Avon Park city council members took care of a number of personnel issues when they got together last night. Their meeting marked the return of Gerald Buhr as the city attorney. He has taken the job on a contract basis.
Members of the Avon Park firefighters union assured the city their department can run fine without a chief – firefighters told the council they did it before for seven years.
Former Chief Brad Batz resigned earlier this week.
The council also firmed-up an advertisement for a new. “resilient,” city manager. They agreed they want somebody from the Highlands County portion of the 33825 zip code. Starting salary will be $90,000 and no contract. Two people already have applied. One is from Cape Coral – the other from Maine.
The newly re-designed website for the Highlands county Tourist Development Council reportedly has earned another award. The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association in New York has awarded the so-called “Visit Sebring” site with a Silver/Adrian Award for digital marketing.
It’s the third award for the website. Although TDC officials say analytics for the site have been increasing, it remains unclear how, or if, that has translated into more tourists actually coming to Highlands County.
Competitors in the Historic Sports Car Racing Sebring Classic 12 Hours presented by Alan Jay gets started today with a full slate of test and tune sessions. Drivers in all divisions will have an opportunity to run the historic 3.74 mile circuit. Qualifying will begin tomorrow – and there will be a night practice as well.
Racing begins in earnest Friday and runs through Sunday.
First it was a big new fire truck, now the county will be getting a new ambulance. Emergency Medical Services Chief Dustin Fitch has traveled to the Horton Energency Vehicles factory in Grove City Ohio, to conduct the final inspection for Highlands County EMS’s military tribute ambulance.
It has been on order for over a year and will cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars.