Escambia County Commission District 2 race is packed with experience

Escambia County District 2 voters will have three first-time candidates to choose from during the Aug. 23 primary, and it will be a rare open primary with all district voters eligible to cast ballots in the race, regardless of their party registration.

County races have no runoff rules, so the vote Aug. 23 will be the decisive one.

District 2 is also different because for the first time in 20 years, Perdido Key and Innerarity Point are no longer part of the district.

All three candidates in the race are Republicans and are seeking to fill the seat being left by Commissioner Doug Underhill, who announced last year he would not run for a third term.

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Kevin Brown was a longtime aide to Republican state Sen. Doug Broxson and has previously served as chairman of the Escambia County Republican Party.

Brown said he's running because he thinks his experience with state government can help his community.

"This role requires an advocate," Brown said. "It requires somebody that understands how to deal with people, and also understands how to deal with the government."

Michael Kohler is a retired Navy captain who started his military career as an enlisted sailor, and during his 33-year career, worked his way up to the rank of captain in the Navy Medicine Operation Training Center. Kohler also served as commander of the Navy Hospital in Pensacola and commander of the Naval Branch Health Clinic Belle Chasse in Louisiana.

Meet Kevin Brown: Candidate, Escambia County Commission District 2

Meet Mike Kohler: Candidate, County Commissioner District 2

Chance Walsh did not complete Q&A

Kohler said he's always been interested in local politics and when he retired from the Navy in 2020, he didn't like what he saw on the County Commission.

"The way that the board was functioning as a whole didn't really make me feel good about the way things were going in the county," Kohler said. "I don't think they treat each other the way you would expect out of a board and professionally."

Chance Walsh owns Lillian's Pizza on Perdido Key and said he is running because he believes the county needs the perspective of a small business owner.

Walsh's father started Lillian's Pizza in 1989 and he's worked in his family's business since he was 13. Walsh became a co-owner of the restaurant in 2006 and took full ownership in 2014.

"I think that board should be made up of people that are regular citizens," Walsh said. "People who own businesses, grew up here and people that are involved in the community."

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Sorrento Road

One issue all three candidates agree on is that widening State Road 292 (Sorrento Road and Gulf Beach Highway) should be a major priority of the county.

"Sorento Road has got to be the first thing taken care of," Brown said. "That's priority No. 1."

The thoroughfare is a state-owned road and the major road leading out to the southwestern section of the county.

"From a safety standpoint, that's one of the biggest things that needs to happen immediately," Kohler said.

The county, working with the Alabama-Florida Transportation Planning Organization, sets priorities for state road projects.

"When I'm in there, I'll do everything in my power and make it a priority," Walsh said of the roadway. "I live out here and it's dangerous, and it should be a priority."

County 401(a) program

One controversy in the county is the ongoing lawsuit between the County Commission and Clerk of Court Pam Childers over the legality of the county's local retirement program. The program allows a commissioner to receive a 51% contribution of their annual salary to their retirement account.

Walsh said he would never enroll in the county's local retirement plan and said having a 51% contribution "seems a little insane."

"You can't get that anywhere in any return," Walsh said. "I think that, obviously, they knew it was wrong."

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Kohler said the local retirement plan might be legal, but the rate should match what commissioners would receive in the Florida Retirement System, 8% to 10%, rather than the 51% amount. He said he thinks the commission should vote immediately to lower the rate to make that clear to the citizens.

"What we've gotten into now is a power play, and it doesn't really matter to me who's right," Kohler said. "We know what's right. Everyone knows what's right to do. But we're not in that. We're in a power position, and I just think it's terrible. You've got Republicans suing Republicans."

Brown said he would only accept the same plan every other county employee is offered.

"I'm not interested in any type of retirement package, compensation package that's greater than what any of the other county employees make," Brown said. "And that's the end of it for me."

As far as the current status of the local retirement program, Brown said that issue is being worked on by the county's attorneys.

"I'm not an attorney, and I don't want to act like one," Brown said.

Kevin Brown

Brown said working with the Legislature and seeing state government up close gives him the experience to bring more opportunities to Escambia County.

"I've seen us do some good things on the state level. But I've seen that those things don't translate back home all the time," Brown said.

Brown said the county hasn't taken advantage of a "major opportunity" it has with RESTORE Act funds that are currently being unused in the federal treasury.

While Escambia County has $70 million set to come into the county through the RESTORE Act over the next decade, Brown said there is another part of the RESTORE Act meant for environmental and water quality projects that he believes the county could access if it partners with other local governments in the region.

"That's one thing I've learned from my last 10 years, is the more we can work together, the more we can make these larger solutions, the more effective we can be," Brown said. "I've already talked to people in Alabama in Baldwin County and Mobile County. Their No. 1 water quality issue is stormwater and septic tanks, the same ones that we have. We just don't talk to them to realize that."

Brown said if they partner with local governments and make a regional request, they'd be more likely to win a large appropriation of BP oil spill funds from the RESTORE Act and then combine those funds with state dollars.

"It's a competitive five-state process," Brown said. "Well, if you got a two-state program, you're already going to be moving up the list when it comes to being able to get things funded."

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Brown's past work in Tallahassee has won him the endorsement of Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and several local officials including his former boss Broxson, state Rep. Michelle Salzman, Escambia County Tax Collector Scott Lunsford, ECUA Board Member Vicki Campbell and Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson.

Brown said his connections to Tallahassee would be a strength for the county.

"We've had a lot of opportunities pass us by because we're either too short-sighted or just unable to know how to work with people," Brown said. "With the way Tallahassee is going right now with the good things that are happening over there, we need somebody who knows how to bring those things back home here as well."

Michael Kohler

Kohler said he has the experience to work professionally with people he may not agree with on every issue.

"I'm never going to be on the dais and call names at people," Kohler said. "I'm going to try to be professional. I'm not promising I couldn't make a mistake, but I just think (with) my background, that the individuals will be able to vote for a professional."

Kohler, pointing to his career in the Navy, said he is the only candidate who has experience managing huge staffs and budgets.

"I just know I have the skill set," Kohler said. "My last job, we had about 700-crew, 103 buildings. We pushed through 22,000 students. It was an enormous job. We had eight detachments in six states."

Kohler said what is needed in a county commissioner, and what will be his goal, is someone who can work with the four other commissioners to make Escambia County better.

"The true sign of an executive is learning how to work with complicated people," Kohler said. "And I've had that experience over and over and over."

Kohler said the first thing that should be done at the county is to hire a permanent county administrator.

"We have had an interim county administrator for a year," Kohler said. "I can't understand why we haven't put Wes Moreno as the full-time county administrator, other than I've been told he doesn't want it. If that's the case, we need to get out and hire someone immediately because that is the most important position from the daily execution of Escambia County government."

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Chance Walsh

During the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic when Escambia County closed its beaches, Walsh said he went to the county to speak against it because he would have to fire 40 employees. Walsh said the experience of speaking before the commission was eye-opening.

"I remember a couple of guys weren't even looking at me when I was talking," Walsh said. "Steven Barry told me to wrap it up. And I remember walking out, and I said, 'This is crazy. I'm talking to five guys, and maybe one or two of them have ever owned a business.'"

Walsh said he didn't feel the commission understood the effects their decisions were having on business owners, so he decided he would run in the next election cycle.

"That was just kind of the last straw for me," Walsh said.

Walsh was one of the first candidates to enter the race and gain support from other Perdido Key business owners and residents. Walsh said over the last eight months, he's largely been absent from the campaign trail because he's been in his own battle to save his business as it's been tough to hire enough kitchen staff during the busy tourist season.

"We make a living in less than 90 days out here, and being so short staffed, I was like, I've got to go to work, essentially to save my business, right," Walsh said. "I can't let my business go. It's been open over 30 years."

Walsh has a general manager who runs the day-to-day operations of the restaurants, and over the last few months, he has been working as a pizza cook.

"I'm doing nothing but coming in and working on the pizza line," Walsh said. "People ask me questions all the time. I joke and say, 'I don't know. I just work here. Go ask the manager.'"

Walsh said the biggest issues he believes the county needs to address are flooding and improving the roads in District 2, as he's experienced both problems personally.

"Sometimes it's taken me 50 minutes to go six miles to get to work," Walsh said.

Walsh said neighborhoods near his home flood even in normal afternoon thunderstorms and have had the same flooding issues for decades.

"Terra Lake people have gone on for 20 years trying," Walsh said. "They're kind of forgotten about. They can't even get mail delivery when it rains."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County District 2 candidates: Candidate profiles and Q&As