What are your priorities as Flagler County Commission Chair?

Andy Dance as County Commission Chair: Process, Deliberation and Transparency Come in from the Cold.

Flaglerlive – November 21, 2023

Flagler County Commissioner Andy Dance said he intends to put his chairmanship to work for more transparency and vetting of issues.

Dance, a landscape architect by profession, is meticulous, analytical, hard working, and extremely deliberate. He’s all about process. He doesn’t like issues hurried through without substantive discussion, and workshops when necessary. He prizes transparency. He prizes decorum.

“I view this as an opportunity to put leadership practices in place alongside administration in order to improve our board processes” Dance said.

Dance was…placing his chairmanship in the context of his long-term goal. He was laying out his vision for his chairmanship, as few chairs of local governments do. His would not be a caretaker chairmanship. He wants an earlier goal-setting schedule to craft a budget based on the commission’s goals. Commissioners need to be more deliberative about their priorities, whether it’s infrastructure maintenance, operations efficiency, safety and security, taxation.

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What are your countywide priorities?

1.    Economic Development

2.    "Common Sense" Growth strategies

3.    Safety & Security

Economic Development encompasses growth in jobs, wages and tax base. With the disbanding of the economic development department, we need a comprehensive economic development strategy that is transparent, sets measurable goals and is accountable the community.

Within this new strategy, I want to see emphasis on existing business growth we can call “GrowFlagler”, modeled after the successful statewide “GrowFL” program that brings a 9 to 1 return on investment. This concept is also known as “economic gardening”, an “entrepreneurial approach to economic development that seeks to grow the local economy from within”. The model has shown to be effective to help small businesses create jobs, grow wages, expand services and markets, and strengthen the local economy. (see ICMA.org / https://bit.ly/2HaBFGW)

Flagler County is in a growing area of Florida, and with the increasing number of rooftops comes a need for more services. Businesses, especially low wage retail and fast-food establishments, naturally migrate to growing areas.

Our residents are looking for more than entry-level, service jobs. They are looking to local government to foster a business-friendly atmosphere that attracts high-tech, high wage jobs to Flagler. To be successful at this, first and foremost, we need an exceptional K-12 education system. Flagler Schools meets that need especially with its focus on “Classroom to Careers” programs. Once we establish that Flagler is pro-business, to both existing and new companies, then bringing higher wage jobs to Flagler will be easier.

Additionally, Flagler has a great opportunity to leverage the UNF MedNex medical training campus's announcement into new medical support businesses that complement the campus. This facility can be the start of a medical hub, providing opportunities for our high school students and new, high-wage jobs in the County.

Flagler has a successful tourism campaign marketing our beaches, but I see huge growth potential in eco-tourism, agri-tourism, educational tourism.

Growth - 300,000 people a year are moving to Florida, and many of them are looking to Flagler County due to our quality of life and natural resources like the beach. Flagler needs to grow smarter in order to accommodate this influx. “Smart Growth” is a somewhat overused term, and as such, I just want to see "Common Sense Growth" that incorporates the following:

• Natural/Environmental Resources protection - this includes site sensitive planning that conserves water, preserves wetlands beyond the "code minimum", preserves wildlife corridors and protects native tree canopy.
• Cohesive, walkable neighborhoods - Neighborhoods need to be interconnected to create a sense of community. You do this with safe transportation design that encourages people to get outside and walk or bike to adjacent neighborhoods, parks and shopping areas.
• Providing adequate infrastructure - Infrastructure before rooftops!
• Variety of housing - We need a variety of housing types to support the variety of families that live and work in our community. Our teachers and first responders should be able to afford an entry level home within the community where they work.

Safety and security - Providing for a safe and secure community that recognizes and supports our first responders is important and personal to me, as my brother is a retired Florida State highway patrol trooper.

Safety also encompasses properly designed, safe roadway infrastructure that includes walkable streets, with adequate sidewalks and street lighting.

Summary - Prior County Commissions showed mixed results in these areas I highlighted, which is why they are areas of focus for me. We have made strides in the past three years, but there is still room for improvement.

Growth will continue to be a major topic for Flagler County and Florida. Natural and environmental resource protection is a priority if Flagler is to grow sustainably. I support the current community-wide re-evaluation of our Comprehensive Plan and amending the Land Development Code so that we can properly guide sustainable residential growth and streamline commercial development regulations to make Flagler more appealing for existing business expansion and relocating businesses.

As for safety and security, the Sheriff is doing an outstanding job. Our excellent County Fire Rescue department hasn't received the attention they deserve. The County recognizes this and has enhanced fire-rescue with the following improvements:

• 13 million dollar SAFER grant - adding 15 firefighter positions
• Fire Flight Helicopter - replacing the 22 year old workhouse helicopter used for emergency rescue, police protection and wildfire management.
• New Combined Fire Station/Fire Administration Building - Entirely funded though legislative appropriations