- March 14, 2025
MELISSA HOLLAND
AGE: 41
FAMILY: Married, 3 children
QUIRKY FACT: Doesn’t like her food to touch; eats from a bifurcated bowl
BIO: Milissa Holland was elected to the Flagler County Commission in November 2006 as its first female commissioner. She was elected chairwoman in 2008 and won a second term in 2010 unopposed. During her tenure she has served on a variety of state, regional and local boards and committees, including 1,000 Friends of Florida, Northeast Florida Regional Council, Flagler County Future Committee and the Workforce Development Board. She chairs the Tourist Development Council and founded Feed Flagler. Milissa was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1971, and moved to Palm Coast in 1987.
What can the state do to make Florida a better place to do business?
Small businesses make up the greater part of our economy in Florida. We certainly have tourism and agriculture as two predominant entities and industries. So I think first and foremost we have to make sure that we’re focusing on those industries, not to lose those industries. It’s one thing by creating a new economy for the long term; but for the short term those two entities really do create a lot of jobs. They support other small businesses, so focusing on those two areas are significant and should be a priority in the state.
Going back to small businesses, I think that we need to find ways to create those innovative processes in which they have the opportunity to expand and grow overall. You know there’s a thought that if each small business in the state of Florida added one new person to their business the unemployment rate would decrease significantly. There’s some truth to that, but we need to support those businesses and see how they can develop further strategies by expanding. For those that are looking to come into the state, we work with Enterprise Florida, we work with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, we work with all of the 11 regional councils, in a way that we kind of create this effective dialogue to see what separates us from other states that are competing. We’re more targeted on how we do that, and I think we have to be more targeted.
We’re not going to be everything to everybody, so if we focus on technology for instance, we have to make sure that we have the adequate infrastructure in place and the adequate workforce. There needs to be a comprehensive solution; it can’t be just one size focusing on just one arena. I think you need to take a multi-faceted approach to the equation, and it’s not going to be easy. You have to roll up your sleeves, you have to do the work required, you have to set your priorities, you have to focus on how you’re going to make those investments in those areas, and that’s what kind of creates that economy that you know is going to continue to thrive for generations to come.
What should the state do in regards to education?
It actually kind of parlays into your first question; I believe a strong education system in any state actually opens up a lot of economic opportunities for that state. For a long time, the state has been focusing on standardized testing as a means for measuring those outcomes on student preparation and advancement, and I don’t think we can do that. I think that standardized testing is one thing, and it’s one measure, but it’s not everything, nor should it be. I know when I was growing up I remember my teachers because they challenged me. They challenged me to become who I am today. It was a big part of my childhood. Teachers today don’t have that ability because they’re just constantly focusing on the FCAT and how they prepare for that and make sure that children are passing and it’s a lot more to do with memorization rather than igniting that creative thinking.
I think we need to overhaul the education system in the state of Florida. We need to set those goals on how we make those investments. I’m a strong advocate for STEM and making those investments. I think obviously technology is advancing quite rapidly in our economy, as well as internationally. So for us to kind of have a seat at the table, to set those standards high, I think the teachers deserve it, the children deserve it, our residents deserve it, and we’re going to be really focusing on how we actually change the discussion.
My daughter’s been a part of the Community Problem Solvers group since seventh grade. It is an amazing program where she has been able to compete statewide in these critical thinking standards, and it’s actually helped her tremendously. There’s a component that I believe is missing in our education system today. How are we preparing our children to go out into the workforce? How are we preparing those children to take the next step for college?
There’s a big disconnect on where we’re setting our priorities, and I also think the local control is something that is severely lacking. There is limited ability to define their education priorities. So giving them that ability I think would create a greater level of expertise and scale and excellence by having those local school boards make the determination on what type of curriculum they would like to see within their school district. And if they’re focusing on one different area, and maybe Duval County or St. Johns County or Volusia County wants to focus on a different area. We’re all sort of achieving those goals, and we’re making wise investments in the future and we’re spending tax dollars wisely.
What is your view of the state budget? What changes do you hope to see if you’re elected?
Well I think that goes back to the investments that are being made. I think that Medicaid is going to continue to grow, and the roles are going to continue to grow unless we actually sit down and do the work required to change that system and change how we monitor and manage that system. The reason why Medicaid continues to grow is because a lot of the users under their system are going to the emergency room in lieu of going to primary care physicians, because a lot of primary care physicians don’t accept Medicaid as a form of insurance. So our emergency rooms, which they customarily do, they see a patient, they order a bunch of tests and whatever the tests show they provide care. But they’re still going back there for further treatments.
So the system is not managed as a whole. It continues to grow not only because of the economy and times are tough and the high unemployment rate and there’s more users on the system, but if you look how it’s grown over time, they’re not managing the system. If you look what we’ve done here in Flagler County for our employees’ health care clinic for example: We did an analysis based on the users of the system, and what we determined was there was a tremendous amount of waste in spending where we’re not managing our care. Our employees were not taking advantage of generic medication. They were utilizing regular prescriptions, and that was a significant cost to our system. They were not using their HMOs or PMOs; they were actually going out of the system because there wasn’t an incentive for them to do anything else.
So we made that investment, opened up the health care clinic, and actually incentivize our employees to use that. We did a lot of trends and tracking historically in which we looked at what primary medications were being utilized so we could then stock those in our health care clinic. Last year we saved over $500,000. Now on a larger scale, I don’t see why something like that could not be adopted in the state of Florida. The city of Palm Coast has done it in regards to the Mediquick clinic with their users of the system.
So it’s just managing the system to ensure that there’s not out-of-control spending and not unnecessary tests that are being ordered and that there are opportunities for the users of the system to maybe go to a certain clinic that’s much more managed rather than just the emergency room, seeing a doctor’s visit, and building up that care. So that’s a significant part of our budget and we know it’s going to continue to grow; it’s just simply not sustainable. It actually minimizes the other investments we could and should be making using tax dollars.
School system education is another significant part of the budget, and I’m not talking about throwing more money at the school system. I’m talking making wise investments. I’m talking that overhaul of priorities and ensuring that we’re utilizing those tax dollars with a rhyme or reason or mission with a strategic plan attached to it to develop those skills. And we have public safety as another big predominant cost throughout the state. It’s funny actually, because as a commissioner I’ve always said no one wants to talk about spending money on public safety until they need it. People don’t necessarily connect that a fire truck costs $300,000, yet when it comes to saving a life, that’s sort of priceless.
So there is a cost attached to government services that historically — I like it when these businesspeople come in and say that we need to run government like a business. And there’s parts of it that you can actually look at running it and managing it, just like with the health care system. But not public safety; you never want to make sure you’re making profits off your public safety services. It’s not achievable and at the same time we’re talking about lives at risk. So that system is strong throughout the state. But these unfunded mandates — I’ll tell you we’re building more prisons than we are schools and hospitals in the state of Florida. There’s a significant problem with that.
What makes you the best person to represent district 24?
Well you know, I’ve represented Flagler County for six years. I’ve done so in a way that I think I’ve demonstrated the ability, that I’ve earned the voters’ trust to now take this step and have the better ability than any other candidate that’s running to actually start from day one and understand the technical aspects of Tallahassee. I remember one of the first times I had gone to Tallahassee, it was quite disappointing actually. I was a young commissioner going up there thinking, “There’s going to be a huge amount of debate on the senate and house floor.” And I was sitting up there and wondering why no one was down there and why discussions weren’t taking place, and I quickly learned that it’s all decided in the committees. And as it advances, its determined way before it gets to a vote, which is disappointing. And I think, you know, I like debate, I like challenging others, I like creating that discussion, and those always provide better outcomes.
The other time I had gone to Tallahassee was at the request of the city of Palm Coast. The mayor contacted me; I was chair of the commission at the time, and he stated that FDEP and FDOT, both secretaries were requiring the city of Palm Coast to build a walkover on Old Kings Road. It would have cost in excess of $4 million for the city to do that. The city asserted that that was not necessary, and they felt it wasn’t a wise expenditure for our tax dollars to be spent in that manner. So we had to go and argue before the governor’s cabinet; it was a bipartisan governor’s cabinet, Gov. Crist at the time, and what was interesting to me was that both secretaries were sitting in the room. Jon (Netts) and I looked at each other and said, “Well, this is going to be interesting,” because these secretaries were actually appointed by the people we’re actually arguing in front of. But we did prevail, and we prevailed unanimously in that instance.
So I’ve been to Tallahassee legislating on behalf of the residents for the last six years. I have been there every legislative session; I have been there to fight legislation, I have been there to voice my opinion on certain legislation, and I’ve been very active in regard to a certain development in our community that was being proposed in my district (Hammock Dunes). That ended up going before the cabinet and we prevailed unanimously again.
So I believe that I brought that to the table. I do have an understanding of the problems that we’re facing today. This district I’ve been involved with not only local level, but I’ve also served on several regional boards. I have formed unbelievable collaborative relationships with every elected official within this district. I have worked with them, I have spoken to them over the last six years, and we’ve come up with joint solutions and that’s given me the ability to kind of focus on the areas that I know that I would be able to realistically achieve some goals. Obviously one being education, and we talked about how I really see us moving in that direction.
But I think a representative should actually bring representation to a district in two different ways. One is representing the constituents of the district, and you do that on day one. And it’s their issues of the day. If there is a piece of legislation that they see is going to be unbelievably detrimental to their community, you go and fight for them. You go and make sure that their voices are heard in Tallahassee. That’s the representation that I think has been severely lacking for some time. And whether it be beach restoration projects, I mean there’s a multitude of issues that are going on within our communities currently today that I know need that voice in Tallahassee. And it’s just the everyday regular constituents and residents that just may have a need or a question or concern. So I think that is something you focus on as a representative.
And the other thing you can focus on are statewide issues; how you can be part of the conversation by creating that change that’s necessary to create this viable economy that we know we have the potential of tapping into. Our areas of focus have just not been there in my opinion.
