And then there were five.
Middle Keys voters will choose from a final field of five qualified candidates to represent them in two open seats on the Marathon City Council this November, according to paperwork submitted to Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffin at the close of Marathon’s qualifying period on Aug. 13.
Incumbent Kenny Matlock, a welder and real estate agent, will look to retain his seat following the conclusion of the modified two-year term he won in 2022.
“I am running for re-election because I believe the desires of the locals still need better representation,” Matlock told the Weekly, citing “a lot of work we need to do” with the city’s Building Permit Allocation System (BPAS), its balance of development and “cleaning up our city, both physically and ethically.”
“I have proven I am not afraid to say hard things, ask hard questions and fight for what I believe is right for locals and our community,” said Matlock. “We need people on council who are willing to research issues and hold staff accountable when they aren’t being truthful or when they present things that are harmful to our community. I have been that councilman, and I hope to continue that momentum I have on council.”
Former oil field engineer and current real estate agent Ray Wood was the first of the five hopefuls to declare his candidacy.
“I have unique life experience, understanding research as an engineer in the oil field, working for corporate Fortune 500 companies and learning their complexities, to my wife and I building our own very successful business and raising five children,” Wood told the Weekly when asked for his message to Marathon’s voters. “I bring the skill of working budgets, listening to and understanding people as well as looking to the future for stable growth of our community and citizens.”
Fishing guide Dustin Huff was next to declare, telling the Weekly he is “not OK with the direction Marathon is headed.”
“As a lifelong Marathon resident, something feels really wrong,” he said. “I am running for council to fight for the residents.”
Huff’s campaign site lists destruction of Marathon’s “small-town feel,” “wild development from out-of-town developers” and remediation of the nearshore effects of Marathon’s shallow injection wells for waste disposal as the primary driving forces behind his candidacy.
Former Marathon mayor and eight-year councilman Mark Senmartin was the next to enter the race. Senmartin served from 2013 to 2021, first elected to a two-year term before being re-elected to two additional three-year terms after a change to Marathon’s city charter.
The owner of Cash Flow Guns and Ammo and Cash Flow Jewelry and Pawn Shop, Senmartin told the Weekly that voters should be “looking at the candidates that are focused on bringing solutions to problems, not just pointing them out.”
Real estate agent Jody “Lynny” Del Gaizo was the final candidate to join the race, telling the Weekly she has a “commitment to community and dedication to progress.”
Del Gaizo is no stranger to Marathon campaigns, as she finished third in the city’s 2021 council election. Following the resignation of 2021 election winner Trevor Wofsey two months into his term, Del Gaizo was nearly appointed to fill his seat, ultimately losing a coin-flip decision to current Mayor Robyn Still after a deadlocked council could not agree on Wofsey’s replacement.
“I’m passionate about our community to find a balance between full-time residents and tourists and to provide the best services and facilities for the people that live here,” Del Gaizo said.
2022 council candidate Mike Leonard and residents Kevin Carte and Simone Stanton had previously filed to run in November, but all three withdrew their names before the close of the qualifying period on Aug. 13.
