MEET THE CANDIDATES: Jessica Lee, Windermere Town Council

Jessica Lee is one of five candidates vying for a seat on Windermere Town Council.


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Age: 34

Family: Boyfriend, two rescue dogs from Iraq 

Education: UCF - Studied Bachelors in Psychology and minor in Legal Studies

Relevant experience: My experience in the legal studies program and paralegal studies gives me the background to better understand the legal jargon, Florida laws and legal research needed to truly grasp the current legal issues facing the town including the town’s current boat house lawsuit. My many years of experience in business allows me to know how and when to negotiate, find middle ground and see where we can improve on communication and sticking to the proposed budget. Being a part of this community for so long also helps me understand how to communicate with our residents and to understand their needs. 

Years as Windermere resident: I’ve been a resident of the Town of Windermere for 17 years and before moving here full time, we spent weekends here at our home on the lake until building a new home here. 


Why do you want to serve on Town Council? 

I want to serve on Town Council to give residents a voice that for a while, they have felt they don’t have on Town Council. There’s been many changes over the years with town administration/management, neighborhoods getting annexed in, new growth, etc., and many long time residents need another strong voice on Town Council who understands their needs. I have a passion for preserving what makes this town unique such as our dirt roads, small town charm and our peaceful living. We have a truly unique, "old Florida” town, and we need to preserve that! While the rest of the state continues to grow at an incredibly fast rate, we need to preserve what we can of Old Florida. Our lakes, the families here and our beautiful town are so important. 


If elected, what would be your top three priorities for the town? 

My top three priorities would be to find out why for the last few years the town keeps going so much over budget, to get to the bottom of this boat house lawsuit and to make sure the town is governing according to our town’s charter. We are such a small town and residents in this town need to know their tax dollars are going into things to actually help this community such as potable water and other projects residents have been promised but because the town continuously has gone over budget, these projects are affected or postponed. 


Why should residents vote for you? 

Residents should vote for me because I want to be their voice. I want to make sure we are making decisions based off what the majority of residents want, not what one specific person in the town’s administration wants or how other members of council feel. I truly believe we need to be transparent with residents and base our decisions off their wants and needs. Residents should have more say in what is happening. I want residents to be able to ask questions in town meetings and be able to get those questions answered in that town meeting. As someone who understands the town’s charter, residents should know I plan on making sure the town is referring back to the charter when governing. My ability to negotiate, find experts when there are questions, do the research and communicate with the community makes me a great choice! I’m here for residents. 


If you had a magic wand, what is one change you would make immediately and why? 

If there is one change I could make immediately it would be to go to great lengths to make sure every single resident in town is aware of everything the town is doing and planning to do by finding a way to make it more transparent than just putting this info on the town’s website and app. There are residents in this town who are older or who don’t use the website or app, who need to understand what the town is up to so they can make their opinion heard. I want every resident to better understand what is going on, including being able to vote on important changes in our town like annexing the Chaine Du Lac neighborhood. 


As always, traffic is a concern in the town of Windermere. How do you strike a balance between growth (including hosting events that attract people to the town) with maintaining Windermere’s small-town charm? 

I think we need to get the resident’s input on this because many have felt that some of the town’s events or changes have taken away from that peaceful, small town they chose to live in. We are a very small town that doesn’t necessarily need tourism to continue to thrive. We all enjoy the town’s food truck nights and a few other events, but we need to make sure guests in our town for these events are not parking on private property or causing any harm to residents’ lawns and maybe that includes having our police department have more officers on duty during those events to keep tabs on this issue. As far as growth in the town goes, we need to take an in-depth look on the benefits versus risks/costs of continuing to grow the town with new shopping centers, larger businesses, etc. because our town is not built for these things. We are not as large as Winter Garden, Hamlin or other nearby areas, and many residents I’ve spoken to do not want more shopping, restaurants, etc. or new businesses built in town because they want to preserve what makes this town unique. During one of the town meetings last year, a resident asked the council and mayor how building the new shopping center in town was going to affect traffic and our mayor mentioned they aren’t sure yet but will have to see once it is up and running. That is not a good plan for a small town. We need to see if these are things residents here want, and if they aren’t, we do don’t continue to grow. We are unique in that our town is not reliant on tourism or outside business to thrive. Let’s let residents have a voice in the town’s growth and see what our residents would really want to happen. We also need to consider that if we annex in more neighborhoods we will put more of a strain our police department since they will be dealing with more traffic from new businesses plus more areas to patrol. We need to take a look at the logistics of all of this. 


Evaluate the town’s ability to communicate effectively with its residents. Are there changes you’d like to see made to ensure timely communication and transparency? 

This is a very important topic to me. Currently, most of the town’s residents do not know about the town’s legal issues, they don’t know about plans the town has discussed for the future, and they truly do not have a full grasp on what has been going on, which tells me one important thing: the town’s government has not effectively communicated to the residents for a while. We must find a way to make sure every resident is fully aware of what is going on, how much money the town is spending on legal fees, what their tax dollars are going towards, (and) we need to make sure they understand the town’s goals and really everything the town is doing. Currently, many residents are disheartened and feel that even if they do find out about a topic and go ask questions or speak at a meeting, it is falling on deaf ears. They feel like some of the council members and our mayor aren’t interested in their opinions or concerns or want to answer questions and that must change. When a town does not effectively communicate to all of its residents, residents then feel as if something shady is happening, and we do not want that. Our town used to be much more approachable. You could walk into the town offices, not have to be buzzed in and go speak to anyone you wanted to get your questions answered. Let’s get back to that. I think much more will be achieved when all residents trust us. I’d like to make sure that our council members are not basing decisions off their personal opinions but actually going out and speaking to residents about what is happening to get their input. Let’s be community servants!  

 

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Liz Ramos

Senior Editor Liz Ramos previously covered education and community for the East County Observer. Before moving to Florida, Liz was an education reporter for the Lynchburg News & Advance in Virginia for two years after graduating from the Missouri School of Journalism.

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