​On May 21 we held a 3:00 Work Session meeting jointly along with the Charter Ad Hoc Review Committee so that they could present their recommendations for updating our City Charter. A city's "Charter" is its constitution.

Our Charter Review Committee is made up of seven members, each one appointed by the seven City Council members. The group was chaired by Steve Guch and vice-chaired by Paula Tucker. The other members are Doug Bryant  (my appointee), Glenna Burch, Cathy Hoechst, Kate Ondrasik and Mark Slaby. This group has been working along with our city attorney over the past several months to comb through the City Charter and ultimately to recommend changes which if approved by City Council will be voted upon by Mount Dora residents.

The Charter Review Committee did an admirable job and reached near unanimous consensus on several proposed changes ranging from some minor "clean-up" or clarification items to some substantive changes. We owe these volunteers a debt of gratitude for their time and effort.

City Council members were impressed with the Charter Review Committee's work and will soon be considering ordinances to adopt those proposals and get them on the ballot, some this November and some next fall. I will give you more details in the next few weeks as the process continues.

The second half of the meeting double feature was the 5:30 Regular Meeting and wrapped up shortly after 10:00. I've picked out a few of the most important items to share with you. You already know that I'm only one of seven council members and this report is just from me as I don't represent City Council in any capacity. I speak for myself here.

We passed a Resolution to authorize negotiations to eventually select an architectural firm to design our three new fire stations. Three firms are on our short list. We also passed a Resolution to select a construction management company to serve as our representative during the construction projects. Four companies are under consideration.

Related to these two items we also passed a Resolution to purchase 8.15 acres of property adjoining our water well field on Limit Ave. The purchase is $645,000. The parcels are large enough to accommodate both a new fire station and our public works facility. I'm excited.

The W. T. Bland Library will once again host a summer lunch program this year for kids. They averaged serving 35 lunches per day last year and anticipate higher participation this summer. By the way our library will be providing 120 summer learning programs this year. Amazing!

In my last report to you I mentioned that we were considering amending an existing Ordinance to change the "Qualifying Period" for City Council Candidates. Qualifying will now be between noon on the Monday of the second full week in August and noon on Friday of that week. This makes for a shorter campaign window but still provides for 80+ days for candidates to conduct their campaigns.

Our progress always seems to me to be in fits and starts (one of my grandmother's favorite phrases) meaning two steps forward then one step backward but things are moving ahead which will make our town even better, safer and more special. Thanks for allowing me to be a small part of this process!

Hollow Horn Bear was a Lakota Sioux who lived between 1850-1913. He once said; "Someday the earth will weep, she will beg for her life, she will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let her die, and when she dies you too will die." Let's take his words to heart before it's too late.

By Dr. Marc Crail
District 4 City Council Member

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By Marc Crail
Mount Dora City Council Member, District 4

We actually had a series of meetings on May 7th beginning at 1:00 and wrapping up shortly after 8:00 p.m. I have selected several items that I thought would be of interest to you. I'm reporting not as a designee of City Council in any official capacity, I'm only one of seven members and what follows is only from my prospective.

Our day began with a very interesting Work Session. We heard a report from our city's lobbyist about the recently concluded session of the Florida Legislature. While the legislature continues to try to erode "home rule" those efforts fell short this time around with the failure of proposals attacking our ability as a city to regulate vacation rentals (HB 987/SB 824) and attempts to eliminate Community Redevelopment Areas that cities utilize to help reverse blighted areas (HB 9). I count those as victories for cities all around Florida.

We should be closing soon on 2.73 acres of property located on Old Rt. 441 near Eudora Rd. That property costing $400,000 will become the home of one of our new fire stations. You might recall that we will have three fire stations coming on line in the next couple of years. These will replace our two current fire stations and will help reduce our emergency response times city wide.

We continued to discuss our Capital Improvement Budget proposals for the upcoming fiscal year which begins October 1, 2019.

We have been trying to purchase the current post office property when the post office moves out late this summer to make that property into a parking lot. The owners have declined to sell and only want to lease the property to us for $65,000 a year. We have decided that a deal will not be possible so we are abandoning our negotiations. We will concentrate our efforts on other potential sites.

City staff had floated an idea to help address our downtown parking issue by adding street parking on Charles Ave. near the lawn Bowling Club and the Mount Dora Marina and possibly on Tremain between the railroad trestle and the lighthouse. We visited that area along with members of the Parks & Rec. Advisory Board, several interested business owners, neighbors and representatives of the Lawn Bowling Club. The consensus was that most attendees were opposed to that idea. Several speakers spoke in favor of a parking deck structure.

During the regular meeting we had a first reading of a proposed Ordinance that would set the city council election qualification period as the second full week in August. That timing would allow council candidates 80+ days to campaign which I believe should be sufficient.

The city manager reported that we will revisit the railroad tracks/train/trail issue in early June as new information should be available by then. It appears that a bike/hike trail may be more likely than repairing the tracks for passenger train service to resume.

Council voted 6-1 (Ms Tillett opposed) to remove a member of the Planning & Zoning Board for conduct that was described as demeaning and inappropriate.

I read a cute quote recently attributed to the Peaceful Warrior Black Belt Club; "Whatever you're doing today,

do it with all the confidence of a four-year-old in a Batman t-shirt". I like it!

By Marc Crail
District 4 City Council Member

There is no doubt that folks don't always agree on the City of Mount Dora's priorities or how it should spend taxpayer money.  As the City Council starts considering funding and priorities for the new budget, there are three big-ticket items that have garnered the most chatter from residents:  a downtown parking garage, the return of the vintage train, and the bike trail along the train tracks.  

How would you like to see Mount Dora spend its money?   What are your priorities and how would you like them funded?  That's exactly what Mount Dora Buzz is asking the City’s residents in a new survey.  Give us your opinion and we'll share the results.   Go to residents' survey here. ​

Lake County is hosting the public hearing for the Round Lake Road Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study as part of the Lake County Board of County Commissioners meeting on May 7.
The recommended Build Alternative would widen the existing Round Lake Road from the Orange/Lake County line to Wolf Branch Road and continue the improvements on a new alignment north of Wolf Branch Road to north of State Road 44. The project length is approximately five miles.

This hearing will provide residents an opportunity to voice their comments concerning the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the proposed Round Lake Road improvements. 

The public hearing will be held as an agenda item as part of the Lake County Board of County Commissioners meeting scheduled on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at the Lake County Administration Building in the Board Chambers (2nd floor), located at 315 W. Main Street, Tavares. The County Commission meeting will begin at 10 a.m. with the public hearing to be held after that time as determined by the Board meeting agenda. 

Sign up for the free Mount Dora Buzz' monthly updates  here.     For more news and events in Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, visit the area's website and download the area's free mobile app.  ​​