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Chuck Barrentine - Election website: chuckbarrentine.com - Email: wcbarrentine@aol.com - Phone: 786-344-6153 |
About Me:
Issues:
I have lived in Cutler Bay since 1992 and have been married to my wife Jodie for 19 years and have a son Brett who is currently a Junior at Christopher Columbus High School. My background is Retail Asset Protection/Investigations Management and I have held positions such as Asset Protection Manager, Corporate Investigator, District Loss Prevention Manager, & Regional Loss Prevention Manager with well known national companies during my 27 year career.
I initially ran for the District 2 Town Council Seat during the first election in 2006. When I did not make the run off election I endorsed Ernie Sochin for the position because his views on the Town and issues were more in line with my own. My campaign signs say GIVING YOU A CHOICE. They say that because that is exactly what I am giving you. If I had chosen not to run, my opponent, who was not elected but was a temporary appointment to the position, would have continued as your representative on the council without giving you the choice of who YOU wanted to represent and SERVE YOU!!!. If I had not run you would have had the third Councilmember in five years representing you, which included the Ex-Mayor, that never received ONE vote from any resident of Cutler Bay.
I hold five certifications from FEMA in area's of Emergency Preparedness and was Mayor John Cosgroves Citizen Advisor for Emergency Preparedness. I put together a Hurricane Preparedness manual that was distributed to residents at Town Council meetings and organized the training for the first Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in Cutler Bay. I also was the representative for Home Depot on the Miami-Dade Department of Emergency Management ESF-18 Committee.
There are many issues in the Town today that will affect us us. I am going to to touch briefly on a few of them here. If you would like to see more detail about me or my views on issues please go to my we site at www.ChuckBarrentine.com. Also please feel free to contact me at 786-344-6153 or by email at WCBARRENTINE@AOL.COM to discuss anything with me personally.
Growth Management
Growth of the Town is an important subject to many residents. Although we all want Cutler Bay to continue to be a desired area for families and businesses to want to move to we must be very careful in the manner in which it is allowed. Currently the Growth Management plan which was formalized in 2007 allows for buildings along Old Cutler Road to be as high as 45 feet which is over 4 stories.
Talking with residents I have found no support for buildings of that height along Old Cutler Road because of the increase in traffic and congestion to an already congested area of our Town. I have also heard some Councilmember's say they do not want 4 story buildings on Old Cutler Road as well.
During our debate at the May 3rd. Concerned Citizens meeting however my opponent is on record as saying that she is IN FAVOR of 4 story buildings on Old Cutler Road. My response was "Absolutely not!!!" Old Cutler Road is already congested. We do not have the infrastructure to handle the additional traffic that 4 story buildings on Old Cutler Road would bring to the area. I don't want it, and the residents I have spoken to don't want it.
I had to wonder why someone such as my opponent who has lived in Cutler Bay for numerous years would even think about wanting 4 story buildings on Old Cutler Road with the additional 5000 people and 3500 vehicles it would add to the area. Then when I saw my opponents Campaign report which list all donations it became very clear. If you look on line items 31, 32, & 33 on her donations pages you will see a $250.00 donation from Summerville Charter School Developers who just happens to be one of three charter school development companies that is under consideration by our Town to run our future charter school.
Further review shows $500.00 donations EACH from Park Square Commercial Retail 2 LLC and Shoma Home Development Corporation which both have the same address and same owner. You may remember that Shoma Homes was the developer of Cutler Cay which was in the news for damaging the wetlands while constructing the development.
So we now have a individual running for Town Council of OUR Town who is on record as saying she is IN FAVOR of developement of 4 story buildings on Old Cutler Road and with the most recent Campaign Finance reports out is showing that almost 37% of her monetary campaign donations have come from developers, including some who have either done business in our Town or are currently under consideration for doing business in our Town!!! Further review of the finance reports show that 86% of her campaign donations have come from OUTSIDE of Cutler Bay INCLUDING one from RECALLED Miami-Dade Commisioner Natacha Seijas under the name Natacha Millan!!!
WHY are so many OUTSIDERS contributing to a Cutler Bay elections!!! KEEP MIAMI-DADE POLITICS OUT OF CUTLER BAY and vote for me, Chuck Barrentine, on June 28th!!!
Taxes
If I am elected to the Council I WILL NOT vote for any increase in your property taxes PERIOD!!! The reduction in home values and in turn property tax revenue has been a burden for all municipalities and will not change in the near future. Just as many families have had to struggle with loss of household income from job loss or wage cuts and have had to make tough decisions and sacrifices so must the Town in these lean times.
We have a Town Manager who is highly paid and not long ago was given a large pay increase and it is his job to bring a budget to the Council that insures the residents will still get the services they need but also not bring about any additional taxes on our residents. It is time for the Town to live within it's means as many of you are being forced to do in these tough financial times. It is time to hold our Town Manager accountable for the job he does!!!
Government Transparency
Having transparency in government and having the Towns check registry online for any citizen to see where THEIR money is being spent is long over due. As a member of the Council it must always be remembered that it is YOUR checkbook that is paying the bills with YOUR money and you have a right to know where, when, and how much is being spent.
In keeping with open government I would like for the Town Council meetings to be changed so that preferably once per quarter, but a minimum of twice per year the meetings be held on a Saturday morning in order to give citizens who cannot attend a week night 7pm meeting because of work or family responsibilities the opportunity to attend and express theirs views.
As I have stated before the Town Council works for YOU!!! The Council should make sure that town meetings are accessible to all residents at least a few times per year.
Thank You!!!
Chuck Barrentine
Candidate For Town Council District Two
All information on this page was submitted by the candidate