Robert Leek was enjoying the cooler weather the region has been experiencing Friday as he knocked on doors in Milton campaigning for the Ward 3, Seat 2 position on the municipality's city council.
He said he's sweat through several shirts in a single day at times, but he's driven by a passion to serve.
"I just want to serve the community, do the best I can for the community with honesty, integrity and transparency," he said. "I really hope on Nov. 5 the voters will give me the opportunity to serve them, I don't believe they will be disappointed."
Leek is running to unseat two-term incumbent Jeff Snow , who said it was never his intention to seek a third four-year term in office but he feels compelled to do so.
Meet Jeff Snow: Candidate Q&A for Milton City Council, Ward 3
Meet Robert Leek: Candidate Q&A for City of Milton Council Ward 3, Seat 2
"I didn't plan on this one," Snow said, adding that it is important to return the slate of incumbent city council members to office this year to maintain the integrity they have shown and continue moving the city forward.
Leek, a Navy veteran and local business owner, said when he's out campaigning the first thing city residents talk to him about is its "dysfunctional city council."
"I feel I would bring civility to the council," he said. "I will listen and be 100% a public servant.
The two men have very differing opinions on the future direction of Milton, but according to Leek they were at one time closely aligned. He said it was Snow who recruited him in 2021 to fill a vacancy on Ward 3 Seat 1.
Things apparently fell apart for the two, Leek said, when after he got on the council, he didn't follow Snow's lead on certain issues.
"I didn't bow down to him," Leek said. "I told him I was beholden to the city of Milton and didn't answer to him."
Leek said Snow and some political allies "spent a lot of money" to defeat Leek in the 2022 city election. Gavin Hawthorne narrowly edged out Leek for the seat.
"I think I was clumped in with the incumbents in that one," he said. "People just wanted to get rid of the incumbents."
Council controversy: Milton's political infighting may end up crippling its economic growth
Snow did not return a call Friday from the News Journal seeking to provide him an opportunity to respond to Leek's allegations.
Snow did tell the News Journal that the city has come a long way in the eight years he has been one of its most vocal leaders.
"Our staff, employees and city council have made great strides to improve the city," he said. "We're experiencing the largest business growth in the city in decades, and that's been supplemented with over $60 million in grants."
He and Leek agree that the city's highest priority for the near future is the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant and the retrofitting of an aging, at-capacity plant on the Blackwater River so that effluent can be sent to a place where it can be pumped into the ground at a spray field.
The candidates strongly disagree, however, on just about every other aspect of waste water treatment in Milton.
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Snow said he is "just ready to go forward on the Waste Water Treatment Plant" to be sited at a long-identified location. The city added $30 million to its general fund for FY 2025 from various sources, including grants, that will be put this year toward waste water treatment needs.
"Everything has been permitted, locally, state and federally," Snow said.
Leek, however, pointed out that the city lost wastewater treatment plant grant money this year due, at least in part, to questions about Milton's failure to report about potential environmental impacts the new plant could create . Now is the time, he said, to move the location of the proposed new plant to a safer location.
"I would like to see the plant moved away from any waterway, and the city owns enough acreage to do that, and I don't think it would create a huge impact," he said.
He said the Milton City Council, as now composed, "will not budge on moving the location of the new treatment plant.
Leek said he also wants to see the city change its plans to spray wastewater effluent within a Santa Rosa County-created ring around where most of its drinking water is pumped from the sand and gravel aquifer.
Snow scoffs at worries about the current site plan for the waste water treatment plant and concerns about the spending surrounding its construction.
"People have been misled about spending issues and about the waste water treatment plant," he said.
Snow also highlighted the city's efforts to increase opportunities in parks and recreation by adding lighting and amenities. He cited a splash pad built in 2020 to enhance Carpenter's Park , new basketball courts and lighting at Lucille Johnson Park and a BMX track at the city SportsPlex.
Leek and Snow do seem to agree on at least a couple important city issues, including finding a way to four-lane U.S. Highway 90 through the city without doing irreparable damage its historic downtown.
Snow, a realtor by trade, said if he is re-elected he will continue to work well with the Florida Department of Transportation and citizens of Milton as they continue to strive together to bring a "complete streets" plan to get the U.S. 90 widening done. The complete streets program has been embraced by FDOT and involves a commitment to roadways designed to accommodate all means of transportation in a safe and convenient manner.
Leek said he opposed the U.S. 90 widening during his first term in office, but has come to see the necessity of four-laning the busy city thoroughfare.
"That four lane will ultimately impact the business my son and wife own," he said. "But to carry traffic through downtown and help the people of East Milton it needs to be done. I'm one person in this 11,000-person city and this is not about how it affects me. If it takes part of our patio, it takes part of our patio."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Two term incumbent Jeff Snow challenged by Navy veteran Robert Leek for Milton Ward 3 seat
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