FORT WALTON BEACH — Incumbent Mayor Mike Anderson and challenger Al Stearns have more in common than most voters might know.
=Both men served in the Air Force. They have lived in Fort Walton Beach for more than 30 years and are active in numerous community organizations.
Most of all, Anderson and Stearns share a passion for promoting the city to the rest of the world.
“Marketing is what I do best. Marketing this city is what I want to do,” Stearns said. “I want to tell the world this is the place I’ve chosen to live.”
For Anderson, his two terms have been about resilience in the face of hurricanes, an economic recession and the BP oil spill of April 2010.
“The community spirit didn’t change,” he said. “And being the ambassador for the city, I was happy to go around talking about the good things happening to our city.”
Anderson and Stearns will square off at the polls Tuesday's municipal election.
If elected, Stearns said he would support imposing term limits on the mayor’s office.
“Northwest Florida tends to have mayors that stay onboard forever,” he said. “I just believe a fresh face is very, very important to the public. … Without change we’re just doing more of the same.”
Stearns also wants to help residents become better educated about the City Council.
“I would like for residents to have a better understanding of what we do, why we do it and how we’re going to pay for it,” he said.
Stearns likened the mayor’s role to running a business.
“I’ve had to do the things that you do to make a business successful, and the bottom line is you’re successful when you have satisfied customers,” he said. “Everybody deserves to be treated as a customer. Those are the people we’re employed by and working for.”
Anderson said one of his top priorities will be to pay more attention to the city’s distinct neighborhood groups.
“We became dormant in some of our neighborhood meetings,” he said. “We need to bring that back to life. Seabreeze is different than Elliot Point that’s different than Kenwood that’s different than the Beal Parkway neighborhood.”
Anderson said he has identified 11 neighborhoods in the city and would like to see city assist them with projects.
He also plans to promote the investment of Community Redevelopment Agency funds just north of downtown.
“We’ve concentrated a lot downtown, but now we need to go between (U.S. Highway) 98 and Hollywood (Boulevard) and see what we can do in those areas,” he said.
Anderson said there are “good opportunities” to refurbish and modernize much of that area.
Stearns said he is excited about the potential of the Landmark Center, slated for the corner of Perry Avenue and U.S. 98, to draw more visitors to Fort Walton Beach for dining and shopping.
Both candidates say they support consolidating the city’s aging recreation centers into one facility on Jet Drive.
“That is probably one of the smartest things the city has done in a long, long time,” Stearns said. “Once we have that facility, then we can go out and market ourselves and compete with Pensacola and Panama City Beach, the places that have these up-to-date facilities.”
Anderson agreed, adding that he’s “very confident” the project will be completed.
“It’s a zero-sum game. We’ve just realigned dollars,” he said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.