Editor's Note: Over the course of a week, The Apopka Voice Managing Editor Reggie Connell sat down with several elected officials and candidates for office in Apopka. The first feature from those interviews is Apopka City Commissioner Diane Velazquez.
Years ago, I asked the commissioners to define their roles on the Apopka City Council.
"There is little guidance in the City Charter," I wrote... " ...so in a way, it's up to each commissioner to decide."
No one took that question to heart more than Commissioner Diane Velazquez.
"It’s my opinion that one of the most important roles a city commissioner has is to encourage the residents in the community to get and stay involved in the process of governing our city," she said in 2017. "I think that whenever possible, our residents should attend city council meetings and express their will by participating in our local elections. The concerns of our residents and of our business community are important. They should be discussed and considered when city officials take action and make decisions that will affect the community."
I sat down with Velazquez earlier this month at Canon Coffee to catch up on all things Apopka and get her thoughts on issues before the City Council. As has always been the case, she didn't hold back. Armed with her briefcase full of research notebooks, she opened the discussion by bringing up my question from years ago and the importance the role of commissioner has become to the Apopka City Council.
In her nine years in Apopka politics, Velazquez has appeared on six ballots, which came in three general elections, two runoffs, and one special election. Velazquez won the Seat #2 election in 2014, lost in a runoff in 2018, won it back in a special election and runoff in 2020, and defended it in 2022.
By any standards, she is a survivor, and upon Commissioner Kyle Becker's departure from Seat #3 in 2024, Velazquez will emerge as the vice mayor of Apopka.
Now, six years after answering my question, her response in 2023 has evolved.
"It's important to define our role," Velazquez said. "That became evident following the death of Austin Duran."
Duran was the Apopka firefighter who died from injuries sustained while trying to move a sand trailer at Fire Station #1 on June 30th, 2022, without training on how to handle the dangerous apparatus that had been stuck in a garage for years because of its inefficiencies. To date, no one has been held accountable, and Apopka Fire Chief Sean Wylam spiked an attempt to investigate the accident by the AFD Safety Committee. Wylam cited a pending lawsuit brought to him by then-city Attorney Michael Rodriguez as the primary reason he stopped the committee. It was this instance that triggered the commissioners to take the actions they could.
"The council lost confidence with the city attorney, and it lost confidence in the whole process of how we were addressing that young man's death," Velazquez said. "I think that was the beginning of a lot of division and anger. It was almost like they were trying to blame the young man for his own death."
Velazquez was also taken aback by an email she received from the City Administrator, Chuck Vavrek, who blamed the commissioners for the city's inability to hire an economic development director and full-time city administrator.
"He's blaming us for these positions not being filled. He's blaming the tone of the council that no one wants to come to work for us."
Velazquez contends that hiring former Seminole County County Manager Joe Abel to become the next Apopka City Administrator and then withdrawing his offer a few days later is the more likely reason it's tough to fill positions in Apopka.
"It is why they don't want to come because they saw what happened to Joe Abel," she said. "I mean, he literally was hired. He was already in the process. I wondered what happened. I don't know. I mean, I interviewed him. I sat with him. I was comfortable with him. I thought he was a good candidate. I really did."
Homelessness in Apopka has also been at the forefront of issues the City will need to take on. Velazquez is supportive of the Apopka Resource Center, a local non-profit organization that wants to consolidate homeless services together under one location. However, she believes it will take more than this volunteer-based organization to combat the growing epidemic effectively.
"I really support what they do because we have a lot of different churches that are providing different services," she said. "You have one that washes their clothes and lets them take a shower. Another one feeds them once a week, and we've one who feeds them out in the street... I mean, they all are providing different services to make sure that the homeless get food and clothing. But what we don't have is housing... what we don't have is a specialized person to deal with the addiction or their mental health... which are two major things that are causing a lot of the homeless to be homeless. Families are losing their homes because they don't have the finances in order to stay. So that's a whole different level of homelessness. And so the churches want the City to provide a resource center, which we don't have, yet they all provide services."
Velazquez would like to see the churches involved in the ARC look at their own properties for a possible location for the center.
"A lot of these churches have huge grounds," she said. "You see the property that some churches have... and they are available in some cases five days a week. Different churches are open but provide a service, and you all work together, and you start the program, you kind of get it going. But no, they all are waiting for the City to give them a building so that they can all gather there."
Velazquez also believes they need to get things in place before asking the City for assistance.
"They need to have their 501-C3 in place. They need to be organized. They need to have a plan. Volunteers can't treat mental illness and the other problems that need specialized training;, they need to have something in place. They don't have that. And I don't think it's fair for taxpayers to provide them such a large resource."
Matthew's Hope is a full-service homeless facility in Winter Garden. Scott Billue is the founder and CEO. Velazquez would like to see a facility like Matthew's Hope in Apopka.
"He's got something he's already established. He's got the personnel. He's got everything."
She also points out that Matthew's Hope is already servicing a number of Apopka homeless.
"He is picking up the homeless in Apopka and providing what they need. He invests in them. I would love for him to sit down and talk to us."
After Velazquez lost Seat #2 in 2018, she could have retired and lived her life as a private citizen in Apopka. But she chose a different path.
"When I lost, I stayed involved because I care about the city," she said. "It allowed me to work more and to really participate in the things I enjoyed. I love Kiwanis. I love being in the schools. I love working with young people."
She also extended her portfolio when she accepted an appointment to serve in the Orange County Government.
"I was given an opportunity by Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore to serve at the county level with the Planning and Zoning Commission," she said. "That opened up a door for me to understand true government procedures behind the scenes."
After losing in 2018, Velazquez came back to Council with three electoral victories and a lot more experience, but her love of the community is the same. Here is how she ended her response to defining the role of commissioner in 2017:
"I’ll always encourage and invite all our community members to be part of and experience the process of democracy by being accessible and accountable. Additionally, I think that one of the most important and rewarding aspects of being your elected City Commissioner is that it has allowed me to meet so many caring, hardworking, and decent people who make up the Apopka community. It’s not just individuals and families but also local business people who care and service our community. I consider it a privilege and an honor to be your voice and representative as a member of the city council."
It may be 2023, but at her core, Velazquez strives to be that definition of a commissioner from 2017 - a voice for the community.
