Q: How does living in District 4 shape your approach to representing your constituents?
A: As someone who chooses to live “out there” in the rural area of the county, detours sometimes add 20 minutes to my trip, but I would never trade six months of inconvenience for getting to live out here. When we demand to have proper infrastructure, there will be short term sacrifices for long term gains.
Q: With phase one of the County Road 121 project underway, what concerns have you heard from constituents and how has the county responded?
A: The biggest concerns have been about the detours and emergency response times. We recently had a complaint about response time in an emergency situation, but the response time was under the state requirement. We did the $3 million change order to the contract to lessen detours. Some people have suggested a plan that would require wetland mitigation, which would not only burden taxpayers across the county, but would add upwards of two years to what is already an 18-month project. That being said, we listened to constituents, we did the change order even though the project had already met state requirements.
Q: Nassau County was recently designated a “rural area of opportunity” by the state. What does this mean for the county’s workforce?
A: We don’t control who buys and builds here, but we can try to attract certain industries. If it were up to me, we’d be bringing those high skill manufacturing, logistics, transportation jobs in, but I’m not the commercial and capital developer. This goes back to a fundamental issue which is the question of “do we have this skilled workforce in Nassau County.” The businesses can come, but it won’t benefit residents if we don’t have the employees or a trained, skilled workforce.
Q: What would you say to a Nassau County resident looking to upgrade their skills or change careers?
A: We worked with Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) to launch the Nassau Works program, where people can get skills training online or in person if they don’t have internet access. We are trying to curate this hub in Nassau County where, when an industry comes in, we have that skilled workforce.
Q: What do you think causes disconnect between local governments and residents, and how would you solve it?
A: As an educator, I think it’s a huge failing that our schools don’t teach students about how local government works. My biggest message would be to read and to educate yourself about policy. It is not worth trading knowledge for complacency. The more you read, the more you know. I think there’s a fundamental issue that we are facing right now in America where people just go to the polls and there’s zero follow up and zero understanding.
I believe it’s a truly, fundamentally broken part of our public school system that our children don’t learn local government law. I think it would be a huge benefit if, say, in high school, students spent a few weeks understanding local comprehensive planning and zoning, commercial land usage, mortgages, trim notices, etc. I think 90% of problems could be solved if people educated themselves to have knowledge of policy, processes and procedures.
Alyson R. McCullough represents District 4 on the Nassau County Board of County Commissioners. Questions or comments can be directed to her at amccullough@nassaucountyfl.com or (904) 319-0689.
