Clay Murphy won a four-way Republican primary for this commission seat in August, defeating incumbent Roy Alaimo and two other candidates. While there are no Democratic candidates in the race, there is a write-in candidate who qualified, meaning the primary was only open to Republican voters.
News4Jax sent a questionnaire to each candidate asking about their background and their views on several issues. Scroll down to read the responses of those seeking your vote -- in their own words.
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Note: Responses are sorted alphabetically by party and are presented exactly as submitted, with no editing by News4Jax staff.
Clay Murphy
Occupation: Owner/Operator WRTW Inc, a licensed franchisee of a local BBQ restaurant
Age: 64
Family: Married to Pamela, Daughter Alicia married to Richard. Brock, Brycen, bentley (gsons)
Son Connor married to Stacie. Maverick (gson) Son Cory
Education: Graduated Palatka High School, Attended St Johns River State College, FHP training academy.
Political experience: First time candidate
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Unbridled growth. We must pull the reins in on development. Change the rewriting of the comprehensive land plan from 25 year to 10 years. We already have 50,000 homes approved for development that will meet the needs of the county for the next 5 years. No need to open land to development noew that may not be needed down the road.
Infrastructure. We must take the tax increase from growth and transfer it to roads and infrastructure. Bonding is not the answer, Putting the county in debt and depending on future growths impact fees to pay for is is not fiscally responsible.
Future economic health. We depend on revenue from home property tax for 82% of the income and it puts all our economic eggs in one basket when the next economic downturn happens. It needs to be around 65%. we have a lot of work to do and we need to get busy.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I will be the representative that listens to them. Next to traffic, commissioners not responding to their requests for service is the most common complaint I get. My heartfelt desire is to be a “Paul Waldron” commissioner
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
That this next commission listened to the people. We have a lot of very smart people in the community and re-inventing the wheel is something we don’t need to do.
Campaign website: claymurphyforstjohns.com
Campaign social media: Facebook
A write-in candidate, Fitch McGraw, qualified for the general election in this race. While there will be a line for a write-in candidate on the November ballot, no name will appear there.