On Mar. 10th, 2025, the city of Casselberry held its bi-weekly City Commission meeting. Regular meetings are held on the second and fourth Monday of every month at Casselberry City Hall. The minutes for the commission’s previous meetings on Feb. 24th were approved unanimously without additions or deletions.
Before the meeting began, a proclamation was held for Daphne Harmon, recognizing her retirement after 40 years as the Records Supervisor at the city’s police department. The entire City Commission stepped down and stood next to Harmon and the Chief of Police while the proclamation was read out. According to Henson, Harmon was known for teaching eight previous police chiefs and witnessing the growth of the City of Casselberry since the 1970s. “It’s a bittersweet moment, but something that’s well deserved.” Mayor David Henson said.
There were five items on the consent agenda, labeled A - E. Before voting began, items B and D were discussed separately and in greater detail. Commissioner Nancy Divita requested to pull item B from the agenda.
Item A was the approval of Resolution 25-3488 authorizing the execution of Amendment No. 1 to the agreement with Cypress Golf Management, LLC. for golf course management services at the Casselberry Golf Club to extend the term for an additional three years.
According to the cover memorandum, the city was satisfied with the company’s management of the golf course and agreed to extend its management deal.
Item B was the approval of Resolution 25-3489 authorizing the execution of a release, hold harness, and indemnification agreement with Seminole Plaza. The Plaza had previously begun construction on improving sewer, water, and stormwater pipes, curb installation, and installation of the base and sub-base for the parking lot. The plaza began construction without submitting the required engineering permits to the City of Casselberry. Failure to do so usually involves the removal of all constructed material, but City Manager Randy Newlon and the Public Works Director, Dr. Kelly Brock, recommend a hold on construction and a video inspection to ensure that everything constructed has been up to code.
Divita’s concern was the cost the city incurred speaking to consulting firms about the sudden and unregulated construction on the property. “I don’t think our tax-payers should be on the hook for that,” Divita said. Her recommendation was to pass the $1,575 fee onto the developers responsible for the construction. Her addition to the Resolution was approved unanimously.
Item C was the approval of Task Authorization No. 6 with CPH Consulting LLC for the PW 2518 Lake Concord Letter of Map Revision not to exceed $80,049 to be funded by the Casselberry Community Redevelopment Agency. The consulting company will map the floodplain of Lake Concord according to data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. According to the cover memorandum, the map “will streamline the process for potential developers in the area, who may otherwise be deterred by the complexities and costs of dealing directly with FEMA.”
During citizen’s comments on the consent agenda, Bob Kovacevich, founder of the Avatar consulting company and resident of Casselberry, spoke on Item D on the consent agenda.
Item D was the approval of Agreement SOQ-2025-1233 with Schenkel & Shultz, Inc. for the implementation of the Brightwater Estate Conceptual Plan. In the city’s Parks Master Plan was the acquisition of the Brightwater Estate, providing more lakefront access to the public and showcasing historic homes on the property. Schenkel & Shultz were evaluated by the city to provide architectural and engineering consulting and development of a construction plan for the Brightwater Estate.
Kovacevich wanted to provide advice to Schenkel & Shultz on their construction plan as he found the funding to be “out of the ordinary.” “The funding mechanisms that they identified in their proposal, none of them fund projects like this. Some of them don’t even exist,” Kovacevich said. He further explained that Schenkel & Shultz is not registered by the state of Florida to ask people for money. He handed graphs to the committee and requested to be introduced to the architectural forms to assist them with funding the Brightwater Estate construction plan.
Another citizen of Casselberry, Colleen Hufford, came up to speak about the Brightwater Estate construction project. Hufford was previously on the City Commission board and the President of the Casselberry Chamber of Commerce in 2010. She is currently the president of Casselberry Friends of the Park, a non-profit organization dedicated to “beautifying” the city’s parks and public spaces. She urged the city commission to revisit the construction and conceptual plan of the Brightwater Estate, explaining the importance and significance of the park in the community.
Item E was the authorization to demolish the former Police Station located at 4195 S. US Highway 17-92 and any associated structures/facilities and to request that the Community Redevelopment Agency fund the project. Every item on the consent agenda was approved unanimously.
The first resolution on the agenda was Resolution 25-3490, providing approval of a Locally Funded Agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation to provide design services for safety improvements to SR 436 from Lake Howell Rd to the County line. The city began this push for safety improvements to all city roads with Seminole County in 2021. The improvements being made to this section of the road are, according to Public Works Director Brock, resurfacing, narrowing lanes to 11 feet, giving pedestrians a head start to cross, widening sidewalks to standard, eliminating or modifying slip lanes, adding a signal and crosswalk to Chicory Ln, and adding 4th leg crosswalks at Lake Howell Rd & Winter Woods Blvd intersections. To fund the design process of these improvements, the city needs to allocate $293,341 in reimbursed county sales tax funds with Budget Amendment #25-019. According to the cover memorandum, the total cost of the project is uncertain, but it was estimated to be approximately $2.2 million. Mayor Henson commented on the lack of assistance and improvements in this road project compared to SR 436 in Orange County. “I feel like we’re getting treated like red-headed stepchildren here, given what they’ve done on the south end of State Road 436 in the Orange County area”, Mayor Henson said. According to Mayor Henson, improvements along this stretch of the road have been advised since the 1990s. The resolution was passed unanimously.
The second resolution on the agenda was Resolution 25-3491, approving a Three Party Escrow agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Department of Financial Services Division of Treasury, facilitating the transfer of local reimbursable funds to pay the $293,341 for the SR 436 improvements. The resolution was approved unanimously.
During the citizen's comments section of the meeting, Lourdes Crosby Garcia asked if she could request their elected official, Representative Cory Mills, to hold a town hall meeting. Garcia expressed that his constituents would like Mills to speak on the government cutting funding, how it will affect the city, and his recent domestic allegations. City Manager Newlon informed Garcia that in order to reach out to Mills, she would have to speak to one of his aides.
After each committee member gave a recap of their week, Mayor Henson adjourned the meeting at 70 minutes and 11 seconds. You can watch the full session at https://casselberryfl.portal.civicclerk.com/event/440/media.
