ELECTION 2010: Lakewood Ranch CDD 5 Seat 5

Meet CDD 5 Seat 5 candidates Martin Cohn and Steven Peters, who are facing off to fill a seat to be vacated by supervisor Glenda Robertson.

CDD 5 SEAT 5

Marty Cohn
Age: 67
Family: Married to Carolyn with two daughters.
Hometown: Moved to Lakewood Ranch in 2003 from Cincinnati, Ohio
Education: Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering; master’s degree in business administration
Career: More than 30 years with General Electric Aviation

Why are you running for a CDD seat?
Two very effective and knowledgeable people are retiring from the CDD 5 board, and I feel I can continue their successful efforts in maintaining and improving the district and Lakewood Ranch. I’ve attended HOA, CDD and IDA meetings and witnessed and felt the frustration of residents, and I will work to speed up the process of taking action on policy changes and instituting new policies when necessary.

What is your prior experience as a community leader?
I have never been elected to a public office, but my business experience in successfully leading multi-faceted and multi-national organizations, completing projects, managing budgets and working with diverse interest groups will be put to use in this position.

What changes would you make in the CDD leadership in Lakewood Ranch?
The current CDD leadership has been effective, and I intend to ensure the best-qualified people are in key positions. In addition, I will continually assure myself the IDA staff is supporting the residents’ needs and recommend any actions to improve services.

What is your opinion on the transparency of the CDDs and Lakewood Ranch Town Hall?
The CDDs operate under the Florida Sunshine requirements and all records are available to the public for viewing or obtaining copies pretty consistent with County processes. I will look into the feasibility of making more information available electronically.

What do you feel currently are the biggest challenges facing Lakewood Ranch residents and the CDD board?
Some of the challenges facing Lakewood Ranch residents include the successful settlement of the storm sewer drain lawsuit, maintaining and improving the quality of the lakes, maintaining and improving the aging infrastructure while keeping assessments low and also the possibility of incorporation and what steps the CDD board must take if incorporation occurs.

As a board member, what would you do to increase resident involvement in the affairs of the CDD or the community overall?
I would encourage residents to get in touch with me directly in addition to them attending CDD meetings. Since it seems more residents attend HOA meetings than CDD meetings, I would try to get HOA officers to attend CDD meetings and then flow down information at their HOA meetings. In addition, I will look into having CDD agendas be made electronically available to residents.

Steven H. Peters
Family: Married
Hometown: New York City
Education: Bachelor’s degree in accounting from New York University, School of Commerce; Certified Public Accountant, New York
Career: Public accounting and auditing; financial management; operations and compliance management; trading risk manager

Why are you running for a CDD seat?
I believe everyone in a community like Lakewood Ranch should be involved in some manner. This includes, on the homeowner’s level, attending HOA and CDD meetings and other open forums. I enjoy working on issues that matter here on the Ranch, and as a supervisor, I can have a greater impact.

What is your prior experience as a community leader?
I have been an active member of my neighborhood committee since its inception in 2006 with primary responsibilities for finance and budgeting. This has given me good exposure to many of the issues facing the Ranch and my neighborhood.

What changes would you make in the CDD leadership in Lakewood Ranch?
Leadership consists of setting good examples and guiding others in reaching a reasonable solution to problems. Some resolutions may be made based upon what is good for Lakewood Ranch, while other solutions may have multiple choices where all resolutions will be good for Lakewood Ranch. At this time I do not see any structural problems in the CDD or its leadership. One area to investigate, though, is why we need two CDDs in the Country Club. I know there are considerations regarding the earlier and the newer neighborhoods but don’t quite understand why they cannot be managed under one more efficient CDD.

What is your opinion on the transparency of the CDDs and Lakewood Ranch Town Hall?
Town Hall’s operation must be completely transparent to both the CDDs and the residents. The Ranch is a complex operation, so this is not an easy task. This needs to be part of the CDD role to be certain we all understand how the Ranch is run and how the key decisions are made by management. The Sunshine laws are designed to provide complete openness among Town Hall, the CDD and the residents. The CDD must ensure that happens.

What do you feel currently are the biggest challenges facing Lakewood Ranch residents and the CDD board?
The biggest challenges facing the CDD are maintaining and, where necessary, improving Lakewood Ranch at a reasonable and controllable cost. Supervisors must remember not everyone living at the Ranch is of the same income level. Cost savings should be practiced year in and year out. I think the CDD lost an opportunity to lower costs the last two years when all sorts of prices, with the possible exception of fuel and energy, were falling.

As a board member, what would you do to increase resident involvement in the affairs of the CDD or the community overall?
While many residents of Lakewood Ranch are retired, there are also a large number of residents who are working. We need to structure some of the meetings in the early evening to allow people who are employed to attend and offer their thoughts and comments.