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Vote Could Change Dade City Priorities

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By JEFF SCULLIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 5, 2008

DADE CITY - The political mantra of "change" is being chanted here, of all places, where small-town traditions are both a way of life and a commodity.

Those who talk about politics in Dade City - and that seems to be just about everyone these days - are painting Tuesday's municipal election more as a referendum on the course the city should be following than as three separate city commission races.

Change is inevitable and already is under way. The city manager and police chief are new, and with Mayor Hutch Brock choosing not to seek re-election, the new city commission will elect someone else to fill that largely ceremonial post. More importantly, with three of the commission's five seats up for grabs, there's a chance the priorities of city government could shift.

All this is happening at a critical time. The city is facing at least a $300,000 drop in revenue, thanks, in part, to the tax-relief amendment Florida voters approved in January. Civic leaders want to make sure recent vacancies downtown don't sap Dade City's strength as a tourist draw, and the city's wish list - including a new city hall and upgrades to an aging utilities system - is growing.

"Our city is at a crossroads," Commissioner Steve Van Gorden, one of two incumbents on the ballot, said during a candidates forum last month.

Van Gorden, 32, cites his experience as a school administrator and on the commission in dealing with an increasingly tight budget, which most candidates say is the biggest challenge facing the commission. Van Gorden is principal of Hudson Middle School and was elected to the commission in 2004.

To balance the budget, the city may need to reorganize operations, and some workers may need to take on additional responsibilities, Van Gorden said.

His opponent, 53-year-old Robert Avila, a technology service specialist with Ricoh Corp., has yet to publicly discuss his ideas for dealing with the fiscal problems the city faces. He skipped last month's candidates forum and has not responded to numerous phone calls and e-mail messages. In a news release, Avila said his focus is the "proper spending of citizens' tax dollars" and fiscal responsibility. In part, that means cutting back on the "excessive" use of consultants and making sure the city properly evaluates property purchases, according to his release.

The other incumbent up for election, Eunice Penix, 67, faces an opponent for the first time after 14 years on the commission. Like Van Gorden, the retired teacher said the commission needs input from residents to set spending priorities. With so many people financially strapped, the city needs to look beyond taxpayers to fund needed improvements, such as recreation facilities for youths. Maybe local philanthropists will get together, donate land and build it themselves, she suggested at the candidates forum. And although Penix conceded that Dade City's dirt roads ought to be paved, she said not everyone wants to pay the assessments to make that happen.

"We can't tax, tax, tax the citizens for everything," she said. "Citizens are already taxed enough."

Her opponent, Osceola Tavern owner Mike Agnello, has stressed fiscal responsibility, despite running into trouble last year for not paying sales and property taxes. Commissioners need to learn to live within their means and to "stretch a nickel" - applying for federal grants, for example, that could pay to build sidewalks and exploring the possibility of upgrading dirt roads with gravel or lobbying the county for more tourist tax dollars.

On his Web site, Agnello, 47, even advocates renovating the existing City Hall rather than building a new one as a cheaper alternative.

"The first step is a coat of paint," he says on his Web site. "That one initiative would do wonders for the place."

The race to fill Brock's seat pits local businessman Curtis Beebe, who led the effort to recall Commissioner Camille Hernandez, against Jim Shive, who ran Hernandez's campaign in 2006.

In his campaign, Beebe, a technology consultant, has stressed the need for the city to live within in its means and to involve residents in setting priorities. The city needs to do a better job of educating people about the issues - maybe by improving its Web site so people could track matters from start to finish, maybe by changing the meeting times so more working people could attend, maybe by sending out mass e-mail messages about important matters.

"We're going to have to redefine the role of city government if we are going to live within these constraints," Beebe, 45, said in an e-mail. "I believe the first step to addressing the issue is to involve more of the public, so we have a clear understanding of priorities."

Shive, 50, a utilities worker who was fired in 2005 after 27 years with the city, has made upgrading the city's utilities, and stormwater and drainage systems, a focal point of his campaign. In a recent interview, Shive also said the city needs a full-time grant writer, needs to spend less on consultants and must provide incentives for businesses to move here.

"This is a critical time for the city," he said.

Although Hernandez's name won't appear on the ballot Tuesday, she has been a major factor in the campaign. Candidates fielded questions at last month's forum about how they would work with Hernandez and try to unify the commission. Things have been contentious since Hernandez sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist in July accusing Brock and former City Manager Harold Sample of corruption. That sparked the recall effort Beebe spearheaded.

That contentious spirit has carried over into the campaign, in which candidates have been dogged by misinformation and smeared by anonymous fliers.

With so much at stake for Dade City, though, several candidates say it's time to work together.

"We need to have unity in this town," Van Gorden said at the forum. "No matter who wins this election, we need to have unity."

THE CANDIDATES

Curtis Beebe

AGE: 45

FAMILY: Married, three sons

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, University of West Florida

OCCUPATION: Technology consultant

RELATED EXPERIENCE: Served on planning commission and the code development review board; led the recall effort against City Commissioner Camille Hernandez.

Jim Shive

AGE: 50

FAMILY: Information unavailable

EDUCATION: Pasco High School

OCCUPATION: Utility Plan operator, Hernando County

RELATED EXPERIENCE: Spent 27 years working for the city; worked on the campaigns of Hernandez, Commissioner Steve Van Gorden and Mayor Hutch Brock.

Eunice Penix

AGE: 67

FAMILY: Information unavailable

EDUCATION: Information unavailable

OCCUPATION: Retired teacher

RELATED EXPERIENCE: Has served on city commission since 1993.

Mike Agnello

AGE: 47

FAMILY: Married, four children

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, Almeda University

OCCUPATION: Owner of Osceola Tavern

RELATED EXPERIENCE: Ran unsuccessfully for city commission in 2006; member of the Dade City Redevelopment Advisory Committee and the Dade City Charter Review Committee.

Steve Van Gorden

AGE: 32

FAMILY: Married, two children

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, University of South Florida; master's degree, Saint Leo University

OCCUPATION: Middle school principal

RELATED EXPERIENCE: Elected to the city commission in 2004.

Robert Avila

AGE: 53

FAMILY: Information unavailable

EDUCATION: Pasadena Community College

OCCUPATION: Technology service specialist, Ricoh Corp.

RELATED EXPERIENCE: None

Editor Jeff Scullin can be reached at (813) 779-4614 or jscullin@tampatrib.com.

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