Johnson, Firstner returned to office

ANDREA MUJICA STAFF WRITER

The city of Ocoee voters made their choice, re-electing Rusty Johnson for another four years as mayor.

“I’m feeling super good, I’m telling you,” he said.

In a three-way race — according to the unofficial results on the Orange County Supervisor of Elections website — incumbent mayor Johnson collected 2,596 votes for 60.65%, former District 4 Commissioner George Oliver III tallied 1,169 votes for 27.31% and challenger Chris Adkins received 515 votes for 12.03%.

In his years as mayor, Johnson has slowly — but continuously — decreased the city’s millage rate in order to reduce the dependence on residential taxation when it comes to paying for public services, he said.

Johnson is looking forward to improving the sidewalks and streets within the city limits and has been working on opening three recreational amenities: Unity Park, Wellness Park and a new skate park at Central Park.

Johnson said he loves his community and wants to emphasize the importance behind community engagement and the importance of the improvement of the downtown area of the city — so it can be a place where people can enjoy local restaurants, shops and activities.

“My promises — I’m going to keep doing what I was supposed to do this whole time, which is represent them and make this city a better place for us all to live in,” Johnson said.

DISTRICT 1

District 1 residents voted Scott Kennedy as their new commissioner. He fills the seat most recently held by former District 1 Commissioner Larry Brinson, decided not to run for another term. In a two-man race — according to the unofficial results on the elections website — Kennedy received 617 votes for 63.02% while Hope Bellamy got 362 votes for 36.98%.

A 54-year-old native Floridian, Kennedy has been a resident of Ocoee for 18 years and is looking forward to working on traffic issues and road work, as well as improving public safety.

DISTRICT 3

Voters who reside in District 3 cast their votes, and incumbent Richard Firstner will serve another four years as their commissioner.

“It feels great; I’m finally going to get to finish a lot of the projects that we had already started that are almost complete, but I want to see them to completion,” he said.

After the polls had closed and the votes were tallied, the unofficial results on the Orange County Supervisor of Elections website showed Firstner had 540 votes with 76.38%. His opponent, Shante Munns, received 167 votes with 23.62%.

Having been serving the city for the past 28 years, Firstner — a former assistant fire chief — has been leading District 3 since 2016 when he ran for the seat for the first time. In his years as commissioner, Firstner has accomplished many goals that have helped moved the city forward and is excited to continue projects that are already underway.

“I want to work on the traffic out on Maguire Road; that seems to be the biggest concern for most people (who) live in District 3,” he said. “And I don’t know what the answers are, but I’m certainly going to look into it and order some traffic studies.”

Thanks to a huge support from his firefighter community and his wife, Doris Firstner, Commissioner Firstner is ready for another four years on the District 3 seat.

“Thank you so much for your support and standing behind me and coming out to vote today,” he said. “I had a big support from the fire department. They came out and helped me out at the polls and were out on the streets, and biggest thank you to my wife (Doris Firstner) who is my campaign manager. She made this happen for me.”