Audrey M. Edmonson was elected to serve for a two-year term as Chairwoman of the Miami-Dade County Commission on Dec. 4, 2018. She represented District 3 as Commissioner since December 2005 and was elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2008, 2012 and in 2016 to four-year terms. Commissioner Edmonson previously served as Vice Chair from 2016 – 2018 and from 2010 to 2012.

She represented the diverse communities of Liberty City, Little Haiti, Overtown, the Upper East Side, Edgewater, Buena Vista, Allapattah, Wynwood, Venetian Causeway and Watson Island, all located in the City of Miami, and Brownsville, Military Trail Park and Biscayne Shores Park areas, the Village of El Portal and the Village of Miami Shores.

Chairwoman Edmonson served as Chairwoman of the Housing and Social Services Committee and the Building Safer Neighborhoods Sub-Committee. She also served as Chairwoman of the Transportation and Public Works Committee and Vice Chairwoman of the Chairman’s Policy Council. She served as the Vice Chairwoman of the Miami Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) Board of Directors and as a member of the Homeless Trust Board of Directors.

Commissioner Edmonson was appointed to the Miami-Dade County HIV/AIDS “Getting to Zero” Task Force and served as Chairwoman of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) I-395 Signature Bridge Aesthetic Steering Committee. She also served on the Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust and the Public HealthTrust nominating councils, the Jackson Health System General Obligation Bond Citizens’ Advisory Committee and the County Advisory Task Force for the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program Planning and Implementation Project which is referred locally as Project PEACE: People Engaged and Advocating for Community Empowerment. Commissioner Edmonson also served as the Chair of the International Trade Consortium.

She championed the establishment and was an Ex-Officio Member of the Miami Children’s Initiative (MCI), a program modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, aimed at helping Liberty City children from cradle to adulthood. Joined by local pastors and community activists, Commissioner Edmonson led “Operation Restoration,” an anti-crime strategy group. She also served as a member of the Lindsey Hopkins Educational Excellence School Advisory Council.

Commissioner Edmonson further served on the Frost Science Museum Board of Trustees and continues to serve on the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center Board of Directors.

As a member of the National Association of Counties (NACO), Commissioner Edmonson served on the Health Committee as the Behavioral Health Sub-Committee Vice-Chair, as a member of the Community, Economic and Workforce Development Committee and as a member of the Large Urban County Caucus. She was a member of the Florida Association of Counties’ (FAC) Board of Directors, served as Co-Chair of the Urban Caucus and was selected as a 2017 Presidential Advocate in recognition of exceptional leadership in partnering with FAC to advance the counties’ legislative agenda.

Just to name a few, Commissioner Edmonson successfully led the charge to prevent the theft of copper wiring from the County’s Street lighting system, she initiated the appointment and the adoption by the Board of County Commissioners of a task force to implement guidelines for the operation of cranes in Miami Dade County and successfully introduced legislation for the replacement of residential lighting systems after several fatal residential pool accidents. She successfully advocated for affordable housing, a one-billion-dollar bond for Jackson Memorial Hospital, introduced legislation for the re-establishment of the small business loans and bond programs, and sponsored legislation to implement a disparity study in Miami Dade County departments.

Born and raised in Liberty City, Chairwoman Edmonson became active in local politics by first serving as Mayor of the Village of El Portal in 1999, was re-elected three successive terms and became the municipality’s first mayor to be elected by residents rather than by the members of the Village Council.