St. Joe commissioner receives Home Rule Hero award
Port St. Joe City Commissioner David Ashbrook was recently recognized with a Florida League of Cities’ 2022 Home Rule Hero award.
The award recognizes municipal government officials’ advocay work to promote local voices and issues during the 2022 state legislative session, which ended on March 14.
“Home Rule is the ability for a city to address local problems with local solutions with minimal state interference,” worte the FLOC in a press release. “Home Rule Hero award recipients are local government officials, both elected and nonelected, who consistently responded to the League’s request to reach out to members of the legislature and help give a local perspective on an issue.”
This is Ashbrook’s second time winning the award, winning one for his work during the 2021 legislative session.
“Passing ordinances and making decisions in our city is not enough. We need to protect our right to be able to do so,” said Ashbrook. “Tallahassee must understand that local elected officials are more attune to the needs of their constituents and should be allowed to continue governing on a local level without state interference.”
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.