The 2024 Apopka municipal elections are still 130 days away, but already the field is starting to fill up. On Monday, a third candidate filed with the Apopka City Clerk to run for the city commission.
Darryl Richardson, an investor at Three Odd Guys Brewing in Apopka, posted the following statement on his Facebook page:
"I am excited to announce that I am officially filing today to run for City Commissioner, Seat 3 in Apopka in the 2024 election. The seat is currently held by my friend, Kyle Becker, but as you may know, that seat will be open for election.
I am more than happy to come to your home to discuss my platform and have you sign the needed petition.
Please feel free to message or call me if you have any questions.
I thank you in advance for your encouragement and support."
According to a bio sent by Richardson, he was born in Augusta, Ga., and the son of Army Col. John Richardson and Elsie Richardson. He's married with two children. He's lived in the Orlando area for over 30 years - the last six in Apopka.
Richardson's career started in Florida in the late 1980s in the commercial printing business, focusing on the computer systems required and moving into the Cyber Security and Data Governance roles with locally based Symantec/Veritas. Currently, he is with Egnyte, a SAAS-based data Governance tool. His title is Data Governance Architect, and he sees a need to protect the security and integrity of privacy data across the globe.
Richardson says he is passionate about Apopka and its continued improvement. As a part of Apopka’s very own Three Odd Guys Brewing, Richardson sees firsthand the need to progress Apopka into a destination like other cities in the central Florida area.
"I would like to impact positive change for Apopka," he said. "There is so much negative news about the city, especially lately. I want Apopka to be an amazing place to live, and people want to come here."
He lists 'turmoil, negative publicity, and not finishing what we started' as the biggest issues facing Apopka, and he has ideas on how to improve the city.
"I will do everything I can do to change the way the city approaches issues and projects," Richardson said. "Look at Camp Wewa. The city purchased it and it is not ready to be used as of today due to not being in code, according to multiple sources. This is one example. City workers are disgruntled, I hear it every day. We need to take care of the ones that take care of us."
Richardson is an investor at Three Odd Guys but also owns a large stake in the brewery and spends a lot of time working on-site.
"My wife and I are hands-on and spend the majority of our weekends in the taproom," he said.
Richardson will face Nadia Anderson in the Seat #3 election. Anderson owns a local real estate agency and filed to run in the Seat #3 election in September.
Eric Mock, who is a real estate agent and a member of the Apopka Planning Commission, filed to run for Seat #4 in September as well. He will presumably face incumbent Seat #4 Commissioner Nick Nesta.
Richardson also announced his campaign kickoff/meet-and-greet scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, November 9th at Three Odd Guys Brewing.
Election day in Apopka is March 19th, 2024.
