Meeting the Challenges, Learning from Mistakes

Leaders in the world of politics must learn from the mistakes made by those who have come before them. Most will find that it was easier to run for office than it is to serve in those positions that they chase after. I don’t believe that was better illustrated than in the final scene of the 1972 movie The Candidate. 

Here you see a very nervous and overwhelmed U.S.  Senate candidate, Bill McKay (played by Robert Redford), nervously pulling his campaign consultant, who was played by Peter Boyle, into a small closet across the hallway.  

Redford announced again that he had defeated the current U.S. Senator from California. At the same time, the closet door abruptly swung open, and a hotel staff member informed them, "You are not supposed to be here." The two men looked at each other and then left the closet to seek temporary shelter.  

The final scene saw the two men, now walking shoulder to shoulder down the hallway as Redford comments, “Now what do we do?”  while the screen darkens and the credits roll.  

I guess if I could, I would want to sit with our councilors and review the City Charter, which serves as our own constitution and lays out our own document, the same as the U.S. Constitution for our national leaders. It’s becoming apparent to me and others that they have never been truly educated on that document and should have been properly instructed, as well as the carefully placed guideposts, which would have prevented this unfortunate situation regarding our present budgeting process. 

We must ensure councilors, staff, and residents have been given the appropriate intellectual tutelage regarding how the “spending-cap” provisions of our Charter work to prevent a recurrence of another such debacle like the one we face today. 

During the November 2025 city council elections, I asked each candidate a question during the Coastal Breeze Podcast covering the election. Each candidate was asked whether they supported a Citizen Review of the Marco Island City Charter. Each potential candidate had indicated their support for that idea. I could only hope that important question might be added to the 2026 Election ballot.   

Marco Island is a unique place, and as humans, we sometimes make mistakes; importantly, we can learn from them and find solutions. I do hope that on Monday, September 8, when council convenes that we will do so in a positive manner with solutions as a top priority at the forefront of the discussions. 

It is my belief that we can ill afford the draconian cuts that have been floated about in some circles; we must make reasoned and practical reviews this next fiscal year in regard to the operations of every department to ensure our programming and staffing levels within each of these departments are being run in the most efficient and practical manner possible. 

We also need to concentrate on leveraging our ability to receive a much higher recapture rate of some of the funds leaving the island to the county. Because we have a flood of wonderful county residents who take advantage of many of the fine athletic fields here on Marco, our special Canine Cove, the spectacular Veterans Community Park, as well as the many spectacular restaurants here on the island, we do serve as a wonderful magnet for their choices to get out and about in Collier County. 

We should explore all opportunities for 2026, think creatively, and strengthen our management to build a resilient, energized community next year.