Rick Minor, no stranger to Tallahassee politics, is running for the Leon County Commission. The 50-year-old father of two and CEO of Second Harvest of the Big Bend is vying for Seat 3 against candidates Emily Fritz, Kyle Frost, Rex Reksits and Carlos Rey.
The candidates were interviewed by WFSU-FM on July 10 about their political perspectives for this election.
Minor had much to say about why he felt that he is qualified for the position as commissioner in District 3. He is the CEO of Big Bend’s food bank, which provides food to people who are in need, he is experienced in public policy development concerning healthcare, public safety and the environment, and he also worked nine years as an IT business consultant who worked with both private sector and public-sector clients.
“I suspect I probably have the broadest experience both in the business world, in government, and in non-profits that I think we need to bring to the county commission,” Minor said in the interview.
Minor considers himself very involved in the community and he is also the former president and co-founder of Tallahassee music week. He also promotes local business Saturday in order to increase public awareness about the benefits of buying locally.
Running for this position, Minor keeps in mind, “What are we leaving our next generation to have a prosperous economy?”
Regarding the policing of Tallahassee, Minor wants “more resources toward violent crimes and serious crimes rather than non-violent crimes including possession of marijuana.”
Minor supports having a civil citation program where for minors with their first violation, “officers can offer a minor the opportunity to take the civil citation program which is training about the crime to avoid a charge, it is less expensive for someone to be sent to the program than to arrest them and then they have a record for the rest of their lives.”
Regarding economic development in District 3 Minor said that, “There’s a lot of work to do, need create a sense of place, so people don’t have to drive two miles for Publix when they can go around their street.”
Minor also talked about public policies and how to better the community. He said, “You don’t create policies out of thin air, you take a look at what other governments and states and local and you cherry pick where those success are from.
“You’re not like a high school student taking a test, you don’t get a grade of F for copying someone else’s great idea.”
Minor also addressed homelessness in Tallahassee, saying that in order to decrease it, there needs to be addiction counseling and “job training to help make some of these people self-sufficient.” He also brought up needing a day shelter for homeless people to be productive and off the streets during the day as well as at nighttime.
Minor was a candidate for the Tallahassee City Commission in 2015, trying to take Scott Maddox’s seat. However, when Maddox dropped out of the race for superintendent, Minor withdrew from his campaign to support Maddox in his re-election.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, although the city commission race is non-partisan, Minor is a registered Democrat, and served as chair of the Leon County Democratic Party. He was policy director for the Florida Democratic Party in 2002, and moved to Tallahassee in 2003.
He was an elector for Barack Obama in 2009. Minor also was a policy adviser to Charlie Crist when he ran for governor in 2014, and developed public policy for numerous state and local government agencies.
If Minor gets elected to the county commission, he plans to remain the CEO of Big Bend Second Harvest while also serving his term. Minor told the Tallahassee Democrat “the two jobs complement each other.”