✦ A Plan, Not a Speech
The First 100 Days
Four commitments. One plan. That's the P.L.O.T. to keep Stuart, Stuart.
Four commitments. One idea: Stuart belongs to the people who live here.
These are the priorities I will pursue in my first 100 days on the City Commission. They come out of real conversations, with residents and with current members of the Commission, and I am confident there is meaningful support to move them forward. Some will require a vote, some rightly belong to the voters of Stuart to decide, and several will take time to put fully into practice as we work with city staff to determine how they function best. I put these forward not as slogans, but as a clear direction.
— Derreck Ogden
An honest plan means being honest about how each piece gets done. In Derreck's own words: "Some of it I can begin in my first weeks. Some will require the support of my colleagues on the Commission. Some rightly belongs to the voters to decide." Every commitment below is labeled with exactly what it takes.
Things Derreck can do or direct the moment he's sworn in — his own votes, his own presence, his own requests to staff.
Initiatives developed with staff input first, then implemented the practical way.
Requires support from fellow commissioners. Derreck will make the case in the open.
Goes on the ballot. The final say belongs to the voters of Stuart.
Protection
The qualities that draw people to Stuart, its waterways, its neighborhoods, and its small-town character, are the very things most easily lost to growth that moves faster than good judgment. Protecting them is not opposition to progress. It is the responsibility that makes progress worth having.
Hold growth to the Comprehensive Plan
Stuart already has a plan for how it should grow. The city's obligation is to follow it. My pledge is to say no to applications that go against our Comprehensive Plan to the detriment of our city.
Protect our water
I will work to strengthen the stormwater and impervious-surface standards applied to new development, so that what we build does not come at the expense of the water that defines this community.
Preserve green space and public land
Open space, once developed, is not recoverable. I will work to protect the green space we have and to pursue opportunities to add conservation land as they arise, so that future residents inherit a city that still reflects the character of this one.
Support housing that fits Stuart
I am not opposed to housing. I support attainable homeownership for the teachers, nurses, first responders, service workers, and young families who are part of this community and want to remain in it. Housing should strengthen Stuart, not strain it.
The principle beneath all of this is simple and worth stating plainly: what makes Stuart exceptional is not guaranteed, and once it is gone, it does not come back. Protecting it is the first duty of anyone entrusted with this office.
Leadership
Leadership on the Commission is not measured by titles or by time spent behind the dais. It is measured by presence, by accessibility, and by a willingness to bring residents into the work of their government rather than keep them at arm's length from it.
Show up in every part of the city
I will make a point of being present throughout the city, including in the areas too often overlooked such as East Stuart, so that residents have a direct way to reach me and be heard. Access to a commissioner should not depend on knowing whom to call.
Make participation easier, not harder
Too many residents who want a voice in their government find the process inconvenient, unwelcoming, or simply difficult to navigate. The goal is a government that invites participation rather than one that merely permits it.
Constructive dialogue over division
Residents will not always agree, and they should not have to. But disagreement can be productive rather than destructive.
Leadership, in the end, is about trust. I will work to earn it by being present, by being reachable, and by treating every resident's voice as worth hearing.
Ownership
The residents of Stuart are not subjects of their government. They are its owners. A commissioner is chosen to serve the people, not to sit above them, and every commitment in this section flows from that principle: the people come first, and those who hold office answer to them.
Hold commissioners individually accountable
Commissioners are elected individually, make individual decisions, and cast individual recorded votes. Residents deserve the ability to address them accordingly. This is a change the Commission must adopt, and I will make the case for it openly.
Hold development to its promises
When the city approves a project with conditions attached, such as buffers, drainage improvements, traffic mitigation, and preserved green space, those are commitments, not suggestions. The standard is simple: what a project promised in order to be approved is what that project must deliver.
Let residents decide the future of their parks
Some decisions are too consequential to rest with three people on a Monday evening. Stuart's parks and public lands belong to the community, and the community should decide their future. Once these places are gone, they cannot be recovered.
Together these commitments reflect a single conviction: the residents of Stuart are the final authority over their government, not an afterthought to it.
Transparency
Transparency is the foundation for everything else in this plan. Residents cannot hold a government accountable for what they are not able to see. Much of what I propose here does not require new legislation. It requires direction and a genuine commitment to open the city's work to the people it serves.
Publish Commission meetings as a podcast
The city already records and livestreams its meetings, so the audio already exists. I will direct staff to publish that same audio as a subscribable podcast on the major platforms, allowing residents to follow the Commission's work during a commute or a walk rather than only from the chamber or a screen on a Monday evening.
Plain-language agenda summaries
Residents should be able to understand a decision before it is made, not after.
A budget residents can read
Before the annual budget is adopted, I will request a concise, one-page overview of how the city intends to spend residents' money.
Restore remote public comment
My aim is straightforward: residents who cannot attend in person, because of work, family, disability, or distance, should not be shut out of their government.
Faster, easier public records
I will ask the City Clerk and City Attorney to bring forward a plan to streamline the public-records process and make official communications easier to search.
Disclose development contacts
Residents deserve to know who is seeking to influence the decisions that shape their neighborhoods.
Make these reforms permanent
Direction from a single commissioner can be reversed by the next one. Where these initiatives prove effective, I will move to place them in ordinance, so that open government in Stuart does not depend on who holds the seat.
Taken together, these steps share a single purpose: to make the ordinary work of the city visible to the people it serves. The most immediate can begin within my first weeks in office. Others will take shape as we hear from staff on how best to implement them. On each, I will report openly on the progress made.
The Closing Commitment
I offer this plan honestly. Some of it I can begin in my first weeks. Some will require the support of my colleagues on the Commission. Some rightly belongs to the voters to decide, and some will take time to put fully into practice as we learn from residents and staff what works best. I will not pretend otherwise, and I will not measure success by how much I can announce. I will measure it by what actually changes for the people of Stuart.
What I can promise is this: where I have the authority to act, I will act. Where I must persuade, I will make the case in the open. And at every step I will report plainly on what has been done and what remains, because a government that asks to be trusted must first be willing to be seen.
Keep Stuart, Stuart.