West Melbourne is an amazing place to live, work, and play and I want to make sure it continues to have that feeling of ‘home’ while also planning for the future. I believe we need to work with nearby cities and the county to address the traffic issues, continue to prioritize the maintenance of our roads, keep taxes low, ensure our city and schools are safe with proactive community policing, and work to attract desirable businesses that will be assets to our city. Each of these areas directly impacts our residents’ quality of life and can be achieved with purposeful planning and action.
As a former educator, I believe our children are one of our greatest treasurers and they also are the next generation of citizens and leaders in our community. As a Councilmember, I spearheaded the initiative to create our Youth Advisory Board to engage the city’s youth and they’ve already been working on initiatives they want to see in their city, which is exciting! Supporting the youth also means they need to be safe, so I’ve worked with the rest of Council to prioritize safety improvements at crosswalks and other transportation points that impact our students. These partnerships with the schools and our youth are vital to ensuring these investments address concerns effectively and efficiently.
In addition, I believe in supporting our law enforcement, which have a vital role in our community. The West Melbourne Police Department is able to work effectively to serve and protect our city because they have our support. I appreciate how they have found ways to engage with our citizens in the past and I want to continue seeking ways to build relationships between our law enforcement, city leadership, and residents.
Our lagoon is a precious natural resource and when I was a teacher, my 4th graders would take a fieldtrip to study the flora and fauna in and around the lagoon to understand how everything is connected and how our actions can either improve or harm the environment. West Melbourne is almost done building its own water plant (January 2027), which will help with our water independence and provide better quality water to our residents. With new infrastructure, this hopefully also translates to lesser impact on the environment.
During the past four years, I’ve advocated for and worked with our state representatives to secure more than $1M in funding for city stormwater and flood mitigation projects so we can be proactive about addressing flooding concerns that impact both the environment and residents. This work isn’t done and with state appropriations being decreased recently, it will require greater advocacy to ensure important project requests are funded.
Additionally, I want to continue supporting the reuse water program and new scrubbers that will be used to address the high levels of nitrates being washed into our sewers and canals, which eventually enter the lagoon and harm the environment. Some of our houses are older and using and have septic systems that are causing runoff so I am encouraging people to participate in the septic-to-sewer conversions. By drilling wells and utilizing new equipment in the water plant, the runoff that goes into the lagoon should be decreased, as well as being a solid investment for the city’s future.
West Melbourne currently has the second lowest millage rate in Brevard County, which translates to lower taxes for our residents. Additionally, West Melbourne has been recognized by the state for many years for its fiscal responsibility and mangement, which happens through purposeful planning. I want to continue ensuring we have responsible uses for taxpayer funds by being fiscally conservative and executing projects after extensive research and planning. If you’ve ever watched one of our Council meetings in the past four years, you’ll notice I’m not afraid to ask questions! If we continue this approach and being wise stewards of taxpayer funds, I do not believe we will need to raise taxes.
Our local businesses bring a variety of quality goods and services for our families and those around the county, and many of them look for ways to give back, too. As a former small business owner with my husband, I know the importance of having a strong relationship between city leadership and businesses, which happens through open and honest communication and ensuring local policies support economic development and small businesses. I want to ensure our city council and local businesses continue to actively seek opportunities to partner together for the betterment of the city and our residents.
I actually come from a family line of proud American patriots and spent a portion of my childhood learning about the members of my family who stood for freedom and democracy, including Philip Livingston and Robert Livingston who signed the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, respectively. As a member of the organization Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, my sister and I were invited to be Bell Tappers of the Liberty Bell on July 4th. On every Fourth of July, at 2pm Eastern time, children who are descendants of Declaration signers symbolically tap the Liberty Bell 13 times while bells across the nation also ring 13 times in honor of the patriots from the original 13 states. Being a part of an organization dedicated to our American freedom and participating in related activities made an impact on me at a young age and I knew the right thing to do was to continue that legacy and serve my community.
The short answer is no. Cerebral palsy affects my mobility and not my brain and critical thinking skills, for which I am grateful. I’ve been able to serve West Melbourne for four years and my disability hasn’t held me back from daily activities or Council responsibilities. I am regularly out in our community because of my work, current Council commitments, and other responsibilities, as well as getting out to meet as many people as I can since there are many new residents. I sincerely hope I get the opportunity to meet and speak with you, as I try to support activities and businesses in our area so you’ll see me out and about – sometimes even with my service dog, Opus.
Opus is a service dog from Canine Companions, a national nonprofit dedicated to providing service dogs to people with disabilities to enhance their independence and quality of life. Since I try to be as independent as possible, Opus doesn’t go everywhere with me but I’m sure you’ll see him around!
