By Jessica Tuggle
jtuggle@hometownnewsol.com
SEBASTIAN - There are two seats on the Sebastian City Council up for election and four people looking to fill them.
Jerome Adams, who currently serves on the Sebastian parks and recreation committee, is campaigning for a seat along with Mayor Jim Hill, Damien Gilliams and Tim Slaven.
Mr. Adams is a supervisor in St. Lucie County's information technology department and has lived in Sebastian for the past seven years after moving from South Florida.
"It was getting very crowded and hectic. Sebastian had a more relaxed atmosphere that really attracted me to it," Mr. Adams said.
Mr. Adams said he enjoys helping people and could not think of a better place to assist his community by serving them on city council.
He feels it is important to keep Sebastian's attractiveness and improve on it by bringing more high-paying jobs to the area.
"Parents need jobs to live in a city, and they need better-paying jobs," Mr. Adams said.
Social activities for children, those out of elementary school, but not in high school, is also something Mr. Adams would like to help facilitate if elected to Sebastian City Council.
He suggested bringing a movie theater or video arcade to the community that could do two things at the same time: provide more jobs to the community and young people with something to do.
Though this is his first time running for public office, Mr. Adams is well aware that managing the city budget and being accountable to taxpayers is a big task.
Keeping the services of the government at a high level without raising taxes is hard, because the revenue stream is limited, he said.
Finding new revenue streams would be very prudent in these economic times, Mr. Adams said.
"Raising taxes is the last resort and you've have to educate the public on what you're doing and why," Mr. Adams said.
Mr. Adams is married and has one son.
Hometown News is attempting to contact all candidates for Sebastian City Council for profiles.
To see more candidate profiles, read the Hometown News or search online at www.myhometownnews.net