Myakka City resident takes another shot at becoming commissioner

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When Manatee County wanted to impose a stormwater fee on its citizens in 2019, Carol Ann Felts was among a group of Myakka City residents opposed to the plan.

The group attended public meetings, asked questions and voiced concerns. 

“(The commissioners) never voted it in,” Felts said. “That’s when I saw that maybe we (as citizens) could make a difference if we kept up the dialogue.”

Five years later, the 66-year-old retiree is in the race to be the next county commissioner to represent District 1. James Satcher vacated the seat in April when Governor Ron DeSantis appointed him to serve as the Supervisor of Elections after Mike Bennett retired.

Satcher lives in the rapidly developing area of Parrish. Felts lives on 10 acres in Myakka City. She said the vast area of District 1 contains different communities, each with their own unique concerns. 

“We’re the wall (in Myakka) from keeping urban sprawl coming out here,” Felts said. “People on Clay Gully Road are more concerned about the phosphate mines coming in, and at the same time, we’ve got Parrish that doesn’t even know that phosphate mines exist (because most residents are new to the area).”

An eighth generation Floridian, there’s a pitcher of sweet tea in Felt’s refrigerator and two aging horses in her backyard, both named J.R. 

Growing up in Miami, Felts took frequent trips to the Keys and developed a lifelong love of horses on the ranches in nearby Homestead. She’d later pick up barrel racing at the age of 38 because the first horse she bought happened to be trained for it.

She left Florida after high school and spent time in North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama before returning in her mid 20s with a husband and two kids in tow.

Felts worked for a growing office equipment company, Danka Industries. She was transferred to Pensacola. When her ex-husband was hired by Tropicana, the family moved to west Bradenton in 1989. 

During those years, there was no time for politics. Felts was traveling every week with Danka’s mergers and acquisitions department, plus preparing outfits and meals for every day she was away from her preschool sons, Nick and Kyle. 

After moving from west Bradenton to Myakka City in 2000, Felts wanted to slow down. If she wanted to, she could just tend to her horses and gardens every day. Instead, she chooses to drive across the county to attend commission and land use meetings. 

Win or lose, that won’t change. Felts will continue to give her input whether it's from the dais as a commissioner or the podium as a citizen. In the case of a loss, she said the winner will become her best friend because she’ll be reaching out to him or her regularly.

This is Felts’ third run at a commission seat, yet she says that she’s not a “politician.” She hates asking for money, yet she’ll stand in line at the grocery store and regularly ask the stranger standing next to her, "Do you know who your county commissioner is?”

Felts ran as a write-in candidate for the District 5 seat in 2020 (the districts have since been redrawn so District 1 has been given much of the Myakka area). She knew she didn’t have a chance against incumbent Vanessa Baugh, so she also campaigned for George Kruse. Kruse was elected to the District 7 at-large seat that year. 

“There was an opportunity there (with Kruse) for me to get somebody to listen to what was happening out here and to learn a little bit about the election process,” Felts said. “I got 300 votes, but I kind of got Myakka to be knowledgeable about our at-large commissioner (Kruse).”

Those 300 votes meant a lot to Felts because people took the time to write out her name exactly as she filed it. If the spelling is off for a write-in candidate, the vote doesn’t count. 

In 2022, she ran for the District 6 at-large seat and received 5,977 votes in the primary against Carol Whitmore and Jason Bearden, who won the seat. 

Of course, Felts would like to win, but getting more citizens involved has been and remains her No 1 goal. She has paid attention on what goes on behind the scenes for years, but she became active when talks about moving the Future Development Area Boundary started happening. 

While she doesn’t want to see Myakka City turn into Lakewood Ranch or Parrish, she said people who say she’s anti-development are wrong.

“We can do it in a better way,” Felts said. “Myakka has an incredible opportunity to be part of growth without sacrificing the things that are important. We’ve got to protect our water and food sources for the rest of the county.”

Age: 66

Current occupation: Retired

Resident of Manatee County: 35 years

What are the three top priorities/issues facing the county, and how should the commission address them?

1) A solid  plan for pacing our growth with the infrastructure and sustainable methodologies to provide quality services for our tax dollars. 

The Land Development Code, Comprehensive Plan and impact fees must be restructured and adhered to achieve this. 

The integrity of that plan cannot be sustained without limitations on the amount of acres rezoned within a fiscal year for our supporting infrastructure to keep up and adapt to these changes, as well as to maintain a budget for such expenditures. 

Mandatory periodic review of our LDC, Comp Plan and impact fees on an ongoing basis will also provide the means to ensure the county is proactive, not reactive to the many factors that affect future development, be that economic or environmental issues. 

2) Sustainable economic industries. Manatee County has long relied on three factors for our economic growth — agriculture (which includes phosphate mining); tourism; and new construction. 

Agriculture is a necessity for all of us, not just in Manatee County, but for our nation’s security and independence from reliance on foreign products, while tourism and new construction are luxuries with limitations and dependence on our nation’s economy. 

Our phosphate mining is an industry that, while providing some economic benefit, consumes an extreme amount of our resources that conflicts with our need for clean water and untainted land to support both tourism and further development in the future and requires much more oversight to insure compliance and commitment to reducing that impact in the future. 

We can take measures to balance our economic future in Manatee County and our nation’s economic independence by promoting the use of local commodities; providing incentives to farmers to maintain their agricultural pursuits; creating jobs and American made products by pursuing manufacturing companies to come to our area; and promoting equally the variety of amenities, venues and natural resources of our county to its valued visitors, while also maintaining the quality of these resources to sustain that. 

3) Affordable Housing. Our growth has been greatly affected and supported by new residents because of a massive amount of migration from those seeking refuge from the effects of our COVID era and the political and economic policies in other states. 

However, in that, we have catered to those who have the economic means to do so, while neglecting the needs of those residents who live here now or year-round and provide the services necessary to support their needs in schools, first responders, law enforcement, medical care, trades and other industries to provide a sustainable quality of life for all. 

Greater incentives and efforts must be made to create communities within the price range of our average wage in this county, and within the boundaries of our ability in the county’s budget to provide the infrastructure to support them without raising taxes that penalize long-term homeowners or low-income workers. 

Why are you running for office?

I am an eighth generation native Floridian with an innate passion and knowledge of my state, and what I feel is a personal responsibility and obligation to do all I can to protect and preserve what makes our area great and will sustain that for future generations. 

This requires not only good governance, but an educated, informed and involved public to elect representatives with that same mindset and a familiarity not only with our local environment and economy, but also our governmental structure, policies and procedures, all of which I have pursued and demonstrated in preparation for this role as an ardent advocate for my community and the county as a whole for many years. 

What makes you more qualified than your opponents for this office?

I have a vested interest in this county as a Florida native, a long-term resident, home and land owner with deep roots and extensive knowledge of its cultural, environmental and political history, much more so than any other candidate. 

I have been an active participant and astute observer of our local government activities, meetings, etc., for many years, which provides the advantage of understanding the duties and responsibilities of the role of a county commissioner, unlike many who run for office with no prior history of civic engagement or activism. 

I have also demonstrated the ability and efforts to communicate with the public to provide the education, information and involvement they have a right and their own responsibility to be good citizens. These qualities are needed in good local leadership to focus on our local issues, once more a difference in approach than other candidates for this office that rely on issues outside their domain. 

As a true fiscal conservative, both in my personal life and political viewpoints, I am not motivated by the monetary compensation or biased by political contributions, unlike other candidates who have received a majority of their funding from specific interests and industries. 

Affordable housing — what can the Manatee County Commission do to increase the supply of work force housing?

There can be a balance reached between the rights of property owners to pursue their own economic endeavors and also provide for the needs of the communities in which they pursue their interests. 

To increase the supply of workforce housing, we must provide greater incentives to upgrade our urban areas, build within our county’s existing infrastructure to reduce costs to those builders and design such communities to be conducive to easy access to employment with reliable mass transit and adequate roadways. 

We must also provide economic pathways to home ownership in our affordable housing endeavors, as this not only builds personal equity and protection from rising rental costs, but builds a continuity and sense of community often lacking in a transient area. 

If elected, you likely are going to be asked many times to allow changes to the county zoning code for certain projects. What is your philosophy toward zoning?

We must put some limits on the constant alteration of our Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan. This does not limit property owners rights, but restricts the timing in which such endeavors can be accomplished in a fiscally conservative and environmentally conscious manner, and maintains the integrity of that plan and our county’s ability to execute it, as well as to re-evaluate it as a whole on a mandatory and periodic basis to adapt to any necessary changes due to economic or environmental factors. 

We must also improve the ability of our citizens to effectively participate in the quasi-judicial process of land development that affects existing communities by providing an equal opportunity and fair conduct in legal representation on these issues. 

What is your position on the Future Development Area Boundary — keep it; abide by it; eliminate it? Why?

I have been an ardent activist in opposing the expansion of our county services beyond our environmental or fiscal ability to provide them. 

We cannot continue to promote expansion of these services when not only is our county budget unprepared to do so, but we have aging infrastructure in other areas of roadways, and our water and sewer utilities that require immediate attention. 

Our agricultural endeavors in rural areas are also not only a large part of our economic base, but a unique facet of our state’s ability to provide for the sustenance and food security of our nation year-round that cannot be replaced once rezoned to build homes for people who eat. 

While it is necessary to re-evaluate periodically the need or desire for expansion, maintaining a legal limitation confines our efforts to fixing what is broken, before expanding beyond our means to provide for more and insures that our valuable resources unique to our area are used for best practices that insure sustainability of not only our nation’s food production, but also choices in the variety of lifestyles available to all residents in our county, of urban, suburban and rural interests.

Growth — What is your philosophy on how population growth should be addressed in Manatee County?

Florida will always attract those enticed by our weather and lack of state income tax. However, we are a unique and fragile environment that cannot adequately sustain the need for land and water for everyone who would like to live here. 

We are also subject to periodic weather events such as hurricanes that require adequate shelters or evacuation routes that cannot facilitate the movement of masses of people subject to home or bodily harm. 

Controlling the amount of available housing that can be managed within our fiscal ability, environmental protection and adequate and safe respite from periodic weather events is the only measure we can take to insure we balance want with need for balanced protection for all Floridians, new and old. 

Roads/Transportation — What should the County Commission’s strategy be to address the county’s increased road needs?

While it is very difficult to encourage mass transit use in Florida, due to variable weather conditions and it being a car-centric state, making our mass transit convenient, affordable, reliable and enticing to our visitors to utilize these modes of transportation is one step we can take to alleviate congestion on our highways. 

A great issue is the timeliness and completion of roadway projects, coordinating these projects with the state and during seasonal population variants or weather conditions as well. 

Transportation studies offered when approving new developments must be done with a less myopic view of not just the impact of a singular development, but those in the vicinity in various stages of application or approval. 

All infrastructure to support further development must be addressed on a proactive, not reactive basis, as we cannot catch up with our road needs or offer a quality of life to citizens that are endangered by constant construction on our highways. 

What is your position on impact fees?

Without our impact fees keeping pace with our economy, we cannot continue to support new growth with the burden on current taxpayers to finance the infrastructure and amenities required to provide for that growth. 

Our Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan must be rewritten and restructured in such a way that further development cannot be approved, unless the county has demonstrated the fiscal ability to provide the infrastructure for that. 

Impact fee credits is another area that allows substandard planning of previous projects to become the future burden of the county, and there should not be a compensation for fixing them at rate that is greater than that being charged for building new projects with the same inadequate planning.  

What is your position on land acquisition for conservation and preservation?

The county’s environmental land purchases are a commendable project, however, the requirements are very strict and there is too much emphasis on those providing amenities and the added cost to do so versus maintaining the natural state of the area as I believe most voters envisioned when we approved an additional property tax to make these purchases. 

There is also little emphasis on procuring larger land masses for the program that are in danger of development or properly identifying areas in application for development that house our endangered flora and fauna and being proactive in protecting them as well. 

Again, I feel the effort has been commendable, but we need to bring more awareness to the program and offer greater incentives to encourage landowners to take part. 

What grade would you give the County Commission on managing the county’s tax dollars? What needs to be changed in the county fiscal management?

Our County Commission has not exercised fiscal responsibility in that we have spent too much time and money on peripherals or special interests while ignoring the basic needs of our communities for adequate and quality water, shelter and the repair or improvement of existing infrastructure. 

We have grown under a “less government” regime to our county operations being the highest employer in the area, with an increase in administration and staff, but little improvement in services or response to the role of the county commissioners when it applies to maintaining the policies, process and procedure to insure our tax dollars are used wisely. 

To change this, we must adapt as many counties have to zero-based or performance-based budgeting; examine our allocation of resources to properly address the priorities of the taxpayers; and reduce our tax dollars spent on non-performing or repeated funding of those that do not obtain stated goals or their original intent. 

Can you identify any area where you think the county’s spending should be cut, or any area where more needs to be spent?

We have reorganized, renamed and restructured our county departments far too much and too often in the last four years to justify any economic benefit or purpose to our taxpayers. We have wasted considerable time and our taxpayers’ money on national searches and termination clauses on individuals chosen outside the expense or the promise of national searches to find qualified individuals to function adequately for our county’s growing needs. 

We must address the role of local government to apply our tax dollars to the needs of our current population and in preparation for the future and reduce the expenditures on components better served by private entities or endeavors. 

What is your position on the county’s current millage rate — is it satisfactory? Too high? Too low?

I am in not in favor of any increases until our local government can demonstrate their ability to operate our county within budget and proves their fiscal responsibility to the public to do so.

How would you describe your philosophy on the role of government and on taxation? 

Our District 1 has been without a representative in our first line of government for many months. We have been taxed for representation and services that have not been forthcoming without a means for recourse. 

Our government is entrusted to make best use of our tax dollars and be responsive and attentive to the directive from the public on how we want our tax dollars spent. 

However, the public bears some responsibility on its own to understand how policies are created and to supervise their employees that they elect to serve them and spend their money. 

This article has been updated as Keith Green did not qualify for the primary election.