ECUA, District 3 Race

The ECUA, District 3 race is packed with four Democrats. In the August primary, voters will decide between incumbent Elvin McCorvey and challengers Calvin Avant, Benell English and Clorissti Mitchell.

Elvin McCorvey

Elvin McCorvey has sat in the District 3 seat since the 1990s. He’s asking voters to keep him there.

“Because there is work to be done,” McCorvey said. “We have not finished.”

Like other ECUA incumbents seeking reelection, the candidate points to the relocation of the downtown treatment facility as a major accomplishment. He points to a mandate from the EPA to repair aging infrastructure in an effort to cut down on the amount of infiltration and inflow into the system as the “work to be done.”

“We’re just getting started,” the candidate said of the long-term undertaking. “We’ve been working on it over a year now, maybe two years.”

McCorvey also wants to stay on the board so that he can continue working to decrease the number of septic tanks being used.

“We’d like to eradicate all septic tanks in Escambia County,” he said.

Before his ECUA days, McCorvey spent 38 years in the Escambia County School District. He worked as a high school teacher, as well as in administration.

Calvin Avant

Now that he’s retired as the executive director of the Escambia-Pensacola Human Relations Commission, Clavin Avant is hoping to spend some time on the ECUA board.

“I just retired a few days ago,” Avant said in early July.

As head of the Human Relations Commission, this candidate was charged with promoting fair treatment and equal opportunities for all county residents. The entity also serves as a complaint processing center.

Where equal opportunities are concerned, Avant feels the ECUA has a bleak track record. He contacted the ECUA in regards to minorities and women being under represented among its employees.

“After going there and speaking with them and getting such a negative response, I decided the only thing I could do was get on the board,” Avant said. “—the only way I could effect the change on that board is to get on that board.”

The candidate is a native of Pensacola—graduated from Booker T. Washington and UWF—and spent time in Washington D.C. Upon returning to Florida, Avant held the director’s position at Covenant House in Cocoa, Fla.

Benell English

Benell English is looking to contribute.

“I want to get more involved,” the candidate said recently.

English ran for the ECUA seat four years ago because he didn’t feel the board was engaging the community enough. That’s the reason he’s running this time, too.

“I really didn’t see a plan to get more locals involved in the process,” he said. “Hadn’t much changed.”

One way the candidate would like to engage the community is to hire more local workers when there are jobs to be done. He looks back on the relocation of the downtown treatment facility as a missed opportunity in that regard.

“A lot of that money that was spent went outside the county,” English said.

Clorissti Mitchell

She wants a clean environment for her kids and everyone else. That focus will guide any decisions that come before Clorissti Mitchell, should she win the District 3 seat.

“People think this Earth is going to be here because it’s always been. That’s not the case. If we don’t take care of it, it won’t be here,” the candidate said recently. “—every decision that’s made needs to be a green decision.”

After working on Capitol Hill for numerous legislators, Mitchell has returned to Pensacola. Now she’s hoping to serve her local community on the ECUA board.

“I don’t want to change anything that is working well,” the candidate said. “I don’t want to reinvent the wheel.”

Mitchell is on board with the no-brainers: the relocation was a good thing, the infrastructure needs tending to, decreasing the number of septic tanks. But one thing she is looking to change is the ECUA’s rate-raising trend.

The ECUA has recently increased its rates—and apparently plans to continue doing so into the foreseeable future—as a way to fund system repairs. This candidate doesn’t think that is necessarily necessary.

“If we had a plan in place, if we were proactive, there would be no reason to raise rates,” Mitchell said.

Another issue the candidate would like to help guide is the fate of the ECUA’s now vacant and remediated property in downtown Pensacola. Or rather, she’d like to enable the community to guide the issue.

“Honestly, I really think the community should decide,” Mitchell said, adding that all ideas currently making the rounds—selling to the highest bidder, redeveloping the property or working out a deal in which the city gets the property—should be explored. “I think they’re all great ideas, but I want the community to decide.”