Cooper's emails cause tension

A series of email newsletters sent from Winter Park Commissioner Carolyn Cooper aroused the ire of at least one commissioner, who chided her at Monday’s meeting for comments about decisions made on the dais and by city staff.

What happened next led to an argument about secrecy on the Commission and whether the mayor was attempting to silence dissenting opinion during meetings.

The controversy came to a head during Commissioner Steven Leary’s comments near the end of the Commission meeting Monday, when he voiced his disapproval of Cooper’s most recent email newsletter, “Cooper’s Perspective”, which talked about the Commission potentially delegating more duties to city staff. The move was made to improve efficiency in the building and rezoning process, but Cooper said it took power out of the people’s hands.

Some of the building and rezoning decisions that could be moved to the staff level include the alcohol sales hours of restaurants in the Hannibal Square area, building construction of up to 50,000 square feet, and changes made to future land use for properties up to two acres.

Those changes would need to be approved by the Planning and Zoning Board, which discussed them at a meeting Aug. 2. After an official vote by the Planning and Zoning Board, the changes would then come to the Commission for a vote. Cooper said she opposes taking those decisions out of the public eye.

“Winter Park has historically prided itself on a high level of citizen involvement,” Cooper wrote in a newsletter dated Aug. 2. “The City Commission has directed the staff to streamline our development approval and rezoning process. In the name of efficiency most staff recommendations involve removing the public … that’s you … from the process.”

Leary said that he thought Cooper went too far with her newsletter, which then informed recipients of what changes they would be left out of voting on if they were made by city staff.

“It seemed to me to be critical of staff to a broad audience, which I just don’t think we should be doing,” Leary said. “It was critical of the staff for doing something we asked them to do.”

Cooper said she thought that residents should know what parts of the decision-making process they would be excluded from.

“I actually feel very, very strongly about public hearings, public notice and the involvement in our city and our citizens in the process,” Cooper said. “I believe citizens need to be informed. I think they need to know that. I’m very comfortable with that recommendation. We continue to have meetings where discussion is not encouraged. I don’t consider that sort of behavior to be conducive to open government.”

But when Cooper said that residents hadn’t been made aware of those impending staff decisions, Mayor Ken Bradley grew visibly frustrated, saying that residents could easily access that information.

“Oh come on, Carol,” Bradley said, addressing Cooper about where residents could find that information about Commission decisions. “It’s on the website.”

Cooper immediately reacted by saying that the mayor had attempted to cut down on dissent on issues.

“I think you use your power to cut people short,” Cooper said.

Though Cooper told other commissioners to avoid reading email newsletters she sent out, to avoid Government in the Sunshine Act violations, Leary said that the information still gets back to them, and that it causes contention.

“It creates tension, these emails,” Leary said. “It all comes forward every two weeks. There’s a little bit of angst amongst the group.”

Learn more

To read Commissioner Carolyn Cooper’s full email newsletter, “Cooper’s Perspective”, or to sign up for the mailing list, click here.