Same leader, different economy

Winter Park/Maitland Observer reporter Amanda Georgi sat down with Orange County Commissioner Ted Edwards, who represents Winter Park, Maitland and Goldenrod communities.

Here’s what the long-serving commissioner had to say about issues affecting District 5 and his plans after a six-year absence from the county dais. Some responses have been edited due to space constraints.

Observer: What do you think the most important issues are in your district?

Edwards: The slowdown in the economy, unemployment and trying to bring back the economic prosperity we enjoyed in the early part of the decade. Other than that it would be maintaining the great quality of life we have in District 5, protecting the neighborhood, then of course public safety and traffic.

O: What do you plan on doing about these issues?

E: As far as the economy, local government has a limited role as to the impact it can have. The best thing we can do locally is to go ahead and streamline our government and reduce our spending to match our revenues. One problem that I’ve noticed with the Orange County government is it has become too bureaucratic. We need to change the culture of the bureaucracy to make it more user friendly, to help small businesses, to help set the stage for small companies to succeed.

O: You left office when the economy was near its peak and are returning during an economic crisis. Why did you return to office now and put yourself in such a difficult position?

E: The down turn is what attracted me to come back because this will be such a different experience then the first time I was in office. With my focus on fiscal matters and fiscal discipline, I’m keenly qualified and have the experience to be a commissioner during these difficult times. It’s going to be challenging but we’ll just have to prioritize and cut expenses like everyone else and I look forward to doing that.

O: One area of focus during your campaign was to “maintain public safety,” which directly competes with another area of focus, to “tighten the county fiscal belt.” Will police and firefighter pensions be one of the primary county expenditures you target for reduction?

E: The pensions are set by the state legislature so, unfortunately, the county has no control over what the pensions are. It looks pretty certain that the state legislature and the governor are going to be working on the pension and bringing it more in sync with the private sector. During these difficult economic times, as we reduce spending, we need to do it in a way where we maintain our top priority. I don’t see any scenario where you cut the public safety spending the same as you might other discretionary spending that’s going to reduce the protection that our citizens receive. What I am looking at is vacation and accrued time and maternity leave, those benefits we do control. It appears the county might be overly generous with those types of benefits.

O: How has the defeat of Amendment 10 enhanced the city’s ability to lure businesses?

E: It removes a level of bureaucracy or uncertainty as to land-use approval so that the business will want to move here. It’s hard to lure businesses here when they think they’re coming into an unfriendly environment when it comes to land-use changes so I think it’s the right decision. One of the challenges we have in luring high-tech companies is having the property available for them to locate to. The UCF Research Park has been tremendously successful in generating thousands of high paying jobs in the simulation industry, but the Research Park is running out of space. One of my priorities is to find a place to expand Research Park.

O: Do you think the commuter rail system would be beneficial to your county?

E: I think it would be beneficial. The [commuter rail] would come right through Maitland and Winter Park. It would provide an opportunity for redevelopment of areas where the stations are located and stops along the way. It would allow some residents to commute to work via [commuter rail] instead of cars.

O: What positive lessons can citizens learn from the current recession?

E: Perhaps our society became too materialistic. There was too much focus on accumulating things. In the end those things aren’t what measures happiness. People have learned that they can be just as happy with less. I would think this would be a generational lesson where the people who have been through it are going to save more in the future and aren’t going to go back to living on credit card debt and living a false prosperity.