During the Winter Park commission meeting held on June 23, commissioners discussed a new honor for the Winter Park Fire Department, updates to the much-anticipated Winter Park Library and Events Center, the statue of an art installation on Fairbanks Ave., and distribution plans for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Winter Park Fire Department (WPFD) has received accredited agency status five consecutive times with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. City Manager, Randy Knight, congratulated the WPFD, which is one of three other departments recognized nationwide.
The WPFD is one of about 250 agencies internationally to earn the designation. The CFAI process is voluntary and provides an agency with an improvement model to assess their service delivery and performance internally, which is then reviewed with a team of peers from other agencies.
Knight also offered a construction update on the new Winter Park Library and Events Center during the commission meeting. According to his report, the campus is on schedule to receive a certificate of occupancy on October 26.
A substantial amount of work to the facilities is currently underway or completed, and includes parking lot surfacing, landscaping, HVAC and elevator installation, tiling, and interior and exterior signage design. Bookcases for the library are scheduled for delivery and installation in October, followed by a furniture installation in November. Also, a moving company has been selected to relocate the contents of the existing library.
The $150,000 public art project, which is located on the northeast corner of Fairbanks Ave. and Interstate 4, was paid for by the Florida Department of Transportation and is now complete.
Commissioners closed the meeting by stressing the need to continue COVID-19 vaccinations in Winter Park, and they asked staff to explore the possibility of introducing a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site to large City events.
Visit the City’s website for further updates and review of items discussed at future commission meetings.
