St. Cloud Council to meet tonight

The St. Cloud City Council will meet today at 6:30 p.m.

Among the agenda items are:

• Second and final public hearing for an ordinance providing for a local vendor preference for Osceola County individuals, firms or companies with regard to the procurement of products, materials and services by the city of St. Cloud.

• Consideration of a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an extension of the continuing contract between the city and Renaissance Planning Group for professional planning services.

• A resolution authorizing the sale, consumption and possession of alcoholic beverages by the St. Cloud Greater Osceola Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Osceola German American Club, on city property, for the St. Cloud Life event March 5.

• A resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the St. Cloud Professional Firefighters, Local 4153.

The council also will meet in closed session on legal matters.

Joblessness dropped in December

Florida’s not-seasonally ad-justed unemployment rate in December was 11.6 percent, down from the 12.2 percent in November, according to the latest report released Friday from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. The national unemployment rate for December was 9.1 percent, compared to 9.3 percent for the prior month.

The jobless rate for the Orlando metropolitan area, which includes Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, was 11.3 percent for December, down from 12 percent in November. The four-county region added 3,400 non-agricultural jobs month over month, bringing the non-agricultural employment number to 1,016,8000 jobs.

Jobless rates in the four counties in the metropolitan area for December were: Osceola, 12.4 percent; Lake, 11.9 percent; Orange, 11.3 percent; and Seminole, 10.4 percent. Osceola County’s jobless rate for November was 13.1 percent.

Visitors bureau director resigns

Tom Lang resigned Friday as director of the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau, according to Osceola County spokesman Larry Krause.

Lang, who also is an attorney, was hired in June of 2008 after the bureau, a county department, was reorganized following the resignation of Tim Hemphill as director.

Hemphill’s resignation – as well as other staff resignations – came after a county audit of the bureau showed problems related to record-keeping, credit card use and travel by staff. The bureau was then put under the direction for a time of the county Economic Development Department.

“Tom did a good job at the visitors bureau – he fixed problems and dealt with audit issues,” County Manager Don Fisher said Monday. “When he was hired, it was really thought of as being only temporary.”

Fisher said he met with Lang recently and both agreed that it “was time to take the next step at the CVB.” He also said Lang was not forced to resign as rumored and that it had absolutely nothing to do with comments Lang made the day before he resigned at a meeting on tourism.

County Commission Chairman Brandon Arrington said the county manager “had set goals” for Lang in recent months and that the commission was not involved in Lang’s resignation.

The only comment that Lang made was that he wanted to thank everyone for supporting him and his staff as they tried to strengthen the visitors bureau and  Osceola County tourism.

Shelley Maccini, strategic research and marketing manager for the visitors bureau, will serve as interim director. She previously served in that position after Hemphill resigned and Lang was hired.