It is important to look beyond the campaign “rhetoric” ….and better understand the “reality” of where we are at with addressing issues that have been raised by candidates.
Following are a few thoughts to share to clarify some issues that have been raised during the campaign:
NCH Cardiac Heart Institute
It is very unfortunate that misinformation has polarized the community. City Council has not been the cause of delay—the rezone just came before council in January of this year. Actually quite a bit of the delay has been due to the NCH’s not submitting documents/plans —that would normally be required-for any project— until fairly recently.
Staffing Challenges
One mayoral candidate and a member of his “team” have been trying to suggest that Mayor Heitmann and Council have somehow been the cause of staffing challenges the City has faced. This is simply not true.
The City Manager is responsible for staffing. Under the new City Manager hired by Mayor Heitmann and council members, many of the staffing challenges—-which were inherited by Mr. Boodheshwar from his predecessor —have been addressed.
Mayor Heitmann and Council have been very supportive of City Manager Boodheshwar initiatives to address the staffing challenges. And according to Mr. Boodheshwar ”We (now) have a great group of department directors and a supportive Mayor and Council”.
Managing Growth and development
The current council is not anti- development—their objective has been to try to preserve the integrity of the Land Development (zoning) code via reaffirming the 3 floor and 42’ height limit in the City of Naples Charter—which members of the community feel very strongly about—via clearly defining variance criteria and rethinking the site plan with deviation process -which was often used by developers to “circumvent” the land development (zoning) codes.
For most if not all of the major projects in the City of Naples approved by prior councils have exceeded the three floor and 42’ height limit in the City of Naples Charter and/or obtained some type of significant variance.
Safety & Security
Staffing in the Police department has been a concern— one that the New City Manager “inherited” from the prior administration. It is a concern that Mr. Boodheshwar has been focused on addressing since coming on board.
And as noted in a recent NDN article under the leadership of the City Manager and with the support of Mayor Heitmann and Council members, the Naples Police Department has seen a dramatic turnaround.
Improvements in pay and culture have helped breathe new life into the police department, boosting employee morale
And according to Mr. Boodheshwar a new police chief has also helped (greatly with) the effort.
Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts with you.