Heat up --------- here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. All right, good morning everybody. Happy 420 day. Just realized it was 4:20. Um, and it's also uh workshop day for
the Orlando City Council. Even better. So, we have two workshops this morning. And the first is an update from the Dr. Philip Center for the Performing Arts, which is now in its 11th year, which is hard to believe. Um, it has received international recognition from
Architectural Digest as one of the 11 most beautiful theaters in the world. That's Steinmet's Hall and Billboard's 2025 year and touring top venues. But the impact goes beyond their building. uh we think back to 10 years ago when
pulse occurred and the community gatherings that we had in the front yard there as well as the front yard festival during COVID. So let's hear from Kathy Grahamsburgger, the CEO of the Dr. Phillips Center on what they've been doing and what they envision for the future.
>> Good morning. Uh we're so happy to be here today to give an annual presentation of uh last year's performance at the art center. We're going to give a little history too. Um before we get started, I just want to acknowledge our team uh that's here. These are our directors and our senior
leaders and uh you'll see the reflection of their work in this presentation. I also want to say thank you very much to the city team. We work constantly with your team and this past year you helped us do something in about three months and it was to put on a holiday festival
free of the public for 30 days and uh having your team help us with permitting and doing some things that have never done been done before uh again was uh rewarding, aspirational and you saw a lot of joy from the people that attended which you'll see. Okay, let's get
started. So, um, for some of you that might not be familiar, we actually started, uh, the art center in 2003, just listening and talking to people. And, uh, what we heard was this building should be for everyone. And hopefully throughout this presentation, you'll have a chance to
see that everything from how we train our team to, uh, what we program, how the building was designed, what our future plans are, all have to do is this feel comfortable for every walk of life? How can we change and evolve an industry
uh that uh is really about big places and sometimes they're very intimidating? Arts for every life. Uh it was actually arts for life when we started. The word every came from a volunteer. It's great. Our mission statement is to be an inspirational place where people love to be. Hope you'll see that through the
presentation as well. We have values that our team actually collectively came together and developed. uh we looked at about 150 different values and came down with our seven and uh we think about these every day and we believe that values really help us with our bottom
line honestly uh we have three main goals of the company. One is to present ex exceptional programming that refle reflects all forms of entertainment and art and event content. Um the second one is to ensure we celebrate all likenesses
and differences and the last one we need to stay in business. That's the biggest one. Um, this is the total contributions to the project to date. That's 737 million. Includes just about everything including capital, annual maintenance, capital improvements, and we're also uh
in the middle of plan giving as well as endowment campaign and it'll continue. Of course, to date, uh we've put over uh the Dr. for Philip Center is well over what our original agreement was in terms of capital. As you know, we had to
divide the building. Uh dividing the building actually cost the project $160 million. Uh we've put probably another 80 or so million into it to help get the project across the finish line. We've also put 60 million in in terms of capital improvements in the building and
annual maintenance. We take care of the asset on a daily basis. That was our agreement. Um, so on an annual basis, the venue takes about $9 million to take care of. The city has an annual maintenance fund that you help support the building at 600,000 a year. Okay.
Our purpose is uh this is reflected in our this is our annual report and it's actually in um all the numbers from our annual report and it's in a video format. This one incredible years. Happy
Hallelujah. He just won a scholarship. So hopefully you had the chance to see Arts Forever. every life in that video. We uh and as we go through here, we'll get a little bit more specific in the numbers. So, uh this past year, we've grown our business to about 68.5
million. And our original plan, uh the goal was to run a $14 million year business with the building complete. And so, our view has been since our board is at risk, not only to build the center, but also to operate the veter have it live every single day. um which is a
which is a great thing because we do we try to keep it as alive as as most as possible. We have uh we generate almost 2500 jobs. Uh to date we've brought 6.2 million dollar 6.2 million people into the building. This year it'll be really close to a million. And to date we've
given back to the community 50 about $55 million rounding up there. Those programs the 55 million go to programs that do not have a revenue stream. So as you see this all the programs that we do for children, arts and wellness, we have to raise the funds to do this.
Everything we earn goes into taking care of the asset. Uh to date for community engagement, this is all the tickets in the programs. We have to purchase tickets for all the attendees that we invite. Many of you uh here at the commission have actually sponsored some of the kids to come,
which we're grateful. We provide scholarships not only to college, but we also provide scholarships to our camps. Um we actually underwrite uh a lot of the programming that comes into the center for most of the local arts organization. We have an arts for every life rate which is lower than the rate
that is average on average throughout the country for resident arts groups. Um and then professional services when new organizations come to the building. It's a very technical building. So we help support them with um not only production support but also a great deal of marketing support, programming support,
etc. We also go into Orange County school systems and teach them how to use their equipment. To date, we've purchased 66,300 tickets. So, when a show comes in, um, we have to purchase the tickets unless it's our show. Most of the shows though are Broadway shows and other shows that are commercially
based. And to date, these are the organizations that we have invited to the center. When we invite them to the center, we uh, and you know this, when we invite them to the center, we uh have a partnership with a transportation company. We give them a beautiful brunch that we fund. We give them an
educational program and we buy them swag. And we want that first experience to be something that they always remember and felt comfortable with in hopes that they'll continue to come back. Uh education to date about over 600 850 almost uh 865,000
uh students have been engaged. Our youngest student is probably between two and four months old and our oldest student was Jenny and she was 104. So, uh, our students range all over the place in terms of age. Um, lots of education initiatives. So, since we've opened almost a thousand different
educational initiatives that happen inside the center, but also in the community. Here are programs here that you can see. Just a couple highlights. Disney MU musicals and schools. Right now, we're in uh 15 Title One schools. And what we've done is we've teach them how to produce and create their own
Broadway musical. What's great about this is it uh really brings a community together, the teachers, the administrators, the students, the parents, and they produce from start to finish their Disney musical in their school. And at the end of the year, we bring all the firstear students, first
year schools to the art center, and they perform in the Disney stage. A lot of these are out in the region. Um, and most of them are uh are they've been everlasting kind of when we started the Applause Awards. Uh we basically produce the Tony Awards from Jacksonville all
the way down to PK County and throughout the year we have a team that goes and adjudicates their high school musical and they come to the arts center uh and we uh we we select all the best from each school. They perform and then we choose two that we fund to go to New
York for almost two weeks, right? Is Ryan here? Almost almost two weeks and uh they compete. Uh we one year we had two students that won the same year. never been done before which was great at throughout the country. These are the schools that we work with and so it's
all through the region. We've really launched a great effort. We started this before we even opened and you do the arts really matter in the arts in the the wellness of someone's life and we started working with kids with autism. This is prior to opening in 2014. We've continued that work and
we've explored it even more and this is a area of growth for us. Just to highlight some of them, when we do these programs, we bring in um uh expert teachers that are professionals or they have a unique skill set uh that the participant would really value. So just
a couple examples when we do anything with kids with autism or these particular we bring in Second City out of Chicago. Palabolis is an international dance company for stesta those are stroke survivors. That program has really grown. The Royal Film Michael Orchestra actually began this program.
We're the first in the United States to actually do it and it's been consistent for the past three or four years where stroke survivors come and they work with these musicians and they create content and they we have a performance for them when they're done. What we've noticed is these um populations, they love being at
the art center. They love being part of something but then it's over only for a couple weeks maybe a month or so. So the area of growth is to create spaces at the art center where these populations can come every week and work towards something and then when it's over they have the chance to come back.
Parkinson's, depression, postpartum, uh again staying with our stroke survivors, gestational gi multiple. So we've been working with a lot of the medical community understanding what populations would be interested. We're interested in doing this for joy and most everything here is about joy uh for
us but there's some medical entities that may want to study this which is what the clinical research was right when we opened we thought does it matter we did a year-long program with Advent Health to study do the arts clinically matter and we uh wrote a program it was
acting one and for one year level four Alzheimer patients and their caregivers came to the arts center and we put them through level one acting classes with clinicians where they worked towards something for a year and the study came out positive that it did clinically
matter. That was hope. And so the goal now is to continue that. What's important is the surgeon general, we started this a while ago, but the surgeon general, they u came out just about six months ago or so and determined that two cultural programs a
month as is is as important than going to the gym once a week. And so having culture in your life and being together is really really important criteria for the well-being of a community. And then we do a great deal of work with uh uh veterans. Again, none of these programs
are funded. We have to raise the funds. If you're interested, this week we have Stroke in the building and we have a wonderful leader that runs that that's actually uh that lives in the United States and then we uh not only train some of our local musicians, but also some other musicians from the UK may be
there as well. Okay, this is a video on arts and wellness. close to that and now I'm thinking that maybe I can do something like I play such
>> I think having a chance to belong to and find that >> great news for a groundbreaking advential for your health. >> A lot of people go through this and
their life is over and um you know they don't But things like this can help them >> and it really truly has worked for me. >> One of the unique things about
culturalism is that they have the opportunity to people's lives in the future and other people with disabil matters. are not just
the connecting of parts. Something will come out of this that will be lifechanging for people. >> We're healing lives. We're making a lasting difference. >> Watching a veteran piece is a reminder of the power of
creativity. Everyone can be impacted by arts. You see in the audience. We see children on the stage with autism who come alive. You see this survivor
and survivors his mother she was extremely son again I forever. >> Let's see if we can be a leader in arts
and maybe we can be aspirational to other art centers and maybe this community is proud of what they've done. There's more to do. It's taken thousands and thousands of people to get this done. But this program is also the next phase
of the art center. You have places where you worship. You have and unique places of joy. And I think this is it. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, we really feel we have a lot more opportunity in this space, but also
inviting more people to the center. And so, we have another phase that we want to show share with you. Um, just a next growth. Our our business model changed a great deal from our original agreement. and uh and we'll share that with you in a bit. We have over 23,000 donors and
that's from a dollar and up. They're all very important to us. Some of those initial donors that started at $99 have now come in and give us close to half a million dollars. They wanted to see if we could deliver on a promise and that's a big uh opportunity for us. So, as we
run the business of of uh giving um a lot of it was capital, as you can see, our original agreement was 75 million and then it was 85 million because some of the public funding went to some of the other projects. Then our board decided to put another 25 million in to
make Styus Hall a perfect hall, make it a transitional hall, the floor flip, and an N1 rated hall. That got us to right around 110. And then we're in the process now of raising $25 million in endowment plan giving. So we want to
contribute more to our project. We feel it's a community project. We feel we started in a great alliance with multiple partners and we want to continue to do that. We are all through Orange County. So we're much more than just a place across the street and we
embrace that a great deal. Uh we have uh been able to now after eight and a half years or nine years of being in business because we went down for a couple years in COVID which you'll see we have sponsors that realize that our attendees
might be valuable to their organization in terms of their business development. So our SP sponsors now have grown which is important because that's how we achieve a lot of the things that don't have a revenue stream like the front yard festival. We have been very very fortunate to uh be the recipient for
national recognitions. Um one of my favorite was right when we opened the uh we were one of the world's coolest new tourist attractions. Uh I'm not sure how often the word cool is associated with ops art centers but that was one of our goals and we didn't have to pay for that
one. They uh they actually recognized us as a cool venue which is good. Um uh of course with our autism we were one of the first centers in the southeast to be uh certified as an autism uh ready venue. Steutmet Hall as you know uh one of the 11 most beautiful theaters in the
world. Uh the one in the middle is something that uh Alan Johnson has championed for many uh city venues. Twice we've been recognized uh by our peers of the best in the world for art centers uh business awards for guest
services. uh National Geographic. There was a theater in Greece that was coming out of commission because I needed to renovate it. Historic, hundreds and hundreds of years old and basically architectural giant. Don't worry, you always can go to Steinmet's
Hall, which I thought was a huge win. Um Polestar, the Walt Disney Theater is constantly acknowledged as one of the most profitable and busy venues uh in the world. And that's constant every quarter. We look at that. our 10-year growth. Remember our first year we were asked to deliver a $14 million B
business. We did 20 million uh 29 million and that was out of fear. Remember our board is we don't make our numbers at the end of the year. Our board needs to write a check. So we don't lean on any public entity to help us with our business operations. So we said you know what it ought to be busy.
The other thing that happened in 200 uh uh n is when the world changed, so did the business model of the art center because the sustaining mechanism for the art center was to be three commercial buildings that were going to generate revenue to help sustain the art center.
And that partnership came with the city and the county, but the art center bought the church property as part of that to recoup not only what we invested in the church property, but also to help feed our endowment, but also help sustain the venue. None of that was possible. So when we opened the building, not only were we trying to
make sure we could sustain the building, we're also trying to raise money to uh start Simon's Hall. It was very busy couple years. So you can see when we went down a little bit, um when Broadway, we don't have the number of weeks of Broadway, our business model uh just in terms of earned revenue reduces.
And the reason why is Broadway comes in and they are consecutive in their show presentations. Tuesday through Sunday, two shows on Saturday and Sunday. And so the volume of work and the attendance and the ticket sales are solid. When a show cannot sit down, then there's dark
days, loading days, loadout days, and so you lose the uh the value in maximizing the revenue of the venue. Broadway is very important to us, and our goal is to eventually try to have more Broadway weeks here and expand our season. We have a challenge right now because we
have close to 16,000 subscribers and there's only 22,000 seats available for Broadway and so we have very few seats that can go on single ticket sales so people can enjoy Broadway. The goal is to have more days of Broadway in there, be able to set prices more dynamically
and then also have the ability to bring new audiences in and grow them. Okay, you can see what happened to us during COVID. Um, again, the city was supportive of that. you really helped us get the front yard festival up and running. Uh, and that was a uh that was a a faith and so thank you for that. The
DDB supported us on that very much so along with the county and then we raised about three to four eventually I think it was 5 million. Spencer Tong actually built that hurricane proof in about 10 weeks and then we're up and running. we were going to take it down in six months and the community loved it so much we
raised more money to keep it open for a year and then after a year when we were take it down people would drive by as this team was taking it down saying no keep it up. What that did is it it gave us um the energy and the validation that this front piece of property ought to go
back to the community. That was part of the commercial development. There was supposed to be an office tower and a hotel in the front. Those two uh developments were going to uh generate over $4.2 2 million to help us take care of the asset. Um and but we've been running it pretty fair, pretty well. So
we thought, should we forgo those gifts and we agreed that we should and it should be going back to the community. Okay. So that's part of this plan. Then all of a sudden we pop back out out of COVID where it's at 65.8. Uh that was a huge Broadway year, but
also we opened Steinments Hall. Um the next year, fewer weeks of Broadway, 2025, we're back up to Broadway. We also opened Judson's. Okay. Uh we've had over 190 arts groups be in the venue. Uh of
that 45 are different types of presentations. So when we talk about arts for every life, it's embracing all forms of art. Of course, we also program things outside of the center. To date, we have been uh helping with programming with experienced CMI all over the
country. Um and we also are touring work now too that we create. But you can see some of the works that we're we're doing outside of the um the venue. Our building activity, this is important because it tease up why do we want to expand? Um the number of performances in
our contract is actually less than 307. Okay, 307. Uh this past year we did over a thousand curtains. So in terms like uh in the beginning keep it live all the time. Um, we are buying a great deal of content at risk. So, the only groups
that we actually rent to are the lo mostly regional arts groups, okay, at a reduced rate. Everything else we buy, we bet on ourselves to see if we can make some money off of it so we can sustain the business. And you can see how many tickets uh that we sold. I think what's
interesting is look at our non-ted events. So the first year we did 98 then we were at 320 our tenure total and this past year a great deal of non- ticket events. What is that? That is everything from weddings to uh change of commands
uh retirement parties uh corporate buyouts. This is all another revenue line for the business to make sure we can sustain the building. Um one of one of the ones we like to talk about too is the third from the bottom. How many meals we serve in the front of house and the back house. We're kind of in the
food and beverage business big time. So just the artist alone, 90,000 meals and Judson's uh barely touches that number. Okay. We do about almost 28,000 meals. 28,000 meals or 30 just for the artists in the back. Okay. And actually uh there
artist named Beck said the best restaurant in Orlando is in the back of House of the Arts Center, which I thought was kind of nice. So lots of donors there. And then look at the volunteer hours. that that says a lot that people want to volunteer and be part of the art center to date. Uh this in terms of activity, I think this is
important to share. The Walt Disney Theater was always interest that was the one we need to make money on. And if you remember when we divided the building, we chose to do the Disney theater first. Commercial work goes in there. That's how we can make our margins and that actually helps sustain the venue. Um Simon's Hall, it's flipped, right?
almost 119 different days are for local and regional in that exceptional N1 rated hall. Um and then you can look at the Pew Theater too. As anyway as we go down here, what you can see is it is a really close mix local and regional.
Okay, per venue. Now remember, Mondays and Tuesdays are dark for a lot of the artists. Those are days off. And so when you look at the amount of days here, we are we are at capacity for most of our venues. very very difficult for anybody to find any more dates. What we've
learned is and we had the chance to look at data here just this is an example in Steinmet's Hall 43% of the performances in Steinmet's Hall sell 800 tickets or less. Okay, the the hall size is uh 14 about 1580 in one form and 1720 in
another form. So at 800 tickets they're not maximizing and they're not growing. So we've noticed that they're not growing. uh 30% of the Steam Hall performances are sellout. 27 of them sell between 800 and 1,200 which they're growing. So that has hope for them. So
57% of the performances are well suited for Simon's Hall. All the other ones need to be in a different size hall and 750 is the right size where you can actually balance the budget with earning revenue and also staining the building. Anything less, you can't make your
margins on that. So 750 seat hall is uh is something that's needed. This also supports a 750 hall and smaller ones. In the pew theater, the rent is still the same as it was when we opened at $600 for 141 days. Uh 186 performances in the
pew. 31 31% of those days featured two performances in one day. In other words, they're selling more tickets. They need to be in a larger venue. Um and of 49% were less than 150 tickets. The Pew Theater is 250 seats. So what we're
saying here is some of them can go in a larger venue and others can go in a smaller venue. So this just talks about utilization days for the non-picked events. These are all the events and you can see the the activity there. We try to put those in on Mondays and Tuesdays. So with this
data we've been able to look at data. What should the strategic plan be? We started this in 2019 and after co we took it back out and looked at it again and we said is we really need to activate the place and we had nine acres that was supposed to have three big pieces of commercial development on it. What what are the opportunities there?
Um how can we expand our programming and our reach? How can we expand our reach to people all students education attendance artists etc. And then last one again how do we stay in business? So the growth of this is we want to expand
nine uh venues to 20. These are all types of venues that would support theaters. So some of the venues are FNB venues that support uh the activity of um the spaces. Uh we are over 10 years
old. Disney the Disney theater, the front of house, the back of house and the pew need a little of attention. And so we have four improved uh places. We know that we can't start any of this until we have 100% uh of the funding secured. And we want to increase our
excellent guest rating by 5%. Right now, if you do good to good and great in terms of how we survey, we survey after every show, by the way, we'd be at 95%. So, good and great at 95%. If we take good out, we drop. And and so we want to
make sure we increase that. Why do we have uh lower rates for excellent uh parking? Uh it was raining uh traffic. I was hungry. So there's not a lot of FNB places close downtown uh walking distance and they want to park one time.
They don't want to park twice. So uh sometimes they don't like the show. Okay. So that's they they might not have read it uh exactly what it was, but that's very rare. It's usually uh these ancillary issues that are creating the uh the less than excellent uh survey
programming with these venues. We think we can uh double the programming uh in a 400 uh 40% increase in self-produced work mostly our youth programming. Actually, it's not just with youth programming. We want to produce programming for every different type of age and audience. So, it's all
programming. Um 100 100% increase in private events. We know that people like to be in places like the arts center when they're aspiring and we can take care of them from a guest service perspective. Um 20 arts and wellness programs that's 20 a week throughout the
year and then a thousand free of uh performances. We want to move in terms of the front yard space. How can we constantly do front yard free performances? People would increase to as well as productivity. So our business model here is if we have the ability to
grow into this complete master plan, our business will grow. We understand that this is not going to be done at once, but to understand how each venue operates with a sustaining mechanism with our board at risk. How do we do it? And so this is as if it were to be done
at once. We're not anticipating that it would be done at once. Uh but the goal is to make sure that we have different revenue lines where we can sustain it and then put the revenue in places where we can actually sustain them the sustain the venue and the growth and the quality
standards that we all intended to have. The master plan is uh local roots global reach just like we are right now. So we have five different areas. The first one which will go through each one is the front yard. Well this is the space. This
was a 9 acres where the little bubble is at the front where it says performance venue. That entire strip was supposed to be a hotel where it has FnB support at the bottom. That was supposed to be um very wide uh uh commercial building uh
kind of encroaching in the plaza in the back where it's gray. That was intended to be a condominium. Why were those venues selected? because we were trying to create a space that had every different type of activity 24/7 living, working, visiting, playing. Playing was
at the art center. All of that commercial development was going to uh contribute over $6.4 million to the art center to help sustain the asset before going at least the front piece. So, what should we build? And the master plan
that I shared with you, it can fit on the site. The issue is it's very very very expensive to stack and do something that condense. So our board looked at what was for sale around the property and we ended up buying the balance of the Grand Bohemian block two partials
there. Eventually the art center would like to give that to a public entity so we can expand the the space uh the the project on this. So these are the areas that we're going to present where the venue is going to be. So, here are the five components. Um, you've got the back
piece of property. Um, we're looking in the back of the art center. You can see city hall in the north. Um, on the top, uh, right where the purple spaces, that's a parking deck, and we're bringing that all the way across. Uh, and in the parking deck is also administration, and there's a venue in
there that can help uh, our musicians expand. It also has a scenic shop which is one of the components that we do not have in the building that's desperately needed. So this is called the east tower. The front piece south of the the lawn
that is our performance block. The north block has several components in there which we'll talk about. uh one is a 800 seat banquet venue, 750 seat theater and two smaller venues and then some commercial development on the bottom that can help with revenue. The front uh
piece of property, the front yard has an amphitheater, it has production support, kind of a concessions cafe, and then uh a destination restaurant. So, can we do a thousand free events a year? We believe we can. In Dallas,
there's a park called Clydeborn Park. We invite you to come with us to see it if you'd like. This park uh was built over a highway. So the highway instead of going over the city went in between uh two kind of mounds kind of a mountain or
hills and went underneath this way. They built a park over it. Talk about a bold idea. What that did is it joined the the city. The park itself has been attributed to stimulating and encouraging and completing over $9 billion dollar worth of development for
the city. As importantly, it united the city. People come all the time and a nonprofit does over a thousand free events a year and 1.5 million people visit it. So we talk about free events, it's everything from Zumba to story time
to um you know every ticketed events, passive music, all of it. We did some of this during COVID which we love. We partner with the YMCA. Lots of partnerships here. So what does that look like? We have a iconic building. We we don't want to put things too high in
front of it. We want to expand the square footage if we can. So we and we want to be green. Okay, it's warm out there and to tent it or to cover it. We've studied that a great deal for shade and it just it's hard to hard to make that work honestly. We can we can
but it it's something that you know if we can find another way to do it and we feel this is the way to do it. So what we've done is that's the east block. We'll go back here. So go back here real quickly. So this particular space underneath it both the south side and the north side um both lift up and
there's spaces underneath that. the east block uh which is in the back that has multiple different spaces in it. So uh that's you can see the boxes below it is where the scenic shop is the venue which is right next to Judson's and we'll have
uh at better back of house support uh for both Judson's and this space uh again another music destination and the other two floors are administration you have parking at the top that could be a center for arts and wellness we have to have our populations be next to parking
and this is the best way for us to achieve that. The north block here on this particular block has uh multiple different components in it. Retail spaces on the bottom. We we have uh 750 seat meeting rooms. Uh then where it's
kind of shaded, that's an option. You know, if we can find the funding to it, uh smaller venues will actually be in there as well. And on the top is the banquet venue. The annual economic impact currently of our particular building that uh is about
$230 million. So, we're big economic driver, constantly running throughout the year, lot of um off-site spending. Uh total labor income is pretty significant. Uh tax revenue 13.2 million and lots of room nights. And in terms of
the populations, 50% of the ticket buyers actually purchase outside of Orange County and out outside of the region. And I think 50% or a quarter of those are actually stay in uh hotel room nights. Polling results. We did did we did some polling. You know, does the
community like this project? Do we want to do more as a community to do it? Remember, not only do we need to have public support to do capital, we also need uh people to come and continue to buy tickets. So 33% had already heard about the future growth of the art
center. 90% said yes yes and yes and let's do it. 82% support future growth and the funding to come from TDT. Um top priorities for future growth job creation a thousand free events reliable performances and space access worldass
productions and improved parking. where that parking is. Again, there's lots of parking around the center, by the way, but being on the site and not having to cross the roads is is feels more safe to them. Key messages from the polling. Um, increased capacity, education, and
economic impact. That's what we heard back from them. The majority view Dr. Phillips Center as a community asset with positive economic impact. 60% are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports using TDT for the future growth of the project. the holiday festival, right? The holiday festival was
something again, how do we kind of give back to the community and can we do it? This effort is about a $3 million a year annual effort and to fund it. We want to thank the the city and the DDB and the DO, you know, the whole community, but the DDB and the CRA. You guys actually
helped us get this launched. And the goal is is how do we keep having people come to one of the best holiday festivals? And when you just see the interaction of these people, it was a win. And the win is is again thinking big. To raise funding and sponsorship,
you have to have a big idea. Adequate ideas attract adequate funding. Big ideas, you know, when you've got a reputation now to deliver on a pro promise is much better. So again, driving economic stimulation, of course. And I have to say again, a big thank you
to Sherry and her team for helping us support this so quickly. I mean it was very very we thought about it for a long time but then we acted on it kind of uh in a very condensed manner but we delivered it so this year we got a little more time so we want to build build a legacy where tradition holiday traditions are important so just the
numbers on the recap 1.76 billion total audience reach 312 total media mentions over a million uh dollars in gross FNB okay uh lots of guests we can do better there again our first time uh first out
of the gate lots that we brought. We actually purchased um uh it was a free event, but we purchased gift uh cards and food and beverage opportunities for families to come that would not be able to get there. Picked them up a can and brought them in. We did 168 live
concerts and performances and 100 uh new seasonal jobs were created and we had 12 sponsors and one donor and we're looking for more and actually the city is one of those. So, this team all pulled this together really, really quickly and I think they did a great job. So, thank
you all very very much for that. Um, here are our sponsors that we uh that we brought in. And here's just a quick video where you can see uh some joy. >> Holidays are taking center stage at the Dr. Phillips Center. Nightly snowfall
twinkling lights and of course Santa for the performing arts. The month shines the spotlight on parks community. live performances. This festival really will put you in the spirit right in front of our beautiful
center. Close. That one. Anyway, it's been Thank you, Kathy. Excellent presentation. I think under any estimation, the performing arts center has exceeded all expectations. Um, but
to think back all the way to 2003 where we've been able to come So pretty amazing. Also, I think you have set the record for most slides in a presentation. >> Sorry, I talk fast. How fast was I? Was I >> 67 and two videos?
>> I don't think anybody's come close to that quite honestly. Okay, we have comments or questions. Uh, Commissioner Sheen Burns Chapen Keane. >> Thank you, Mary. Thank you, Kathy. Great presentation. And the doomsayers said it would not work. They said all these other art centers have failed. Y'all are
going to fail. And guess what? It has not failed. It's been a tremendous success and a tremendous boon to downtown. So, you know what? Sometimes you need to make investments that bring people into our downtown and this has been a tremendous investment. So, thank you for that. Um, arts are critically important to communities. There's a
reason why people are attacking art centers is because they do provide joy and connection. So, thank you for doing that. And I think that's why Orlando is more connected because of this facility bringing everyone together. Um, I loved seeing Jordan Foley getting excited about seeing his face on a billboard. I
know Jordan. And I just think that was magical. And that's the kind of stuff, you know, these local artists would never have had that opportunity. And I did fuss at first. I'm like, the local artists aren't giving opportunities. And I'm glad Judson is really doing that. So that makes me happy because I know a lot of these musicians. We have a lot of
music in the Mills area and now they're getting a chance to do, you know, shows at Judson's and it's just a beautiful venue. And this is a venue they would never usually be able to, you know, to perform in. So that's amazing. Um, on the holiday festival, I had a friend
from Germany, okay, and he loves the Christmas markets. He's always bragging about them. He said that our front yard festival was more was nicer than some of the festivals in Europe. And I was like, wow. So that tells you something. If a German who never gives I mean he's
complimentary, but he gives them he dos them out very um judiciously. He was gaga over the holiday. We had gone to a show one night and we walked through the holiday festival and he thought just thought it was amazing. So again, these are great opportunities. Um the only thing I'm a little bit concerned about
is that you know having that lawn I know we've always talked about developing that lawn. >> That lawn saved the the center during co I mean that lawn became a community gathering place after pulse. I'm just a little bit worried about using up the lawn because it is such an important
space and I know people don't look at lawns as economic development but you all have very successfully utilize that lawn to bring in amazing events and to provide um entertainment. So that's my only pause is developing that that front the back great you know blow that out
use that for however you can but I'm a little bit concerned because like I say I mean I went to the front I went to the you during co I went to the festival when when you had to pivot >> and and even though it it shows not as much revenue you did not lose money
during co so that's incredible I mean a lot of a lot of performing arts centers were losing money and you did not so that's my only pause is ah let's not lose that lawn because you have been able to program it so successfully um in a way to um you know in a way to
basically save the center and like I say kudos for figuring out how to do all that because that was not easy and um and you know I mean that that is a tremendous asset and and to Mayor Dyer he's I like the lawn I like the lawn too mayor >> so I think you know that's my only pause
with this but um you know the kids that the the seniors, the children that participate in events, they're so excited and and I love supporting, you know, the the community give backs because it does so much for those kids. And I just want to thank all the staff. Um, you know, I know some of the
customers can be a little hairy sometimes, but, you know, for the most part, you're providing a happy, joyful place for people to come and thank you for all you do. I don't really have any questions. That was my only concern was, you know, developing the developing the lawn because I know it's been such an important community gathering space.
Thank you. >> We would like to invite all of you over. Uh our board after the last effort for TDT funding in 2022, I think it was, our board approved um to finance the design
uh phase up to construction drawings so we could get accurate drawings. I'm sorry. Through the design phase of a construction schedule. Uh so we uh curated and we have a great deal of detail that we can show you when you come over to the city of how each space
could be operated. And the most important thing is that space has to be operated where we can do a thousand free events. We have to be able to do those events. And so we'll show that to you. We'll invite you over so you look at it. We don't want to we we want to make sure that it's going to be a place for the
people. Yeah. Commissioner Burns. >> All right. Thank you, Mayor and uh Kathy. Uh great presentation and thank you to you and your your team for um the great work that you're doing, but also on delivering on the promises that you that you set out for. First, I want to
say I support TDT being used for this growth project. So, uh hopefully that'll ensure I get some votes. Um uh but I I I I do want to just say thank you for the support of local uh performing arts programs, specifically
those who uh have a lot of kids that come out of uh District 6. >> Uh cuz just to see those children perform in this venue is just amazing when they come in and you know to attend the show is just you know it's is heartwarming to see. So, thank you for
uh working continue to work with those groups and making it easier for them to uh put on their shows here. Uh so, thank you for that. I did have one question. Uh you mentioned I think you mentioned there was about 9 million in operating and was that maintenance of the or of
the building? So, is that just maintenance or maintenance and operating operating? >> Well, it's it's everything that it's m it's the maintaining of the building of the asset. Right. >> Right. And you said from the and we get about you all get about 600,000 from the city, >> right? >> All right. Is that the only city support
that you all receive on an annual basis? >> On an annual basis that that yes for the operations the city does put a million dollars into a fund for capital improvements. >> Okay. >> And so that and >> that's annually >> that you annually do that. Okay. And we what we'll do is we'll come and we'll
make a request if there's something that uh really qualifies for that capital improvement and you've you've helped us out several times on that one. We had um some of our balcony glass uh needed to be replaced and so you helped with that. But yeah, >> so so I can understand. So we set aside
that funding and then when there's a need you all come in the project. Okay. >> Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. >> All right. Thank you. That's all I have on that. >> Mr. Chapman. >> Thank you Kathy. Uh, congratulations. Thank you for the presentation. Um, every time I walk in and out of that
building, I, you know, can't believe it's right here in Orlando. >> Um, and a big part of it is your staff and their smiling faces that we all see and the diversity of all of our guests that come in there of all ages, all
colors, all sizes, everything. Um, and it's always just a fantastic experience. I think you've done a wonderful job. Thank you. and every time uh you seem to have delivered and then some and uh I just it's a a great presentation and wish you luck moving forward. >> Thank you. And also thank you for being
a longstanding volunteer of the art center in the early years. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Keane. >> Thank you, Mayor. I I want to be on record. I also support TDT. I want to be clear.
>> If only you guys had a vote on that. >> All right. All right. So, I have a I just have a couple questions and maybe I misunderstood something. On page 43, you had uh 750 uh auditorium for 750 folks. And then on page 57, you had it on the north side.
So, east side and north side. Is there There's not two, correct? You're just ask Yeah. on 43 that was the original site plan. >> That was the original plan. >> Real site plan, right? And then over on um >> Well, I'm new so I >> Yeah. No, no, I totally got it. I I got you. I got you. So on 45 we purchased
the um the balance of the Grand Bohemian block outside of the original footprint and that is where the we we're calling that the north tower. The there's like four or five components in there. One's a 750 seat theater. Then there's a 150 seat theater and I think a 75 seat
theater, 800 seat banquet hall and then there's commercial opportunities in the bottom for maybe another food and be beverage um opportunity. >> That makes sense. Thank you. >> Now the other question and again Commissioner Chapen commented on just a
little bit about the diversity of folks that are that are using. Do we have the demographics for folks that use the the facility the guests? Now, other words, do we know >> 80% come from >> Yep. >> Orange County, 20% come from Semol. I mean, >> yes, we have no doubt. Actually, we have
a I think all all 50 states have purchased tickets in 80 countries have purchased tickets, but we can tell you exactly where the ticket buyers. >> You have a very sporty ramp there to to double attendance. And if you're just coming from inside the city of Orlando,
it makes it pretty tough, doesn't it? >> Yeah. Well, it's um your question is do we think that we can expand by doubling? We think we can absolutely >> the infrastructure one because the front yard alone I mean just our front yard festival and this was brand new. We had
like 160,000 people come that month and if we program it correctly just with the other venues as well we think that we can probably double. Right now we do about 900,000 between 8 and 900,000 guests come to the venue. Okay, that's
both non-ED and ticketed events. And with this with the holiday festival and the eventual development of all this, just the number of seats and the number of programming and ticket sales that will push it up to um another million including including all the free events
and that's a little bit harder to track obviously of where they're coming from. >> So if you were to guess is 60% 70% of the audience coming from Orange County or >> 50 50% is coming outside of Orange County right now and 50% are within
Orange County and we can actually send over to you how many people are in the city limits. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Okay. Thank you Kathy. Would you havebody on your staff stand up and >> stand up guys? Let us recognize them.
>> They're great. They're a great team. >> Gives you guys the opportunity to go ahead and make your way out. >> Thank you all very, very much. Appreciate your time. >> Okay, now that we've got through that, we get to do the really fun stuff.
Actually, Kathy mentioned during her presentation the critical role the parking plays related to the performing arts center and it plays a pretty critical role on everything that happens in any of our venues or bringing people downtown. So, we are going to get an update on our
parking division. And they I don't have 73 slides. I see it's a little shorter. >> Not that many. We We are shorter. >> Dire our new director of transportation, Chrissy Martin. >> Excellent. Mayor and commissioners, I am excited and most importantly, I am so
proud to have our parking leadership here with us today to give a workshop and share with you their insight into best practices throughout the country. as well as their measured implementation approach that has earned the division one of the most efficient, high praise
and conscious of cost um within the city. Beautiful. So, as their longerving attorney, city attorney told me, Mary told me the other day, theirs is a great story to tell because you don't hear about parking a lot and it's because they do their job really well. Um you
don't want to hear about it. constantly producing, always accessible with employees that provide a service to move our residents and guests in a smooth and seamless fashion during the busiest of times for our downtown core. Today, you will hear from Scott Zers, our
longstanding parking division manager on the history of our parking division, the infrastructure that has been established, and the parking landscape of today. and then Scott will turn it over to Josh Alves, his assistant division manager to address operations and management rates and modernizing the
network. So without further ado, I would like to welcome Scott. >> Morning, mayor, commissioners. >> Good morning. >> As Chrissy said, I'm Scott Zers. I'm the parking division manager since 2007. Can't believe it's been almost 20 years,
but time flies. As you know, the parking division operates as an enterprise fund, meaning we're self-supporting. We don't take any tax dollars. We survive on our user fees, parking fees, and we operate much like a private business. We had to
cover our bills. Uh when I took over as division manager, the division was operating at a deficit of over a million dollars annually, and I'm proud to say that is no longer the case. We're here today to provide an update on the current status and the future of the parking system. Before we get started,
I'd like to acknowledge the nearly 130 city staff members that help us operate the division every day. To give a brief timeline, the parking division was created in 1982 and first rate increase was approved in 1990. We experienced tremendous growth in the
years between 1990 and 2009, opening seven new garages to accommodate growth of downtown. We're proud that we've been able to operate a successful and healthy enterprise fund without having to raise rates for the past 17 years. As we look ahead and think about the growth of
downtown, we want to be prepared to meet the growth. And so we are looking at ways to modernize and grow the system and ensure we have the necessary revenues to do so. With that in mind, we hired Kimley Horn, a well-known consultant, to conduct a comprehensive study concerning race and
technology advancements and also the latest uh best practices. As we think about the future of our parking system, we cannot do so without considering the changes in our daily lives. This includes everything from hybrid work schedules to ride share and on demand deliveries like Uber Eats and
Amazon. All these things are taken into consideration. Sorry, I have allergies. U and as we think about the future of parking, we also want to make sure it aligns with three important city initiatives. Our commitment to being
future ready, our investments through the DTO action plan, and our commitment to safer streets through vision zero. Here's a map of our current parking facilities, including the garages and surface lots. One thing to note here is the average age of our assets is 30
years old. Even our newest parking garages, 55 West and Threat Locker, you know, formerly Geico, seems like they opened recently, but it's been 17 years. It's incredible. So, this is a reminder that we need to prioritize having enough revenue to maintain and upgrade our
existing assets. Now the industry average is about 30 years per facility uh on average lifespan. We shoot for 50 at least. That's what through maintenance and capital improvements and all the things we'll talk about today.
When you we think about investing in our existing assets, this includes the cost of labor, facility upkeep, and utilities, technology, systems and fees, insurance and risk, and enforcement. Again, while these costs have risen rapidly over the years, we have not
raised our rate since 2009. And in that same period of time, the consumer price index, which as you know measures inflation, has increased by 52%. In addition to existing assets, we need to grow our parking division over time to accommodate the needs of downtown
growth. There are 20 planned and proposed projects within the CRA that include a mixture of residential, hotel, retail, office, and mixeduse projects. We anticipate needing approximately 20 to $30 million uh to fund capital improvements over the
next five years in our existing facilities and then accommodates some growth by having possible uh future facilities built which we don't have to finance. So now I'll briefly provide an overview of our recommendations for moving
forward. We'll categorize our parking inventory in two categories on street and off streetet. Both options are currently priced well below the private sector parking options within downtown and amongst our peer cities. While we are recommending adjusting our rates, the intent is to
better manage demand, improve access, and support the long-term sustainability of the parking system. We're strategically using a new rate structure to accomplish the following. Alleviate congestion in certain garages and areas of downtown and to encourage longerterm visitors in downtown to park
in garages rather than on street spaces. This will result in increased turnover in desirable on street spaces, making it easier for residents and visitors to patronize restaurants, ground floor retail, and entertainment. As part of looking ahead, we do
anticipate leveraging technology to make it easier to find and pay for parking. Our expected outcomes include operating more efficiently, having additional revenue to reinvest in the parking system to accommodate future growth, helping with downtown's vibrancy to make
it easier for people to come down and park downtown, making downtown more accessible with clearer parking options for short and long-term users. Thanks for hearing me out. And I'll turn it over now to my assistant division manager, Josh Alvis.
>> Welcome, Josh. Thank you. Thank you, Scott. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. I appreciate the opportunity to join you here today. As this chart shows, we have a little more than 10,000 paid parking spaces downtown with roughly nine garage spaces for every one on street space. This
creates an imbalance within our parking inventory. On street, which is our premium and preferred parking option, is currently underpriced and overutilized. Off- streetet parking is currently underutilized compared to on street parking and is also priced well below market rate, lacks flexible pricing, and
creates congestion on event nights. Furthermore, on street parking hits a capacity around 5:00 each evening and select zones. Since enforcement currently stops at 6 PM, many of our users and downtown employees will come around 4 pm, pay their two hours until
parking uh pay for two hours of their parking and stay there all evening. This prevents turnover and user and users from being able to park at these premium spaces downtown to enjoy dinner, shop, or just explore our vibrant city. Part of our strategy, which we'll dive
into now, is to drive people to garages, increase turnover of our on street spaces. As we discuss the strategy in more detail, we'll be considering changes based on our parking inventory. This includes on street parking, off- streetet parking, event parking,
enforcement hours, and our service incentive employee program. First, I'd like to highlight our on street parking spaces. As our premium asset, they are currently underpriced relative to their high utilization rate. Currently, our on street parking is $1
an hour and has a max of two or three-hour time limit. What we're proposing is a progressive pricing structure that allows parking for up to six hours in designated zones. After the second hour, the rate increases in order to encourage turnover. In addition to a new fee
structure, as as you can see here, we propose extending enforcement hours from 6 o'clock p.m. to 8 o'clock p.m. But keeping Sundays and holidays free, we hope that the updated free structure and revised enforcement hours will encourage long-term parkers to use our garages
help free up on street spaces for visitors supporting local restaurants and retail businesses. Additionally, extending time limits and select zones is expected to reduce the number of overtime citations. This table shows enforcement hours for peer cities.
Orlando is ending at 6 p.m. while most cities are 9:00 p.m. or later. Five of the cities peer cities are enforced 24/7. And this is just another graph here showing our on street rates compared to
our peer cities. You can see Orlando on the bottom left and our rates are well below those of our pair cities. Next, we'll talk about our off- streetet parking on an hourly basis. Currently, our rates are $2 per hour in our garages
and lots. First, we propose keeping these rates at $2 per hour for the first four hours. After the fourth hour, will go up to $3 per hour with a maximum daily rate of 20. An average stay in our garage is roughly about four hours, so we don't see this negatively impacting many of our
patrons. Additionally, our off- street hours rates will remain well below the private market. This rate structure complements the new onre parking rate encourages people to go into our garages, freeing up the preferred on street spaces for more turnover.
For example, under a new fee structure, it would be about $8 to park in our garage versus $11 on street. This is just another table showing what our off- streetet rates which is our garages and lots uh compared to our peer cities
monthly parking. Uh we propose a $10 a month increase beginning in fiscal year 2728 to give businesses employees time to plan. Even with this increase, these parking rates will be continually will continue to be significantly lower compared to the private sector parking
rates in downtown and in pier cities. In some cases, this is significant, such as the city commons garage, which has a monthly rate between $218 to $244. This is just a graph or a table showing our monthly rates uh compared to the
private sector. If you see something blank there, it just it was not publicly available or it was undisclosed. But you can see the Orlando our our city managed lots and garages are much lower than the uh private. And now we'll talk about event parking.
Um our garages currently charge a flat $10 rate uh which is which leads to increased congestion as drivers seek out these locations given they their most affordable options downtown and closest to the venue. These events draw large number of people into and out of downtown. And at the same time, it's why
the system applies a flat rate so we can speed up uh exit times. The proposed city rates will be well below our private sector rates, which are ranging from 16 to $75 for some events. Staff proposes increasing event parking rates to a maximum of $20,
excluding the threat locker, formerly Geico garage, and the Grove Park lot due their proximity to the KIA center. Staff also proposed imple implementing a proximity based pricing which allows us to charge less for the further away you
park from the venue. This is just a map of our uh city garages. You can see uh the stars depict the different um venues. Uh one in the middle there is the KIA center. One on the far right is the admin or the Dr.
Philip Center and the far left is the inter co stadium. Um, so let's we'll give you an example of proximity based pricing and let's say there's an event at the KIA center in entering co stadium and at the Dr. Phillips Center. For those seeking more affordable parking options, garages slightly farther from
the venue such as the media garage which is at the top north area uh the library garage or the Jefferson garage will offer convenient lowcost alternatives. It's all within a short walking distance. This will also provide opportunities for uh people to uh
patronize B businesses along the way. Visitors may also choose to combine parking with micromobility or transit options including right TTO scooters, limo service to reach the venue efficiently. Those parking at 55 at the 55 West Garage, which is close to most
of the venues in the Garland lot, would pay a higher event rate because it's much closer to the venue. This supports the city's broader goals of creating a more walkable, accessible, and transit oriented downtown. This strategy also reduces congestion in venues by offering multiple parking
options and using pricing to better distribute demand and guide user behavior. Next, we'll talk about the uh service industry incentive program. Right now, the pro the program currently allows for a monthly permit from 5:30 p.m. to 5:29
a.m. It's underutilized for two reasons. First, the service service employees are often reporting to work much earlier than 5:30 p.m. And second, it's uh most cost effective for them to park on the street, pay for a few hours until enforcement ends at 6 PM, and leave their vehicles in place for the rest of
the evening. This also contributes to on street parking reaching capacity by 5:00 pm, which also may discourage others from coming downtown for dinner or visiting businesses. There's just simply no turnover. We propose to extend the hours of the
program from 5:30 p.m. or sorry, excuse me, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:29 a.m. to hopefully alleviate some of these concerns. The new hours along with the extended onstream enforcement will make it more affordable for downtown workers to take advantage of this program. At a rate of $65 a month, it comes it comes
to less than $3 per day. All right. Lastly, we can't talk about parking without a little bit of compliance and enforcement. Um, as we're making these changes to our parking system, staff is proposing to increase the fine for certain violations. As you can see here on the screen, I will note
citations do pay for the crossing guard program and limo. We are proposing to extend the payment period from 14 days to 21 days before any late fees are incurred, which is a positive change. Leveraging technology um obviously
technology will be a key driver to our progress enabling us to improve efficiency and user experience. Digital options will enable us to cashless uh to enable cashless payments and flexible pricing. License plate recognition improves safety, moves us towards a frictionless environment and
assists with real-time data collection. Parking guidance reduces congestion helps drivers find spaces faster. And lastly, data dashboards support datadriven decisions and f future policy decisions. This will support us in becoming more efficient operation, delivering a better
customer experience, and a living smarter datadriven decision-m expected benefits. As we begin to wrap up, I know there's been a lot of information on the slide, but we felt it was important to clearly outline the full range of benefits.
Reinvesting revenue is a key part of the strategy. It allows us to maintain and preserve our aging facilities while also funding important upgrades like new technology, payment systems, and overall modernization. These changes support our broader downtown goals, making it easier to
access local businesses, supporting continued growth, and creating a more predictable parking experience. These expected benefits will guide our decisions as we look to the future of our parking division. Just to so to recap, our recommendations
uh which will return to you as a separate council action in the future. They include expanding our paid parking hours, reestablishing or establishing progressive on street parking rates, modernizing to a cashless and meterless system, encouraging garage parking,
increasing our off- streetet hourly and monthly rates, updating the service incentive program, service employee incentive program, increasing fees for certain violations, and extending the payment deadline. Next steps. These are our next steps and timeline moving forward. We plan to go
to council on May 11th for the first reading on parking ordinance changes followed by a second reading and adoption on June 8th with rates going in effect on October 1st, 2026 with your approval. And now if you guys any we're happy to take any questions we have. I have my team here with me to uh go over
anything. >> Okay. Thank you for the presentation. Um I guess I you know it's pretty impressive that you've been able to operate at a profit for the last what is
it um 17 years since we've had an increase and Susie asked me this morning what we were doing at workshop and I said for art center parking she says it's so cheap to park. Of course, she's okay. Looking at Austin, what she's comparing it to, but she said, "Oh my
gosh, it's so cheap in downtown. I don't think there's anywhere else in America that is cheaper than what our >> and we also paid we also paid off about $50 million in debt service while doing it." >> So, operated efficiently and the most efficient personnel we have in the
entire city are reader people. >> We hear that a lot. >> Yeah, >> that's good to hear. >> Okay. Uh, Commissioner Sheen and then Chap and then Rose and BMS. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh, thank you for the presentation. Very, very, um, very good presentation. Um, and I want to just
clarify that the maintenance is so important on these garages. I had a colleague who grandstanded about not doing the the garage maintenance one year and it was like $50,000 and I think you all had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix it after the fact. So, the grandstanding on not
spending the money usually has a very detrimental effect. So, I just want to say that it's important to do the maintenance on these facilities. Very, very important. Um, my only concern I agree that, you know, that we need to um need to change the the structure because I'm one of those people that, you know,
grabs a spot at at 4 if I'm going to to downtown. So, I'm guil I'm guilty of that as well. Um, but as we as we go to my concern is as we go to cashless and meterless, a lot of people don't understand that technology. My concern is that the signage might not be as
good. I alluded to, you know, the um uh Asian-American Chamber of Commerce had a big Lunar New Year event in Create a Village and everybody got tickets because nobody understood the, you know, the the cash list. And so my concern is people already get upset if they don't
understand the system and now they're going to get even a larger ticket if they don't understand the system. So I think we need to do a two-pronged approach. It needs to be an education. We need to have better signage where we do have these cashless um and meterless
areas um and before we decide to increase the um before we decide to increase the fines because like I say it you know people that's the one thing we hear of people get mad when they get a ticket >> and you know some of them are clearly you know they just they're just taking advantage of the system but some of them
just don't understand the system and I just I'm a little bit reluctant I'm fine with all the other increases I'm a little bit reluctant to increase the fines when and I've expressed this concern before when people don't understand how to use the parking system. So that's that's my only concern there. Thank you.
>> I understand that. And commissioner um we do have the history of the creative village to help us with the meterless. Um we've learned because that was our first time doing it. I remember the mayor came out and put up the signs for us. Um but we plan on we call soft
enforcement. So, like the first few weeks, we will just issue a warning, not in a green envelope, but in a light blue envelope, so it doesn't look like tickets. Um, so it'll have the warning in it with no fine explaining the violation. And then we'll have a
pamphlet from the vendor, Park Mobile, or we may add a second one for for different options for redundancy. Um, and that'll explain how to use it. We have two-sided, Spanish and English, and we'll have those in the envelope with
the warning. And we'll do that for a few weeks. We'll decide how it's going. Um, and then we are improving the signage. We've improved it lately. Um, partly based on your comments. Um, we'll have more signage and it's it that's going to
be a massive undertaking changing all these thousands of signs. So our goal is October 1st, but if it takes us a little longer, that's okay because nobody's going to complain if we don't do it earlier. So we're pretty confident, but we have, you know, we go to conferences
and see our peers and they most of them have already done this. Um, we have I have a agreement from the CFO, deputy CFO and the auditor George. Um, they agree we should go cashless. It's safer
for the cashiers not to have all the cash. Cash is very labor intensive. Um we no longer have to do meter collections. Um which is a very laborious task. U and then you also save money not having armored car service. So
a lot of benefits to it. And you know most of the privates are going uh cashless to say on labor. That's not our goal. We'll still have people there as customer service, you know, just to help the customers
work the system. Um, not in a bad way, but uh, so it's not our goal to say our neighbor. And just one thing to add to that, one thing that we have right now for all these other meter locations is we have a meter there with a pole and we when we take the meter off, we're going
to leave the pole there for a while to put a sign there so people know that, okay, when I step out. >> That's what I'm talking about because like I say, your sign is, you know, might be there. I don't know how many spaces is between the signs. >> And if you pull up to a meter, people understand that and they need to fe I'm
not talking about cash. I mean, most people have credit cards and cashless is fine. The problem is there's a lack, you know, there's a lack of understanding between that meter situation and what we've gone to with cashless and everything like that. And I, you know, I
mean, I just We're also going to work with communications to get uh educational information out there, have videos on social media to show you how to use it and things like that or outreach. >> Okay. And and the other thing is, you know, I mean, I'm always fussing for
more tool motorized vehicle parking that is not for the scooters and it's not for the ebikes or whatever. It's for people who want to have alternatives because I think as we raise our rates and it becomes less, you know, less common and and less, you know, people might want to
look at these alternatives and we don't have enough, we don't have enough spaces and every time seems every time I get some, >> somebody decides to take it out, links takes it out and put something else there or something like that. So, >> we have worked with you over the last few years. >> I just like to see more and like I say,
the ones that we did put in have been taken over by other uses. Um, you know, I just like to see an emphasis more because there's a lot of spaces that aren't big enough for a parking space that can be used for two wheel motorized vehicle parking and not for the scooters. Like I say, every time we put those in, those darn scooters come and I
think we need to clarify the differences in use because those are not for micro those are not for the companies. Those are for the residents to use >> and we can discuss that with the with the vendors of the micromobility. This is Maria Cortez, our planner, and she's
she lives and breathes bicycles. So, and so, >> good morning everyone. My name is Maria Cortez. Um, Commissioner Sheen, as you mentioned, we worked uh to expand some of the two wheel parking in Thornton Park. And we actually recently just added on Rosalyn uh and Washington by Lake Yola. Uh we had a space that was
not enough for parking space. So, we decided to make it into motorcycle. And we even have been making enhancements to them in Pine Street between Core and Magnolia. We've realized that some of our two wheel spaces, cars were parking on them. So, we've been adding delineators as well to avoid that and be able to maintain those spaces open. And
as well in our garages, we do have some uh two wheel parking spaces and we're going to be active working to for better wayinding. Um you know, with our weather, sometimes you don't want to have your uh park outside. So, this is an act active project. Um and as well with um our bike pet planner, they're
working on the bike and microobility parking study. So we'll be actively working as well with the recommendations that come out of their plan. So we are able to separate those uses but enhance the two wheel parking. >> Perfect. Because you know and and people might want to bike but you know there's something that we do which frustrates me is for motorcycle parking for I'm even
biking now that I have an ebike and I can actually go farther now you know. >> Um you know people are parking cars on them which makes me crazy. So I'm glad you're talking about the delineators because that will stop that nonsense. >> Um I've even you know the ones in Thornon Park on Washington Street. I've even seen at, you know, these huge Land
Rovers parking on them. It makes me so mad to see that because you can put, >> you know, during a large scale event that we have at Lake Eola, you put 10 to 12 motorcycles in one spot where you could put a car. So, I just think it's important that that we think about these things and um you know, put in bike
racks, that's fine. Um but make sure that that the micromobility isn't taking up all the bike racks, too. I mean, these are the these are some balances and you know, they just need to be better. They need to share better. But like I say, as we increase the rates, I think we're going to make need to look at these other alternatives for people,
you know, because it makes it more convenient. It makes it conven more convenient for our residents and the people who don't live as far to get down there. And, you know, I think we saw this explosion of of Vespas and different things like that. >> Um, when we first first were doing the downtown condos, but now it's just
gotten so much it's so inconvenient to park them that people don't buy them as much. as a Vespa owner, I just think they're a really great alternative to parking cars and things like that in a downtown. I think if we made it more convenient, I think more people would utilize that. >> Definitely. Thank you so much. >> And that is part of our goal.
>> Mr. Chair, >> thank you for that presentation. It's very enlightening. Um it it sounds not as much about a parking increase as it is about a parking reorganization. Um which I think is great. uh especially
the dynamic pricing um activating turnover. So I think for those that might say we're increasing prices and people might not come downtown, we're actually creating more turnover so more people can come downtown. Um so extending the enforcement I think is a good idea. I like the fact that you've
kept the $2 from one hour to four hours. Um, I would suggest looking at every all the options and, you know, if we can for those people that work downtown or
that, you know, maybe they're a caregiver downtown, anything we can find to where we, you know, somewhere we keep something almost the same, even if it's a little less convenient. Um, so, uh, just because I know that that pressure
on them, uh, is going to be very important. Um, I like the obviously the fact we're well below private uh, marketplace. I mean, somebody that might say something if we just turn it over to the private industry, we might make a few bucks, but in the long run, we we
would all be worse off for it. Uh, I would also be curious about um with all the new technology upgrades uh for wayfinding and being able to, you know, you're going out now you want to hit your app and find parking spots that are available and open. So, I hope that's
going to be a big part of it. >> That's part of it. Yes, >> I do agree with Mr. Sheen about the um early implementation. Um I I you know, the longer we can make that the better.
um or or even if we just charge them for 4 hours instead of a $37 fine, you know, something like that. But I'm sure you I'm sure everybody else has done it. You'll figure that out. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Rose. >> Um so the majority of these parking
things that were shared today in the district 5. Um I have a couple of things. So you guys are moving to LPR. Is there a thought process to connect with EPASS? We haven't looked at that, but we can certainly do so. >> Okay. Because I know like when you go some places like when you go to the
airport and stuff, it'll automatically it'll read your digital and it'll charge your e pass. That way it's an easier flow cuz sometimes Yeah. Yeah. cuz sometimes you get stuck with like putting it and so I also want to think about the card readers that we're using cuz some of them are difficult that we
do have downtown. So like this may help with the flow and I'll use it's not our garage but um where Citrus Club is. you get stuck putting in their car the right way. Is it this way? Is it that way? So, I think having seeing if we can connect LPR with APASS would be really cool um
to get people in and out. Um I I want to piggyback on something Commissioner Shehan the comment, but it's more so the ADA portion of it. So, as you know, we have plenty of senior complexes in downtown. um how do how are we engaging with our seniors who may not be
technically savvy when it comes to these um parking um spots? >> Well, that's where we the outreach works and we can reach out to the individual buildings and complexes. >> Okay. >> Uh to, you know, we can send people out, explain everything to them, educate
them. Um hopefully we'll have good attendance, but yeah, we plan on doing that. >> Okay. Um, something to kind of piggyback on, Commissioner Shihan, um, when it comes to some of these larger events. So, I made mention a couple months ago, we need to start work working more with
our promoters to start encouraging and letting people know where to park. So, I gave an example when I hosted um co-hosted an event at um, Art Squared. We gave like the attendees like exactly where they can park and parking options, how much it costs. So, I think working
with um the transportation division on the 18 on 18BB side where when they when are coming in and they're pulling permits so we can encourage them so people know where to park so we don't find ourselves in some of these weird spaces but they know exactly where to park and we can give instructions on how
to pay to park etc. >> Um holidays was a thing have we addressed that? So I know a couple months ago someone reached out with the confusion on federal holidays versus city holidays. How are we working through that with that communication process? Are we going to go to, you know, are we
gonna stick to just city holidays? And so for context, I had a um a visitor reach out saying that they had they parked somewhere, it was a holiday, but it wasn't one of the holidays that we recognized. They received a ticket. So, are we how are we working on our holiday communication? Are we going to be
specific on the website to make sure we spell out like what each holiday is? >> Yeah, that's currently on there. Um Okay. It's set by code. Okay. >> So, we would have to make a code change, but Okay. I think we only have a couple that the county actually is is working and the federal
is I'm sorry where the county is not working. Federal is not working but the city is. I think Veterans Day was maybe the one you were talking about. >> Yep. >> They said city hall was open and or closed and it wasn't. And they just assumed that the holiday was a city
holiday, too. So, we'll do our best to work with communications and get that word out that it it might not always line up um because of some of the holidays land on a weekend, so we'll get the Friday off, things like that. Um but, you know, if it becomes a big
problem, we can always uh change it to the actual holiday, but it take a code change. >> Okay. Um couple more things. I noticed that the canopy is not on this map of parking spaces. Um, I guess we'll have a plan and kind of figure out what that looks like, revenue, etc. What parking
what parking fees, etc. will look like. >> Yeah. Uh, we've been working with DDB for quite a while. They own it and they're going to uh we've already got an operational plan and uh so you know, it's going to be probably a
year and a half. I think they said uh but we'll have 300 parking spaces um that right now don't accommodate event parking but they will when we take over. >> Okay. >> Um so about 300 spaces I said. >> And then my last question. Grove Parking
garage. Is there a timeline on that? >> Um that's above my pay grade. >> Okay. I'll I'll talk to Chrissy about that. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, >> Commissioner Burns. >> All right. Thank you, mayor, and thank you all for for that uh presentation.
Now, I did want to just mention I I appreciate the uh financial dexterity that you all have displayed over the years and and really uh turning around this enterprise fund. Um my my first question is relating to a a financial performer uh based on these on these
projected increases. Have we done a a financial perform that would show what where we stand with these increases and where we would stand uh if we did not do those increases? >> Yeah, we we currently uh average about
25 26 million a year in total revenue. >> We contribute three million to the general fund through different fees. Um and then we contribute to our capital budget and uh our projects and then we typically have about a million extra to
put in retained earnings. Um so our increases are going to be approximately 5.7 5.8 million in total revenue across the board if this is passed. >> Okay. Okay. All right. >> And that we'll use for all all the things we talked about. So, but and if
this doesn't pass, what does that look like? I mean, we would not have that five uh million increase, what does that do to our continued operation? Does it jeopardize our ability to uh continue with the maintenance or what what what would that impact be?
>> The main thing it does is prevents us from financing future projects, future garages. Um Jose Fernandez CFO is working on uh getting the system bonded and see what bonding capacity is based on revenues and projected revenues. So
um that's where we'll get hurt is the future of financing. >> Right. Okay. And and on um the investing uh in opportunities for growth, there's a you mentioned that there's 20 planned proposed projects within the CRA of
residential, hotel, retail. And my question is what what is the city's obligation because I'm assuming most of those are are private developments. And so what what is the city's obligation of providing parking or uh assisting with
parking being made available? Can you talk to me about that? >> Yeah, we don't really have an obligation, but we like to help to encourage development. >> Um the average parking space costs about4 to $45,000 to build in a garage. That's without even talking about land
acquisition. So, >> uh, you know, you build 100 spaces and that's $4 million. >> So, that anything we can provide helps that developer their decision to move downtown >> um so they don't have to build parking. That's a big big expense. It's gone
through the roof lately. >> Right. Okay. And and and we also see where we anticipate 20 million in capital fund improvements. So, is that new garages or maintenance or a combination of >> and and do we have some new garages that are on
>> that are being planned? >> Not officially, but we know of a couple that might be in the future. >> Um, >> but the the capital budget 20 to 30 million, I think I said, is uh is for the current projects because facilities are so old
>> that we keep them in good shape. We just had a structural assessment done, an engineering assessment, and they said the garage are in good shape. So, we've continued to maintain them, and like I said, we shoot for 50 years when 30 is normal. >> Right. Right. Okay. And and then I I was
curious, you know, just with the emergence of, you know, ride share um you know, opportunities. Uh and when we look back over the last few years, um have you have we really seen um revenue decrease because of the emergence of
ride sharing? Have we have we hadn't experienced that really? >> Not not at all really. >> Our revenues have been pretty flat for the last few years since co we actually I think broke even during COVID which is amazing. >> Um and we didn't lay anybody off. We kept everybody working in some capacity.
Um but no the the events have really driven most of it >> right >> because yeah you know the event almost every night >> so yeah we do really well on those >> okay >> that's kept us really crooked and along >> all right thank you I think that's all I
have mayor thank you >> thank you commissioner Ortiz >> thank you mayor um and listen to commissioner rose that e pass transaction may cost us even more because they're going to want to have their fair share to charge us um to be able to connect
that. So that may bring an increase on whatever issu uh whatever fees you want to go ahead and put. >> Yeah, we looked at that in recent in past years and the financial separation. >> Yeah. >> Didn't it was tough to figure out. >> Yeah, >> it was before my time. Uh but
>> it would be nice, but it it's going to cost us >> and it's retrofitting which it costs a lot when when you do technology in a new new garage. It's much easier than retrofitting. So because you included in the project cost, which is nice instead of operating revenues. So
>> all I need is to see if you have a current income loss statement on a balance sheet I could take a look at. That's it. >> Yeah, we can get you uh >> Thank you guys. >> Last year's complete fiscal year. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Okay, >> Mr. Keane. >> So a couple questions about uh the
technology changes. So when a Whimo or a Lyft or any of those ride share folks pulls into a a parking spot right now, they're not they're not paying for it. >> Well, >> and they sit there and they sit there
and what and they are waiting for the next their next uh thing and somebody comes behind them, they can't park there. How are we addressing that issue? Is there a way to charge Whimo and and Lyft when they're taking up a spot >> because they can just drive out if if a
enforcement officer comes and >> that's that's the thing we do have enforcement constantly they'll just leave well we encourage them to leave obviously >> and also I mean just as a tie into that if we allow or we add drop off zones
we're taking inventory out of our inventory and now those spots are not producing revenue but we're allowing them to use those spots. How would we monetize that? >> The the revenue is not really that significant of a loss. We plan on adding
more loading and unload loading and unloading zones and freight zones. Other non-revenue spaces because the changing landscape we talked about and you're talking about deliveries are crazy. There's already been reports at least in
the paper about Whimo parking in certain parts of the city and just kind of filling up >> parking spots, right? So, I just want to make sure that we're not >> Yeah. >> looking make sure that we're looking at that kind of thing as well. >> We we're talking with them to to get some kind of interface with enforcement
or to notify us or to not park at a metered space. We're talking to them, but it's just so new right now. We're trying to figure it out. Also, >> Maria might have something to add >> if I could add. Um, we actually met with a way more representative about a month ago or so. They came down and they explained to our enforcement team how it
works, just different tips on how to work with them. Um, so that was a great and they actually brought out a car so the enforcement could get comfortable with it, what numbers to call, different things like that depending on the type of situation, what happens to an once a Whimo has an enforcement ticket, what that process is like. Um and additionally with the leveraging
technology when it comes to the license plate recognitions we've seen in other cities moving towards a digit um a digital permit. So that can assist us with you might not be charging them right there and then but you're capturing that license plate and you can send them afterwards uh whatever charge they may have been just standing at the
at the at the paid parking space. Obviously a way can't go in the app or a meter or anything. So it's use utilizing those digital permits that we've seen in other cities what they're calling smart loading zones things like that. And when it comes to the loading and drop off areas as Scott mentioned or I mean actually as you mentioned commissioner
that does decrease our inventory but given the rate increase we're able to work with that to offset whatever those uses are. So the rate increase actually helps us be more flexible because then we can offset that with what with the rate increase in the other spaces and still have and still be able to adjust
other spaces for other needs such as loading zones um pickup drop off whatever it may be. So technology may end up helping us, but we'll see. Yes, that's the goal. >> So then then the last question is, and it's not related to the rate increases per se, but uh it's about adding more
electric charging stations in our garages. Is there a plan for that as well? >> Uh based upon demand, it's not really needed right now. Um especially since the the big charging uh facility on is it Robinson? Yeah. Uh they have 20 right
there, highspeed stations. So we we haven't really seen the uh the need right now, but we're always flexible. >> We haven't seen the demand then. >> No, we have them in all the the garages anyway. >> Yep. >> But um we looked at adding some for the Threat Locker garage. Um there were some
issues with the branding because of the naming rights and all that. So we're always looking for it if we need it. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Sheen. >> Thanks, Mayor. Just a couple followups. Um, and you know, I do avoid those um,
techno spots as much as I can because the mayor, your your staff usually gets tickets when we're events. So, I think we need to do a better job of signing them. Maybe if the QR code could go to that to that individual space, um, but they did have receipts that they had paid and they still got tickets. And
that's the thing. I mean, if we're going to go to this um, tech if we're going to go to this automated system and people are still getting tickets even when they paid, I think that's patently unfair. At least when you have a meter, you can tell when it's blinking red or blinking green. If if you know, if the technology just says you haven't paid when you
have, I just don't like that. And and like I say, that's why I avoid them because it's usually your staff that think, "Oh my god, I got a ticket again." You know, I just think it's unfair. I just think we need to work to make it better. Maybe we do some kind of a city pass or something like that where it works better. The technology is failing
us in some respects and I think we just need to improve upon it before we rely upon it as the only way. and then it's the only way people can park and then they're going to get a ticket even if they paid. I just think that's patently unfair. Um and and I I I will not support an increase if if people are getting tickets that have paid their
fair share. It's just it's just wrong. Um and another issue that I failed to bring up, Mayor, really quickly um as our main streets have become more and more successful, which is a great problem to have. um these um these lots have gone to these pay lots and it's I call it predator just like how we had
the predatory towing now we've got predatory parking and in the main streets what used to work is that the businesses you would use the lots in the day the the bars and stuff would use them at night and everybody kind of shared the the private parking lots. Now we've got a situation where these
parking you know predatory parking practices have come in. Some of these folks are have been really good. they they just they they they you pull in, you park, you pay, and it's not been a problem. But others have, you know, there's been an example in in my district where a man gentleman went to
drop off his mom at a dinner at a place for dinner, just pulled in the parking lot, did not park, went to pick her up, and got a $55 ticket for not paying to park. And now they're saying he can pay he has to pay $125. I mean, this is a predatory parking practice. And I know
that they are private lots, but just like we had we oversee towing on private lots, I think we're going to need to start regulating these parking folks because they're just taking advantage of people and it's going to be very detrimental to the main streets. >> Yeah, I see. I I you know, coming from
the private sector, I understand their side. We the city doesn't have a role right now in regulating private business or private property. Um we'd have to talk to the legal department to see if there's a way to do that. for towing. >> We do for towing on private lots. I'm
sorry. We do for towing on private lots. And that's what I'm saying is if they're using the lots to to prey on people, which we had to do. I mean, I had the same problem in Thornton Park. They were towing, you know, even though it was marked, but they were towing, you know, vehicles with kids in them. I mean, it
had just gotten ridiculous. So, my concern is that this practice is going to be getting worse and worse, and they're going to be taking advantage of people. And I understand it's a private lot, but we we do have a towing ordinance and I think we might have to have a private parking ordinance.
>> Well, we'll look at it. >> And Commissioner Burns. >> Uh yeah, thank you. Just just one thing and and Commissioner Sheen, I'm I'm glad you mentioned the uh predatory parking because even with some of those private parking if you receive tickets say in
Fort Lauderdale and that same vendor um manages a lot here, you can get penalized for your ticket in Fort Lauderdale being in in in Orlando cuz that has happened to me. Uh it was kind of vice versa, but and I'm not sure what can be done about that. But my question
is with the uh how many different vendors do we have um do we work with for parking currently or do we just have >> we we run our own facilities >> with city staff other than the threat locker garage. >> Okay.
>> Because on busy nights and camping world busy nights it's just we need to have too too much staff. >> We don't we can't meet those demands. >> So we hire out a private operator. Um, and >> and I'm speaking for more of the the on-site parking where you can, you know,
you scan something and you and you pay to park. >> I don't I mean, we only have Park Mobile for the city. >> Okay. Park mobile. >> Yeah. We're looking to add one or two more because if Park Mobile goes down for any reason, we'll have that backup. So, I'd like to get two more.
>> Yeah. And and I and and my point would be is if we could make them consistent because now I've gotten used to Park Mobile. Um, and if you know if it changes or something else comes in, I think just the consistency uh ease of operations would would be >> Yeah, they're all very similar.
>> Uh, they work the same way based on your plate >> and other cities usually have more than one. So, we're a little concerned about going all in on one company. So, we're going to look at that. >> Okay. Thank you for the presentation. >> All right. Thanks for your time. And
that will conclude our um workshop for today. Yeah. Part: 2
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Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. down.
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Okay. Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to 420 day here in the city council. Um, we're going to begin today's proceedings with the invocation and the pledge of allegiance today led by Commissioner Ricari Burns. Commissioner. >> All right. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, and good afternoon, everyone. If you are so
inclined, please join me uh in bowing your heads in a word of prayer. Gracious and wise creator, we thank you for bringing us together in service to our community. Grant us clarity of mind, humility of heart, and unity of purpose. Help us to listen with respect, speak
with integrity, and decide with fairness. May our discussions be guided by wisdom, our actions rooted in compassion, and our outcomes bring lasting benefit to those that we serve. Bless each and every person here with patience, understanding, and a spirit of
cooperation. Let this meeting be fruitful, peaceful, and a step for toward a brighter future for our beloved city. This and other blessings we ask in your name. Amen. >> Amen. >> To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, let's call the meeting to order. Madam clerk, would you call the role to make a determination of the quorum, please?
>> Commissioner Keane, >> here. >> Commissioner Ortiz. >> Commissioner Chapen, >> here. >> Commissioner Sheen, >> here. >> Commissioner Rose, >> here. >> Commissioner Burns >> here. >> Mayor Dyer >> here. >> Mayor, you have a quorum. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. First order of
business is consideration of minutes from the April 6th city council general review and workshop meetings. Motion by Commissioner Burns, second by Commissioner Sheen. All in favor indicate so by saying I >> I >> I those so the motion carries. Okay. We
have no awards presentations and recognitions today. So I go quickly into the mayor's update and what a great time it is to be a sports fan in Orlando. The Magic are playing like we thought they would the last two games. So they have opened the NBA playoffs um with a big
win over the top seated Pistons, but looked as good as they've looked all year long. So, we're excited to cheer on the Magic in this postseason as they return to the Kia Center in a few days. This is our final meeting before um uh
an important awareness week and that is public service recognition week. In the first week of May each year gives our country the opportunity to celebrate and thank federal, state, and local government employees. and city of Orlando employees certainly deserve our
community's gratitude, their great commitment and compassion um ensure that we provide key services, amenities, and programs to residents, businesses, and visitors. And I think I speak for the entire city council when I say to all of the city employees that are either here
in the room watching on streaming or out doing their jobs, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And I have two items of note on the consent agenda. One is the authorization to award a contract of Wharton Smith for design build services
at Lake Yiola Park on the Lake Eyola master plan. Um, three key components. We're not doing everything on the master plan all at once, but the first three things that we are doing is relocating the Swanboat dock to a location near the Yola House, constructing the walkway
behind the amphitheater, and doing a bunch of drainage improvements that um you won't necessarily see, but are probably the most important things that we're doing. And then the other one that's exciting, we are looking forward to a new ready dog park
in the Grove in the packing district. U we finally figured out how to turn a wet swampy area into a drier effective place for a dog park. And I'm especially happy because Susie and I have just adopted a new Bernadoodle named Leo like the Pope.
um and can't wait him to take take him to the new dog park. All right, those were the two exciting items that I wanted to chat about. I know there are others that commissioners speak about. So, we're going to move on to the consent agenda and that's a number of items that are acted upon through a
single vote of council. We give each of our council members an opportunity to comment on items on the consent agenda and to update you on important happenings from their districts. to rotate the order that we do that and Commissioner Burns is first up today. >> All right. Thank you, Mayor. And uh good
afternoon again, everyone. Uh first off, I'll just like to mention uh that uh my fourth the student success scholarship application closes today. Uh this is a scholarship for graduating seniors who live or attend school in district 6. We
started this uh scholarship probably about five years ago and to date we've uh we've at we've given away close to 200 and some thousand dollars worth of scholarships to graduating seniors. So please if you know seniors who live in district 6 or attend school in district
6, have them to uh reach out to our office because the scholarship uh uh application ends today. uh also uh was excited to celebrate 407 day by supporting local businesses in the district. A few of those businesses were
the Village Square uh in Washington Shores, Holy Grain Coffee Shop, Art Sandwich Shop, uh Cupabana, Brazilian Cafe, uh Gods and Monsters, Perfume Land, Tony's uh Brazilian Grill, and uh
Super Sean, which is a uh noodle noodle uh restaurant. So, as well as Juicy Patties, which is which is a Jamaican Juicy Patty establishment. So, again, I it was uh great going around to these uh to these businesses. But one of the main things is that we need to continue to
support our local businesses, encourage uh our community to spend money locally because when we spend money locally, that money tends to circulate in our communities uh a little longer. So again, thank you mayor for for starting full 7 day and I look forward to
continue to celebrate that. Also, uh, Thursday, April 6th, had the opportunity to, uh, attend the Lift Orlando legacy in Bloom, uh, celebrating the impact of women in our community and their powerful role in shaping a brighter future, uh, which proceeds, uh,
supporting the We Lift Orlando campaign to expand education, health, and economic mobility for families across the 32805 uh, zip code. Also, uh that same day, I attended the West Orange Chambers annual
BestFest, uh a food and beverage and business expo showcasing the best local restaurant, bars, uh caterers, breweries, and businesses in West Orlando or West Orange County. Uh this event provided an opportunity to network, enjoy cuisine, and support the
community. Uh, also on uh this past Saturday, I had the opportunity of speaking at the uh affordable housing um at the National Association of Real Estate Brokers Community Day at ElClaudia Allen. This event was uh
designed to advance home ownership through advocacy and access. So, I've sat on the panel where we just talked about uh some of the resources that the city has and then just encouraging home owners ownership, but also advocating for um for affordable housing in
general. Uh just one update, uh my next satellite office hours will be Wednesday, April 22nd at the Grand Avenue Neighborhood Center from 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. And this is an opportunity for residents to uh come meet with me outside of uh city hall. So, if you want
to get on that schedule, please reach out to my office. Uh, Mayor, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Burns. Commissioner Keane, >> good afternoon. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, just got a few things to talk about today. Uh, since our last council meeting, uh, had several special events I want to highlight, uh, including
thanking you, sir, for issuing that proclamation to designate Malia's Park in Lake Nona. This past weekend, I was able to join Malia's mother, Megan, to help with that ribbon cutting ceremony at her daughter's statue. Also like to th thank Orlando Health for hosting 407
day of giving on April 7th. Worked with some volunteers across the city to make over 500 bags of hygiene essentials for atrisisk communities. Cortez and Anusuka uh were doing great things over there and I want to thank them again. I'm very appreciative the time parks and
recreation uh took from their busy schedule to meet with me in district at district one. Thank you Rodney. They have over 150 parks to oversee and it means a lot to residents when you're when you come out hands-on in the heat as we work together improve recreation in Orlando, specifically in district 1.
Uh last weekend I walked with Senator Lauren Book and her Lawrence Kid 2026 walk in my shoes to support awareness for child abuse. We started over at Great Oaks Village and ended up at the courthouse. Well, some people ended up at the courthouse. I I may have dropped out a little early. Uh so want to thank
uh everybody for for turning out for that great cause and I was happy to be part of it. On April 14th, I attended Junior Achievement or Junior Achievement hosted a career fair at the University of Central Florida and I got a chance to stop by and meet local businesses that showcase how to start careers in fields
like video game design, EMT paramedic services, and biotechnology. So much great information and open door opportunities for the soon tobe young adults in our community. Um, I think there were eighth graders that popped in, about 1,500 of them. Very exciting to see real world impact that Junior
Achievement is making in Orlando. And then this last weekend, I also attended a YMCA healthy kids day event at the Lake Nona YMCA. Was able to read to about 150 kids plus their parents at the gymnasium over there. And it was really a great event. The Y offers uh education
on healthy choices that lead to healthy lifestyle. A few things on the horizon for the upcoming week. I'll be walking in the Florida Puerto Rican uh parade. I'm very excited to celebrate with my friends over the Hispanic Chamber. Um I'm already looking forward to the and
I'm going to I'm really going to do bad with the pronunciation here. A roast con gond. >> I'm looking forward to trying those. So, it sounds like it's going to be fun. Uh district one leazison officer Dylan Naja will be presenting an active duty
shooter workplace safety this week. uh very important information in today's world. Let's try to be as prepared as we can for for any situation we hope will never happen, but that great information to have at the ready. And then lastly, Lake Nona Arts is opening its presentation of stage struck. Tickets
are pay what you can. So, it's a great opportunity for absolutely everyone in Orlando if you want to come out to District 1 to enjoy the great art that the community produces. Uh you can come out if you're available. I'll be there. I'm going to be It's going to be an amazing show. And with that, mayor,
thanking you. Thank you for letting me share about district one. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Ortiz. >> Thank you, mayor. I want to thank uh Commissioner by Carrie Burns because I'm sending my kids over there since they're giving those those monies. I'm having them in your, you know, getting apartments over there so they can apply
for that so for those grants. Just kidding. So, anyhow, um let's see. Wednesday, April 15th, I had the honor and the privilege of going to a CFHLA lunchon where we discussed tourist development tax, we discussed housing and we discuss uh property taxes. It was
a really aminable conversation among those uh industry leaders because there's a lot going on in the central Florida region and I think everybody has to be really informed about this thing. So, um, mayor, I'm really excited about today's 3DA and 12A, small and local,
uh, business enterprise, uh, ordinance and, uh, that we're passing. I think this is about time. We we've been waiting for this. Our community have been waiting ever since the government, the state and federal government got rid of DEI. So, uh, I think it's a moving forward with our communities. It's about
time. I know there's a lot of companies out there that are dying to see this happening. April um afternoon on April 16 uh at the recent Tri County League of Cities lunchon officers and directors were sworn in. Congratulations to President Jordan Smith, Vice President
David Hansen, and all newly inducted board members for their continued leadership and service. The evening of April 16 also mark our second neighborhood leaders meeting. Corpal Rogers and Corpal Duvik attended providing residents with the latest
District 2 statist statistics as well as information on upcoming events hosted by the Orlando Police Department. So, thank you guys. Thank you, Chief. Um, residents also had the opportunity to hear directly from public works staff about solid waste, wastewater, and
optimization and uh systems practices. Especially thanks to Marjgery Briones and Christopher Andress and Alan Morrison for taking the time to educate residents on important work and complexities behind this essential services and indeed they're complex and
there are such a need in our communities and some people um oversee this this particulars from time to time. the Government Academy. We're proud to be halfway through the 12-week uh government academy and program designed to give residents an in-depth
understanding of local government operations. Participants have explored a wide range of topics including the Orlando Utility Commission, transportation, Orange County school boards, etc. The programs continues to provide valuable insight into how our
community is served across multiple departments and government as a whole from the federal government to the local government. And so those interested, all you have to do is contact my office and we'll set you up for the next economy. I think that's all I have. Mayor, thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Chapen.
>> Thank you, Mayor. I, too, enjoyed uh my first 407 day uh as a district commissioner. And um I don't think I went to as many restaurants as Commissioner Burns did. Um but, uh did visit several uh businesses in district three, especially in the our main street
districts. We have three and a half. In district 3, we have the the drive, Ivanho Village, Ottabon Park, Garden District, and Mills 50. Also had the opportunity that morning to uh visit Rosemont Elementary School where I was able to read for the Head Start class,
which was a lot of fun. Um, outstanding staff and a great reminder of the impact that these early learning programs are having on our young people. Uh early this morning I attended the groundbreaking for the new event center
at the Four Roots Farm in the packing district. Uh it's a unique asset in our community and a a result of incredible partnership with Four Roots Foundation, Dr. Philips Charities and they're making a big impact in
Central Florida through its agriculture and educational mission uh as far as as well as bringing people together, especially school children that uh they're um have thousands visit every year. Um the new event center will help
expand their programming and create even more opportunities for students, families, and local organizations to gather. They are getting $12 million from the tourist development tax. I think we were talking about earlier that we all like the tourist development tax. So, um it's a a a great asset and a a
great use of some of those funds. Uh later this week, I'll be at the ribbon cutting for the His Health Center, which will bring an important affordable health care option to the district. Access to care remains a significant need for many residents, and it's
encouraging to see more organizations stepping into this role. I also toured 26 Health last week. They're another organization doing incredible work providing inclusive, affordable, and comprehensive health care. The momentum around expanding healthcare access is
something that I'm proud to see growing in our community. I had the opportunity uh to attend the ribbon cutting of the new HCA freestanding emergency room at the corner of Colonial and I4. Uh it was it's a great facility and also uh nice
to see some economic development momentum in that little stretch of of uh Colonial Drive there. Uh I also would like to highlight item 3B4 which is the new dog park in the packing district. I
look forward to visiting Leo, the first dog there uh in in district three um very soon. Uh, also just pointing out on Maya, Monday the 27th at 6 p.m. Lou Gardens will be hosting a community
meeting to discuss some of their expansion and improvement plans uh moving into the future. So, uh, if that's something you're interested in, please attend and, uh, make your voice heard. Thank you, Mayor. That's all I've got. >> Thank you, Commissioner Sheen. >> Uh, thanks, Mayor. And, uh, five of our
main streets went to the main street conference, uh, national main street conference. I think it's really important to learn best practices. It was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And you might say, "What's in Tulsa, Oklahoma?" They have Route 66 and they're doing some really cool stuff with art and everything. So delighted to see our
participation and certainly uh certainly um you know, support that. Um Pause for Peace is this weekend in Baldwin Park. to help victims of domestic violence because when um victims of domestic violence will often not leave their pets
because the pets often get um harmed by the abusers. So, Mayor Dyer and I will be there and I can't wait to meet Leo either. And uh Mayor Dyer lost Sammy last year and I lost Sienna. We always used to bring our dogs to things together and I love to tell the story that Sammy Dyer was the best lobbyist
for dog parks our city has ever had because the mayor used to have these wild dogs he could never take anywhere and then Sammy came along and then all of a sudden there was no problem getting a dog park because he finally understood it was like to take a dog cuz Sammy was like the best dog. She really was. And
I'm glad you got a new love because Leo looks adorable. Um but you know um those of us who love dogs, there's just there's so much room in our hearts for them and I'm glad that you got a new baby. Um on the agenda today, um we have the community rainbow run. I'm glad
we're continuing to have it here at city hall. That is fundraising for the pulse memorial. Um we have to do a special we have to do this special um thing so we can raise money at city hall. And I want to thank my colleagues for their support on this um on the design build for Lake
Eola. Yeah, these drainage swells are very, very important because Lake Yola is actually a retention pond. A lot of people don't realize that. And all the crap that you throw out your window ends up in the lake. The swans eat it. It's really bad for the environment. The
turtles eat uh there the styrofoam. If please, if you want to help the environment, don't throw stuff out your window. Um all of these lay all of these streets in our city, most of them drain to a lake. So, the best thing you can do to keep our legs clean is don't throw
your garbage out the window. Um, so I'm glad to see that we're doing these remediation to help our swans. We've had swans that have gotten killed by eating things that they're not supposed to. So, I'm delighted to see that we're making these very, very important. The other stuff is great, but I'm most excited
about the I know this landscape swales aren't very sexy there, but I like them because they're really going to help the wildlife and everything. And uh I too am glad to see that we're seeing the small and local business enterprise program moving forward. What I'm distressed by is that women and minority owned
businesses um are being singled out and disenfranchised by the federal government and I think it's disgusting and I think that we need to you know we need to realize that there are real impacts to discrimination and this is this is one of them and I'm glad to see that we're going to help small businesses but I do not think we should
be disenfranchising women and minority owned businesses and uh that's all I had mayor. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Rose, >> good afternoon, everyone. Um, couple of things. I think my colleagues, we've been to a bunch of activities together,
which um I want to highlight. It shows our bond and our commitment to this city um where we're supporting a lot of our nonprofit organizations. Commissioner Keen and I did that walk and um I had spaghetti legs afterwards, but it's prepared me for the 5K. Um, I just want
to like say this for those here, those listening, the city is stronger than it's ever been as far as the commissioners and how much we care about you all. The decisions that we get up and we make, um, the things that keep us up at night to make sure that everyone has a good quality of life. And so, I
just wanted to share that as because I'm not going to reiterate the same places that we've all been. Um, but I will um, publicly congratulate the Orlando Magic for making it to the playoffs. I want to encourage everyone, let's pack the house. They will be playing this Saturday and on Monday. Get your tickets, get your blue, and let's turn
the whole city blue. Uh let's beat the Pistons. We beat them here two weeks ago. Um let's continue to uh pray for and cheer on the Orlando Magic. Um I want to congratulate Tyrone Walker. He was recently promoted to FBI department manager. Look forward to continue to
work together, Mr. Walker. Um, on a sad note, we mourn the passing of Bob Burns. Uh, he was true builder in every sense of the word. His work helped shape our community. His legacy will live on in the structures he built and the lives he's touched. I'm sending my prayers and
condolences to his family, friends, the entire Ara Burns team. And it hits home a little bit harder for me because Bob Burns built my house that I live in. Um, so it hits a little bit harder for me. Um, he was a friend um, and a mentor. On a positive note, I had the pleasure of spending time at page 15. And I want to
encourage everyone looking for a great organization to get involved. This is definitely one to support. Their commitment to uplifting the young readers and strengthening our community is something you can truly feel the moment you walk in. Um, I spend time with a lot of kids in this district, but
walking in to familiar faces and young people, but actually getting to connect with those I don't know. Um, a lot of the young people were their own. their elementary middle school kids were telling me how much participating page 15 improved their reading skills um
improved their the shyness being able to publicly speak. So page 15 ultimately they give them different writing assignments and then they sit around and they read it. So they may do a ha coup or they may do um the cute one is the they pick a topic and they they two um individuals will get together and
they'll write a poem and put it together. So it's right here in the paramount community over at the downtown wreck. It's called page 15. Um, I want to congratulate Jack and Jill of America, the Orlando chapter for their 70th anniversary gayla. Um, special shout out to Commissioner Burns for
being a participant of Jack and Jill. Um, it was truly a great time celebrating the legacy of leadership and service here in the community. I had the pleasure of joining the Florida Engineering Society at Sleeping Heavenly Peace to make some magic happen right here. Uh, one bed at a time. I
helped to build beds for children in need and together we work to make sure that no kid sleeps on the floor in our town. If you're looking for somewhere to volunteer, um, Sleeping Heavenly Peace is right off Ivy Lane here in the district and in the community. Um, they build beds for those um, families in
need. Uh, huge thank you to Community Legal Services, the state attorney's office, and all other incredible community partners for showing up and making another great expungement clinic a success. Um, I've made it an annual tradition to host an expungement clinic
in our community. Expungement um clinics, they open the doors, create second chances, and help our community move forward. Grateful for everyone who continues to do the work and stand in the gap. I want to thank the Orlando Fire Department for hosting us this past weekend for an open house and signed
topper reveal at fire station pride of par fire station 2 pride of parore alongside the Callahan neighborhood association through mayor's matching grant. This is a meaningful way to connect with the community while sharing history. So, in the Paramount community, you may notice some beige and burgundy
signs. They are historic markers um signifying landmarks of places that were once there or places that are still there that made an impact in the um Paramore community. Onto the agenda 3B1. While it's not in my district, um I am
glad to see the Lakeola master planning move forward. Legiola Park is a central attraction here in downtown Orlando and it's great to see the continued improvements enhancing the experience of residents and visitors. 3D5, we will talk about the small business enterprise program, but looking forward to moving
forward to help um make sure that it works towards eligible contracts for the procurement of construction services with our small businesses. 3G2. Um, Aspire is a great community partner and looking forward to helping them um with some facility renovations.
Grateful to see um mural going on the lift station and 3J3. I am grateful to finally be getting our community partnership funding from the Orange County CRA to Redo Central. As
you know, Pyramore and West Lakes is one corridor when it comes to events and activities. And so, I want to make sure it is a great experience, not only for our visitors, but for the residents because we live it every day where people are traveling on our roads and want to make sure we approve um the
roads. And that is all I have. I move to approve the agenda. >> Motion by Commissioner Rose, second by Commissioner Sheen. All in favor indicate so by saying I. I. Those opposed. And so the motion carries. Okay. If there are folks that were here
only for the consent agenda that want to make their way out, we'll give you just a few seconds to do that. Justin, you're up for the uh let's see. We will without objection recess the city council meeting. We'll convene the
CRA meeting. And now Justin, you're up. Actually, I can handle the first one, which is meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve the CRA meeting minutes 16th? Motion by Commissioner Sheen, second by Commissioner Rose. All in favor indicates so by saying I. I.
Those opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Now you're up. >> Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, commissioners. Item 4B is a companion item to the business and financial services 3B1. It is the ranking and authorization to negotiate with the top ranked design build firms for the first phase of the Lake Yola master plan. We
have four firms ranked with Wharton Smith ranked first and as mayor mentioned in his previous comments. Uh the initial phase will focus on three key components including the relocation of the swan boats uh the construction of the walkway behind the bandell uh and a
variety of drainage improvements uh such as low impact development basins to improve the quality of storm water before it gets to the lake. Happy to answer any questions. >> Questions? Commissioner Sheen. >> I just I'd just like to say thank you to the CRA because you know for many many
years we were trying to get Lake Yola Park fixed and everything like that and you all have been a wonderful partner and I'm really glad to see this happening and the reason we've had a lot of the great events at Lake Yola Parks because of CRA. So I could not be more happy for the partnership. Um, I just want to make sure that things are done in scale and everything like that with
this master plan, but what y'all are proposing, it looks really, really good. And I just have some concerns about security with the um, walkway going behind the band shell. We've had some acts that have been concerned about security and we've had to provide security. We just need to be aware of that in the future as we have events
that we might need to figure out a way to secure um the the walkway during special events. But other than that, I think it looks great. >> Absolutely. No. >> Okay. Is that a motion to move >> approval? Second. >> Motion by Commissioner Sheen, second by Commissioner Rose. Discussion >> hearing none. All in favor of the motion
indicates so by saying I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries. And item C. >> All right. Item 4 C. This is a facade agreement with Orlando City Properties LLC for a two-story mixeduse building located at 221 South Paramore. That's that northeast corner of Paramore and
Jackson Street just south of Inner and Co Stadium. Uh the property owner is looking to make some substantial upgrades to the building including windows, painting, stucco, canopy work, and a new roof. So there's a lot going into this building. Uh the total cost of their work will be roughly 460,000. And
because the area they are in, they qualify for 80% assistance from the CRA. So the award can be up to 300,000. Uh the project went to the March 18th facade committee meeting where it received a recommendation of approval. >> Happy to answer. >> Second. >> Motion by Commissioner Rose, second by
Commissioner Sheen. Discussion hearing none. All in favor motion indicates so by saying I. I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries. >> Okay, Justin. Anything else come before the C? >> That'll be a mayor. Thank you. >> Then we'll stand adjourned as to the CRA. We will without objection reconvene
the city council meeting. Madame clerk, that brings us all the way to hearings ordinances on second reading. Um 12A >> ordinance number 2025-47 an ordinance of the city council of the city of Orlando, Florida relating to procurement of goods, services and
supplies providing for the creation of small and local business enterprise preference and the suspension of chapter 7 article 11 section 7.1101 and chapter 57 articles 2 and three related to the minority and women business enterprise and providing for severability codification correction
discriminator errors and effective date. Second. >> Okay, there's a motion and second. I think this one is important enough that we want to let everybody know what we're doing here with this new program that is going to uh run in concert or parallel with what the county is doing as well.
So, Erica Skowitz, the city's business development division manager, will update us on the ordinance. Okay. see if I could figure out this technology which was supposed to be dummy proof but I may be dumber than that
>> and then should be said >> there's a commercial about that Eric about the guys that can't operate the technology >> which I happen to be one of those. >> Uh good afternoon mayor and commissioners. Uh I'm going to do an overview as the mayor mentioned of the city of Orlando's proposed small and
local business enterprise program. Uh this will be just a high level program or a high level overview of the program and the presentation as an outline. We'll go through the background and how we got to where we are right now. Um the program and the eligibility requirements
certification process. We'll talk about reciprocity which is very important to our local businesses and really one of the main goals of the program. the benefits of the program, the timeline and where we are, and the communication plan, and happy to take questions as we
get to the end. So, for background, on May 30th, 2025, the city suspended its minority and women business enterprise program to comply with federal and state guidelines. The county then suspended their program on July 1st of 2025.
Orange County and City of Orland Orlando staffs have worked collaboratively during that time frame uh up until now to really help mirror the programs so that we could achieve reciprocity which I'll talk about a little bit later in the presentation. In December, the city
held its first reading of the ordinance to suspend and reserve the MWBE program and then establish this new small and local business enterprise program. The county approved their ordinance on July 15th of 2025. The county does not require a second reading. So on March
24th, Orange County approved their policy and procedures for their small business enterprise program. Um and then they launched their certification portal on April 8th. the former during this time frame the former MWBE division now
SBE transitioned into the business development division as a part of the economic development department we think that's actually a really good move as we coordinate all of the business services that we provide here at the city so the small and local business program the
elig eligibility requirements are listed below they must be a corporation partnership sole proprietorship or other legal entity certified by the city which means the following They maintain a permanent uh principal place of business within the metropolitan statistical area, the MSA,
which is Orange Lake, Semol, and OciOla counties. The owner must be a permanent resident of the state of the state of Florida and the business must be operating independently from other firms and provide a commercially useful business function and have less than 100 employees.
The eligibility requirements continued. They must have a three-year annual average gross receipt that does not exceed the following per sector. 13.1 million for construction, 7 million for professional services and supplies, and 5.7 million for general services. These
requirements I just went through, as I mentioned, mirror what was approved by Orange County. One of the differences uh that we have between the pro two programs is the city of Orlando decided to have and offer an LBE or local business enterprise
program. This is something Orange County does not have. The only different difference in the requirements between the small business enterprise and the local business enterprise is the local business enterprise has to be headquartered wholly within the city of Orlando limits. So there's an extra
benefit to being headquartered within the city. From a procurement standpoint, uh an LBE certified business will receive the following preferences if they commit to utilizing and uh participating 15% SBE and LBE. So with
that, a sealed proposal preference of 10% if you are LBE headquartered in the city or 6% if you are an SBE and then a bid preference of 5% for LBE and 4% for SB. I do want to reiterate, you cannot
be both. You are one or the other. So the requirements, as I said, are the same. If you're headquartered in the city, you will be categorized as an LBE. If you're not headquartered in the city and your principal place of business is in the MSA, you will be an SBE company.
>> The certification proc want to clarify the LBE has to qualify under the other standards of the SB. >> Right. >> Yeah. Requirements are all the same. The only difference being headquartered within the city limits. Correct. From a certification process standpoint,
city of Orlando in partnership with the county will be um offering recurring certification workshops. Those will be the second Monday of every month at the National Entrepreneur Center, a great partner of ours. I do want to say this is not a requirement that they go through the workshop. They can learn
about the program online. uh they can just you know go through what the requirements are themselves but we want to offer this opportunity for them to go and ask questions and get feedback on the program. Uh so once they are ready the business would apply as an SB or an
LBE through our portal which will be linked to our website on the city web page. The business then will receive certification or they will be denied based solely on the requirements. So one way or the other and then once certified businesses can actively participate in
the city's procurement process as a certified business upon the launch of the program and we'll talk about the timeline in a little bit. Uh now reciprocity as I mentioned earlier in the um in the presentation
the city of Orlando are wanting they wanting to design a streamline certification for businesses that are already certified with another agency an approved agency or vice versa. So if they are a city certified business other agencies once they enter into this
process with us also they would have an expedited timeline. So basically what would happen is they would show proof of certification from another agency and then fill out a short form application to get them through that process quicker. Uh one thing we heard from
local businesses was that certification takes them a long time especially as a long as a small business. We think this process will be easier, but with reciprocity, that means when they go around to different agencies that are participating, it'll be a much faster process and they have the opportunity to
bid on more business throughout the community. We're looking at potentially Expressway Authority and Goa as two organizations that have an interest in participating with us. So, we're having conversations with them. So, businesses certified by other approved agencies will qualify for our process
uh through an expedited system. Program benefits, access to contracting opportunities. Obviously, that is the most important piece of the benefit. Um, as I mentioned before, for LBE and SB, you will get preference points or a bid preference based on that certification.
So, it behooves companies to take advantage of becoming a certified business. The other thing I wanted to mention was the business support services in collaboration with our partnerships. So there are a number of organizations that through the business development division and CRA that we
support that provide business support services to our local companies. One of the challenges is that most of them are not necessarily aware of what's available to them even though many are funded by the city of Orlando. So having this parked under the business development division I think is a great
opportunity for us to collaborate and refer those companies out whether they are certified or not because really the end goal of all of this is to grow our local small business community. So to be able to really talk about what's available throughout our city and
throughout the region actually is really important. I think part of this program is to connect those dots. Next benefit is inclusion obviously in the uh city's S and LBE vendor directory which is how they uh can qualify for the businesses and as I mentioned before the certif uh
certification reciprocity that will speed that up uh for our community. As far as the timeline we are here April 20th today for the second reading of the ordinance and the presentation of the policies and procedures. Should this program be approved today, companies
will be able to go to our website tomorrow, get logged on into the portal and go through that certification app certification application process. Uh last week, as I mentioned, the workshop, the first one was held by Orange County at the National Entrepreneur Center. A
number of our team members went uh to listen in on that. They had a great showing of businesses. I think they're up to over 50 applications right now and they're working through that. Um, but we will then once this program is approved partner with Orange County on those events. April through July is when we
anticipate certifying businesses and getting them added to our vendor directory. And then our target date for businesses to be able to participate in the city procurement process is July 1st. This is based on available certified businesses that we get into uh
that vendor database. We're working closely with David Billingsley and his team in procurement to make sure that we're on on target with those timelines. I know Orange County had mentioned at their board meeting they're targeting August. It may go before or after. So, we're kind of along that same timeline,
but moving as aggressively as we can. I know everyone has an interest in getting this program up and running as soon as possible. As far as a communications plan, uh should this be approved today, we are looking to um have an announcement in city news Friday. Uh
we'll go through our different channels, LinkedIn, eblast to stakeholder databases, including people who have participated in preference programs before all of our social media platforms. Our website is ready to go. We've been working closely with Kayla Hall from our team and the whole
communications team to have that ready. We're going to have a robust FAQ section on the website so people that have never participated in this type of program before can get a quick understanding of whether or not they qualify. And then all of these materials we will get to
your offices so that you can communicate that out to your districts and your constituents as well. We mentioned the NEC workshops. We're also looking at doing virtual workshops so for people that have questions can also participate virtually in the future and not
necessarily have to go to an an organization, but we will be partnering with the organizations that we partner with and fund throughout the community to help spread the word. We'll actually have our main street directors as well up to speed on this program so they can talk about that uh throughout their
district. So, all the biz resource providers that we partner with will be looking to really help get the word out and amplify the message about this program. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions for any really hard ones. I've got Byron Razer here, just
recently promoted to SB program manager, David Billingsley from the procurement department, uh, is here as well. Thank you. >> Okay, questions. Commissioner Barnes. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Uh and thank you Eric and Byron and the and
the entire team for uh all the work that has been done. So I just want to clarify mayor we are um discussing the ordinance and then we will come back and have discussion about the policies and procedures that support >> well I think the presentation related to
both. So okay >> we will take a separate vote on each. So we'll vote first on the ordinance and >> ordinance first. Okay. So, one one thing with the ordin I and again, you know, I I share the concern that was uh mentioned by Commissioner Sheen and having to get rid of our our our
program. And so, again, thank you for the work that has been done on this with the ordinance. Uh, one thing that I didn't see in this ordinance was a mention of the 15%. And I know we've had some discussions about um whether we
could add the 15% and have it truly stated in the ordinance. Uh and so can you just talk about the reasoning why we don't have that 15% stated in the ordinance? >> Yeah. So the way this was designed was that the ordinance really establishes the program in general and that it sets
aside and suspends the MWB former MWBE program. So in the policies and procedures, if we wanted to make a change that any change to the program would come back to city council and they would have a vote on that, but it wouldn't have to go through the
ordinance first and second hearing process. So we feel it's a faster process to be able to make changes uh as we evaluate the program because it is a new program. I know that we've had the MWBE before, but there will be businesses participating that have never
participated before that maybe weren't eligible before. So, this allows us to make changes to the program, I think, on it quicker, but also requires board approval. So, it would still need to come back to the board to be approved. >> Right. Okay. Thank you. And so, that
that's it for the ordinance as far as the policies and procedures. and uh I've I've you know spoke with the team on at length and I want to say mayor thank you for um obliging me and and deferring it and and bring this for a full discussion. Um, one one of the things
that I want to make sure that this ordinance and the policies truly reflect the intent of a uh SLBE program and that's to ensure that our local and small businesses have an opportunity to
to participate. Uh, and I think we do that by making it uh kind of unattractive to not have that involvement. And so what I would like there to be some consideration of is those percentage points that are are being assigned. So I I see for the uh
SBE there's I think it's 6% for SB and 10% for the LBE. Uh and I and you mentioned that they can't be combined and and and I can understand that but I would like to be have some discussion about the potential of raising the um
lbe up to 10% and the LBE up to 15%. Uh and I'm more focused on the LBE because again that's you know here in the city of Orlando I think that's where a lot of our our preference should be uh focused.
Uh, and my reasoning is because if you say that uh you can only get um if you don't have LBE, you you miss that 10%. 10% is still a A cuz if we looking at 100% if you miss that 10%, you know, when I was in school, you got you had to
get a 94 and above to get a A. Now you can get a A at 90. And so, um, if someone doesn't have local business enterprise participation, they miss those 10 those 10 points, but they still have a high score. And and my concern is
that I think we should have these percentages high enough to where someone would look at that and says, "It's definitely in my best interest, or I can't afford not to have that involvement." And the reason why I say that is because the uh when we look at
our minority program, minority and women program, there was a 24% goal. All right. We look I I requested information. We looked over five years and we never got close to that 24%. It was always around 11, I think you all
were saying 12%. And that bec and I believe that's because we weren't as intentional about ensuring that participation. And I think with this being a new program, I think we need to start off strong. We need to start off high. I know there was some discussion
from staff about where we can start off with the lower percentages and then revisit those in 12 or 18 months. But my my approach should we should do it differently. I think we should have the higher numbers and then do some type of assessment to see what that impact what
that impact is because again we now uh are going on a year where our minority and women businesses have not been able to participate and with the and I think we have a unique opportunity now to start off on the right foot and I just think that uh the right foot h means
increasing again the lbe and the SBE from 6 uh to 10. So that's one of the things I would like to just kind of throw out and you know for discussion for um and I would like to hear if any of my colleagues have any response to that. But I think we're in a
unique opportunity to truly get off on the right foot uh to truly ensure that we are make sure that our small and local businesses are being able to to participate. And I think the only way we do that is by making these percentage
points significant. And if they don't meet it, it truly impacts their ability to secure that to secure that contract. >> And that's that's all I have, man. >> Okay. Commissioner, I just think it's easier to start at a point and then
raise it if it's not proving to be successful than it is to start at a higher level and to ever decrease it. So, that's just my thoughts, but I'm willing to listen to everybody else. Commissioner Rose, >> um, I have a question. Uh,
LBE, is that only for city contracts or is that on any funds that we receive? Period. >> I didn't I didn't hear the last part. I'm sorry. >> The local business, like is that only do we give additional points only for individual for all of our bids or only for bids that are city of Orlando
projects? Because I thought when I thought if we receive state or federal funds, we cannot use local preference. >> Yeah, it would be city of Orlando projects. If we using state or federal funds, it probably would be DBE or something like that that we're utilizing. >> Okay.
>> So, they already have their goals all set for those lap projects and any of those types of projects. >> Okay. >> What's that DBE goal? Is there >> disadvantaged business, >> right? Is there a goal? >> There's a goal set for that. >> What's that? uh 10.5%.
>> Now with the scoring, what's the what percentage would they get on scoring if they have DBE? >> Right. So DBE would be a little different. Uh they base it on presenting the contractors that you're going to utilize and then they go through their
evaluation process in a totally different way than the MWBE program. >> Thank you, Mr. Sheen. I I understand I understand Commissioner Baron's uh concern, but I I also
understand the staff concern because if you make it too high, you're just going to make it an automatic once you put in. I'm wondering maybe it would be, you know, and I hate to throw out numbers at the last minute, but you know, since SB is at 6%, maybe double it and make it at 12 as opposed to making it higher at 15.
make it maybe just a little bit higher but not so high that it's going to you know I mean I agree that you shouldn't just get thrown in just because you are a small business or an LBE maybe make it a little bit higher and then we can always adjust it and we have talked at
this day as before about you know involving more local even with without you know the MWB of having more local preference so I'd be more in in line with maybe keeping the SB at 6% and just maybe put making it double for LB be
just to con just to kind of you know add that in. That's that's my only I I'm supportive of of everything else. I just wondering if that wouldn't be a better compromise. >> Yeah. So So just to clarify, uh for them to receive the points on any of our RFPs
or anything like that, they would need to meet the 15%. So if they don't meet the 15%, they're not going to get any points. So the likelihood of any contractor not trying to get that participation and receive those points is not likely because every point
matters when it comes to a bid. And we know that over history that we looked at about 30 projects proposals the spread was about 7%. That one and two had for those particular proposals. So this number is right around where it needs to be for
them to make sure they attain these points. Not only that, throughout the state, throughout the country, some of these other uh cities that have SPE programs, this percentage amount falls right in line with a lot of these other programs that have been operating longer
than us, between five and 10%. So it's going to benefit the contractor. The likelihood of them not getting points, we haven't seen that in our other program. It's not likely that we're going to see that now. Uh they're going to need those points. And also a lot of these private contractors and other
contractors, they have to utilize their history of getting participation on any projects they do for other projects at other agencies because they want to know what are you doing as far as helping other businesses when you're on a project. So that history from working at
one agency to another has to follow them and it's going to benefit them. So that's going to give them more of a reason to make sure on every project that they're going for that they're going to abide by what's being required of them. >> Yeah. I and and I I appreciate that. And
I I think in a u in a perfect world, we want to, you know, hope that the larger firms will see the benefit of working um of of including our local business. But again, I think we have to make sure that we're intentional to ensure that that
happens because for the life of the MWBE program with the 24% goal, we have never gotten to even to half of that. All right. And there so and I don't want to get into back. So So I agree with everything you you're saying. Again, I would just like to see us uh increase
that uh LBE to you know, if it was 12. I I'm saying 15. I think a good compromise could be could be 12, but I think we just need to have have those uh percentages of the evaluation a little higher to again encourage that. But
also, I think we need to um have some type of assessment and review and and being that this program is new, I would say a quarterly. I know someone said come back at 18 months, but but again, if we're going to really see how it's
impacting and if we need to course correct waiting 18 months, I think we would be doing our small and local businesses a disfavor if it's not working in their behalf. So, what what what I would like to see is some type of more regular assessment and reporting
back. Um, you know, especially maybe it's just for the first year doing it quality. then we get an understanding of the true impact of this program and then look at it every six months as as we would as we were supposed to do with the MWBE which we never did. So again I
think you know with those percent I I I would again like to have that increase but also as a part of that some type of quarterly some type of assessment I would I would like to see a quarterly then some type of quarterly reporting. Yeah, and I would say commissioner, we will be obviously checking this monthly
as far as what goes on. The challenge that I see just with quarterly early on is it's going to take us two three months to launch the program. RFPs can take five, six months. So I don't know that the data early on is going to be as
valuable as if maybe you get through a year and then maybe frequent get the frequency up as far as when you evaluate. But I think early on that would that's going to be tough to do because I don't know you're going to have a lot of the data there. >> Um and that's also a concern. I think we
don't know in those first three months how many businesses are going to be certified and in that portal. So the the only other concern I have about the percentage points is that we want to make sure the work is equality work and there are enough vendors within that
portal to be able to perform the work. So that's one of the reasons I'm a little reluctant to say or to the recommendation that we made to go higher um is to make sure that we're getting the quality work for the city contracts. And that's why I think waiting a year
and then evaluating and looking at how the programs going might be beneficial to to what we're trying to accomplish. >> And and I understand not want to do a quarter. I just think a year is too long. I think if we looked at it 6 months and I and I understand new program, you know, a quarter might be too too aggressive, but I think waiting
a full year may um maybe too. >> Commissioner, we'll come back and look in six months. I mean, and we'll >> say, well, there's only three contracts that were qualified in that time period or whatever, but there's no harm in taking a look,
>> right? Going to be available. I think anyway, >> Commissioner no matter how how well we put it together, this is not going to be it's not going to reach the quality of what we have with the with the MWB. That was awesome, you know, because that
really granted opportunities to our minorities. But in this particular case, I see what they're trying to do. First of all, we have to have a um series of elements that are required in order for any of these companies to qualify and then it becomes competitive.
Then you look for the quality because the quality is is of the performance it's going to going to provide and so us increasing that percentage can play a double-edged sword. So I think uh like the mayor and and Eric said, it's better to start
slow. I mean a low and and see where it take us because we don't want this can since there's no minority like used to be. This could be any small company. So this can flip you know back and forth. So I I think that um for the time being
I think this is the right choice. Now I do have a question in reference to because uh when we had the WMBBE you could not mix and match that one with uh with this point um uh with the veterans veterans uh um benefit is this going to
be the same way is either or or can you add to this particular rating uh this percentage the veteran uh standing? >> So if you're talking about the criteria commissioner it'll be separate. So we'll have the SBE criteria and then the veterans criteria still exists and it's
still a part of all proposals. >> But you pick either one or or can you combine? >> No, you can you can be a veterans and receive those points. >> You can be a SB and receive those. >> So you combine in this particular case. So that's an extra plus. I mean an extra couple of points there cuz you cannot
use that was back when it was uh MWBE >> and and Stacy makes want to clarify for me. Um but before Yeah. you couldn't combine because you couldn't be an MBEWB and a veteran. >> That's important to know because I think our community needs to know this and I I
think is um especially we do have a lot of veterans out there that are trying to uh >> move forward with all this. >> Stacy is racing to the mic. >> Stacy Bon, assistant city attorney. Good afternoon, commissioners, mayor. It's
not. It would work the same. It's either or. It's either the veterans preference or the small business preference. And that is written into the code. >> Okay. Because veteran is only like 2% or something like that, right? >> Correct. >> There's no way that they can reach.
There's anything we can do to >> Well, they could choose. They would choose their they would choose which one. >> Rather it would not make them any any special than any other small business. >> Oh, that's fine. >> No, correct. I I see what you're saying. Correct.
>> All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Okay, let's go to um public comment. I have no request for public comment. So, oh, Commissioner, we'll come back with no public comment. Come back to discussion. Commissioner Keane. >> All right. Thank you, sir. I just had
one quick question with the county the representative. >> I I don't It's a long day, I guess. Uh this is the first time that that's happened. >> Yes. >> So, is that that's a good thing, right? So now we'll see some potential benefit to these small businesses. Right.
>> Absolutely. >> Before Right now, Orange County has about 108 applications of they certified probably about 10 of those firms and they have about 90 firms that need to complete the application process. So the hope is that once they finish there,
they'll come over to us and do our expedited process. >> So the county is certifying them and then we're just going to accept them. That's what Right. >> Vice versa. >> Say it again. >> And vice versa. >> Yeah. Okay. used to have to go through both processes, >> right? >> That's a good deal for us. Okay. Thank you.
>> Now, they'll just need to show us their certification from whatever agency we've approved and they'll be certified with the city of Orlando. >> Okay. Anybody else? All right. All in favor of the motion indicates so by saying I. >> I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Okay.
Is uh we need to also do the policies. So, is there a motion to >> move approval? >> Second. Motion by Commissioner Chapen, second by Commissioner Sheen. Discussion hearing none. All in favor, the motion indicates so. >> Just a minute, Mayor. I I wanted to make sure that we because I think there was
an agreement that we would look at this in six months. So, if would like to have that added into the uh into the motion that the program will be reviewed at 6 months to look at uh the impact of it. >> Okay. We'll accept that as a friendly
>> amendment. All right. All in favor of the motion including um that we'll review this in six months indicate so by saying I I those opposed and so the motion carries. Okay. Congratulations guys. Good work.
>> Thank you. >> And uh congratulation Mr. Razer for your um being appointed to that position. Think you're going to do a great job. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Madam clerk, you want to read 12B?
Ordinance number 2026-7, an ordinance of the city of Orlando, Florida, pursuant to section 163.387, Florida Statutes 2022, amending ordinances enacted on July 12th, 1982, June 18th, 1990, October 23rd, 2000,
June 25th, 2007, February 22nd, 2010, February 10th, 2014, June 15, 2015, and August 14th, 2023 creating a community redevelopment trust fund for the downtown Orlando community redevelopment area. Providing for the deposit of
increment revenues attributed to the expansion of the downtown Orlando community redevelopment area. Providing for the calculation of the increment revenues attributed to the expansion of the downtown Orlando community redevelopment area. Amending references to the community redevelopment plan for the downtown Orlando community
redevelopment area to include the plan amendment approved by the city council on April 6, 2026, providing for an effective date. Second >> motion by Commissioner Rose, second by Commissioner Sheen. Um, I do have a
request for input. Chantilly Bennett. Chantilly Bennett. Okay, that's the only request I had discussion. Hearing none, all in favor of the motion indicate so by saying I. I. Those opposed and so the motion carries. And
that is the conclusion of the uh agenda business for today. >> Can you get us ready for general pure Heat.