KONK Life Candidate Questionnaire / Ralph Depalma Monroe County Mosquito District 2

Q. Let our readers know the reasons in general that you believe you would make the very best person to fulfill the position for which you are running.

A.I have a unique understanding of FKMCD, its employees, and its mission. I’ll use my experience and leadership skills to help change direction.

Q.  What specifically are the top four factors you believe qualify you over the assets of any other potential candidate?

A. I worked on the FKMCD management team for thirteen years, including 2009-2010 helping to stop the outbreak of Dengue Fever in Key West. I have over twenty-five years of technology development and management experience, a licensed commercial pilot, licensed airframe and power plant technician, and worked for seven years on the Space Shuttle Program. As a software developer, systems specialist, improving workflows, and efficiencies are a specialty. I changed careers several times, and the changes always seemed to make life better.  I know how good our mosquito control systems can be.  I can help this organization change directions.

Q. What is your personal view on the state of the nation in this year’s particularly interesting political season?

A.Most voters are looking for candidates that will help change the current direction of our nation. I would like to help change the current direction of our Mosquito Control District.  For the past 6-7 years, there has been far too much budget cutting and not enough mosquito control. Everyone wants an efficient budget conscience mosquito control to do more with less. We have reached the point where FKMCD is doing less with less.

Q.  Given your personal awareness of governance in Southeast Florida, are you optimistic about relations between the public and the powers that be?

A. I’m very optimistic that we can change direction and make the Keys an even better place than it already is.

Q. Do you feel that the general tenor of political discourse is becoming less polite in Monroe County or staying about the same?

A. I am hopeful that our local level political differences would be handled much differently than state and national level races.  I feel more local positions should be non-partisan races like the Commissioners of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. Killing mosquitoes is as non-partisan as it gets. Monroe County has the total population of a small town but the community stretches over a 130 mile chain of islands. It’s a very unique environment. Most people live in the Florida Keys to enjoy the natural beauty. Something happens in the Keys where the speed limit is about 45 mph, everything slows down and the residents seem to all get along.

Q. Tell us more about your personal history –- your work and family life –- and how they relate to your political ambitions.

A. I worked in high-tech for most of my adult life – aviation, Space Shuttle Program, and software development.  I have lived in Florida since 1969 – Miami, Cape Canaveral, and the Florida Keys.

When I began working at FKMCD, it was a blank sheet of paper. They had very little technology, and they needed so much.  Their data volatility was less than 24 hours and, in some cases, 3-5 hours.  They needed information quickly to plan spray missions and target treatment areas. It was professionally fulfilling to develop, install, and implement numerous software systems that would yield very significant direct and indirect benefits. The technology helped advance the overall mosquito control program to levels that some would refer to as the ‘best in the nation’. It has been very sad to watch the past 6-7 years of budget cutting and its effects on the organization and its people.

Q. From your personal experience, would a generally peaceable outlook in the Keys depend upon a measure of control over the number of our visitors and residents?

A. Key West’s amazing music scene with over 55 venues for live music has given me a chance to rediscover my love of music.  I authored three books about music The Soul of Key West, Vol. I & II and The Soul of Havana. Musicians are a very special part of the Keys tapestry.  Most visitors come to the Keys for the beautiful waters and great weather, and then they discover our wonderful music. I think we are obliged to share these with everyone. Maybe more music and less cruise ships.  We need great mosquito control for our outdoor venues and Tiki bars to flourish.

Q. What do you personally love most about Monroe County and the Florida Keys?

The people that inhabit the Florida Keys are a special breed. The pace slows down a bit in the Keys.  People are a little friendlier, a little more open and tolerant. They are what makes the Keys so enjoyable and the wonderful place it is.

Q. What troubles you the most about today’s Monroe County and the Florida Keys?

A. The effects of climate change are already visible. Anyone that denies this should not be holding public office in the Keys.  The city and county authorities are discussing raising roads and elevating houses.  The Key West storm drains have been rebuilt yet still cannot handle heavy rains and high tides.  Stronger storms are becoming more common.  Climate change effects how we conduct mosquito control activities and everything else.  Climate change is real, and we in the very vulnerable Florida Keys, need to start planning for it in earnest. Also, the lack of affordable workforce housing was bad in the Keys before Irma. Now, after the devastation of Big Pine Key area, the hard-hit areas like Marathon and Islamorada, it has made a very bad situation a lot worse.  We are losing a lot of hard working people that just can’t make it any more. That’s going to hurt all businesses and government organizations that need skilled workers.

Q. Who is your favorite character in the history of the keys?

A. Ellen Welters Sanchez. She was a teacher, composer, and musician who taught piano to the legendary Key West entertainer Coffee Butler and almost everyone else in Key West for over 65 years.  She wrote the song “The Beautiful Ilse of Key West” which Coffee played and sang for Harry Truman. Music and Key West were her life-long passions. She passed away in 2007, a day before she would have been 105 years old. A life well lived.

Q.  Who is your least favorite character?

A. The guy that passed me on the Seven Mile Bridge.

Q. What is your favorite book?

A. The Old Man and the Sea – Earnest Hemingway     I read it over and over again and love the symbolism’s and the story.

 

Q. What is your favorite movie?

A. Star Wars – you can tell the good guys from the bad guys.

Q. What is your favorite quote?

A. Tomorrow is promised to no one. – Walter Payton

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