The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District will meet again later today, and on its agenda for the board meeting is the consideration and approval of a research project from law professor Donald Kochan.
According to the agenda, Professor Kochan will be paid $110,000 for phase 1 of the project, which will include a 50-page report "identifying whether and what legal and constitutional authority and infirmities and structural strengths and abnormalities exist within the governance of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District (now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District ("CFTOD")) and associated governance regimes and from the statutory or regulatory privileges granted to specific corporate entities."
CFTOD says the report will make some initial recommendations for reform of the district, but more details will be provided in later phases of the project.
Board chairman Garcia said, "For over 56 years, Disney had their own governmentally controlled kingdom which, while sparking economic growth for central Florida, also produced many negative outcomes for the taxpayers, employees, and citizens of Orange and Osceola Counties."
He continued, "In the past six months, our Board has adopted new policies and practices to fix some of the glaring issues. To discover and solve more latent problems, the Board is turning to Professor Kochan to elucidate some of the economic and legal implications the old structure created and provide recommendations to further reform the District to make it more responsive to the citizens of central Florida."
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