Winter Springs has been through a significant period of change. After years of leadership instability, two state audits, and a city manager search that had to be restarted after transparency concerns were raised, the city now has a permanent city manager with a clear sense of where Winter Springs needs to go.

In April 2026, Kevin Sweet sat down with Invest: Greater Orlando to share his assessment of the city’s progress and priorities. His comments are worth reading for any resident who has been following along.

How We Got Here

The road to stable leadership was not a straight one. Former City Manager Shawn Boyle retired in February 2023, citing emotional and physical distress, as two state audits into the city’s finances and infrastructure were already underway. City Engineer Phil Hursh was appointed interim city manager while the search for a permanent replacement began.

That first search did not go smoothly. Concerns were raised about whether the process was being conducted with adequate transparency and proper public oversight. Commissioner Victoria Bruce objected to the way that initial search was structured and pushed for the process to be redone. The commission agreed, and a second search was conducted.

That second search produced Kevin Sweet.

Sweet came to Winter Springs from Wrentham, Massachusetts, where he had served as town manager. His appointment was unanimously approved by the commission on September 23, 2024. He officially joined the city on December 16, 2024.

“I know there’s a lot of work to be done,” Sweet said at the time of his appointment. “I’m trying to absorb as much as I can and get up to speed as much as I can… because it’s going to be a lot to do.”

One Year In

Sweet marked his one-year milestone in December 2025. In his Invest: Greater Orlando interview, he described the past year as one of identifying organizational gaps, strengthening leadership, and improving customer service. Director-level changes and internal reorganization were part of that work.

“We also have a very engaged resident base with high expectations,” Sweet said, “and our responsibility is to deliver on those expectations while remaining balanced and transparent.”

That last word matters. Transparency was at the center of why the city manager search needed to be redone in the first place. It is worth noting how directly Sweet’s approach reflects the standard that was demanded of the process that brought him here.

“Getting the right leader in place — through a process residents could trust — was essential,” said Commissioner Victoria Bruce. “Kevin has demonstrated exactly the kind of steady, professional leadership Winter Springs needed.”

The Wastewater Investment Is Now Moving

For residents who have followed this issue closely, the progress on wastewater infrastructure represents years of advocacy finally translating into action.

When Victoria Bruce ran for City Commissioner in 2022, the condition of Winter Springs’ wastewater systems was one of her central concerns. The city’s treatment facilities were aging, compliance issues had gone unaddressed, and the vendor operating the plants — Veolia Water Technologies — had a record of recordkeeping and regulatory problems that drew scrutiny from state agencies. Those concerns were not abstract. In January 2021, a large reclaimed water spill at the east plant led to a fish kill in a retention pond. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection later cited 24 possible violations from that incident, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in fines. The incident ultimately led to the resignation of Mayor Charles Lacey.

Commissioner Bruce was critical of Veolia’s performance throughout her early tenure, pressing publicly on compliance failures, reporting gaps, and the city’s accountability to state regulators. In September 2025, the Commission voted 4-1 to approve a new contract with Woodard & Curran to operate the city’s wastewater and reclaimed water systems, replacing Veolia, which had informed the city of its intent to withdraw effective September 30, 2025.

During the contract approval meeting, Commissioner Bruce raised direct questions about regulatory reporting responsibilities, asking who would be accountable for notifying the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the commission in the event of spills or compliance issues. She also flagged contract language capping the new vendor’s repair cost responsibility and pressed staff on whether the city’s aging facilities could generate costs that exceeded those limits. Those are the kinds of questions residents deserve to have asked on their behalf.

Woodard & Curran was selected through what city Utilities Director Clete Saunier described as one of the most robust public vetting processes he had undertaken in his career in local government. The vendor has a strong record of regulatory compliance with FDEP and has helped clients secure nearly $600 million in federal and state grants. It currently serves as the water and wastewater management partner for the City of LaBelle, a city whose mayor described its previous situation as once “identical” to Winter Springs.

In March 2026, the Commission gave final approval on a new east wastewater treatment plant at a guaranteed maximum price of $65.8 million — coming in lower than the city had budgeted. Construction is expected to begin within the next 90 days, with substantial completion projected for October 2028. An additional $5.5 million contingency fund has been set aside.

The funding picture is worth understanding. The project is financed primarily through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s State Revolving Fund, which offers low-interest loans for water infrastructure projects. Winter Springs received $5.4 million for design and a $54.1 million construction loan through that program. The city also secured $19.1 million tied to hurricane recovery funding from Helene and Milton — with 50% principal forgiveness on that portion — along with a separate $600,000 grant.

Once construction on the east plant is underway, design work on the west plant will begin, with construction funding approval for the west facility expected around early 2027, according to Carollo Engineers project manager Erica Stone.

In his Invest: Greater Orlando interview, Sweet described the combined investment in both facilities as exceeding $160 million over approximately five years — an uncommon scale of infrastructure commitment for any municipality.

“These plants will be cheaper to operate than the existing plants,” Mayor McCann said at the March approval meeting. “The rate increases that we passed were painful, we acknowledge that. But it set us up to a point where these major projects are moving forward.”

For residents who remember the fish kill in 2021, the fines that followed, and the years of deferred action before that — this is what it looks like when accountability catches up to infrastructure.

Commercial Development and Smart Growth

Sweet identified commercial diversification as one of his primary goals for the city. Winter Springs is approximately 90% residential, and expanding the commercial base is key to spreading the tax burden more evenly and creating a more complete community where people can live, work, and access services locally.

He pointed to several hundred acres on both the east and west sides of the city that could support professional office, medical, light industrial, and specialty retail uses, including a site near State Road 417 that he described as particularly attractive for regional employers. The city is working with the Orlando Economic Partnership to market those opportunities.

Residents have been consistent in what they want: smart development that fits the character of the community. Sweet’s framing reflects that. Streamlined permitting and responsiveness to investors matter, he said, but so does aligning growth with the community’s long-term vision.

Technology and City Services

Sweet also discussed the city’s adoption of an AI-assisted platform through a company called Polymorphic, starting with the city website. The goal is to allow residents to get answers to common questions outside of normal business hours, making city staff more efficient and freeing them to focus on higher-value work.

Winter Springs is also participating in AGIL, an innovation lab in Altamonte Springs that includes all seven Seminole County municipalities, with a focus on new technologies in permitting, plan review, and internal workflows. The collaborative structure allows the city to explore new tools while sharing insights and increasing buying power alongside its neighboring communities.

Worth Reading in Full

The complete interview with Invest: Greater Orlando, published April 10, 2026, covers additional detail on traffic challenges, funding pressures, and the city’s long-term development vision. It is a useful read for any resident who wants to understand where Winter Springs is heading and how its leadership is thinking about the years ahead.

The path to getting the right city manager in place was not easy. The work of getting it right — rather than simply getting it done — reflects what residents should be able to expect from their local government. The same is true of the wastewater work now underway. These are issues that took years to reach a breaking point. They will take years to fully resolve. What matters now is that the right decisions are being made, the right questions are being asked, and the work is moving.

Sources: Invest: Greater Orlando, April 2026; ClickOrlando, February 2023; Orlando Community News, December 2024; Orlando Community News, May 2025; City of Winter Springs press release, April 11, 2025; Orlando Community News, September 2025; Orlando Community News, March 2026.