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We're in the same predicament here on the other end of I-4 (Clearwater).  Technology proficients in our area are slim pickings.  Here's a few things we've done that has worked well in the past: (1) Documentation - Document your SEO procedures and utilize a system for maintaining all your work (so it's scalable).  We use Access07, for managing implementations, history from Dmoz and citation history and effort - kept on a server and accessed remotely via logmein or vpn.  That way you can manage effort and results on a scalable platform.  We have a solid on-boarding process that can get new folks performing great SEO within a week. (2) Locally - Hire experienced admins that are really good at researching online, being creative with data and good with Excel.  We generally give a short homework assignment to qualified candidates to test their speed and creativeness. (3) Remotely - Hire employees from outside the area to telecommute.  We've hired out of Atlanta and NC, which are both relatively cheap airline tickets and short flights for necessary "day trips" to the office. If you've done #1 well, the rest is teachable.  Besides, you want folks who will SEO your way (which works for you and your clients) and not broken or trained improperly by somebody else.

It depends how quick you want to get a penalty. Any link you can go out and get in numbers is very unlikely to be off any value, and may get you penalized now or in the future. Search Engines are simply not interested in these sort of links.