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Tag: Rick Hurst

Meet the candidate: Rick Hurst

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Rick Hurst is ready for a political comeback. After running for a second term last November and losing to newcomer Terry Schaefer, Hurst took a year off from the local political scene but hopes that voters will give him a second term as city commissioner this November.

Currently residing in Key Royale with his wife of 28 years, Laura, Hurst has been a resident of Holmes Beach since 2013. The two have three children, Tim, Ted and Torianne. Torianne attended Anna Maria Elementary School in Holmes Beach and now attends King Middle School.

Hurst was raised in Philadelphia and left to attend the University of Michigan where he earned a B.S.E. in 1985. After graduation, he moved to the Chicago area and developed a software system that he said is still the premier product in its industry.

In 1995, he switched his focus to a start-up automation company located in Michigan. It quickly grew and was sold in 2000, though Hurst stayed on as president until he retired in 2010. It took three months of full retirement before he was ready to move on to the next adventure, working part-time as a process efficiency/software consultant and more recently working as managing partner of the Freckled Fin Irish Pub, volunteering as a soccer coach and serving as a city commissioner in Holmes Beach from 2017-19. He also works from home as an IT director for a large Midwest food distributor.

“I wholeheartedly agree with my financial advisor when he says, ‘Rick, you suck at retirement,’ ” Hurst wrote in an email to The Sun.

With two seats on the city commission dais up for grabs in the Nov. 3 election, Hurst faces off against incumbent Commissioners Pat Morton and Kim Rash along with fellow Holmes Beach resident Jayne Christenson. To help voters get to know each candidate a little better, The Sun asked each candidate to answer the same four questions. Here are Hurst’s answers.

What do voters need to know about your involvement in the community?

For many years I spent a good portion of my time coaching youths at The Center. During that time, I started and coached the Island travel soccer team that had a great three-year run. In addition, I spent two years as a Holmes Beach Commissioner. I am currently the managing partner of the Freckled Fin Irish Pub where we provide great food, atmosphere and entertainment to our community.

Why are you running for Holmes Beach City Commission?

I along with many Holmes Beach residents feel “all” residents are not being heard. I have been asked by many residents, “What can we do to be heard?” My only answer is “Through the election process.” I want us to be heard through my campaign as well as future campaigns with other candidates. Additionally, based on recent observations I believe that too many members of the commission are too like-minded and are missing my differing point of view which in the past has allowed the commission to see multiple sides of issues. I think for the sake of the city, we need to get that back.

If elected, what would be your priority to work on with your fellow commissioners?

Improve methods of communication to our residents and provide simple ways for all residents to be heard. The truth is that only a handful of people have the time and willingness to attend and speak up at a commission meeting. We need to design better forums for all to be heard along with better checks and balances to ensure certain inner circles are not heard over others.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the city today?

The way the parking ordinance was implemented by the city has created a new challenge, which is to repair a community that has been fractured by residents being pitted against one another and a growing distrust of city officials. With that said, the biggest challenge is keeping up with, paying for and prioritizing the many infrastructure and stormwater projects that are necessary for the present as well as for the future of the city.

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Meet the candidate: Rick Hurst

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Commissioner Rick Hurst has his eyes set on a second term after the November election and is hopeful that the city’s voters agree.

Rick Hurst
Commissioner Rick Hurst waves a campaign sign at the intersection of Gulf and Marina drives while running for his first term in office in 2017. – Kristin Swain | Sun

Hurst first took the dais as a commissioner in November 2017. With only three commission seats available and four candidates, Hurst is squaring off at the polls with incumbents Jim Kihm and Carol Soustek and newcomer Terry Schaefer. To help the voters get to know each candidate, The Sun sat down with Hurst to find out where he stands on the issues facing Holmes Beach. Here are his answers.

What should the voters know about you?

“I’m heavily involved in the community, I have kids, I’m hardworking. I think I’ve been a good commissioner. I take the job seriously and I do it because I want to serve my community and I intend to live here for the rest of my life.”

What has been your greatest accomplishment for the city?

“My greatest accomplishment for the city has been reversing the three-year waiting period between permits for ground-level properties… That would’ve been huge for these ground-level people. I don’t think anyone realizes how big that was. When I found out about that and started talking to real estate agents, even builders, and they said you’re basically going to just kill the ground level homes (with the three-year waiting period for 50% rule FEMA-compliant renovations). I think that would’ve been devastating. I also feel I bring my ability to see all sides of an issue and understand how it can impact the city both positively and negatively.”

What would you hope to accomplish in a new term as commissioner?

“Continue to focus on infrastructure issues and figure out how we can roll back or lower the millage rate. I was very disappointed when that didn’t happen this year. And continue to focus on community, bringing the community together.”

What is the biggest problem facing Holmes Beach?

“Infrastructure. Dealing with potential sea level rise, the cost of the infrastructure changes that are necessary for Holmes Beach, and that includes widening the sidewalks, bike paths, you have crumbling curbs in Key Royale. Dealing with potential sea level rise is very expensive and we have to make sure that we address those needs while trying to reduce the costs to the city… The other one I always look at is the people who live in the R-2 zone who want to live a quiet, happy life and then people who own properties that are trying to make money off those properties. That balance, finding the balance that is justifiable, fair, enforceable and can make the R-2 residents in those zones as happy as possible and that is a challenge.”

How would you fix it?

“The infrastructure has to be dealt with and we have to do it in a systematic manner that minimizes the cost to the residents and that means doing it in a way that we can maximize outside funding as much as possible, which we have been doing… As a commissioner, you try to deal with what’s fair and what’s right. And people do have a right to go to sleep and it be quiet but people spend a lot of money for a place and have a right to come and enjoy themselves and not be hassled by the police unless they’re totally out of hand… To me, it’s an educational thing… Infrastructure’s easy to solve. You just put money at it. The challenge is finding the money. But for this situation (noise issues in residential areas) it’s almost an impossible solution. We’ve just got to find the right solution.”

Do you think the residents have enough of a voice in city government?

“It’s so different than any other government. They vote, they can show up at the commission meetings. I believe that when people do speak at the commission meetings, we do hear what they say. I can’t think of many situations, if any, where people have spoken that has not made me think of how we can smartly accommodate them. Sometimes we don’t always accommodate but that’s because there are other factors.”

What is the most important part of being a Holmes Beach commissioner?

“Understanding the impact of every word of every piece of legislation on the entire city, every resident and the community around us. That’s what I try to do.”

Is there anything else you’d like the voters to know?

“I am raising a 12-year-old daughter. I am a managing partner of The Freckled Fin which makes me a Holmes Beach business owner. That provides me a unique perspective that none of the other commissioners or candidates have. And I’ve worked hard and done my best to do a good job for the city and I believe that I have.”

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Meet the candidate: Carol Soustek

Questions on the ballot in Holmes Beach

Four qualify in Holmes Beach

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Four qualify in Holmes Beach

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Qualifying week is officially over, and four candidates are posed to fight it out in the polls Nov. 5 to see which of them will take the three commission seats up for grabs.

Incumbents Rick Hurst, Jim Kihm and Carol Soustek have all qualified and are hoping to retake their seats on the dais after the dust settles from the election. Challenging the incumbents is newcomer Terry Shaefer.

Four qualify in Holmes Beach
Commissioners Jim Kihm, Carol Soustek and Rick Hurst all hope to keep their seats on the dais after the November election. – Kristin Swain | Sun

If Shaefer’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he served in 2018 as one of eight members of a city-formed ad hoc committee studying Holmes Beach’s form of government. Ultimately, the committee determined that a city manager form of government, versus a strong mayor and commission government like the city currently has, would be in the city’s best interests.

After months of meetings and a presentation to city commissioners, the commission ultimately decided to place the decision of whether or not to put the city manager question on the ballot in the hands of the 2019 charter review commission. Charter review commissioners did not have the supermajority vote of members required to put the question on the November ballot.

If re-elected, this will be Kihm’s second term as a commissioner. He currently serves as the commission chair and legislative liaison, keeping his fellow commissioners apprised of what issues in Tallahassee may affect local regulations.

Re-election would also mean a second term for Hurst, who serves as the city’s liaison to The Center of Anna Maria Island, where he also volunteers as a youth sports coach, and Anna Maria Elementary School. Hurst also is a local business owner, having a partial ownership stake in The Freckled Fin restaurant in Holmes Beach. Hurst was first elected in November 2017.

For Soustek, re-election would mean her third full term on the dais. After first being appointed to the commission in November 2014 to fill the unexpired term of former Commissioner David Zaccagnino, she was elected to the commission in 2015 and again in 2017. Soustek currently serves as the commission’s code compliance liaison.

In addition to electing or re-electing commissioners, Holmes Beach voters also will have eight questions on the ballot proposed by the charter review commission. Each question represents a proposed change to the city’s charter.

Voters will go to the polls on Nov. 5. For more information about the election or to register to vote, visit the Manatee County elections office.