Jennifer Thompson

From Voter:

I attended the candidate forum last night (July 21) and as a small business owner living in Avalon Park I was interested in your answers to several questions.

Specifically I am glad to hear you are committed to job creation as a primary goal.  Can you give three examples of what you will do in your role at Commissioner to facilitate private sector job creation?

You discussed the need for finding an additional location for the UCF Research Park last night so I am interested in hearing some additional concrete actions you will take.

You also mentioned you assisted the establishment of 100 companies–can you tell me a little more about your role in that process?

Thanks for your participation last night.  I’m glad to see that East Orlando has a serious candidate in the race.

From Thompson:

Thank you for your email.  I’m thrilled that you attended the forum and that you are taking the time to ask real questions.

Regarding job creation, I am a believer that it is not the role of government to create jobs, but rather to create a business-friendly environment that is predictable and fair.  With that said, here are three examples of what I will do to promote private sector job creation:

1-Eliminate government red tape. I do not know what type of business you are in or if you have ever opened a storefront or built out a commercial space, etc. but I have worked with many small business owners over the years and the stories I hear are the same across the board.  It is expensive and unpredictable in Orange County to open and run a business. For example, I recently spent some time with a gentleman who purchased a dilapidated 10,000 square foot restaurant on S. OBT that was being occupied by squatters. The property was near his home and in an area where he and his family have lived or years.  It took him 18 months to get through all the government red tape just to get his business open; all the while he was paying the mortgage and the taxes on the property.  He has since opened his business and has redeveloped the property to house multiple new businesses, including a law firm, an air conditioning company, a screen printer, bail bondsman, a call center and more.   I estimate that this redevelopment project that nearly bankrupted this small business owner has since brought in 30-50 new jobs to District 4 and Orange County.

2-Establish an Innovation Fund. You may or may not be aware, but the overall concept of ‘Innovation Way’ is to create a ‘high tech corridor that spans from the University of Central Florida on the North to the nearly developed International Corporate Park on the South and onto the Orlando International Airport” as stated in the 2003 East Orlando Visioning Study, which I co-led and co-authored.  It is my opinion that as this concept takes shape, the County needs to establish an Innovation Fund with the purpose of nurturing middle stage companies and attracting new anchor industries (like medical modeling and simulation, clean technology and a photonics clusters) into the region.  This Innovation Fund should be funded in part by private land owners and potentially a small fee on new construction within the designated corridor.

I believe that Orange County missed out on the opportunity to get started on this with the recent denial of Innovation Way East (IWE). It is my opinion that restrictions should have been placed on future housing permits that would have prevented any new homes prematurely and that a compromise should have been reached to preserve environmentally sensitive lands.  Had IWE been approved, they would have immediately funded their portion of the interchange at Innovation Way and the Beachline as well as placed $15 million into the start of an ‘Innovation Fund’.  The request by IWE was for a land use change and not to build 6,000 homes tomorrow.

3- Become a champion. This may sound cliche, but it is absolutely necessary.  General Tom Baptiste, president of the National Center for Simulation, told me recently that we are on the cusp of establishing potentially the world’s largest cluster of medical modeling and simulation companies in the world and that we are competing worldwide for this opportunity.  He said all that is truly missing are elected officials to help champion this effort.  I plan to immediately begin bringing together a team of private business leaders and any elected representative that is willing and to make sure that Orange County is the one to bring home this industry.  The  modeling and simulation defense industry in the Central Florida Research Park at UCF is a $5 Billion industry to the State and provides over 9,000 direct jobs to our community.  If we can create even half of that, it’s a home run in my book.

Regarding the expansion of the Central Florida Research Park, there is currently a letter of intent signed to expand future operations, essentially Research Park 2, into International Corporate Park.  Points 1, 2 and 3 above are necessary to make this a reality.  Additionally, Joe Wallace, Executive Director for the Central Florida Research Park has told the County time and time again, that he cannot build another Research Park without strong transportation planning and at least a limited number of executive homes within the Park.  I would go a step further that a real focus also needs to be placed on Education as these types of industries will not establish a presence in a community with anything less than a remarkable education system for both their children and their future workforce.

Finally, as to my role in helping companies within District 4.  For the most part I have spent my entire adult career in District 4 helping business.  In my role as the director of marketing at Waterford Lakes Town Center for nearly six years, I was directly responsible for helping stores get opened, attain customers and get involved in their community.  I came onboard at Waterford during the Phase 2 construction, which is everything North of the Super Target (over 100 stores).  Additionally, I volunteered as President of the East Orlando Chamber of Commerce for nearly four years.  The role of the Chamber is to help small businesses.  While I was at the Chamber, we grew from approximately 200 members to over 800 members.  I cannot count the number of conversations I have had with small business owners and new chamber members or the number of ribbon cuttings I have attended.  For nearly the last four years, I have hosted a small business networking/mentoring group called Coffee Club. We have welcomed over 3,500 people to our free group and have made countless connections that have led to increased business for folks.  Just this week, I received an email from one of our Coffee Club regulars thanking my husband and I for making a connection that has led to her largest account to date.  This account will allow her to add employees and start focusing on growing her small business.

I hope I have answered your questions effectively. Sorry for being so long winded, but this is one of those areas where I am extremely passionate. I hope I can count on your vote.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Thompson
321-228-9686

From Voter:

Receiving information from your campaign, and speaking with my parents who you met, one question in my mind stands out.

I work as a Deputy Sheriff and I want to know what your plan of attack is to start funding raises and proper financial campaigns for the Sheriffs Office.  We are going on three years of no raises and are projecting another 3 years.  Everyone campaigns on not cutting law enforcement but we seem to be expected to not have to worry about our continued financial growth in a dangerous job.  What is your plan of attack for this issue?

Response from Thompson:

Public Safety accounts for half of the entire budget of Orange County – split somewhat evenly between police and fire.  The Sheriff dictates how much actually goes into your paycheck, not the County Commission.  The County Commission however does approve the overall budget for the Sheriff.  This next year, most non-public safety areas will see cuts of between 9.5% to 14% in overall budgets.  I believe the cut to overall public safety budgets are less than 3%.  This is a direct reflection of less revenue coming into the County – property taxes are down, huge burdens from the State, etc.

My plan is to bring the same type of things we do in our small business and the private sector to my role as our next Commissioner.  I’m not saying that government can necessarily be run like a small business, but owning a small business and being an entrepreneur is about a certain type of attitude, work style and willingness to do things we don’t always want to do.

My initial plan is to:

1-Call for an independent efficiency audit of all departments across the County.  This also includes organizations that the County routinely provides funding.

2-Next, I want to create an employee incentivized program whereas non-management employees make suggestions to save taxpayer dollars without decreasing levels of service.  This is very much a private sector type of program but essentially, if an employee makes a suggestion that gets implemented and results in savings to taxpayers, then the employee shall be rewarded financially based on the total overall savings to taxpayers.  There are programs like this already in place, but suggestions rarely go anywhere.  Hence, in order for it to work, I would suggest a citizens oversight committee to review all suggestions independently and make recommendations for implementation.

Both of these ideas include public safety audits and inclusion in the incentive program.  If the argument against pay increases is always that there is not enough money, then we need to either cut spending or find more money.  I also believe there are some areas as to calculating starting pay, tenure, promotions, etc that should be examined as it relates to law enforcement – but again, that is an internal issue.

I have two immediate goals when I get into office.

1-Find ways to reduce waste, improve efficiency (reduce expenses)
2-Begin working to diversify our economy and bring real jobs to Central Florida (increase revenue)

With that said, I value what you do every day and I will always work to promote that you are treated fairly. I am a small business owner and although the last few years have been very tough, my husband and I have found ways to increase employee salaries.  We run at a bare minimum and skimp on the items that would be nice but are not necessary because we know that our people are more important than fancy water and the latest and greatest in gadgets.

Hope this helps in your decision.  Please feel free to reach out to me at any point for clarification.  My cell number is below.  I am endorsed by the FOP.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Thompson
321-228-9686

It saddens me to say we might be in danger of losing the planned interchange at Innovation Way and the Beachline.

When the Board of County Commissioners voted to deny Innovation Way East two weeks ago, they also voted essentially to hold off on building this interchange – a valuable transportation component to realizing the vision for Innovation Way and potentially bringing thousands of high wage, high value jobs to our community.

Funding for this promised interchange was to be paid in part by the private land owners, the County and the Expressway Authority.

The Expressway Authority has other shovel-ready projects throughout the Region. In fact, I have been told that the Expressway Authority has already begun looking to re-purpose their portion of the Beachline interchange funds elsewhere to be put toward projects that are funded and ready to begin immediately.

What does this mean to District 4 residents and businesses, particularly in East Orange County?

• The money that was set aside to complete this important transportation corridor may be moved and spent elsewhere

• Residents and businesses are once again left with empty promises and no true timeline for improving our transportation corridors

• Innovation Way may never realize its full potential of being a multi-purpose, high-tech hub for jobs and economic diversification

• Even though East Orange County residents pay more than their fair share of toll dollars, they are once again not going to receive the benefits

Election Day is less than 7 weeks away.  If you believe that diversifying our local economy and creating the environment to provide real jobs to our fellow neighbors and future generations is important in the next four years, then I humbly request your vote on August 24th. I’m ready to get to work.