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I am pleased to announce that the Board of County Commissioners will conduct a public hearing on October 18, 2011, at 2:00 pm in order to consider the adoption of a new ordinance intended to help our Service Disabled Veterans Owned Businesses. After being appointed to the Board of County Commission in August of 2010, I began researching what I could do as a Commissioner to help support and honor our military veterans. Subsequently, I learned that Orange County currently has a program that provides certified small minority and women-owned businesses (M/WBE) with certain preference when competing for county contracts. With that in mind, earlier this year, I asked the Board of County Commissioners to consider broadening our efforts to include an additional preference classification for our service disabled veteran business owners.
Shortly thereafter, our Board discussed this important issue and directed our legal staff to prepare a draft ordinance and schedule the above referenced adoption public hearing. A copy of the proposed ordinance is attached for your review. According to the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, there are 195,000 active duty military personnel that claim Florida as their home and it is estimated that nearly 77,000 veterans currently reside in Orange County. Further, with the draw-down of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan the number returning back here to Central Florida will certainly be increasing in the near future.
If you would like to voice your opinion regarding this important initiative, you may testify before the Board of County Commissioners at 2:00p.m on October 18, 2011 or you may send your comments to the Board members at the following e-mail addresses:
District1@ocfl.net; District2@ocfl.net; District3@ocfl.net; District4@ocfl.net; District5@ocfl.net; District6@ocfl.net; Mayor@ocfl.net
I am proud and honored to champion this effort which I believe will be the first of its kind anywhere in Central Florida. It is my sincere desire to see Orange County be a leader in helping to provide opportunities for our veterans who have sacrificed so much on our behalf.
Sincerely,
Lui Damiani
Commissioner, District 3
