by Beth Kassab | Jul 22, 2026 | City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety, Taxes
Winter Park Contends with Higher Police and Fire Costs and How to Maintain Roads
The city’s proposed 2027 budget is also cautious of future cuts to property taxes if voters approve a measure on the November ballot. Winter Park homeowners would save less than $2,000 a year, but the city could ‘lose some of the things that make it feel extra special’
July 22, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The Winter Park City Commission is poised today to adopt the same property tax millage for the 19th year in a row, but the steady rate belies an increasingly complex financial picture for one of the region’s most high-profile cities as it contends with soaring costs for its police and fire departments, a demand from residents for better roads, increasing prices for electric and water customers and a governor and state Legislature looking to slash property revenues.
The All-Funds Budget, which includes the General Fund as well as the utilities and other funds, is proposed to increase this year by nearly 6% to $247 million. The General Fund, which pays for essential services such as police, fire, parks, public works and administration, is growing by about 5% to $94.6 million.
The growth in money collected by the city is being driven by higher bills for electricity, water and stormwater — the result of policy decisions in recent years and up for debate again this year by a City Commission facing big expenses to prevent storm flooding and to continue to underground all of the power lines for the city-owned electric utility. Property taxes remain a driver of growth in the general fund, where the taxes make up just under half of the revenue pie.
City Manager Randy Knight cautioned that a measure on the November ballot initiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature to significantly alter how local governments are funded by reducing property owners’ tax bills could eat into the kinds of services the city provides by 2028, when it is set to take effect if it passes with the required 60% approval from voters.
City officials are forecasting a hit of at least $5.4 million in the first year. Translated into savings for individuals residents, homesteaded property owners would pay about $818 less per year to Winter Park. The total tax savings per year for Winter Park homeowners if the ballot measure passes would be $1,783, including the reduction paid to the city as well as the reductions in taxes paid to Orange County and St. Johns River Water Management District. (Taxes paid to schools would remain unchanged under the tax proposal on the ballot.)
“It will have an impact on city services that will be felt,” Knight said in his annul budget memorandum to the City Commission. “Winter Park will still be able to provide essential services, but the city may lose some of the things that make it feel extra special … A loss of over $5 million is like losing almost half of the Parks Department, so it will not be a small issue to determine how best to prioritize spending, but it is likely that a combination of service reductions and revenue increases will end up balancing the budget in future years.”
With just six months to go before his retirement after decades at the helm of the city and 36 years since he helped prepared his first budget in 1990 as the city’s finance director, Knight was reflective in his final budget memo of past challenges.
“As we face potential impacts from the so-called tax reform, I want to remind you that we have faced tough times before and always endured,” Knight wrote. “The 2004 hurricane season cost approximately $18 million for recovery and wiped out our reserves. The 2008 housing bubble coupled with tax reform resulted in a huge hit on city revenues. The Pandemic shuttered businesses and locked down communities, but we survived and thrived. Today Winter Park is the envy of the region, with commercial properties with the lowest vacancy rates and highest asking rents, exceptional schools, and beautiful walkable residential communities and amenities. Over 3 million visitors come to the crown jewel of downtown Park Avenue each year and our financial reserves have grown to over $24 million.”
A graphic from Winter Park’s proposed budget document shows how money in the General Fund is spent.
But the budget document also described in stark terms how expenses for basic needs like police and fire are simply outpacing revenues.
Record-high pension costs for police officers and firefighters as well as a new labor contract with the Fire Union that included a 12% pay increase in 2026 will account for 70% of new costs in the proposed 2027 budget.
“Of the $4 million in the increase in personnel wage and benefit costs in the General Fund estimated for the next fiscal year, almost a third (30%) is due to increases in public safety pensions for police and fire
retirement plans,” according to the budget proposal.
The city will have to spend $1.2 million more on the pensions, according to the document, the result of “changes in actuarial tables, the addition of new employees and the weak 2022 stock market year that still affects their formulas.”
“Staff is reviewing the possibility of making adjustments to the pension plan in the future to attempt to mitigate this growing cost,” the document said. “With property tax reform on the horizon, having a quarter of the entire annual growth in revenue going solely to public safety pensions, is not sustainable.”
Police pay has increased by nearly 50% in Winter park in recent years and the proposed 2027 police department budget is $23.2 million, up from $14.9 million in 2020. The department will keep a community services position vacant next year to help reduce some costs, according to the proposal. The city has 121 full-time police staff and three part-time staff slated for 2027, up from 115 full-time staff and 13 part-time staff in 2023.
The budget for the fire department is up from $13.2 million in 2020 to a proposed nearly $19 million for next year. The department has grown from 81 full-time staff and two part-time staff in 2023 to 84 full-time staff and three part-time staff.
Winter Park is not alone in what has amounted to an arms race in public safety pay across Florida as departments have struggled to recruit and keep candidates for jobs that require personal risk, physical stamina and no work-from-home privileges in a post-pandemic world where many offices have emptied out.
For example, the pay for a starting deputy at the Orange County Sheriff’s office in 2020 was $49,296, according to the office. By 2025 it was $62,566. That’s in addition to increases in bonuses, the number of paid holidays and minimum compensation for off-duty pay and longevity pay.
A graphic from the city’s budget presentation shows the potential cumulative effect of the property tax measure on this November’s ballot.
In addition to public safety costs, roads emerged as Winter Park’s other main budget priority this year.
That’s the result of a survey of residents with about 800 responses that identified the quality of both brick and asphalt streets as a major need for improvement.
“This has been an area in which funding has been added in the past, but it has been insufficient to keep pace with the level of street deterioration and the cost of repairs,” read the budget memorandum.
The budget includes more money for contractors to resurface roads and doubles the amount for road materials with an additional $500,000. Winter Park has fallen short of its own goal of redoing 9 lane miles o road each year, typically completing just 4 or 5 lane miles with the exception of in 2025. The new goal will be to achieve repaving of 7.5 lane miles each year.
City Commissioners are slated to vote on the property tax rate this afternoon. More discussion and debate over the full proposed budget is scheduled for August with a final budget vote in September before the start of the new financial year in October.
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 9, 2026 | City Commission, News
Commission Approves Contract for Next City Manager Michelle del Valle
Randy Knight will retire from the post in January after 19 years in the role
July 9, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The City Commission this week quietly approved the contract for Michelle del Valle to take over as city manager when Randy Knight retires early next year.
The city will pay del Valle $290,000 a year plus benefits including a $775 monthly car allowance and memberships to two civic organizations or other clubs of her choosing, according to the contract approved without discussion as part of the commission’s consent agenda on Wednesday.
Knight, who has a similar contract, is projected to earn $294,000 a year by the time he leaves the post in January after 19 years in the role and more than 30 years with the city.
Commissioners voted unanimously in April to name del Valle, who has served as assistant city manager since 2008, as his successor. She is projected to earn $263,665 in her current job.
Winter Park has a city manager form of government, which means the person in that job sets the tone and oversees every department — from the $247 million budget to parks to police and fire rescue — helming more than 500 employees. The elected commissioners set policy, but the manager is responsible for overseeing the execution of that policy.
Del Valle is slated to take over the top role in January.
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 6, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, Historic Preservation, News
Matt Morgan Offered $10 Million for Merrywood
The attorney and Winter Park resident said he would like to preserve the house. The real estate agent for the sellers said the offer was too low.
July 6, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Matt Morgan, the Morgan & Morgan attorney who lives in a home on Winter Park’s Historic Register, said he made a verbal offer of $10 million last year to purchase the entire Merrywood lot and reinitiated the offer last week with, he said, the intention of preserving the nearly 90-year-old estate that is significant because of its age and as the largest and most ornate home built by architect James Gamble Rogers II.
Morgan’s original offer wasn’t included in the information provided to the City Commission before the elected board took its first vote June 24 on the fate of property. The commission voted 3-2 (commissioners Elizabeth Ingram and Warren Lindsey dissented) for a change to the land development plan that would allow for the 3.67-acre lot to be split in two without requiring a condition recommended by city staff that the existing home be placed on the city’s historic register.
Mick Night, the real estate agent handling the transaction, said the sellers considered Morgan’s offer to be too low. He said he didn’t include the information in his discussion with the commission because he never had a conversation with Morgan about saving Merrywood.
“There was never a discussion with Matt about preserving the house a year ago,” Night said. “His offer was for the land.”
Morgan agreed that such a discussion did not take place. He added that his offer at the time was not contingent on a lot split and that he is interested in seeing the home maintained.
Lakefront lot splits are generally prohibited by Winter Park, which is why the amendment to the comprehensive plan is required. The change requires a second vote after the state takes 45 to 60 days to review the amendment, likely landing the next time the City Commission considers the matter sometime in August.
A greenlight for the lot split would pave the way for the old house to be demolished — a demolition permit is already active and set to expire Aug. 31 — and two new lakefront homes to be built in its place.
“They [the City Commission] heard there’s no other options … yes there is,” Morgan told the Voice after reading news stories about the vote. “If I see a bulldozer pull up to that house and I didn’t say something, it would bother me.”
Commissioners were told that more than 100 people toured Merrywood and not a single person was willing to purchase and preserve the home because it was too expensive, required too much work or both. Commissioners heard about the attempts to market and sell the estate from one of the sellers as well as the prospective buyer who has the property under a contract that is contingent on the lot split receiving final approval and Night, the Sotheby’s real estate agent who represents them both.
Morgan walked through the home with Night nearly a year ago in early August just as the property became available. Morgan said that a short time later he sent Night a voice memorandum communicating the $10 million offer that he says was not contingent on a lot split. By the time Morgan heard back from Night, he said it was early September and Night told him that that the property went under contract shortly after Morgan toured the estate.
That contract belongs to Tara Tedrow, the land use attorney with the Lowndes law firm who grew up next door to Merrywood and applied for the comprehensive plan change that would allow the lot to be split in two so that she could build a home for her family on one portion while the other is sold.
Night said $10 million was too low for Cathy and Raymond Gilmer, the siblings who inherited the property when their parents, who had lived in the home since 1977, died.
“That was not a number the Gilmers, last summer or anytime since then, have ever been open to selling the property for,” Night said.
Night declined to give the price of Tedrow’s contract on the lot. During a public city work session on June 22 he estimated the land value of the lot to be in the range of $13 million to $15 million.
Night told the City Commission that, while he never listed the home on the MLS, more than 100 people toured the property, including what he estimated to be 15 to 20 people qualified to make such a high-dollar purchase and that none offered to preserve Merrywood.
“All left the property shaking their head, hands in their face,” Night said during a June 22 work session with the City Commission. “They just don’t see it. We haven’t had traction with one buyer.”
Two days later at the regular Commission meeting, Mayor Sheila DeCiccio asked Night: “Is there anyone interested in purchasing that home?”
He replied, “The answer is no. Not one of the viable buyers, much less anyone else, left that house and said, ‘Wow, there’s so much potential here.'”
Night told the Voice on Monday that his comments at the commission meetings intended to convey that he didn’t receive what he considered to be “bona fide offers.”
“There have been many offers,” he said, but none have been “anywhere near reality” on price.
At one point in the June 24 meeting, Tedrow suggested that the price of the Merrywood portion alone would be about $12 million if the lot was split. It’s unclear how that figure is reconciled with Night’s estimate that the land value of the entire lot is at least $13 million.
Morgan said if the city allows the lot split without assurance that the house is preserved then “the city gives everything and gets nothing in return.”
“If the city voted to allow this, they are voting to allow all residents to split lots in the future and get nothing in return,” Morgan said. “It would be one thing if there was some type of meaningful consideration for the city in exchange for the lot split, most notably, preservation of a very important historic home to the city. However, as currently contemplated, in my opinion — the buyers would likely make a meaningful profit and the people (the city) would get nothing in return.”
Morgan isn’t inexperienced when it comes to historic homes. He spent $10.5 million in 2022 for a house that sits on about 3 acres on Winter Park’s Lake Maitland, according to property appraiser records. The 1926 home was designed by Maurice Kressly, another notable local architect, and was placed on the city’s historic register in 2002 by previous owners. It is larger than Merrywood at about 10,000 square feet.
He told the Voice that his original $10 million offer for the entire Merrywood lot still stands and that he made a second $5.5 million offer on Friday to purchase a portion of the lot and preserve Merrywood.
“I think it’s important to the community that the home not be torn down,” Morgan said in a text message to Night on Friday that he shared with the Voice. “For that reason, I am offering to purchase the Merrywood estate for 5.5M. We can split the lot at 1.835 acres each parcel and the current contingency contract holders can build their home on their 1.835 acre lot. I will make a covenant to the city that I will not tear the house down … Alternatively, my offer for 10 million for the entire parcel stands.”
It would be difficult or impossible, according to documents filed with the city and public discussion, to split the lot exactly in half with a straight line from Palmer Avenue to the lake without removing a portion of the Merrywood house that was added on in the 1960s as well as a portion of the swimming pool.
Morgan said if he purchased the entire lot he would also want the ability to split it in the future, but his interest didn’t hinge on that.
“I said of course I’d love that optionality [of a lot split] if I could get it, but it’s such incredible land and such an incredible house that wasn’t a contingency for me,” Morgan said.
He agreed the home is in need of a lot of work and would be expensive to restore. He said if he was the buyer he would look to renovate Merrywood over a number of years and not right away.
The chairman of the board of Friends of Casa Feliz, a group that advocates for preservation and worked with Tedrow and Night to get the word out about the house in hopes of finding a buyer, said news of Morgan’s offer is “extraordinarily encouraging.”
“It demonstrates what many preservation advocates have said from the beginning: Merrywood can be saved, and there is a real market in Winter Park for significant historic properties,” said a statement from Chairman John Bill.
He urged the City Commission to make saving Merrywood a condition of the approval of a lot split.
“To reward the demolition of this resource, now that there is a demonstrated buyer, with a change to our comp plan without requiring designation, would be unconscionable,” the statement said.
At the end of the discussion during the June 24 commission meeting, Tedrow said the sellers were willing to wait until the next vote before they demolish the house even though they are permitted to do so anytime.
DeCiccio said the agreement would “give another 45 to 60 days for someone to come forward for that property and purchase it and designate it historic so we’re buying more time.”
It remains to be seen if Morgan’s offer will be enough, if another buyer will step forward or if Merrywood will be the latest Gamble Rogers house to be reduced to photographs in an archive.
Night and Morgan are planning to meet to discuss the property.
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 3, 2026 | City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety
Safety Rules for Electric Bikes and Scooters Vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis
Improving safety regulations, especially near schools, is a priority in cities like Winter Park where officials have already begun drafting their own ordinance
July 3, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
Some local officials expressed surprise and frustration after Gov. Ron DeSantis recently vetoed a bipartisan bill considered an important step in tackling the epidemic of electric bike and scooter crashes.
DeSantis’ decision came less than two months after a 13-year-old boy was killed in Orlando’s Lake Nona area while riding his e-scooter to buy Mother’s Day flowers.
Without a statewide safety law, rules will fall to local governments like Winter Park, which has already begun drafting an ordinance that city officials say they want in place before the start of the school year in August.
Roads near schools are of particular concern to local officials because so many students use e-bikes and e-scooters on a daily basis.
“We know they’re dangerous. We know they’re killing students. And so I’m not sure why we needed to delay taking any action knowing how dangerous they are. … All of us were hoping that we would get some guidance from the state,” said Orange County School Board Member Stephanie Vanos, who represents Winter Park. “It just doesn’t seem like the governor cares all that much about what’s happening to our kids.”
School Board members are scheduled to discuss what to do next at a Tuesday work session.
Senate Bill 382 won unanimous approval from the Legislature in March, but DeSantis has expressed concerns it could lead to more police surveillance and bring unintended consequences.
“What it will lead to is more surveillance of people by law enforcement and we don’t need that. I think there were problems with it,” DeSantis said when he spoke to journalists late last month during a press conference. “Certainly, I don’t want to do anything that’s going to lead to more surveillance.”
Winter Park City Commissioner Warren Lindsey said he would prefer cities draft the new regulations for their specific needs instead of the state imposing one set of rules for all of its 23 million people.
“My opinion is that it’s better to regulate that by local ordinance rather than state statute,” Lindsey said. “In a time when you’ve got preemption, where the state’s taken away local governments’ ability to regulate anything, this one is good because what works in Winter Park may not work in Maitland. What works in Winter Park may not work in Orlando or Ocoee so I’m in favor of local ordinance.”
Winter Park is developing an e-bike and e-scooter ordinance with the goal of rolling it out before school starts on Aug. 11, said Lindsey, who was the only city commissioner who responded to an interview request for this story.
Some of the potential regulations could include setting a speed limit for e-scooters and e-bikes on sidewalks, increasing the helmet age requirement from 16 to 18 years old and imposing fines for those who break the rules.
Winter Park Commissioner Craig Russell, who is also a teacher at Winter Park High, held a community meeting about e-bike safety earlier this year and has advocated for a local ordinance. School Board member Stephanie Vanos (third from left) sat on the panel.
Lindsey, whose day job is a criminal defense lawyer, called e-bikes and e-scooters “definitely a public safety issue.” However, he said he is mindful that minors don’t end up with traffic records as the city drafts a policy.
“The purpose of the proposed regulations are not intended in any way to be punitive to children but rather to be educational and to protect them because they’re inexperienced and to educate them on proper and safe operation of e-bikes and scooters,” he said.
In 2025, nearly 500 e-bike and e-scooter crashes were reported in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, according to MetroPlan, Central Florida’s regional transportation planning organization.
MetroPlan is focused on working with local governments, like Winter Park, to lower those statistics.
“We were expecting for some action to be taken at the state level, but I would say that the fact that it didn’t pass isn’t significantly changing how we were planning to proceed as an agency for metropolitan Orlando,” said Lara Bouck, MetroPlan project development manager.
The group is considering whether to draft a model ordinance to help local governments. Bouck said she hopes a Winter Park representative joins a working group expected to take on that task.
“The intent there is to give each of our municipalities, including Winter Park, a starting point that they can sort of pivot off of if they’re going to adopt their own ordinances, which I think will be a priority now that nothing passed at the state level,” Bouck said.
MetroPlan also launched a pilot program offering a free rider safety online course for parents at selected schools.
If DeSantis had signed SB 382 into law it would have required all law enforcement agencies across Florida to document micromobility device crashes the same way and record crash date, time and rider’s age or if the rider has a valid Florida learner’s driver license or regular license as well as other information.
The challenge is law enforcement agencies currently don’t report crashes in a uniform way, making it hard to understand the big picture.
Another provision in the bill would have allowed police to write $30 nonmoving traffic violations if an e-bike goes faster than 10 mph within 50 feet of pedestrians.
“I understand law enforcement has a job,” DeSantis said. “Do we really want to have policing of e-bikes? Are you going 10 miles or eight miles? I think it was a little bit of overreach.”
The bill would also have created a statewide task force to propose recommendations by Oct. 1 how to regulate “micromobility devices” like e-scooters and e-bikes.
Vanos acknowledged the bill wasn’t “perfect” but said it was “moving us in the right direction.”
She testified in Tallahassee during the Legislative Session to urge lawmakers to give schools representation on the task force.
Both Vanos and Orange County Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad, who represents Winter Park, said improving safety also means addressing bigger infrastructure challenges in communities.
“Devices that can reach higher sustained speeds are increasingly being operated in mixed-use environments—roads, sidewalks, and multi-use trails—without consistent rules, training requirements, or clear expectations for right-of-way behavior,” Martinez Semrad wrote on social media Thursday. “The result is a preventable risk environment: faster vehicles, denser shared spaces, and no modernized regulatory framework to govern how they interact.”
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 3, 2026 | City Commission, Environment, News, Police and Public Safety
Gov. Ron DeSantis Vetoes Winter Park Police Request but Allows Mead Garden Project
Sen. Jason Brodeur said the decisions follow the governor’s preference for regional impact over budget items that he may view as favoring one city
July 3, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
The city of Winter Park scored an environmental victory and took a public safety hit as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the new $117.6 billion state budget this week.
DeSantis vetoed $62,500 for Winter Park Police to buy more security barriers to protect crowds at outdoor public events. Meanwhile, $500,000 escaped DeSantis’ veto pen to fund a water clean-up project at Mead Garden that will leave an impact on the greater region’s environment.
“We were disappointed to learn the city’s Police Department Vehicle Threat Mitigation project was included as one of the $1.7 billion projects vetoed by the Governor,” Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said in a statement. “We are, however, grateful for the approval of the Mead Garden Regional Nutrient Reduction grant that remained funded at $500,000. This grant will meaningfully support the city’s efforts to regionally improve water quality throughout the interconnected lake systems of Winter Park and Maitland, benefiting both Orange and Seminole counties.”
State Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, who sponsored both funding requests on the Senate side, elaborated why he thought the Governor vetoed the $62,500.
“I’m disappointed for the community, but I think it speaks to the Governor’s focus on truly regional needs over a request by a single municipality, favoring projects that benefit multiple municipalities, like a watershed project. It’s not always the case but that is what was portrayed to me,” Brodeur said in a statement.
Last year, Winter Park Police previously received $62,500 from the state and bought security barriers — a trailer with eight barriers and a gate — that will protect Watermelon 5K runners and Fourth of July event-goers this weekend.
Winter Park Police Chief Tim Volkerson said he had been hopeful to receive the same amount of money this year to buy more barricades.
“We will continue to seek alternative funding opportunities to acquire equipment to enhance community safety for our public events,” Volkerson said in a statement. “This is a continuous process as technology and the landscape of public safety evolves.
Barriers purchased by Winter Park Police last year help protect pedestrians and businesses along Park Avenue during special events. (Photo courtesy of Winter Park Police)
Winter Park City Commissioner Warren Lindsey shared the same sentiment that he was dismayed about the police funding veto.
“It was a very practical and necessary security protection that would really benefit thousands of citizens, not just Winter Park citizens, but citizens throughout Central Florida that attend different concerts and events around and in Central Park,’ Lindsey said in an interview. “Anything that we can do to enhance their protection is just a win for everybody and it helps provide peace of mind.”
Lindsey also said he was thankful DeSantis did not axe the $500,000 to filter excessive nutrients from Alice’s Pond in Mead Garden.
“It’s really one of our crown jewels of Winter Park,’ Lindsey said of Mead Garden.
He thanked Brodeur and state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who had sponsored the funding in a bipartisan effort.
DeSantis vetoed about half of Eskamani’s projects, according to Eskamani, who is often a fierce critic of the governor.
Eskamani said she was grateful the Mead Garden funding survived, calling it a crucial non-partisan issue to protect the environment. She had also been optimistic it would advance because DeSantis himself has campaigned on water quality through his term, she said.
“This is going to be a really important investment,” Eskamani said. “All of our bodies of water are interconnected, and when we’re able to create improvements with one of these major parks, it absolutely will impact the entire community.”
Ahead of the DeSantis vetoes, the Florida TaxWatch criticized state lawmakers for sponsoring $380 million worth of water projects in the state budget which the group dubbed as “budget turkeys” in its annual report. The group said its opposition wasn’t targeting the value of the water projects but the budget process itself since the lawmakers-supported projects circumvented a formal, competitive review.
When asked about Florida TaxWatch’s criticism, Eskamani said, “I definitely think there can always be more transparency in the state budget.”
She added, “With that said, water projects tend to be some of the most important projects with a lot of merit” and argued Florida needs more grants for inland communities to clean up their lakes and rivers.
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by Beth Kassab | Jun 25, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News
No Promises Made to Blue Bamboo
The nonprofit music venue did not receive the assurances it was seeking from the City Commission that there was room to renegotiate the lease for the old library building
June 25, 2026
By Beth Kassab
No clear resolution emerged Thursday from a contentious meeting over the future of the Blue Bamboo, which was seeking a rent reduction or some other accommodations from the city government to continue operating in the old library building.
But none of the five commissioners expressed support in the work session for changing the terms of the Blue Bamboo’s lease, though Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram suggested handing the lease to another arts organization that could perhaps sublease space to the nonprofit music venue.
At issue, is the Blue Bamboo’s ability to meet its lease obligation when the rent is scheduled to double in August without subleasing the second and third floors.
Blue Bamboo Director Jeff Flowers said no arts organizations can afford the necessary rent on those floors and that he’s also been hampered by construction delays. He said he wants the flexibility to divert from the original vision of transforming the building into an arts hub and, instead, potentially lease space to non-arts nonprofits or commercial businesses.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio quickly countered that she’s heard from a number of arts groups and the problem is not that they can’t afford the rent, but that they can’t work with Flowers and other leadership at the Blue Bamboo.
“We have letters from people who said they could not deal with you,” DeCiccio said, noting that Flowers and Blue Bamboo Founder Chris Cortez dictated the amount of the rent and other terms and were made aware of issues in the building that would need to be addressed during construction.
“You came to the commission with the rent figures,” DeCiccio said to Flowers. “We didn’t fight you on that. You gave us those.”
Flowers said the assertion that other arts leaders were unable to work with him on lease terms is false.
But Theresa Smith-Levin stood up to talk about why Central Florida Vocal Arts walked away from dealing with the Blue Bamboo nearly a year ago after working with the organization for more than a year to secure the city lease as well as a grant from Orange County funded by hotel hotel tax money.
She said she was shocked to read in Flowers’ recent memo to the commission that CFVA “lacked the financial capacity” to meet the lease.
She pointed to her organization’s tax return that showed stronger financial growth and capacity than the Blue Bamboo.
Smith-Levin said her group had no problem assuming half the rent or about $11,000 per month.
What she said she was unwilling to do was accept what she called a “bait and switch” of terms such as restricting CFVA’s operating hours to only before 5 p.m. and capacity limitations. She said the terms were unworkable for an arts organization that relies on evenings to host rehearsals and provide lessons for students.
She said the terms were in “direct contradiction” to the conversations she had with Cortez, who died of brain cancer last year just months after she walked away from the deal.
Flowers said he was “misrepresented” and asserted their disagreement actually hinged on whether CFVA could rent out space to others.
At one point, Ingram — whose own background is as an opera singer — suggested Smith-Levin’s group could take over the main lease of the building and rent space back to the Blue Bamboo so that it would not lose its investment in construction on the building.
Commissioner Warren Lindsey asked Flowers if he had a Plan B if he were unable to continue to meet the terms of the lease.
Flowers offered that he did not want to lose his organization’s more than $2 million work on the building.
“First, the plan is let’s work together and come up with a plan that works for both of us,” he said.
A number of people from the community spoke in favor of the Blue Bamboo and the opportunities it provides for younger musicians as well as the paying gigs it provides professionals.
DeCiccio, the only commissioner who voted against the lease in 2024, suggested that perhaps Flowers could attempt to secure additional grant dollars that would allow the organization to move to its own building.
Lindsey echoed that point, saying he appreciated the venue’s contribution to the arts, but that the commission needed to protect its interest in a highly-visible building.
“We have to be good stewards,” he said. “It’s a city asset.”
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