Meet the candidates for Ocoee mayor, District 3 commissioner

The Ocoee Political Forum will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24, at Ocoee City Hall, 150 N. Lakeshore Drive, Ocoee. The forum is free and open to the public. It also will be broadcast on OGTV channel 493, the public-service channel of Bright House Networks.

Before you go to the forum — and to the polls March 15 — meet the candidates for mayor and District 3 commissioner.

CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR
 

RUSTY JOHNSON
AGE: 70
FAMILY: Married to Marilyn for 41 years; five children, Tim, Michelle, Mark, Lisa and Lesley; 11 grandchildren
PROFESSION: Retired from U.S. Postal Service; Manheim; currently at Gosselin Realty. Sergeant in the U.S. Army and a Vietnam veteran
OCOEE RESIDENT: Since 1955
BIRTHPLACE: Savannah, Georgia
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Ocoee city commissioner; charter member and president of the Ocoee Jaycees; Ocoee Little League executive board; executive board member of the Ocoee Bulldogs Pop Warner Program; president of the Ocoee Junior High Athletic Program; president of the West Orange High School Diamond Club; vice chairman of the  National League of Cities Small Cities Council

JIM SILLS
AGE: 71
FAMILY: Wife, Cathy; two daughters; one son; five grandchildren
PROFESSION: Ocoee business owner since 1976
OCOEE RESIDENT: Since 1976
BIRTHPLACE: Dunn, North Carolina
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Former original member and chairman of COCOPD; former member and chairman of Code Enforcement; former chairman of Equity Study Commission; former chairman and current member of Planning and Zoning; current chair of Community Grant Review Board; former president and current board member for the Ocoee Lions Club; member of Winter Garden Elks Lodge; honorary member of GFWC Woman’s Club of Ocoee

CANDIDATES FOR DISTRICT 3
 

RICHARD FIRSTNER
AGE: 64
FAMILY: Wife, Doris Lawson Firstner; daughters, Jennifer, Jaime and Candace; granddaughters, Kendall, Alexis and Haile; and grandsons Trevor and Benjamin
PROFESSION: Retired fire chief for the city of Ocoee; former deputy fire chief of the Kennedy Space Center
OCOEE RESIDENT: 14 years in Wesmere
BIRTHPLACE: Staten Island, New York City
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Thirty-five years of public service in both the police and fire departments; current member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Ocoee Fire Department; volunteer for United Cerebral Palsy Elementary School, Bailes Campus; past member of the Ocoee Rotary Club; volunteer for three years with the Daily Bread Program, West Orange Christian Service Center; volunteer, Read2Succeed reading mentoring program for elementary school children; member of Holy Family Catholic Church; established the Operation Santa program; established the Fully Involved program; former member of the Development Review Committee; former secretary of the Ocoee Police/Fire Pension Board

MARC A. PRICE
AGE: 51
FAMILY: Spouse, Dawn Owen Price, of 24 years
PROFESSION: Writer, published author, speaker, entrepreneur 
OCOEE RESIDENT: 13-and-one-half years 
BIRTHPLACE: Columbus, Ohio
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Member, West Orange Chamber of Commerce (winner of 2013 Rising Star Award); YMCA volunteer, instructor and fundraiser; philanthropist 

RONNEY OLIVEIRA
AGE: 43
FAMILY: Father of four
PROFESSION: Founder of Total Brick Pavers, pastor
OCOEE RESIDENT: Since 2002
BIRTHPLACE: Brazil
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Co-chair of the Latin American Advisory Committee of Orange County Policy Department; co-chair of the Hispanic Civic Alliance in Florida; counsel representative of Brazilians Abroad