I just got a nasty-looking flier in the mail saying that you are one of John Keating’s candidates.  It suggests that he supports you and you support what he does.  I thought you were against sprawl.

Michael’s response:

Friend, I am against sprawl.  The kind of mindless development that has turned Clermont from orange groves to cookie-cutter neighborhoods has no place in Eustis and should be rejected.

I have NEVER met Mr. Keating, the man who owns land north of town and is currently suing the city to allow a large development on his property.  Mr. Keating has NEVER contacted me.  Mr. Keating has NEVER given any money to my campaign.

I wouldn’t know Mr. Keating if he walked up to me and shook my hand!

Others talk about loving Eustis and wanting to save her from developers, but I’m the only candidate running for any of the 3 commission seats that was actually born and raised in Eustis.  This has been my hometown all my life and I will fight vehemently to protect our heritage.

But ensuring a brighter tomorrow for ALL our citizens means putting aside rancorous, hate-filled politics and searching for answers that will solve our many crises:  businesses bailing out of town, a lack of jobs, cuts to public safety and more.

We need solutions, not baseless accusations.

Here’s Michael’s answer:

Local government exists, primarily, to protect lives and property.  In Eustis, this means that the police and fire departments are a vital part of our city’s mission and deserve special attention at all times.

As commissioner, I’ll remember the primary purpose of government and work hard to protect our police and fire departments from unnecessary budget cuts.  We must exhaust all other budgetary options before we remove police officers or firefighters from our streets, since reductions in personnel or services will directly hurt our citizens.

Also important is the city’s various ratings.  The Insurance Services Office (ISO) rates fire departments and water systems.  This designation, where a 1 is best and 10 is worst, helps insurance companies decide how much to charge each of us for homeowner’s insurance.

The city of Eustis has a “3″ rating now, which helps keep our insurance rates low.  But cuts to the fire department will result in a higher rating and, consequently, higher insurance costs. 

While police departments don’t have a similar rating system, the number of police officers on the streets, as well as the quality of their tools and training, affects the quality of life in Eustis in significant ways.  Attracting new business to Eustis and retaining existing businesses is harder when crime levels increase or the community’s confidence in it’s police force is eroded.

Here’s an excerpt:

Holland, a funeral director of 20 years, wants to rebuild downtown by attracting more businesses and encourage new development at a sensible level.

“There needs to be some development to help the tax base,” he said.

Most importantly, he wants to create an effective revitalization of the entire city and it’s challenging areas.

Read the full article.

Do you support the “Fire Tax” Tavares is putting together than Mt. Dora & Eustis is supposed to follow suit? It involves a “Special ” fire tax to churches and mobile homes that presently don’t pay tax.

I have no problem having them pay their fair share, but I already pay the tax and presently subdsize them. Hopefully this “Tax” is not something that will be added to ALL taxpayers already paying for this service.

Good luck Mike,
Marty Ferry

And here’s Mike’s response:

The whole point of Amendment 1 and other messages taxpayers have sent to City Hall is that they don’t want more taxes. In fact, Amendment 1 was designed to do what city governments seem unwilling to do: spend less money and return money to taxpayers.

 A fire fee is, in effect, an additional tax.  I do not support raising more taxes.

If you look closely, you’ll see that county residents (like those enclave-dwellers who live in Eustis but have not been annexed into our city) already pay $197.00 every year for the Lake County Fire Assessment. And that assessment is scheduled to go up every year.

I believe that new taxes, especially during times of economic uncertainty, are bad news and we can’t afford to saddle our citizens with more taxes when city hall still spends money on unnecessary vanity projects.

Thank you for your support.