Goodbye to Maitland's Bev Reponen

In the six years since she first walked the streets of Maitland campaigning as a retired teacher looking for her first elected office on the City Council, Bev Reponen has made her mark, both big and small, in the nooks and crannies of local neighborhoods.

She sees her work in the sprouting trees in Maitland Community Park, lush landscaping outside the Maitland Public Library and with the new drains on Maitland Boulevard, all of which she helped install through city beautification efforts.

Her votes and advocacy for Maitland’s waterways show on shore and in the water, having helped pass boat dock ordinances and stormwater utility fees during her Council tenure.

Noticing and remembering those things, she said, are what make her smile as she takes her daily 5-mile strolls through Maitland today, as she readies to officially end her Council career next week.

“You go through the city and say, gee whiz, I did these things, I helped do these things,” she said. “And so people say, ‘Well why do you keep doing it?’ Well, it’s making it a better place … and that’s what we’re all charged with doing in our life.”

After six years, three mayors, and a new crop of Council members rotating out around her, Reponen will reprieve her termed-out seat with the swearing in of March 12 election winner Joy Goff-Marcil at the April 8 City Council meeting.

On March 25, at her last seated meeting, the Council Chambers echoed with praise for the out-going Councilwoman and 20-plus year city volunteer.

John Lowndes and Joy Goff-Marcil will be sworn into their new seats on the Maitland City Council at the start of the Monday, April 8, City Council meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 1776 Independence Lane. Councilman Ivan Valdes will also be re-sworn in at the meeting.

“We wouldn’t be who we are today without you,” said city volunteer Dale McDonald.

“She loves Maitland, we all can tell she loves Maitland, and we’ll miss her,” said Maitland Mayor Howard Schieferdecker.

Having run for Council in 2007 after serving on the city’s Lakes Advisory Board and Personnel Board and as president of the Friends of Maitland’s Waterways, Reponen said she initially campaigned out of frustration, not being able to get recommendations of the boards past Council.

“I got on to Council because I said, ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, you join ‘em,’” she said with a laugh, adding that she decided to stay once she realized how her voice could make a difference in decisions and attitudes in the city.

“I found that I fit, I found my voice, I found I could do it well. And, I found that people liked what I was doing. I found that I had the skills and the temperament (for it),” she said. “… So though many citizens questioned my sanity of running a second time, I knew it was where I belonged. It really was something I did and did well.”

As a Council member and current Vice Mayor, Reponen said she’s prided herself on being a voice for residents too timid or shy to speak up at meetings, and for those with opinions sometimes not always considered by Council. Being a voice for the residents is a role she hopes her successor will continue – and a platform Goff-Marcil used in her own campaign for election.

“If you aren’t working for the people, you aren’t doing the job,” Reponen said, adding that she always kept in mind her goal of leaving the city better off than when she came in.

Minutes after Monday’s Council meeting begins and Reponen hands over her seat, she said her future is unusually open after her years city of service.

“I have no idea what I’ll do, but I know it’s going to be something good, something challenging,” she said. “I’ve been working hard, so I know it has to be something challenging.”

And as for Maitland, she said she believes the city is also on track to be something better than good, even great, as redevelopment and new downtown project plans continue to come through.

“I really like where the city’s at right now. I think it’s in a good place; we’re moving in the right direction,” she said. “It’s really going to be a great city.”