Candidate: Carolyn Brown Spooner

Carolyn Brown Spooner seeks re-election to the office of County Commissioner, District 1. She is the current Chair of the Board. During this first term in office, she has obtained the designation of “Certified County Commissioner”, “Advanced County Commissioner Level-1” and she obtained the highest level of training for a County Commissioner, earning the designation of “Advanced County Commissioner Level II”, becoming one of only13 other commissioners in the state to receive such distinction during the year 2023. Her training program focused on transforming counties and the state of Florida by producing strong, versatile leaders with the necessary tools to add challenges across multiple fields and governing bodies. Commissioner Spooner put her knowledge, skills and ability to good use in her role of County Commissioner and Chairwoman by taking the lead in helping the Board in developing a Strategic Plan. This planning process ensured the County was on the pathway to developing a 5-year plan and beyond. She ensured the County had Mission, Vision and Value statements that were accessible to the public and viewable on the County’s website. She held public Town-hall meetings in all local municipalities and gathered input from residents and stakeholders on what was most important to them and incorporated their input into the plan. She encouraged the Board to pursue economic development projects that would enhance economic growth & development and bring more revenue into the county. She researched and followed up on funding that was unknown and available to our county and invited LSF Health Systems, the managing entity of Opioid Abatement Funds, to meet with our Board. This resulted in our county’s discovery of $321,019.00 in Opioid Abatement Funds.

She is often called by residents throughout the county concerning issues because everyone knows that she will always reply or get back to them with an answer. She has a deep love for the entire Bradford County Community and always reminds everyone that we are one community, “Bradford County strong”.

She graduated with honors from BHS in 1970. She received a BS degree from Bethune-Cookman College in 1974 and M.Ed. & Ed.S degrees from UF in 1975. She also became a Certified Public Manager through Florida State University Public Manager’s certification program in 2008

Commissioner Spooner’s political history includes having served 13 yrs with the City of Starke. She served on Bradford Historical Bd of Trustees, North Central Florida Regional Planning Council Executive Board, President of the North Central Florida Areawide Development Co., Inc., & 2nd Vice President of the Florida Regional Councils Association.

She takes her job very seriously, making sure she is prepared for Board meetings, by reviewing, studying, researching information and asking questions. She is so committed that she has never missed a single regularly scheduled board meeting during her entire 3.5 years in office. She does a drive through District 1 on a regular basis to assess the conditions and reports her findings to the road department. She can be seen often picking up trash along the roadways to help keep our community clean and to encourage others to keep our community clean and to take pride in it.

Her community service included helping to organize the Lincoln City Crime Prevention Program. She & the Lincoln City Crime Prevention program were recognized by the Secretary for the Department of Corrections for their fight against crime. She helped citizens to organize and get streetlights in Lincoln city so that senior citizens and others could feel safer when walking after dark.

She initiated three scholarship foundations to aid local students in seeking a college education; the RJE Founders Scholarship, the Shirley Ann Brown Livingstone Scholarship Foundation, named in honor of her late sister, and a Bethune-Cookman College Scholarship. She has helped  (27) students with college scholarships over the years, with the vast majority attending Santa Fe’ College. She authored a children’s book, “Peggy The Slow Poke Train” to encourage literacy among Bradford County School children and to preserve the rich history of our townships in Bradford County and she provides all proceeds to scholarship funds.

She’s worked with the Concerned Citizens of Bradford County to obtain funding for the renovation of the RJE GYM and School project. She also serves on the Health Task Force Committee with the Health Department which initiated the Bradford Community Partners Health & Resource Hubs to bring needed services into the community.

She’s Minister & Assistant to the Sr. Pastor at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Starke, where she serves faithfully and has attended all her life. She is the daughter of the late Willie Brown, former DuPont Retiree & Antioch Church Deacon & her mother was the late Mrs. Louiza Brown, Antioch Church Mother and Choir president. She has two daughters, Kishanna & Charmil Spooner.