Rick Woodworth and His Campaign for City Council
Learn about Rick and why he is running for Marco Island City Council
Rick Woodworth
7/15/20263 min read
When you choose a candidate for public office like City Council on Marco Island, you should know about their background and character. What they are and what they aren't.
First, I want to tell you what I'm not. I'm not a politician. I've never run for public office before. I have no business interests on the island (other than a boat slip I share with my brother and sister.) I never wanted to get involved in local politics, as you will see below, I couldn't sit by the sidelines any longer.
Now more about who I am. I moved to Marco Island full time in 2017 to make Marco my forever home with my wife Valerie. To retire here and enjoy all that Marco has to offer. Have our children and grandchildren visit us and enjoy our home here too.
Short summary of my working life. I had my first paper route in fourth grade and kept it until high school. In high school I worked as a cook and a busboy. In college I worked as meat packer, a construction worker, a waiter and I worked on boats.
After college I started my career in business, but I started at the bottom and worked every job there was in the property management business.
I was a janitor and maintenance engineer, and a building manager. I did payroll, budgeting and accounting. Supervised buildings and operations. Developed property. I worked my way up to President and partner in ownership. I started new businesses in brokerage, insurance, corporate housing, retail, restaurants, condominium management and receiverships. Helped grow the business from 3,000 units to over 30,000 in six states. Over $5 billion in assets managed. And I stayed at the same company for 34 years before I retired and ran a family business. Then retired again and came to Marco.
I tell you this because I understand business, operations, financial statements, budgeting and infrastructure. I know how to supervise and motivate employees. And most important, I ran our businesses with honesty and integrity.
Here's why I'm running for City Council:
Since moving here, I've been deeply involved in the fight for cleaner water. I've worked on the Waterways Advisory and Audit Committees and I've worked as part of Clean Marco Waters, LLC to push for Advanced Wastewater Treatment and hold the City accountable on Fertilizer and Stormwater Ordinance enforcement. As some of you may know, the City sells and distributes 700,000,000 gallons of nutrient laden reuse water per year, in violation of its own Ordinances, that has been a major contributor to polluting our canals.
Recently, City Council finally passed by a 6-0 vote an Ordinance to move forward with AWT. Two Counselors immediately started talking about slow walking the ordinance forward and about how they could eventually revoke it!
I had already begun getting more involved in broader Marco matters and have written Council on many issues and sat through many Council meetings. Some of the more recent issues included the no-bid $11,000,000 water meter contract and Enterprise lease deals, the $600,000 "emergency" funding for a Public Works project they knew about but took out of the budget and then called it an emergency to get around the spending cap, and $800,000 for Winterberry beach access when they had repair bids for just over $200,000.
That was enough for me!
Governance here has become reactive instead of strategic. Infrastructure problems get patched in a crisis rather than managed on a plan. Budgets get built around political targets instead of what the city actually needs. Wasted time on trolleys, pickleball and shark fishing that should have resolved quickly and decisively.
I'm running because I believe Marco Island residents deserve better - and because I think I can help deliver it. Residents deserve a Council that is transparent, disciplined, and focused on the long-term health of this community. I'm running because I believe my background in business, management, operations, and civic engagement equips me to help right that course - and because I have no competing financial interests on this island. I'm here to serve the residents and the smaller resident owned businesses that serve our needs.
Marco Island residents deserve a Council that puts them first. That's why I'm running. Thank you!
Learn more about Rick
Contact Rick
Phone
239-300-5442
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Political advertisement paid for and approved by Rick Woodworth, 2026 candidate for Marco Island City Council