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 | Apr 1, 2025 | Uncategorized
See the changes planned for one of Winter Park's most dangerous roads
Commissioners looked at final concepts for the plan to fix S.R. 426, though the city’s share of the cost is still unclear
April 1, 2025
By Charles Maxwell
Final plans are ready for the long talked about improvements to the unusually narrow and curvy 1.7-mile stretch of State Road 426 between Park Avenue and Lakemont Avenue, but it’s still unclear how much the city will pay for its share of the project.
State data shows the busy stretch of S.R. 426 averages six car crashes per month and more than 4,000 speed violations daily. The road is controlled by the state of Florida, but serves as a major east-west passage through Winter Park, winding around and over the city’s chain of lakes.
Residents who live on the lakes and off the side streets have called for years for improved safety features.
Final plans show repaved roads, raised medians, and new high-visibility crosswalks to help prevent collisions, bring down travel speeds and protect pedestrians. Construction of the project is expected to start in early 2026.
City of Winter Park engineer Hongmyung Lim told the City Commission during a work session last week what he’s heard from residents throughout the Florida Department of Transportation’s design work on the project.
“A lot of the stakeholders and residents wanted general support for pedestrian features and safety, and slowing down traffic on 426,” Lim said.
Primary concerns included turning left safely onto S.R. 426 from the side streets and safely turning into driveways and side streets from the main road. Requests also included several additional traffic signals.
The plans include raised intersections with high visibility crosswalks at Chase Avenue, Sylvan Drive, and Cortland Ave, along with three different raised crosswalks with pedestrian hybrid beacons and advanced signage to help pedestrians safely cross dangerous roadways.
Vice president of American Structurepoint and project manager for the project’s design phase, Nick Harrison, addressed the commission and elaborated on each of the proposed improvements. Harrison believes that the changes, such as raised crosswalks, will encourage drivers to slow down and punish the vehicles that choose not to. “If you’re traveling 45-50 mph, it’s going to create a problem for you,” said Harrison.
The city of Winter Park made an initial financial commitment of $1.8 million to support the project on September 27, 2023, but is expected to reduce its investment as some of the scope of work has been reduced.
Due to maintenance challenges and complications, Lim said that some original features, such as brick intersections, landscaped medians, and bus stop pavement markings, have been removed from the plans.
“The city would be responsible for maintaining those bricks whenever they popped out, and also if we were to have landscaping inside the medians our team would have to go out there to make sure it’s maintained and trimmed… we ensured that any of these changes did not impact the intent of the traffic operations of the project,” said Lim. “We’ve been coordinating with FDOT and will determine a final financial commitment soon.”
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Charles Maxwell is a graduate of Winter Park High School and Florida Atlantic University with a degree in multimedia studies. His work has appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boca Raton Tribune, and he is a contributing writer for Keeping it Heel on the FanSided network.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 16, 2025 | City Commission, News, Taxes, Uncategorized
More commissioners signal interest in raising property taxes
At the board’s first budget work session of the year, city staff pitched a targeted increase to cover transportation or public safety costs
March 16, 2025
By Beth Kassab
With costs for police and fire, transportation and other city services continuing to rise amid stubborn inflation, commissioners discussed last week the idea of increasing how much residents pay in property taxes by a quarter mil.
The talks took place at the Commission’s first budget work session of the year where the elected officials heard an overview of anticipated revenue and costs for next year.
Warren Lindsey, who will be sworn in as a new commissioner in Todd Weaver’s seat later this month, attended alongside Weaver.
Commissioner Craig Russell voiced a willingness to consider a tax increase and pondered ways to get residents on board with the idea.
“It’s just a matter of telling the story,” Russell said. “We still have unfunded projects” and expressed concern about a decline in city services “where we won’t be a destination anymore, we’ll just be run-of-the-mill.”
Russell, who was backed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce and is up for re-election next year, said commissioners must talk about the needs with residents and “agree on whether we can market it so that the messaging is cohesive across the board with the public.”
Commissioner Marty Sullivan, who is also up for re-election next year and who proposed a property tax increase recently in a written message to residents, responded, “Craig, you stole my thunder.”
Sullivan said he didn’t mind if an increase is unpopular with voters. He said a .25 mil increase for many residents would be about $8 or so a month or “not much more than a cup of coffee at Barnie’s.”
“I’m OK with people hating me for it,” he said. “If 10 or 20 years from now they say they’re glad we did it.”
Commissioner Kris Cruzada, who was just re-elected last week and is often one of the more fiscally conservative voices on the board, said some older residents are “aging in place” and could be more concerned with increased costs.
He said he encountered a variety of viewpoints on the matter when he canvassed door-to-door ahead of the election.
“Some are more concerned,” he said. “I did get other residents who said, ‘I wouldn’t mind paying a little bit more,’ to make sure key performance indicators can be met,” such as police and fire response times.
“So it is a bit of a mixed bag with some of the residents,” Cruzada said.
City Manager Randy Knight said commissioners will be asked to set a tentative millage rate in July, the city’s typical practice. Then, in September when the budget must be approved, the board can lower the rate if there is negative feedback or if revenue estimates change.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio recalled how the board attempted to push the rate higher in 2020 in response to the pandemic.
“And there was a public outcry and we brought it down,” she said.
Winter Park’s millage rate is 4.0923 and is the only local city that has not increased its tax rate “since the 2009 Great Recession,” according to last year’s budget document. The rate equals about $4.09 in taxes for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.
City Management and Budget Director Peter Moore told the group that potential new costs in the city’s more than $214 million budget could total as much as $5.6 million, but potential new revenues under the status quo could reach just $3.5 million.
The potential new costs include: $900,000 in general fund operating costs; $700,000 for public safety positions; $250,000 for equipment replacement, which he said could face increasing costs as a result of federal tariffs; $300,000 more in the general fund for building projects; $150,000 for IT software and $140,000 to update the parks master plan.
He said the property tax base for Winter Park is expected to remain strong, though growth could slow or at least level out.
He added that he expects harder-to-come-by federal and state grants and higher electric utility costs down the road.
“We’ve seen cities target specific things,” Moore told the group such as raising taxes specifically for transportation or police as some other local governments have done. “Allocating a quarter point to public safety would help.”
At the City Commission meeting earlier in the week the board voted to pause offering more money for local nonprofit grants until later in the year as they wait to get a better picture of the budget numbers and after DeCiccio raised that federal and state grants will likely dry up.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 11, 2025 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Kris Cruzada elected to second term and residents reject leaf blower ban
The incumbent fended off a challenge from a candidate who was endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce and far outraised him
March 11, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Commissioner Kris Cruzada won a second term on Tuesday night with 63% of the vote, defeating first-time candidate Justin Vermuth, who took 37%.
Cruzada, 51, was outspent by Vermuth, 43, by more than 4 to 1 in the race. Vermuth, who was endorsed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce and raised more than $86,000 compared to Cruzada’s $28,000, said he wanted to cut taxes and the city’s spending.
Cruzada, an attorney who was first elected to Seat 3 in March 2022, defended his record on the commission and warned that revenue and spending cuts could also mean a loss of quality in services such as parks, roads, utilities and more.
Neither Cruzada nor Vermuth, who is also an attorney and the lobbyist for the association that represents timeshares, immediately responded to requests for comment about the results.
Cruzada’s victory represents a win for a coalition of residents who consider themselves skeptical of new development that could alter the charm and character of the city known for its chain of lakes and the Spanish-Mediterranean architecture of Rollins College.
His supporters largely support the current version of the Orange Avenue Overlay development rules, which limit building height and density.
Cruzada’s donors included $2,000 bundled from Full Sail University Co-Chairman and CEO Edward Haddock and one of his companies; $2,000 from former Mayor Phil Anderson and Jennifer Anderson; $500 from former Commissioner Carolyn Cooper and $250 from David Odahowski, president and CEO of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation.
Vermuth’s donors included $10,000 bundled by Golden Corral franchisee Eric Holm and his companies, $10,000 bundled by the Holler family’s companies, which own car dealerships and property impacted by the Orange Avenue Overlay; $2,000 from the tourism industry, $1,000 from Jacqueline Siegel, known as the “Queen of Versailles” and wife of timeshare magnate David Siegel and $500 from former Mayor Steve Leary’s political committee.
The chamber’s political action committee spent more than $30,000 for several mailers and other efforts on his behalf. Last year the chamber used a similar strategy to help elect Craig Russell, a football coach and teacher at Winter Park High, who won by 34 votes.
Justin Vermuth
Meanwhile, residents rejected a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers that the commission put into place in early 2022, but never enforced.
Voters said no to the controversial ban, which drew the ire of landscaping companies and state Sen. Jason Brodeur, with 55% of the vote.
The vote means a repeal of the ordinance that was set to take effect this summer.
A total of 4,638 ballots were cast in the Winter Park election, putting turnout at nearly 21%, the highest of the five cities in Orange County that held elections on Tuesday. Winter Park has 22,533 registered voters, including 7,858 Democrats, 8,449 Republicans, 5,590 without a party affiliation and 636 registered with other parties.
The turnout was lower than last year’s in Winter Park, which topped 30% and was boosted by Florida’s Republican presidential preference primary on the same ballot. This year surpassed turnout of 19% in 2022, when Cruzada was first elected.
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