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Lake Worth mayoral candidates hit campaign trail hard on way to runoff

Waterman garnered nearly 42 percent of the votes cast Tuesday while Ramiccio came in second with almost 30 percent of the vote. Maxwell grabbed about 26 percent of the vote. Ramiccio, 49, said much of his strategy for success centers on support from Maxwell's voters.

"We always knew Lisa and I were splitting the same group of voters, and now they will be supporting me," he said.

Ramiccio categorized voters in the city as mostly falling into two groups - "pavers" or pro economic development supporters and "cavers" who don't want to see any progress. He said he and Maxwell split the paver vote and categorized Waterman as being supported more by "cavers."

Waterman, 40, said she also did well among wealthy voters who would be considered "cavers" and called Ramiccio's characterization "an over-simplification of a diverse community."

"My vote better reflects the diversity of this community," Waterman said. "I think the city is tired of the 'us vs. them' paradigm."

Waterman said she also plans to try to court Maxwell's voters to support her in the runoff. Maxwell endorsed Ramiccio Tuesday night and said she plans to actively campaign on his behalf.

"I can't imagine many of my supporters would support the Waterman campaign," Maxwell said.

Ramiccio questioned Waterman's experience and said the main piece of his platform would be to sell the city's power plant to the Florida Power and Light Co., which he said would lower resident's electrical bills 33 percent.

"We're not hiring a grant writer. We're hiring the Mayor of Lake Worth," Ramiccio said of Waterman, who works as a self-employed grant writer but has never held elected office. Ramiccio is the former mayor of Lake Worth and the former president of the Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce.

Waterman said she has 20 years of experience working with non-profits, public housing authorities and government agencies. She has not stated a position on the possible sale of the power plant saying the issue needs to be carefully examined. Stating that the city should absolutely sell the plant as a campaign slogan could be bad for the city anyway, she said, because it might weaken the city's eventual bargaining position with FPL.

Should our organization use a volunteer grant writer ...

If the volunteer is not somehow connected to or invested in the organization, you have to trust they’ll do a good job out of the goodness of their hearts. Money is a strong motivating factor, and it’s one I find easier to trust. Volunteers are not automatically qualified. Sure, there are exceptions. Retired grant writers looking to continue doing good work, or pros who have room for pro-bono work, or board members with grant writing experience…but those are few and far between. Most volunteer grant writers are not qualified. Not all good writers make good grant writers. Grant writing is a very specific niche for freelance writers and it’s one that requires extra training and a strong knowledge of the nonprofit world. Most freelance writers don’t have these qualities. If you allow someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to write grants, you could end up hurting your organization more than you are helping it. Grants are not free, easy money. Successful grants take a combination of a skilled grant writer and a prepared organization. Letting someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing write a bunch of grants will waste everyone’s time and will make your organization look bad. One problem here is that organizations have no idea how to fund a professional grant writer’s salary to begin with. I suggest that if you can’t fund a pro, you’re not ready for grants. Wait until you have a stable income and plenty of reserves before hiring someone. You’ll be glad you waited and glad you hired a professional grant writer.

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