You can visit Joe Kalicki’s campaign website HERE. On his website you can find information easily on the home tab with ways to read more about each issue he addresses. There is also a “Get to know Joe” tab where he explains more about himself. We encourage all our neighbors to view his website to learn more about him.
Where are you from and how do you feel that impacts or influences your decision to run?
I was born at TMH (one of many Brickler babies) and have resided in Leon County or within the city limits all of my life. I also was around my parents’ small businesses through my teen years and learned the difficulties they faced as business owners in Tallahassee when trying to navigate working with city government. I spent my teenage years learning to make music and art around Railroad Square. And I’ve lived all around the city during my working life as an adult. I know the city and the region and care deeply about Tallahassee becoming the best city it can be.
Will you raise property taxes? Should an issue arise where an increase in property taxes is suggested by staff, how would you insulate the taxpaying neighbors from excessive tax burden as a result? What measures would you take to independently understand the proposition, versus policy alternatives?
I think that all government budgets have waste and inefficiencies that should be addressed before opting to raise taxes. Tallahassee has one of the higher tax burdens in the state of Florida, however, we are lacking much of the taxable industry and economy that leads to larger cities like St. Petersburg having lower taxes. Raising property taxes should be a last resort to addressing budget needs. I would aim to holistically understand our budget and only vote on issues when there is clear evidence of the budgetary impact. Due diligence was not done before the most recent property tax increase to find reasonable cuts that could have counteracted a tax increase. I would have voted against that increase.
There has been much public question about the city’s response to the county wanting to see the fire fund spending. How transparent do you feel that should be and given the questions remaining about whether station 17 has already been funded in previous years or why the city said the fund is short, would you call for an independent audit of the department and the fire fee funds?
If we pay for it, we deserve answers about how the money is being spent—full stop. It is the duty of the elected officials to provide explanations and if mistakes were made, own them and provide a path forward.
What is something your opponent(s) have suggested that you don’t agree with but if you were elected into office you would be willing to make a good faith effort to explore feasibility and possible outcomes?
I am not aware of a policy or proposal that was solely the project or creation of Dianne Williams-Cox. However, I think if we look at the contentious acquisition of TMH by FSU that she supported without any resistance — that transaction could have been handled in a way that left the residents more well informed of FSU Health’s roadmap to success and the City much more well compensated. If FSU paid fair market value, that compensation could have been used to fund a robust public health foundation to fill the gaps left in our healthcare ecosystem.
Will you do a public audit of all tax dollars? If not, why? If so, will you open the books for public oversight?
Like all public funds and budgets for public services, there should be clear and auditable budgets listed for all taxpayers to review. That is a fundamental responsibility of the government and something we have not succeeded at in our city government. Even the commissioners themselves are not given detailed budgets when doing budget review, which is a directive of City Manager Reese Goad. This has to change. Currently, Leon County and the City of Tallahassee have very different presentations of the annual budget. The County is straightforward and listed in a large, but comprehensive PDF. The City uses bloated 3rd party solutions and poorly designed web pages that obfuscate the budget. I would push for an aggressive revision of the tools the city uses to communicate where tax dollars are going, so that the average taxpayer can be informed and hold their elected officials accountable.
Is part of your spending strategy to sell more city property and assets? Or do you plan to make our city assets profitable for the taxpayers rather than individual pockets?
I am not in support of selling city property and assets except for extremely rare circumstances where the benefits are undeniable or in circumstances where the city has no logical public use (e.g. a small vacant lot being sold is fine). It remains to be seen if FSU Health controlling TMH is worth the incredible deal they received. Since it was such a flawed negotiation, I would have voted against it until they came back with a better deal or we heard offers from other healthcare entities. Additionally, I would have voted against exploration of a sale of land to the Capital City Country Club, since there is no clear benefit to the public for that land to be privately held. I would explore reasonable ways to increase revenues for public land, however, I feel strongly that access to public resources should be kept low cost or free for the public.
Do you feel the FSU purchase of TMH has been a transparent process? If not, how would you remedy that moving forward?
It was not a remotely transparent process. Regardless of whether or not you think FSU Health will be a boon to the city, it was not handled correctly and those who pushed the decision through knew it would be a contentious topic, so they did not want it to be transparent and drawn out. We had one of the largest transactions in the history of the city condensed into a few months of public hearings, which is unacceptable. In a functional city government, this would have been a multi-year discussion between the City, TMH and FSU where FSU could lay out a clear plan and the City could have negotiated for fair compensation. Memorandums of Understanding are not legal documents and we should not be transferring ownership to FSU without there being a legal operating agreement in place between TMH and FSU. While I am not against the concept of FSU Health operating TMH or academic medical centers in general, this was a failure of city leadership.
You can only remedy this by having more transparent and trustworthy elected officials and subsequently, a more transparent and trustworthy City Manager. Mayor Dailey is not running for reelection, but Dianne Williams-Cox, who happily followed Mayor Dailey’s lead through this process without any resistance should not be re-elected under any circumstance so that a new city manager can be selected.
Where do you think the weak part in communication with other commissioners is when discussing public business in the sunshine? What do you suggest to fix it?
In my ideal world, you would have 5 voting members of the commission who have a desire to work together, even if they don’t all agree on every issue. It mostly comes down to the composition of the commission. We need fewer followers elected to the commission who have a lack of curiosity about the topics they’re voting on. We need commissioners who will act in accordance with their constituents and their values, rather than predictably fall in line to vote with a coalition every single time.
There should be more public workshops where there are productive debates and discussions so that the commission’s constituents can see what is being worked out rather than an overt over-reliance on city staff making recommendations. Staff obviously play a critical role, however, they are not in the public spotlight, nor are they elected. Elected officials should ideally have specializations or areas of focus on which their counterparts can learn to trust their perspective. The best outcomes will be arrived at through negotiation, disagreement, and debate in public forums to refine the solutions to our problems.
What is your vision for Tallahassee and the future of it?
Tallahassee is in a precarious position economically. Most jobs in Tallahassee are associated with the state government and public universities. In a perfect world, our state workers would be paid well and grant funding to all universities nationally would be robust. However, the reality is that our state workers are the worst paid in the country, especially when you consider how prosperous the state is, and our universities are facing cataclysmic research budget cuts that will probably take decades to regain. It would not be wise to bet on state worker wages suddenly adjusting to the 2026 cost of living and NSF and CDC grants suddenly being bolstered.
So in my future Tallahassee we would have leveraged the resources and talent of our educational institutions to create a more robust private industrial sector that can provide well compensated jobs for residents and graduates. We will have attracted clean manufacturing jobs that can support a variety of skilled labor roles that don’t require degrees and has allowed for us to further develop the trades in the region. We will have redeveloped parts of our urban core to support a walkable, denser mode of living, so that we can give people more affordable choices that are not strictly owning or renting a single family home. We need to stop kneecapping small businesses by having an adversarial permitting process–not only helping private industry grow, but also keeping restaurants, art galleries, and music venues we love open. We will have solved issues with food deserts and healthcare access on the south side through smart, targeted uses of CRA funds. My vision of a future Tallahassee is a city with a strong cultural identity that entices students who come here to learn to stay, work, and build families and their futures because the opportunities and quality of life is simply too great to leave.
Should a vacancy occur in the post of city manager, would you prioritize hiring someone who has experience and insight from within Tallahassee’s government, or do a more prolonged recruitment process to bring in someone who might offer a clean slate?
It is possible that there are qualified people within our city government, but the appointment of Reese Goad was a mistake when we had much better options from more successful cities. An infusion of good ideas from skilled and accomplished city managers who want to prove their worth to the citizens of Tallahassee would be welcome, since they would not hold political baggage of our former commissions.
What will your mandate be if voters choose you? What do you want voters to see accomplished before the 2028 elections?
Return functionality to our commission. Remove Reese Goad as city manager, select a new one, and reset the tone for our city commission. Allow our city commissioners to assess the proposed budget comprehensively. This is all doable prior to the 2028 elections
Do you plan to expand constituents’ ability to provide feedback to city projects and services? How will you collect this data and what will you use it for?
I think the Digitally platform has been successful and responses are positive when the tool is used. Many citizens don’t know about it, so there are likely better marketing efforts that can ensure that residents know when and how to use the tool.
Say one good thing about your opponents.
Tiffany Hill has been an affordable housing advocate and I believe she cares about the city. When Dianne Williams-Cox ran in 2018, she spoke about government transparency and she earned my vote. So I know she had those ideals at one point.
What is something that your neighbors can’t find about you through a simple Google search but that you would like them to know about you?
I am a deeply curious person who has advanced in my career by asking endless questions and self-education. If elected, there will not be a commissioner more well-informed or more primed to call out policy gaps when casting votes than me. I am a constant researcher and always have a pile of in-progress non-fiction books ranging from architecture to geography to infectious disease to housing policy to ecology. I want my elected officials to be well-informed and well-rounded. If you feel the same, I am the candidate for you.
Excellent, well thought out responses!