-
Angela Eady (back row in hat) celebrates her election win and return to Kissimmee City Hall with family and friends at PG's Wings Tuesday night. PHOTO/NATALIE FEDOR
While newcomer Janette Martinez has beaten incumbent Jim Fisher for the Kissimmee City Commission seat 4, Angela Eady will return to the Commission after a two-year layoff.
Martinez, 39, is a local property manager and a paralegal for a criminal defense attorney and is a member of the Florida Bar Paralegal Association.
During the early celebrations of the results, Martinez said she was “not a confident person, but she’s feeling good,” about the early results. Her feeling turned out to be correct, with a 55-45 percent win over Fisher.
As a community activist, her platform included goals such as making the citizens feel like their voices are being heard, and working on housing efforts.
“One of the things I want to work on is trying to ease the homeless issue, we have a lot of that going on right now, and it affects the small businesses, so it kind of plays hand-in-hand," she said.
Celebrating with her at the 3 Sisters Speakeasy was her husband, children and friends, along with friends and family of Felix Ortiz, the incumbent candidate for Commission seat 2. He was defeated Tuesday by Angela Eady, who garnered 53.31 percent of the vote.
While he didn’t win this race, Ortiz said he is disappointed but he will run for public office again, specifically mentioning the 2024 Kissimmee mayoral race.
Eady served on the Commission from 2016-20 before losing in the 2020 mayor's election, so she's returning to the dais after a short break. In the past Eady has served on the Osceola Planning Commission and the Osceola Charter Review Committee.
Eady said she’s ready to get back to work to help bring the board, and subsequently the city itself back together. Her first order of business? Unity.
“There’s unfinished business,” she said. “My first order of business is to unify that board and bring us together for the good of the citizens. If there is unity on the top, the rest will follow.”
Specific issues like homelessness, affordable housing and the job crisis are on the top of her priorities, she said.
“Let's take care of one another, let's fix some of these issues,” she said. “And it all starts with communicating.”
Although her ally Jim Fisher did not win his race, Eady said she wishes him the best and that she learned a lot from him while she served alongside him in the past.
