Blog: ‘We the People’ means all of us

Published on October 19, 2026

Few things make me prouder of North Port than a full Commission chamber. When hundreds of neighbors give up an evening to speak about the future of their city, that isn't a problem to manage. It's a community that cares, and I'm grateful to every person who shows up.

Lately, I've also heard a hard message from some of you: "The City doesn't listen." I don't want to brush that aside. When you speak up about something you are passionate about and the outcome goes another way, it's completely natural to feel that your voice didn't count. I want to share how I see it, because I believe your voice counts a great deal.

"We the People" are three of the most powerful words in American civic life, and they describe North Port well. Our local government isn't a separate group standing apart from the community. It's made up of five commissioners you elect citywide, each one answering to every resident, as well as hundreds of public employees, many of whom live and raise their families right here.

We've worked hard to make it easy to be heard. At Commission meetings, you can speak on any subject at the start and end of the meeting, and again before every vote. If you can't make it in person, you can comment online or leave a voicemail, and your words become part of the public record with the same weight as anyone at the podium. We're proud that this is among the most open public comment systems in our region, and we want you to use it.

Here's the honest part, offered with respect for everyone who takes part: listening and agreeing aren't always the same thing, and that's okay.

On almost every big issue, North Port residents hold more than one view. Our commissioners hear from the hundreds in the room but also represent tens of thousands more at home, from longtime residents to families who just arrived. Their job is to weigh all of it alongside the facts, the law and the long-term picture, and then decide in public. Sometimes that decision will line up with what you hoped for, and sometimes it won't. Either way, your voice was part of it.

The data center discussion showed our system at its best. On Aug. 31, more than 400 of you weighed in over the course of nearly seven hours. Commissioners listened and adopted an 18-month moratorium, while working within the legal limits of an application already in progress. Not everyone got everything they wanted, but the community's voice clearly shaped the outcome.

You've shaped other decisions, too. Your input through public meetings, an online survey and a participatory budgeting tool helped build our FY 2027 budget. And when voters turned down bonds for a new police headquarters in May 2025, we heard you, even as we keep working on a facility our officers have outgrown. Good government can respect both of those truths at the same time.

It's natural that we won't always see them the same way. To me, lively disagreement is a sign of a healthy community, not a broken one. As City Manager, I serve in a nonpartisan role, so this isn't about politics. It's about the system we share and the people who make it work.

Please keep asking hard questions and holding us accountable. It makes us better. My hope is that we can disagree while still assuming the best in one another. A "no" on one issue doesn't mean no one was listening, and the people serving you at City Hall aren't on the other side. We're all on the same side: North Port's.

Theodore Roosevelt spoke of the person "actually in the arena." In North Port, that arena is full: residents who speak up, commissioners who cast tough votes, and the firefighters, police officers, utility crews, planners and staff who turn decisions into everyday service. They're your neighbors, and they're proud to serve you.

So let's keep talking, keep listening and keep showing up for one another. "We the People" isn't one group or one point of view. It's every one of us.

Jerome Fletcher is the North Port City Manager. He can be reached at jfletcher@NorthPortFL.gov.