by Beth Kassab | Apr 16, 2025 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Chamber-Aligned Political Committee Changes Address and Agent
Commissioners recently questioned if it was appropriate for the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce to operate Winter PAC, which raised more than $85,000 to influence elections, from a city-owned building
April 16, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter PAC, the chamber-aligned political committee that had come under fire from some city commissioners for operating out of a city-owned building leased by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, filed a change of address and change of registered agent with the city clerk this week.
Betsy Gardner, the president and CEO of the chamber, will no longer serve as the group’s registered agent, according to the document filed Tuesday.
Instead, Brian Mills, Winter PAC’s chairman and an attorney and lobbyist at Maynard Nexsen, will serve as the registered agent, the person appointed to receive official or legal documents and notices on behalf of the group. Mills is part of the firm’s “government solutions group” with clients in technology, manufacturing and the commercial space industry, according to the firm’s web site. He has previously served on Winter Park’s Board of Adjustments and was chief of staff to former Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh when Singh first took office in 2013.
An address listed for his law firm at 200 E. New England Ave. Suite 110 will serve as the political committee’s new address.
“Winter PAC was established to support a vibrant, engaged, and prosperous Winter Park community,” Mills said in a press release provided by the chamber on Friday. “After speaking with our stakeholders, many of whom have been lifelong residents of Winter Park, it has become clear that this issue of who collects our mail is a distraction from the more important business of how our community is being served. We appreciate the support and encouragement of the Chamber and its members.”
The decision came just days after City Attorney Kurt Ardaman told the City Commission that his firm would no longer be a member of the chamber because he was unhappy, in part, with how the group provided an option to donate to the PAC on the chamber’s membership renewal invoice.
Ardaman said his firm “inadvertently” donated $25 to the PAC, as result of paying the full invoice amount.
The Voice reported the donation in the context of the investigation Ardaman conducted at the request of several commissioners into whether the chamber was violating its lease on a city-owned building across from City Hall by using the same address for the PAC.
Ardaman said he stands by his opinion provided to the commission last month that the chamber is not in violation of the lease because it has not officially subleased or assigned any legal interest of the building over to Winter PAC, which has raised more than $85,000 over two years to influence city elections.
He said he did not know when he started the investigation based on a request from the commission that $25 paid at the same time he paid his firm’s chamber dues was sent to the PAC in January. The PAC has since returned the money.
The chamber says it has nearly 800 members. According to email correspondence between Gardner and Ardaman’s firm provided to the Voice by the chamber, 82 members have opted to pay an extra $25 for the PAC at the time of renewing dues while “hundreds” have chosen not to contribute.
The statement from the chamber emphasized Ardman’s opinion that the group is not in violation of its lease and said the PAC made the changes to its address “voluntarily.”
Commissioner Kris Cruzada, who Winter PAC attempted to defeat in the March election by backing another candidate, was one of the commissioners who said he still had questions after Ardaman’s report.
Cruzada declined to comment on Wednesday.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 14, 2025 | Historic Preservation, News
New Manager Seeks to Build on Heritage Center's Programs
Jasmine Harris recently took over as the new leader for the center that preserves and shares Black history and art in Winter Park
April 14, 2025
By Gabrielle Russon
Unhappy as a data analyst doing financial reports at her corporate job, Jasmine Harris quit and took a leap. She went back to the University of Central Florida to get her master’s degree in public history.
Harris, who comes from an unlikely background merging storytelling and numbers, started last month as the new manager handling day-to-day operations at the Hannibal Square Heritage Center.
“I’m right where I’m supposed to be,” Harris said after finding her calling.
Harris is part of a resurgence at the Heritage Center as its new leaders hope to build deeper ties in the community and move past the former leader’s firing that played out publicly in the headlines.
The Heritage Center, which opened in 2007 in the heart of Winter Park’s historically Black Hannibal Square neighborhood, is run by the nonprofit Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park which hired Emily Bourmas-Fry to take over as school’s executive director in January.
The Heritage Center at 642 West New England Avenue in Winter Park.
“With any transition, there’s always going to be a new structure, a new vision, fresh ideas,” Bourmas-Fry said. “We have been busy.”
Bourmas-Fry and Harris said they are in the process of building an advisory committee of longtime Winter Park residents to help guide the center with its programming and exhibits.
They also hope to restart a quilting program and explore holding meditative classes similar to when people gathered there during the Black Lives Matter protests for a community healing space. Other ideas could be offering help for people researching their ancestry.
Bourmas-Fry said she wants the center to partner more with local arts organizations and work with other communities to help them document their local Black history too. She hopes the Heritage Center, which keeps written stories, photos and oral histories as well as offering walking tours, can be a case study on how to document local Black history.
While the neighborhood surrounding the center has been largely redeveloped over the past three decades, the center aims to “be a model for recording and celebrating the culture, history and heritage of threatened communities everywhere,” according to its website.
“Not every community has something like this,” Bourmas-Fry said. “And I’d like to really reach out to those communities and find out how we can help them.”
What’s also important, Bourmas-Fry added, is building a stronger link between Crealdé and the Heritage Center to remind people the two separate campuses are connected and under the same umbrella.
Like all arts organizations, funding also remains a priority, Bourmas-Fry said. Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed millions of dollars from local arts groups last year — including $60,000 for Crealdé. Bourmas-Fry has joined arts advocates to lobby in Tallahassee for the funding to be reinstated.
The center also recently hired a new marketing coordinator, Xena de La Tour, to better promote the center on social media.
End of an Era
Having Harris on board fills a big hole for the Heritage Center.
Outgoing Crealdé executive director Peter Schreyer let go of previous manager and longtime community advocate Barbara Chandler in December.
Chandler did not respond to a request for comment for this story, and Bourmas-Fry declined to comment on the specifics of what happened.
The Orlando Sentinel reported Chandler’s termination came after “unapproved partnerships, failure to communicate key details, and repeated disregard for Crealdé’s policies,” according to an email Chandler shared with the newspaper.
“I hate to see personnel issues played out publicly,” Winter Park Assistant Manager Michelle del Valle wrote in a Dec. 30 email to a city spokesman that was obtained by the Winter Park Voice recently through a public records request. The city of Winter Park owns the Heritage Center’s building.
Chandler argued she had been wrongfully terminated in an open letter she sent out.
Some of Chandlers’ supporters voiced their shock that Chandler, who was once recognized by the Sentinel for making Central Florida a better place to live in 2022, was fired.
“In my humble opinion, this is a great loss since she was the only person fully-focused on HSHC, and no one else has the depth of connections and network to maintain that momentum,” wrote Ruth Edwards, the Winter Park Library’s education director, in a Dec. 13 email to Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio.
Since then, Chandler has been busy with her company, Barbara Chandler Productions, according to a recent Orlando Weekly story. Chandler is working with the Winter Park Playhouse for a quarterly cabaret series called Sounds of the World. The one-night show played last month with new shows coming in the future while Chandler also works on exhibits and gives walking tours.
Both Harris and Bourmas-Fry praised Chandler for her impact at the center and community-building.
“She left a wonderful legacy behind the Heritage Center,” Harris said.
Bringing Stories Out of the Shadows
On a recent tour to a first-time visitor, Harris paused in front of a photograph of a young Black man smiling in his high school band uniform.
Harris read the caption out loud that told the story of the young man later fighting in the Vietnam War and dying back home alone after suffering from PTSD.
Jasmine Harris stands near an exhibit inside the Heritage Center.
“The stories get lost,” Harris said as she reflected on the Heritage Center’s mission to remember Winter Park’s past. “It’s important to have them written down. If you don’t, then these stories stay in the shadows — marginalized voices.”
In her first few weeks on the job, Harris is learning Winter Park history and finding mentors who have lived it.
“I want to make sure I’m honoring the voices in this community because I understand I am an outsider coming in. I am African-American, but I am not from Winter Park,” said Harris, 29, who is originally from Boynton Beach and lives in Orlando.
It wasn’t until her high school senior year when Harris took African-American history. It clicked. In college, she switched her schedule to make room for history classes “even though my major was math and my advisors didn’t understand it,” Harris said. “OK, you’re taking Calculus 3 and then you’re going to the Psychology of the African-American? I dunno. I just like it all.”
Learning about Black history left Harris with a renewed sense of confidence and hope in a world where the lens into history is often framed by a white point-of-view.
“As a young African-American woman growing up and looking at the mainstream to see that there’s nothing there … I had to go seek that out,” Harris said. “And it just makes you feel more whole in your identity as you navigate this world.”
Harris will finish her master’s in public history at UCF next year after getting her bachelor’s degree in actuarial science with a double minor in statistics and history, also at UCF.
Her background makes her a good fit for the job since Harris is already surveying visitors and analyzing trends which will help with growing the center and grant writing, said Bourmas-Fry who had reached out to UCF’s Africana Studies program for a recommendation when hiring the manager job.
“That was really vital for us, making sure that we got the right person,” Bourmas-Fry said. “Her breadth of knowledge and her love of history and her passion and the fact that she was so invested” is why Harris stood out.
Harris’ background focuses on African-American history from a global scale. Now, she is learning the dates and details in the 100-year-old-plus history of Winter Park to run the Heritage Center.
“I just can’t wait to see how I can be of service,” Harris said.
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Gabrielle Russon is a freelance reporter and former reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, where she covered K-12 education, colleges and universities and the tourism industry. She lives in Orlando with her family and writes about politics, education, theme parks and the courts.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 10, 2025 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
City Attorney Says His Firm has Left Winter Park Chamber
City Attorney Kurt Ardaman said his law firm is no longer a member of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce after he was says he was unaware he made a contribution to its political committee at the time he paid his member dues
April 10, 2025
By Beth Kassab
City Attorney Kurt Ardaman told the City Commission on Wednesday that his law firm Fishback Dominick is no longer a member of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce “based on a number of factors” in the wake of his look into whether the chamber is violating its lease on a city building by allowing its political action committee to reside at the same address.
Ardaman said he stands by his opinion provided to the commission last month that the chamber is not in violation of the lease because it has not officially subleased or assigned any legal interest of the building over to Winter PAC, which has raised more than $85,000 over two years to influence city elections.
He said he did not know when he started the investigation based on a request from the commission that $25 paid at the same time he paid his firm’s chamber dues was sent to the PAC in January. The PAC has since returned the money.
He did not disclose his membership or the contribution in his report. And he did not include that the chamber collects an optional portion paid at the time members pay dues for the political committee, apparently because he was unaware of it.
“I’ve not been happy based on a number of factors with the chamber … So we’ve resigned from the chamber because we’re just not satisfied with it,” Ardaman told the board, noting that no one forced him to make the move.
Ardaman said that the information he obtained from chamber and PAC leaders was not taken under oath, but that commissioners could file a court action if they wanted to attempt to obtain sworn depositions or additional documents from the group.
None of the commissioners expressed a desire to file such an action.
Chamber Executive Director Betsy Gardner, who also serves as registered agent for the PAC, declined to comment. The chamber says it has nearly 800 members. According to email correspondence between Gardner and Ardaman’s firm provided to the Voice after this story was first published, 82 members have opted to pay an extra $25 for the PAC at the time of renewing dues while “hundreds” have chosen not to contribute.
A copy of the Fishback Dominick invoice shows the firm paid for three items on the same invoice: $595 in membership dues; $195 for an enhanced listing and $25 labeled as “optional voluntary contribution to Winter PAC, the Winter Park Chamber’s affiliated political committee.
Commissioner Kris Cruzada, the incumbent Winter PAC attempted to kick out of office this year by spending more than $30,000, thanked Ardman for his “disclosure” and “candor” and asked about other potential legal actions to remove the PAC from the building. The chamber signed a 99-year lease with the city for the building across from City Hall in 2005 and spent $900,000 on its development.
Ardman said he didn’t think such an action would be successful.
Warren Lindsey, a defense attorney and the newest commissioner who took office last month, also thanked Ardaman for his “professionalism” and asked if there were more details about the money paid from the PAC to the Chamber noted in Ardaman’s four-page memorandum.
The report notes $3,600 payments from the PAC to the Chamber listed on the group’s election cycle financial reports as “administrative fees/non-candidate expenditure” or “professional fees/expenditure regarding candidate.”
Brian Mills and Lawrence Lyman, the officers of Winter PAC, told Ardman’s firm that the payments were for the use of equipment such as copies or printers and for the chamber accepting and holding the political group’s mail, according to the report.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to add further clarification that the payments collected by the chamber for Winter PAC are collected at the same time as chamber dues, but are optional. as well as to add additional information based on correspondence provided by the Chamber.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 9, 2025 | City Commission, News, Uncategorized
School board members: Winter Park could lose school resource officers
The city is among five municipalities that still hasn’t reached an agreement with Orange County Public Schools over how much the district will pay for the officers
April 9, 2025
By Gabrielle Russon
Winter Park is in jeopardy of losing its five school resource officers and having them replaced by armed guardians next school year.
Orange County Public Schools board members recently voiced their outrage that they haven’t reached SRO contract deals with Winter Park and four other municipalities since the current contract expires next month at the end of this school year.
“There is no other way to characterize that than they are negotiating in bad faith with us, and I am so disappointed and so frustrated,” said school board member Stephanie Vanos at the meeting.
Orange County Superintendent Maria Vazquez urged the school board to reconsider a controversial plan to hire new armed security under what’s known as the guardians program for those five communities.
“I know that our conversation a few months ago surrounding guardians in our school was one that the board was adamant that we could not look at or that we would not pursue,” Vazquez said at last week’s school board meeting. “I am requesting that the board reconsider that stance.”
The board will meet during a workshop to continue the discussion. No workshop date has been scheduled.
District spokesman Michael Ollendorff said if the guardian program is pursued it would involve private security staff such as hiring former military or law enforcement rather than arming teachers and school staff, which Florida law also allows.
Winter Park, Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden and Windermere have been at a standoff with OCPS for months about the cost to pay for SROs.
Ollendorff declined to say how many SROs currently are deployed at the schools in those five communities, saying that information was confidential under state law for security reasons. Central Florida Public Media previously reported the number was at 34.
Currently, Winter Park Police officers make up five of them — one at Brookshire Elementary; one at Lakemont Elementary, one at the Ninth Grade Center and two at the Winter Park High main campus.
OCPS pays about $72,000 a year per officer and proposed an increase to $75,000 per officer rate for the 2026-27 school year. OCPS already signed three year-contracts with the other four law enforcement agencies in Orlando, Maitland, Eatonville and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Meanwhile, the five remaining cities argued OCPS is not giving enough money to cover the SROs and asked for an additional $2 million to pay for the officers.
“I would encourage them to remember that we are public education — we are not just a business. We have extremely limited funds,” Vanos said. “We don’t have other avenues to generate revenue like they do.”
The school board prefers SROs, said school board member Alicia Farrant who added, “if people don’t want to play nice and negotiate, then we’ll have to look at the guardian program, which, in my opinion, is also a great program.”
Other schools are tapping ex-military and former law enforcement officials to become guardians, Farrant said.
Apopka Police Chief Mike McKinley, who is leading the negotiations on behalf of the five cities, and Winter Park spokeswoman Clarissa Howard declined to comment for this story. Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio did not respond to a request for comment.
“At this time all parties are still actively negotiating terms,” Apopka Sgt. Jennifer Rudich said in an email.
In a statement released in December, McKinley said none of the law enforcement agencies were in favor of the guardian program and noted that the police agencies “never threatened or even considered withdrawing SROs from schools” when the current school year started without a contract in place.
“While we understand the financial challenges OCPS faces, our agencies are also contending with significant fiscal pressures,” the statement said. “These include difficulties in recruiting personnel and ensuring adequate equipment to meet the growing demands of our cities. Addressing these financial challenges through appropriate funding is essential to sustaining the high level of service we provide.”
Amid the SRO discussion, Vazquez and school board members warned the school district is facing an unprecedented budget crunch that could lead to hard decisions — like closing schools — in upcoming years.
“I have not seen a time in my educational career where it has been this bleak,” Vazquez said.
Some public school funding is getting cut at the expense of taxpayer-funded private school vouchers, officials said. Other revenue cuts are coming from Medicaid that reimburses students’ mandated therapy services while more federal money is budgeted to get axed under President Donald Trump’s administration.
OCPS pays for SROs using Safe Schools funding – a pot of state money that’s been increased by the Legislature since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland in 2018. Currently the state appropriation for Florida schools is $290 million.
However, OCPS said its $21.1 million Safe Schools allocation isn’t enough to cover all the district’s expenses and leaves the district with a $16.3 million shortfall this school year.
In addition to paying $23.1 million for SROs, the district is legally required to give $1.7 million to Orange County charter schools and also must fund district police and SAFE coordinators, as required by the state, which costs about $12.5 million.
In 2019, state lawmakers divided down party lines approved a school safety bill that included a provision to allow school districts to voluntarily set up guardian programs to arm and train school staff.
Democrats voiced fears that teachers and guidance counselors are already slammed with their demanding jobs without the pressure of stopping an active shooter. The guardians, who would undergo 144 hours of training with the local sheriff’s office, would be missing the extensive training that sworn law enforcement officers have, Democrats argued.
“We’re asking our teachers to be law enforcement … and that’s wrong,” said former Democratic Sen. Bill Montford during the 2019 debate. “Let’s put our money where our mouths are. Let’s provide enough funding so that we can have real, true, well-trained law enforcement, people protecting the children – which they deserve.”
But Republicans argued districts need the option for guardians if they can’t afford SROs or need more police coverage.
“There may be some place in the state where some superintendent has decided that for his community, for those kids in that classroom, he has no other choice,” said then-Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr., a Republican who today is the Florida Commissioner of Education. “The majority of our superintendents and school boards will make decisions based on the resources they have available to them.”
Clarification: This story previously reported that teachers and school staff could be armed through the guardian program under consideration by Orange County Public Schools. While arming teachers is allowed under Florida law, the district clarified it would consider private armed security such as former military or law enforcement personnel, not school staff.
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Gabrielle Russon is a freelance reporter and former reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, where she covered K-12 education, colleges and universities and the tourism industry. She lives in Orlando with her family and writes about politics, education, theme parks and the courts.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 2, 2025 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
City Attorney Says Chamber Political Committee Not a Violation of Lease
Commissioners raised questions about the political group operating out of a city-owned building
April 2, 2025
By Beth Kassab
At least two city commissioners want to drill deeper into a long-term lease with the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, after the chamber used a city-owned building for a political action committee that paid for ads to influence city elections.
The comments to the Winter Park Voice came after City Attorney Kurt Ardaman conducted an investigation at the request of the commission and concluded the chamber is not violating its lease. The mayor and four commissioners sat silently during Ardaman’s report at last week’s meeting and did not ask any questions.
But at least two commissioners, including one who the chamber PAC just attempted to kick out of office, and a former commissioner told the Voice that the report did not fully resolve the matter.
“One of the things that concerns me is the political action committee address is the same as the chamber address,” said Commissioner Kris Cruzada, who was challenged this year by a chamber-backed opponent. “I’m still trying to reconcile that. Do we need to go deeper than what someone is telling us? We work under the premise of good will and good faith and does it send the wrong message when there is a PAC operating out of that building, presumably, and maybe trying to undermine the sentiment of residents in the city?”
Ardaman’s four-page memorandum to the commission concluded that the chamber is not in violation of its lease because it has not officially sublet a portion of the building or assigned away any of its legal interest in the building at 151 W. Lyman Avenue across the street from City Hall. The chamber entered into a 99-year lease for the space known as the “Welcome Center” in 2005 after the chamber spent $900,000 on its development.
But a recent payment by Ardaman’s own law firm, Fishback Dominick, to the political committee known as Winter PAC illustrates just how intertwined chamber operations are with the PAC.
Ardaman did not disclose to the commission that his firm is a member of the chamber and paid the PAC $25 as part of the firm’s dues in January.
The PAC is required to file financial reports as part of the city election rules. It’s first report this year lists $500 in total contributions comprised of $25 each from 20 local businesses, including Fishback Dominick. Another report showed another batch of $25 contributions from businesses such as the Volvo Store, Prato, Barnie’s and more.
Asked why he didn’t disclose the payment, Ardaman told the Voice the money was paid “inadvertently” by his office staff.
“The $25 contribution to Winter PAC that you question was inadvertently paid through Fishback’s membership in the Chamber,” Ardaman said in an email. “Unfortunately, our staff did not deduct $25 from our payment of the Chamber invoice amount, and $25 was paid by the Chamber to Winter PAC. We have instituted measures to ensure that does not reoccur. Fishback, along with the City of Winter Park, the Winter Park Library, The Winter Park Events Center, the Winter Park Housing Authority, and others are Chamber members that all support the best interests of the City. Fishback has no leadership position with the Chamber. Supporting the City’s best interests for Fishback, does not include contributing to any candidate in City elections.”
A chamber spokeswoman said members are “given the option to make voluntary contributions to Winter PAC starting at $25, which are separate from Winter Park Chamber of Commerce dues.”
She said the option is disclosed to members during “multiple communications during annual billing.”
Money raised by the PAC was spent to help the campaign of Justin Vermuth, who ran against incumbent Cruzada. Winter PAC spent about $33,000 to advocate for Vermuth, according to the financial reports, and raised $85,000 in 2024 and 2025.
Cruzada won a second term last month with 63% of the vote in a landslide against Vermuth.
Some Context Behind the Dispute
The questions over the lease are playing out as the Chamber, known for putting on popular events like the annual Christmas parade or the Autumn Art Festival, has taken a more aggressive role in city elections during the last two years.
The division between chamber leadership and supporters and some commissioners appears rooted, at least in part, in a conflict over development.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and Commissioner Marty Sullivan supported a major reversal of a set of development rules known as the Orange Avenue Overlay when they were first elected in 2020. The changes meant that landholders along the key commercial corridor lost the ability to build denser and taller developments.
The Orange Avenue Overlay in Winter Park.
Companies controlled by two property owners, Mary Demetree and the Holler family, sued the city over the changes. The city prevailed in the lawsuit in 2023.
In 2024, the chamber created Winter PAC. Demetree and companies that belong to the Holler family are among contributors to the PAC or to candidates supported by Winter PAC.
The chamber spent about $30,000 in 2024 to advocate for Craig Russell, who narrowly defeated candidate Jason Johnson. Russell said during the campaign that he was open to revisiting the Orange Avenue Overlay while Johnson said he supported the new rules opposed by the large landholders.
Steve Leary, who was Winter Park mayor when the old, more development-friendly, rules took effect for the Orange Avenue Overlay also contributed $500 to Vermuth through his own political committee called Neighbors for a Sensible Orange County. Ardaman gave $5,000 to that committee last year when Leary was running for Orange County Commission and lost to Kelly Semrad.
“We did not know and had no control of that PAC’s later contribution to any City Commission candidate,” Ardaman said when asked about the contribution to Leary’s committee. “We believed that Steve would have well served Orange County and the City of Winter Park as a member of the Orange County Commission.”
What the Report Says
Ardaman’s report focused solely on whether there was a violation of the chamber’s lease with the city and relied on interviews with Betsy Gardner, chamber president and registered agent of Winter PAC; Brian Mills, Winter PAC’s chairman and deputy treasurer and Lawrence Lyman, Winter PAC’s vice chairman.
He noted more than $3,000 in payments from Winter PAC to the Chamber labeled as administrative or professional fees.
But the report did not make any mention of how the PAC collects money at the same time, and as part of a single payment, as when the chamber collects its dues.
The report concluded that Gardner, Mills and Lyman all provided the same information:
- “Winter PAC has not and does not use any physical space in the Welcome Center.”
- “The payments from Winter PAC to the Chamber were either reimbursement for the use of office equipment (as Winter PAC lacks such equipment of its own) or compensation in exchange for the Chamber accepting and holding mail on behalf of Winter PAC.”
- “Winter PAC did not receive any actual right to access the physical property of the Welcome Center beyond that enjoyed by a member of the general public.”
Todd Weaver, who initiated the request for the report on the chamber’s lease before he left the City Commission last month, said some portions of the report don’t make sense.
“I’m not an attorney, but I have been a landlord,” Weaver said. “Let’s say I rent a home to a person and he signs the lease. Six months later, let’s say the guy has his girlfriend move in. She’s not on the lease. But she’s living there. And they should give the landlord notice of that. In this case, the chamber didn’t provide notice. They didn’t tell the city manager that they were going to run a PAC.”
Weaver questioned how the attorney could conclude that the PAC doesn’t have access to the property “beyond that enjoyed by a member of the general public,” while also acknowledging that the group uses the office equipment and collects mail there.
“I think there’s enough proof they’ve [the chamber] used the space outside the parameters of the lease [with the city],” Weaver said.
Commissioner Marty Sullivan said he accepts Ardaman’s conclusion about the lease, but would like to know more such as if there is an official agreement of any kind between the chamber the PAC.
“I’m curious what arrangement or agreement exists between the chamber and the PAC and I would like to know that Fishback Dominick looked at those agreements,” Sullivan said. “We have a legal review that says there is no lease violation. Will that decision continue to stand? I don’t know.”
Sullivan said in his view the chamber has supported “out-of-scale development” at odds with him and at least one other current commissioner “as illustrated by the battle over Orange Avenue Overlay building codes.”
Commissioner Warren Lindsey who took Weaver’s seat in March said he didn’t have sufficient knowledge about the matter to comment. Commissioner Craig Russell could not be reached for comment. Mayor Sheila DeCiccio also declined to comment on the matter.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 31, 2025 | News
Winter Park Voice Joins 380 Newsrooms in Raising Millions for Nonprofit News
The donations and matching dollars are essential in helping the Voice achieve its mission of providing stories that would otherwise go uncovered in Winter Park
March 31, 2025
Staff Report
The Winter Park Voice and 380 other nonprofit news outlets secured more than $55 million in individual donations from their audiences in 2024 as part of the nationwide NewsMatch program, now heading into its 10th year.
The results represent an 18% increase in donations from 2023 and the highest in the program’s history.
NewsMatch is a collaborative effort: The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) raises money to seed a pooled fund for matching gifts, and INN member organizations like the Voice fundraise with their audiences in November and December to become eligible for those gifts. Participants also receive fundraising training, tools and services through INN and its partner News Revenue Hub.
The program is a key way news outlets have attracted and diversified donors during a prolonged period of contraction and instability in the news industry.
A map shows the reach of INN’s NewsMatch program across the nation.
For the 2024 NewsMatch campaign, the Voice received nearly 100 donations totaling $20,000. As a result, the Voice received the maximum $15,000 in matching dollars from INN’s NewsMatch program.
“We are so grateful to our donors here in Central Florida and to INN for this incredible campaign,” said Voice Editor Beth Kassab. “People in Winter Park want news about their community from a trusted source. And it shows in their support of our work. Every dollar goes directly to our journalism and expanding the amount and variety of content we can provide.”
Kassab noted how hyperlocal organizations like the Voice are essential to reporting stories that would otherwise go uncovered and holding elected officials and others in power accountable.
“With misinformation on the rise and traditional media in decline, it’s up to sites like ours to shine a light on the facts,” Kassab said. “We follow clear reporting standards with stories backed up by public documents, public meetings and interviews with sources. We give the people and institutions in our stories the opportunity to comment. We value fairness and accuracy above everything else.”
In order to become members of INN and participate in NewsMatch, nonprofit newsrooms must meet membership standards for editorial independence, original news reporting and financial transparency.
Over nine NewsMatch campaign cycles, INN and the outlets in its network have raised more than $400 million, attracting donations from nearly half a million first-time donors and, increasingly, inspiring major donors, regional and community foundations and businesses to add news to their giving portfolios.
INN’s Executive Director and CEO Karen Rundlet calls NewsMatch “a conversation between newsrooms and their communities.”
“When a neighbor, a reader, a PTA president, a block captain, a concerned voter donates $10, $25, $100 to NewsMatch participants, it’s evidence that the community is investing in accurate and trusted information and reporting,” says Rundlet. “It’s the audience saying, ‘It matters that this exists, and I’m supporting it with my money.”
The Voice is solely supported by reader contributions and grants like the one from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
If you want to help the Winter Park Voice in its mission to serve local readers visit our contribution page.
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