Election 2022: 3 candidates vie to become St. Augustine's new mayor

Three candidates will face off to become the mayor of St. Augustine since Tracy Upchurch is not running for reelection. City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline, Noah Douglas Kowieski and Tim Miscovich are vying for the position in the Aug. 23 primary.

If one candidate gets 50% of the votes plus one vote, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the top two candidates face off in the general election Nov. 8.

The Record posed the following questions to each of the candidates. Answers are presented as they were submitted, save for minor corrections to punctuation and grammar.

St. Augustine City Commission Seat 3, mayor

Nancy Sikes-Kline (incumbent)

City of residence: City of St. Augustine

How long have you lived in St. Johns County? 38 years

Previous elected positions: Elected to serve as Commissioner in 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2018.

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Community service:  Appointment by Gov. Lawton Chiles to the State of Florida Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board and San Antiguo Foundation; past president, Junior Service League; founding board member and past chairperson, St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum; founding chairperson, Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program; founding board member, St. Augustine North Davis Shores Neighborhood Association; trustee, Florida National Guard Historical Foundation; board member, Cross and Sword, Florida’s Official State Play; member, St. Johns County Vision Task Force; member, Urban Land Institute Reality Check First Coast; trustee, Save Our Bridge, Inc;. and past president, Citizens for the Preservation of St. Augustine.

Qualifications for office: Elected city commissioner for 13 ½ years. Over 20 years of combined service on city boards before elected: vice chair, St. Augustine Parking and Traffic Committee; the Historic Architectural Review Board; and the Heritage Tourism & Historic Preservation Advisory Committee. Designated city’s representative: St. Johns County Cultural Resource Review Board; St. Johns County Intergovernmental Committee; and the St. Johns County Visitors and Convention Bureau. Current city’s representative: St. Johns County Tourist Development Council, the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization and Florida League of Cities. Awarded “Home Rule Hero” for the last five years by the Florida League of Cities. Training: Florida League of Cities and John Scott Daily Florida; Advanced Institute of Government for Elected Municipal Officials; the Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council Training Institute; the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation Certified Local Government Training Workshop program; Florida League of Cities University Summit Series for Community Redevelopment Agency Basics and Budget Best Practices; and the 2021 Active People Healthy Nations Champions Institute by Smart Growth America.

Reason for running: In my years of public service, there have been many changes – the economic downturn of 2009, the 450th Commemorations, two major hurricanes, a worldwide pandemic and expanding growth surrounding the city. Navigating these times has given me a deep understanding of the issues facing the city, the grit to see our problems as they are and a proven track record of making good decisions knowing that peoples’ lives and livelihoods are affected. I am the most experienced candidate. My thoughtful, common-sense approach is needed. In many ways our city is at a crossroads and the actions of the mayor will have a lasting impact on our quality of life and ability to thrive. Good solutions to growth, tourism, transportation and flooding challenges go beyond the capacity of the city to address alone and require good partnerships at the local, regional, state and federal levels. My long-standing relationships with North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, FDOT, St. Johns County Tourist Development Council, local, state and federal legislators have proven invaluable for cooperation, resources and needed funding. As mayor, I am in an excellent position to be a strong advocate and ambassador for big solutions to our biggest challenges ahead.

Goals for upcoming term if elected: First, as mayor I will keep the city focused on core municipal functions including more resilient infrastructure, fiscal responsibility and public safety. St. Augustine has seen explosive growth around its edges and we all feel it. Growth puts pressure on core municipal functions like water and sewer, roadways, infrastructure, affordable housing, public safety and emergency services. Keeping capital reserves and credit ratings strong, holding the line on spending and taxes, maintaining a low crime rate, and keeping our neighborhoods safe will be high priorities for me. Recent years of increased flooding and storms require more resilient infrastructure. In the next several years the city will be spending $56M in investments to improve mobility, buy equipment, harden infrastructure, reduce flooding impacts and increase drainage across the city. Experience tells me that the sheer number of projects planned will require disciplined leadership and skillful execution. As mayor I will be committed to keeping the focus on implementing these improvements in a cost effective, efficient, and timely manner.

Second, residents want safe, stable neighborhoods and the ability to move around the city to do their daily tasks. Small businesses want safety, accessibility, and opportunities to succeed and flourish. Visitors want good hospitality and experiences that are memorable and enjoyable. It’s important that the residents, small businesses and visitors’ needs are weighed in balance when making decisions that affect them. Residents and small businesses need to feel that they are being heard, understood and treated fairly and I will be committed to seeing that the city is focused on that as mayor.

Third, the city must be a good steward of its precious and irreplaceable historic and cultural assets and must safeguard its unique character. St. Augustine has the great honor of being the “Nation’s Oldest City” and with that honor comes responsibility. New infill development to accommodate growth and tourism can threaten our unique character. As mayor I will continue to make sure that every decision will consider the impacts on our historic assets and character.

What would you do, if anything, to help make it easier for people to find parking in St. Augustine? I will continue my work with North Florida Transportation Planning Organization and the FDOT to make parking more plentiful and easier for city residents and visitors through St. Augustine’s SMART City project. The FDOT has committed $7.5 million to the project that, through new technology, will connect smart traffic signals with dynamic messaging to direct drivers to best available parking.  As mayor I will continue my commitment to the “Park Once” strategy for building satellite parking garages and using technology to connect automated shuttles, flood sensors and a smart trucking system to improve mobility and parking.

While St. Augustine is a big tourist town, there are thousands of residents in the city. What would you do to make life in the city better for its residents? To keep St. Augustine a livable city, as mayor I will keep the city focused on customer friendly core municipal service delivery and accountability, fiscal responsibility, public safety, reducing flooding and increasing drainage, and protecting the residential character of neighborhoods. This includes restarting the Neighborhood Grant Program, adding at least four new police officers, increasing the street paving budget, increasing mobility through technology, improving pedestrian and bicycle safety, adding satellite parking with shuttles, reducing neighborhood speeding, cut through traffic, and address spillover parking in the neighborhoods. Additionally, I will prioritize better solutions to the mental health, vagrancy and homeless problems.  

Noah Douglas Kowieski

City of residence: St. Augustine

How long have you lived in St. Johns County? 20 years

Previous elected positions: Secretary of the Republican Executive Committee, St. Johns

Community service: I believe that being a part of the community and involved is important to understanding the views and needs of those that reside there. I am an absolute advocate for children and have worked with Safe Haven of N.E. FL to advocate for victims of child abuse. This organization has been a startup that helps victims and their guardians find and utilize services to get justice and heal. There are many other community based organizations that I hope to support during my time in office to see that good work is done within the community.

Qualifications for office: I am a natural born leader with the characteristics, skills and knowledge necessary to faithfully execute the duties of mayor for the City of St Augustine. I am a fighter and will achieve my goals of seeing the city become the best it can be. I will work day in and day out to address the issues that we currently see and will create policies that will mitigate and prevent potential issues in the future.

My background in public administration, government, real estate, cyber and IT operations, intelligence, veteran affairs and military service, political activism and nonprofits have given me ample knowledge and connections to be an effective mayor. I have a proven track record of being an effective and efficient leader who will go above and beyond to ensure that the best possible outcome is achieved. When it comes to leading the city commission and mayorship, I will work tirelessly to resolve current issues and encode new policies that will boost local businesses, protect our residents and leave a clean and friendly city for our tourists.

Reason for running: I am running for St. Augustine mayor because there has been a clear lack of leadership, fiscally responsible policies, and service to the community. I know that with the experience and dedication to the community that I have demonstrated, I am the right fit to make meaningful and much needed change in the city. I believe that we need new ideas and new leadership in the city. For far too long the city and its residents have been neglected by tourist centric policies. We need to get back to taking care of our residents, fixing our infrastructure and making a plan to combat the vagrancy issue and long-term environmental factors that plague the city.

My education in international affairs, public administration, emergency management and homeland security, cyber security, intelligence and real estate have given me plenty of resources and knowledge necessary to tackle the issues of the city. My work experience in political activism, emergency management, public administration, IT services at a government agency and being a current serving veteran has given me the skills, experience and leadership experience to effectively tend to issues that have been occurring in St. Augustine.

I have been and will continue to be dedicated to helping those in the community to be able to foster a safe, clean and enjoyable environment for all residents and visitors. I am running to listen and take action. I want to ensure that every resident’s concerns are heard and attended to and I will dedicate my time to make sure that the city of St. Augustine is a pristine place to live and work.

Goals for upcoming term if elected: Once I am elected mayor, I will immediately begin to work on policies that will address the vagrancy issue. I want to boost our city services and police force to handle any scenario that occurs and I want to push for better wages for city employees. I will work with nonprofit organizations, the state and federal governments to gain access to programs and funding that will help remove vagrants within the city and I will also work with fellow commissioners to work on a long-term and sustainable policies that will prevent this issue from reoccurring.

I will also address the housing crisis within the city and work on creating affordable housing options for city and county employees. A major issue that has been identified is Flagler College’s rapid expansion and dormitory additions across the city which takes away from residential opportunities. I believe that this issue needs to be addressed by the commission to ensure that the city and its residents receive compensation from the college which is responsible for bringing in the students who live in the dormitories or rented houses.

Another issue that I will tackle in my first term is the growing developments within the city. I want to make sure that every new development is a sustainable addition to the city. I will work with the commissioners and city departments to create requirements when considering new development. With our city being the oldest and most historic city in the nation, it is going to be my duty to lead the charge in preserving our rich history and culture, restoring our infrastructure and services, and fostering innovation in our city that will lead to sustainable growth and prosperity within the city.

What would you do, if anything, to help make it easier for people to find parking in St. Augustine? Parking has become a massive issue in the downtown area as tourism has increased over the past two years. My goal is to conduct studies that could recommend additional parking facilities even outside city limits and use sustainable transportation such as buses or trams to transport tourists in and out of the city. I would like to see streets around residential areas closed for tourist parking to ensure our residents have places to park their vehicles.

While St. Augustine is a big tourist town, there are thousands of residents in the city. What would you do to make life in the city better for its residents? As mayor, I will advocate for more benefits for city residents such as free parking anywhere within the city limits, access to grants that I want to establish to assist residents with much needed upgrades to areas around their property to boost curb appeal and ensure that residences and buildings are up to code. In line with the former question regarding parking within the city, I want to also establish more residential only parking and encourage tourists to take local transportation in and out of tourist areas. This will limit the number of congested streets in residential areas.

Tim Miscovich

How long have you lived in St. Johns County? I have lived in St. Augustine for the last three years, since returning from eight years in Europe.

Previous elected positions: N/A

Community service: N/A

Qualifications for office: My qualifications for office come from my professional international business experience. Streamlining, optimizing and finding ways to work with people to achieve a common goal. No previous political experience.

Reason for running: I am running for (City of St. Augustine) City Commission to do my part to ensure that our city is the best it can possibly be for my family, neighbors and our visitors.

Goals for upcoming term if elected: I would look to work with my fellow commissioners to ensure that our great city only gets better. During this process I have been made aware of several topics (homelessness, flooding, parking, supporting local businesses and more) that are of importance to and impact our local residents, business owners as well as our visitors. To best work on these issues we need to engage in discussions with all parties to establish not only the topics of interest, but also preferred and recommended solutions and then work together to address these topics in a timely manner.

What would you do, if anything, to help make it easier for people to find parking in St. Augustine? The addition of a parking garage behind the Lightner Museum on the location of one of the existing parking lots, along with automating parking to increase the utilization rate of the existing garage will help residents and visitors alike. In addition, a plan needs to be created to support the employees of our local businesses to ensure that they have a cost effective place to park.

While St. Augustine is a big tourist town, there are thousands of residents in the city. What would you do to make life in the city better for its residents? I believe this covers two aspects, one being daily topics, i.e. waste pick up and other basic infrastructure topics, and the other being long-term items such as flood prevention. Residents deserve to have their issues and concerns addressed in a timely and effective manner. Having a system in place for these topics to be aggregated and systematically worked through will help ensure that the quality of life is not only improved but also maintained. For the longer term items, transparency and open communication are required to ensure that residents input is not only heard but also considered.

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: Election 2022: St. Augustine will elect a new mayor this year