Bio: Grant Misterly

AGE: 38

OCCUPATION: Environmental engineer (specializing in municipal infrastructure).

Candidate for: City of St. Augustine Comm – Seat 5

CITY OF RESIDENCE: St. Augustine

PREVIOUS ELECTED POSITIONS: None

COMMUNITY SERVICE: 2014 & Beyond Visioning Steering Committee, City of St. Augustine; Planning and Zoning Board, past chair; Entrance Corridor Committee, past member; Ancient City Road Runners, board member; Rotary of St. Augustine; ARC of the St. Johns, board member; Florida Water Environment Association, First Coast Steering Committee; Flagler College Business Program volunteer for class project on West Augustine sewer project; Council on Aging, River House Development Committee volunteer; Habitat for Humanity volunteer; science fair judge; Young Professionals Organization — 450 Next volunteer; Muscular Dystrophy Charity Lock-up; University of Florida guest lecturer (School of Engineering); Florida Water Environment Federation; American Water Works Association, past member; Florida Stormwater Association, past member; American Water Resource Association, past member.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE: Graduated with honors from the University of Florida School of Engineering. My combination of engineering expertise, leadership skills, experience on St. Augustine’s boards, working relationships with the city’s staff, and dedication to our future make me uniquely qualified. For over 15 years, I have led engineering teams and helped guide cities (including St. Augustine) as they plan, fund, and implement improvements to their infrastructure — often their largest budget items. St. Augustine is planning to spend over $75 million on its infrastructure over the next five years. My experience working with communities throughout Florida gives me the expertise to guide our city as we avoid common infrastructure pitfalls, pursue grant funding, and invest taxpayer money wisely. Through my service as chair of the Planning and Zoning Board, member of the 2014 Visioning Steering Committee, and member of the Entrance Corridor Committee, I have a thorough understanding of our codes, ordinances, and the inconsistencies among them. I have listened to the concerns of neighbors throughout the city, and I want to focus on updating these codes to ensure they protect St. Augustine’s unique character.

REASONS FOR RUNNING: My family and I love St. Augustine and are so thankful to live in such an amazing place. I’m running for City Commission because I care about our community and want to use my background in engineering, experience on the Planning and Zoning Board, and knowledge of what works and what doesn’t from other communities around the state to help prepare us for the next 450 years. St. Augustine is a wonderful small city with amazing history, beautiful surroundings, unique culture, and great amenities. However, if we don’t sustainably invest in our infrastructure, update our zoning codes, and develop sound fiscal planning we may lose these unique traits and the balance that makes St. Augustine so livable.

GOALS FOR UPCOMING TERM IF ELECTED: My goal as a commissioner is to use my leadership, background, and energy to help our city be more proactive on the issues that really affect our quality of life. Being reactionary is costly, frustrating, and limits our options to address issues. I want to focus on developing proactive and sustainable infrastructure investments, updated and consistent zoning codes, and transparent finances. It is important to have elected officials with expertise on the issues of our time. Over the next four years, St. Augustine will be spending tens of millions of dollars on infrastructure, updating our codes and ordinances, and focusing on our finances. As an infrastructure engineer and former Planning and Zoning chair, I have the unique expertise and leadership to guide our City during the next four years.