working well.

And I also wrote a plan to address behavior.

And so I have not just walk but I've talked to talk, to talk I've walke and I have been making a differe Serving as the current chai of the Alachua County School Boa And I ask you to continue to allow me to do this work and vote for me on August 20th, Thank you.

Thank you.

Thomas Vu, your statement, pleas Hello, everybody.

My name is Thomas Vu and I'm ru Alachua County School Board Dist I'm a 37 year old former teache and former member of district st And it's through that experienc that I've seen firsthand how our our student and our families are not support As a candidate, I'm committed t real systems that support our te that grow them, as oppose to treating them like they're ex I'm also committed to creating s that ensure our students can read proficient because the data is real.

And the data shows that if you c by the end of fifth grade, your educational prospects drastically dim.

And if elected, I'm also going everything I can to change the c of the school district so that w in real community engagement.

We need to go out and listen to to understand what their needs are and what their concerns are.

And again, my name is Thomas Vu running for Alachua County Schoo Board District 2.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now, from District 4, Leanetta M your statement, please.

Good afternoon.

I think you can hear me now.

I am Leanetta McNealy and I am s reelection to the Alachua County School Board.

I have served 38 years as an edu and my years serving on the Alac County School Board have given me and empowered me the knowledge as to how to face the challenges that we have in the school syste The state and local leaders have many challenges to improve education for all stu I want to continue to work to ad those issues.

I ask for your continued support for me as this candidate and ret to the Alachua County School Boa Thank you.

Lew Welge, your statement, pleas Yes, I pronounce that Well-gee, well gee who was that unmasked m I'm a fifth generation Floridian I was born in Jacksonville, Flor I have a bachelor's degree from the University of, from Randolph-Macon College, liberal arts college in Ashland, The religious studies major.

And then I got my master's and my specialist degrees in educatio from the University of Florida h Go Gators.

I'm running for the District 4 s in the Alachua County School Bo to use my 18 years of extensive and innovative guidance counseling experience.

Beginning teacher in Bradford County, three years.

Three years in Volusia County.

My last 11 years in Duval Count of my birth Jacksonville, Florid I want to gain this position to help our students, their pare and the and the employees of the Alachua County Public School System to experienc the most broad benefit of counse which is to help we the people t better about ourselve and to get along better with oth That's counselings mission stat To help people, us, to feel better about oursel and to get along better with oth Was that my time or am I out of Ill continue in a few minutes.

Thank you, candidates.

We will now move on to our prepared questions.

You will have one and a half minutes to answer.

We will start with the candidate of District 2 and procee to the candidates of District 4.

We will begin with the second c alphabetically and then rotate t in which candidate will respond to the questions.

For our first question we will begin with District 2.

What are your top three priorit for improving Alachua County sch Thomas Vu, your answer, please.

I feel like I'm going to repeat my introduction a lit but my top three priorities are, which to me are very 10 basic things for any large organ So the first thing we need to do is understand our greatest asset which is our teachers.

And, you know, when I was a tea it was honestly one of the most times of my life.

But the constant feeling I go is that our expertise was never and we need to go back to reali teachers are the ones on the fro They're the ones who see the pro and teach our kids every day.

Many of our teachers see everyon more than their parents do and have a huge impact on the and their futures.

And so first it's just doing th and making sure we bring respect back to the profession making sure that our teachers fe Because right now we have teache because they don't.

We have teachers leaving becaus like they're treated as expendab They're leaving because they're they can't transfer out of their to seek greater opportunities or promotions for themselves.

And so they just quit the distri The next priorit is that we need to make sure tha teaching kids how to read.

I worked in the data departmen and I really saw it firsthand to once children leave elementary s their ability to learn just drastically decreases.

If you have a level one in read in fifth grade, your math scores actually decrease over the year in sixth grade.

To me, this is a five alarm fire that we're not addressing and we need an all hands on deck of every aspect of government and community to do this.

And the last one is just literal and engage the community, solicit what they think, solici what they have to say, and try to understand what their needs when it comes to their kids educ Because without that we're not going to be able to ma movement to a better future.

Thank you.

Diyonne McGraw, your answer, ple Sitting in this chair in this seat now, with the Alach County School Board the top priority is our achievem Since 2016 we had not had any of our school that were in turnaround, come out of turnaround.

In less than 18 months, you have three schools that have come out of a turnarou which is wonderful.

They're no longer a F, a D or F they're now a C. And so we're making progress in that category.

Everybody's wonderin and wondering about Lake Forest.

We're looking at our data.

Lake Forest should make it out, has been five Fs in the past fo And so the other thing is behavi One of the things, student achie and behavior go hand-in-hand.

If you do not address the behav that affects your achievement ga And also I have shown, as a lea we are supporting our teachers.

We now have staff in plac that have decentralized themselv going out in the schools, hearing what our teachers are s and they're working extremely ha So your achievement gap, the be supporting your staff, increase That is currently happening in A County schools.

Because one of the things we did we brought stability.

When you heard from all of our they wanted stability in the las eight, ten years youve had eight superintendents You cannot make progress if you to change in leadership in a short period of time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now we will move on to District 4 candidates answers.

Lew Welge, your answer, please.

Am I on?

Top priority is working with the guidance sta Teachers, as Mr.

Vu says, is are on the front lines.

I don't like to use that metapho because it's adversarial.

We need better relationship between our teachers, our studen and counselors are fol that help relationships improve.

The teachers are on the front li The most stress.

Administrators, you know, are trying to help.

But so often, systemically they're removed from that classr I'm going to, a peer facilitated is necessary in all the schools.

P.K.

I mean, elementary through high That's where students can help their fellow students learn listening skills.

They'll be, that's the big thing Listening is more important than It's when folks are not heard and appreciated.

Students, teachers, dissatisfied I'm going to ask that administra do have at least one classroom lesson a semester where they are a classroom guidance, a lesson for the students in their school That's that's the first priority I didnt get to the other two, e Leanetta McNealy.

Your answer, please.

it is very difficult for m to narrow it down to just three.

We have many, many priorities.

But since you ask for three, one of the first ones that I wan to see as a priority and it's ha all over the United States and out of the country even, and that's recruiting and retaining qualified certified teachers for our stude This is one top priority that we are having difficulty wi I will come back to that one bef our questions are over.

The other one is certainly compe for all of our employees, not just the instructional staff but all of our employees certainly need to have the correct compensatio for the hard work that they all And then I kno you've heard so much about rezon We have schools that are underen and schools that are overcapacit Those would be three of my top p Rezoning and compensatio for all employees and recruiting and retainin qualified instructional staff.

Thank you.

Now for our second question, we begin with District 4.

How would you address the liter challenges students face in Alac County?

Leanetta McNealy, your answer, p We would certainly have other pr that we are going to be implemen for our literacy.

We need all students to be able All students.

And we usually say third grade.

I would say foundationally, even in first grade.

One of the things that we are do so great, I think, is that we are going to be reopenin Duval Elementary where I started, I finished up as principal.

But we will be working with thr and four year olds in that schoo and we will be emphasizing liter helping children learn to read.

This is a challenge for us.

And so this is one of the things that we will be addressing.

How do we improve the literacy, starting with the foundation, three and four year olds.

So I know tha we have some other good programs but I wanted to say that particu working with the young childre who are below kindergarten age.

Thank you.

Lew Welge, your answer, please.

Yes, I'm a 69 year old guy, its my last year in my sixties.

And, and I remember schoo as being a kind of a fun time, r Especially elementary school.

And so when you talk abou introducing literacy, to be able words, and I think we need to ma prosaic and, talk, talk is cheap Money talks, right?

We need to incentivize.

We need to incentivize the reading of our youngest children, elementary level.

And we need to involve music which is a universal language.

So I'm going to really encourage the singing of the ABC song.

Just get.

We could all sing along.

A.

B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I J. K. L. M. N. O. P. And I would go on but you all know that tune.

A second one that the kids need to know, because kids need, we we all need to know that somebo before we care what they know.

And, and so I'm going to encoura the kids to do, to sing, you are my sunshine, my only sun They're going to learn, they're to learn some vocabulary with th And it's going to help them to in their heart moving forward.

Thank you.

Now we will move on to District candidates answers.

Diyonne McGraw, your answer, ple Again, I must agree with Dr. McN One of the things I did when I in is I visited all of our VPK c I was really disappointe when we lost our Headstart progr because you had an opportunity 40 years to work with the entire And reading is key.

That's part of my platform.

And one of the thing that when I visited our VPK clas you had some of the classe where 18 out of 21 kids were rea and prepared to read coming out If we can do that across the dis then guess what?

By third grade, our kids will be Also continuing to suppor our reading nights with the fami Also, we are in partnershi with the County Commission to do countywide literacy assessment of the entire families.

We are in a time where we have t with the entire family because we know our system has been around for 30 years.

We failed some of those parents who were students of Alachua County Public Schools and now we have their children.

But one of the things ,and we a I said like I say, you got the c You got to look at the history o We had not had any movement whe to reading and closing that gap.

It is happening now in Alachua County public schools, and I'm proud to be a part of t that's making sure that is happe Thank you.

Thank you.

Thomas Vu, your answer, please.

I mean, of course I agree with e here.

Reading is one of our biggest c that affects every aspect of edu And just for me personally I was the child of Vietnamese im who could not teach me how to read or write.

So I went into elementary schoo not having any of those skills, much like so many of our kid do today here in Alachua County.

But you know, who I am is a com product of the Florida education And I know that education worked And so I became a teacher.

One of the most heartbreaking th to see and to realize is that it's not working for so many of our kids here.

And I'm a systems level thinker.

And to me when I look at the system right to support kids, so much of it we will catch them up in high sc And to me, that's over five years too late.

I think we really do need a dras in how we reorient resources in this district.

I agree with Dr. McNealy here.

The primary grades are the most That's where all of our resource really need to go.

K through 2, even though it's no tested for accountability, because that's where it starts where kids start falling behind.

And to do tha truly is we need to take advanta of all the state test that the state currently pays fo That gives us data about where k We need to track it and see if they're making adequate progres from quarter to quarter and year And if they're not, we have to m we have centralized resources so we can actually go in and sup those kids.

So much of what we do is blame and blame everything except ours And as a school district we need to make sure we're doing everything we can within our pow to make this change happen.

Thank you.

Now for our third and final question, we'll start with District 2.

Describe an effective school boa Thomas Vu, your answer, please.

I believe an effective school b truly is somebody who represents the people is somebody who stands by what t One of my biggest reasons for ru is the idea that I looked at the last election cycle.

I looked at a bunch of candidate basically the same platform.

Yet now they're split.

Yet now we're not making the bi changes that we really do need t What I'm seeing right now is sho term thinking.

What I'm seeing right now, i just trying to put window dressi to try to make things look nic when in reality, if you look at you look at the nitty gritty you look at the teacher exodus, leaving and almost everyone agre that we have big issues here in Alachua County public schools that need drastic changes.

So for me to be an effective sch board member I have to go out and listen to e It can't just be someone doing i I have to go out into every peri of the county and hear what life is like for people, how difficul it is for families to educate th why some families feel lik they don't even need to send the to school anymore because they it doesn't offer them anything.

We need to make sure that Alachu County Public School is everybody's number one choice And right now, for so many, it's Our enrollments have been declin for over a decade.

Our ratio of gifted students the overall student population, is decreasin even with all this population gr They're all leavin because they all feel the same w And for m to be an effective school board I need to do everything I can to that people feel like our schoo and our school board is here for Thank you.

Diyonne McGraw, your answer, ple An effective school board leader is someone who looks like me.

This is the third tim that I'm running for the school Many people know my situation.

When I came in, I came back with not a vindictive spirit.

I came back for those who truly Hitting the ground running.

Going into the schools.

I went into the schools.

I'm still into the schools.

If you look at my Facebook page I'm always posting where I've be where I'm going.

I have made a true difference with the children.

That's what it's all about.

I've taken the politics out of and I focus on what is best for Even our board meetings now, they're very calm.

Many people have called me and s McGraw, continue to do what you' An effective board member, we want to listen.

We're going to go in and build relationships.

One of the things when I did com in, morale was extremely low.

But when you show people that yo and you're serious about the seat that you're serv and you say, what do I want to d What I want to do, I want to make a difference.

I've done that through my servic I've done that as a leader.

And a leader has to be able to make tough decisions, especially given the climate th with dealing with Tallahassee.

And our school board has been a And I have shown through my act that I am here truly committed t And I'm all about all kid and all families that are part o County Public Schools.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now for District 4 candidates an Lew Welge, your answer, please.

Thank you.

Yes.

You know, showing up is half of And it's good that you're here t participating and and there's guidanc counselors saw kids in three way individually, which are their ow confidentiality and all that.

That's.

But that's great.

But one on one, you can get alon with anybody, one on one.

There's also small group counseling like study skills and small groups to help deal with changes like especial or separation or anger in their Anger management.

The third way is classroom guidance lessons.

And this is where a counselo or an administrator or a teacher really shows their chops because if you can do an adequat and keeps peopl to keep the kids attention and h be able to say, well, I got X ou or I got that out of that, that's reall where the rubber hits the road.

And so I'm going to be doing out I'm going to be like Ms. McGraw, I'm going to be visible accessible out in the schools.

I'm going to be dresse as Abraham Lincoln occasionally in high school classes and and elementary and middle school, because what an example.

Don't worry people don't listen we're they're always watching us So people say, well why do I reenact Abraham Lincoln Because I can.

And I first start as a guidance lesson in Duval County, was very successful.

You talk about passion.

You get people, you get the stu interested and interested in his And it's a complex thing.

And so involvement, attendance, involvement.

Thank you.

Leanetta McNealy, your answer, p I guess you may wonder why am I wanting to be reelected Well one thing: there is work still t An effective school, a board mem I should say, never, never stops worrying about what needs to happen or ch in the Alachua County public school system.

I can tell you that through my y serving in this capacity, the passion that I feel, the speaking that I will do, the fighting that I have to continue is a must.

An effective board member must include stakeholders.

The citizens, the families, staf all of the above in order to make things happen for our ch And I keep saying the children.

Yes, we have staff.

Yes, we have other aspects of the school system, but the kids are our number one So I sleep, eat and work hard ev That is what you nee as an effective school board mem Thank you.

Thank you, candidates, for parti in this forum this afternoon.

Next, we move on to candidates i commission.

Good afternoon.

I'm League member Diane Dimperio and I'll be the moderator for the Gainesville City Commission candidates.

Welcome candidate and thank you for joining us tod Gainesville city commissioners duties like approving the city's setting the militar and approving ordinances and res Commissioner must continuously live in their during their time in office.

City commissioners serve a four and are limited to two terms.

All residents in Gainesville are eligible to vote for the At-Large position but only those who live in the d may vote for the district posit and we have one of each today.

There are two candidate in the race for At-Large, James and Fareed (Reed) Johnson, and there are two candidates in the race for District 1.

Michael Perkins and Desmon Dunca The format of the pane will be familiar to you by now.

Each candidate will have one min for their opening statement.

And following the opening statem I'll read questions that have been prepare by the League of Women Voters, a candidate will have a minute and a half to answer.

They'll be three questions and we'll rotate the orde in which candidates answer the q And as you have seen, candidates can see the timer, which will indicate the time rem And then we have our little jing that tells someone stop.

And if they don't stop Il mash on their toes in spite of t So please stop when your time is So we will now begin with the ca opening statement.

You'll each have one minute.

And we'll begin with the candid for the At-Large in alphabetical So, James Ingle, will you please make your opening statement?

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

My name is James Ingle.

I'm running for the Gainesville City Commission seat.

I was going to try to sing alon but it didn't seem to go along v last time, so I'm going to skip So I got into this race because I am tired of seeing peo in Gainesville struggle.

You know, Gainesville is a great place to but it is a hard place to earn a I think we can do better.

And I really want to change that You know, my background covers a lot of that.

I'm the president of the local electricians union.

I've worked as a apprenticeship instructor.

I've served on the the Alachu County Workforce Development Boa I've seen the difference that that can be mad when people have opportunities.

And I want to be part of making a better place for working peopl So thanks very muc and I look forward to this forum Thank you.

Reed Johnson your opening statement, please.

Good afternoon.

I'm Fareed Johnson those that know me call me Reed.

As of yesterday, I am 32 years o I'm a father.

I currently serve on the Police Advisory Council.

I've had the pleasure and oppor serving as both the chair and vi I'm born and raised here in Gain I'm running to offer a perspect I find to be the most popular pe but the least represented and that is the middle of the ai We have so many solutions to the right here in our community, but unfortunately, party lines are getting in the w implementing those solutions.

I'm running to knock down that b Top priorities for me and my cam are addressing public safety, our gun violence, our housing sh and the problems around our city Thank you.

Thank you.

Now we'll hear opening statemen from our two District one candid Michael Perkins your opening statement, please.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mike Perkins.

I come here boots on the ground not to serve but to elevate my level of servi I served this community.

Ive been on the frontlines, serving citizens that are hungry homeless, in a food bank ministr feeding those citizens.

I've been mentoring our children mentorship program.

Personally, teaching kids from old up to second grade, teaching the basics, teaching them, mainly kids who are Title 1 disadvantage single parent homes, low income.

Teach them just how to treat oth Teach them self-respect for the so they can have respect for oth Iv served this community with the N And I also.

Thank you.

I'll finish later.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your statemen and for honoring the time schedu So, Desmon Duncan-Walker your opening statement, please.

Thank you so much.

And thank you to the entire Lea of Women Voters and everyone who this afternoon.

It is truly an honor not just t today, but to have been blessed with the privileg of serving the people of this gr Gainesville is a great place.

My roots date back to its very b I am proud and pleased to say that my ancestors and forefathers were among thos that helped to build Gainesville And so this place is very, very important to me.

Three years ago the members of District one elec to be the voice for them, and I that I've been able to do that with a modicum of respect, compassion and dignity.

This year has, these years have been not just challenging but they've been rewarding as we As we have faced challenges at t but also in complete transparenc my own challenges as well.

And I'd like to just say this.

While I may not have been at eve commission meeting, my work speaks for itself and may that work continue to speak for me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now we will give the candidates the opportunity to respond to our questions.

Just as a reminder, you'll have and a half to respond to each qu The first question is what strat will you use to communicate with all of your constituents so that you fairly represent the diverse interests of this city's residents?

And we'll begin with the candida for the At-Large position, starting with James Ingle.

Thank you.

So to me, the the trick to being able to communicate wi is you've got to meet where they So there's a lot of different methods and media that you can use for outreach.

And a lot of peopl are not going to be constantly t what's going on with their city.

I think the strategies you can u are everything from from town halls for people that enjoy coming out and being physically and want to have a conversation, to virtual town halls and outre for people that don't have the a or don't particularl like going out in public and don have those options to make big events like that.

Making sure that we've got an ef communications department inside of the city that can get information ou not only on what the city is doi but how those citizens interact is going to be very important.

But I think, again, the ke to really effective communicatio not choosin the type of communication that I but the type of communicatio that people prefer to contact us You really have to meet people where they are.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Reed Johnson, your answer, pleas One of the reasons why I'm runni because whenever we look at the crime in our community, oft the individuals that are perpetu that crime are individuals that of the least represented age, the least represented gende and the least represented race.

I'm runnin to give those individuals a voic Not only that, but I also have being on the Police Advisory Cou I have relationships with indiv that are in many parts of govern as well as individuals that are currently suffering from the and issues in our community.

Individuals that may be currentl in jail, incarcerated, individuals that are homeless.

I know these individuals persona I can give them a voice.

Advisor One of my 100 day goals is to im a youth advisory board.

We have to give the youth in our a voice.

Those youth are going to be the future of our community.

We need to bring them to the tab Individuals that are perpetuatin We need to have conversations with individuals that have successfully exited the criminal justice system.

Bring them to the table.

Give them a voice.

Mr. Ingle mentioned town halls.

That is great.

I thoroughly believe in town hal Why not have town halls in our c with the permission of our sheriff candidate or whoever wins that sheriff rac I plan on working with every sector of our communit to give every individual a voice Thank you.

Thank you.

Now, the candidates in Distric 1 will please answer the same qu We'll start with Michael Perkins Your answer, please.

Yes.

My strategy to communicate wit the citizens is what I've always Have boots on the ground.

That means I'll continu to attend meetings, school board The Children's Trust fund meetin The county meetings, just contin to be there for the citizens.

I want to commit to continue what I'm doing right now, which is going to community mee within each of those communities Homeowner's association, meeting with the people and fin exactly what it is that they nee And I will be there.

I think anybody that knows me.

Most people know me as Perk, bu I've got my reputation for being I will show up for you Thank you for letting me share.

Thank you.

Desmon Duncan-Walker.

Would you like to answer the question, please?

Thank you very much.

This thing called the telephon is something that's very, very i And it's critica when you are serving in public o It's always my goal to answer th When you call my office you'll first start with an EA, but she will send you directly and I make it my goal to answer.

I will get to you.

It may take a little while but you will eventually be gotte I want to circle back to the tow hall discussion.

That is a very effective way of communicating.

When I first arrived to office one of the first things that I d was a town hall on gun violence.

I believe the name of it was from Community Problem to Community Solutions and it brought out over 1000 peo It is an effective wa and a way that I will continue to engage with the community because it gives you a voice.

Those town halls, though, cannot just be conversations.

One of my goals from that town hall and one thing that did hap was the collection of the data f because that data has to be use to help us move towards the solu So town halls are an absolute w way, meeting the community where in the community in their neighb is an effective strategy.

People want to know that you car They want to know that you'll re beyond the doors at City Hall and meet them where they are.

Meeting with the community I think, is important in both to community meetings and also com meetings at the city level as we Thank you.

The next question i what do you see as the path forw for the relationshi between the City of Gainesville The hot topic.

But you still, you still only h a minute and a half, I'm sorry.

For this question we will begin with District 1 candidates, Desmon Duncan-Walker You get to take the first run at Why, thank you.

Oh my goodness.

So anyone who has breath in thei understands the tremendous chall that this community is facing at I think as I've approached most things in my life, you must always start with diplo I have seen individuals want to this from a partisan perspective I have seen individuals want to this from an economic perspectiv I will tell you that it i probably the most challenging th that the cit has had to deal with in quite a As I listen to my constituents I've heard a number of things.

I've heard constituents saying I need my bills lowered because I'm having to make life when I pull into GRU.

Do I buy my insulin or do I pay my light bill?

I am hearing constituents say my light is higher than my mortg We are at critical mass.

No one yet has arrived at the so So it is important and critica now that we all listen to each o The commission has listene to the citizens who have come ou and asked for a referendum.

You now had that.

You will have an option or an op I should say, to vote in this upcoming election.

But I think diplomacy, in term of the path forward with the cit commission and GRU is going to the only way that will be able to get anything accomplished.

Thank you.

And well, we have the, we have this follow f so we maybe have a little more t Michael Perkins your answer to that question, pl Yes, I think as all things we all make mistakes.

And the good thing about making is most of us learn from those m and just try to do better.

So this referendum give us, the citizens of Gainesville, represented by our city commissi an opportunity to do better.

You know, yes, we made some mistakes in t but yeah, we learn from those mi So let us, not some outside boar but us govern ourselve in a more constructive manner.

I was at the budget meeting quite recently and the city plan they have a ten year plan in te how they're going to approach th And it, and it's a way of, in th they were taking money from GR and they created this big budget Their plan forward is to stop do What they going to do now?

Is it is take very little as pos I think, all the way down to like $8 million, which going to give the Gainesvi a chance to balance its own budg and give the citizens of Gaines a chance to govern themselves.

So I applaud what the city commi is currently doing, our city managers currently doi And I think the plan forwar will work for us, and I believe that our commission will do a gr Thank you.

Now we'll have our two At-Larg candidates answer the same quest Reed Johnson, would you answer, Like I said, I was born and rai in Gainesville, and I can tell y right now my mother move out of Gainesville almost 15 yea She's still complaining about GR And so with that being said, I as a checks and balances system.

This gives us an opportunit to work with the authority board This does not have to be a divis Citizens in Gainesville have complained about GRU for the longest, pretty much th I remember as far as Gainesville If you say Gainesville, I think, GRU, and I think abou the complaints of people that I' If this authority board is going to address the debt and the economical issues surro and remove that burden off the b of the citizens of Gainesvill and Alachua County, they have my If they are willing to work wit commission, they have my support There's way that we can replace the lost rev We have to focus on housing getting more housing on our tax We can address this issue.

Two things can be true at once.

We can address this issue and w together to make sure that the c commission and the GRU Authority both are effective bodies in government.

Thank you.

James Ingle, your answer, please Well, we've got pretty different on that.

As far as I'm concerned, the GRU Authority Board has been a disaster.

It was created by two politician who have repeatedly and overwhel been rejected by the people, not only in the city of Gainesv but also in the GRU service area It was snuck in at the last min in a basement meeting in Tallaha with very little public input.

The original board that was appointed there, upon finally coming to admit tha the positions they held, they w not allowed to hold, all resigne Betwee the time they turned in that res and the tim that resignation became effectiv they continued to make very seri policy decisions, even after having sai that they had no business being Since that point, I find it incredibly inappropriate that th someone got appointed to the the second board, used that appointment to fire the general manager and then appoint themselves to what is probably going to be the highest paid position in the City of Gainesville.

It is blatantly corrupt to me.

The whole thing, in my opinion has just been a goddamn clown sh it would be funn if it wasn't doing so much damag both to the City of Gainesville and to the utility.

Thank you.

The candidates for the At-Large A position will be the first to answer question number three which will be our last question.

What solutions can you suggest t with the persistent issues of mental health addiction and the unhoused in our city?

James Ingle would you answer the question, p if there was an easy answer, it would be done already.

The truth of the matter when you're talking about these that we've go is that these are national probl Everywhere in the country is facing the same issues that we are here in Gainesville So what can we do that is going to set us apar from everyone else having these And what ways can we find local here?

It's not my area of expertise, but fortunately we've got very good people here that are focused on this.

So the good work that they are d at Grace Marketplace, the good work that that we've g and I get the name wrong every t the Shimberg Center for Affordab Housing here in the UF, all our excellent resources that have not only a good track of actually making progress, but good data and are able to pull from expert in this field from all over the What they need is resources.

And this is the type of thing that gets back to how do we as a city put a budget if we've got a GRU Authority that is changing whatever our budget contribution might be on a whim.

What we nee is to invest more in solutions t And that is the only wa we are going to address these pr Thank you.

Thank you.

Reed Johnson, your answer, pleas So let me start off by saying th $23,000 per bid at Grace Marketplace is not only unsustai but unacceptable.

We have to find a way to reduce That puts a financial strai on the citizens of Gainesville, which then in turn translate to mental health issue This city is a tough place to live.

It's a tough place to make money and putting that type of cost burden on individuals is bad eno Again, addressing the housing is by bringing more housing into ou that's the only way that we're to reduce the cost of housing.

It's not a materials cost issue.

It's a supply and demand issue.

The demand is way too high and heavy on the supply that we have That allows property managers an to run up the price of housing around here.

And again that makes it hard on individual And that all translates back to mental health.

Supporting our law enforcement.

The addiction issue is, part of part of the addiction issue is that our law enforcement is not able to get drug out of our community fast enough We have to improve the Gainesvil Police Department staffing bring in more officers into the making sure that those officers are trusted by the community.

That way that we can work to get out of our community.

The homeless population has drug that live amongst them.

We have to get those individual not only out of that community, but off of the streets.

Thank you.

Now we'll hear from the candidat for District 1.

Desmon Duncan-Walker would you please answer the ques Thank you.

In the last several months, I have urged my colleagues at the city commission to make sure that we are putting the most effective and most experienced people on our Gainesville Housing Authority Board.

And I'm saying tha because the Gainesville Housing Authority is one of the agencie that is a critical piece in maki that we are providing safe hous for those who are the most vulne They also provid several different services and p that fall into the categories that you're discussing toda from mental health as well as ad So making sure that that board i with the individuals who know how to ensure that tha is run as effectively as possibl is something that has become a priority of mine.

How we can also incentivize property owners or landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers?

I'm talking about the most vulne populations among us who are finding themselves in p where they're unable to find hou simply because there are indivi who don't want to rent to them because they ar of a certain socioeconomic statu I think that the city can play a role in that.

We've just got to figure out exactly what it is.

There's a wonderful agency that I also jus into the awareness of and took a tour of who is beginn to do the work in this space, and that's the Gainesville Opportunity Center.

Obviously, I won't have enough to talk about them, but be happy more about them.

But there are solutions.

It's a mammoth proble that's going to take an all hand on deck approach, but there are that we can start to move forwar Thank you.

Michael Perkins, you get the las Yes.

Thank you.

The most complicated is the unho There are some citizens that are because they're going through some economic issues.

There are a lot of peopl who are residents who may not be of the Gainesville, but they li and they choose to live that lif They choose not to be housed.

It's okay.

And we must realize as a societ that they have a right to live t And we must recognize that they are citizens.

And we need to make room for the whatever we need to do to make room for t and their lifestyle.

We need to do that.

Mental, and, um, mental health something that's always been wit Nothing new about that.

We just need to recognize tha they are citizens and we need to that when when they're having these i our police don't need to treat as if they've done something wro They have mental issues.

We need to make sure that polic the training to recognize what's and that it's more mental than i criminal.

And addiction is pretty much the same category.

People go through different thin and one of the answers to what we're going throug is drugs and alcohol, you know?

And so we just have to give peop an opportunity to grow.

Thank you for letting me share.

Thank you again, candidates, for and for your very thoughtful ans We appreciate your attendance and thank you very much.

This concludes the panel for the commission.

And we'll move on to the panel for the state representatives.

My name is Stefanie Gadalean.

I am the president of the UF League of Women Voter and I'm going to be moderating the state of Florida, Hous of Representatives District 22 p So there are two Democratic cand for this race, David Arreola and, Amy Trask.

And there are two Republican can for this race, Raemi Eagle-Glenn and Chad Johns Mr. Johnson was unable to attend due to work commitments.

So thank you for joining us, y'a So the state representatives are in a partisan election for two year term and may be elected to up to four Candidates must live in the dist in which they represent, and there are four candidates t appear on the primary election b The format of the forum will be as follows.

Each candidate will have one min for opening statements, and following the opening state I will read questions prepared b League of Women Voters and cand will have one and a half minutes to respond to each of these que for a total of three questions.

You will be able to see the time when you have 30 seconds left and when your time is complete or your microphone may be muted.

So for opening statements, we will begin in alphabetical or and you will have one minute.

David Arreola, your opening stat Thank you so much Thank you to the League for host It's always a pleasur to be here at the Bob Graham Cen and I want to pay homage to the Graham.

He was an excellent example of a public official is supposed to It's fitting that we're here.

I'm a first generation American, here in Gainesville born right here in House Distric I was the youngest city commiss ever elected to the city commiss here in Gainesville in Distric 3, which is also in House Distri This election is about endin one party rule in Tallahassee.

Look where it has gotten us.

We have the most expensive prop insurance rates in the country, with the average Floridian paying over $10,000.

And it's not getting better.

The state legislature has take reproductive rights and moved ba by taking away the right for pregnant women to get appropriate consultation for their own health care.

Gun violence is a proble that has gotten so bad in this s but the legislature has decided to roll back the protections that were passed after the horri Parkland shooting.

I'm the most experienced candid with a proven track record of ad these pressing issues head on and I stand by my values and pri Thank you.

Thank you.

Amy Trask, your statement, pleas Thank you so much.

My name is Amy Trask, and I'm r for Florida State House District I work for Harvard's Safra Cent for Ethics, and I have a backgro in conflict resolution, de-esca and dialogues across differences I'm a mom, I'm a neighbor, and from a very long line of public servants, in this state, starting from the tim our Florida Constitution was sig I've shown up and have spoken ou when our liberties were under attack, oftentimes with kids in tow.

And my campaign bega as a love letter to my children because they were inheriting a F I couldn't recognize.

We've enforced partisan educatio history, censored speech, destroyed autonomy, passed discriminatory legislation, and failed to act on critical st in favor of culture wars.

It's time now that we turn our fuel and to change the way we do Civility, sanity, communicatin constructively and building brid where we can so we can start putting people first again.

We need representatio that reflects us and understands And as a young mom who was on Me a student with two kids and a survivor and an underdog no one knows that fight harder t Thank you.

Thank you.

For our Republican candidate, Raemi Eagle-Glenn, your statement, please.

Thank you for having me today.

And in the spirit of bipartisans and to honor the late Bob Graha I am happy to participate today.

I served as the third Republica Commissioner in Alachua County h I was appointed by Governor Ron and served in 2022.

And during that time, I learned the most good for the most peopl And I also learned that I will please everyone all of the time.

Look, I'm here and I can sort o at the political makeup of the r And I come before yo as an underdog here in this room So I've learned to live like an fight like an underdog and run my campaign like an unde because I am of the political mi in my own community.

And I'm going to take that spiri and that fight to Tallahassee to work on property insurance, to work on hardening our infras and to work on our food security Thank you.

Thank you.

So now we're going to move on to our prepared questions.

You will eac have one and a half minutes to a We're going to start with our Republican candidate and then move on to our Democrat candidates, first with Amy Trask and then moving on to Mr. Arreola.

After each question, we are going to reverse the ord in which the candidates respond.

So for our first question, what issues should cities and c be able to decide for themselves and which issues should be preem by the state?

Raemi Eagle-Glenn, your answer, I do want to go to Tallahassee and look at ways where we can streamline certain permitting processes.

We talk about affordable housin workforce housing and a lack the And unfortunately, it becomes very difficult to achieve those goal when we have very heavy handed local ordinances and rule that slow down a permitting proc and make it very difficul for people to build such housing We also tend to make it very di for our farmers in Alachua Count We have not only the federal EPA the DEP at which I clerked at in 2010 during the Horizon oil spill crisis.

But we have a third level of env protection in Alachua County that is counterintuitive to the of trying to house people in our community.

Counterintuitive to the goal of trying to bring in infrastruc and business opportunities, esp to the east side of Gainesville.

And so I do believe that there are some places where preemption of cantankerou and duplicative local ordinances are most valuable for the bipartisan spirit of creating opportunity building infrastructure and hous Thank you.

Amy Trask, your response, please Thank you so much.

I'm a huge proponent for home ru I was the only candidate that showed up at the JLAC meet in October in defense of GRU str because of the precedent that i that we have a legal right to ho and despite a legal vote our municipal utility was taken I think that there are definite that the state should have contr when it comes to domesti violence laws that are in place, health issues and ordinance that we have in those regards.

But for the most part each city is different and each should be able to make legislati that will best reflect their makeup and will best hel their constituents to flourish a because their needs are differen their makeups are different.

And that's know what I would sa it comes to land and water conse springs protections how we mitigate climate change i Those are things I think that t and county should be able to con I'm firmly against the preempti of electric vehicle infrastructu and major changes like that.

So I think that there is roo for the state with major things.

But home rule should be, it should be the rule of the law Thank you.

And David Arreola, your answer, Thank you.

I'm a strong believer in the Am federalism system of government.

There are supposed to be differe levels of governmen that address different issues.

One of the issues that is param that I think the state should ab get involved in is the maintena and preservation of civil rights I don't think it is right that other localities should have the ability to infr on other people's civil rights.

I think that that is something to be protected at the state lev and it is indeed protected by fe I was on the city commissio and I had no idea how difficult Tallahassee was going to make my Every time we were trying to ad local issues and we would pass o whether it was renters rights whether it was environmental pro whether it was a living wage re for contractors working on city The next session, the legislatur to preempt all of that.

Short term rentals.

They preempted our regulatio to regulate short term rentals.

And so I think that right now t of the legislature is we know be We're going to support big corpo and big business over the local governments and their constituents.

And I don't think that's right.

As the next state representativ for this district, I'm going to the local municipalities and I'm going to make sure that they are involved in these conversations.

Because one of the other things that happened when those preemption bills woul we never got a cal from our state representative.

We were never offered on what our though these issues.

It's time for dialogue to begin.

Thank you.

So for our second question, giving the prevalence of gun vi in our society, what state steps would you to make our distric a safe place in which to live an David Arreola, your answer, plea This is an issue that I worked o on the city commission.

I helped to funding for sponsors for gun buyback programs.

You would be surprised how many want to turn in a gun for some c This is one wa to get weapons off the street.

I also think we have t look at common sense solutions such as requiring a secure stora at home.

We require secure storage in veh Why wouldn't we secure it at hom Because a lot of gun violence i they are incidents that happen a with small children or with peo who don't know how to operate fi I also think we should have more licensing requirements.

The Supreme Court just supporte the fact that domestic violence abusers cannot purchase firearms while they're while they're under investigatio And there was only one justice who voted against that.

So this is this is fully support But what we have in the legisla is a legislature that wants to m that everybody can get a gun at anywhere, any place, any kind of No training requirements, no licensing requirements.

And they call that constitutiona It makes us unsafe.

The police chiefs of Florida didn't support it.

So this is another example of ex in our legislature that has to come to an end because it is costing lives.

And we we have polling that sho it's supported by both parties.

Some of the solutions I mentione Thank you.

Amy Trask, your response, please Thank you.

So I think it would be an illusi to thin that there is only one way to so This is a multifaceted issue.

We've heard from our official that at least in our district, one of the biggest reasons we have gun violenc is because we have break-ins in And so it's there's a lot of di reasons that we have gun violenc I do think that because it is multifaceted issue, we need to l the root cause which could also be mental healt We need to be fighting to inves in mental health and crisis inte programs along with trauma infor beginning in early ed.

I do think we should highly ince safe gun storage at home because there is a high number of children and teen deaths or chil and teen deaths because of acces But I also believe that we shoul supporting the age restriction o I think we should be taking step to ensure that people with convictions of domestic vi don't get their hands on weapons There are universal background c we can look into.

I think that the step forward i respecting it as a multifaceted and respecting the integrity of because it's not just one thing.

It's a lot of things.

And in order to address it, we need to address the core, the root of the problem and work outward from there.

Thank you.

Raemi Eagle-Glenn, your answer, The Second Amendment protects our First Amendment.

In the United States of America we are citizens.

We are not subjects.

We are not subject to a crown.

We are not subject to a dictator And that Second Amendmen is an American's right and privi I went through the permitting pr to lawfully carr a gun when permits were required However, because I am not quite with a gun or well-trained with I feel like it is irresponsible personally to carry one around.

And I believe in training with guns and firearms.

And I believe that hunting and marksmanship education trainin should be available to our youth I believe that when we foster g relationships with our law enfor community and youth especially at our elementary sch we can perhaps provide these off of marksmanship, gun range days.

And we need to teach respect for and the privilege that the Second Amendment is.

And I think that education shou for the youth and also for paren for that safe gun storag and that safety education at hom That's where it starts.

And I will do everything in my forward to protect the Second Am And I believ that criminals do not follow law So making more gun laws is not to solve the problem of gun viol Thank you.

So for our third and final ques what steps would you encourage the legislature to take to prot from the effects of climate chan Raemi Eagle-Glenn, your answer, In 2022, two of my family member homes were flooded by Hurricane Ian in the Fort Myers area.

And I didn't catch a brea because that in 2023, over here on the coast of Cedar Key, Yanke and all the way up, we had more devastating effe because of hurricanes.

So Mother Nature is telling us t we may not get a break this summer either, because NOAA has predicted a higher than average hurricane a very active hurricane season.

And one of my number one priorities in Tallahassee is to spend our state taxpayer dollars to harden our coastal infrastructure and well, I don't live on the coast.

Why does that affect me?

Well, because of coastal migrat the cost of living on the coast, the just unending barrage of the and flood waters are making it very difficul for many people to stay there.

So where are they coming?

They're coming here to what I call the highlands.

We are very protected here in Al County and Gainesville.

That was one of the reasons why I wanted to move here and other people are following s So this goes into our infrastruc with sewage and water systems on the coast, but also our affor and workforce housing.

So it is an investment that we to look at in a bipartisan fashi And I plan to make that one of m priorities in Tallahassee.

Thank you.

Amy Trask, your response, please Thank you so much.

As the sun, sunshine state, we should be the global leade in renewable energy, especially I would challenge monopoly energ utility companies like FPL for their rate hikes, their eff to decimate rooftop solar indust I think we need to, like I said be investing in land and water conservation, springs protectio mitigating these climate change I would, my goal would be to transition to clean energy sources.

The sooner the better.

Promoting sustainable practices.

I think we need to invest in sha solar projects to allow low income communities to access clean energy.

And I'd like to integrate solar into building material like shingles or siding or windo I thin finding a way to make it accessi and equitable is going to be th to mitigating this crisis moving So thank you.

Thank you.

David Arreola, your answer, plea We have to be honest.

Climate change is here.

It's not on its way.

It's here.

I was invited by the mayor of Cedar Key to tour the city, which still is dealin with the fact that the legislatu How does the legislature deal with climate change?

Well they write a law that say we're going to spend all of our to remove those two words from every state law.

They're just going to stick their heads in the san until the water comes and gets o That's not what we can afford he in Florida.

Cedar Key got hit so har by flooding by Hurricane Idalia, they retreated their city hall to the hill.

They moved their city hall to higher ground because of the dangers of climat Now, I want to be very clear.

We obviously have to move to renewable energies to mitigate the long term effect But what we have to do is prepa for the dangers of extreme flood sea level rise and more extreme This means we have to raise some which are currently in danger of being flooded.

This means that we have to have capacity for strengthening build when they're constructed in the zones.

We have to update our flood maps because right now, the property insurance crisis that is a crisis of climate chan While the legislature wants to that it doesn't exist, insurance have to go home and figure ou how are they going to stay in bu when the environment is complet in shambles and you can feel it 12 months in a row, the hottest month on record, 12 months in a row every month h the hottest month on record.

Years.

The heat is just, it's, you can feel it yall.

Thank you.

So this concludes the panel for state representat and marks the end of our primary Our gratitude goes out to all the candidates who took and made the effort to appear he and to express their views and to the audience.

Thank you so much for being here And you all remember your voice is your vote.

Thank you.