2008 Mayor's Message                                           View 2007 Outgoing Mayor's Message

Thank you Commissioners for allowing me to serve one more time as Mayor of Eustis.   I accept the challenges and the opportunities we have facing us this year and I believe 2008 will be one of the most important years in our 125 year history.  This is an exciting time to be living and working in Eustis.

I want you to take a short visual train ride with me as we visit exciting places in Eustis.  Our strategic plan that we put together in 2007, with input from our citizens, will be our map for our 2008 short trip.  We need to implement this plan for 2008 and I intend as Mayor to lead us to accomplish this implementation.

OK now ALL ABOARD!

Our first stop will be City Hall to see the final result and completion of the best and most progressive comprehensive plan and LDR’s. These documents will allow us to build better residential communities than any other city in Central Florida.

We will continue to follow the mandate of the citizens for slower growth and more responsible growth.

Also we will see our City Hall demonstrating that good values shouldn’t be a thing of the past. Our citizens will be treated with honesty and fairness and we will all work together and we will work  hard to make Eustis city government more efficient and more transparent for the citizens and tax payers of Eustis.

Our second stop will be to visit downtown Eustis. Lets visit the old Florida Hospital Waterman property where we will roll out concept drawings and where we will plan what will become a beautiful and inviting downtown that blends in with our Lake Eustis waterfront and will be designed to demonstrate Florida’s character.

Eustis’ downtown will be a home for small businesses. An example of what we want for business in the downtown is the recent opening of the renovated Bay Pharmacy and their continued investment of $650,000 in downtown Eustis. This was a very special grand opening on January 4^th  and  5th

We need to next stop on Monterey, Chesterfield and Lakeview to visit the neighborhoods affected by the tornado. I want us to remember the spirit, of helping our neighbors, and the way we came together after the tornado and have that same spirit and togetherness carry over into other city efforts and projects in 2008.

Our fourth stop has us visiting some of our special places, such as Bay Street Players, Eustis Art Museum, Eustis Historical and Citrus Museum, Lake Eustis Institute. These are examples of facilities that will have Eustis become a destination for arts, culture and learning.

As we chug, chug along through our tree canopied streets, which demonstrates our commitment to being a Tree City USA, we approach our fifth stop where we visit Trout Lake Nature Center. This Center is a showcase of our City’s natural resources and beauty.

Out little train pulls away from the Center and we cross State Road 44 and  stop and view 77 acres. These 77 acres  can become fields and playgrounds that are opportunities for an active life style for all ages.

 Our little train could go on and on but it is time to choo-choo back to City Hall and take care of the rest of tonight’s business.

 As we pull into our station at City Hall we see City Manager Paul Berg hanging up a sign for our arrival. The sign  says: Show the Hometown Spirit, We SERVE, We are PROFESSIONAL, We act with INTEGRITY, WE produce RESULTS, We are INVOLVED, WE practice TEAMWORK. 

So Commissioners lets go to work

- Evelyn H. Smith

  2008 Mayor