A pair of seats on the Osceola County Board of County Commissioners could change hands — and party affiliations — come November, in a county with the state’s highest unemployment, vast shortages of affordable housing and traffic congestion that prompted a failed push last year to raise the sales tax.
The candidates hoping to unseat incumbent Brandon Arrington in District 3 take issue with numerous measures the board has taken in recent years, including supporting the sales tax increase, and voting with majorities to approve a toll road through the protected Split Oak Forest and later suing Orange County, hoping to prevent a referendum to halt the project.
Arrington maintains his record shows his commitment to the district, including an effort to bring a Valencia College campus to Poinciana and prioritize other improvements there.
In District 5, where Fred Hawkins Jr. is currently suspended and wasn’t seeking re-election because he’s running for State House, the race features a political newcomer and a cattle rancher from one of the county’s oldest families.
Tahitiana Chaffin, a Democrat from St. Cloud, said she’ll bring a watchful eye to county business and her priorities include rooting out conflicts of interest and banning family members of elected officials from bidding on county contracts.
While Ricky Booth, a sixth-generation Osceola resident, said his conservative principles would help balance out a majority-Democrat board, and he’d push for bringing explosive growth there under control.
In District 1, Peggy Choudhry, who won a three-way Democratic primary in August, faces a write-in candidate who hasn’t raised any money.
Who they are
District 3
Brandon Arrington is an incumbent Democrat, who was first elected to the seat in 2008. He’s also the Executive Director of Osceola Arts. He holds a steep fundraising advantage, raising $66,637 ? about double the combined total of the other candidates.
Jeffrey Hawk is the Republican in the race and is a retired U.S. Army Sergeant. Hawk, 39 of Poinciana, is mostly self-funding his campaign, which has brought in $7,785 so far.
Marcos Marrero is a libertarian, who works as an office manager at a Downtown Orlando law firm. Marrero, 31, lives in Poinciana and has raised $10,690.
Dr. Ivan Rivera is running under no party affiliation, but said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel’s Editorial Board he is a registered Republican. Rivera didn’t respond to a request for interview and has raised $6,325 to his bid.
District 5
Ricky Booth is a Republican who is in the middle of his second term on the Osceola County School Board. He’s a cattle rancher, and has raised $65,440 toward the race, about seven times more than his challenger.
Tahitiana Chaffin is a Democrat, who works in real estate and is a former police officer in North Carolina. Chaffin, of St. Cloud, has raised $9,375 toward her bid.
Where they stand
District 3
Arrington said he’s tried to improve the county’s infrastructure and improve commute times in his time on the board for the district, which is west of Lake Tohopekaliga and includes Poinciana. He said the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is the second reminder in his dozen years in elected office of the need to diversify the local economy beyond tourism.
“We’ve learned as a county commission that when recessions happen, Osceola seems to be hit harder,” he said, which points to the importance of NeoCity, Osceola’s proposed high-tech corridor that officials hope will attract higher-wage jobs.
With Osceola facing the highest unemployment in the state, and officials projecting as long as a five-year recovery for tourism, Arrington said the county needs to get creative in addressing its affordable housing crisis by building more units near employment centers. He said he also lobbied for SunRail to be extended south into Osceola, and pushed for increased Lynx bus routes.
The job crisis intensified this week as Walt Disney World, which extends from Orange County into northern Osceola, announced more than 15,000 layoffs of full-time and part-time workers.
But his challengers say Arrington shares blame with fellow commissioners for several local decisions they’ve advocated against, including the Split Oak votes and supporting the sales tax increase.
Among their grievances, Hawk and Marrero said they would bring a focus on transparency to the board and both took issue with a recent vote to sue Orange County in hopes of halting a charter amendment that would protect the Split Oak Forest from future development, including a toll road that was approved by both counties.
The Osceola lawsuit was an emergency addition to the agenda, similar to a late addition last year of a deal to allow coal ash to be dumped in a landfill. While commissioners agreed they would no longer walk items on to city agendas at the last minute, the county manager still can.
Marrero said he would seek a policy that would lock future agendas from surprise additions.
“Agenda items shouldn’t be just walked on,” Hawk said “They’ve given the county manager basically a free ticket to do what he wants.”
Arrington said most items that are added late are contracts and business items that are time-sensitive and maintained his board doesn’t have a transparency problem.
“Everything we do is public record available,” he said. “I think transparency seems to be a buzzword of 2020 campaigns.”
Marrero said commissioners should focus on bringing in retail businesses to Poinciana, providing incentives if need be, and should make incremental changes to improve traffic in the area, such as using technology to improve problem intersections.
Also, he said, the county should promote cultivating hemp, which could help the cattle ranchers feed their livestock, as well as offering them a cash crop to help to make the business profitable.
Marrero and Hawk each said they would hire a third-party consultant to review the county budget in hopes of identifying ways to reduce spending on salaries and on spending at NeoCity.
Hawk said he thinks developers have too much sway in county politics and would eliminate mobility fee waivers, which are credits given to a builder who upgrades nearby roads, in place of paying impact fees. He contends those waivers has set the county back on building roads and addressing traffic woes.
District 5
This race pits Booth, from a longtime Osceola family, against Chaffin, who moved to the county following a law enforcement career.
Throughout the campaign, Booth has said he’ll prioritize controlling explosive growth in the county and said the county needs higher-valued homes, and to set aside commercial land to balance development.
“Being able to control our growth and work on infrastructure projects going forward…that’s my plan,” Booth said.
If he’s elected, he could be the lone Republican on the county commission, which he’s said would bring balance and a different perspective. He also said he’d be able to work with Democrats on the board.
Chaffin said she decided to enter the race following public outcry over a deal the county reached to allow coal ash to be dumped in a landfill inside the district.
She shares frustrations with other candidates about agenda items added at the last minute and said she’d propose a policy to ban the practice.
She also wants to propose stricter policies to prevent conflicts of interest, such as banning family members of elected officials from bidding on county contracts.
“It doesn’t give the public the ability to review the item ahead of time,” she said. “It’s not fair for us.”
How they differ
District 3
Arrington has served on the board for 12 years and comes from a politically connected family: His mother, Mary Jane, is the supervisor of elections, and his wife was just elected to a seat in the state House in August.
Arrington is also backed financially by the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association, Walt Disney World affiliates, as well as law firms, road builders, and others.
His opponents have never held public office, and have been critical of Arrington and the board for years, blaming commissioners for what they say is unchecked growth and traffic congestion. Voters defeated a proposal last year to raise the sales tax to the state’s maximum amount to pay for road improvements.
District 5
Besides party affiliations, the candidates vastly differ in their backgrounds.
Booth was raised in Osceola County, works on his family’s cattle ranch and has served on the county’s School Board for six years.
Chaffin moved to the region after living in California, Mexico City and North Carolina. She said she has more life experience as a former police officer, who also lived in Section 8, or government-subsidized, housing in her youth.
Booth has far out-raised Chaffin. His contributions include business interests around the district including eco-tourism groups, ranchers, Hawkins and Walt Disney World affiliated groups.
Chaffin is mostly self-funding her campaign, but has also received 17 other contributions — all less than $1,000 — including one from Hawk.
rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com
