Tavares Council cancels government-relations RFP, will reissue with expanded state and federal scope; several agenda items approved

The Tavares City Council on Wednesday voted to cancel the current request for proposals for a government-relations firm and to reissue the solicitation with an expanded scope that separates federal and state lobbying experience.

City Administrator said the council faced two options after the ranking committee identified timing problems with the solicitation: cancel and re-advertise after the legislative session closes or hear presentations and award a contract that evening. "The council is provided with 2 options," the City Administrator said during the June 18 meeting.

The council selected the cancel-and-reissue option and directed staff to adjust the point system and scope to ask proposers to clarify federal versus state lobbying experience. "We will change the point system and the scope to include, clarity on different, federal versus state," the City Administrator said. Councilmembers said the change aims to ensure the city gets the firm best able to pursue both federal and state grant opportunities without overspending reserves.

Nut graf: The council’s decision responds to concerns that the original RFP solicitation overlapped the critical portion of the 2025 legislative session and that some prospective firms could not submit. Councilmembers also flagged budget timing and reserve use as factors to weigh before entering a multiyear contract.

Why it matters: The decision will reopen competition for a lobbying contract that the city said could have required drawing from reserves; the revised solicitation will ask firms to distinguish federal and state capabilities, a change council members argued could produce different procurement outcomes.

Votes at a glance - Cancel and reissue government-relations RFP (option 1): Motion approved by voice vote. Council directed staff to revise the RFP scope and point system to separate federal and state lobbying experience. - Consent agenda: Approved by voice vote (items not individually debated were adopted as presented). - Ordinance 2025-03 (police pension DROP extension): Adopted (see separate entry below). The ordinance amends section 15-98 of the Tavares Code of Ordinances to extend the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) maximum participation from 60 months to 96 months; the city’s actuary, Foster & Foster, provided a letter stating no formal actuarial impact statement was required for adoption. - Planning & Zoning Board appointment: Mayor’s recommendation to appoint Jay (Jake) Cunningham to the P&Z advisory board was approved by council vote. - Sublease of train-station space to Tavares Chamber of Commerce: Approved by voice vote after public comment opposed placement of private professional offices in the historic station. - Council annual goals and pay directive: Council approved annual goals for each councilmember and approved a motion to set the city administrator’s October pay increase to mirror the employee raise under consideration; the draft budget circulating at the time included a 5% employee increase.

Council members and staff framed several of these votes around budget timing. Council discussion repeatedly returned to how much of the proposed lobbying contract would be funded from current-year reserves versus the next fiscal-year budget. The City Administrator noted that delaying contract start into September would limit current-year reserve impact and allow the remainder to be budgeted in the next fiscal year.

Public comment on the train-station sublease produced sustained opposition from residents who said the historic replica was intended for tourism-related uses rather than private professional offices. A speaker identified in the record as a resident said the placement of a private attorney’s office in the station was "not our vision" and expressed disappointment with the decision to approve the sublease.

The council handled the RFP item near the start of the business section, followed by reading and action on ordinances and routine items. Several motions passed by voice vote; the meeting transcript does not record a roll-call tally for those items.

Ending: The council’s direction to broaden the government-relations RFP and to ask proposers to detail federal and state experience restarts the procurement timeline; staff indicated the reissued solicitation would incorporate the changes and appear in a future advertisement and the next budget cycle where appropriate.