Name: Donald W. WrightAge: 63 Place of Birth: Trenton , N.J.Length of residence in Indian River County: 9 years in SebastianOccupation: Real Estate BrokerEmployer: Don Wright Real Estate, LLCMarital status: MarriedChildren: 1Grandchildren: 3Spouse’s name: BeverlyOccupation: Homemaker
Experience you feel is most relevant to serving in public office and why:
30 years business experience mostly with medium and large corporations serving as President, Exec VP, Treasurer, Regional manager. This management background fits the role of City Council as far as providing direction to the city manager in most areas.
Current Chairman of the City of Sebastian Parks and Recreation advisory committee and have been doing this for a while and have been working with the city manager, council and members of the public.
Involvement with Economic Development committees and as Chairman of the Sebastian Chamber of Commerce Committee, we developed an Economic Development plan and presented it to the City Council.
Civic and Volunteer Leadership Experience:
Currently Chairman City of Sebastian Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Director of the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce; and President of the South Moon Under Property Owners Association, all in Sebastian.
Also, I have other civic experience with MPO-CAC, Indian River Chamber of Commerce Economic Development and with the Community Leaders Workshops.
Candidate Questions
1. What is the biggest challenge facing Sebastian?
As a City, the loss of taxable value, from all sources, may make it difficult to continue the level of municipal services without a tax increase in the future.
2. What is your vision for the Sebastian Riverfront area and what steps need to be taken to achieve that goal?
The district needs a destination attraction that will on a regular basis bring in people from a radius of about 100 miles. The attraction needs to have enough to do to keep people in the City for more than a meal. It is possible with good planning that the “Working Waterfront” project combined with cooperation from other business and property owners in the area that this could be achieved.
3. What is your position on CRA (Community Redevelopment Area) expenditure allocations in terms of how much is spent in business incentives and infrastructure improvements?
I have not been satisfied with the lack of an overall plan updated to today’s needs being in place for this area. Plans were made years ago and even this is not followed. The first step is to have a good plan and vision for this area and then spend money to get there.
4. One of the city’s efforts currently is to attract new tenants to the Sebastian Municipal Airport. If elected to council, what would you do to continue or change those efforts?
These efforts need to be continued and expanded due to the need for good jobs in our area.
5. What is your opinion of the Sebastian Clambake and how proceeds are delegated? What, if any, changes would you like to see for the annual event?
The Clambake is a great event and there is no need to change it.
6. Are there possibilities for partnerships or efficiencies by working with Fellsmere, Vero Beach or the county? If so, how would you like the city to work with those entities?
These areas need to be explored since we are all in this economic mess together. Fellsmere has the potential for much greater growth in the industrial area than Sebastian does. Economic Development has to be a regional effort and is hard for one city to do alone.
There may be some government efficiencies working together with other communities but I would have to research this further.
Any other comments?
There is a ballot issue in Sebastian, tax abatement, and this issue needs to be accurately explained to the public so informed decisions can be made as to vote yes or no. The news organizations could help with this.
