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Five candidates have qualified for St. Cloud's Oct. 5 special election to fill the seat of deceased Chuck Cooper.
Three more entrants have qualified with the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections office to run in an Oct. 5 special election to fill Chuck Cooper’s Seat 3 on the St. Cloud City Council.
Cooper passed away at the age of 72 on June 12.
Phillip Lantry, Victor Rivera and Daniel Minckler joined the race late last week, bringing the field to five.
They join businessmen Kolby Urban, who was profiled in the July 15 News-Gazette, and Jose Martinez, another businessman who proclaims his allegiance is to the business community and city residents and not politics.
“I’m not doing this for the money. I own my business for that,” said Martinez, 40, who owns and operates 130 cellular phone retail outlets across a number of states. “It’s the right time for me to try to make a difference.”
Martinez, the St. Cloud Proud Foundation Chairman, has been a resident since 2003 and said his business headquarters are in St. Cloud for a reason.
“I want to keep the city’s small town feeling, but I know change and growth is coming, and frankly I’m excited,” said Martinez, who is in his first political race. “What matters is ‘how’ we grow. We have to solve our water issues and be smart about growth. I loved Mr. Cooper’s work and the job he was doing for the city.”
Minckler, 39, a seven-year resident of St. Cloud and system designer in the energy industry, was a Planning Commissioner and City Council member in his hometown of Kingsland, Ga., before moving to St. Cloud in 2015.
“From an early age, I have had a desire to be involved politically and within my community,” he said. “Like every candidate in this race, I, too, prioritize public safety, managed growth and development that is in the best interest of our community, and protecting the quality of life that we have living in St. Cloud. My number one priority, however, is the citizen of St. Cloud.”
Minckler said he has developed a program loosely called “Citizen Cloud”, which will “provide the engaged citizen a platform, a forum, and a direct access to the representation I intend to provide … ‘Citizen Cloud’ will bridge the gap to make the engagement of the citizen more accessible than the public forum of the formal meetings.”
Lantry, 41, an architect, is in his first political campaign. He is an advocate of healthy, responsible growth in the city.
“The key issue is zoning and how developments are created,” he said. “We’ve been creating sprawl and we’re not adding amenities, and we’re creating a heavy burden on responders and utilities.”
Lantry spoke of knowing the cost of doing business as a city government and vowed to scrutinize spending, promising he wouldn’t be a “rubber stamp” for the city.
“I’m not convinced our current solutions are the best solutions,” he said.
Rivera, 44, a public property adjustor and business consultant, said his purpose in seeking election stems from a pure desire to help improve the quality of life, safety, and security for all residents. Rivera, also an active community volunteer, said he believes in prioritizing support and enabling success for small businesses, which remain the heart and soul of the community.
“He is also firmly committed to improving the water quality for the safety of all residents,” a bio he released to the media said. “He believes in practicing responsible growth that protects the environment and residential way of life. He is also dedicated to enhancing the quality of educational programs, providing support to the police department to enhance their community outreach, and improving transportation including fixing roads, sidewalks and traffic patterns that need attention.”
Former two-term City Council member Donny Shroyer had filed to run, but told the News-Gazette this week he’s chosen not to complete qualification and run after consulting with his family.
“They’re the ones who have to come first,” he said.
Anthony Busby, who also ran in the 2016 and ’18 elections, also did not qualify.
If none of the five candidates receive 50 percent plus one vote on Oct. 5, the top two vote-getters will face each other in a runoff on Nov. 9.
