Election 2026 | Question of the Week 12, District 1 | On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the city manager’s performance and why?
Each week through the General Election, The Breeze will ask the candidates for Cape Coral City Council an issue-related question. In the interest of fairness, each candidate is limited to the same amount of space, about 100 words, for their response.
Cape Coral City Council races are non-partisan races. Council members qualify in their respective districts but are elected at-large. This means all registered city voters may cast a ballot in each race regardless of where they live and the party to which they are affiliated, if any. This year’s General Election, on Nov. 3, features four Cape Coral City Council races: Mayor and the seats for District 1, 4 and 6.
The candidates below are running for the District 1 Cape Coral City Council seat:
Question of the Week: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the city manager’s performance and why?
• David Newton
I believe it would be unfair to assign the city manager a rating before I have had the opportunity to work with him as a member of City Council. As a candidate, I do not have access to all the information, financial data, and day-to-day interactions necessary to make a fair and informed evaluation.
If elected, I will evaluate the city manager based on measurable results, fiscal discipline, transparency, responsiveness, and accountability to the residents and taxpayers of Cape Coral. I believe evaluations should be based on facts, performance, and results. Not assumptions or politics.
• Tom Shadrach
I rate him a 2. It needs to be understood if his performance is based on council direction and or a lack of oversight. Poor decisions with costs and processes for Jaycee Park, the Yacht Club, and Bimini East are projects where I find fault with the city manager. The city manager was also supportive of removing all the volunteer boards. I also believe he has created internal direction that has caused less transparency between the city and the residents. Paying $400,000 for a city manager would be worth it if he was saving taxpayers $10,000,000. But he is not.