MOUNT DORA CITY COUNCIL UPDATE: January 21 Meeting

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

Before I tell you about the 1/21 Regular City Council Meeting I'd like to let you know that on Friday 1/17 your City Council held an all day (8:30-4:30) Work Session primarily to begin the process of updating our Strategic Plan. There will be some follow up meetings and I will let you know when we have a final product.

Our regularly scheduled meeting today covered several important topics and I've selected some items that I think you might want to hear more about.

We passed a Resolution reaffirming that our city street sweeping machine will now be able to visit the Waterman Village community. A similar Resolution involving street sweeping service for the Loch Leven neighborhood was passed a couple of months ago and I anticipate that soon residents of Lakes of Mount Dora will also begin receiving street sweeping services. This was actually a verbal agreement advocated by our former District 4 Council member, Denny Wood. Now that these written agreements are in place this service will commence on an "as needed" basis.

One of the top priorities of the 2019 Parks & Recreation Master Plan is a major renovation of Cauley Lott Park. We approved moving ahead with concept plans and design services that will involve lots of community input. This is a much needed project and it's good to see it's moving ahead especially since a $200,000 grant will help fund the park improvements.

Depending on where you live in Mount Dora your electric service provider could be SECO or Duke Energy or for most residents and businesses in the older sections of town, Mount Dora Electric could be your electric utility. If you are a customer of Mount Dora Electric you should know that a Resolution was passed tonight authorizing the negotiation of a new agreement to meet your electric power needs for the next five years. Since Mount Dora Electric does not generate its own electricity, it buys about 24 megawatts of power that will likely be provided by OUC (Orlando Utilities Commission) if a suitable contract can be agreed to. OUC looks to be the best of eight bidders who would like to sell us electricity. The final details will be worked out but some substantial cost savings are expected.

Yesterday was the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday. Dr. King has been a hero of mine since my childhood. Our quote today  is from Rev. King. It is brief but very meaningful: "The time is always right to do what is right."

Thanks for your continuing interest in our wonderful city!
By Marc Crail
District 4 City Council Representative