By Marc Crail
District Four, Mount Dora City Council Representative
​
I've selected several items from the September 16, 2025 Mount Dora City Council meetings to comment upon today. As you probably know, I'm reporting to you as one city council member and not on behalf of city council in any official capacity.

During the meeting of our Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency Board we voted to renew our Freebee shuttle service agreement. You've likely seen the Freebee electric vehicles zipping around the downtown area on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Freebee has transported about 23,000 riders over the past year and achieved over 99% satisfaction ratings. We have applied for a state grant that may help reduce our costs. If you haven't tried Freebee, you'll soon be hearing more about how, when and where you can get shuttled to the downtown area and back again. Freebee is one way we can free up parking places downtown.

This is Hispanic Heritage Month. We recognized the many contributions of our citizens of Hispanic descent in a proclamation. I for one enjoy celebrating our many diverse ethnic, racial and religious groups, America at its finest!

You've been following the multi-stepped city budgeting process for several months now. We approved a series of resolutions this evening setting the final millage rate at 6.3000, approving the city budget for FY 2025-26 and approving an updated master fee schedule which will go into effect on October 1.

One annual budget related item is City Council members' evaluation of our city manager, Vince Sandersfeld. He is responsible for virtually every aspect of the workings of our city, our hundreds of employees, not to mention our $200 million budget.

I've been on city council for almost 10 years and I can say without question that our city manager doing an very good job. Staff morale is better than I've ever seen. Vince has our beloved city moving in the right direction and has been a skilled and hardworking leader for a year and a half now. His salary has been below average for comparable sized cities in our area so we set his new salary to reflect his worth to us and recognize his skills and effort. His new salary will be $201,300. That is certainly not the highest city manager's salary in Lake County but it is more in line with his peers.

I've heard from several people who enjoyed our "Advice From an Old Farmer" quotes from our last meeting. As it turns out, that farmer has lots more advice for us. Here are a few more of his admonitions;

"You can't unsay a cruel word."

"The best sermons are lived, not preached."

"Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway."

"If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging."

"Good judgement comes from experience and a whole lot of that comes from bad experience."

Thank you for your interest in all things Mount Dora.

By Marc Crail
District Four, Mount Dora City Council Representative

The City of Mount Dora will host a public workshop to review and gather community feedback on proposed options to improve downtown parking.   The lack of a long-term parking solution in the city's downtown core has been a topic of concern among residents and visitors for several years. 

The options under consideration include:

• Reconfiguring parking spaces to address public safety concerns
• Converting Alexander Street, Baker Street, and Tremain Street to one-way streets
• Downtown paid parking

“Our goal is to not only explore long-term solutions for parking but also to address public safety,” said Mount Dora City Manager Vince Sandersfeld. “Aside from the discussion about paid parking, this project aims to eliminate safety issues associated with the current parking layout while planning responsibly for the city’s future needs.”

The public is encouraged to attend and provide input on the proposed options during the parking workshop on Monday, September 8 at 6 p.m.  in the City Council chamber at Mount Dora City Hall located at 510 N. Baker Street. 

For more news and events in Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, visit Mount Dora Buzz's website, its Instagram  and Facebook page.  Download the area's free mobile app for info on the go.  For local food recommendations, follow Mount Dora Foodie's Facebook and its official Instagram account.

By Marc Crail
Mount Dora City Council, District 4 representative

​Building and approving the City's budget for the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26 is one of City Council's major responsibilities. City staff have worked over the past several months to identify their departments' needs and priorities based upon the Strategic Plan that council has put into place. What follows comes from me as a single city council member. I'm not reporting on behalf of city council as a whole.

I've selected some highlights from the presentation we heard and discussed.

You likely received your TRIM Notice in the mail a few days ago. There were several pages in one envelope. Your TRIM Notice is the page with Lake County Property Appraiser, Mark V. Jordan's name in the top left corner and a light blue box on the top right corner that says, "Do Not Pay This is Not A Bill". This isn't a bill but it represents the highest possible amount that you will pay for your property taxes.

There are 8 distinct taxing entities. The line for Mount Dora is about half way down the Taxing Authority column on the left. I can't speak for the other taxing authorities, but our custom is to propose a millage rate that somewhat higher than we think we will need to pay the bills (that figure is on the right side of the page in column #7), the darker blue column , 6.600 mills. Column #8 is the estimated dollar amount. I believe that when all is said and done on September 16th when the final millage and budget are voted upon, that proposed 6.600 mill rate will be reduced to 6.300 mills.

For my house, the 6.300 mill figure that I anticipate will shave off about $77. Ofcourse, your's will vary based on the tax value of your house and the deductions you might qualify for including things like "Homestead Exemption". Other taxing authorities may also reduce their proposed millage rates. Think of the number circled at the bottom of column #8 as your highest possible Ad Valorem (property tax). It won't go up and will very likely go down a bit.

6.300 mills is the same millage rate that we are currently paying but your Ad Valorem tax bill will be higher than last year because the value of your house has increased somewhat.

Here are some tax facts FYI...

Property taxes (Ad Valorem taxes) account for about 38% of Mount Dora's General Fund Revenues.

Personnel costs (wages and benefits) for city employees make up about 65% of our budget.

Police costs are about 23.5% of the budget. Fire protection is about 14.5%. Public Works is about 9.36%. Parks &                      Recreation is about 13.75% and our Library is about 3.31% of the budget.

Next steps; First Budget Public Hearing September 3rd. at 6:00 p.m. (Tentative Millage and Budget)

Fire Assessment Hearing Thursday, September 11th. at 6:00 p.m.

Second Public Hearing September 16th. at 6:00 p.m. (Final Millage and Budget)

Our quote for today comes by way of Comedian Bill Hicks. "Children are smarter than any of us. Know how I know that? I don't know a single kid with a full-time job and children."

By Marc Crail
Mount Dora City Council, District 4 representative

By Marc Crail
Mount Dora City Council, District 4 City Council Representative
​ 
Your Mount Dora City Council met on August 19th. I've selected several items from the agenda that I think might be of interest tto tell you about. Keep in mind that I'm not reporting to you on behalf of city council in any official capacity.

We heard about several pending projects.

Expect construction to begin this fall on a new electronic information kiosk to be located on the corner of Donnelly St. and 5th. Ave.

Our quest for a federal grant to purchase the railroad property to build a rail-trail has been stalled again this year. We will keep trying.

Drive down Lincoln to check out the beginning of construction of our Community Resource and Recreation Center. Dirt is being moved.

We heard about plans to expand the capacity of the historic Simpson Farmhouse located next to the library adding more space. That project is a couple of years out.

We approved a Task Authorization for design services that will help prevent flooding along Pine Ave.

We will be holding a parking meeting to discuss downtown public parking on Monday September 8.

Lake County Commissioners voted last week to purchase property on Britt Road so that the washed out roadway can be repaired.

You may have noticed a couple of model homes currently under construction in a new 143 acre property that will eventually have 158 single family homes, called "Lochside". It is located on the north side of SR 441 between ABC Liquor and the Country Club of Mount Dora. This development (like the apartments being built across 441 on the south side) were approved by Lake County because those former orange groves were in unincorporated Lake County, not in the city limits. Now, the Lockside property owners are asking to be annexed into the city. By annexing the development, we will collect the development fees and property taxes.

We had an extensive discussion about our ongoing negotiations with Lake County regarding a new Joint Planning Area (JPA) agreement. We will be asking for a time extension in order to resolve language issues.

We've got a quote today by none other than Dr. Seuss from his book, "Oh The Places You'll Go"... "You oughta be thankful a whole heaping lot, for the people and places you're lucky you're NOT. Did I ever tell you how lucky you are? You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose."

Thanks for your continuing interest in our wonderful city!

By Marc Crail
Mount Dora City Council, District 4 City Council Representative

By Marc Crail
Mount Dora City Council District 4 representative​ 

​Your Mount Dora City Council met on Tuesday, August 5. I've selected several items from our agenda to tell you about today. Please keep in mind that what follows come only from me and not from city council as a whole.

We heard that the city has received several grants which is good news. State Representative Nan Cobb and State Senator Keith Truenow were on hand to present a giant check for $123,590.00 for purchasing barriers to protect people attending events and festivals in Mount Dora.

We also accepted a $50,000 grant from the Florida Department of Agriculture to help improve our tree canopy.

We voted to approve applying for a $200,000  50/50 match grant that would be used to enhance plantings in Lincoln and Donnelly parks.

Much of our meeting was devoted to a request from The Palms of Mount Dora Condo Association located at 1400 Eudora Road (near the former bowling alley) to reduce or forgive a lien of $100,250 plus staff costs.

In September of 2022, city code inspectors found several unsafe conditions involving deteriorating  concrete stairs and second-floor walkways at the 80 unit condo buildings. They posted "Unsafe Do Not Occupy" signs. Following the proper legal process, they sent regular mail and Certified Mail letters to the condo's management but the certified mail was returned to sender. They sent more letters the next month and got no response from management.

There were some extenuating circumstances and the needed repairs have now been made so after questions were answered and the condo association presented their case, city council voted unanimously to cut the fine by about half. Payment must be made within 90 days or the original fine will be due.

Please remember that our local schools begin classes on August 13th. To help protect kids from speeding vehicles, cameras will be checking your speed. Watch your speed in school zones for the safety of the students and to avoid costly fines.

Our quote today comes from Tanya Niedzwiecki and I think it's appropriate with the new school year about to begin..."When I asked my son (5 years old) how his day was, he said it was awesome. I asked him what made it so awesome - his response was "because I wanted it to be."

Have yourself an awesome day!

By Marc Crail
Mount Dora City Council District 4 representative