Seat 2 candidate: Neil S. Price
Candidate name: Neil S. Price
Seat sought/district: Fire Commissioner, Seat 2 , Matlacha/Pine Island Fire Control District
Party, if applicable: N/A
Age: 68
Education/degrees: 1973, BS in civil environmental engineering, University of California, Irvine; 1976, MA in planning and public administration, Pepperdine University, Orange County, California.
Occupation and place of employment: Retired technology executive
Time in the district in which you are running; years of residency in Lee County:
Visiting for 25+ years, permanent resident 6 years (since 2014)
Business or professional experience applicable to the office you are seeking: My career spanned over 45 years in management and executive management roles with engineering technology-based software companies serving the aerospace, defense and automotive industries. Titles include director worldwide major accounts, vice president sales, vice president marketing, vice president and GM Americas, chief operating officer.
Political Experience/offices held: Currently appointed Fire Commissioner, Matlacha/Pine Island Fire Control District; currently vice president of the Cape Royal Community HOA
Civic/Community involvement: Currently board liaison and member Cape Royal Surface Water Management Committee; currently member of Cape Royal’s Strategic Planning Committee
Family: I reside in Cape Royal with my wife, Pam. My wife’s parents resided in Fort Myers for over 30 years and as we contemplated where retirement would take us, Southwest Florida made sense. We were drawn to the “Old Florida” feel of Pine Island and Matlacha and its easy access to the water where we can pursue our passions for kayaking, boating and fishing. We also golf and our area had it all. We couldn’t be happier with the choice we made.
Military Experience: N/A
Website: N/A
Why are you running? I look forward to continuing to serve our community to ensure that our investment in emergency services provide the first response capabilities we need and are fiscally responsible as we meet the ever-changing challenges ahead.
Planks of your platform: As I consider my role as Fire Commissioner, I believe we must be prudent, we must be efficient and we must be effective. Approximately 80% of our calls are medical emergencies. Although Lee County EMS keeps an Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance at Station 1 (near the 4-way), it is likely that our engine companies will arrive on scene first. I believe that over the next few years, within our limited budgets, we need to invest in the training required to achieve paramedic status and ALS capability for all engine companies. This enables our first responders to address cardiac events, open airways, administer medications and treat wounds and injuries while awaiting the ambulance. This will take time, but it will assuredly save lives. We are a lean operating fire district. We run two-man engine companies. Most surrounding districts and fire departments run three- or four-man engine crews at substantially larger cost. These departments respond to a larger volume of fire calls and require additional manpower. Our two-man engine response is well suited to medical emergencies which account for most of our calls. It is paramount that we make our first response effective as possible in this role. The life they save might be yours!
Top three issues:
We must strive to provide the most effective first response capabilities that are suited to the demographics and observed needs of our community.
We must be prudent and efficient in our use of tax revenue in meeting these needs. We must increase our capabilities while constraining budget growth and expenditure.
We must aggressively pursue cost-share and grant opportunities at the County, State and Federal level as they become available.