County Commission — District 1: Mike Moran

Age: 47

Hometown: Macomb County, Mich.

Previous political offices: Sarasota County Planning Commission

Political party: Republican

About: After selling his payroll and insurance firm in Michigan, Mike Moran moved to Sarasota in 2002 with his wife of more than 22 years, Lori, and their two children Laina and Mike,Jr. Upon selling their business, Mike & Lori looked all over the nation for a place to raise their children. They selected Sarasota, Fl. to call home.

Moran is committed to keeping Sarasota a world class community to raise a family, start a business or have a fulfilling retirement; all with as little governmental intrusion as possible.

In addition to Moran’s extensive business experience, he has a bachelor’s degree in Business & Insurance from Michigan State University.  Moran is also a Certified Insurance Counselor. His experience and formal education makes him well suited to deal with the financial dynamics facing Sarasota taxpayers.

Why do you want to serve on the County Commission?

I have a 19-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son. My daughter is off to college, and my son will be off within the year. The statistical odds of them coming back here and having a career here are very concerning to me, which led me to run and bring more economic diversity and career creation here.

What are the top three issues facing Sarasota County that the commission would have to address in your term?

Economic diversity and career creation is definitely one. Better relations with municipalities here in the county would be very important to me. Road and traffic issues are also a major concern.

Homelessness is a big issue in Sarasota County. What’s your stance on the county’s pursuit of a come-as-you-are homeless shelter and jail diversion program?

My vision, hopefully, is going to be a little bigger than that. I think as a community, we need to have at least some thoughtful discussion about putting together a special purpose district here, which would be a voter referendum that would provide a long-term funding strategy. We could come with the most wonderful idea of how to deal with homelessness, but at the end of the day we have to figure out how to pay for it. With a voter-backed referendum for long-term funding, I think it would serve two different purposes. The first is obviously the long term funding, but the other part would be the board would be made up of the stakeholders related to this, and they could drive the priorities and the initiatives.  

What does the county need to do to help create more affordable housing?

First, the county doesn’t create anything. Government doesn’t create anything. The free market entrepreneurial world creates things. The government can either enhance that or create hurdles. I think we need to have very, very thoughtful discussion as a community here that we need to be a little careful that the most well-intentioned ideas could hurt the people we are trying to help. For example, you have a subdivision that is approved for 100 homes, and the government forces affordable housing on 15 of them. We have to be careful that the developer trying to get a proper return on investment on the property would increase the price on the other 85 homes, and we’re hurting the very people we are trying to help.