As part of its mission to promote better government in the City of Naples, Collier County and the State of Florida, Naples Better Government (NBG) meets individually with candidates to discuss their qualifications and platform statement requested and provided prior to the interview and endorsement.
Two of the three candidates for mayor were able to participate in the interviews on January 25 — Ted Blankenship and Gary Price. Current Mayor Teresa Heitmann was unable to participate but submitted a platform statement for review by the NBG Board. All six of the candidates running for a seat on City Council were interviewed — Berne Barton, Garey Cooper, Nicholas Del Rosso, William E. Kramer, Linda Penniman and Tony Perez-Benitoa.
The NBG Board of Directors applauds the candidates for taking time out of their busy campaign schedules to interview with us. All candidates demonstrated an understanding and competency level necessary to fill their respective positions sought and expressed a desire to maintain the community charm. After almost five hours of interviewing, the Board was challenged with endorsing one candidate for the position of mayor and three candidates to fill three empty seats on City Council.