1.  Michelle E. Tylutki

2.  45

3.  168 W. Halifax Avenue, Oak Hill, FL  32759

4.  386-345-4716

5.  michellet4oakhill@live.com

6.  N/A

7.  Oak Hill City Commission Seat #4

 

8.  Graduated with Honors from Guilderland High School, Guilderland, NY

     Attended Schenectady County Community College, Schenectady, NY

 

9. Collections Manager, Clayton & McCulloh Law Firm 1994 through present

Specializing in Homeowner and Condominium Law representing clients throughout the State of Florida.  As the Collections Manager of the firm my primary responsibilities are to oversee a team of paralegals and attorneys and insure timely progress of all stages of pre litigation as well as all phases of foreclosure and bankruptcy.  In addition I am the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Compliance Director as well as the Records Custodian for the firm.  In my role with Clayton & McCulloh I consult, on a daily basis, with volunteer Boards who enforce their association's covenants and make decisions on behalf of their association members that impact the community much in the same manner as the City Commissioners make decisions that impact the residents of Oak Hill.  I've worked in real property law for close to 20 years and prior to that I was employed in the financial field.  My experience in finance (a mid sized  teacher's Credit Union) also involved a volunteer Board of Directors who made decisions on behalf of and for the benefit of its membership.

 

10.  (a)  Growth and Taxation are huge concerns and the subject of debate at almost every City Commission meeting.  The citizens of Oak Hill are divided on these two extremely important issues.  A great number of our citizens do not want any growth or change and cherish our rural fishing community, they do not want to see Oak Hill become like our neighboring cities.  An equally significant number of our citizens are encouraging growth and desperately want Oak Hill to see new housing developments as well commercial development.  These citizens want city water and sewer and see growth as a significant factor in the appreciation of their property.  I believe that in order to preserve the integrity and history of Oak Hill and allow our residents who are on a fixed income to remain citizens of Oak Hill we must allow controlled and/or smart growth.  The bottom line is growth happens, you can not stop it.  You can however manage it and with the rising costs of running the city, we will either grow intelligently and expand our tax base or we will have no choice but to raise the taxes imposed on the current citizens which will force many of our citizens into financial ruin.

 

10.  (b)  Taxation and revenue are critical to every City however without guidelines and controls in place you create an opportunity for abuse of power.  While I am not in favor of micro management of the finances of the City, without any guidance I believe many cities would be unable to function or would cater to the whims of the controlling party to the detriment of the general population.   

 

11.  The new management plan for the MLAP does address one of the issues I believe is critical to our area and that is the seepage of water from private septic systems on the Preserve.    The increased growth in the surrounding communities puts great pressure on the Mosquito Lagoon and without careful monitoring and planning we could lose this precious resource.   In addition, the clean up of our waterways is essential and expensive and also must be monitored to ensure that we are actively preserving our resources for future generations to come.  We can not ignore the maintenance of the Mosquito Lagoon and profess our desire to remain a rural fishing community.

 

12.  The Website should have better links to our local businesses and parks as well as the Library.  At present we have a "phone directory" search for local businesses that truly does nothing to promote our local business and resources.  It would also be helpful to have links to send requests and/or emails to individual City Commission Members.

 

13.  The City of Oak Hill is evolving.  I believe that we need someone on the City Commission who is willing to aggressively investigate the opportunities for grants to maintain and improve our parks and streets.  We need to find ways, other than increasing property taxes for the existing residents, to enable us to prosper.  The turnover rate of City employees is high and that is costly, we need to investigate our shortcomings and strive to make our employees proud to work for the City of Oak Hill and set realistic goals for improving our retention of quality employees.  It is my firm belief that I will be able to accomplish these tasks for Oak Hill.