For Broward Soil and Water Conservation District, Seat 5, go with experience and Fred Segal
Broward County’s Soil and Water Conservation District has been bankrupt for the better part of a decade, unable to secure grants or other funding as it slowly climbs out of a scandal it created by passing off most of its duties to a third party in a no-bid contract.
That contract finally ended about two years ago, according to current board member Fred Segal,
66, who is running for re-election. So now, the board— whose unpaid members cannot levy taxes or create regulations— can finally get on with the core mission: educating schoolchildren on the importance of conservation; advising major water users, including agribusiness, on best management practices; and carrying out small conservation programs such as mobile irrigation labs. That is, if it can avoid tripping over itself. With multiple environmental problems on the horizon— climate change, chief among them— the board has a tendency toward mission creep.
“We had some suggestions, for example, thatwe try and do some things for homeowners on hurricane preparation. Well, you’ve already got the county putting out things on that, the Sun Sentinel and others put out a lot of information on that,” Segal said.
“It might be a feel-good thing for us to be doing, but it doesn’t fit in with our purposes. We’re meant to be a liaison between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Florida Department of Agriculture and the residents of the county.”
Beau Simon, 18, who is challenging Segal in the election, would likely push the board to do more. Simon has an impressive list of work credentials and endorsements, including from four of the nine Broward County School Board members. Simon has served on several of the board’s advisory councils for the last two years. He is driven and ambitious.
“We need someone who has a lot more tomorrows than yesterdays to come into this district and offer new ideas, new faces and new leadership,” Simon said in a phone interview. “At this point, any progress is good progress.”
Segal worries his opponent might stray too far fromthe mission.
“I’d love to see some younger people learn what [the board is] statutorily meant to do and guide it in that direction,” he said. “The best thing for this district to try to do is to provide services that are not being provided by other agencies— education, best management practices, encouraging equine and ornamental horticulture industries to sign a notice of intent and start doing best management practices, which are a voluntary program but can have tremendous benefit to the county.”
Segal is the perfect choice as he had a hand in writing the state’s manuals for best management practices in the equine and ornamental horticulture industries. As the 27-year president of the Broward County Farm Bureau, he is a credible liaison between local farmers and federal and state agriculture officials.
On that note, Simon is buoyed by Democrat Nikki Fried heading the Florida Department of Agriculture, and what it could mean for Broward, where Fried lived before moving to Tallahassee.
“The first place Iwant to go is that office,” Simon said of the potential for new funding sources.
Segal says experience matters. “I’d like to see some people hopefully step up and volunteer to help. I’d love to seemy opponent step up and find out more about the district,” he said. “Truthfully, if he had come to me six months ago and said hewas interested in helping the district, Iwould have sat down with him, Iwould have mentored him to take it over next time, because this will probably be the last time I run.”
Segal deserves a final four years to get the board on the right track. Plus, he has the contacts in agriculture to advance the cause. Whether or not his opponent wins, you’ll probably hear the name Beau Simon again.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.