ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A new mayor was voted in, a controversial city commissioner will stay in office and a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers has been blown away.
Those are some of the races and issues that brought Orange County voters to the polls in city elections on Tuesday.
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Polling precincts were open Tuesday in Belle Isle, Maitland, Ocoee, Windermere and Winter Park.
All of the unofficial results are on the Orange County Supervisor of Elections website.
In Belle Isle, District 4 City Commissioner Jason Carson will be the mayor of Belle Isle after beating candidate Anthony Carugno.
Carson won 56.75% to 43.25%, with just 756 votes cast in the election.
There were three commission seats also up for election, but the District 2 commissioner was reelected unopposed and no one ran for the District 3 and 4 seats. Someone will be appointed to those seats at a later date.
More information is on the Belle Isle website.
In Maitland, Scot French was chosen to be Councilmember for Seat 3 after he beat Brad Fess 54.61% to 45.39%, with 1,714 votes cast.
Seat 1 was also up for election, but Stephen B. Schoene was the only candidate to qualify and won the seat without opposition. More information is available on the city of Maitland website.
In Ocoee, City Commissioner George Oliver III will take the District 4 seat after defeating Ages Hart, 53.4% to 46.6%, with 751 votes cast.
There was supposed to be a race in District 2, but incumbent Rosemary Wilsen attracted no challengers, so she won automatically.
Ocoee residents will also decide on three charter amendments, which all arose from controversy caused when Oliver resigned his seat to run for mayor in 2023. When he lost, Oliver tried to run for the special election to fill his now vacant seat, but the city tried to block that. Oliver won a lawsuit that allowed him to run and win.
Around 1,300 voters cast ballots approving all three charter amendments, which allow the city commission to interpret and enforce the city charter, judge candidate qualifications, and block a resigning member of the city commission from running for his seat in a special election during that term of office.
Those questions are on the city’s website.
The city of Ocoee has more information on its government website.
The town of Windermere held an election for three town council seats, and the incumbents all won. Three council members were up for reelection: Mandy David, Tony Davit and Tom Stroup. Two other candidates qualified to run: Frank Krens and Jessica Lee.
The incumbents were the top three vote-getters, with Stroup with 30.34% of the vote, David with 24.48% and Davit with 22.52%. So they will return to the council.
Krens got 13.49% and Lee got 9.17%.
Some 1,483 voters cast ballots in the election.
If you have any questions about the election, you can find contact information and more on the Windermere website.
Voters in Winter Park decided to keep incumbent Kris Cruzada on the city commission for Seat 3. Cruzada beat candidate Justin Vermuth, 62.85% to 37.15%, with 4,638 votes cast.
Candidate Warren Lindsey was elected to Commission Seat 4 without opposition.
Voters also decided to repeal a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, which was a heated topic in the city last year. The repeal amendment was passed with 54.51% of the vote to 45.49%, with 4,548 votes cast.
Information on the election is on the Winter Park website.