Chestnut selected as Chair of the Alachua County Commission
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Alachua County Commission has selected Chuck Chestnut as the Chair and Ken Cornell as the Vice Chair for the next year.
Following the swearing-in of newly re-elected Alachua County Commissioners Mary Alford, Chuck Chestnut, and Anna Prizzia, the board’s first order of business was to select its new Chair and Vice Chair.
Outgoing Chair Mary Alford made the motion to elect Chestnut as the new Chair, and Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.
Wheeler made the motion to elect Cornell as the new Vice Chair, and Chestnut seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.
Alford: “I expect that things will be a little bit different with a change in administration”
In her remarks, Alford said it was an “amazing experience” to serve as Chair for the past year and noted that Chestnut will have the honor of presiding over the 200th anniversary of Alachua County, “which is going to be an amazing opportunity, as well as the World Masters, which is another amazing opportunity.”
Alford continued, “I was going to talk a few minutes about how the next four years are going to be. I expect that things will be a little bit different with a change in administration, and I look forward to sitting with this Commission and doing a new strategic plan for the next four years on how we’re going to address those changes going forward. My goal as a Commissioner is always to put the health, safety, and welfare of Alachua County citizens as my first and foremost goal and to do that in a way that’s financially responsible – that’s going to be probably more of a challenge going forward. But I believe that this board and this Commission is where they need to be, doing the right thing at the right time in this place, to make Alachua County as good and as best it can be.”
Chestnut: “I’d like to really kind of concentrate a little bit on economic development.”
Chestnut said, “I just want to thank God for giving me this opportunity, and I want to thank the citizens for this opportunity also.” He said transportation has been a major issue for some time, “and we did two referendums, they failed, but now we do have the Wild Spaces Public Places, so we have started addressing the roads backlog, and we can continue to do that.”
Chestnut added, “And as my next term, I’d like to really kind of concentrate a little bit on economic development. I think that that’s important for our younger generation, to have good jobs in our community. Preferably, I’m looking for light industry type of jobs so that folks can have a good living wage to support their families… The way our economy is, right at this point, some people are not having a good time, and I know that they’re hurting, and I think it is our job as a Commission to come together and begin to work on those issues for our citizens of Alachua County, to make sure everybody is having a good, prosperous life in Alachua County.”
Prizzia: “It’s going to be more imperative than ever that we focus on resiliency and equity and economic development.”
Commissioner Anna Prizzia said, “As we move forward, it’s going to be more imperative than ever that we focus on resiliency and equity and economic development as they’re sort of the cornerstones of how we address our programs. I think we have lots of strategic goals for public safety and responsible development, social justice and climate change and natural resources protection, but I think that those economic development and equity sort of lenses that we look through will help us and guide us in the ways in which we coordinate and collaborate to to get those jobs done.”
Prizzia continued, “The next four years are going to be really difficult, and I think we’re going to see massive changes at the federal and state levels with regards to the types of programs that are available, and our programs are going to become even more of a lifeline. So it’s going to take every one of us… to pitch in and really work together so that we can meet the County goals that we have and remain a leader for our community on how we do what’s right and how we create a really thriving county that can be sort of an example to the rest of our state about how we get it done.”
Wheeler: “This is full cycle now for me.”
Wheeler said the next two years will be her final years on the board: “You know, this is full cycle now for me, and it’s amazing to me how quickly the years fly. This is six years for me. In two more years, we will have a new person sitting at this chair, and I am really excited and relieved to know that this team will be here to help integrate that new person into the work done here in the county.”
Cornell: “I am a strong proponent of local authority and Home Rule.”
Cornell said, “Four years ago we basically had a brand new board, and the first thing this board did is, we stepped back and we did a strategic plan, and I think now it’s time to update that… We’ve all talked about updating that plan with a brand new kind of political environment around the state and really around the country. What I always hear is the most effective government is the government that’s closest to the people, and so I am a strong proponent of local authority and Home Rule. I think our cities should govern their municipalities, and we are their resource, and we will govern this county and hope the state and the federal government will be our resource because we are going to listen to the people that elected us.”
Cornell continued, “I take public health, safety, and welfare seriously. I’ve heard a lot of what you all have said, and it’s pretty similar: economic light industry, helping provide opportunities for each of our citizens to be everything they can be. I have the distinct pleasure next month of moving into the Chair of the Children’s Trust, and so I will be serving in that role and will continue to do the good work that we all need to be done for our community.”
Commissioner Anna Prizzia said”..I think we have lots of strategic goals for public safety and responsible development, social justice and climate change and natural resources protection..”
The entire commission should be focused on public safety, responsible development, and roads. Period. Full stop. All the other crap is just that…crap.
All the yard trash trucks that don’t pick up sh!!t and just drive by 2 month old piles of yard trash need to park their trucks and go home. You are wasting valuable resources Now this group has a Chairman that has stated he will ignore the westside.( except to destroy a golf course) Please do continue to flounder in ineptness !!
(Throws up in own mouth) this commission is disgusting, but we voted for them so I guess we have no one to blame but the electorate.
I didn’t vote for any of them.
I didn’t vote for them either.
I didn’t vote for them..
My commissioner was unopposed but I’m OK with him, and think “social justice and climate change and natural resources protection..” are worthy of the commissions attention within the limits of what our county government can achieve, as are “public safety and responsible development”. Why wouldn’t they be?
It’s amazing to hear people say that our local government is environmentally friendly. You are living 50 years in the past. Our politicians say they are liberal and love the environment while spreading their legs for every developer. You can’t just ban plastic straws to offset the clearcutting of 150 year old trees. Take a drive around the county and see for yourself.
You posted as if response to me, but nothing I wrote implies that I think everything in our county is being done in the most environmentally friendly way. That’s a different discussion from whether the commission should be mindful of the issue which we apparently agree they should be.
However, the county has no say on new developments in Gainesville, where high density near UF is the goal of that commission , nor in Newberry and Alachua where most of the new subdivisions are being built with no end in site, and often in areas of it’s own control has had power stripped from it – as have all local Florida governments – by the state legislature, as well as the dissolution by the state of it’s previous development review process for developments of regional impact.
Kill a centuries old tree for climate change. It works! Changes the climate. So hot now. Good job over paid politicians.
Actually, older trees don’t put out as much o2 or take in as much co2 as younger trees. That is why it is a good idea to “Manage” a forest. That is how you keep away disease and tamp down on wildfires.
Wonder if Chestnut remembers the proposed Plum Creek development? Wonder how many that would have benefitted if the Commission wouldn’t have shot it down. He’s okay though, $80k+ gig and a funeral home. Wonder how much he pays beginning employees?
Cornell believes in home rule as long as homeowners follow his rules.
Best measure that tree against his stature before you cut it down; the City is already trying to get neighbors to rat out their neighbors. If the City could get some “neighbors” to rat out the gangsters in their neighborhoods, the violent crime rate may actually go down.
I’d say with all the roles Cornell’s taking on that he’s got big shoes to fill, but I don’t believe he’s got large feet.
A good place for this Board to start is stop spending money on hotels and land acquisitions. We’ve had to tighten our budgets for the past 4 years, and that’d be a good place to start. Try actually lowering taxes, not the BS “rolled back rate” that doesn’t do much with the increasing property valuations and tax assessments.
I thinks it’s pretty telling how many of the commissioners are making comments about how difficult it may be with the new incoming federal administration. Appears some aren’t ready for the teats to be dry.
Yes , Alachua County Politicians hate to see the general public flourish without their agenda. Speaking of Hate when is FEMA going to be charged with Hate Crimes and the ACC ignoring yard trash pick up?
??? WTF are you talking about?
Demand for housing – and that was the only “product” Plum Creek would have sold – is not enhanced by building it, but by other “industries” requiring employees, so whatever was built on that land as far away from Gainesville as Jonesville would have been in competition with developments in west Alachua County. Given the environmental obstacles out that way, this was not necessarily a beneficial plan for our area. But if it had been, the corrupt practices you imply are practiced by some of the county commissioners – if true – would have been incentive for them to approve Plum Creek, not stop it.
By the way, the Weyerhauser property plan on SR 121 north of US 441 is approved by the city.
This commission isn’t exactly what most would call “industry friendly.”
Most companies don’t construct facilities hoping people will build a home nearby, they usually build once neighborhood infrastructure and a source of sales are present.
The old adage, “build it and they will come” isn’t all about baseball fields, and even if it was, the home was there first. Chick-fil-A won’t permit a franchise that doesn’t meet their specific criteria and neither does Publix. If you take a look around, none of those particular businesses broke ground until the population base existed to support the financial expenditures. Same pretty much goes for the pop-up ERs, but in a different way. Emergency Services takes a patient to the closest facility, thereby ensuring that particular provider has dibs on payments for services. Even the City and County were at odds over services provided and who would provide what and how far that service would extend. Healthcare is pretty lucrative and by most accounts, very profitable. Ever wonder why it’s taken over 2 decades to get a medical facility east of Main Street? It wasn’t about, “we couldn’t find a place to put one or we didn’t have the need.”
“Buikd it and they will come” worked real good with Grace
Marketplace…are panhandlers, vagrants, & criminals the kind of productive citizens we want in
alachua county?
Our main industry is UF with related ones of tech companies in Alachua and along SW 2nd Ave. I can assure you as a builder, that no one builds a house absent a market of people with jobs.
The primary employer may be UF but that’s far from an industry. I believe healthcare is the primary employment classification with government arguably being the second. Years ago the GE plant was the largest private employer in the county but overseas pressures contributed to that going away.
There aren’t many of Chestnut’s “light industry” opportunities coming to a community that combines high taxes and high overhead costs with a population that demands high wages with minimal education.
As a builder, you know that UF caused the population growth, the population didn’t cause UF to build here.
Cornell as vice chair had better be keeping his calendar open, since Chestnut so often seems to have more important business elsewhere than commission meetings.
Doesn’t matter who the “chairman” is on this board! They all suffer from “group-think” and can only do what their handlers tell them to do!
Even Chuckie admitted, ” The way our economy is, right at this point, some people are not having a good time, and I know that they’re hurting, and I think it is our job as a Commission to come together and begin to work on those issues for our citizens of Alachua County, to make sure everybody is having a good, prosperous life in Alachua County.” What a “Stupidnous” comment when all they normally say is how good things are under “Bidenomics!”
Do you think the AC Dems will get their homes bypassed when it is President Trumps FEMA coming through in one of the next natural emergencies? Only under Biden and Harris (ooops, I mean only under Obama, Pelosi, and Soros!).
Nothing Biden has done has targeted red states or counties and in fact they are major beneficiaries of the infrastructure bill he passed. Even Florida, where our jerk governor uses practically every press conference to attack him while at others taking credit for programs made possible by that bill, has been a major beneficiary as the map on this page shows:
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/05/biden-half-trillion-dollar-jobs-campaign
Biden dutifully shows up with his checkbook after every hurricane or condo collapse, even when avoided by our jerk governor less it hurt his career as a future MAGA creep. But even he had to admit that the feds come though.
So, we can expect this kind of ignorant lie from Trump – he used it in the campaign – and his followers here who are to dumb to know the truth, and think the truth is whatever BS flows from Trumps mouth.
By the way, if you’re reading this way out in the woods of Gilchrist County on fiber optics internet, you can thank Biden for that, not Kat who promised to provide that in her 1st campaign and then voted against the infrastructure bill. That’s exactly what you’re going to get from MAGA – all BS, no action, unless you’re rich.
Enjoy suckers.
This guy…TDS all the way
Jim, that’s not a response to the verifiable facts I presented. Try again.
What an absolute loser in denial. I heard those Boosters cause that.
FEMA works for Pedo Joe, and his failed Border Czar, as do the other Federal Agencies who have targeted anyone who had the guts to speak out against them the past 4 years.
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/09/g-s1-33601/fema-worker-hurricane-trump-signs-florida
Wanted to make sure I quote a liberal leaning source. Of course FEMA leadership calls this an isolated case, tell that to Americans still suffering in North Carolina. The Biden and Harris Admin at its finest!
They are very good at handing out money to buy votes! It doesn’t cost them anything, just US taxpayers! Kind of like AC BOCC and SBAC now wondering how to pay for their pet projects now that ARPA and ESSER funds have run out! Should have happened 2 years ago!
You need help, along with the other millions of Americans who think the Democratic Party cares about them once their vote is secured, OR NOT!
Social justice & climate change? Good grief!
No thanks to the ACC, Trump will make everything great again! 🇺🇸
Can Sherman explain to us why the local Republican dark money dirty tricks outfit is named the “Social Justice PAC”?
Anything with the word sustainable or climate change or vaccine passport is fascist commie new world order BS.
Put your face diaper on Jazz.
Trump gonna defund the WHO!💃
🇺🇸 the people have spoken!
Happy humpday Trumpday🤪‼️
Shaq, stupid slogans don’t counter either the facts I presented above or the facts about Covid deaths measured by vaccination status. Those without it were 2.5 times more likely to die.
Enjoy your ignorance and good luck with your health
Jazz; you took trumps operation warp speed shot?
Absolutely, and every booster since then. I’m not an idiot.
Yes you are‼️🤣
Chestnut, why is the economy like this? “Bidenomics”. I’m sure your business is doing good, with all the shootings. When was the last time you or your fellow Commissioners walked around Pine Ridge or any other area in the evening and spoke with the people.
Is chuckle cheese cheese nut ever awake???
Since others here brought up Biden, and since this happening today, here’s a picture of why I’m a proud democrat because of Biden and Harris, but an ashamed American for who we’ve elected president for the next 4 years. Biden invited Trump to the WH and that happens today:
“Trump will sit down with Biden a few feet away from the very same dining room where he watched the attack unfold on his 60-inch television, resisting entreaties by his advisers to intervene.
Just picturing the scene would likely make Biden’s blood boil. But 1,393 days after Trump last walked out of the White House — skipping Biden’s inauguration in a fit of pique — the president will nonetheless welcome Trump back into the sanctum as he looks to demonstrate a peaceful transition of power following the Republican’s decisive win last week.
..Yet for at least a morning, Biden will put those feelings aside, the imperative of a smooth transition overriding any personal animus. Despite the rancor expressed on the stump by both Biden and Trump toward the other, the tenor of Wednesday’s meeting is expected to remain professional.
“Everyone is going to be polite,” one senior administration official told CNN.
“I assured him that I’d direct my entire administration to work with his team,” Biden said after phoning Trump last week.
It’s a favor Trump never afforded Biden when their circumstances were reversed. He never conceded the election, never placed a phone call, never invited Biden for lunch.
He left Washington before Biden was sworn in, using Air Force One one last time to escape to Palm Beach, Florida. It was the first time a sitting president skipped his successor’s swearing-in since 1869.”
The article does not mention that Trump also blocked Biden’s transition teams from access to necessary departments as is the norm and as is happening now.
Trump doesn’t GAF about America, it’s all about him.
The village weirdo speaks
Say what you want, but the comment, at least 3 of the 4 last paragraphs, is completely true.
The Secret Service should convince Trump it is a safety risk, or someone should. Jill and Nancy P. might have some additional plan to harm him. Melania already made the correct decision.
He basically took over his father’s position as a lifetime commissioner. His father was smarter and also more lighthearted and personable, instead of vindictive and mean-spirited like Chuckie often seems to be. It’s another case of the kids taking over the ‘family business’ and not being cut out for it. He’s Cynthia’s STEP-child, by the way (no blood relation).
I definitely did not vote for them UGH
Who Cares FJB Clone?
Wahoo!
Mat Gaetz as AG, Pete Hegseth as Sec of Defense, Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. Wow!
This is hilarious mix of the Star Wars Bar and amateur hour. But hey, only “the best people”! What can go wrong?
Correct, only real true experts in all positions.
Like AG Gaetz. What better an Expert can we find to be in charge of prosecuting human trafficking of underage female prostitutes?
Well yes, Jeff Epstein, if he was still alive. So Gaetz it is.
Can’t wait until Hegseth kicks the DEI out of what used to be called Department of Defense but has now become an LGBTQ+ kickdance, and can’t wait until Gaetz kicks the deepstate out of DOJ and FBI. Between Garland and Holder and Wray, it’s hard to say who was eviler, but their twisted legacies need to be vaporized. Hopefully Gaetz will do that.
I don’t think Azzman is going to survive 4 great years in a row of losing every single day . Maybe the inflation loving hater should take a vacation.
Speaking of the CC and climate change:
“Of the 640 or so tropical storm or hurricane landfalls on record in the continental U.S. since the 1850s, only four occurred after November 15th, and just one, 1985’s Kate, was a hurricane. All storms in this tiny sample struck the Florida Gulf Coast.
It’s November, but September and October-like temps provide hurricane fuel
However, November hurricane history really isn’t the right frame of reference, as weather patterns over the past three weeks have more in common with typical conditions in late September or early October.
Temperatures to start off the month are averaging 5 degrees above normal in Miami, 10 degrees above normal in Tampa, and a whopping 15 degrees above normal in Tallahassee and elsewhere across the Deep South, coupled with minimal rainfall.
There are two key implications to the lack of decent fronts during this AWOL fall. First, the seasonal cooling of the Gulf and Caribbean has been arrested.
Total oceanic heat content of the Gulf has slightly increased in the last three weeks, hovering around mid-October norms; the heat content of the Caribbean remains well above what it
Shear will not save Florida from a possible Hurricane Sara strike
would typically be at the peak of the season in mid-September.
There’s plenty of fuel available to sustain a hurricane, if atmospheric conditions allow.
And allow they seemingly will. The second implication of the unusual pattern is that persistent amplified ridging over the Southeastern U.S. has displaced vertical wind shear associated with the subtropical jet stream, which usually slams the door on Gulf hurricane activity in November, to well north of its typical location.
During Rafael, this ridge was so strong that it protected the U.S. Gulf Coast, deflecting the hurricane westward to a slow, harmless death. However, this go round, the steering wind pattern progression is a close match with the pattern preceding historical October landfalls on the Florida Gulf Coast, which are common.
Florida has been struck by 38 hurricanes in October versus just three in November since 1851. In practical terms, it’s still October out there….”
Yeah, it’s a hoax and has nothing to do with our lives, nor our kids and grandkids who we’ll be leaving the place too and who will be so thankful that in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, we decided to “drill baby, drill”. Screw the little tykes.