Gibson Wins Common Grounds Advocate Award

Councilmember Mindy Gibson of the City of Satellite Beach has been named winner of the Common Grounds Advocate award from the Florida League of Cities (FLC). The award recognizes a municipal leader who has shown commitment and dedication to finding common ground and building relationships with state lawmakers to help support the League’s Legislative Platform. The award was presented at the 2023 FLC Annual Conference.

Port St. Lucie Vice Mayor Jolien Caraballo, then-President of the FLC, described Gibson as an “amazing” public servant.

“Mindy embodies the ideal qualities of a genuine advocate for Florida’s cities,” Caraballo said. “She takes a proactive approach to advocating for city-related issues and maintains regular communication with her legislators, fostering a strong relationship with her legislative delegation.”

Gibson’s dedication to advocacy was evident as she participated in several legislative committee meetings during the legislative session, Caraballo said. She provided testimony on financial disclosures and short-term rental bills, even with a 24hour notice.

Gibson said she was surprised and honored to receive the award. “I truly believe that local government is the most important form of government,” she said. “What we do affects the everyday lives of all the people living in our communities. It is important that, above all else, we strive to do what is best not only for our communities today, but so that the choices we make are also looking at what may happen 10, 20, 50 years down the road.”

Gibson is chair of the Space Coast advocacy team and addresses the Brevard County delegation on FLC issues. She is active on the FLC Advocacy Committee and other legislative policy committees. She has participated in events such as Legislative Action Days, the Legislative Conference and the FAST Fly-In to Washington, DC, where she met with members of Congress. (For more information on these activities, see the Advocacy issue of Quality Cities (QC) magazine at bit. ly/3QJJk0B).

Q&A

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ADVOCACY EFFORT FOR FLORIDA’S CITIES? WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE?

My first advocacy efforts were to stop HB 17 from moving through the Florida House back in 2017. It was a blanket bill that essentially stripped local government’s ability to regulate businesses, and thankfully, we were successful in stopping that bill. Prior to this, I really did not understand the cultural differences between state and local government, and it pushed me to try to understand why they exist. What I found was that many at the state level have little to no local government experience. This motivated me to try to nurture relationships at the state level so that I can understand their “why” and try to help them understand our “why.” My biggest takeaways from that experience are that you have to fight the battles that are worth fighting and that there are some truly amazing people elected to serve our communities at both the local and the state level.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST REWARDING EXPERIENCE REGARDING ADVOCACY? WHY?

I would say my most rewarding experience would be each time our efforts helped to kill a bill that would have been detrimental to our residents. There have been many, and I truly believe that if we did not work together, many of these bills would have passed, and our residents would have suffered.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO ENCOURAGE YOUR PEERS TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN ADVOCACY FOR FLORIDA CITIES?

It is our responsibility to serve our communities in the best way possible. In order to do that, you need to be involved at both the state and federal levels – if for nothing else, to be educated on the laws that are being passed. But more importantly, to help all the levels of government uphold the Constitution and protect the rights of every citizen so that we can all pursue our own versions of happiness. That can be as simple as allowing a local government to regulate where a vacation rental can be, because I don’t know many people that want one next to their homes.

HOW HAVE YOUR EFFORTS HELPED THE CITY OF SATELLITE BEACH?

Satellite Beach has had a vacation rental ordinance since 2006 – give or take a year. For my city, we have fought to keep the grandfathering in each time to protect our ordinance. I have also fought at all levels of government to bring awareness to and to fund the cleanup and studies of the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. The military base located to the north of our city is the third-most-contaminated Department of Defense (DOD) site for the firefighting foam known as PFAS/PFOA/ PFOS, an unregulated chemical that never goes away. I have spent countless hours learning/speaking to industry leaders and speaking to legislators to figure out the best ways to approach this widely spread contaminant that seems to be in pretty much everything. Each step takes us closer to figuring out how to clean it up, how it affects our bodies and the food chain, and how to regulate it.