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Hauber, Thompson to challenge for seats on the Orange Park Town Council

Hauber to face Mastandrea; Thompson to challenge Hall

By Wesley LeBlanc wesley@opcfla.com
Posted 2/3/21

ORANGE PARK – Two town residents threw their name into the hat for town council.

Virginia Hall, who was appointed to the council a month ago, will be challenged by Susana Thompson. She’s …

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Hauber, Thompson to challenge for seats on the Orange Park Town Council

Hauber to face Mastandrea; Thompson to challenge Hall


Posted

ORANGE PARK – Two town residents threw their name into the hat for town council.

Virginia Hall, who was appointed to the council a month ago, will be challenged by Susana Thompson. She’s running for Seat 4 after living in Orange Park for 10 years and seeing all of the changes the town has gone through.

“Our community is a jewel and we need decisive leadership to chart our future course while balancing the challenges,” Thompson said. “I feel compelled to preserve the character of this town and historical qualities.”

Thompson said Orange Park is a one-of-a-kind bird and tree sanctuary and a town with the greatest natural resources. She’s a registered nurse of 26 years and a military wife and she said she’s always been involved in the Orange Park community as a result.

“Our hope for the future is to re-engage our residents and business owners in the governing of our community by bringing back mutual respect, honesty and integrity, and transparency and inclusivity,” Thompson said. “We need to work together to clean up all our waterways, to revitalize our little town through smart development and to capitalize on our natural resources as part of that process.”

“I will fight tirelessly to find solutions to the problems we face because together we are much stronger. Together we will work towards implementing the visioning process that we all worked so hard on. Together, we all have a voice. I ask that you vote for Susana Thompson for Seat 4 on April 13.”

The other resident that qualified for the town council race this year is John Hauber. He’s running for Seat 3, which is currently held by council member Roland Mastandrea, who is running for re-election.

“The reason I am running for town council is quite simple,” Hauber said. “I love the town I grew up in. This town has provided me with so many experiences in my youth that I would like the younger generation to have the ability to say the same thing.”

Hauber said that when he left for the Marines in 2005, he often returned to visit his family in Orange Park because of the sense of comfort his family and the town provided him.

“The goal was not to become involved in the political arena, but to observe how our town was being run. During this time, I observed things I agreed with and disagreed with like many of our residents. One thing I disagreed with was not having an option during elections. So, when Seat 3 became available, I decided to run.”

Hauber said running, and hopefully serving, is a way for him to give back to the community and give the residents an option.

He said his first goal as a candidate is to be transparent and accountable to all of the town’s residents with the goal of bringing back trust in the local government. He hopes to encourage residents to attend council meetings and to get involved to help encourage the younger generation growing up in Orange Park to stay involved with the local government.

“The final goal is to ensure our town has a voice again and isn’t given a discussion, but facts leading to a decision,” Hauber said. “The residents deserve an answer with certainty and not a response such as ‘this is why.’ As for my ambitions for the town, I believe we need to end excessive spending and find creative ways to lower taxes within our town. This is something most politicians promise during an election, but the reality is ‘how?’”

He said the town council needs to ensure the visioning plan is being utilized to assist with growth, but also considering the viewpoints of its residents while doing this. He wants the town to be “smart with our development so that it assists in lowering taxes, but does not affect the residents and their way of living.”

Another way he plans to lower taxes is to take further advantage of grants to “fund the clean-up of our waterways and assist the needs within our public safety departments.”

“The face of the town isn’t the council members – it’s our police, fire and public work departments,” Hauber said. “You will never see a council member making a traffic stop or running into a burning building, but you will see our local heroes within our police and fire departments doing just that. You will also see our public works department working through the night to fix an issue so our quality of service is maintained.”

“I feel it is time the town council becomes a face of the town as well. By getting out and walking within the community, it will allow council members to listen to its residents’ concerns, not just at the bi-weekly meetings, but in their neighborhoods.”

The election is April 13.

Susan Sandlin qualified for the Seat 4 election, but she said will withdraw from the race after learning Hall was on the ballot.

“I withdrew my candidacy as one of the candidates, Virginia Hall, who was appointed by council, is running to fill the seat and I know Virginia and I like her,” Sandlin said. “I think she will do a great job and I don’t want to get in the way of that.”