I had a chance to talk to Clay County Commissioner candidate, Mike Cella about his campaign in an effort to bring awareness to the voters in Clay County.
Many voters do not know enough about candidates before they go to the voting booth. This interview series is an effort to change that.Cella has big ideas for change and was eager to address my questions. Our exchange is below.
Shark Tank: You stated in your biography you are a small business owner and if elected you will work hard for the small businesses in Clay County. Can you share some ways you plan on doing that?
Do you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?(2)
Mike Cella: In addition to creating a favorable environment for business by keeping taxes low and not mandating a lot of unnecessary regulations, there are 3 ways the County can help small business immediately. 1) Consider Clay County businesses first for any competitive bidding done by the county. 2) Streamline the application and inspection process when a business does a construction buildout and is seeking a Certificate of Occupancy. 3) Create awareness of the services/programs already provided by the County for small businesses.
Shark Tank: As you may know, gay rights activists are trying to get the Jacksonville council to make businesses allow transgender individuals use the bathroom of their preference. If passed in Jacksonville would you support expanding this initiative to Clay County?
Mike Cella: It’s not because I don’t have any compassion for transgender individuals, but I would not support that same initiative in Clay County. I think that a government mandate such as the Jacksonville proposed bathroom ordinance would put a hardship on many small businesses. In my own business, we have a family bathroom, which is a single stall bathroom that can be used by a member of any sex at any time during our open hours without one customer imposing on other customers privacy.Shark Tank: Clay County Commissioner emails are supposed to be public. When a user logs into the email account there are no emails provided. What are your thoughts on that?
Cella: It may be that the Clay County website is not working properly. I will certainly look into that issue. I believe in total transparency for elected officials. The county does a good job of making all meetings of the BCC and Planning Commission available online and through video replays. However, I think we can do more as individual commissioners to reach out to taxpayers. One of my campaign promises is to be highly accessible to county taxpayers by cell phone, email and monthly open house meetings in various locations around the county.
Shark Tank: As a fiscal conservative, are there any items in Clay County’s budget you feel need to be cut to save taxpayers money? If so, what and why?
I think that in every budget there are efficiencies that can be identified and it may be as simple as asking each Department head to identify savings through bulk purchasing or doing business in a different way. For example, the Elections Supervisor’s office just switched from land lines for polling places to secure cell phones and is saving $30,000 during each election cycle on that one change alone.
Shark Tank: If a supporter wants to help out with your campaign how can they do that?
Cella: We are running a grassroots campaign which welcomes any resident interested in volunteering. We can use help in every area of the campaign, including contributions, event volunteers, neighborhood canvassers and sign locations. I look forward to meeting every prospective volunteer. They can contact me via the website, www.MikeCella.com, via email at votemikecella@gmail.com or call me at 904-504-3807.If you are running for office in Florida and want to be interviewed, please email me at nikisands3@hotmail.com.