Winter Springs axes vendor, completes audit, fights rural bill 

After Winter Springs Commissioner Victoria Bruce accused a longtime building code vendor of threatening prison time to homeowners who were not in compliance, the Commission voted unanimously to end that contract, awarding the bid to the second ranked vendor during its March 31 meeting. 

She said her opposition to staff’s recommendation to continue its contract with Universal Engineering Sciences (UES) Professional Solutions was in part due to resident complaints against building official and Universal employee Bobby Coleman, who she later alleged had “threatened prison to homeowners that weren’t aware the permit was issued.”

Director of Community Development Terrilyn Rolle said she had not received complaints specifically regarding Coleman in the past year.  

“I would say, in my experience, all of the complaints, or the majority of the complaints have been tied to code compliance issues, either those identified by Mr. Coleman on site and/or by code enforcement identifying a possible violation and contacting Mr. Coleman to confirm what the code says regarding what they’re seeing,” Rolle said. “So the answer is yes, with the majority of them being regarding code violations or potential code violations.”

When asked by Bruce if there were allegations of “hostile behavior involved” in the complaints, Rolle said she could not speak to the claim. 

“I have had one report in my two years with Winter Springs regarding any hostility surrounding Mr. Coleman, and that was Mr. Coleman’s word against that particular person,” Rolle said. “I had no other complaints of hostility towards or from anybody on our building services team, Universal.” 

Bruce said she could not see how Universal was more qualified than the other vendors that submitted bids before proposing the commission move forward with a motion to award the contract to the next eligible bidder, PDCS. 

Mayor Kevin McCann said there could be “room for improvement” with Universal and that he had heard some complaints from residents. 

He also acknowledged that the nature of the building code industry often leads to frustration due to code compliance issues before asking City Manager Kevin Sweet if he felt complaints involving those services were common. 

“Is it your experience that almost any organization that comes in is going to be met with some resistance when they are called to help work and start going through formal processes?” McCann asked.

“Mayor, absolutely,” Sweet said. “Keep in mind, with every one of these stories that we hear, there’s two sides of the story as we peel those back and investigate, oftentimes … an issue comes where they didn’t follow the proper procedure, they didn’t pull a permit, you name it.”

Sweet added the city should focus on expectations from a customer service standpoint, regardless of which vendor was selected.

“The contract will provide a provision that requires any contractor to uphold the standards and expectations and policies which go along with personnel to the standards that we expect as a city and we expect as if they were a city employee,” Sweet said. “This particular service provides the city of Winter Springs dedicated officials, and if they’re not meeting the expectation that goes back to the company, regardless of who that company is.” 

Sweet told the Commission the contract with Universal would expire that same day, prompting a decision.

“If we move forward, we need to set a clear expectation of customer service and professional demeanor [for] whoever we pick,” McCann said. “We’ll be relying on Terrilyn, her team, and Mr. Sweet to act out on exactly what Mr. Sweet said, “if there is a level of what we deem unprofessional behavior with any of these contractors.”

Sweet said there would be some impacts in the form of service delays if the contract with Universal was ended. 

“I have not had the conversation with the second choice vendor, but the assumption would be that they would be ready to go live and roll out as soon as granted,” Sweet said. “Keep in mind, we have to work through the contract and a number of other things … Hopefully after five years of service with us, there will be some partnership [with Universal] there.”

Rolle said Universal had agreed to at least a 30 day extension in the event of not being the selected vendor but that staff would still need to take some time to work with the potential new vendor to train them.

Rolle said staff is also working to recruit for two open positions in her department left by former city senior planners Talbert Jackson and Nick Tafelsky, but hopes to have filled both by this month. 

“So like Mr. Sweet said, we can’t make any promises as to delays and service delivery after Universal is no longer providing the service in the event that a new vendor is selected,” Rolle said. 

The Commission voted unanimously to end its contract with Universal, awarding the bid to the second ranked vendor PDCS.

City audit completed

The city’s latest financial audit was also announced as completed ahead of schedule during the meeting. 

“That is expected to be finished and presented to the City Commission rather soon and will be months early … We got a new city manager, a new finance director, things are rolling,” McCann said. “Things are really going well, and I’m looking forward to seeing those results.”

The city has had a tumultuous history when it comes to its audits, after it previously failed to send its 2022 audited financial statements to the state’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee by deadline. 

That in turn led to a jeopardization of state grants and reimbursement dollars for the city. 

The city was given a year-end deadline to deliver its audited financial documents. In February of last year, the state committee issued a letter to state agencies to halt withholding state money from the city after it submitted its financial reports and was found to not meet the conditions of a “financial emergency.” 

Sweet said he had also recently met in Tallahassee with the Inspector General’s director of audits and asked directly if the city was under investigation or any kind of oversight in regards to its financials, and was told no. 

“In fact, the response was, he’s extremely excited to see where we’re at, and he’s excited to see that our 2024 audit will be done on time and ahead of schedule,” Sweet said. “He has no concerns where things stand with the City of Winter Springs.”

Commission opposes rural boundary bill 

The Commission also voiced its opposition to proposed Senate Bill 1118, which if passed would tear down two amendments to Seminole County’s charter which establish a rural boundary and impose limitations to annexations such as those initiated by developers. 

The rural boundary charter amendments were approved by Seminole County voters this past November. The proposed bill would also dismantle any other referendums enacted after June 1, 2011. 

“I’d like to check the dais’ temperature on writing a letter to the House and Senate regarding the rural boundary issue,” Bruce asked the dais. 

The Commission appeared to be on board with the idea, with McCann adding that the bill would jeopardize the city’s ability to self-govern when it comes to development. 

“We’re not going to be able to control height in any development, the setback of any development, the building of any commercial space anywhere in our municipalities,” McCann said. “We will have no standard … it will all be stripped away. We won’t be able to plant a tree. I mean, really, it’s ridiculous.”

Commissioner Sarah Baker added that she had already written a letter with recommendations to state senators and House representatives after meeting with them in Tallahassee that week, which included opposition to the bill.  

“So while that was coming from me and the Florida League of City’s recommendations, I think it would fit well for the city of Winter Springs to be actively vocal about it as well,” Baker said.

“It will take three years for that awful bill to finally pass,” McCann said. “But we need to set that [these are] what our expectations are.”

Deputy Mayor Cade Resnick later urged residents that if they’re upset about development issues to “start in Tallahassee.”

“So, here we go again with another bill that Tallahassee is coming down and saying, guess what?” Resnick said. “You can’t do anything.”

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