Alachua Voter Guide

To my fellow Alachua County Citizen,

With great pleasure and humility, I announce my candidacy for the Alachua County Soil and Water Conservation District, Seat 4. I look forward to serving you in this capacity, and striving to implement responsible, accountable measures to ensure the conservation of our precious county resources.

I am a first-year Law Student at the University of Florida. I graduated in May from UF with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Classical History. It is my intent in life to be a public servant. I would like to be a new breed of politician: an accountable, accessible, and responsible guardian of the citizens’ money. I believe in the importance of the free markets, the power of the individual, and the necessity of technological innovation.

I have worked as a Loaned Executive for the United Way of North Central Florida, and am a strong advocate of non-profit charity within the community. I own my own non-profit political newsmagazine, the Florida Frontier. My specialization in my work with United Way and the Florida Frontier is in grant applications.

I have attended every Soil and Water Conservation District meeting since I decided to run in March, and will continue to attend every meeting to acclimate myself to the required responsibilities of a Soil and Water Conservation District member.

The Alachua County Soil and Water Conservation District is currently predominantly funded by the sale of zoning maps. However, money exists from the state and federal level in the form of grants, a resource which we currently under-utilize. I intend to devote my abilities in applying for grants to improve the funding of our Conservation District to accomplish more within our county.

If you own land in Alachua County, this election is important to you. The State of Florida and large government entities are constantly adding large, blanket regulations to land and resource use without heeding local needs or concerns. If elected to be your conservation district representative, I would work to voice the district’s specialized needs to the state and amongst the countless agencies created to oversee resource usage in the county. I believe that the conservation district should be operated with a focus on localized, accountable programs; constantly striving to be as mindful of the will of the citizens as they are of the conservation of the county’s resources.

Please take a second to explore my website. I have included information about the Conservation District, the duties of those who hold the office, and some ideas I have to improve our operation.

I hope to have your vote in November. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please email me at griffinswcd4@gmail.com. I thank you for your time and support.

Why You Should Care

It may be easy to assume that the Soil and Water conservation district has no effect on your life, but in reality it carries considerable significance in the operation and lifestyle of every Alachua county citizen.

If you own land in Alachua County, this election should be important to you.

The conservation districts were written into Florida Law in 1937, at a time when there was little or no effort to preserve or protect Florida’s natural resources.

For over sixty-five years, the conservation districts have worked to restore and conserve local resources, as well as address significant national problems in water quality, erosion issues, and flood and other natural disaster damage.

As a citizen of both Alachua County and the state of Florida, you are faced with a multitude of regulations and areas of government oversight in the use of your private land. The State has itself become a major land owner, and now has management responsibilities for over a million acres of land. The Conservation District is a board of individuals designed to communicate between the citizen and the government, and ensure the citizen retains a say in which regulations and practices are implemented to conserve soil, water, and other natural resources.

The state and local governments have commissioned a multitude of groups and entities to oversee resource conservation. Another important task of the conservation district member is to serve as a partner and liaison between the daunting number of agencies all designed to perform the same task.

Remember, vote Bryan GRIFFIN for Alachua County Soil and Water District 4