Scott Drake Throws his Hat into the Ring
Darenw | January 3, 2013
Break out the bunting, book the brass band, register the SuperPAC, and hire the press secretary. The first candidate for the soon-to-be-vacated commission seat currently occupied by The Great Bill Floyd(tm) has announced his intention to run. This just in from Decatur scion Scott Drake:
Although I knew we could not keep Mayor Floyd forever, I was reluctant to accept the idea that he would one day leave his seat on the Commission. Mayor Floyd’s shoes will be difficult to fill, but his approach, personality, actions, and service will provide a valuable footprint to follow for years to come.
After much thought and conversation among family and friends, I have decided that I would like to take this opportunity to serve the Decatur community and run for the District 1 Commission seat. Over the years I have had the pleasure of working closely with most City departments, the City Commission and City staff members. From projects in my professional life, service on many community and non-profit boards and service as President of Decatur Business Association, my interactions working with the City have been ones of professionalism mixed with small town sensibility.
As a City of Decatur business owner, a parent with two daughters in our fine school system, and with deep roots in the community, I feel this is an important opportunity for me to give back and help shape our future. I ask for your support in this time of transition and if given the opportunity to serve on the Commission, I hope to continue building on the foundation which so many in our community have contributed over the years.
Latest from Decaturish
Too early in the race for an old crumudgin like myself to become involved in a local election but there something very appealing about a man who has a connection with those who collected Native American artifacts back in the day of Od Decatur: http://obit.mcgfuneral.com/wrapper_gb.php?id=559711&print=1
The idea of a young vibrant Mayor as Scott Drake is a wonderful progression fore a progressive City like Decatur. Hope it is true he has great roots to Decatur and lots of business experience beyond loving Decatur!.
Scott would be running for a City Commission seat, not Mayor. The Mayor is elected from amongst the sitting Commissioners by the Commissioners themselves.
I don’t think he’s running for Mayor, just Commissioner. Another thread says that the Mayor will be elected from the current Commissioners before the new Commissioner election. But maybe in a future election. Can’t tell if he meets my tall-like-Mayor-Floyd criteria but progressive, Decatur roots, business experience, young family in CSD schools all sound good. The City and CSD clearly need to work HARD together to plan for whatever develops with our school population.
Not just Decatur roots but, as son of former Mayor Walt Drake, we’re talkin’ dynasty. Hello Camelot! (In all seriousness, Scott is a committed community champion and I wish him the best of luck.)
What business does he own?
Drake’s Cakes
He is an investor in the Pure Station, as well.
Scott Drake is about as good a candidate for the Decatur Commission as they come. I have known Scott both professionally and personally for over 10 years he is committed to the city, his family and friends. He has devoted hundreds of hours working as the DBA president, chair of the beach party and many other community functions. Scott has worked with non-profit groups like Our House and is a partial owner in the Pure Station (a local business). The idea of having a new commissioner with kids in the City Schools and an involved family history with the city is an added bonus!
Scott and the Drake family have worked hard to improve our city for many years and I cannot recommend him more highly to those of you who do not know him yet.
How much do City Commissioners get paid?
They get paid? I don’t think Commissioners or School Board members should be paid. There’s always other good folks who want to serve if they don’t.
It does take some of their time. I seem to recall the Decatur Commissioners get about $4000 a year. The last I remember the School Board got $15 per meeting, which means it is truly a labor of love. I stand to be corrected if these numbers have been updated.
And as for people wanting to serve, recent history does not indicate that folks line up at the qualifying table. I can’t recall more than 2 people running for any seat any time lately.
I’m sure someone with more time on their hands can look up the exact number, but it’s something like $4,000/year for Commissioners. I think the Mayor gets a few thousand more. Really, a pittance for the time and energy the Commissioners put into the community. No idea about school board members.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also add my hearty two thumbs up for Scott. I think he’d make a great Commissioner & certainly has already contributed greatly to Decatur’s vibrancy. Good luck, sir!
Wow, that’s a lot lower than the ?$12,500? that I think School Board members get as a “stipend”. And Commissioners seem much more actively involved than School Board members. But I think the latter have been refusing the stipend the last few years because of budget cuts. Sure hope that’s still true. I’d rather that $62,500 went towards a couple of parapros or a classroom teacher or a middle school or 9th grade sport team than towards stipends. There’s plenty of folks who would serve without a stipend.
$12,500 for School Board Members?!! If you read the City’s Charter, you will see that School Board Members are supposed to get $50 per meeting, not to exceed 5 meetings a month. So even if we have 10 meetings a month, we would only get paid for 5. Therefore, the most we could make is $250/month or $3,000/year. When the economy got so bad and we couldn’t give teachers a cost of living or STEP raise for the first time, we decided as a board to forgo our pay to show support for our staff. That was 6 years ago and we still aren’t collecting our pay. Many of us even pay for our own travel expenses to conferences, and we try to limit them to in-state and regional when we can.
And the City Charter also states our City Commissioners make $400/month or $4,800/year, and our Mayor gets a little more at $500/month or $6,000/year for the extra time required. And yes, this isn’t much for all the time that’s required to hold a public office in a vibrant and engaged city like ours.
So you can see that none of us do this for the money, which is a very good thing. (Compare the situation to our DeKalb County neighbors where School Board Members make $24,000/year plus travel, computers, offices and smartphones, and the County Commissioners make more than that, which is the norm for big counties like theirs).
I guess it’s true, Julie. No good deed goes unpunished.
Hmmm. Don’t know where that $12,500 came from. Maybe it was for all five members. Appreciate all who serve for free and have no admiration for those in other counties who pay themselves instead of the students. There’s plenty who would replace them gratis.
Worth noting also: serving on the school board involves a LOT of time, energy and attention beyond attending meetings.
I honestly don’t understand where the notion comes from that “plenty of people would do it for nothing” with reference to either the school board or the city commission. Those serving now are doing it for practically nothing (and flat nothing, in the case of school board members), and yet it’s not that unusual for a candidate to run unopposed–either an incumbent or someone new.
New folks interested in being a school board member have to spend a lot of money and time away from job and family if they have run a campaign against an incumbent. I wish that weren’t so. Elections without competition have less questions asked, less information shared, and less discussion. But when an incumbent resigns or chooses not to run again, it’s easier for new folks to break in. And if they announce quickly, it may discourage others to run and they may not have opposition. For example, as many as three of the current board positions may be coming open next election. I guarantee you that each position will have at least one candidate. Folks are talking about it already.
Thanks Ms. Rhame. As far as I’m concerned, neither the Board members nor the members of the Cily Commission get paid anywhere near the compensation deserved for the job. It takes a special person, a true public servant, who is willing to put up with the public and private (blog) grief that is directed towards a member of Decatur’s elected or appointed boards. I may complain about some of the decisions you make but I would think long and hard about serving, no matter what the pay is.
Keep up the good work but see what you can do about my dang taxes!
Julie, Dekalb school board members get insurance, too. So you are really missing out, living in Decatur
I was wondering if that’s where the higher figure I was quoted was from. Maybe the worth of insurance option was factored in. But it may be that it costs the District nothing extra to give the Board members the option of participating in the system’s insurance plan.
I think it is great that someone like Scott is interested in running for the City Commission. Scott is a dedicated family man, friend, businessman and community servant. ,Best of luck, Scott!
Agree with all said here. Can’t think of a better person for the Commissioner seat.