Candidate: Leann Pennington

www.PenningtonforFlagler.com

PROVIDING A CITIZENS PERSPECTIVE ON THE COMMISSION

• Who I am: I’m a native Floridian and a thirty year resident of Flagler County.  I’m a life-long, fiscally conservative Republican and I’m running for office because its time that the Flagler County Government put their existing residents first. I fought with my neighbors against development on the Matanzas Woods Golf Course, and I will fight for you too.
• My Ethics: While many candidates and current elected officials ran on the premise of stopping the fiscal irresponsibility of our local government, many have stopped short of living up to their promises. As a corporate executive who has spent over 20 years examining fraud, waste, spending abuse and ethic violations, I can promise you I will always have the resident’s best interests at heart and my vote will always reflect that.
• Sustainable Growth/Infrastructure: Florida’s population is growing and its no wonder. With our beautiful beaches, warm weather, and the personal freedoms our state guarantees us; Florida is attractive to everyone. However, we need to have serious discussions about the way we approach our growth. We cannot continually look to existing residents to take on new debt to create the infrastructure needed due to new expansion. We need to review the recently approved housing going in and have serious discussions about the impact this has on our current infrastructure and if Flagler County can continue approving developments without it becoming a financial or logistical burden to our citizens. Currently, inflation is at a forty year high. Many in our county are on fixed incomes that cannot bear additional taxation to support new residential development. Flagler County needs to hold the line on spending. We need our impact fees to cover dollar for dollar the cost of adding additional residents, and we need our understructure to be able to adequately support new residential development. Furthermore, Flagler County Land Code revisions need to occur to reflect smart growth that isn’t taxing to existing residents, is compatible with the existing housing environment and implements more natural buffers to preserve the look and feel of a nature friendly community. Finally, we need to look at ways to permanently solve for our drainage issues, dirt roads and repair or replace older, inadequate roadways and bridges in the west side of our county. While the County has made steps to solve for these items with the State, we need to continue to prioritize these and ensure they are completed.
• Environment: I want to preserve and protect Flagler County’s natural resources.  I am committed to ensuring that each project our Commission considers, takes into account the need to protect and conserve our waterways and environmentally sensitive areas like the Hammock, Flagler Beach, Princess Place, Highbridge, the Loop, Marineland, West Flagler farms and other tracts that provide the natural character that we value as citizens of Flagler. Our Governor has made it a top priority to focus on remedial action and improvements regarding stormwater systems, wastewater infrastructure as well as Agricultural Best Management Practices. Flagler County must prioritize these initiatives to ensure we are environmentally successful for future generations. The County needs to ensure that our rural community continues to participate in agricultural land preservation and help them to preserve our working farms. We need to promote our agricultural capabilities and help our rural residents capitalize on what they do best: sustain our world! Furthermore, shoreline preservation needs to be highlighted as a top priority in the County to preserve our coastline. The County has delayed this matter for too long!
• Economic Development: I love Flagler County. There was never a doubt in my mind where my husband and I would raise our son. However, living here has come with a lot of sacrifice for our family. My husband and I have been daily commuters to other cities for work for almost twenty years. We are not alone! Many in our county make great sacrifices to live in a community that provides us a beautiful and safe environment to live and play in. Our county has been busy downzoning current commercial and industrial zoned properties to provide more residential development. Unfortunately, as of 2020, over 80% of collected property taxes come from residential housing.  Only 7% of collected property taxes came from commercial properties. That’ s unacceptable! Florida is ranked 4th in the nations for the best business climate. Flagler County needs to have a pro-business posture. To do that we need to consider a moratorium on down-zoning our commercial and industrial properties, while we identify underutilized business zones and develop a more robust commercial business incentive program.  This program may provide inducements such as tax and fee abatements and infrastructure enhancements to targeted industries that will provide job creation, capital investments and industry that improves citizen services and community quality. All residents of Flagler could benefit from smart, planned, commercial growth. Our children deserve to have options that include staying after graduation and creating a career in Flagler while our senior population can benefit from Flagler retaining our young, top talent to work within the community. The residents of Flagler County have had enough paying for previous Commission’s mistakes. No more Commission driven lawsuits (The Gardens or Captains’s BBQ Lease) or bad real estate deals (Old Hospital/Sears Building).
• Safety and Security: I strongly support the women and men of the Flagler County Sheriff and Emergency Services teams. One of the many reasons we love our community is because we feel safe here due to its low crime rate. I would like to explore programs and resources that enhance the safety even more by advocating for assets that empower our emergency responders and inquire about adding a Sheriff-instructed, teen defensive driving program that serves our growing teen population. Furthermore, we need to continue to address inadequate coverage of Emergency Services in our rural areas and ensure that we have the tools needed to continue to be successful in emergency situations.
• Schools: As most parents are aware, Flagler County is behind in new school development. Based on the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research’s recent study of Flagler County, the projected future student growth rate is over 23% over the next ten years and that’s a conservative estimate. Flagler is behind in planning for these projections, while surrounding counties are already constructing schools. The current County Commission can’t agree to raise impact fees. Why? Could it be that they hate to upset the developers? In the meantime, our children are paying the cost of their hesitance. It’s been 17 years since we increased impact fees. It's time our Commission supports the School Board’s recommendation and increase the fees to cover new schools for our children.
• Our Children: I am a staunch advocate for parental rights. I currently volunteer with several parental advocate groups. I will always work to make certain that parents have the final say in their child’s education and health decisions. It's imperative that we empower parents to make good decisions that benefit their child’s health and educational needs without them being caught in the middle of a political game that impacts their well-being.
• Our Seniors: I recognize our seniors desire to live in a beautiful and safe community that provides multiple recreational activities, a lower cost of living and stellar healthcare. I will always vote to provide the residents a financially secure, protected community that provides the retirement lifestyle many sought when they moved here. I recognize that many of our residents are on a fixed income. I will fight hard to ensure that our community’s needs are being met without creating additional financial stress. Furthermore, while many new medical and nursing care facilities have recently been slated for development in Flagler County, few of those facilities meet the needs of our local seniors who are financially limited. Flagler County needs to foster stronger relationships that will bring opportunities like Veteran assisted living facilities and non-profit senior assistance options that cater to our seniors with limited support. We have got to do a better job at bringing in affordable assistance for our seniors. 

Bottom Line: I understand that growth is inevitable; however, growth at the cost of our existing residents and children is not! Some members of our Commission have continually let us down with poor decisions that have led to lawsuits and bad real estate deals that come at a steep cost to the taxpayer. If we don’t take control of our County, we will lose what we love about it! We are in the final years of developing out what we want our County to look like and possess in terms of: schools, community resources, residential and commercial development and environmentally preserved lands. Elections have consequences. Don’t let this election seat people who won’t fight to preserve and protect our beautiful county and our wonderful citizens. I NEED your vote! Help me change the dynamics of this County Commission. Vote for me and help me bring a more responsive way to governing in our County.