District 1 County Commissioner Raemi Eagle-Glenn discussed overcrowding at the county animal shelter in her first community meeting seven hours after she took the oath of office last Tuesday.
She asked if high school volunteers and a food bank might mitigate staffing and overcrowding issues at the shelter, which implemented a temporary closure Wednesday. The first conservative county commissioner to serve since 2014, Eagle-Glenn sat alongside the four other commissioners in the Jack Durrance Auditorium June 28. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Eagle-Glenn to fill the vacated District 1 seat June 9.
“I am here with joy and love in my heart for this community,” she said. “But it also has been the fight that has gotten me here.”
The last time Eagle-Glenn was in the chamber, she said, she was asked to leave because she was not wearing a mask. She filed a civil rights complaint toward the Alachua County Commission for its face mask order in May 2020.
Honorary Judge Craig DeThomasis performed Tuesday’s swearing in ceremony.
“Even if there are some people here who don’t agree with me, I welcome you,” Eagle-Glenn said.
“Hopefully, you will find this commission actually does share some of the things that are important to you,” District 4 Commissioner Ken Cornell said.
Commissioners probably have a lot more they can agree on than disagree on, District 3 Commissioner Anna Prizzia said.
“I hope we can find those areas of common ground rather than areas of spite,” she said.
Eagle-Glenn will occupy the seat until Nov. 15 — seven days after the next general election.
She has also filed to run for the seat against former commissioner Mary Alford, who resigned due to a residency violation May 16.
Contact Mickenzie Hannon at mhannon@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @MickenzieHannon.
Mickenzie is the local elections reporter and previously covered city and county commission for The Alligator’s Metro Desk. She's a fourth-year journalism major and is specializing in data journalism. When Mickenzie isn’t writing, she enjoys watching horror movies, reading, playing with her pets and attending concerts.
