Ever since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis changed the Reedy Creek Improvement District to the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), we’ve been following along with the updates.

Ever since the board members were named for CFTOD, we’ve seen multiple changes for the district that governs Disney World. But one of the most recently publicized decisions involved a member of the Florida Ethics Commission, who was awarded a large contract by the board. In the aftermath of that decision, CFTOD may be facing some problems.

For some background, one of the CFTOD board members, Glen Gilzean, used to work for the Florida Ethics Commission. Gilzean resigned from the position after being advised that public employees were not permitted to serve on the government watchdog panel.

According to Fox 30, though, a current Florida Ethics Commission member who worked with Gilzean just several months ago, Freddy Figgers, had been hired to develop a new system to improve wireless 911 calls. Gilzean said, “The district is investing a million dollars for a new communication network and completely separating from the Walt Disney World system.” The contract was accepted without allowing bids from other companies to provide the service. 

Figgers’s media team said that the agreed-upon contract would be worth significantly less than a million dollars, but did not give an actual number.

However, this contract stirred up controversy with the media, and now the Orlando Sentinel reports that the contract was canceled. But before the cancelation was announced on Monday, the district suffered significant losses. Seeking Rents reports that over the weekend, more than 30 district employees resigned. 

That group of 30 people includes nearly half of the senior leadership team. The combined group represented more than 350 years of experience, and we now know that about a tenth of the district’s workforce has resigned in the past nine months. In exit surveys available through public records, departing employees called leadership “unqualified and incompetent,” and said that “With the departure of more than 3 dozen employees, the district is no longer functional.”

We’ll keep an eye out to see how this mass exodus affects the district going forward. Stay tuned to DFB.

Universal Approved for New Taxing District in Florida After DeSantis Took it Away From Disney — Click Here

 

The post “Unqualified and Incompetent” — DeSantis’ Reedy Creek District Reportedly No Longer Functional first appeared on the disney food blog.