HOLMES BEACH – Holmes Beach mayoral candidates Dan Diggins and David Zaccagnino participated in a candidate forum hosted by The Sun and held at city hall on Sept. 23. Last week’s story focused on the candidates’ opening statements and why they want to be the next Holmes Beach mayor.
This week’s story focuses on the skills and experience the candidates would bring to the mayor’s office, their similarities with and differences from the current mayor, Judy Titsworth, and the management style they’d bring to city hall.
EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE
When asked about his professional experience and expertise, Zaccagnino said, “I’m in finance and I manage tens and tens of millions of dollars every day. I’ve been on boards. I’ve been chairperson for many, many nonprofits.
“There’s three ways to budget. You have a business budget, you have a nonprofit budget and you also have municipal budgets. They’re all totally different. And there’s a lot that needs to be corrected in our budget,” Zaccagnino said.
“You really have to get the most out of staff, and that’s the mayor’s job. You are the CEO,” he added.
“This is all about our quality of life. It’s all about us paying less and getting better services. The only reason you have to incorporate the city is because you think you can do better than the county. That’s why we have our own police department – because we feel like our police department can do a better, safer job than the county.
“It’s the mayor’s job to make that happen. It has not been happening in the last eight years. We’re being left out of the sunshine. We’re being left out of transparency. We’re not working with other municipalities, the state, the federal government and everything up here is being rubber stamped. I would change that,” Zaccagnino said.
Diggins, a current city commissioner and a retired FAA accident scene investigator, spoke about his experience and said, “Managing tens of millions of dollars at the federal level. Municipal government budgets are completely different. They’re completely different than a business budget.
“And our budget is not so much out of whack if you really look deep down inside. Since 2019, we have raised about $8.8 million in grant money and reimbursement money, and that took a talented staff to apply for and get that money. I’m able to manage that type of staff and that type of activity.
“I’m a listener. I’m not much of a talker. And if you listen to people, they tell you what’s wrong, and how we could possibly fix it. If you spend all your time talking, you don’t learn much – and that’s the skill set that I’ll bring to this job. And I take a little issue with my opponent’s statement of the facts. I think they’re a little too inflammatory and inaccurate,” Diggins said.
SIMILAR AND DIFFERENT
When asked how his mayoral style might be similar to and different from current Mayor Judy Titsworth, Diggins said, “I’d be very similar. I’d be very kind to the staff. I’m very thoughtful. I’m a good leader. I’m a good manager of staff. We’ve got about 50 or 60 people here on staff and it would take a lot to manage all of them and manage the department heads. It’s a very complex city.
“In ways that would be different, I wouldn’t hesitate to use reserves to clean up after a storm. When Helene hit, the debris hung around here quite a long time, and this was very hard on you folks. It took a toll on all of us. It took a toll financially, it took a toll physically, it took a toll emotionally. To see your life’s belongings out there for a couple weeks when we had money in reserves that we could use to clean it up … I would think that’s what the reserves are for. That’s a tough decision that somebody will have to make it after the next storm, but I would not hesitate to use the reserves.”
Zaccagnino said, “Well, that’s the decisions you were supposed to make two years ago. As a mayor you have certain powers, but you’re supposed to go to the commission and ask what the direction is. The commission has the majority of the voters supporting them, and that’s your job, you can’t unilaterally do things, and that’s been happening the past eight years, without any transparency, especially within the budget. There’s a lot of decisions that need to at least to come to this dais so it can be discussed in the sunshine.
“That’s why we’re all here – not for me, not for Dan. We’re here for you guys. We’re supposed to be of service to you – to get your services and your quality of life to the best of our ability.”
MANAGERIAL STYLE
The candidates were asked whether they consider the mayor’s job to be a full-time job or a part-time job. They were also asked about the management style they bring to the mayor’s office. Zaccagnino also discussed his second living space and second workplace in St. Petersburg.
“I’m always accessible. I do that in my job currently,” Zaccagnino said. “I go to St. Pete a couple days a week and work out of St. Pete instead of Lakewood Ranch. It’s easier for me, but I’m always here raising two children out here. So, when they’re here, I’m here full time.”
Zaccagnino, who last served as a city commissioner in 2014, said, “I’ve always been responsive to the voters, the residents, the neighbors, even the visitors that have questions. I think that is very important as a mayor, to be responsive, to be transparent and bring things to the commission. That’s how our charter works.”
“It’s a full-time job,” Diggins said. “This is a very complex operation now because we’re managing tens of millions of dollars, and a good part of that is grant money and reimbursement money for stormwater.”
Diggins said there are a few key issues that affect Holmes Beach residents the most.
“Number one: Traffic. Number two: Stormwater. And number three: Tourism. Managing these things require a full-time job and requires a decent staff, talented staff that have the skill set necessary out here. The people on our staff don’t live here, they have to come to the Island every day. And you know as well as I do, driving to the Island every day is not an easy task. To retain these people, we have to pay them the going salary that they would make over in town.
“We have some people that drive over an hour every day to come here, so we have to be understanding to those people and understand that they deserve decent pay and deserve decent working conditions to get the job done, because these jobs are very complex,” Diggins said.
To be continued…
Related coverage: Diggins, Zaccagnino debate mayoral issues
View the mayor’s candidate forum video here
