General Items
Neighborhood and Community Summit
Registration is now open for the 11th annual Neighborhood and Community Summit being held on Saturday, March 12 from 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton at the Entrance of Universal Orlando. The Summit brings together neighborhood, arts and cultural, civic, community and faith-based leaders and volunteers – to learn, network and share best practices for making our City a more livable and great place to live, work and raise a family.
The deadline to register is March 8, 2016. To learn more, visit cityoforlando.net/summit.
Item of Note:
CFO Appointment
Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Sutton is retiring after more than 10 years with the City of Orlando and 43 years of full-time employment, effective July 1, 2016.
During her tenure at the City, Rebecca was instrumental in developing the financing plan for our community venues, leading the City through the economic recession while maintaining the strongest financial ratings in the state and managing the City’s efforts to address homelessness.
With her retirement, Mayor Buddy Dyer is pleased to announce he has appointed Christopher McCullion as the new Chief Financial Officer.
Chris is currently the Deputy Chief Financial Officer and has been with the City of Orlando for more than 10 years, including time spent in the City’s Economic Development Department, Treasury Division and Office of Management and Budget. He has served in municipal government since 2000 and has extensive experience in operating and capital budgeting, debt and investment management, and pension administration. One of Chris’ biggest contributions was leading the City’s complex bond funding for the Community Venues projects, securing $1 billion in construction funding with less than two percent coming from the City’s general fund.
Econlockhatchee (Econ) Trail Roadway Expansion Project
Council addressed an item that will further the City’s efforts to continue to expand and improve our multimodal forms of transportation.
The City is moving forward with the design for the widening of Econolockhatchee Trail. This project will not only help to improve traffic in the area, but will also enhance the bicycle and pedestrian network by creating an off-street multi-use path in conjunction with the roadway to safely accommodate all users.
This path is a critical segment for trail users because it will connect to the planned Avalon Trail, Vista Park trail network and eventually the Orlando Southeast Trail.
WiFi Service at Recreation Centers
Part of the City’s commitment to being a City for Everyone is providing residents with access to amenities and technology. City Council voted on an amendment to an existing contract with Bright House Networks that will allow for the installation and management of free WiFi service at our 19 community, recreation and senior centers.
Once the service is deployed in May, residents and City staff utilizing the centers and will have access to a safe, secure wireless network that will provide full coverage inside the facilities. The service will be especially beneficial to the students in our after-school and summer camp programs, who can now do homework and academic enrichment activities on their laptops and tablets, and for residents attending community meetings.
Ability Mercy Redevelopment
The City purchased seven vacant, foreclosed apartment complexes last year to ensure these sites were redeveloped in a way that benefitted the surrounding neighborhood.
Through a partnership with LIFT Orlando we have been working to transform two of these eyesores into safe and attractive housing.
City Council voted on a partnership with Ability Housing that will help the City to further revitalize our neighborhoods on the westside of Orlando and sell three of these remaining properties to them to redevelop into quality, affordable housing. This new development also supports our homeless initiatives as they will provide units to families facing homelessness and permanent supportive housing units for the chronically homeless.
