The race for Ft. Myers Mayor was extremely close, coming down to 53.35% to 46.65%, with Councilman Kevin Anderson as the winner. WGCU's Cary Barbor caught up with him.
CB: The race was pretty close. Did you expect that?
KA: I did expect it to be close. This was supposed to be a non-partisan race and my opponent turned it partisan. So we knew that was going to make it close.
CB: You're a retired police officer. How does your background as a police officer prepare for the job as mayor?
KA: Well, it's not just that I was a police officer. I rose through the ranks and was the #2 when I left. So I have administrative and operational experience from the police department. Then I went into the private sector, where I was in Sr. Management at Chico's. I worked on budgets and had to deal with human resource issues. Basically the company was like a small city of its own.
CB: What are some of the first things you want to do for Ft. Myers when you get into office?
KA: Well obviously public safety is a big issue. I want to mmake sure we continue on a path toward excellence. I also want to work on keeping our taxes low, improving our neighborhoods and attracting economic development to help keep the city growing forward. And we need to continue to work on our relationship with the community.
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