Maitland City Talk

On April 13 and 14, the Florida League of Mayors organized a special trip called “Florida Mayors Mean Business,” to travel to Tallahassee to lobby for legislation for our cities. As part of this special trip, each mayor was asked to bring a prominent businessperson from his or her city to help express the needs of their respective cities. I immediately knew whom I was going to ask to join me — Bill Randolph.

Bill is a longtime resident of our city, has been involved as a volunteer for many years on numerous city and county boards and is very knowledgeable on Maitland. He, along with his wife, Joan, owns a very successful land-planning and landscape architecture firm called JCR Consulting, which has been in business for the past 16 years. We decided to expand the trip, arriving in the Capitol earlier in the day on the 13th, working with our lobbyist Louis Rotundo and meeting as many of our legislators as possible before the scheduled meetings of the League started.

Several keynote speakers at a luncheon updated us on Florida’s present economic and business climate, along with a special appearance by Senate President Mike Haridopolos, who provided a legislative update. Upon the completion of our luncheon, we again returned to the Capitol to continue meeting with our legislators before attending our final scheduled special meeting with Gov. Rick Scott to discuss job growth before returning home late that evening.

Spending as much time as possible meeting with our legislators we felt was very important as there are a number of legislative bills being proposed that we were very concerned about. They are as follows:

• Repeal of the red light camera legislation allowing red light runners not to be monitored by cameras and fined.

• Expanding “Save our Homes” Legislation to include non-residential properties reducing property tax assessment increases to a maximum of 3 percent per year from the present 10 percent.

• Standardizing fertilizer restrictions, which would remove Maitland’s more restrictive standards allowing more pollution in our lakes.

• The elimination of separate expressway authorities creating one statewide authority, which would seriously jeopardize our ability to build the final Wekiva section of our beltway around Orlando due to stand alone ridership requirements.

• Capping state and local revenues, which would severely limit our cities’ ability to recover from the present economic downturn and prosper in the future.

As for SunRail, the Legislature did their job last year and supported it. The hold back is with Gov. Scott. He has put it on hold and has decided not to make a decision until July. As you know, for many reasons, SunRail is very important to the future of Central Florida. Many civic and business organizations as well as cities and counties are lobbying the governor in support of SunRail. I encourage everyone to get involved by joining with one of these organized groups and/or personally writing to Gov. Scott and letting him know you support SunRail.

In past years, due to a prospering Florida, we were not as involved in our state government as we need to be today. Because of the present political climate, financial condition of our state and the economy, it is imperative that we become very involved and stay involved as much as possible. The future prosperity of our city depends upon it.

Council meeting

City Council meets the second and fourth Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The next meeting is scheduled for May 9 in the Council Chambers, 1776 Independence Lane. Below are items that will be addressed at that meeting. For updates, please check our website at www.itsmymaitland.com

Special Presentations:

• Presentation – Opening of RanGetsu – Hector Ponce

• Proclamation – Emergency Medical Services Week

• Proclamation – National Police Week

• Proclamation – National Public Works Week

Consent Agenda:

• Approve Council Minutes of April 25, 2011

• Extension of Agreement – Automotive Connection

• Resolution – Local Area Program Agreement – Arapaho Trail Sidewalk Design

• Resolution – Local Area Program Agreement – Traffic Calming Devices, Thistle Lane

Decision Items:

• Ordinance – Simulated Gaming Devices

• Resolution – Referendum Election – Economic Development Tax Exemptions

• City Ambassador Appointment Process

Discussion Items:

• Amendment to sign ordinance

• Alcoholic beverage ordinance

Increase CRA Board to seven members