Ken Bradley, Nancy Miles face off in Winter Park forum

CMF Public Media recently interviewed Ken Bradley and Nancy Miles. Listen to the interview here.

In front of a packed room at the Winter Park Public Library, mayoral candidates Ken Bradley and Nancy Miles took occasional shots at each other while outlining their campaign stances at a candidate forum on Jan. 12.

The forum kicked off a trio of forums in a 25-hour period, giving voters an ample opportunity to get to know the candidates before the start of early voting.

How did they fare? We’ll let the readers decide, taking the responses from the candidates’ mouths about questions ranging from how to preserve the tree canopy to whether the City Commission has lost its social graces.

On managing trees in the city:

Bradley: “Our tree canopy money has not been decreased in our budget,” Bradley said, in response to accusations that it had been. “We have several conflicting ordinances,” that govern the tree maintenance and where the money is spent, he said, something he’d attempted to clarify. “The last budget I asked difficult questions, and unfortunately got unsatisfactory answers.” He called for more scrutiny on how often trees are replaced, to maintain the city’s aging tree canopy.

Miles: “I was concerned when I saw a budget proposal that Ken made that recommended cutting $100,000 (from the tree budget),” Miles said, adding that she thought that the city may be attempting to put more of the burden of trimming trees on residents.

On maintaining resident input in the governing process:

Miles: “I think we need to have as many opportunities as possible,” Miles said, in regard to giving residents access to city leaders, adding that the timing of Commission meetings should possibly be moved. “A 3:30 p.m. meeting just doesn’t work with many people’s schedules.” She also suggested video recording meetings and having those recordings available for download on the city’s website, which could allow residents who are unable to attend the meeting to do so, virtually, at a later time.

Bradley: “They don’t want to watch epics,” Bradley said about residents enduring long meetings in the past. “Making government efficient is a critical part of what we’ve done.” He said that he’d helped make meetings run more smoothly without sacrificing public input.

How they would use their experience to help increase jobs and businesses in the city:

Bradley: “Winter Park Hospital has 700 jobs, good jobs, above average pay for this community,” said Bradley, who is the senior vice president of Winter Park Memorial Hospital. “Bonnier Corp. brought 50 jobs here,” Bradley said of the magazine company that set up shop in Winter Park during his tenure in office. “This is a place where [residents] shop, buy homes, go to school.”

Miles: “Losing a longstanding business is very troubling,” Miles said, referring to longtime Winter Park business RLF deciding to move to Baldwin Park after the city refused a deal with the company that would have remodeled the Dan T. McCarty State Office Building. Bradley had voted against the deal. “We need to make sure that anyone wanting to open a business in this city… is really and truly welcomed.”

Would either candidate try to ban smoking in the city?

Miles: “I can dine without smoke in my face,” Miles said, stating that current laws already cover that to some extent. “My dad died of emphysema… but to say to someone you cannot smoke in a public park, I could not support that. We need to maintain our individual rights.”

Bradley: “I don’t personally smoke, but I respect the rights of those who do,” Bradley said. He mentioned the city’s smoke-free month, though he admitted that enforcement had no teeth. “Ken needs a chocolate-free zone,” he joked.

Top challenges facing the city’s next mayor?

Bradley: “Balancing the tax base,” he said. “We’ve got to do that by building jobs.” He added that the city needs to continue to improve its general fund reserves, which he said he’s helped do. “If this city had been where it was three years ago, we’d be talking about bankruptcy. We certainly wouldn’t be talking about how great this city is.”

Miles: “Making sure commuter rail is used as it should be used,” she said, advocating ridership incentives, from either the city or business owners. She also said the city should continue to build its general fund reserves to keep it safe financially. “We all took a major hit with the last hurricane,” she said. She also said she’d work to manage the city’s debt.