Meet The Candidate: Dr Holli Herndon

Citrus County... meet Dr Holli Herndon. She is running against Rebecca Bays for County Commissioner for District 4.

I have had a couple of conversations with her over the last couple of weeks and want to share what I have learned so far and provide some insight into who she is and who she aspires to be as a commissioner, should she be elected.

She has been in Citrus County for 35 years and has worked in the school district for 16 years where she is currently a teacher on special assignment working in secondary education.

What does that mean exactly?

She works with new teachers in the teacher induction program, helping get them up to speed. She also participates in the mentorship training program where she helps mentor teachers throughout the district. She is also the lead on the Xello and Space Florida programs where she is helping the school district with the rollout of those programs over the next several years. She also does data analysis on the career programming options offered to students.

The school district wanted an after school career exploration program for middle schoolers. She designed it, built the community partnerships and runs it weekly at Inverness Middle School. It is called Toolbox for Tomorrow's Leaders.

In other words, she is in a leadership position in the school district helping shape the school system for the future. That makes sense as she has her doctorate in Educational Leadership.

She also runs a non-profit with her husband, Tim, called Peer Leaders in Engineering. This is similar to a shop type class in school, where the kids learn about various trades type skills as well as life skills. They have been doing this the past 3 years.

She has a very impressive resume and is a very intelligent person.

However, it is one that at first glance seems more suited for the educational side of things... school board or super-intendent... not necessarily county commissioner.

I asked her why she chose to run for county commissioner vs a school side position and she said she had a desire to run for county government after being part of the 2025 graduating class of the Leadership Citrus program that the county hosts. It gave her insight into county government and she thought her skillset is needed to help move the county forward.

She also told me of a story from when she worked in Floral City Elementary. Not only did she help build programs there like community science nights, parent teacher organization, 5th grade awards banquet, and national elementary honor society, she also established the student council there. She said she will never forget when students asked if they could run for student council to represent their school, she told them "When you look around and see an area that you think you can make even better with your gifts, then you should run". She was teaching them that it is about being a good citizen and that played a large part in her decision to run for this seat.

Fair enough... so what does she think about the issues? I asked her about a few of the big ones.

Roads:

She realizes that past boards have put the county in a bind in terms of funding for roads. We are paying for that now, but rather than focusing on the past, she wants to look at the future.

Her plan is to focus on long term planning for roads. Put a plan together on where we want to be 20-30+ years down the road and then work backwards from there to determine what we need to do today to get there.

She said that other counties have similar problems to Citrus... these issues are not only Citrus County issues... so she wants to explore what other counties have done to help them resolve some of these issues. No need to re-invent the wheel if we can model things after other counties who have had success. This goes to her data analysis background and wanting to see the numbers and data and use those to move forward.

Growth:

She feels that there is a lot of information not getting out in the community. A lot of people do not realize that we have 50,000+ buildable lots as it is and those people have rights to build on their property. Most of the growth we are seeing is that planned growth.

However, she wants to make sure that we allow projects only where it is safe. She attended the conservation workshop and has a desire to take care of the Nature Coast. She was in the first graduating class at the Academy of Environmental Science, so keeping our environment protected is very important to her.

To do this, she wants the county to work with developers to build in a way that best protects the environment and our resources. Development does not need to be rubber stamped, but discussed and thoughtfully considered. Places like Betz farm would get the scrutiny they deserve to ensure they protect our natural resources. She is big on creating partnerships between the county and developers. She feels that these partnerships are the best way to get the best product for Citrus and it requires a negotiation between the two entities to help create growth in the right areas and stop it in the most sensitive areas.

She also feels that the county should not approve zoning changes or projects without seeing the full plans. She would want to see the specific plan or a site plan for any projects that come before the board. Without knowing exactly what they wanted to do, she would have a hard time supporting it.

Simply put... She wants to keep the Nature Coast the Nature Coast and protect what makes us special.

Jobs:

She had an unique take on jobs that I have not really heard before. It does not make sense to bring jobs here if we do not have the people that have the skills for those jobs. Otherwise, those jobs will bring people from outside the county and not help the citizens who already call Citrus home.

Her plan is to build relationships and programs in the community to help create those skills needed for those jobs. That includes partnerships not only with local schools, colleges, trade schools, but also local businesses and organizations to create those needed programs or help students increase those skillsets with internships and things of that nature. Then we will have a workforce of people that will be able to work for those jobs. She mentions her husband and son are perfect examples of this. Tim owns Tim Herndon Plumbing and has built that from the ground up. The best education is a hands on one and that can come via school or digging a ditch. There are multiple paths to success and she wants to make sure that kids have access to programs to help with building their skills, regardless of the path they choose to go. The county can help with this by those partnerships she will look to build.

She is big on community engagement, as you will see in a bit, and feels that the community working together can address many of our issues.

Budget:

When I asked her about her plans for the budget, she asked me a question in response... "Are we spending to the best of our ability?"

She wants to do an in-depth audit of the budget, but not what you would think. She would not necessarily be looking for fraud since that likely does not exist due to existing audits, but rather, are there things we are spending money on that we no longer need or use?

She wants to take the approach like Sheriff Vincent took when taking over the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. He went in and started looking at expenses and what could be cut without sacrificing services. She wants to take a similar approach. What are we spending money on that we do not need to spend money on. Start eliminating those things and freeing up money for important things like roads.

Sales Tax:

When asked if she would support a sales tax, she said it would depend on what the data suggests. She wants to see what the true numbers are and how they would be used before she could say if she could support it or not. She also wants to explore other alternatives before she would approve taxing citizens more money. If she could find ways to cut the budget, we may not need a sales tax as the money could come from the cuts. She would also pursue state and federal grants as much as possible to help reduce the burden on property owners.

Important Thing:

I asked her what she felt was the most important thing for her as a commissioner. She said that the most important thing to her was the community. She wants people to have a voice in the process of government. Far too often they feel they don't have a voice.

She wants people to be able to trust her to do the right thing and make decisions that are for the greater good of the county. That is what she has done over her 16 year career in the school district. She understands that people will not always agree with her choices, but she made it clear every decision she would make would be made with a thought of future generations of Citrus County.

She made it clear that she will be accessible to everyone either by phone, email or in person meetings. She wants to get out in the community and listen to what people have to say. Often, the best ideas are made by others and she wants to listen to what others have to say.

To her, community involvement is one of the most important things an elected official can do. She wants to be the person that people can come to with their issues knowing she will do her best to get them answers. She wants to be the person people can trust to do the right thing for the county.

"I am running for our future"

Election season is about to kick into high gear