Q&A: Denise Calderwood: County Commission, District 4 challenger

Palm Coast Observer
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Denise L. Calderwood

AGE: 46
CITY OF RESIDENCE: Palm Coast
YEARS LIVED IN THIS COMMUNITY: 38 years
HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Volunteering, sports, reading, writing and spending time with family and friends.
FAMILY: Married to Richard Calderwood for 25 years; two stepchildren, Kristy and Adam; and one grandchild, Jordan.

Explain how your professional career so far has qualified you for this position.
As a small business, I have had to interact with Flagler County staff on a number of grant projects, including Brownfield and economic development, arts, health and social services. This year, working on behalf of Flagler’s not-for-profit agencies, I was responsible for bringing in $800,000 and creating four jobs. I have a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in planning and criminal justice.
I am the only candidate who has worked for Flagler County government. I was a deputy sheriff with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, and I worked as a health educator and community organizer for the Flagler County Health Department. I started the youth center here in 1998 and managed it for over five years. I was a volunteer firefighter in the county, and I currently serve on numerous committees that provide input to the County Commission and statewide agencies.

For challengers, what do you disapprove of most in the incumbent’s service in the most recent term?
I disapprove of the manner in which major decisions are being handled by the incumbents. I think it was disgraceful the way the hospital purchase was accomplished, and it appears the decisions were made behind closed doors. Several citizens only found out about the purchase after the fact. The current administration has a way of voting for major items after a workshop when a special meeting is called. And the topics of the workshops are very seldom announced, making it very difficult for the average citizen to be in the know about what is going on with their money. I am also concerned about the appearance of Sunshine Law violations, happening all the time.

What would you contribute to this office that you feel your opponent can’t?
I am a property owner in Flagler County, and I pay taxes here, which my opponent does not. He claims he does because he pays sales and gas taxes, but I pay those in addition to property taxes, and he is a real estate agent, whose own industry promotes home ownership. In addition, I will research issues that the citizens are concerned about, and I will study the issues affecting our county today and those in the future, and I will provide relevant comments that add to the discussion and not just pacify constituents.

What are the three most significant challenges facing your constituents today? If elected, what would you do to address the challenges?
Unemployment is a major issue in Flagler County, and we need to do more to encourage new businesses development and at the same time, we need to support existing businesses. And we need to invest in airport development projects that can be used to attract new industries to the area. I would be willing to serve in any capacity that addresses the major challenges facing us today, and I would research viable options that we can implement with existing resources.
We need to address infrastructure needs on the west side of the county, including road maintenance and drainage, mosquito and animal control and we need to ensure that there is accountability with the money collected from those special assessments. We need to re-establish the Daytona North Service District Advisory Board, especially since we have several other community developments that have their own advisory boards, so why did the Daytona North Board just disappear and it hasn’t been sunsetted — just like the Human Services Allocation Committee? I would work diligently to find volunteers willing to serve on these boards and to chair the committees, if need be, in order to get them started again because citizen input into the decision making process is paramount.
Jail costs are another challenge, and I am concerned that the design cost overruns far exceeded the estimates and that is only during the initial stages, prior to putting a shovel in the ground, so this project should be closely examined. Do we need a jail the size that is being built? If so, then we need to work more diligently on preventing crime from occurring and then provide for more early intervention and alternatives to jail sentencing so as to limit the cost of the new jail. Maybe we can use the old courthouse for these types of services.

Previous press coverage of Denise Calderwood:
Click here to view previous Palm Coast Observer stories about Denise Calderwood, here to view FlaglerLive stories and here to view Daytona Beach News-Journal stories.