Candidate: James R. Carlino

BIOGRAPHY: My name is James Carlino and I have dedicated my professional life to Public Safety Leadership. I am an active Public Safety Leader in our community, Police Chief at the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority. At the same time I am a local college level Public Safety/Homeland Security Instructor, teaching at the State College of Florida. Before moving to Manatee County I retired from the City of Atlanta Police Department as a Police Commander. My wife is a Registered Nurse and our daughter attends Manatee County Public Schools. We all attend Cornerstone Church in Lakewood Ranch where we live. I am proud to call myself a person trying to become a better Christian. I am also proud to be a veteran. I followed in my father’s footsteps and proudly served in the United States Air Force. I was an Air Force Firefighter. My father did a lot more than me though and I try to emulate his veteran’s values. He was a WWII Combat Veteran, shot down over Czechoslovakia during the war and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Education, I am a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA. I have a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration with a concentration in Critical Incident Management from Saint Leo University too. I am currently finishing my Doctorate Degree in Homeland Security Leadership PLATFORM Fiscal Responsibility: No New Taxes... Period! The East Manatee Fire District is the fastest and most densely growing area of Manatee County. We have more residential homebuilding and commercial business development than any other area. This means more tax based income. There is no reason to raise your tax bill for the Fire District. We just need to manage our money better. I will ensure as your Fire Commissioner that we do exactly that. Accountability: I will ensure that your tax is spent responsibly and accounted for... every cent. I will ensure that you are getting your monies worth from staff and that the Fire District is running the right way. The way to do this is thru Fire Department Accreditation. I will push to have our Fire District accredited during my first four-year term. Accreditation creates less liability for us and ensures the district is running the right way according to pre-established standards. I am very familiar with accreditation, having successfully lead the process to get it done. Integrity: As a local public safety leader, college level homeland security instructor, and FBI National Academy graduate I not only teach but practice integrity every day. Integrity is doing the right thing and being able to honestly look yourself in the mirror each day knowing you are operating with transparency and honesty. I do not tolerate people that do not act with integrity. As your Fire Commissioner I will make all my decisions using integrity and get rid of people that can’t do the same. I owe no special allegiance to interest groups and cannot be swayed by others. I will do the right thing. Part of this commitment is to have a chance for tax payers to make comments at our board meetings. Currently there is not a place for that. There is also not an agenda that is handed out. We need to hear what the tax payers have to say. We need to let them know what we are going to say and do in advance. I have also committed to hear what the employees have to say. Right now the Firefighters Union does not have monthly meetings with the Fire Commissioners. That will change. We need to hear what they have to say and work together to keep our employees happy and go home safely after their shift. They are our biggest assets. Terrorism: As a local public safety leader, practicing every day, I realize that we are faced with the continuous challenge of how to respond effectively to terror related activities and save as many lives as possible. Active shooters are one of those areas. ISIS wants anyone to pick up a gun/rifle and shoot Americans to help the cause. There are also people that resort to violence in our local communities, becoming an active shooter to solve their grievances. These occur at businesses and schools all over our nation. I am committed to training our firefighters to assist in this area. We need to have S.A.V.E. Teams to rescue victims from these situations. We have none now and are unprepared. This should have been done years ago. S.A.V.E. Teams are trained firefighters that go in with law enforcement to rescue victims before they die from delay in treatment. By electing me I will push for our firefighters to be trained with local law enforcement in this area. I am in a unique position to be working with the FBI and receiving the most current terror related information thru briefings from the department of Homeland Security. No other Commissioner is in this position, including my opponent. I will ensure we are proactive, not reactive. Thank you and please contact me directly thru my website at: ChiefCarlino.com