Tim Schaffer is running for the office of mayor of Palmetto Bay.
Schaffer previously served as council member for District-2. First elected in November 2012, Schaffer is the sole proprietor of the independent office of Woodbury Financial Services Inc., and has spent 31 years in the financial consulting industry as a financial adviser, investment adviser representative, and an insurance agent. Schaffer and his wife, Elena, moved to Palmetto Bay in January 2005, and, except for the five years he lived in Virginia, he is a lifelong resident of Miami-Dade County.
Schaffer attended Miami-Dade Public Schools and received his BS from the University of Miami in 1982. He has been the recipient of several financial industry awards. In addition, Schaffer retired after 15 years as both a Reserve and Auxiliary Police Officer for Miami-Dade County and Portsmouth, VA, police departments. He was a member of a uniform patrol squad, a training squad and a Priority Services Unit in Northside District of the Miami-Dade Police Department, and was a member of a uniform patrol squad and a Neighborhood Impact Unit of the Portsmouth Police Department. Schaffer is the recipient of several police-related commendations, service stars, and was named 2002 officer of the year.
Schaffer is a Lifetime Member of the Professional Law Enforcement Association.
All candidates were asked the following questions:
If elected, what would you do in the first 100 days?
“When I was a council member I opened up the discussions on the village’s traffic problems and I was the one that initiated the first traffic calming projects. In the first 100 days I will have a solution to our traffic problems. When I was a council member I created the Downtown Redevelopment Task Force. In the first 100 days I will have a solution to our downtown redevelopment.”
What motivated you to run for office?
“The residents of the village asked me to return to service. My previous supporters have been joined by those that have stated that they made a mistake in voting for my replacement along with residents that realize that the other candidates are in this race for themselves and their own egos. The residents want leadership, action, honesty and a get to the point approach. No politics like they have been getting. They know they will get those characteristics from me. It’s the residents that motivated me.”
Why do you think you would be the best candidate for the position?
“I will deliver what the residents want. I did it as a council member and I will do it again. I’m not going to waste $4.3 million of resident money like the other candidates spent on inaccessible overpriced land and on post hurricane trash pickup when the pickup was going to be done for free. Money that could have solved traffic problems. A mayor gathers ideas and delivers them to the system of governing; it’s not a platform for their opinions and personal goals. That’s representation; that’s what I have done and will do.”
— Gary Alan Ruse
