Carol Ann Felts

Q. What will be the top issue impacting businesses in 2021?  What role should the County play in addressing it?
A. Our county took measures during the Covid epidemic that severely impacted small businesses and our service based industries dependent on tourism. I believe this exposed our need for more diversity in our economic base, as well as to promote a more stable populace with greater earning potential and opportunity. In addition to bringing in more sustainable industries, our county can bolster the local economy and those small businesses by requiring local first source on all products and services, from our agricultural products to feed our school children and the needy, to technical or construction services.

Q. Anticipating a decline in revenue during upcoming fiscal years for Manatee County, how would you address budget shortfalls?  What are your priorities within a decreased budget?
A. We cannot afford to ignore the decline of our aging infrastructure nor the effect of new housing developments on our already over crowded schools and highways. With a decreased budget, the county must perform the triage necessary to prioritize the resolution of existing issues in our sewage, water quality, and traffic issues before exacerbating these issues or using a meager budget for extraneous peripheries that are not absolutely essential to the recovery of our county in a poor economic period.

Q. How would you support economic and workforce development in Manatee County?
A. While the main contributors to our local economy are tourism, construction and agriculture, there are many conflicts in sustaining such an economy with a finite amount of resources in our environment, and these industries often conflict in the utilization of that environment, or are dependent on the nations economy as a whole as a luxury expense. Although jobs may be available in these areas, they do not attract a stable workforce or offer wages competitive or with the opportunity for growth as those in more viable industries. Our county needs to seek out manufacturing, technical services, and other types of companies to bring those opportunities to our area and provide education and training in these types of careers that would diversify our economic base and provide livable wages for our citizens.

Q. Manatee County lacks a sufficient supply of attainable housing to support the local workforce.  This impacts businesses in terms of attracting and retaining talent and affects the community’s quality of life.   What role should the County play in the supply of attainable housing and how would you address this issue?
A. We need a broader and more complete definition of “affordable housing” that is often seen as a detriment to a community versus an asset. We must set some limits to the amount of rezoning that is focused on encroaching development to the east to build homes that are not affordable to our average citizens, and provide incentives to revisit our urban areas and design them to offer the advantages of existing infrastructure, transportation, and community orientation. Our young professionals, teachers, law enforcement, first responders and young families deserve neighborhoods that are in line with their salary levels. The county needs to require a balanced approach to safe housing at all income levels and stick to those requirements.

Q. Transportation continues to be an issue within Manatee County, both in terms of existing options as well as long-term planning and projects.  What are your top 2 transportation priorities and how would you fund them?
A. We need to encourage the use of public transportation for many reasons, so that people have an affordable way to get to work, to minimize the number of vehicles on the road that lead to increased accidents and to protect the environment. We need to make that public transportation a safe and enjoyable experience that serves those needs. We have an elderly population and tourists that would also benefit and should be provided and encouraged to utilize a mass transportation system as well.

We also have school children that are on bus stops at early morning hours and spend too much time on the road and not in schools, where community schools should be a mandate of any increased density or new construction to alleviate that issue. We need better coordination between our state and local entities in regard to road construction and new development to insure proper planning and smarter growth.