EATONVILLE, Fla. — On Tuesday night, Eatonville council members will vote on the second reading of an ordinance to implement a local business preference program.

If approved, it would encourage contractors to give local businesses preference in bids for all sorts of jobs, specifically for those that include fixing the town’s aging water system.

What You Need To Know

Eatonville council members are looking to add a local business preference program in their town

This first of its kind program seeks to encourage contractors to give local businesses preference in bids for jobs that will help with the town’s infrastructure projects

According to Eatonville Public Works Director Valerie Mundy, up to 50 local businesses already have applied for the program

Landscaping business owner Donovan Stokes says he’s eager to get the ball rolling and contribute to his community through the program 

Mayor Angie Gardner said she views the program as a win-win, saying it will boost the town’s economy and strengthen local businesses at the same time.

“Not only are we meeting those challenges and getting our old, crumbling pipes done and ensuring up our water system, but we’re also making certain that that work is helping our smaller businesses grow and we’re keeping our promise to our smaller businesses,” she said.

This unique program has never previously been done in Eatonville.

Gardner said the town already has more than $50 million in grant money for infrastructure improvements to build a new water treatment plant, replace an aging underground water and sewer system and make stormwater improvements.

“When you think about water and sewer, you think about pipes under the ground, and when you think about pipes under the ground, you have to do clearings. You have to put up fencing. You have to do traffic control, so when you bid out that work, it’s understood that all those smaller jobs would be associated with those larger contracts,” the mayor said.

Public Works Director Valerie Mundy said the town saw an opportunity for local businesses to assist with the various improvements through the program.

“What we’re asking those prime contractors to do is when you bring those jobs down, consider, by ordinance, send those bids out to our local businesses because we have many people here that can do the fencing, that can do the land clearing. They can do the landscaping, the hard-scaping,” Gardner said.

To help prepare local businesses for the expected launch of the program, the town held a training series called the Mayor’s Business Development Academy earlier this year to train them to bid and gain the proper skills to work on town projects.

“They give us a chance to build our brand, to show our talents, our skills and to show other companies that we’re professionals like those other companies and we can do the same work you guys do,” said Attention 2 Detail Landscaping owner Donovan Stokes, a graduate of the academy. 

But he’s also proud to be able to contribute to the history of his town by collaborating on these projects to improve the town’s infrastructure, some of which hasn’t been updated since the 1950s.

“I think it’s super beneficial, in a good way,” Stokes said. “It gives everybody a chance to collaborate, grow our business together and have a chance to say that we were a part of history, so that’s super big to me.”

That sentiment is also echoed by Gardner, who said her town is actively getting the work done.

The LBP program already has yielded close to 50 applicants from Eatonville businesses, Mundy said.

Each business must have a business tax receipt in the Town of Eatonville and in Orange County to participate.

All the details of this ordinance will be discussed during Tuesday evening’s council meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.