FORECAST: Oakland - Under new leadership

Since being elected mayor of the 6,000-resident town of Oakland last March, Shane Taylor has spent his first nine months learning the operations from the inside out. He knows that staying aware of the issues is key to running the town successfully, and he is committed to that.

“I spend probably three days a week just up (at Oakland Town Hall) checking in, not full-time, but come in for a few hours,” Taylor said. “The town manager and I talk every day, we catch up, (share) what’s going on. If you’re going to be the mayor of the town and represent the town, you have to be involved.”

This includes in-person appearances and the ever-growing world of social media.

“People have said, ‘We like that you’re out there,’” Taylor said. “They like when we’re posting things.”

When the last string of hurricanes hit Florida, the town posted multiple videos of Taylor answering residents’ questions about the water supply, debris pickup and other storm-related concerns.

“Just telling the residents,’ Hey, the water plant is prepared, the Utility Department is ready to go, the backup plant is ready; rest assured, you’re going to be OK,’” he said. “That type of reassurance … it resonates a lot with the people.”

Taylor also plans to resume his Meet the Mayor gatherings next month as a way to engage with residents and initiate important conversations in a relaxed setting.

He said residents have been receptive to the idea and the meetings have brought in up to 20 people — many of them new each month.

THE DECISION TO RUN

What made Taylor run for the mayor’s seat?

“The reason why I ran was the canal thing and the spending of public money on a private problem,” he said. “This one issue just bothered the hell out of me where there was no thinking about what’s the repercussions if we do this?”

The town spent $120,000 in March 2023 to remove sediment that had washed into Lake Apopka from the Johns Lake Outfall Canal. Days later, more sand had returned to the area. In November 2023, elected officials voted 3-2 to spend the same amount of money to redo the work

“For me, the issue was, you can’t just throw money at the situation,” Taylor said. “You have to look at how you’re really going to do this thing. What other help can you get? … I think the problem was that people lead with the heart and not with their head.

“I remember …I t was put up for a vote to spend a quarter if a million dollars to get this thing cleaned out, and I got up and said, ‘I don’t think you should do this,’” Taylor said. “My wife was with me at the commission, and I said, ‘This is ridiculous, I’ve got to run. It’s a misuse of funds.’”

Taylor also ran for office with the idea of building town’s economic base.

“There’s so much opportunity in the town,” he said. “We have a blank palette on (Highway) 50, and developments are starting to come in. … I think it’s building up. You want to build up that base because that’s the only way the town’s going to grow is you have to build the commercial base. That’s always where I’ve tried to put my planning attention.”

As Oakland’s levels of service increase with a growing population, it will take more funds to operate the town, which means either higher taxes for residents or a higher tax base in the way of commercial development to help pay for those services.

“We have all these grand plans and these conceptual plans, but you have to spend money to make money,” Taylor said. “Unfortunately for us, we’re not rich. I remember when they did the town center here. … They had to borrow to make that a reality, so you’re going to have to do the same thing down here … and I think we can find private partners to help with that.”

Today, Oakland’s demographic includes a high percentage of young families.

“I would love to see money set aside for more programs and events for families,” he said. “We did a neighborhood block party a couple of months after I as elected. It was great. There was a deejay, a car show. A lot of people showed up.

“I’d like to see more of those,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be big events like Heritage Day, but small events that center here and people migrate here and come here. It’s a great way to converse and meet people. The event we did, Music Under the Oaks, that was very successful. We had a lot of people. It was a lot of fun.”

FOUR-YEAR GOALS

Taylor has set goals for his four years in office — and this includes some thinking outside the box.

“The first year was learning the processes of the town; there (are) ways to do it,” he said. “Are there ways to improve upon that process? Toward the end of that first year, (I’m) trying to come up with some plans and try to start working on those plans to better the town. Not that you’re changing the town; the whole focus is you’re trying to help the town grow.”

In the second year of his term, which begins in March, he wants to get input from all town staff and begin laying out and implementing those plans. The third and fourth years will be building on those plans.   

“There are some things I think the town has that’s on its side, and I think you can utilize that to create that need that residents want,” Taylor said. “All I heard during the (campaign) process is, ‘We want something to do.’”

The goal, he said, is not to re-create downtown Winter Garden but still to be able to offer places for people to eat and hang out with friends. Over the next few months, he hopes to introduce some ideas to town commissioners and, likewise, get their ideas as well.

DEEP CONNECTIONS

Taylor was born at the old West Orange Memorial Hospital, in Winter Garden, and grew up in the area, attending Ocoee Junior High and West Orange High schools and playing on the marching band drumline. After graduating from WOHS in 1990, he earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of South Florida. And then he returned to West Orange County.

Taylor has deep roots Oakland, as his great-grandfather moved to the town as a truck farmer and his grandmother, her siblings and Taylor’s mother grew up here. This is the place he calls home.

Today, Taylor holds a state general contractor license and is a partner and owner in a construction development firm and site construction company.

Since settling in Oakland 25 years ago, Taylor has served on several boards and committees. He was involved in collaborative design sessions for the redesign of the town center, as well as the implementation of the design districts and the commercial overlay districts. From 2013 to 2024, he served in different capacities, including chairman, of the town’s Planning & Zoning Board. In 2019, he was named Oakland’s Person of the Year. In 2022, he sat on the selection committee for the hiring of the new Oakland police chief.

Through the years, Taylor has volunteered in his town to help with a number of projects, including rebuilding the C.M. “Pete” Tucker brick marker and assisting in rebuilding the Oakland Nature Preserve’s sidewalk, drainage system, boardwalk and pavilion.

As much as Taylor is out in the community lending support and assistance, he said he is very much a homebody and is happiest when he’s in the company of his wife, Kelly; his three daughters, Samantha, 22, Hannah, 20, and Kate, 16; and their two dogs, Charlie the yellow lab and Willy the dachshund. He loves to travel and scratched off an item of his bucket list in 2019: a cruise to Alaska.

They want to take a European river cruise this year. Taylor said as a high school student, one of his favorite classes was history and the study of World War II.

“It would be cool to go around those places — Berlin, Germany, France…” he said.

PROUD TO SERVE

With the influx of young families and a new mayor at the helm, Taylor thinks there’s a renewed excitement for the town and its potential.

“What I’ve noticed is that whole renewed interest in town and people getting involved … to keep the town growing,” he said.

“On the commercial development, I’ve been working hard with (Town Manager) Andy (Stewart) and (Assistant Town Manager) Elise (Hui),” he said. “If everyone agrees, I think in two years you’ll see some difference here, you’ll see some things start to pop and you’ll see a town that is starting to flourish.”