PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — It’s been years since a Democrat held elected office in Pasco County, but that’s not stopping Jessica Stempien from making a run for county commission this fall.

Stempien says she wants to be a voice for those in District 3 who aren’t being heard in local government.

“For the last five months that I’ve been running, I’ve been hearing all around the county that residents feel like they just don’t have a voice, that no one is listening to them, regardless of the issue, whether it’s homelessness, substance abuse, flooding, development or managing growth,” she said Tuesday.

Stempien is running against Republican Kathryn Starkey, who is looking to be reelected to a third term on the Pasco County Commission. She’s been actively involved in public service in Pasco for almost three decades.

“I just put a lot of time into learning about how to help this community be better, because when I moved here in 1992, it had a long way to go,” Starkey said Tuesday. “And I’m really proud of where we are today from where we were then, and so I hope to continue that momentum in the next four years.”

Starkey has been a strong advocate for workforce and economic development, and she spoke with Spectrum Bay News 9 while standing outside of an empty building in Holiday, just east of U.S. Highway 19, that will ultimately be renovated to become a workforce innovation training center.

Growth and development

Starkey is proud of planned developments in communities such as Bexley, Starkey Ranch, and Asturia.

“I think we’ve had a good plan on how to make sure that as we grow, we grow well. Because we will be growing,” she says. “Pasco County is one of the most sought-after counties in the United States. We don’t have the ability to lock the doors at our borders. So then the alternative is, let’s grow well.”

Stempien is a founding member of the Sierra Pines Coalition, which works on stormwater and flooding issues in the county. She met with Spectrum Bay News 9 on Tuesday in the Meadowbrook Estates neighborhood in Lutz, where there have been flooding issues for years. Anger and frustration about a proposed development there prompted her candidacy, she says.

“The last straw for me and the reason I felt that residents weren’t being listened to is when it came to this development,” she said. “I felt like it wasn’t clear what the process was and when the residents could be involved. In fact, we had to hire our own attorney and an engineer to be our advocates and to make sure that the stormwater management systems that they were permitting we’re not going to impact us, and to be prescriptive enough to stop the flooding.”

Ridge Road Extension

Construction began earlier this year on the approximately 8.6-mile extension of Ridge Road in the county, which is expected to take pressure off the existing east-west roads of State Road 52 and State Road 54. But environmentalists have objected, saying that the project will destroy the largest remaining wildlife preserve in Pasco County.

“We made that road as environmentally friendly as possible so that the wildlife can go back and forth, and I think… that people will find it to be a really good asset to the community,” Starkey said. 

Preservation is one of Stempien’s top campaign issues, and she says that the Ridge Road Extension is an example of a loss of preservation.

“It’s really important that we take a big picture look at preservation and how it can benefit us,” she says. “Not just for wildlife habitat, but also for flood control. And flood control means that our national rating goes up, and that means your insurance rate goes down. So it’s time that we looked at the big picture.”

Times story on Sheriff's intelligence program

In September, the Tampa Bay Times reported on the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office intelligence-led policing program, which aimed to stop crime before it happened. But the paper reported that it “turned into a system of organized harassment.” 

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco later criticized the report.

Spectrum Bay News 9 asked the candidates their opinion on the report.

“I think using data is a good thing,” Starkey says. I just think that there may been a few officials who got a little overzealous, and I’m sure they’re looking at that.”

“For me, I don’t want to see any of our residents get harassed,” Stempien said. “I do support the parts of that intelligence-led policing in which they’re working with the opioid task force and really trying to track overdose deaths.”

In the other county commission race on the ballot next week in Pasco, District 5 GOP incumbent Jack Mariano faces Democrat Brandi Geoit and Victor Rodriguez, who isn’t affiliated with any party.