Democrats Melissa McKinlay and Kathy Foster will face off in an Aug. 26 primary for their party’s nomination for the District 6 Palm Beach County Commission seat being vacated by term-limited Commissioner Jess Santamaria.
The winner will advance to a three-way race in November against Republican Andy Schaller and Santamaria’s daughter, Michelle Santamaria, who is running without a party affiliation.
Foster, who served as Wellington’s first mayor after incorporation in the 1990s, told the Town-Crier that she is sticking to a grassroots campaign, meeting as many people as she can.
“We’re getting tremendous support, and we’re very positive about the outcome of the primary,” Foster said.
She sets herself apart by noting her time as a businesswoman with her own interior design firm, and in elected office as a member of the inaugural Wellington Village Council.
“I have 32 years of owning and operating my own business,” she said. “I have 11 years of service in elected office, not just any office, but planning and creating the Village of Wellington and all that was involved in writing a charter, writing a comp plan, and the drainage and zoning issues.”
Foster also has run two major nonprofits, the Adam Walsh Children’s Fund and Junior Achievement, and a small nonprofit in Wellington, Wellington Cares, which helps the elderly.
“I think I’m the only candidate who has that broad-based kind of experience that covers so many different areas,” she said. “That alone sets me apart.”
Foster added that her experience also sets her apart from her primary opponent.
“Yes, she has worked in government offices for 20 years, but she has worked as a secretary,” Foster said. “I’ve been in leadership positions, making those hard decisions.”
Foster’s main concern for District 6 is the lack of a comprehensive approach to development.
“In the past, the county has made piecemeal decisions about development and managed growth out here, without regard to how it influences the surrounding communities,” she said. “At the present time, we have 20,000 homes in the pipeline tentatively, and we still have underlying issues with road problems, drainage and a lack of work opportunities.”
With future development, all the new workers will not be able to commute east to get to work, she said.
“We’ve got to look at a whole new approach to District 6, providing work opportunities, perhaps going west into the Glades to take some of the burden off of these roads,” Foster said. There is no way at this present time that Southern, Okeechobee and Northlake boulevards can accommodate the kind of traffic that would be generated by that kind of development without work centers to relieve that pressure.”
Although she will not be on the county commission at the time of the upcoming Minto West vote, Foster said she would want to see a guaranteed work opportunity with a major employer.
“We have enough retail in the surrounding communities,” she said. “I think that with lower density in housing, if you have a substantial employer, people might look at it with different eyes. But at 4,500 homes, I still think that’s a lot of density and over the limit of what the neighboring communities have. I think there has to be respect for the existing communities.”
Foster said the drainage issue that arose in The Acreage during Topical Storm Isaac was a disaster. “Has that been resolved? I don’t think so,” she said. “There are discussions about potential solutions, but those issues have to be addressed first before we [build] any more impervious surfaces.”
If elected, Foster would like to bring together the communities in District 6 to achieve common goals and talk about a vision for their future and their priorities of what is important.
“Each area has protected the lifestyle they had when they bought their homes in those areas, and then we can start to talk about how best to develop the land that is available for development in the western communities,” she said. “We have tremendous opportunities for less expensive land in the Glades area, and we need to focus on that as a way to relieve the traffic burden on some of these roads by having part of the new residents go west for employment.”
Having worked and raised a family of four children and 10 grandchildren in the area for 35 years, Foster said she has a vested interest in District 6.
“I want to make sure that this wonderful life I’ve had here, and that my children and some of my grandchildren are enjoying, continues, and that the people I’ve met over the years, friends and clients, have their lifestyles protected,” she said.
For more information about Foster, visit her Facebook page or visit www.kathyfoster2014.com.
McKinlay calls attention to her more than 20 years of public and community service in both voluntary roles and as a staff member in various legislative roles, including as part of the advance team in New Orleans for President Bill Clinton’s campaign, and in the West Palm Beach office of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).
“I am currently in the Legislative Affairs Office for Palm Beach County,” she said. “In that role, I’ve done everything from analyzing legislation, developing legislative agendas, capital budgeting, human resources and a whole spectrum of different duties relating to public service.”
Her past experience includes work at three levels of government — federal, state and county. She has experience in the U.S. Houses of Representatives, the Florida Houses of Representatives, the Florida Department of Community Affairs and the Sarasota County Budget Department.
McKinlay is a member of the 15th Circuit Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, the Palm Beach County Juvenile Justice Re-entry Task Force, the Homeless Coalition’s Legislative Policy Committee and the Community Health Planning & Safety Net Network. She also serves in an advisory capacity to the Palm Beach County Sexual Assault Response Team and was an integral part of the team that developed the Butterfly House, Palm Beach County’s first sexual assault response medical services center.
She was also a member of the 25-chapter Junior Leagues of Florida and chaired its board for two years. “I’ve led a statewide organization of 15,000 women developing legislation and agendas and advocating on behalf of women, children and families,” McKinlay said.
McKinlay also noted that she has won several awards for her advocacy work, including the 2006 Child Advocate of the Year Award from the 15th Judicial Circuit, the 2008 Girls Power Award from the Girls Advocacy Project, the 2009 Junior Leagues of Florida Advocacy Award and an award for Distinguished Achievement from the International Association of Fire Fighters in 2011.
“I’ve sat as president of organizations and chairman of the board, and I’ve done everything from developing parks that would be accessible for handicapped children to developing a written instrument for children to testify in the courthouse,” McKinlay said. “I’ve done a lot of different things.”
McKinlay said her experience is different from her opponent’s in that she is currently involved in the legislative process.
“Kathy has a history of public service as well, but my experience, I believe, is more recent. It’s more broad-spectrum,” McKinlay said. “I have the ability to not only work with our local elected officials, but also our state and federal ones, which is desperately needed in this district. I believe that we need a fresh perspective on the county commission.”
Improving an aging infrastructure tops the issues she sees in District 6.
“My priority would be to begin with aging infrastructure,” McKinlay said. “That links everything together. We’re not going to begin to attract economic development, especially to the Glades area, with the infrastructure we have out there. If we really want to improve job opportunities and public safety, we’ve got to get our infrastructure replaced.”
Residents’ concerns with public safety and improving employment opportunities are also important.
“We need to deal with public safety concerns that the residents have,” she said. “Job development is a huge issue in District 6, especially in the Glades area.”
Controlling development to make sure that it’s coming along at a manageable pace, and continuing the efforts of the county’s Office of the Inspector General are also important issues for her.
“I’ve been in the community for 10 years, and I’m raising my three children here,” McKinlay said. “I want to make sure that we have somebody sitting on the county commission who understands what our families are going through right now in the community and make sure that our kids have what they need to be able to grow into successful adults.”
McKinlay plans to make sure that the county’s infrastructure, parks and other services are good enough for her own family.
“My promise to the children and the parents out there is that every decision I make will have to pass that test,” she said. “If it’s not good enough for my family, then we have to keep working harder. That’s my promise to the voters.”
For more about McKinlay, visit www.votemckinlay2014.com.
ABOVE: Kathy Foster (left) and Melissa McKinlay (right).
I attended the meeting. When the subject of State Road 7 (SR7) came up, Ms. Foster was very clear that she supported the completion of SR7 along the original route from 60th Street to where SR7 already intersects with Northlake next to the catchment area. Ms. McKinley used very clever language to dodge the issue by saying that she was not opposed to finishing SR7. Saying that you are not opposed to something is not the same thing as saying that you support it. I am so tired of the slickmeisters like McKinley. I am voting for Ms. Foster because she is the candidate that answers questions from voters in a clear and concise manner.
This is a clear choice for the voters on August 26th: Kathy Foster knows and represents the interests of District 6. Her opponent is owned by the interests of Tallahassee and knows nothing of the issues of District 6 nor has any evidence of the ability to work and negotiate for the people.
One candidate has only lived in the western communities less than a decade and the other has spent many decades in the western communities.