Council Highlights – January 10, 2022
Last updated on January 10, 2022
Council Update - January 10, 2022
Awards/Presentations/Recognitions
The Mayor’s 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission & Proclaiming January 9-17 as MLK Holiday Week
Today we are honored to be able to acknowledge the work of our Mayor’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission as we begin this week of honoring and recognizing Dr. King's legacy. The MLK Commission, along with our city staff, work hard throughout the year to ensure that we exemplify the values of Dr. King throughout our community and we are thankful for their dedication to this effort.
As part of our MLK Holiday observance, the Commission has organized several events – both in-person and virtual - and we want to encourage residents to participate in them.
We want to congratulate a member of our city family – Reggie McGill, the Constituent Services Director in my office – who is receiving honors at two of the events. Reggie is a recipient of the Drum Major Award for Civic Affairs at the annual MLK Commemorative Luncheon on Friday. And he will be awarded with the Southwest Orlando Jaycees Lifetime Achievement Award on Monday during the Pappy Kennedy Prayer Breakfast.
Now we'd like to call on Marcia Hope Goodwin, Community Affairs Director, for a brief presentation.
Thank you, Marcia. We know members of the MLK Commission are watching virtually and we'd like to again thank them for their hard work and dedication and all our 2022 MLK Commission sponsors for investing in our community. We hope everyone joining us today virtually or in-person will visit mlkorlando.gov and sign the pledge as we have and plan to participate in MLK events that have been produced in partnership with our community partners. Now, we're pleased to present our city’s proclamation that is signed by all six of our city commissioners.
MAYOR’S UPDATE
General Items
Jim Hunt Remembrance
Commissioners, as you know on December 20, we lost a member of our City of Orlando family when Jim Hunt passed away. Jim retired this past summer after 23 years with the city, including serving as the Deputy Public Works Director and City Engineer. He impacted us all with his kindness and professionalism and we send our support to his loved ones, friends and many colleagues during this difficult time.
Beverlye Neal Remembrance
On behalf of the City Council, we also want to send our condolences to the family and friends of Beverlye Colson Neal, who passed away last month. For decades, she was a champion for civil rights and fairness in our community and statewide. Beverlye helped lead the Orange County Branch of the NAACP for many years and was committed to helping create a more equitable Central Florida for all.
COVID-19
Lastly, the new year has arrived, but COVID-19 is unfortunately still with us. With the surge of the omicron variant, there has been a large demand for testing.
This morning we opened a testing site at Camping World Stadium that will operate seven days a week. We want to thank our City of Orlando staff that is working with CDR Maguire to bring this site to residents. For information on the site, please visit orlando.gov/covid19testing.
The vaccine remains our best defense during the pandemic. If you haven’t been vaccinated, now is a great time to get your vaccine. And if you have gotten the vaccine already, get your booster so you can continue to protect yourself from serious illness and even death from the virus.
Items of Note
B#1 - Rental Assistance Program Administration Services with KPMG (ERAP2)
Moving over to items of note, on today’s agenda is an item that will allow us to continue to help our residents still impacted by the pandemic with the creation of another rental assistance program. The program will utilize a $6.8 million in COVID-19 Relief Funds from the U.S. Treasury Department to help city households get current on unpaid rent.
We want to thank city staff who assisted distributing $8.6 million of rental assistance already last year, helping over 1,500 households in our community. Also, thank you to Orange County for opening their rental assistance program to our residents in need while our staff made the transition from the first rental assistance program to working on this upcoming second program.
Residents who are interested in applying can visit orlando.gov/assistance to sign up for updates on this program and get information on when the application portal will open.