Commissioner Debbie Lightsey
Debbie Lightsey was first elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in March 1989. She served as Mayor from March 1991 to March 1992. She has subsequently been re-elected to the City Commission in 1993, 1997, 2003 and 2006. She was elected Mayor Pro Tem by her fellow commissioners for 2003 and 2007.
During her years of service on the City Commission, Ms. Lightsey has devoted special attention to issues including the environment, affordable housing, transportation and economic development. Since 2003 she has been the lead commissioner on Water Resources, which includes stormwater policy, potable water, groundwater and water and sewer issues. She is co-lead on Long Term Community Development.
Commissioner Lightsey is currently an active member of the following local and state organizations: city commission representative on the Downtown Improvement Authority; the Innovation Park Board of Governors, the Apalachee Regional Planning Council; Policy Board Member of the Florida Regional Council's Association; current Chair of the Florida League of Cities' Urban Planning Council; John G. Riley House Museum and the Capital Tiger Bay Club. Commission Lightsey has repeatedly been chosen to chair the Apalachee Regional Planning Council and the Florida Regional Councils Association Policy Board, and has been a member of the Florida League of Cities' Environmental Quality Committee since 1994, serving as chair in 1999, 2000, and 2007. Her expertise in growth management has been recognized at the state level where she has served on the Florida State Land Plan Committee and chaired one of the two committees established by the Florida Legislature to suggest an alternative to the Development of Regional Impact process.
Commissioner Lightsey has an extensive history of service, including: volunteer Crisis Counselor at Refuge House, President of the Lake Bradford/Cascade Lakes Neighborhood Association, Citizen Task Force Member of the Tallahassee/Leon County Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, and member of the Board of Directors of the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science.
In 1993, Commissioner Lightsey received the Carol Bellamy Official of the Year Award from the Council of Neighborhood Associations. She also received the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence 1998 Advocate Award, the 1998 Outstanding Woman Award, presented by the Tallahassee Branch of the American Association of University Women, and the 1998 Freedom From Violence Community Awareness Award, presented by the Board of Directors of The Refuge House. In March 2001, the Girl Scout Council of the Big Bend named Commissioner Lightsey one of their "Women of Distinction" in the area of the Environment because of her long history of advocacy for the environment and the protection of our natural resources. Later that year, Commissioner Lightsey received the Bob Graham Award for 2001 from the Florida Lake Management Society, which is awarded each year to an individual in elected office who has shown an outstanding commitment to conserve, protect and restore Florida's surface water resources.
A native of West Virginia, Commissioner Lightsey attended West Virginia State College, focusing on business administration and journalism. She was editor of the student newspaper, and a member of Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society. She earned a B.A. degree from West Virginia University Institute of Technology, Montgomery, West Virginia. Prior to moving to Tallahassee in 1984, Ms. Lightsey resided in Washington, D.C. where she worked for a national trade association, and was Assistant to the Vice President of Investment Banking for a major regional investment and brokerage firm.
Commissioner Lightsey has two sons, Mark S. Earley and Eric C. Earley, and two grandsons, Preston and Braden Earley. In her leisure time, Ms. Lightsey enjoys reading, tennis, horseback riding, and classic movies.