Oviedo aims to acquire funding for fire training facility and additional crosswalks

Oviedo Assistant City Manager Patrick Kelly breaks down the $3.7 million given back to the city since 2015 during the Oviedo City Council meeting Monday night. – Photo by Sofia Sutter

The Oviedo City Council voted to give $60,000 to state lobbying services and an additional $60,000 to federal lobbying services during a council meeting on Monday night.

From 2015 to 2024, $3.7 million was brought back to the city from the state, according to Assistant City Manager Patrick Kelly. The funding moved forward projects including Solary Park improvements and the Oviedo Boulevard Trail Connector. The largest appropriation was $1.5 million, which went toward safety improvements for the West Mitchell Hammock Corridor last year.

This year, appropriations were acquired for additional improvements for the Oviedo Public Safety Training Center, the high water rescue vehicle, and the West Mitchell Hammock Corridor, a safety improvement project along Mitchell Hammock Road that spans from State Road 426 to Sharon Court. According to the city website, the project is in the design and permitting phase, and involves constructing a 16-foot-wide median, a new 8-foot-wide trail, access management improvements and drainage improvements.

“We were very lucky with that million [dollar] plus appropriation,” Kelly said.

The fire training facility was approved in the budget, but was vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The high water rescue vehicle had a similar veto back in 2023, before funding went through in 2024. Council member Jeff Boddiford appreciated how Gray Robinson law firm reacquired the funding for the vehicle once they lost it.

“…they were able to go back and get it again,” Boddiford said. “That’s phenomenal.” 

In the city’s 2026 request, they are looking to acquire funding for the Oviedo Public Safety Training Center again, and a dual request for adding crosswalks to the intersections at Boardwalk Avenue crossing S.R. 434 between Oviedo on the Park and Boston Hill Park, and at Lockwood Boulevard and Fallbrook Drive. 

Gray Robinson P.A. has administered lobbying services for Oviedo since 2013 via annual work orders. This work order allows the company to monitor legislation, provide activity reports and work with the city on shaping state legislative requests. The approved contract will continue their services until Sept. 30 of 2026. The council voted unanimously in favor.

“They’ve done a lot of good things for us over the past couple of years,” Boddiford said. “I think we’re very appreciative of that. It’s not something I think we could have done on our own.”

Mayor Megan Sladek said that she appreciated when the state lobbyist delivered money through the state legislature, and liked how the company advocated for grants.

“[I’m] looking forward to meeting even more on that, because it seems like we’re getting vetoed because the governor and the team that’s in Tallahassee right now wants us to get certain types of money via grants instead of other stuff. So hopefully we can work with Gray Robinson to better understand how to make asks that are achievable this next season,” Sladek said.

Council member Keith Britton said that he thinks Chris Carmody is doing a “great job of keeping his pulse” on monitoring what’s going on in Tallahassee.

“What’s going on in Tallahassee right now is total chaos,” Britton said. “I don’t think anyone knows what’s really happening out there… So I’m all for this, and I think that now more than ever appropriations are nice, but we need someone up there to watch out for our best interest and home rule is what’s really under attack up there.”

Federal

The council voted unanimously to move forward with the state lobbying services, but there was more discussion surrounding the federal services. 

Alcade and Fay, the company that has provided Oviedo with federal lobbying services since 2018, provides periodic reports to the city, assists with federal grant applications and coordinates community project funding requests with Oviedo’s congressional representatives.

The funding for two community projects have been approved: The force main construction that will transfer wastewater to the Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility northwest of the University of Central Florida, and the State Roads 426/419 Phase Three city/county project in 2023. The city did receive a $10 million appropriation for a federal authorization last year for the Water Resources Development Act.

There are two community project funding requests from last year that Kelly said are “teed up and ready whenever our Washington legislators get together and negotiate the budget process.” One involves $500,000 for police technology, such as body cameras and training equipment, and the other requests $1.25 million to restore Sweetwater Creek, including creating flood protection and possibly adding a new trail.

Boddiford said that he felt that the motion was “money well spent.” 

Britton said that when he was in D.C. he personally worked with Alcade and Fay, and said it was “really cool” seeing how the company worked with Congressman Cory Mills to advocate for Oviedo. He said he saw the list of projects in his office and that three or four of the 15 were for the city.

“That’s what they do for us; they get in there and they get on the list, and then it’s really a negotiation,” Britton said. “But you know we might get one or two, we might not get all four, but that’s what the process does for us.”

Council member Alan Ott was hesitant on the topic. He said he “hates the idea” of sending money to Washington, and that money is awarded to the cities “based on who has the best lobbyists right? Instead of merit or anything else.”

“I’d much rather not have to do this,” Ott said. “But it’s the system we live in.”

Ott went on to say that he believes the state level is more important, since the state is “actively attacking home rule in a way that the federal government is not.”

Sladek outright opposed the idea, saying she could not “wrap [her] brain around it.”

“I’m just not convinced that in this season with the federal government closed… I cannot, with a straight face, argue that federal funding should come to something that the county could not also advocate for on behalf of Oviedo.”

Sladek added that she believes it makes sense for Oviedo taxpayers to have access to the county’s lobbyists for things that benefit the whole county, not just the city.

The resolution passed 4-1, with Sladek voting against.

“I think all of us can agree it’s not ideal,” Deputy Mayor Natalie Teuchert said. “But as far as going without an advocate, I don’t think that’s the way to go, and I think they’ve been doing a really good job working in the system that we have.”

Want to contact your elected leaders and weigh in on this topic? Find their contact information here. Have a news tip or opinion to share with OCN? Do that here.