Venice mayor and council candidates reveal their key issues at first forum

VENICE – The most significant question answered by  candidates for mayor and Seat 5 on the Venice City Council answered at a recent candidate forum hosted by South County Tiger Bay, Venice-Nokomis Rotary Club and Sertoma Club came near the end of the event.

Moderator Nancy Detert asked the four hopefuls a two-parter – what “hill they would die on” to preserve in the city of Venice and what would they change.

For Seat 5 candidate Ron Smith, a retired prosecutor and newspaper editor, the last stance would be about preserving neighborhoods.

Related: Venice voters to decide race for mayor and one council seat in November

And: ShorePoint Health Venice Hospital closes; officials rebuff lease proposal from SMH

“I want to defend the neighborhoods, not just the downtown neighborhoods but the central core to the northern subdivision neighborhoods,” Smith said at the Thursday event. “They’re all under pressure from growth, whether it’s the building heights but also the speedways through the neighborhoods and commercial encroachment on subdivisions.

“That's the hill I’ll die on, fighting for the neighborhood.”

His choice for change related to growth too, specifically the planned unit development regulations that allow a developer to reopen an approved plan to allow for the addition of a shopping center or new houses on a golf course.

“That shouldn’t happen,” Smith said, then later added, “It's appalling that they could even ask.”

The planned unit development concern was actually remedied in the new land development regulations that the City Council adopted in the summer.

Earlier: Venice council candidate claims influential developer twice asked him to drop out of race

As the first person to answer Detert’s question, Smith had the advantage over his opponent Rick Howard, because he had first crack of offering a clear train of thought – Nick Pachota, who’s running for mayor against Frankie Abbruzzino, had a similar advantage, when he fielded a question first.

Because of that, Howard’s “hill to die on” was voiced in a more general fashion.

“I think preserving the quality of our city – it touches on all of them, it’s the charm, it's the public safety, infrastructure, beach, parks – all of that stuff.

“We can’t ever put all of our environment on autopilot, it will never survive.”

Howard was more specific when he said he wanted to change the way the council communicates with city residents.

He cited the lack of communication in the process that led to the recent adoption of the land development regulations.

“I don’t know if its’ more workshops, I don’t know if it’s social media, text messages,” Howard said, then later added, “It should be a one-to-one relation or a one-to-seven relationship.

“We are your eyes, ears and hands and we work for you.”

Abbruzzino went even more personal and specific with his “hill to die on” improving water quality from the city’s stormwater outfalls – several of which drain directly on Venice Beach.

“I’ve been surfing here since the early '80s. I’ve had two cuts, two infections – $20,000 later,” Abbruzzino said. “It’s because of all of the water and how it is.”

For a thing to change, he agreed with Smith about the planned unit development process and added that residents should have the same level of access to city planning staff as developers and their attorneys.

“Access issues is what got us into the whole LDR mess,” Abbruzzino added.

Pachota reached back to his teen years and a talked about a discussion with then-Venice Police Chief Jim Hanks about the zero crime rate in the city stayed with him when he went on emergency medical calls in Orlando, where gunshot wounds were treated all too frequently for him.

“We don’t have that here, with my public safety background, that’s where I feel the strongest,” Pachota said, then added that he would always make sure first responders had the equipment and funding they needed to make a demanding career a little less stressful.

Pachota didn't want to change anything about the city. Instead he wanted to preserve the charm and spirit of volunteerism.

Since Rachel Frank won Seat 6 and Dick Longo won Seat 2, when no one else filed to oppose either of them, those are the only two races on the Nov. 8 ballot.

All four candidates were mostly in agreement on other questions.

As the only incumbent, Pachota, who opted to run for mayor instead of a council seat, occasionally had to explain current city policy.

But unlike 2019, which featured a three-way race for mayor and blatant campaigning along Democrat and Republican Party lines for what is a non-partisan board, this forum was congenial.

Earlier: Mayoral candidate draws jabs from opponent and audience

Smith touted himself as a problem solver, trained in mediation – noting that he would live to mediate discussions between Sarasota County Health Care System and Community Health Systems Inc. over SMH’s desire to lease some or all of the now closed ShorePoint Health Venice hospital, to ensure a higher level of service until its own hospital expansion comes on line.

Howard, a former Lee County paramedic before becoming an executive with Labcorp, also brought up a concern about overcrowding at SMH Venice and a potential decline in medical care for residents as a result.

Abbruzzino, who is now in his third campaign for mayor, notes that he and Pachota are friends and one reason he filed to run was his belief that no candidate should win a seat unopposed.

“I want to have my voice be heard, have others listen, and see if I can change some minds and if anything bring attention to the issues that I find near and dear that I think are being ignored,” he added.

Pachota said his desire for a job is grounded in his career of public service.

“I’m a public servant, I love to serve people, I love to solve problems, bring people together,” Pachota said. “That's what I’ve been trying to do for the past three years and that’s what I want to continue to do as mayor.”

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice council candidates reveal their defining issues at first forum