Angelo Fermo Discusses Public Service, Growth & Community Connections

Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins sit down on “The People’s Voice” with Angelo Fermo, candidate for Baldwin County Commission District 2 and retired Department of Homeland Security agent, for a conversation about leadership, public safety, growth, and the future of Baldwin County.

Drawing from his decades of experience in federal law enforcement and public service, Angelo Fermo discusses issues including responsible growth, infrastructure challenges, government transparency, and supporting law enforcement and first responders in one of Alabama’s fastest-growing regions. He also highlights the importance of relationship building, networking, and bringing people together to help move Baldwin County forward.

WATCH as Angelo Fermo joins “The People’s Voice” for a discussion about leadership, accountability, and the future of Baldwin County.

Click to learn more: https://www.angelofermo.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good evening. Welcome to WFUTV, the People's Voice Podcast. I'm Blair Castro here with Thomas Jenkins. And we have Angelo Fermo with us today, who's running for Baldwin County Commissioner District 2. He's running to fill a vacant seat that Matt McKenzie has vacated out of as he's running for sheriff, so that seat is open. Mr. Fermo, thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

No, thank you all for having me on the show. I mean, I I'm a big fan and I think it's awesome. I mean, y'all have had a great season, uh campaign season. Y'all have had a lot of uh high profile candidates on here. And I know we got a runoff coming, so I think you guys will have uh have a little bit more left to go. I can't wait to see what y'all do next. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Thanks. So what made you decide to run in this race? I know that you ran last time for a different seat. So what where was the call to jump into this county commission race?

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Actually, you know, um, Blair, that I was I was probably really out of politics altogether. Um, and then the farmers uh of Balling County got together uh sometime in at the late part of 2005, you know, uh, or and had asked me, you know, uh if I could run again and would be interested in running. And we sat down and kind of got an idea of what would benefit the farmers of Ballin County. And so we kind of came up with an idea and a plan that that was the best and um route for me. Um and then that's kind of how we got started back into it. And I had to think about it at first because it was one of these things where I just didn't want to just jump right back into it. Um kind of word had gotten out that the farmers had asked me to get back into the into the politics world. And um some people started calling me after they had heard, and that's how I ended up back here.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

So let's go into your background and experience. Can you tell us a little bit about what you did previously before um running for office? I know you have a law enforcement background. You worked for Homeland Security, believe you were a founding member. Yes. And talk to us a little bit about that and what qualifies you to run for the seat.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

So I was a police officer uh prior to 9-11, and then when 9-11 happened, um the government swooped me up and and uh sent me to South Texas. I was from a little small farming town in Mississippi. Um I went to San Antonio, Texas, and I met a gentleman um out there for Baldwin County. Um, and I'd been on the border for about you know, San Antonio working the border areas of Laredo, Nuevo Laredo down there, all the way to Eagle Pass, all the way to McIllen area. Um, and then basically he I met a gentleman named Joe Bettner who was from Baldwin County. He he liked my work ethic, and he's like, I really need you to come to Alabama with me. So that's how I transferred over here. Um, and we started doing undercover operations. Um actually I'm very proud of that. Mobile, Alabama was the home first, uh, very first federally funded undercover operation ever in the history of the United States government, which is pretty uh pretty exciting. We're working on some projects this summer to maybe try to highlight that the history behind that with, you know, uh trying to do a documentary on that. Um I worked in that field um for a couple years, and then uh my management team decided that, you know, after speaking with them that um that I would be a good fit to try to move uh up in the chain of command. I was picked at one point as one of 18 agents in the United States to go to headquarters to set up a new um national targeting center, which was uh kind of like a uh terrorist money laundering center that we helped create with uh customs and border protection. So I spent about a year and a half in D.C., but I would fly home just every other weekend because my family and everything was still back here. And uh you kind of learned the political avenues in D.C. Um, so you know basically it was told to me if you can go up there and survive in Washington, you can come back here. And if you come back with your reputation and and stuff and stuff in order, they'll promote you up the chain of command. And so I was promoted to supervisor. I started supervising my own team in 2015, and I supervised that team until I retired. I was also a supervisor at one point over the Montgomery office, and uh the running joke at one point in the state of Alabama is who doesn't work for Angelo? I had so many people working underneath me. So, you know, I I had over 20-something years inside government services and you know, how the government works, how the entities work, how the employee process works, you know, um everything from how you you know get funding for a building. I mean, when I first started here in Mobile, we were off airport um uh in Mobile, and then you know, I went through a procurement process with GSA and we built our own building and stuff like that out at Brooklyn. And I mean, and just to see where we went from a small um group to this massive uh entity that we now have. I mean, we even have the Mobile County Sheriff's Department Narcotics Unit co-located with our Homeland Security Special Agents down there at Brooklyn now, which is uh amazing to see what that that has has become. And I'm glad I was a part of it. Um and I'm glad the farmers actually asked me to get back into politics. Um I think it was it's a it's been a good calling. Uh, I've been really blessed on this run, so I I'm really happy about that.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I know that in your resume and online it has mentioned that you do a lot to protect children and that you've done some missions, I believe, that have helped, you know, rescue children. Can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 5:05

So when I was a manager in the mobile field office, I was over the human trafficking and child predator um uh group that I had, and I had some rock star agents that worked for me. Uh, and so we did a lot of that in that realm. And I think it was around 2018 or so, um, uh a group out of Orange Beach had come to me. Uh, they would call the Children's Rescue Initiative. Um, and that we started doing some work together, uh, just you know, partnering with their stuff as the nonprofit. And then when I retired, um, they had reached out to me and asked me would I I like to stay involved with them because I had the experience that I'd already had. I had a lot of contacts for in and a lot of overseas posts and stuff. And so basically what we did at that point was um we started, you know, um getting a plan together how I would come into their organization. But I did make a stipulation with them. I mean, it they wanted me to come home and start working with them. And I wanted to actually, before I committed my time and effort to CRI, I wanted to actually go and experience uh of what it was. I wanted to make sure that you know what we were doing was a just cause. And it actually was. I mean, we went over into uh Nepal um in I think it was 2022 or 2023, I went over there. Uh, we ended up rescuing over 20 children. Um, and it was a it was a great thing to do. We were working with a lot of the churches over there. Um basically you're taking these children that are, you know, in horrible conditions, literally drinking out of mud puddles and stuff, and then you're taking them and putting them into the church. And the great thing about CRI is that they actually, from the time you rescue the child to the age of 18, they fund that child each month. Um, you know, and uh it's it's amazing. And it's really not that much money, which is crazy. And I mean, you're you're talking$40 a month to house, clothe, and feed and send a child to school. Um, and I think people take that for granted a lot of times. I mean, sometimes I'll be at lunch, you know, and I'm thinking, hey, I just spent$40 on my lunch, and that could have been to, you know, helping a child overseas and stuff like that that that we helped rescue. And I mean, even on that one that I went on to Nepal, we were um working along the border off, but we would just actually went down to see the border area. And while we're down there, uh one of the police departments and uh had lost funding in the church, it was the police department working with the church and they had lost their funding. And uh when they lost their funding, they uh they they were working on a human trafficking operation where basically the neighboring country were luring women over there with the expectation they were getting jobs and they were actually going into the sex trade and they didn't even realize that. And uh we were sitting there and and they're like, Well, how much does it cost to um to fund this operation? And uh it was four thousand dollars a month, is what it was. And and we called back home and there was a gentleman over in Orange Beach named Tim Harry, and he's like, Hey, look, I I'm not gonna sit back and you're gonna call and tell me that these women are being trafficked, and I he's like, I'll just pay for it. And so he just started, he took up the role of paying for that operation, and then eventually it it moves into the organization, and that operation is still going. I mean, and it's it's been a it's been a great asset over there for for CRI and and for what we've done. Um and and like I said, it's a it's a worthy cause. Uh we've done some stuff here locally. Um, you know, we're trying to get some some projects up off the ground. I mean, I have some stuff that I can't even talk about right now that we're praying and hoping that comes through here stateside that uh is a is an aggressive program to try to help children in need.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

That's good. We definitely need the stateside programs for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Yes, absolutely we do. I mean, there's a lot here um that that that that you can definitely get involved in.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Yeah, I noticed um at the town hall in Orange Beach last night, they gave you guys an acknowledgement or some acknowledgement. I don't know if it's an award, but like they recognized you guys for your work, um you and Mr. Tim Harry. So I thought that was really cool. I had and he gave statistics about, you know, it was 200 plus, I think, children in the last couple of years just from that specific program. So that was a lot.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yeah, you know, and and Orange Beach has been amazing to us. Um they have actually opened up their uh they opened up their doors before I came on board. Like I said, that's where I originally met them operating in Orange Beach and the city of Orange Beach and the the management team from the mayors to the city council have been phenomenal. Um they've actually let us use uh some of their facilities or introduced us to people that would help get involved locally. Um, that we were doing training for a lot of the mission trips that we would go over. And a lot of times we're training somewhere between 25 to 30 people. Now, not everybody goes on a mission trip, but you're still training people in case somebody gets hurt prior to that, so you can supplement that person. Or sometimes there's two mission trips going into different parts of the world. Uh and Orange Beach has been phenomenal. Um, I wasn't there, but uh the year before last they spoke at the Orange Beach uh school over there to kind of give the the the staff and the children a kind of background of you know, you know these children in need and what what some of these operations that we do has occurred. So I thought it was great that Orange Beach acknowledged that. And I think it's great, it's great that people know what Orange Beach is doing to help other causes. So I mean it's so it's a great community.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

What's the minimum experience that y'all are that y'all look for to go on those kind of mission trips?

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Usually like what they do is for the training purposes, they actually get the resumes of people. Um they'll do, you know, because you get different people and you want to make sure because these you can't a lot of times when you go into these countries, you're gone for three weeks at a time, you know, uh, and you're stuck in a van with every group of team members. So you definitely want to be able to get along. We're not looking for people that want to go over there and try to kick indoors or hurt people or any of that. I mean, we're looking for people with good hearts. Uh we look for people that have a background in, you know, um, you know, either doing previous mission trips uh that have a have a basin that have been doing it for years, people that have military priority, you know, veterans or law enforcement is is good to have. Um really just um that can go through the training and actually that want to commit to it long term. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

So let's get into some of the issues of the campaign season. I know something everybody talks about is development. I guess where do you stand on that? And what would you say to critics that may think that you are not willing to fight over development?

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Well, you know, it's funny that that uh that conversation comes up. Um uh I think that, you know, um one of the best things that I have here uh with me and I've got through this campaign season, which is is is I'm pretty impressed with. And because I never really took a break from my last campaign cycle. I stayed involved, I stayed engaged, I've stayed engaged with uh most of the mayors throughout the county, I've stayed involved with a lot of the political entities, but also outside of that, I've stayed involved, like I said, with the farmers and some of the grassroots organization. And and if you look at my campaign through this cycle, you're talking about the development and stuff like that. Um I I'm pretty proud of my campaign. Um, and you know, as we close over these next, you know, couple days, I I'm really proud of where I'm at because if you look at it's kind of an anomaly if you think about it. I have the farmers, I have some development interests, I have uh I have the grassroots organization supporting me, um, and I have the business community. Usually all those four communities never align on the same scale under the same candidate. Uh so to me, out of the whole thing, that's probably what I'm most proud of. Um, you know, my career has always been I'm not ever gonna let anybody tell me what to do. I'm gonna do the right thing, even if it's not it's not making people happy. You know what I'm saying? And if it doesn't make sense and it doesn't make the right decision, then I'm just not gonna do it. Um and if that means that, you know, I don't make everybody happy, I mean, it is what it is. You know, I I'm being elected to represent everybody. Uh, and and I'm gonna stay that standard. I mean, I'm in my 50s now, I'm not changing who I am. You know, um, this is who I am. I'm not running for a title. Uh, you know, I really, just really want to go to work. Uh, the way I look at it is I did I had my career. Uh I have done what I set out my dream job was to do. And I got the check mark on that. I I don't need any fame or anything like that. And so as far as the development sides and stuff goes, uh I I'd like to see smart growth and development. Uh we got to work together. I I said that from the very first forum I ever did. You have the farmers, you know, they they want to pit everybody against each other. But at the end of the day, we got to work together. We all live in the same county. Uh it can't be us versus them or this and that. And I mean, it's not, you know, you're gonna have disagreements, but we all live here. We all work here. Uh, the people that are doing your developments and stuff, I mean, they're your plumbers, they're your neighbors, they're your electricians and stuff. I mean, those are people's families as far as that goes. And the farmers, they have their own uh set of ideas and stuff that they want. I mean, I just want to see everybody try to get along and work together.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

So to go into specifics on that, some of the dissent that I see in comment sections online mentioned that you've taken money from 68 ventures. Do you want to dive into that?

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Well, you know, I love that one. That one's always a good singer on that one, you know. Uh well, and and they'll say, oh, well, you're trying to mix words. No, it's not, it's not the case. Uh, you know, uh, Nathan Cox is a good friend of mine, and he has been a friend of mine for almost you know 20 years now. Uh and I met Nathan way before he was even doing what Nathan uh does, and and Nathan is a good man and he gives a lot to the community. And when uh I went to him, I think it was around 2014, and uh I needed help doing veteran events because I didn't know what I was doing. Uh, you know, I realized I needed to do something to try to give back to my community, and I wanted to start taking a role um, you know, around 2015 is I think is when I first got my first veteran event going. And I didn't know how to do it, you know, and I knew he did events. And so that's how I that relationship really started to kind of grow from there because I went to him for advice. I went to him for him, how do you do these events? Where do you host these events at? You know, uh, and that was my relationship from there. Uh, and yeah, he he's gonna support me and back me. And and uh I don't turn my back on my friends. I mean, what kind of person would I be if I did that? I mean, what kind of person would I be if I tried to lie and say, oh no, I don't I don't know him, you know what I'm saying? And I I'm never gonna be that. I mean, I'll stand by it. He's a good man. Uh, he's been great to me. Uh, he's helped me put vents together to help other people. So um, you know, is is it a development entity? You know, they're not even really building houses anymore. They've sold everything out. I mean, they're developed, they're doing the land development, but it's usually the all horn and the rest of the company stuff now. But I I that's that's the thing I'd like to say. Um, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

So what are some other issues besides the development issue that constituents are bringing forth that they really want to see a change in?

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Well, the number one thing they all complain about is the road structure. Um, I think that the road development project, I think the road stuff kind of got away from us years ago. I think that what occurred there on your road stuff is it, and it's not to them. They just it just blew up so fast. You know, I like I got here, uh, I went through the financial crisis, I came in right after Katran, and you go through the financial collapse, then you go through the BP oil spill, and then we go through COVID. I mean, there was just so much changing in Baldwin County. And then COVID put Baldwin County on the map. I used to come down here in the summers, and uh, or I mean after the summer was over with, it was the greatest time to be down in Gulf Shores in Orange Beach. You could go to every restaurant you wanted, there's no lines or waiting, and that has totally changed after COVID. Um, and now you have all these people that have moved here, they love it, they stay here. Some of them have second homes here. We have the airport in Gulf Shores now that has direct flights. I mean, so you have this, it's changed now. And and there's no, and I mean I I get it. I I miss the days when I first moved here. I love going to Walmart and knowing everybody. I miss those days, but those are gone. You know, uh I hate to say it, but it is gone. And so now we have to focus on all these people that I think the estimate is 17 people moving here a day. We now have to focus on that's not stopping. Uh, I want to see aggressive road development construction on the east to west corridors. I mean, I'd like to see a four-lane uh east to west uh to alleviate some of this traffic. And each commissioner has their own set of interests in their own area, but it would be great is if once this is, you know, the election's over with and the next cycle starts in January of next year that that we can all get on the table and try to do an arrest aggressive road development project for Balling County. I mean, it's gonna be tough at first, you know, but once you get past that, you're gonna see the traffic alleviated in some areas, which is gonna, and that's the focus of areas I see. And that's the number one complaint that I see people make on the campaign trail.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

And I think just putting that out there for whoever takes office, um, the road plan, when I was running for city council, the problem was that the county had their own plan, the city had their own plan, L Dot has their own plan, and then you know you have like federal stuff and interstates that all have their own plan. We had a candidate on here that everybody was talking about who wants to see eventually eight lanes on I-65 in the future because at this point in the six lanes is America, but really we need to think ahead and have eight lanes because you have to think about all that stuff in one code into the flow of traffic, because if you bottleneck everybody has a state road or like an LDOP project, the county and the city can only do so much, and then it just narrows back down. So just not even the question, but just keeping it in mind. I hope somebody in office can bring all those entities together to make it flow better.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Well, you know, and and you're right on that. I mean, you let's just not build for now. Let's build. I you know, when I first moved to Mobile, you could you would get on the road over there in Mobile and you had all these lanes, and some days on the way to work, it'd be like, why do we have so many lanes? And now look at it, you know. Um and so I agree with you, Blair. I think that you need to build that out aggressively, thinking, let's add it now, because if not, you're gonna add it in 10, 20 years from now, it's gonna cost you double or triple. Uh so it's best to go on and do try to attack it now while you can, um, and then, you know, and make it better for us down the road. But I agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

One thing I wish we could do down here on the island is that after a certain hour, 10, 11 o'clock at night, make some of these intersections flashing yellow on one side, flashing red on the other, so that you're not sitting five minutes at the same old red light when there's no cars in either direction coming.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

That is true. You know, and I will say this about that. Um you you know, people hear me complain I on on the campaign trail, and I uh sometimes I preach it a lot, and I don't know if maybe someday somebody will listen, but I keep saying that look, you know, you you when these elections time come, you have the ability to pick your best candidates. Um and, you know, you can do your research on people. You can you don't have to go to these forums and stuff to get to know people because really you're only getting a clip of who that person really is. That person you need to really dive into is ask people in their community what type of person they are. Look at what how they treat other people and how they act out and when when the light's not on. And then you'll get an idea of what kind of person you have. I mean, do they show up on time? Do they show up to help when things are down and out? Um, or are those people not just doing it for a button on their shirt, are they actually doing it to make better good for Baldwin County? And if you can pick those people that are skilled, that have, you know, are ready to do that type of work, um, you can actually put a really good team together. Uh, you know, I I say it and I do preach, you know, I preach this a lot too, that you know, um, my wife's an Alabama fan, I'm an old miss fan, and and Nick Saban does have a great model of, you know, high achievers, you know, uh don't like mediocre people, and mediocre people don't like high achievers. And, you know, the high achievers want to get mediocre people off the bus. And then that's what we want. We want the best people on our bus to go to Montgomery and and in for Baldwin County because what you have is you have Huntsville coming online, you have other stuff parts of the state, and we're all fighting for a pot of money. And relationships are what matters. Uh, I learned that from my time in DC. The relationships are what gets you what you need. Uh, and you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and take time away from your family and and your friends and miss out on certain events and and stuff to go up to Montgomery or or to events here in Baldwin County to build those relationships and networks. And that's where you start to see the funding start to shift and stuff. And if we can get the best team on that bus uh for Baldwin County, I I think we'll be we'll be pretty. I mean, we have a lot to offer. Uh we have the tourism down here um that that funds a ton of the part of the state. So uh we have a lot of uh leeway that we can leverage and stuff. And I think we start putting the best team on the bus. I think we can dominate.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So what uh what qualifications would you say you have over your opponent to have your seat on that bus?

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Well, you have to look back. Um, you know, I've spent 20 years in government service as a manager. Um, I've been to DC. Um, you know, and I'll tell you another aspect that, you know, a lot of people don't realize is and the whole reason I even ran for office the first time was because I saw problems occurring with inside the federal government where it was like they were blocking me to try to do my job. So then at a point in point I realized while I still work for the government. Knew nothing about politics, that I had to start implementing laws in the state of Alabama to make a difference to protect Alabama's Christian conservative values. And so, like I went to a friend of mine, Sam Cochran, and I pitched my idea and he gave me his attorney and I sat down. And I mean, I you don't have to reinvent the wheel on some of these things. I just went to Mississippi, took a law in Mississippi and changed Mississippi to Alabama to tap phones in the state to target drug dealers. And then we went to Alabama and we met with Rex Reynolds, who then sponsored the bill, and you know, and it took us a while to get it off the table. But that's one aspect of a relationship that was built, you know, years ago. Um, I've already got relationships built in Montgomery from writing laws and stuff already. Um, like I said, after my last election, I never took off. Really, I've been campaigning for a lot, it feels like three and a half years, but I've stayed engaged in Montgomery, stays stayed engaged with political functions throughout the state, and I've built that network up where I don't have to start from day one uh trying to get networks built because you can't build a relationship in one month. I mean, some of these relationships take years to build. You know, people have to know that they can trust you. They still have it goes back to what I said. Are you gonna show up when you're needed? Are you are you just, you know, are you, you know, are you gonna be there when it's the crunch time or they need you? Uh and when you put three to four years of effort in there, um, that's just not something you can recreate overnight. Um, and then coming from the world I came in and from, uh, running those covert operations, you know, um, overseas and stuff like that. I spent time multiple times throughout with the State Department in the Middle East doing training with other host countries and stuff, you know. I and I said you're dealing with other entities, you're dealing with different people, you you know, you network through that, and then that all comes together with over 20 something years of experience, and you just can't recreate that. I think that that's probably the strongest suit I bring to the table. Um, my abilities to network, um my relationships that I already have in place, um, and not just here and throughout other states, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Um so well, as we've been out and about, even as uh, you know, recent as last weekend at Think Tank, we've heard, well, why won't you debate your opponent?

SPEAKER_02 24:11

I always laugh when I hear that one too. So the, you know, the best part I can go back to is we had a forum that the Eastern Shore Republican women did. It was amazing, packed out house. I mean, it was it was it was it was a great forum we did right off the bat as the county commissioners. I think we had every candidate there. It was actually great. Just about that. Um you know, I left there. I thought I did a great job, you know, um, and my phone rang off the hook that night until about 10 o'clock that night. Uh, and everybody was calling. I mean, I was getting calls from people I hadn't ever even really talked to. They're like, oh my God, you crushed it. You know, you you're you're you did an amazing job. I just want to congratulate you and stuff like that. Um, and I've done other forms. Um, you know, I just did one uh up in the tensor uh area up in north the north part of the county just a few days ago. Um, you know, when you're running these campaigns, you're running these campaigns, uh they're they're nonstop. Uh we came out of municipal cycle straight into an election season. So there's an event going constantly every single night. Um, you can't be everywhere. I mean, when I went to Tinsall to do that for him the other night, uh, I'll give, I mean, and I'll bring this up later on, but I mean that was my anniversary, you know, and I I talked it over with my wife. I said, she's like, hey, you need to go, you should go on and go because we're at the end of the race and you know, there's no taking any days off at this point. And and bless her for allowing me to do that. I mean, but it's tough because I didn't get home until nine o'clock at night and she was asleep. So we didn't get to go to dinner and we didn't get to do anything together on our anniversary. Uh now her birthday's Friday, you know. So uh I can't miss that, or I'll really I'll be living at the WFUZ studio.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Yeah, we had uh Christina McKinnis, God bless her. She came in on her 23rd wedding anniversary, brought her husband with her, and right before they were going to go to dinner and dinner interview her. But yeah, I mean, to answer your question, yeah, that's I mean that's how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

That's it. And you're running a campaign on strategy. You know, um, you're you're running uh based on what your feedback is, you're getting things and you're doing these things. You know, I mean I've heard of situations where, hey, you know, Angelo, we want you to come to this forum so there can be a setup situation in in there. So I mean, that's what I did for 20-something years is recruit and develop people within the in you know the government. I mean, so when you're getting intel information and hey, there's going to be a targeted attacks against you, what smart person would ever go into that situation? I'm over here playing chess, not chewing on checker chits. So I mean, that's how I always run things. I run it just like I did in the government as an operation, and I run the political side just as that.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

So something I wanted to ask about, you've mentioned relationships and how important that is to have a network and to have you know good relationships with people, probably as good as you can try. How would you respond to constituents who have a problem or a concern? Because some elected officials, or not an elected official, like a year ago when we went to the county commission for the first time, I would say we did not have a good relationship with them. We didn't have any relationship with them.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

And I've handed the whole data.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

And not all three of them I would say we have a good relationship with. They, you know, it took some time, this has been a process, but throughout the past, you know, a little over a year, gotten to know three of the four and gotten good responses and help when we need it. And it, you know, I think people come and they're very passionate and they're upset because something has happened that has hurt them in some way. And it's important to have leaders who can take criticism well and don't like really take it personally and can maybe help you walk through the process. So what would you say your temperament would be in handling someone who's angry or has criticism towards the commission?

SPEAKER_02 27:40

You know, as the as that goes into, you know, I think it as a temperament type situation. I mean, obviously when you're in that setting where you're doing a uh, you know, you have everybody in the room and there's different temperaments going on in that situation. I would say on that situation, you know, if someone doesn't understand the process, maybe afterwards you sit down with that person and try to explain to them. Maybe they understand it, maybe they don't. Um, you know, it's one of these situations where, you know, you got to communicate with people. Um, I I I see a lot of times that people don't really want to just kind of sit down and actually have a discussion. Uh I like to talk, probably talk too much. Um, but I, you know, I think you can uh sometimes alleviate those situations, sometimes you're you're not, you know, you're gonna butt heads on those those kind of conflicts and stuff because you're not gonna make everybody happy. Because you know, Baldwin County, each each section of the county has different needs. Uh everybody has different sections from down south here in Gulf Shores to up north and to the eastern shore. So, you know, you're gonna have some people that get upset about certain things. You know, I was at one the other night, uh uh we you know, because I've been doing a lot of these meeting greets, which has been great. I love them, by the way. I've done a lot of them here in the past two months, and they're great because you can I I don't like getting questions. I don't I like to just go in cold and let people shoot questions at you. Um so it it was been pretty good to get people to ask questions. And like one lady was upset that, you know, um about some certain situations on some noise ordinance and stuff like that, you know. And you know, I get it. Um, but you have another entity over here that has a you know um an issue with it as well, you know, about making the noise. So I mean there's there's there's two different sides to it. Uh I think sometimes you have to sit down with the people and just actually talk to them. And hopefully they they understand exactly. I think that's a lot of times, sometimes these things that we do in a government situation, just like me, I I still it's taken me years to stop using the acronyms and stuff. Because you know, you're trained in the government. We use acronyms, we use certain things with the way we talk and the way we act. And your average person doesn't understand those type of things. And when you can kind of just take it out of that content so that take a step back and say, okay, let me break it down to them how this it's to a bare formula out of why this is occurring and why this happens. I think that sometimes people understand once they hear the whole side of it.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Yeah, I think in a lot of instances, and certainly in ours, it was just we felt unheard, you know, going around to trying to navigate the county government. And so by the time we got there, it was okay, we gotta be absolutely absurd, or we're just never gonna be listened to. And finally we were actually listened to, and everything was, you know, put in its proper place.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

And then that's good. And I uh like as far as like you said, y'all built a relationship with three of the county commissioners currently, and I think that's awesome. And I think that's over time. And once people get to know you and you know how to get in touch with them, um, and then I think that helps build it. You know, and so when you have questions and you see it coming up down the road, you can pick up the phone and call right away and try it out.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

I think that sometimes though, um like with our city, I'll just say it. I tried over and over again to contact them and I just kept getting ignored, ignored, ignored, and then I had to just actually run for office to finally have people give me the time of day. Um, there reaches a point where if you're just ignored too much, like you have to do something a little wild, nothing nothing too crazy, but you have to, you know, raise your voice sometimes or file and jump in a race or you know, send external email, whatever it is to get their attention, because I think what clouds some of the minds of some of our leadership is that they think, well, that's just a person they're not, you know, it's not urgent at this moment, but it's urgent to that person. And I think that it really boils down to being listened to, like you were saying, it is uh it's everything. So just putting that out there too. We hope that we see leaders who get in who really listen, who take the time to care. They might not have the solution, but they're willing to hear you out and they're going to at least, you know, internalize your information and make a decision based on that.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

No, I agree. I I and I think that's it's it's it's exactly what you said. It's um just getting to be able to sit down with the person um and and just not ignore, you know. That's what I see sometimes. If you you you want to cause a problem, start ignoring somebody, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Yeah. Um also wanted to ask about transparency and ability to navigate county in general, because what I would I guess another lump in there would be technology. Um a lot of problems I've seen with multiple entities, be it county, city, state, is navigating them online, finding information, access to resources. You know, I had a job before where I've built dashboards for a county in a city to help people be able to do stuff online so they didn't have to drive to payment ed, which is over an hour from where we are in Gulf Doors, so they wouldn't have to go to Fairhope. You know, it's a long drive, but this is a huge county. Like I think some things you don't have to go to Roberts Dilton Health Department. Like, I know the health department's not really the county, but just all the entities when it was COVID time, we didn't do this. And now that it's not COVID anymore, it's like the digital world is not acceptable and you have to go drive an hour to sign a piece of paper and come back. So I'd like to see internet stuff be a little more streamlined, I think.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

I I would like to see the something is like you said, you know, COVID showed us there was some other avenues. I'm a big believer again in communication and actually talking to someone. Um because I have built a uh a building in Baldwin County and I've you know and I've went through a couple processes of how you deal with some of the online systems and stuff like that. I'm a big believer in communication, you know. Um and I think you know, you add in those electronic signatures, you add in some different levels of of technology. You know, if they're not using it, I would like to see it. Um I definitely love Zoom calls and face, you know, if you can get on a Microsoft Teams call, and because a lot of times you can get your questions and stuff answered there without driving from Gulf Shores all the way to Bay Manette. Uh and so if you can streamline that process, because it helps everybody. It helps the people that are maybe having to drive from here up there, and it helps the people that are there to manage their time. You know, you can set a time of, you know, hey, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna zoom call, Microsoft team call for 30 minutes and try to knock this out. Um so there's there's different things like that. I agree with you. Uh the technology's there. COVID showed us that some of it's very successful. Um, hopefully we're still using a lot of it. If not, I'd like to see some of it implemented.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

How do you feel about protecting our environment and waterways? And I know this sounds like sort of a liberal question. I don't mean it to be that way, but regardless of party, it seems like people are very concerned about you know, the solar farm going in, the tensor delta, um, the mobile bay. Like there's just so and no, that's not the county's job, Mobile Bay, but like with the waterways seem to be a hot button issue.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

Well, the well, the waterways is our drinking water, uh, number one first and foremost. And then it's our also lifeline of our our fish industries, our oil oyster oyster industry that we eat down here. Um, you know, it almost I mean, it I it it it was devastating when the BP oil spill happened. So on our coast. I mean, I was here. I was down here on the beach at the time. I saw what occurred through it. I mean, it and by the grace of God, we got through that and our beaches are back to the way they were. Um, I remember going out on a boat and your boat would come back, and there'd just be an oil slit on on the bottom of your boat. And there's no telling how much harmful stuff that did. As far as you know, the stuff with the solar farm and stuff. I mean, you that's our natural resource of our water. You know, why would we build a solar farm over our any drinking water any situation? I mean, it was so important that when I went to the first meeting up there, you had people drive from all the way down here. Uh you had the mayor, you know, I mean, not the mayor, but you had city council people uh show up from you know the eastern shore. You had some of the mayors get involved and comment on it and stuff. So you you saw the uh situations of it. I mean, we just got to have smart processes on that, you know. Um we got to protect that. Um it's still, you know, look, I know again, this probably sounds like you know, you're like, oh, here it is Angelo, but like I remember being in the county and riding around here, and I'm the guy that actually stops and gets the turtle and moves it onto the side of the road where it's heading to, you know what I'm saying? And like so it doesn't get run over. Uh and I've noticed the more people that have moved here over the years, I don't see the turtles moving as much as as we've done. And I don't know if we've as as a society have just you know devastated them or not, you know. But I mean, I can't tell you how many times I uh back in the day that I will stop and move those across the roads and stuff like that. And uh, you know, everything from our I don't, you know, like as far as me, uh, you know, I donate into our our conservation resources here in the county, you know. I I I help try to, you know, give to some money on that as you know as I can. I think that you we as a whole have to kind of kind of focus on that because it is our area. This is our Gulf Coast. This this Gulf Coast down here is what makes us the you know, the jewel of Alabama. And I mean, you go towards Mississippi, the beaches aren't the same, you know. You it it's just we have such an amazing thing down here. Uh, and we we really need to invest to make sure we protect it.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

So side note, side story. Um, I'm from the Perdido Key area of Pensacola, and I used to do that too. I used to always see the turtles and pick them up and move them. Remember one time my son was probably like 10 or 11 years old, he was a little boy, and I saw this big turtle, and I was like, oh man, this one really needs to be moved out of the way. And I got out of the car and had like a flat head, and I was like so heavy, and I like picked up, moved it, and I got back in the car. He was like, Mom, you just picked up a snapping turtle and moved it up. Like, oh, okay. Like, it could have really hurt you. And I was like, Oh, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Like, I don't know if this had anything to do with it, but like if they were, if I ever caught them on the major roads where like you knew they were gonna die, I would actually take them back and put them in these ponds near where I live close to. And I remember one summer I'm driving through, my son's out there fishing in the pond, and they had this sprinkler system that was turned off, and the whole sprinkler system was full of the top of turtles on this sprinkler system. And I was like, oh my lord, I brought them back and now I'm multiplying out here in this pond. So yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

So what has been your favorite thing about this campaign so far?

SPEAKER_02 37:47

I I think the the favorite, my my, you know, like it's very stressful. Like I said, we've been running for a long time, but I think the the best part about it is I go back to my first campaign and then through this one is the relationships that you meet. I mean, you meet some people um that are amazing that you end up having a friendship with that you actually would have never met had you decided not to run for office. You know, uh, and I think that's probably the main thing I take away. Just from my first time I ran, I met people that were supportive of me, that got behind me, same thing, and that carried over into this cycle. And the the the good people and the and the really good people that are trying to make a difference is is what I what I gravitate to. And I'm very thankful for those relationships. Uh, I always like to get funny stories throughout the campaign trails, so those are always good. You know, I usually have a couple funny stories to tell at the end. Um, so that that's kind of it. And then like I touched on earlier, I think that uh as far as what my campaign has been able to accomplish, you know, throughout this cycle, to me is very I I don't know if I could recreate this, to be honest with you, because to be able to run and get the support of all the entities that I mentioned earlier, all on the same page, all believing in me, you know, I I I don't think I could. I mean, that's just a an amazing thing, and I don't hope I I hope that I live up to the standards that they invested in me with their belief to endorse me, you know. I mean, you normally don't ever see all those entities get behind one person. And so to me, I think that's probably the most thing I'm proud of.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

And what would you say would be the most difficult thing about it so far?

SPEAKER_02 39:21

I would have to say the most difficult thing is 100%, just like I mentioned earlier, is the you know, um the time away from your family. Uh, you know, to miss my anniversary is is was difficult. Uh to miss my kids' events. I mean, you know, I've been going nonstop for the past month to where my 14-year-old the other day asked my wife, was like, when's daddy coming home? You know, um, because I'm learning leaving in the morning and I'm coming home when he's in bed at night. So, you know, you're missing that quality time with your kids to give, you know, to show your, you know, who you are to the community. I think that's the that's the most difficult thing. And I think that's the most difficult thing, not just in my race, but in every other person's race. You know, their spouses and their children suffer. So I mean, definitely um that is something that, you know, is is not taken for granted by me. Uh, I tell my wife we're I'm gonna take her on a nice trip when this is over with and spend some time with my kids and stuff. And uh, and and she's been my rock uh through this because without her, I don't I'm not as successful as I am. So definitely a shout out to my wife, Ashley. I love her. Uh um, she was amazing to this. I mean, not many wives are gonna tell you on your anniversary, hey, you you need to win this race. Yeah, you know, so for that I appreciate her uh more than she realizes, and and my children for dealing with it, you know. Um, as we're coming into the last thing, uh, you know, I have four boys, and uh I tell everybody we're getting the band back together because all my kids are coming in to, you know, get out there and and get to campaigning for their dad, you know. Uh and I think that's pretty amazing that your older children are like, oh no, we're we're not done. You know, even though you you your race is working great, we're coming in to just add extra firepower to this. So uh that's impressive to Nisa. Uh but again, it's sacrifice on my family. So that's gotta be the most difficult.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

Well, tell everybody where they can learn more about you and how can they contact you and when and where to go vote.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

So obviously May 19th, we need everybody at the polls. Uh, get out and vote. I appreciate y'all uh getting out. Um you can go check me out on a lot of the social media platforms on Facebook, uh Angelo Fermo for Bal for Baldwin County Commissioner District 2. Uh, you can also go to my Facebook page is angelofermo.com. I'm sorry, my website is angelofermo.com. Um, and please read up about me. Uh but don't just read up there. Ask about me in the community. Uh I've been a staple here for over 20 years. Um I've known throughout the Eastern Shore, so just ask around. Uh I'd appreciate your vote and uh see you on May 19th. Thank y'all. Thanks for being here. Yeah, absolutely. Thank y'all. And can I take the call?