Lakewood Ranch CDD 6 — Seat 4: Bob Crain

Age: 64

Occupation: Recently retired as vice president of Strategic Markets at Steelcase Inc. 

Hometown: Farmington, Mich.

About: Robert Crain has diverse leadership background with a record of combining strategic direction and user-centered design methods to develop and implement new business concepts, business turnarounds and innovative product development. He is experienced in strategy development, executive coaching and driving significant change using strong analytical, verbal and relationship-building skills.

Why are you running for office?

I’m running for the CDD 6 Seat 4 position to contribute to our community’s financial stability, community safety and long-term planning. With more than four decades of diverse business experience and more than two decades of executive leadership roles, my education, business achievements and ability to successfully collaborate with others will benefit the residents of our great community.

What experiences do you have that make you believe you are the right candidate for the job?

Experience matters in leadership. Responsibility for three global businesses with sales exceeding $500 million in annual sales, having successfully lead organizations with more than 1,100 employees and a passion for helping others succeed are all skills I possess and which can be leveraged for the betterment of our residents in serving on the CDD board. My background in working with diverse cultures around the world, being responsible for annual operating expense budgets exceeding $80 million and my ability to start, turnaround and manage complex businesses has provided a broad and deep foundation to help lead organizations.

What do you see as the biggest challenge the district faces and how do you plan address it?

I view the CDD’s primary roles to be threefold: Fiscal management of funds and contracts, long-term planning, and managing the overall property in a manner which enhances the lifestyle and safety we’ve come to enjoy. The two biggest financial projects are working with Manatee County to turn over the water and sewer infrastructure and maintaining our roadway infrastructure. I support the turnover of the water and sewer infrastructure to the county as soon as possible and will work to ensure we make adequate accruals to our financial balance sheet to ensure proper roadway maintenance. 

Public access through the Balmoral Woods Blvd gate is an issue that seems to creep up year after year, despite legal findings that indicate the public must maintain access. How do you feel about this issue/why? What would you change?

I make decisions based on facts, not emotions. Based on how our roads were funded through the bonding process, access must remain open to residents and non-residents alike. Short of paying off the bonds in full, which would be a huge short-term financial burden for the residents, we need to live with the situation as best we can right now. It’s unfortunate that many residents were either led to believe or assumed that this was a closed, gated community. Either way, it isn’t and the CDD has done adequate investigation and currently determined the best outcome based on the facts.

The district has chosen to use a well for irrigation water rather than tapping in to reclaimed water, which is supposed to be better long-term for plant health. Supervisors have said this is to save money on water. Do you think this is a good long-term policy? Why/not?

All things being equal, less expensive is better than more expensive. Our irrigation water comes from our ponds and well water is only used to supplement the supply should the ponds go below sufficient levels. Some reports claim that reclaimed water has beneficial nutrients to plants. I believe the same would be true of the water in our ponds, and well water as well. I think it’s a good long-term policy if its both the most cost effective and most beneficial to our overall environment. I’d need to investigate this further to have a more informed point of view.

Speeding along Balmoral Woods has been a concern, as well. What do you propose the district does to address this problem?

Speeding is a personal behavior issue that must be addressed first and foremost with residents taking responsibility to drive the speed limit. It’s not just a Balmoral Woods issue, but also an issue on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard as well. Continuing to have Sheriff patrols in our community and issuing speeding tickets will help sometimes.  The two speed monitoring signs will help sometimes. But in the end, residents have to take personal responsibility for the speed laws and vendors need to be managed to obey them as well. I would initiate a County Club West information campaign to emphasize these points.