ECHO advisory committee votes to restore original 20/30/40 covenant terms for existing grants

The Volusia County ECHO advisory committee voted to revert existing grant covenants to the original 20-, 30- and 40-year terms for projects already approved, overturning a prior committee recommendation to retroactively reduce many existing covenants to 20 years.

The committee approved the motion on a recorded call vote: Reggie Santilli, Gerald Feazer, Tom Liputka, John Macaluso, Jay Pendergast and Doug Pettit voted yes; Pat Drago and Pat Northey voted no. Gerald Feazer, an ECHO advisory committee member, moved to revert to the earlier covenant schedule; the motion was seconded during the meeting and then adopted.

The vote follows several hours of staff presentation, questions from committee members and public comment. Daniel (staff), who briefed the committee, told members the packet showed 305 ECHO projects at the time the memo was prepared and gave a breakdown of covenant lengths and exemptions. The packet and staff remarks said 52 projects were already governed by 20-year covenants, 59 by 30-year covenants and 62 by 40-year covenants; 132 projects were listed as exempt from restrictive covenants (county projects, projects on state or federal lands, trails and projects governed by interlocal agreements). Staff also said eight restrictive covenants had already expired.

Why it mattered: the committee had previously directed staff to recommend that all prior ECHO grants be retroactively limited to 20 years; staff reported that applying that change retroactively would immediately release 21 projects from covenants and require about 100 contracts to be amended and re-recorded with the clerk of court. Opponents argued that shortening covenants would reduce protections that secure taxpayer-funded grants if grantees later sold or repurposed assets.

Public commenters pressed the committee to preserve longer covenants. Mister Chester (public commenter) told the committee, “the voters were deceived,” and urged members to “revert your vote for the recommendation to pull change contracts that are already made.” Reggie Williams (citizen; African American Museum of Arts) described a small nonprofit’s experience, saying a 40‑year covenant prevented his group from borrowing against an amphitheater and that the covenant on an expansion created cash‑flow constraints during construction.

Legal and staff context: Sabrina Slack, assistant county attorney, clarified the legal limits and enforcement mechanisms for covenants and agreements. “There are constitutional legal prohibitions from liening, state and county owned properties,” Slack said, explaining that restrictive covenants are used for privately owned grant recipients while interlocal agreements or memorandums of understanding are used for government‑owned projects and can be enforced through different judicial remedies.

Committee debate centered on fairness for earlier grantees, the program’s purpose and the taxpayer protection that covenants provide. Committee members who favored reverting to the historical 20/30/40 structure said previous recipients accepted longer covenants when they applied and that changing the length retroactively was improper. Members who opposed reverting argued 20 years is a reasonable term going forward and that very long covenants can burden small nonprofit applicants and complicate financing.

Next steps: the committee’s action applies to projects already approved; staff noted the committee still has a separate recommendation pending to county council about covenant terms going forward. Daniel said staff planned to present the matter to county council in November; committee members discussed appealing to council members and the option of proposing a different recommendation for future grants.

Votes at a glance

- Motion: Revert existing, previously approved ECHO grant covenants to the original 20/30/40‑year schedule (apply to past projects and keep previously agreed covenant lengths in place). - Mover: Gerald Feazer (ECHO advisory committee member). - Second: seconded during the meeting (name not specified in the transcript). - Vote: Yes — Reggie Santilli; Gerald Feazer; Tom Liputka; John Macaluso; Jay Pendergast; Doug Pettit. No — Pat Drago; Pat Northey. Outcome: approved.

Clarifying details

- Total projects in packet: 305 (staff later noted the live list had grown to 319 after adding DCE projects). - Covenant counts in staff memo: 52 projects at 20 years; 59 at 30 years; 62 at 40 years; 132 exempt; 8 covenants already expired. - If retroactive 20‑year rule had been applied as previously recommended, staff said 21 projects would be released and about 100 contracts would require amendment and re-recording.

What the committee did not change: staff and the committee repeated that covenants and grant repayment obligations remain enforceable while they exist and that the county uses differing legal tools for private grantees (restrictive covenants) and government grantees (interlocal agreements or memoranda of understanding).

The committee’s vote changes its prior recommendation to county council for existing contracts; the council will see related materials when staff forwards recommendations in November.