Conversation with Terry Ann Williams Edden, Coral Springs Commission Seat 3 candidate

Five candidates are running for the Coral Springs Commission Seat 3, including longtime resident and community advocate Terry Ann Williams Edden.

Williams Edden grew up in South Florida, graduating from Barry University with a bachelor’s in Professional Studies before earning master’s degrees from Nova Southeastern University in Education and Public Administration.

“I understand government. I understand people’s policy and how to create that, how to take the citizens in the community,” she told the Coral Springs News. “I fought for affordable housing in different neighborhoods. I’ve stood up against injustices, assisted law enforcement many years ago in regards to disparity in treatment and injustices. So why not?”

Williams Edden has a record of civil rights advocacy, including serving as the legal redress chairperson of the Broward branch of the NAACP. She has a background in accounting and education and is also a certified civil mediator, operating a consulting business.

Williams Edden has run for office previously, pursuing nomination for the Florida Senate in 2008, 2020 and 2022, as well as for Broward County Commission in 2014.

She said her late son, Trae, told her, “Run your race where you lay your head.” And now that’s what Williams Edden is doing.

“I’m highly, highly experienced, I have a deep background in education…” she said, adding she started a learning enrichment and tutoring program. “I felt like I can bring something different to the table.”

She said her service to the community has ranged from helping individuals with social security applications as a 14-year-old to marching for wet foot, dry foot policies regarding Cuban migrants and to getting a young man out of jail.

Williams Edden also advocated for preservation of historically African American cemeteries in Florida, an issue that was taken up by the legislature and led to the passage of the Historic Cemeteries Program in 2023.

“Where I grew up back in Pompano Beach, we saw a lot of racial tension, we saw a lot of police injustice, and it made me strive to want to change that,” she said.

Williams Edden has worked as the Director of Recruitment for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and worked with Concerned Citizens About Our Children as the group sought to end discriminatory starbursting busing practices in Broward County.

“Being in civil rights, that makes people think that’s all about marching and holding up a sign,” she said. “It’s not, it’s about implementing those policies.”

Affordable housing for seniors and working residents is one of many important issues to Williams Edden in Coral Springs. She also discussed the importance of youth programming, education, government transparency, mental health services and public safety training.

“Economic vitality, encouraging policies that strengthen local businesses, like I just said, attract economic opportunities and support financial stability,” she said, adding to the list of issues she is interested in focusing on.

Part of the commissioner role can involve coordinating with politicians in Tallahassee and at the federal level on policy and securing funds for projects. Williams Edden said she has experience with appropriations, bill-writing and navigating those conversations.

She said her professional experiences have given her knowledge on how to help facilitate business and economic opportunities in the city.

In addition to mediation and representing clients in employment matters and ad hoc hearings, among other areas, Williams Edden also has criminal legal experience, working at the State Attorney’s Office from 2015 to 2024 as a legal assistant.

She worked in the domestic violence unit, sex crimes and child abuse unit, and the felony trial unit, where responsibilities included writing subpoenas, coordinating depositions and processing case filings and expungements.

“I learned those things to give back to the community,” she said. “The work that I have given back is my time. I’ve given back the time to be able to talk to people that are in position to say, ‘Look, you need to tweak your policies.’ When I represented people in unlawful termination, I was able to get their companies to kind of tweak what they were doing…”

“I’m doing what I know how to do,” she said. “I can work with a forest of people.”

Voters will go to the poll Nov. 3 to choose the mayor, the Seat 4 commissioner and the Seat 3 commissioner. But whoever voters elect for the Seat 3 race will only serve two years out of the usual four-year term after Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer died in April. She was elected to the seat in 2020 and again in 2024.

The other candidates running for Seat 3 are William “Bill” Capplis, Kohy Holmes, Marly Metayer (Nancy Metayer’s mother) and Erick Nyatenya.