Andina County, Verona

Andina County, officially the County of Andina, is a county in the northeastern region of the Commonwealth of Verona, in Cartadania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,095,313 making it Verona's second-most populous county and the most populous landlocked county in Cartadania. Its county seat is the city of Buenaventura, located in the center of the county, while Lutoria is the most populous city, lying northeast of Buenaventura.

Most of the county has a mild Mediterranean climate to tropical climate. From north to south, Andina County extends from the western and southern borders of Sierra County and Victoria County, respectively, to the northern border of Santa Rosa County. From west to east, Andina County stretches from the eastern border of Sinhedes County to its boundary with the county of Sierra. It also shares a very short half-kilometer border in the southwest with the County of Los Angeles.

History
The area that today comprises Andina County has gone through many changes over time. With Verona having been inhabited for at least the last 10,000 years, the historical foundation of the area is rooted in many millenia. Indigenous peoples of Verona included more than 10 distinct groups of Native Cartadanians, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. Verona groups also were diverse in their political organization with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts. With modern Andina County being landlocked, it's history revolves mostly around the Arruda people who inhabited much of the San Miguel and Prado River valleys. The Arruda relied mostly on agrarian means, growing crops like avocados, cassava, corn, peppers, and fruits like guava, papaya, and pineapple. Today, very little remains of the Arruda agrarian past, except for a few pineapple fields in southwestern portion of the county.

The influence of Latin civilization in Verona began to saturate the region early on, around 300AD, and as a result, many Latin customs were adopted over time. The state was primarily rural in nature at this point, with small municipalities springing up around the coast. When Verona's autonomous government passed a law known as the Vermillion Act in the very early 1400s, there was a shift in attitudes toward development of the state. Sierra Municipio (today the Palm Coast region) was a bellwether to Verona's now incredibly diverse economy, its desirable location, and an exploding population. Verona's local dialect (paired with parts of Ettian) went on to become standardised Cartadanian, and many of the words originated via a vulgar Latin spur in the San Miguel Valley, the most populated area in the state throughout history.

In 1710, Verona did away with municipios in favor of smaller counties. Sierra Municipio became the identically bounded Sierra County. Despite the rapid population growth, the area that became Andina County did not begin to urbanize until the mid-1700s after Verona had been a state for over 100 years. In 1829, the Verona General Assembly separated what is today Andina County from Sierra County while also cutting the county's sea access by also creating Santa Rosa County. The county constructed its first government center in Emporia, the then-county seat, which burned down in 1881. The following year, the county moved its seat of government to Buenaventura, where it has been located ever since.

The county has been primarily been suburban in character throughout its history, although none of its cities have less than 100,000 residents. Today, it has been primarily been a residential county, with corporate intermixing in city cores. Development and increasing density in urban cores of Buenaventura, Emporia, and Lutoria has caused land-use reclassifications across the county and sparked the return of even agriculture sectors of the county's economy.

Geography
According to the Cartadanian Office of Statistics, the county has a total area of 5653.8 km2, of which 5604.2 km2 is land and 49.6 km2 (0.9%) is water. It is the 35th-largest county by area in Verona, being just over 4 km2 larger than the next smallest county, Monteiro. The average annual temperature is about 26 C. Most of the county has a mild Mediterranean climate to tropical climate.

From north to south, Andina County extends from the western and southern borders of Sierra County and Victoria County, respectively, to the northern border of Santa Rosa County. From west to east, Andina County stretches from the eastern border of Sinhedes County to its boundary with the county of Sierra. It also shares a very short half-kilometer border in the southwest with the Los Angeles County.

The northeastern part of the county lies in the flood plain of the San Miguel River, while the central portion of the county is in the Prado River flood plain. The northwestern end rises into the foothills of the Vaquero Mountains. Most of Andina County's population reside in either the Prado River valley or just south of the valley in what is known as Sienna Rise. The Prado River is the county's principal watercourse, flowing through the middle of the county from northwest to southeast. Its major tributary to the south and west is Sinhedes Creek. Other watercourses within the county include Arroyo Creek, Cimmarron Creek, and Orimas Creek.

Adjacent counties

 * Victoria County - northwest
 * Sierra County - northeast and east
 * Santa Rosa County - south
 * Los Angeles County - southwest
 * Sinhedes County - west

Government and politics


Andina County, like all of the counties in the Palm Coast region, is a charter county. Its county seat is the city of Buenaventura. The charter for Andina County was approved by voters in a county-wide referendum held in March 1973, and the first county commissioners elected under this new charter took office on 1 July 1975. The county carries the responsibility of law enforcement via Andina County Sheriff's Department, jails through Andina County Corrections (at Palm Coast Regional Jails), elections, and voter registration, vital records via the Verona Department of Health, property assessment and records, tax collection, public health, health care, social services, libraries, flood control, fire protection, animal control, agricultural regulations, building inspections, ambulance services, and education departments in charge of maintaining statewide standards for the county's seven school districts.

The county is governed by a nine-member Board of Supervisors who hold legislative authority over the county. The county is, in turn, divided into eight districts–Avalon (4), Central (1), Grove Cities (5), Lutoria-West Sierra (2), Memorial (3), North Central (6), North County (7), and South Andina (8) (southern Andina County). The districts each elect one supervisor to the Board of Supervisors which governs Andina County, while the final is elected at large. Together, the board oversees the activities of the county's agencies and departments and sets policy on development, public improvements, and county services. At the beginning of each calendar year, the Supervisors select a Chair and Vice Chair amongst themselves. The Chair presides over board meetings, and the Vice Chair presides when the Chair is not present. The Board appoints the, the , the Director, and the Director of the Office of Independent Review. The Board also appoints the County Manager to act as the chief administrative officer of the county and the manager of all agencies and departments not under the sole jurisdiction of an elected county official nor the sole jurisdiction of one of the four aforementioned officers appointed by the Board. , the members of the Andina County Board of Supervisors are:
 * County at-large: Doug Chaffee, SDP (since 12 November 2025)
 * District 1: Rayan Acin, SDP (since 5 August 2024)
 * District 2: Mario Alcaide, SDP (since 7 February 2022)
 * District 3: Hugo Val, UCP (since 28 November 2018)
 * District 4: Jaume Guerrero, UCP (since 21 January 2026)
 * District 5: Adara Gallego, SDP (since 7 February 2022)
 * District 6: Uxue Santisteban, SDP (since 17 November 2020)
 * District 7: Milad Zuabi, non-partisan (since 9 December 2022)
 * District 8: Rebeca Zanetti, non-partisan (since 27 July 2027)

The county also has three other elected, constitutional officials, which are: –Helena Leal (SDP), –Diogo Kimura (SDP), and Clerk of Superior Court–Cássia Guedes (non-partisan). Of these, only the Sheriff is limited to a 4-year term, although there is no term limit, provided the incumbent can win re-election.

Economy
Andina County has quite a diverse economy, with numerous service-sector jobs in healthcare, energy, education, hospitality, and other areas. Major companies with a presence in the county include Aurora, El Dorado, Planalto, and Solaris' logistics operations in Umbria. The Sierra Business Journal reported in 2020 that the diversity of industries promoted decades of rapid population growth. After Ivy Healthcare and Jurado-Santander Hospital opened facilities in Andina County, already home to local facilities for Attalus Bay Health in Emporia, as well as locally based Buenaventura Medical Center in Buenaventura, many doctors moved their offices to the county. Compared to Victoria County, which has experienced rapid growth in corporate employment following Meridian Energy's decision to move its Palm Coast operations to an area directly south of the Twin Cities, Andina County has yet to experience significant corporate growth, though Allocca recently announced plans to move its Sarpedonian headquarters to Lutoria. The largest employers in the county as of 2026 are the Andina County government, Andina Independent School District, Ivy Healthcare System, Planalto, Solaris, the University of Verona, Emporia, and the Verona Commonwealth University, Buenaventura

Demographics
Since at least 2010, Andina County is the second-most populous county in Cartadania, with approximately 6.1 million residents. In 2000, only about 3% of Andina County residents left the county for work while 90,000 people commuted into the metropolitan area. According to the 2000 Cartadanian census, 4,813,833 people, 1,706,519 households, and 1,180,911 families resided in the county; in 2010, the population increased to 5,681,205; by the 2020 Cartadanian census, Andina County had a population of 6,095,313. Overall, Andina County's population has recorded positive growth since the 1850 Cartadanian census tabulated-population of 10,914.

Economically, Andina County along with other Palm Coast counties, has one of the nation's highest property tax rates. In 2010, the county was ranked in the top 25 at 18th in the nation for property taxes as a percentage of the home's value on owner-occupied housing; the list only includes counties with a population over 100,000 for comparability. Additionally, Andina County residents had a median household income of $93,022 with a median family income of $113,726.

Education
Andina Independent School District is the public school district responsible for public K-12 education in the bulk of Andina County, including all non-enclave unincorporated areas, the cities of Bloomfield, Hampton, October, Sienna, and Umbria, and the census-designated place of Orimas. It is discontiguous, with the northern portion of the county split from the south by the county's other school systems. It contains over 350 public elementary, middle, and high schools district-wide, including several selective-admission magnet schools. There are eleven selective enrollment high schools in the Andina ISD, designed to meet the needs of county's most academically advanced students. These schools offer a rigorous curriculum with mainly honors and accelerated courses. With approximately 200,000 students, Andina ISD is one of the largest school districts in both Verona and Cartadania.

Other school districts serving the county include:
 * Buenaventura Independent School District serving the city of Buenaventura
 * Lutoria Independent School District serving the cities of Alicia, Culiamanca, Lutoria, Palacios, and Solana
 * North Central Independent School District serving the cities of Arroyo, Emporia, Mariada, and Sacristan
 * Pirasende Independent School District, serving the city of Pirasende (partly in Santa Rosa County)
 * Willow Grove Independent School District, serving the cities of Andina Junction, Halax, Hawley, Sterling, West Hawley, and Willow Grove
 * Valdez Independent School District serving the city of Valdez and the enclaved CSD of Caricana

Post-secondary education
The University of Verona, Emporia is the county's main research university and one of three within the metro region (the other two being the University of Verona, Sierra and the Verona Institute of Technology). The university is the oldest campus of the University of Verona system and is the second largest employer in the county. It is the only university in the city of Emporia that is classified "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity", and it has one of the largest research expenditures in the country.

Other public colleges and universities in the county include Verona Commonwealth University, Buenaventura (VCUB), and the Andina Community College District, which includes all of the county's public higher education institutions that are less than 4 years within the VCCS system.

Outside of Andina County, residents are within an hour drive of UVA Sierra, La Joya State University, Lynnhaven State University, Palmetto State University (Rosslyn), VCU Oceanview (Sierra County), and VCU Sierra, as well as those in neighboring regions.

Transportation
The Palm Coast Metropolitan Transit Authority (PCMTA) is the metropolitan transit authority for the entirety of the Palm Coast metro region (there is an overlap in Rosslyn with its city metro). It operates the bus, light rail, and commuter rail systems within the county and is an arm of the Palm Coast Consortium of Metropolitan County Governments (PCCMCG). It has the largest transit fleet in the country and serves roughly 35 million residents. Due to the sheer area of the metro region, each county is broken up into districts. Andina County is broken into four districts: Central, East, North, and South. These districts have their own representatives that plan the area and work with residents to develop the best transit plans for them. All cities and communities within Andina County have bus access, while light rail and metro rail extends through all cities except Bloomfield, Umbria, and Valdez, though these communites are connected with feeder buses to light rail.

The PCCMCG also operates Gadsden-Samori-Andina International Airport, which sits in an unincorporated section of the county between the cities of Palacios and Sacristan. Most airlines provide flights to various parts of the country, while major airlines usually prefer to transfer passengers to Sierra International Airport for most of their transoceanic flights.

Andina County is served by the Palm Coast Beltway which links it with other Palm Coast counties by road, while Beltway 40 connects most of the cities in the county core. Verona State Highway 95–Allure Parkway is a tolled eight-lane highway connecting Buenaventura to Rosslyn, although those traveling with three or more passengers may use the highway free of charge. The county is also crossed twenty-one other highways providing ample choice for travellers to navigate the area. Beltway 40 is notoriously one of the most congested highways in the state, and thus, the Verona Department of Transportation (VDOT) is currently expanding the highway to ten lanes.

Cities

 * Alicia
 * Andina Junction
 * Arroyo
 * Bloomfield
 * Buenaventura
 * Culiamanca
 * Emporia
 * Halax
 * Hampton
 * Hawley
 * Lutoria
 * Mariada
 * October
 * Palacios
 * Pirasende ( partly in Santa Rosa County )
 * Sacristan
 * Sienna
 * Solana
 * Sterling
 * Umbria
 * Valdez
 * West Hawley
 * Willow Grove

Census-designated places

 * Apotanejo
 * Cantumal
 * Guamosa
 * Juadenas
 * Orimas