Ken Spalthoff
Age: 54
Where they live: Tuskawilla Crossings
Where they work: Director of National Accounts at Audio Visual One
Prior work experience: Swank Event Services, U.S. Army, Morgan Stanley IBD
Prior political experience: In Winter Springs: Served as Vice Chair of the Planning & Zoning Board, served on the Parks and Recreation Board and on the Redistricting Board.
Platform: “Stop the Overdevelopment in Winter Springs by stopping all rezoning of land for commercial development. Take action to drastically improve our water quality and work to reduce utility rates. Bring back a more conservative approach to the present tax-and-spend city budget mindset that has taken over Winter Springs government.”
Why they are running: “I am running to be the solution to the wildly dysfunctional and contentious board of city commissioners. The non-stop fighting and disrespect that takes place at each city commission meeting is an embarrassment to the entire city. I plan to bring back a conservative ‘make-it-happen’ approach to the use of our hard-earned tax dollars.”
Most recent campaign finance report: This will be added as the information becomes available.
Endorsements: (6) Former Winter Springs Commissioners: Ted Johnson, Kevin Cannon, Rob Elliott, Tiana Hale, Matt Benton, and Bob Miller
Candidate website: www.kenspalthoff.com
Fun fact about the candidate: “I volunteer to feed the homeless twice a month through Action Church at the Rescue Outreach Mission in Sanford. I am also a Knight with St.Stephen’s Church chapter of the Knights of Columbus. I have been married for 26 years to a SCPS public school teacher and have 3 daughters. I’ve been a resident of Winter Springs for 18 years.”
Candidate Q&A: The questions below are based on voter questions and expressed priorities. Each of the candidates within a race were asked the same questions and given the same amount of time to respond. The candidates’ answers were fact checked but otherwise unedited. See below for a video interview, which was also lightly edited.
Top problem and your suggested solution:
Lower Utility Rates in Winter Springs. Better management of funds and budget. Connect more neighborhoods to reclaimed water for irrigation to lower the cost for residents.
Problem 2 and your suggested solution:
Improve potable drinking water in Winter Springs. Visit ideas such as reverse osmosis water filtration systems. Explore deeper aquifer wells for better water quality that requires less treatment.
Problem 3 and your suggested solution:
Flooding and Stormwater solutions. Have developers pay a higher impact fee to address flooding from less permeable land once the land it’s developed. Work with the county and neighboring cities to encourage us all to work together to avoid excessive stormwater runoff coming through Winter Springs creeks headed to Lake Jesup. Better Stormwater management is needed.
Why do you deserve to be elected in this race?
Did not answer
According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say housing affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue on a local level?
Fiscal budget mismanagement is a major part of our ever increasing tax levels in Winter Springs. Manage the tax revenue better and the taxes don’t need to go up so often. Our wastewater costs have double due to terrible fiscal planning over a past ten year period. We need to not be so short sided of future maintenance and replacement costs of the city infrastructures in Winter Springs. Better financial planning is needed.
Will you vote YES or NO on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes, and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions?
Yes. Revising the city budget to find the funds and the reductions that can be made. Better overall fiscal management.
Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond?
I’m against Data Centers. Proper vetting of the impacts on communities of the proposed sites needs to be taken very seriously.
What do you think is the biggest environmental issue the government should address in Seminole County?
Protect the Rural Boundary. We need to stop the rampant overdevelopment and protect our natural resources in Florida.
Do you agree with the current federal and state governments’ approaches to immigration enforcement? Why or why not?
I agree with them. Federal laws need to be enforced, and we need to support law enforcement in all departments. I do, however, recognize that the immigration system has major flaws, and it should not take years and thousands of dollars to become a citizen of the United States.
Readers shared concern about overdevelopment in the Greater Oviedo and Winter Springs community. We know that local municipalities must plan for density based on state population projections. How will you handle decisions about incoming development and redevelopment that balances the law, the needs of the city and the desires of your constituents?
If a land parcel is already zoned for commercial development there is not much that local municipalities can do about it. Land owners have rights too. My stance is that any Winter Springs land parcel that is not zoned for development, I will not vote in favor of special exemptions to rezone land for development. The residents of Winter Springs have made it very clear that they do not want more development. Traffic is bad enough already.
Local governments continue to increase stormwater rates to pay for drainage projects. At the same time, the city and county commissioners continue to approve development, which eliminates natural drainage and filtration. If elected, what actual, concrete policy steps would you take to address flooding?
Rampant overdevelopment has caused these flooding issues. Less permeable land for rain to be absorbed means the water has to go into the stormwater drainage system. I would require the city to increase developer impact fees and also require developers to build larger retention ponds to help reduce the flooding issues. Regularly maintaining our city’s creeks and pond depths should be done.
Residents often complain of high water bills, and water bills that are going up. Can you propose any relief for residents?
Once the new Winter Springs Wastewater plants are completed, we should have reduced operating costs from the modernized systems. Refinancing the debt incurred from our loans to build them, once interest rates settle down, is a way to reduce everyone’s household costs.
What steps would you take to ensure elected officials don’t personally profit from development?
In Winter Springs, we presently have this situation with Commissioner Victoria Bruce being a commercial land mitigation banker and often seen fighting hard for developer discounts from the city. To prevent this personal/private profit situation, the voters need to be more informed and make smarter choices at the polls.
Cities use the county’s full-day traffic counts to decide whether or not to widen roads instead of peak times, which can cause congestion as development comes in. What steps would you take to address traffic issues?
I believe that, in order to maintain a family-friendly community, we need to take the good with the bad. Trying to avoid any rush hour traffic during peak times would mean widening roads and removing the charm of SR 434 in Winter Springs.
Some traffic lights only let two to four cars through before changing to yellow and red. Some left turn lanes are so short that cars see their green left turn lights, but cannot access the left lane. Traffic jams are getting longer on Slavia and some other roads all the time. How would you address these issues?
There is a DOT number anyone [can] call and ask for an evolution of the traffic lights at any intersection. I’ve personally have used this county DOT service and it helped a lot. If the timing changes don’t effectively reduce the issues I’d look into lengthening turning lanes to hold more vehicles.
Do you support keeping the rural boundary as-is in Seminole County?
Yes. I fully support protecting the Rural Boundary.
What steps would you propose to address student safety on e-bikes?
Police department-required safety classes for riders under 15 years of age. Maximum speed restrictions.
What are candidates willing to do to restore respect for the election process?
Zero slanderous/negative campaigning. The negative political mailers have truly gotten out of control. Candidates should try to shine brightest by their own qualifications.
Winter Springs has the highest percentage of residential tax base. What solutions would you propose? And what ideas do you have to revitalize the Winter Springs Town Center?
We all need to support small businesses within our town. Our current commission removed the UCF Business Incubator funding and services that support small start-up businesses. That termination of support from the city hurt us all in terms of future business tax revenue when landing new businesses in Winter Springs. The Town Center is privately owned. Lease rates are sky-high in the Town Center, but city government has nothing to do with that. The only avenue of help for the Town Center that the city could assist with is to give a city sales tax break for the first 36 months of any new business that moves into that area. Although this would provide only minimal financial assistance, it could help new businesses survive as a start-up until they have a solid customer base.
As a city commissioner or mayor, will you pledge to accept the recommendations from the Charter Review Commission as presented, with no changes?
Yes. I fully support the Charter Review Commission and their decisions.
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