Candidate Profile: Vicente Rafael Pérez Carreño

Foreign legal consultant and attorney Vicente Rafael Pérez Carreño, 55, isn’t asking voters to take a chance on someone who’s unfamiliar with Orange County’s Soil and Water District this election. As a current associate supervisor and treasurer for the board, he said he’s already prepared to serve the community in a new role. 

“Voters are being asked to support someone who already understands the work,” Carreño said. “The responsibilities, the leadership, the importance of transparency, accountability and the careful stewardship of public resources.” 

Carreño is running for Seat 1 on the Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District board, which serves areas including Windermere, Winter Garden, Horizon West and Tildenville. On Nov. 3, he’ll face off against assistant Publix grocery manager Doug Sahr and farmers' rights advocate Quinnie Perez. Soil and Water Conservation District supervisors are unpaid, nonpartisan public officials and serve four-year terms.

Carreño immigrated to the United States in 2003 from Venezuela, where he worked as a lawyer and served as an undergraduate and graduate law professor at The Central University of Venezuela and Saint Mary University. He’s been certified by the Florida Bar as a foreign legal consultant for Venezuelan law since 2006 and is currently pending admission to the Louisiana State Bar. 

If elected, Carreño plans to focus on environmental education, local land preservation, stormwater awareness and flood resilience. He’d like to raise public awareness about how stormwater systems work, the importance of maintenance and the need for long-term planning to reduce the risk of flooding to neighborhoods and natural areas. 

“I believe that protecting our soil, water and natural resources is essential to the health, safety and future of Orange County,” Carreño said.

Here, Carreño answers questions from the News Collaborative of Central Florida.

If elected, what are the three most pressing issues you want to address and how do you propose to solve them?

1. Water Conservation and Protection of Water Quality

Orange County is facing growing pressure due to continuing growth on its water resources. My intention is to promote public education in respect to proper irrigation, water conservation, stormwater protection and best practices.

2. Flooding and Stormwater Issues

There are many people experiencing the issues related to flooding, growth, weather pattern changes and stormwater management. My position is to promote public education in the area of flood preparedness, flood maps, stormwater systems, hurricane preparedness and proper yard practices.

3. Public Education and Community Outreach

Many people do not know what exactly does Soil and Water Conservation District do. My goal is to increase visibility, transparency and accessibility of the District and to increase public knowledge about its work.

Why do you deserve to be elected to this office?

Currently, I serve as an Associate Supervisor and Treasurer of Orange Soil and Water Conservation District. I have experience in conservation, public education, outreach and environmental initiatives as a result of my professional career as a lawyer and community advocate.

I am running for this office because I believe that conservation must be practical and community-oriented. My aim is to connect residents, schools, business and organizations with practical conservation efforts.

Will you vote yes or no on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes? Explain your position and tell how would you replace the lost revenues — through fees or services cuts?

Right now, I need to study the details of the final wording, financial impact analysis and other relevant materials before making the final decision. The voters should understand completely the effects of the possible tax reduction on local governments, public services, infrastructure, environment, public safety and schools.

Being a candidate for the conservation district, I believe that it is very important to maintain fiscal responsibility by balancing the taxpayers' relief and maintaining necessary public services. Significant reduction in the revenues of local governments should be accompanied by a realistic replacement of this money.

The utility costs are going up for the customers in Florida and the data centers are supposed to cause even more issues. What should be done by Florida's utility regulators in regard to it?

Transparency, planning ahead and consumer protection are among the priorities of Florida's utility regulators. In the conditions of growing demands on electricity, they should carefully analyze the projects of infrastructure upgrades, promote energy efficiency and grid modernization.

The consumers deserve full and complete information in regards to the planned rates increases and reasons behind them. Regulators' decisions should find the balance between economic development, environmental protection, reliability and cost of utilities.

What is the biggest environmental problem that the government should deal with in Florida?

Protecting water resources is the key environmental challenge in Florida.

The economic security, public health, agricultural, tourism, etc. interests in Florida depend heavily on water resources. The growing population, development threats, stormwater run-off, nutrients contamination, flooding, etc. require the attention of local, state and regional stakeholders.

Florida should keep on investing into water conservation, watershed protection, stormwater management, environmental education, wetlands preservation and scientific resource management. Protecting water resources nowadays will help to secure the future of coming generations.