Long seeks to cut county costs, improve drug abuse education

Editor’s Note: The Santa Rosa Press Gazette will feature Santa Rosa County candidates running in the Aug. 28 primary election and Nov. 6 general election. We begin this series with Kris Long.

MILTON — Kris Long of Milton is running for county commissioner of District 2 as No Party Affiliation. The married father of two is a 2003 graduate of Milton High School with a Navy career from 2003 to 2012.

Long joined the Navy after high school and became an Information System Technician. He spent five years in Virginia stationed aboard the USS Kauffman, then the USS Theodore Roosevelt, before moving to Pensacola to become an instructor at Naval Air Station Pensacola’s Corry Station.

Long left the military in 2012 but went on to contract work in Afghanistan for two years. His transports, he said, regularly took on enemy fire, which ultimately drove him to seek employment at home. 

Tell us about yourself

I started teaching cyber security at Locklin Technical. I did that for two years. I started at Baptist Hospital a year ago doing IT work.

I still have my basketball scouting service…which is NCAA certified. That means I can talk to a Division 1 school for your child.

I was previously with Men In Action. I have my own nonprofit, the Milton Sports Club. We do travel basketball games. We have 109 kids…five boys teams and three girls teams.

I’m on the Board of Adjustments with the City of Milton.

I’m also on the Take Stock in Children council. We select students in eigh^th grade and put them with a mentor. They meet four to five times a month. They will go through a process and we’ll give them scholarship money. I’m also a mentor.

This year I’m graduating from Leadership Santa Rosa Class 31.

I received the Navy achievement medal, two good conduct medals, the national defense medal, the war on terrorism medal. I had a great Navy career. I was always put in leadership positions in the Navy. 

Why are you running for county commissioner?

I feel like this is the next step for me. That’s my next ranking, county commissioner. I’m a very spiritual person and I feel like honestly God has set me up for this position. Even in high school He was putting me in leadership and in the military and allowing me to coach and build relationships with kids and parents.

I’m running as an NPA. I feel our country is divided. I don’t feel they’re working together. I feel that’s the ultimate goal. I want the support of the people; I know it sounds cliché. If I get in, it’s not because I have the backing of Democrats or Republicans but (as) NPA that means everybody that supported me put me in that position. I just feel like I’ll be able to hold myself accountable more when I know that these people really wanted me to be in there.

I feel like a lot of people think negatively about politics. I want to try to change that mindset. We’ll be in the Christmas parade this weekend. I’ll have my campaign kickoff in January and every month we’ll do something fun to bring people together. February, we’ll have a Mardi Gras (event). We’ll try to make it fun and try to change that mindset. 

If elected, what would you like to see accomplished in the county?

(My priorities are) infrastructure and increasing recreation. I want to use my technical skills to cut costs. Recycling is important to me. I want to put recycling in schools. I know the sheriff talked about (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and I think that’s important also.

Baptist is smoke-free. I want the county to be smoke-free. That will lower insurance costs.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Long seeks to cut county costs, improve drug abuse education