Leesburg to bring website up to ADA compliance

The City of Leesburg is revamping its website to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. City commissioners last week voted to spend up to $100,000 to rework the site after settling a lawsuit alleging documents weren’t accessible to blind people. Specifically, the suit said, the documents weren’t compatible with text-to-voice assistive technology. Joel Price,…

Ethics commission approves settlement with Andrew Gillum

The Florida Commission on Ethics today approved a joint settlement agreement with 2018 gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum for accepting a gift over $100 from a city lobbyist while he was mayor of Tallahassee. After about five minutes of discussion, the commission by voice vote accepted the joint stipulated agreement announced in April, that dropped four…

Lakeland CRA board to reconsider its ways

A string of recent tough decisions and moral dilemmas in the sale of city-owned properties have left some questioning if it’s time to reevaluate the process. Members of the Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency’s advisory board asked city officials Thursday for suggestions on how to make the sale of city-owned land more transparent and consistent. The…

Redevelopment Progress at Risk By: Peter Altman

This session, Florida’s community redevelopment agencies (CRAs) are being targeted for an “overhaul” to institute reforms related to their operation. However, proposed bills in the Florida Senate and House, CS/CS/Senate Bill 1054 and CS/House Bill 9, go too far to limit the creation of new agencies, and to limit their terms. This proposed overhaul of…

Four CRAs in Pensacola and Cantonment could be designated ‘brownfield areas’

Escambia County is considering designating four Community Redevelopment Areas in north Pensacola and Cantonment as brownfield areas. The County Commission will vote Thursday to schedule two public hearings on designating the Community Redevelopment Areas in Atwood, Ensley, Oakfield and Cantonment as brownfield areas, which would allow properties in those areas to qualify for state and federal…

CRA Website Requirements Webinar

The legislation which passed in the 2019 session, CS/HB 9, is now law effective October 1, 2019. Although there are several provisions that tighten up reporting, auditing and training provisions in Chapter 163, Part III, there is also a part of the bill that deals with new rules for website postings. Due to the fact…