Sarasota Charter Review Board District 1: Walter Gilbert

Name: Walter Gilbert 

Age: 68

Family: Married with children 

Bio: Fourth-generation Sarasotan, private investigator, community activist, former NAACP president, serves on numerous local boards.

Why do you want to serve on the Charter Review Board? 

I have always believed in community service and have done it for more than 50 years. I want to bring a voice to this board that is missing in more ways than one. 

If elected, what will be your top three priorities during your term? 

Establish a Charter Review Task Force. This will get us where we want to go. 

Where do you stand: Should the Charter Review Board be proactive initiating changes to charter, or should the board make recommendations based on voter desires and ideas brought to the board? 

The board should be proactive but at the same time be responsive to the people's ideas. 

What is your position on turning the Charter Review Board into an appointed position rather than an elected office? 

I wholeheartedly support that position, provided the appointments are made of people who live in the districts that they are to serve.

What, if anything, in your view needs to be updated/changed in the county charter? 

I feel that the process needs to be upgraded. 

The CRB has been discussing changes to the charter amendment process. What's your position on that? 

This is one of the reasons I want to have a CRB task force, so that we can come together and talk about what changes, if any, need to be made. 

What are your comments about reforming the CRB, so it mirrors the State Constitutional Revision Commission: appointed members every 10 to 20 years to review the charter, rather than the existing system of elected members who serve four-year terms? 

I would like to serve a term and then see if that would be the best way to serve the people.