Name: Ashlee Hofberger
Office you're seeking: Escambia County Commissioner - District 4
Occupation: Business Owner
Education: BS in Business - University of West Florida
August primary ballot is set.Nearly 100 have qualified to run for local elected offices
Why are you running for this office?
I want to share with you two personal experiences that have brought me to run for county commissioner.
I’m a mom. In November our two and a half year old had a Febral seizure. I came home around 6:30 PM and my husband said, “Hey babe is that you?” I walk into the bedroom and Layla is thank God breathing, but incoherent laid out on the bed. Right behind me comes the fire department. I'm so thankful they got there as quickly as they did, they took her vitals, she was stable they went on and put her on oxygen. At that point I asked dispatch, “How far out is the ambulance?” It was dead silent. I began to panic and “I said she is stable, we are less than 10 minutes from Sacred Heart, how far out is the ambulance? The best answer they could give me was, “Well they're on their way.” Digging into it, there are nights where we only have 5 ambulances on the road, and that is for the entire county. That is not enough to serve a community our size. No one in our community should ever call 911 and not be sure if an ambulance is going to be able to respond.
The second reason I’m running is to make it easier to do business in Escambia County. Our permitting processes are antiquated, and our Planning and Zoning department is lacking in efficiencies. When I submitted an interior remodel permit for our property on University Parkway, it took over 13 weeks to get an approval. We are losing the opportunity to create jobs in our community through small business because the carrying cost to do business in Escambia County is too high due to lack of automation, too much bureaucracy and little accountability.
What experience do you have that makes you qualified for this office?
I come from small business ownership. When I started Complete DKI in 2012, there were 6 of us. When we were acquired in 2021, we had 3 locations with 72 employees. I know how to scale up, I know how to deal with crisis, and I understand the importance of a balanced budget. I'm able to be proactive and not reactive to the needs of my community and those around me.
In your view, what is the role of county government?
I believe in small government. It’s the government’s responsibility to keep us safe and provide infrastructure. I believe these things should be funded and budgeted for first before any other initiatives. Government should strive to provide a business-friendly environment to promote job growth, I believe that Governor DeSantis leads the charge on this. If we look at our local government as a business, we can generate more revenue by investing wisely, giving us the opportunity to provide better services to our residents; including more sheriff officers and paramedics, better roads, streets and sidewalks.
What do you believe should be changed about the county, and what specific steps you would take to implement those changes?
I believe the county runs efficiently, something we are missing the mark on right now. We have deadly ambulance response times, with citizens waiting over an hour and a half for help. Our Sherriff’s Department is operating on a radio system older than the first iPhone. We take 7 years to redo 7 miles of interstate. We have been negotiating on OLF 8 for over 5 years. We have over 1,200 homeless people struggling in our county. If we were a business, we would have shut our doors and went home. It’s time we think more like a business and put our money where our priorities are.
- Identify our priorities and budget accordingly (public safety and infrastructure)
- Identify revenue generating opportunities and capitalize on those (tourism and education)
- Eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse (reduce bureaucracy, reduce frivolous lawsuits)
What do you believe the county is doing right, and how would you improve it?
The county has made great strides in lessening flooding and preparing for natural disasters. EOC did a phenomenal job this last storm season in communicating with residents and making sure that the severity of inclement weather was fully understood. Since the flooding of 2014, I have seen a countywide initiative to manage storm water.
To continue addressing the storm water issues in our county, we need a two-prong approach.
- Continue to investment in infrastructure and add high water-uptake landscaping
- In urban environments, incorporating these plants (willows, palm trees, switchgrass) into rain gardens and other green infrastructure can mitigate flooding by absorbing up to 30% more water than conventional grass lawns.
- Maintenance on current and future storm water infrastructure
- During Hurricane Sally, significant flooding was exacerbated by compromised drainage systems. Over 30% of the reported urban flooding issues were due to insufficient drainage capacity and maintenance failures.
