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.

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:

1. “Winter PAC has not and does not use any physical space in the Welcome Center.”
2. “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.”
3. “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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