Six questions for Manatee County Commission candidate Jennifer Hamey
Attorney and civic activist seeking District 1 seat, which is now held by James Satcher
As a civic activist, Manatee County Commission candidate Jennifer Hamey has been busy advocating for the needs of the fast-growing Parrish area, a leader of the Parrish Civic Association.
As an attorney, she filed one of the 18 ethics complaints against Vanessa Baugh, that led to the Florida Commission on Ethics recommending that Baugh be fined and censured for her wrongdoing.
Hamey is now running for the District 1 seat now held by first-term incumbent Commissioner James Satcher, as a no-party-affiliated, or NPA, candidate. If she qualifies for the ballot, Hamey on Nov. 5, 2024, will face the winners of any party primariees, write-in candidates and any other NPAs (Satcher currently faces a GOP primary challenge by Myakka City activist Carol Felts.)
District 1 is the county’s largest district, sprawling from north of Palmetto, through Ellenton and Parrish and to Myakka City.
The Bradenton Journal had a few questions for Hamey. (Her responses have been lightly edited for clarity and grammar.)
The Bradenton Journal: Presuming you considered political and personal factors before deciding on whether to enter the race, what’s the one thing that most convinced you to run for the District 1 seat on the Manatee County Commission?
Hamey: I have been very engaged in the board meetings and got even more involved with what was happening locally through my roles with the Parrish Civic Association. I didn’t like what I was seeing with the decisions being made by my opponent. He wasn’t listening to constituents, and he was (and continues to be) very focused on state and federal issues, rather than local needs and concerns. I then started getting feedback from residents and businesses in the community about concerns they had that were not being addressed. After taking a lead role in holding another district commissioner accountable for her unethical actions regarding the COVID vaccine, people really began asking me to run. After taking a hard look at the situation, I felt that it was time to get more involved in local government to really get things accomplished for the district.
The Bradenton Journal: Which issues will you emphasize as a candidate and as a commissioner, if you are elected?
Hamey: I have three primary issues that I intend on emphasizing both through my candidacy and when I am elected commissioner.
First, conserving our natural resources. This is a big concern for everyone. It’s not a partisan issue as seen in the referendum in November of 2020 when over 71% of Manatee County residents voted to increase their own property taxes in order to conserve land. At that time, only 13% of Manatee County land was preserved, in contrast with the state average of 30%. And very little attention has been paid to that issue since then. It’s time the commission listens to the voters, and not just special interests. Everyone needs to be able to use and drink clean water. Everyone wants the wildlife to have a place to live, grow and flourish. The building that is taking place, especially in District One, is not being done with forethought about the future.
Second, focus on allowing for the inevitable growth, but doing it in a way that again looks to the future, as well as the effect it has on the lives of the residents that currently live here.
Finally, I would like to explore creative ways in which to resolve traffic issues. Including, but not limited to, ensuring growth helps pay for itself by placing impact fees on new development at 100% for transportation. Obviously, we are behind the times with infrastructure and while some plans are in place, it will be years before completion. Meanwhile, it is not taking years for people to move here resulting in becoming even more behind with infrastructure. We need to look at ways for the community to live, play and work to avoid the need to do so much driving. Creating more green space and connectivity with biking and walking paths can help with this problem as well.
The Bradenton Journal: What do you think was the county commission’s biggest mistake since the incumbent District 1 commissioner, James Satcher, was elected in 2020?
It is very hard to pick the one biggest mistake this commission has made in the last three years. The most recent colossal mistake was the decision to reduce the wetland buffers. There were over four hours of public comments against removing the wetland buffers at the hearing, and it all fell on deaf ears. There were experts in fields of geology, environmental studies, ecology and engineering, and this commission, minus George Kruse, didn’t listen to a word. The commission is elected to listen to their constituents. Not just one or two constituents, or special interests, but the needs of all. That is not happening with this current board.
The Bradenton Journal: What would be your priorities when addressing issues related to growth and development in Manatee County?
My priority is to ensure that we are growing with the future in mind by protecting land for parks, trails and other conservation needs. We all want the best quality of life for ourselves and the future generation. It’s also important to ensure that we create communities that are more walkable and bike-able, with a good mix of commercial, so that people can live, work and play in the same area. And I will also help to hold the FDAB line (Future Development Area Boundary) as it’s incredibly costly to our residents to grow past the boundaries of existing infrastructure. The only people who win in those situations are special interests. I believe those are the top priorities and not the divisive drivel my opponent peddles to tear our community apart over federal and state level issues while our community is waiting for real results. I want to focus on making sure my District One residents and businesses feel heard and represented. I will focus on making sure to return calls, return emails, hold town meetings and keep the community informed of what is happening in their communities.
The Bradenton Journal: What's your sense of how eager residents in District 1 are for a change in their representation?
I believe many people are ready for a change! There is a lot of frustration being expressed by residents and businesses in the district regarding traffic, infrastructure, lack of amenities and necessities, lack of communication and failure to complete needed projects. My opponent has had three years to work on these issues and instead he has chosen to focus his attention on abortion, guns, religion and the “woke” movement. None of these categories are part of the job as a LOCAL commissioner. What he hasn’t done is the job he was elected for! I don’t believe we can count on him to fix the issues he helped create, or chose to ignore.
The Bradenton Journal: Manatee County is nearly surrounded by and adjacent to water – the Gulf of Mexico, the Manatee River, etc. What should the county be doing to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and more intense hurricanes and tropical storms?
We must focus major attention to protecting our community from the effects of climate change by doing things such as:
Investing in resilient infrastructure that can withstand more extreme weather and rising water.
Protecting our wetlands and greenspace to reduce flooding.
Updating building and infrastructure codes where needed.
Ensuring our stormwater system and wastewater plants are in the best condition to handle major storms and runover.
Creating more sustainable communities.
Planting more mangroves and keeping coral alive and healthy to help with wave reduction and erosion issues.
Few things risk widespread devastation in our community like the threat of rising sea levels and intense weather events. The potential devastation could affect everything from our residents losing their homes to insurance rates skyrocketing and even our community losing the tourism dollars that are so helpful to supporting our county and small businesses.
I checked my email. Since 2021, I have emailed Commissioner Satcher 29 times about various Manatee County issues: The Animal Shelter, shelter volunteers, library policy, infrastructure, wetlands, development, Administrator Hopes, covid vaccine, sales tax, advisory board appointments, and many other topics. Out of those 29 emails, Mr. Satcher has not replied to a single one - ZERO. Not even a polite, copy/pasted standard response. Mr. Satcher earns a good paycheck from ALL taxpayers, he has good benefits for his family- also paid by all of us. He takes 90 minute lunches on the days he does work, but can't even take time to reply to email. We can do much better.