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Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan, in the comfortable clothes many got to see him in, cutting the cake at the 2015 Kowtown Festival. PHOTO/CITY OF KISSIMMEE
Former Kissimmee Mayor and Osceola County Commissioner Jim Swan — a man who proclaimed to “participate in politics” rather than be a politician — passed away Saturday at the age of 74.
Swan, who served the county from 1982-1994 and the city from 2006-16, had recently been hospitalized, those still in touch with the family said this week.
“During his time on the City Commission, he was a key contributor to some of Kissimmee's most significant projects that helped shape our city's future. He had a proven history of leadership and accomplishments,” a city release said Sunday night.
“Former Mayor Swan's name and legacy are woven into many aspects of this county. He will always be remembered for his passion and service to the residents and businesses of the City of Kissimmee.”
Swan is remembered by city staff as “a great guy to work for” and someone who confidently championed the efforts of its employees. It was that confidence that led the city, despite declining revenue during the Great Recession period of 2008-10, to not have to lay off any employees.
“Before the economy tanked, we froze hiring and didn’t have to come close to laying anyone off,” Swan said in a News-Gazette story prior to leaving office in 2016 due to local term limits. “The employees stuck with us. Five years without a dime in increases and we didn’t lose an employee.”
City Manager Mike Steigerwald served in Mayor Swan’s last six years, and noted that confidence as part of a calm demeanor.
“Having gone through a period of declining revenues, having a mayor with that confidence was the right thing for that time,” he said. “The city moved forward and it was stable. He was supportive and listened to all ideas. He was the type of guy who had your back; a great guy who supported the employees. We’d see him a couple times a day walking through City Hall, he’d stop to chat to hear people’s ideas or concerns.”
Jose Alvarez served his first City Commission term with Swan, then followed him as mayor in 2016. Alvarez called him “a true statesman who truly served.”
“As a mayor Jim was my confidant; not many retired mayors are still alive,” he said. “He brought professionalism and stability, and I admired him for that. He had no private agendas.
“He never disrespected anyone he might not agree with. There were meetings that we disagreed on an issue, but we never left a meeting with negative feelings. We had a good friendship, and he cared about the city until the very end. He was truly a great person.”
He was a perfect 5-0 in county and city elections. He was supposed to run a sixth time in 2012 — only nobody stepped up to oppose him for mayor.
“I was very lucky. I was shocked by that,” he said.
In a city proclamation upon his leaving office:
“As Mayor, Jim Swan preferred to be called ' Jim" and not ' Mayor Swan";
“His friends say that he is painfully honest, which was obvious to anyone who attended a City Commission meeting”;
“Despite his tough exterior, we know his soft spot for Kissimmee will always be present.”
Swan moved south from his native Bloomington, Ill. in 1972 with his wife Linda, who was a longtime Kissimmee Police Department employee until she passed away in 2008 after fighting breast cancer. The plan was to become a fishing guide so he could make a living out of bass fishing Kissimmee’s lakes.
His work to keep those lakes clean — leading a drive called “Save Our Lakes” to curb the dumping of sewage into Lake Tohopekaliga — made him locally-popular enough to win a seat on the County Commission in 1982.
“That may have been the neatest thing I’ve ever done,” Swan said in 2016. “It changed they way everybody handled treated sewage.”
Swan then won re-election twice, which was harder in the 1980s and ‘90s when election was county-wide.
“You were elected by the entire county, not 20 percent of it,” he said, noting he preferred that. “If you voted to raise taxes on someone in Kenansville, they should be able to vote against you.”
Mike Bast was a county commissioner from 1980-88, and served that board with Swan.
“The first time I met Jim, I was running for election. He and I and some other folks were concerned about the condition of Lake Toho,” Bast said. “With his help we were successful against Orange County in stopping them from sending their effluent down Shingle Creek. He did his job, he was a good commissioner, and we were friends outside the dais.”
After leaving the Commission, he spent a decade in the private sector working for engineering and solid waste firms, but felt the pull of local politics again in 2006 when Mayor George Gant was removed from office for suspicion of inappropriate sexual contact — a charge later dropped for lack of evidence. Swan won a special election, then re-election in a 2008 landslide.
Swan was dutifully committed to his daughter Sharise, a longtime Osceola County Sheriff’s Department employee, and his granddaughter. Alvarez told a story of how, as mayor, Swan would have lunch at the Kissimmee Airport and watch planes land and take off — he did the same with Linda in earlier years.
Services have not yet been scheduled.
