Young Mom, Social Worker Hopes To Help Pasco Get Back To Work

PASCO COUNTY, FL — A young mother and social worker is hoping to oust 16-year Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano on Nov. 3.

Brandi Geoit, 44, holds a bachelor's degree from Central Michigan University with a major in

family studies and a minor in substance abuse education, intervention and
prevention.

She's worked in the field of social work for more than 20 years including serving as vice chair of the West Central Ryan White Care Council, vice president of Pasco NOW, second vice president of the Business Professional Women of Calusa and second treasurer of the Community Service Council of West Pasco.

She's also served as the executive director of the West Coast AIDS Foundation and was community outreach coordinator for CSI Caregivers before the coronavirus pandemic forced layoffs.

"I have lived in Pasco for almost 11 years now. I moved here from Michigan where I worked with Persons with Disabilities to help them with housing issues and whatever other issues that
they had. I also worked for the VA at that agency as a contract employee to help people fill in the gaps of VA services and help them navigate the system," said Geoit. "When I moved here, I worked with AIDS patients doing Project AIDS Care Waiver."

She's also "a mom of an amazing second grader."

While her background is in social services, her interest in running for county commissioner is extends to making the county a better place for everyone to live.

"I want to start fixing the infrastructure issues that we have here in Pasco County. Bright shiny and new is great, but we need to start maintaining what we have here," she said. "We have a lot of problems here in Pasco County. We need to actually start working on them instead of saying that we will get to them eventually. A person’s home is their biggest investment, and we owe the
homeowners here in Pasco a better Pasco."

She said traffic continues to be an ongoing problem in the county.

"We continue to build along 54 with no plans to help with the traffic flow. We need to start working on that and the first step would be trying to fix public transportation and have actual traffic planning when we build there," she said. "We need to also work to improve the 19 corridor."

She said she's also hopes to help the county attract more industry, small businesses and, ultimately, jobs as residents continue to suffer the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I am running because I want to improve the quality of life for everyone in Pasco County," she said. "Forty-seven percent of this county lived at or below the FPL (Florida poverty line) before COVID. I know that those numbers are going to be a lot higher in the coming months. We need to have a plan to help people stay afloat in this new economy. We also need someone in there that would stand up and speak and not appoint an employee to be the face of decisions that they are too afraid to make. I am running because I know that we can do better for the people of Pasco County."

Geoit's appointments, current Commissioner Jack Mariano, R-Hudson, and Victor Rodriguez, no party affiliation, did not respond to Patch's questionnaire.