When Alachua County voters elect their next county commissioner for District 1 — which runs across the southern part of the county from Ledwith Lake north through Riceland and from Archer east through Micanopy — they will choose between Democrat Mary Alford and Republican Lizabeth Doebler.
Alford is the incumbent, having been elected twice previously. Doebler is new to the political scene. In interviews with WUFT, the candidates discussed their goals and motivation.
Mary Alford
Alford, 63, has a background as an engineer. She has found her professional experience, which has ranged from running a power plant to working on affordable housing, directly applicable to her current role as a county commissioner.
“And I think that background in sustainability helps me reframe things in a way that helps people understand the environmental side of those arguments and how important that is,” she said.
Alford’s work in public service began after making observations about issues in Alachua County through her work as an engineer on various urban development projects when she owned her own business, Sustainable Design Group.
She began volunteering for non-profit organizations and advisory boards on topics like code enforcement and environmental protection.
“After a while, I just became incredibly frustrated, and that’s why I ran for office,” she said.
As previously reported by Mainstreet Daily News, major issues Alford hopes to address upon reelection include “well-maintained roads, fire protection, public safety and an effective and efficient jail, organized emergency management, parks and recreation, [and] public health.”
Alford said affordable housing also remains a huge endeavor at the top of her list of goals.
“When I think about running for office – if you think about the responsibilities of being a county official – I boiled it down to a pretty simple sentiment, which is to help [the] safety and welfare of the citizens of Alachua County, and a balanced budget. And so if you put, you know, those things together, then that's kind of the list that I come up with of the things that our county needs right now,” she said.
Alford said she measures her initiatives against a scale of sustainability.
“And when I talk about sustainability, I want to talk about it from the point of view of not just the environment, but the sustainability of something financially and the sustainability of something from an equity point of view,” she said.
One of her current initiatives is working with Sante Fe College to create a six-month training program to equip future workers to provide more childcare options. According to Alford, only about 40% of parents of preschool-aged children have access to good childcare in Alachua County. She hopes to see more parents working and able to provide for their families above the poverty level and more women recruited in 24-hour fields such as law enforcement and fire rescue.
She’s also supporting a three-year county program that aims to learn about east Gainesville in an effort to identify and find solutions to problems in the area. The program, called Forward Focus: Eastern Alachua County, aims to “enhance quality of life, boost economic opportunities and address community needs in the eastern part of the county,” according to the Alachua County website.
Alford first won the District 1 seat in 2020. She served until May 2022, when she resigned after a Gainesville Sun investigation found she wasn’t living in her district. Alford said her home was put up for sale while she was taking care of her mother, who was sick with cancer, outside the district.
“I had to resign and rerun. So, I did the right thing, and I think typically people reward you for making the right decision. So, I'm hoping that that is the case,” she said.
Alford said people asked her why she didn’t fight. Because of what she called “extenuating circumstances,” she could have resisted resigning, she said. She took a few months to find a place to live before resigning, but wasn’t going to “continue to do something knowingly wrong,” she said.
Alford doesn’t see this election as unique, except for an increasing awareness of climate disruption as an issue needing to be addressed.
“I'm running a carbon-neutral campaign. I make very careful decisions about how I spend my campaign dollars. And I don't do mailers, and I print [a] very limited number of signs, and all of that's because I'm considering the carbon footprint of what I'm doing. And I, you know, I'm hoping that that kind of thinking will begin to permeate all of our decision-making,” she said.
Alachua is a blue county, and the District 1 seat on the county commission is no different. A Democrat has occupied the position for over 20 years. But Alford doesn’t see political party as particularly important in choosing a good commissioner.
“It actually frustrates me that county commission seats are Democrat [or] Republican, because so many of our decisions have very little to do with things that are partisan,” she said.
She doesn’t want to be supported on solely a party-line basis.
“And I happen to be a Democrat, but some of my best donors are actually Republicans. So, I hope that I’m being supported because I’m doing a good job at those very basic things,” she said.
Lizabeth Doebler
Doebler, 72, has worked as a medical professional for 50 years. She’s a self-described “people-person.”
“Because I care about people. I always have,” she said of her motivation for her work.
Doebler said she has heard that people in the medical industry have rescuer complexes – meaning they’re always wanting to save people. This might apply to her, but she’s carried lessons from her time in the field into her political campaign, she said.
“You take care of the problem – you don’t let it fester and get bigger and bigger and bigger until the patient’s dead” she said.
She’s never run for political office. Her public service record consists of volunteering as well as fundraising for organizations like Kids Helping Kids, Shriners Hospital and the Haile Plantations Kitchen remodel – a local initiative. She was the Senior President of Children of the American Revolution for 19 years, she said. Mainstreet Daily News reported that she was “teaching children about patriotism, history and love of country.”
Doebler decided to run after identifying problems with the county’s spending and prioritization. She cares about fixing roads, protecting the water supply and lowering taxes. She laments the county’s spending to turn the West End Golf Course into a nature walk and the purchase of the Budget Inn, Scottish Inn and Sunrise Inn in an effort to create affordable housing. She said the hotels have been sitting, largely unused, since their purchase.
“These are the things – the reasons I see – that made me angry” she said.
Wild Spaces Public Places is an Alachua County initiative that charges residents a surtax, which is “being used to acquire and improve environmentally sensitive lands and to create, improve and maintain parks and recreational facilities throughout Alachua County,” according to the City of Gainesville website.
Doebler said the program has raised $90 million in 10 years. The cost to repair roads is approximately $1 million per mile, she said. She describes this allocation of funds as another waste of taxpayer money.
When she told people she was running, their first complaint was about roads, she said.
“For God sakes, please do something about the roads,” she said they told her. The drive to her Micanopy home is bumpy and ridden with potholes.
Road repairs in the area have been proposed, she said, but nothing’s been done. She said locals are ignorant about the county’s neglect of this issue.
“It’s not that people are stupid. Stupid is knowing and not caring,” she said.
Millage tax rates are another issue on her list. A handout she distributed to visitors at a meet-and-greet she hosted at her home breaks down her argument against the current rates. Though rates have been lowering over the last seven years, as per the Alachua County website, tax rates for homeowners have generally been climbing as property values increase.
“The current BOCC proposed budget right now is for $866,000,000. This is ALL sources of taxes, fees, grants etc. When broken down this [is] $3092 per resident. OR a more damning way to say it is $12368 per family of 4!” the handout reads.
Doebler questions why there’s no local water treatment plant for residents of District 1.
“A lot of people couldn’t even flush their toilets or take a shower for a couple days after the storm. And that’s just craziness” she said.
Locals also lack a nearby police station, a grocery store and a bus stop. Doebler said transportation is already difficult for residents, as many are elderly and have limited mobility. With this year’s proposed budget representing a $100 million increase from last year, she criticizes the lack of initiative on the part of the county to change these things.
“We’re tired of being ignored and we’re tired of being forgotten,” she said.
Doebler, who is running as a Republican, expects it to be difficult to win. She said people don’t know or understand the issues at play in this election, but instead may vote only along party lines, choosing a Democrat no matter what.
“You know, they, I'm sure they're fine people, you know? But, I don't know. I was raised that you take care of this. You know, you take care of what you have and you don't buy something else and then just let it sit there to rot. And you live within your means. And if you want something, you save up for it. Right now, Alachua County is in major deficit as far as owing. So then, pay everybody off. You've got the money. Pay everybody off before you start any of this other stuff,” she said.
Doebler hopes to accomplish her goals by cooperating with other commissioners.
“You have to be able to work with people. And you have to be able to work with the other commissioners,” she said.
