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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