Ron DeSantis ally Glen Gilzean to be paid a $400,000 salary to be new administrator of Walt Disney World's governing district

May 09, 2023 in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

Posted: Tuesday May 9, 2023 6:38am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board will meet tomorrow to appoint Glen Gilzean as the new District Administrator.

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is in search of a new District Administrator

According to Central Florida Tourism Oversight District documents, Gilzean will be paid $400,000 per year in the role of administrator.

Gilzean is an ally of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who appointed him to the Florida Commission on Ethics. He was also part of DeSantis' working group for reopening Florida during the COVID pandemic. Gilzean currently serves as the President and CEO at Central Florida Urban League, an organization tasked with ending generational poverty and promoting equality.

The appointment of Gilzean would mean that the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District's board and administrator are all hand-picked allies of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Existing District Administrator John Classe, appointed by Reedy Creek Improvement District, is expected to remain as a special advisor and will aid in the transition to the new administrator. Notably, Classe's proposed contract with the new district would prohibit him from working for Disney and requires him to assist the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in its legal battle with Disney.

The action by DeSantis to strip Disney of its self-managing district came in retaliation to Disney's public opposition to the Parental Bill of Right law, which took place under ex-Disney CEO Bob Chapek. Speaking at the Reedy Creek firehouse on February 27 when signing the bill to end Reedy Creek, DeSantis said that Disney's opposition to the Parents Bill of Rights bill was a "mild annoyance," but that the state of Florida will no longer be "joined at the hip with one California-based company." After signing the bill DeSantis said, "the corporate kingdom finally came to an end."

In an update to their lawsuit against DeSantis file this week, Disney said, "the State's oversight board has purported to 'void' publicly noticed and duly agreed development contracts, which had laid the foundation for billions of Disney's investment dollars and thousands of jobs. Days later, the State Legislature enacted and Governor DeSantis signed legislation rendering these contracts immediately void and unenforceable. These government actions were patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional. But the Governor and his allies have made clear they do not care and will not stop. The Governor recently declared that his team would not only "void the development agreement"—just as the State has now done, twice—but also planned 'to look at things like taxes on the hotels,' 'tolls on the roads,' 'developing some of the property that the district owns' with 'more amusement parks,' and even putting a 'state prison' next to Walt Disney World."

Reedy Creek Improvement District overview

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Charlie The Chatbox Ghost11 days ago

Thanks for the clarification!

lazyboy97o11 days ago

The district has not yet changed what requires development review. They made themselves the planning board. The threat is that they can change the development requirements to require more review which gives them significant latitude to interfere with projects. Universal now has two special districts, one for each campus. Reedy Creek Improvement District was unique which is part of how and why it was targeted. The districts that encompass Universal Orlando Resort were created by Orlando and Orange County, not directly by the state. They also don’t have the same type of structure or powers.

Charlie The Chatbox Ghost11 days ago

Agh, I used the wrong wording again, I was thinking “county” when I said district. I have no clue why I keep mixing up words, but I do it a lot haha. I think we’re on the same page here, minus my repeated mix up of terms. The deal as originally penned would’ve been worse off for everyone involved except DeSantis, and the deal as it ended up is slightly better but still not perfect. There was no reason to destroy RCID except for DeSantis wanting to win the MAGA/anti-“woke” base for the 2024 election- it was a fake culture war PR stunt, essentially. “Look, I’m gonna attack the company that stopped donating to our anti-LGBTQ bill only after they were caught donating in the first place! Please vote for me!” DeSantis didn’t even come close to winning the election in the end, nor did he secure a place in the administration (Trump even dislikes DeSantis iirc) so even he lost what he was setting out to do. Universal has a special district too, right? I know there’s a few other than Disney that haven’t been touched since they’ve either kept their heads down or are openly supporting DeSantis and his policies.

LAKid5312 days ago

There are no neighboring "districts". The 40 some odd square miles reside within both Orange and Osceola Counties. Neither county wanted to assume the burden...nor did we taxpayers (property owners). One reason the first bill abolishing the district had to be repealed and another bill renaming the district & changing the operating structure was passed. Abolishing the district also impacted the outstanding bonds and would have put taxpayers, not TWDC, on the hook for repayment - a portion of the district's assessment repays the bonds. And it would have been ALL taxpayers, not just those of us in Orange & Osceola counties. Duke would have picked up supplying electricity to the property. Orange County would have covered waste, water & sewage....part of which is paid by property taxes. The taxpayers of the state paid the state's legal bills. Which taxpayers always pay. And by tax payers I mean both state residents and the 120 million who visit the state every year...the tax is state sales tax. As I said, it wasn't broken and both Orange & Osceola counties benefited from the relationship. Neither county was responsible for providing services but both received funding via property taxes paid by TWDC. Which the company every year disputed the amount.

Charlie The Chatbox Ghost12 days ago

Yeah, this is what I had meant when I said "taxpayer funding", like your average person's taxes going to it and not just Disney's taxes. That's what I thought the original plan was, essentially making Disney's land and therefore utilities a part of the neighboring districts through dissolving Reedy Creek, but obviously that didn't happen and now it's just Reedy Creek with governmental red tape. Either way, all the legal stuff wasted taxpayer money in the end! We'll see what happens in the future I guess. If DeSantis's appointees didn't shoot down Tropical Americas for being "woke" or whatever then I doubt they're really playing much into the manufactured culture war anymore.

LAKid5312 days ago

Disney IS a taxpayer as the taxes being paid are property taxes and it's the largest taxpayer in the district. It's also paying taxes to both Orange & Osceola counties. The special district still exists. It's just not "constructed" in the same manner as before, i.e., residents of the district elect supervisory board members. Nor does Disney have as much control over projects as before. I've said it before....it wasn't broken, there was no need to fix it. And in the process of trying to fix something NOT broken, taxpayer monies were wasted....and I mean ALL Floridians.

JoeCamel12 days ago

Disney IS the taxpayer.......

Charlie The Chatbox Ghost12 days ago

ah, my bad, for some reason I misremembered the terms of the deal. I thought the big thing about it was taxpayer funding instead of Disney funding. Yeah, that final deal sounds bad for Disney then. I guess they’re gonna have to keep their nose down for awhile Still BS that all the other special districts exist but Disneys doesn’t

lazyboy97o13 days ago

The funding sources of the district didn’t change. Development approval processes weren’t changed but that threat remains available if Disney steps too far out of line. What makes it a better deal? Disney now has no say whatever happens. They fund everything but are entirely dependent on a governing body with almost no accountability.

Charlie The Chatbox Ghost13 days ago

I mean I guess technically, though I thought the new replacement for Reedy Creek is essentially the same as the old one but now Disney doesn’t fund it entirely themselves anymore? Minus having to get approval for things (which at this rate it seems like they’ll approve anything) it’s a better deal for Disney. At least until they’re a conservative target again, then they’ll likely go hard on Disney to get some voter brownie points lol

Tha Realest13 days ago

While there appears to be an implicit detenté right now between Disney and Florida, that can always change much more to Disney’s detriment than the state’s.