VERO BEACH — Ten minutes after the three-week qualifying period closed at 5 p.m. Friday, four men and two women had qualified to run for two seats on the Vero Beach City Council.
Legal research assistant Amelia Graves was the only candidate to watch as City Clerk Tammy Vock pulled names to determine the ballot order. Dick Winger will appear first on the Nov. 5 ballot, followed by Amelia Graves, Brian Heady, Tracy Carroll, Joseph Guffanti and Warren Winchester.
Winger, one of two incumbents, was first elected in 2011. A man of many interests including bee keeping, sailing and clam farming, the semi-retired Winger lives in Castaway Cove on the barrier island. He is running on a “Keep Vero Vero” platform of preserving the quality of life of the residents of Vero Beach.
Winger has expressed skepticism about the sale of Vero electric to Florida Power and Light and he’s complained about how much the city is spending on legal fees to get the deal done. Winger opposed the approach the city tried to take in its most recent budget talks as he favored strategic cuts over the 10.9 percent across the board reductions in expenses proposed by City Manager Jim O’Connor.
In the end, the council whittled the proposed cuts down piecemeal and the budget as it stands represents less than a 1 percent reduction from last the previous year.
Graves hails from the pioneer Graves citrus family and after getting her education at the University of Florida and traveling to Asia and Central America to work with humanitarian and educational organizations, she says it’s time to “give back” to her community.
Graves, like Winger, is also concerned about the character of Vero Beach, her hometown, slipping away due to what she considers deep budget cuts to city staff and services. Graves favors the redirection of the Twin Pairs, saying it’s a safety issue for young and old trying to cross the road.
She served as interim executive director of Main Street Vero Beach earlier this year and is a proponent of the Downtown business district.
Heady served on the council from 2009 to 2011 and was defeated in a 2012 attempt to return to office. Retired from the construction industry, Heady still works a part-time driving veterans to medical appointments for the Veterans Services Council of Indian River County and he also supervises the construction of volunteer housing for a charitable organization working in Haiti.
Heady has been a staunch critic of the city for two decades and this is his 16th run for public office. In his first month in office in 2009, Heady was one of three council members to vote to bring FPL to the table to discuss the sale of the electric utility.
Later on in his term, Heady sued the city in federal court in an attempt to find out what really happened in city hall and with the city’s consultants with regard to the 20-year, $2 billion power supply contract with Orlando Utilities Commission.
After leaving office, Heady served on the Utilities Commission and also wrote a book under the pen name Kris O’Brian entitled “Liars, Cheats, and Thieves” about the OUC contract controversy. The book was a best-seller locally, furthering Heady’s reputation as one press and pry for the truth, even it it’s painful.
Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll also qualified to run last Friday. Carroll was first elected in 2010 to fill a one-year vacancy created after the ouster of Charlie Wilson. She was part of a slate of four candidates ushered in as “Operation Clean Sweep,” a grassroots campaign designed to unseat the recalcitrant council members who were blocking efforts to sell the electric utility.
Carroll was the top vote-getter in 2010 and also in 2011 when she ran for a two-year term. She has remained focused on completing the sale to FPL and also to making Vero more friendly to businesses.
In the past six months, however, Carroll’s time in office has been plagued with controversy. She was at the center of a flap over the treatment of a Humanist group seeking a proclamation from the city. Then she became the target of a failed recall effort, while simultaneously being at odds with city staffers over the issue of short-term rentals, specifically her own Central Beach home being rented out to vacationers on a weekly basis.
Carroll and her husband, John, prevailed in their case, but the city still struggles with whether or not it can restrict such rentals – a matter which will now be taken up in circuit court.
Joseph Guffanti, a retired metallurgist and beachside resident, has lived in the area since 1979 but has never run for public office before.
An outspoken critic of the city government, Guffanti is well-known for his biting comments delivered from the podium at council meetings. Guffanti said he’s running to give voters a choice and that he looks forward to having his say at candidate forums.
Guffanti said he’s concerned about the city’s $35 million unfunded general employee pension, but that he would not force employees to give up any fringe benefits that they were promised as part of city employment.
After a career in metallurgy where his job was to find flaws in structures and machinery, Guffanti said he’s developed a keen eye to pick out what’s wrong with a situation. He said he does not trust many people and will take a critical look at most everything going on at city hall.
Warren Winchester was the last to file for the election and came as quite a surprise as just days ago the 81-year-old had disclosed to members of the media that he had decided not to run, to “throw in the towel,” he said, due to ongoing treatment for cancer.
If elected, this would be Winchester’s third stint on the city council. He served for two years in the 1980s and for two years in the 1990s. Up until recently, Winchester held a seat on the city’s Finance Commission.
Winchester has been a stalwart opponent of the sale of the Vero Beach electric utility to Florida Power and Light, saying that it’s a bad deal for city residents. He has chastised the current council for their handling of the deal.
