Forget elections for president, senator, and others. The real action and intrigue happen at the local levels, and Wilton Manors is no exception. Races for two city commission seats and the mayor’s office are up this year, and candidates are announcing their plans.
Local realtor Mike Sansevero has filed to run for mayor.
“This city has had a lot of issues building up: aging infrastructure, a lack of development and increase of the tax base,” he said shortly after filing.
His background includes being an attorney in New York and working as an actuary for an insurance company. Sansevero says he was valedictorian of his law class and practiced merger and acquisition law. He began visiting Wilton Manors in 2005, bought a condo, then became a full-time Wilton resident in 2010.
Sansevero served on the city’s Community Affairs Advisory Board (CAAB) for four years, three as chairman. Last year, the current commission declined to reappoint him for another term. He continues to be very active in local programs, including the burgeoning arts scene.
Incumbent Mayor Scott Newton exclusively told OutSFL that he plans to seek another term. In Sansevero, he has a challenger.
“We’re playing catchup on improving infrastructure and growth. Scott Newton wasn’t responsive to code revisions,” Sansevero said. “You have to curate businesses and attract them, especially the kind we’re missing from our economic mosaic.”
The position of director of economic development was recently eliminated after being vacant for about a year. Sansevero wants to bring it back.
He is very vocal in public and on social media about development in the city. He is in favor of the hotel planned for Dixie Hwy. by Five Points and the WilMa project on part of the Alibi Plaza.
Sansevero has been hinting at a run for office for months, but wasn’t sure if he would run for mayor or a city commission seat. The seats for Vice Mayor Mike Bracchi and Commissioner Chris Caputo are up this year.
Saying he doesn’t believe Caputo and Bracchi, both finishing their first terms, have contributed to the city’s issues, but blames Newton. He says the decision came down to practical reasons.
“[Newton is] the weakest of the current incumbents and that’s the bottom line of it.”
Wilton mayors serve two-year terms, city commissioners have four-year terms that are staggered so that only two seats are up at one time.
Caputo and Bracchi have both said they plan to seek re-election to their commission seats. Commissioners Paul Rolli and Don D’Arminio are in the middle of their terms and do not plan to run for mayor.