Concerns that Winter Park’s March election ballot may be limited to the referendum on the gas-powered leaf blower ban were put to rest as local attorney, Justin Vermuth, qualified to run for Commission Seat 3.
Vermuth, who is senior vice president of state government affairs for the American Resort Development Association – a nonprofit, nonpartisan trade association for the timeshare industry – will challenge Seat 3 incumbent Kris Cruzada. The only other candidate to qualify before the January 21 deadline, local defense attorney Warren Lindsey, automatically won City Commission Seat 4 as incumbent Todd Weaver stated last year that he would not seek another term. Weaver, along with fellow commissioners Marty Sullivan and Craig Russell, was appointed last week to the city’s election canvassing board.
Commissioners previously balked at a contingency plan replacing an in-person election with mail-in voting on the leaf-blower referendum if no commission seat challengers qualified by the deadline. The decision was made over the $70,000 cost of mail ballots compared to $55,000 for an in-person vote. The last city election to be canceled over a lack of candidates happened in 2023 when Marty Sullivan and Sheila DeCiccio ran unopposed for their respective reelection bids. No other items were scheduled for that ballot.
SRO contract
City Manager Randy Knight updated commissioners at their January 22 meeting on negotiations with Orange County Public Schools over a new pay agreement for school resource officers (SROs).
Winter Park Police Department provides total of five officers for the city’s public schools: one each at Brookshire Elementary and Lakemont Elementary, one at the Ninth Grade Center, and two at Winter Park High main campus. Winter Park joined Apopka, Winter Garden, Windermere, and Ocoee in requesting a combined increase of approximately $2 million to cover the rising costs of equipment, overtime, and health insurance for the officers. According to the current OCPS contract, which expires at the end of the current school year, each city receives approximately $72,000 per year, per officer.
A December email sent by OCPS to the parents of children attending schools in each of the five cities stated the request could not be met by current district funding. The memo also advised that a state-approved guardian program, providing armed guards instead of law enforcement officers, was under consideration to replace the current SRO program.
Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio, during her January 9 CoffeTalk event, said the city currently pays for all WPPD SRO benefits and was not looking to stop supporting the program. She also rebuffed the idea of substituting law enforcement officers with the armed guard alternative. “I want to put everybody’s mind at ease,” she said. “Our children are our number one priority, but I’m telling you the residents are my priority too.”
Knight said negotiations are “going well and close to a final agreement,” and terms for a new contract that would go into effect at the start of next school year should be on the next commission meeting agenda. OCPS Media Relations Administrator Michael Ollendorff shared the following in an email to the32789:
“Orange County Public Schools met with the representatives from the cities of Apopka, Ocoee, Windermere, Winter Garden and Winter Park who are without a contract for School Resource Officer coverage beyond the current school year. The parties had a productive discussion and shared their positions regarding SRO reimbursement for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years. The parties agreed to continue discussions.”
The next city commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 12. The agenda and virtual access is available at cityofwinterpark.org/meetings.
