By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
About This Series
On January 21, The Apopka Voice received an email from a former member of the City of Apopka’s Public Services staff.
“I am a former City of Apopka employee, and I would like to provide information about the City of Apopka and Mayor Nelson that I believe the public should know about,” the email read. “I would like to remain publicly anonymous so that I do not experience any potential fallout, but I am happy to share any information that's requested of me.”
We interviewed her twice. Over the next 41 days, we conducted six additional interviews with current and former City employees. Four were members of management. Two were city administrators. One served as a Public Services Director. Others worked in engineering and public services.
After seven interviews, a pattern emerged, which is illustrated in the three-part series.
Although this series is being published in the final stretch of an election cycle, its timing is coincidental. The reporting began with a tip — as many investigations do — and moved forward only after the information was independently verified through multiple sources within the City who confirmed key elements of the concerns raised.
The Apopka Voice receives tips regularly. Every tip — no matter how outlandish, partisan, or potentially agenda-driven — is checked. That does not mean every tip is published. It means every credible lead is pursued to its logical conclusion.
If a story cannot be supported by documents, multiple sources, or on-the-record confirmation, we do not publish it. That does not mean an issue does or does not exist. It simply means we do not move forward until the reporting meets our standards.
When sources speak off the record, their information is used as a roadmap — not as proof. Off-the-record conversations guide reporting, but facts are confirmed independently through documents or additional on-the-record sources whenever possible.
It is our promise to readers that investigative reporting published by The Apopka Voice has been thoroughly researched, verified for accuracy, and presented only after subjects have been given the opportunity to respond.
In this series, we gave Mayor Bryan Nelson and the City of Apopka an opportunity to respond to the allegations made by the seven subjects through answers to our questions, or by providing public records we requested.
During the research for this three-part series, The Apopka Voice interviewed seven current and former City of Apopka employees. Four agreed to speak on the record. Three requested anonymity, citing fear of professional retaliation or concern about ongoing professional relationships with the City.
Anonymous sources are described by role and tenure for transparency and credibility, but identifying details have been withheld at their request.
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For years, Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson’s message has been consistent: increase reserves, lower millage rates, keep the staff lean, and maintain fiscal discipline. He has pointed to $30 million in reserves as proof that Apopka is financially strong and well-managed.
But inside City Hall — particularly within the Public Services Department — current and former employees describe something very different: chronic understaffing, deferred infrastructure, tight internal budget control, division, and what several characterize as a toxic workplace.
Their assessment of the City is in stark contrast to the description Nelson presents on social media, in debates, during budget workshops, and on the campaign trail.
“Severely Understaffed”
If there was one theme that ran through nearly every conversation, it was staffing.
Momtaz Barq, who served briefly as Public Services Director in January 2025 before resigning after approximately one month, reached that conclusion quickly after evaluating the department.
“The staff was not able to perform adequately because they didn’t have support,” Barq said. “They were wearing so many hats at the same time that they just could not get anything done properly.”
When asked directly whether the department was understaffed, Barq answered without hesitation:
“Yes. Severely understaffed.”
For Barq, the issue was not simply numbers — it was structure.
“There is no cohesive workplace effort that gets them all to work together toward a certain goal,” he said. “Collectively, it wasn’t functioning properly.”
A current long-term employee in the public services department who agreed to speak to The Apopka Voice on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal reached the same conclusion.
“In the years I’ve been there, I have seen a decrease in staff positions,” he said. “Especially when it comes to who’s in the field. We’re not staffed enough. We don’t have the equipment that we need to do the job.”
Budgeting: “It’s like you’re running a small convenience store"
Several employees described a budget process that, in their view, was largely shaped before it ever reached City Council. A former Public Services employee who managed a division described the internal review process this way:
“When we finally make up our entire budget, we have a meeting with the mayor. We all sat together, then told the mayor we have this item for this amount, and he told us yes or no on whether we can keep it. And this is before the commissioners or anybody else is involved. And then when we go to present to the commissioners, we’re told we have to say ‘that’s all we need’ when they ask if this is all we need to do what we need to do. We’re directed to say, ‘We have everything we need with this budget.’”
A former employee of the engineering division who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity echoed that same strain. She described broad responsibilities without corresponding financial support at budget time.
“My department was not a part of any budget. Not IT, not public services, not engineering, nothing. We had to pull money from other people to get what we needed.”
When she requested equipment to improve operations, she consistently received a negative reply.
“They told me no. We have adequate equipment. They didn’t think it was necessary.”
Barq described a similar experience during his brief tenure.
“It was basically… give me (Nelson) a wish list, and then he's not going to give you anything you need... being told that we can’t get any of this stuff. And not because we didn’t have the money — it’s just they didn’t want to tell us how much money we have.”
Without transparency, he said, planning becomes guesswork.
“If you don’t have that discussion and that back and forth, then you’re basically blindsided. It’s like you’re just running a small convenience store.”
Deferred Infrastructure: “I feel like we’re moving backwards”
Beyond staffing and budgeting, several interviewees described a pattern of short-term fixes rather than long-term planning.
Greg Conant, who worked for the City for over 28 years before retiring in February 2025, described it plainly.
“They put Band-Aids on everything,” he said. “They get their photo op, and then everything goes to hell. There’s never a maintenance plan for any of the new equipment.”
Former City Administrator Jacob Smith said that while serving in Apopka, he began to recognize the long-term impact of deferred projects.
“I started to realize the gravity of some of the things that we were deferring. A lot of it had to do with public services — the water infrastructure, the sewer infrastructure… the big old pond (Golden Gem) with the lining, with the sinkhole.”
Smith said that at the time, he believed the deferrals were part of ordinary municipal budgeting.
“At that time, I felt like this is just how they do business,” he said. “But later, I realized how long some of those projects had been pushed off. There were a lot of things that we had to defer. And I really did not know the gravity of some of those things at the time."
Barq warned that rapid development without coordinated infrastructure planning could have lasting consequences.
“You’re getting all this construction, new projects that are being constructed, but nobody is paying attention to any of the designs, which would lead to huge disasters in the future,” he said. “If you build 4,000 apartments and you don’t have enough utility capacity, how is that going to work? If you do not build that infrastructure to meet those needs, then what are you going to do?”
The current employee in public services summarized the issue in simple terms:
“I feel like we’re moving backward more days than not. As big as Apopka’s gotten and as big as it’s continuing to grow, it’s something that’s got to change.”
Misuse of the Vactor trucks and the FDEP
One recurring technical issue involved the City’s Vactor trucks — specialized vehicles used to clean sewer and stormwater systems. The former Public Services employee said she warned leadership about cross-use of equipment between the sanitary sewer and stormwater systems.
A Vactor truck uses high-pressure water jets and a powerful vacuum system to clean underground pipe networks, including sanitary sewer lines and stormwater drainage systems. While the equipment may look identical, the systems they service are very different: sanitary sewers carry wastewater and sewage to treatment plants, while stormwater systems carry untreated rain runoff directly into lakes, ponds, or waterways. Using the same Vactor truck interchangeably between sewer and stormwater systems can raise compliance concerns because residual sewage material left inside hoses or debris tanks could potentially contaminate stormwater infrastructure if strict cleaning and decontamination protocols are not followed.
“I told them if they were going to continue with that plan, that I would be obligated to report them to the state.”
The current public services employee confirmed that cross-use of the Vactor trucks still occurs.
“They use them in the sewer system and in the storm system at times,” he said. “It’s not an everyday practice, but it does happen more than I would like to see.”
Public records reviewed by The Apopka Voice show that in April 2025, the former public services employee contacted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection regarding what she described as “Stormwater compliance concerns.”
In an April 11 email, she wrote:
“It has come to my attention that there are some Stormwater compliance concerns that I have regarding the City of Apopka. Do you have a time that we can schedule a meeting to discuss these things further?”
An FDEP representative responded the same day:
“Yes, we can. I will look into a time next week. I will probably have Matt or Anna sit in as well because I am new and not overly familiar with the issue. Do you all have teams or would you prefer a phone call?”
Five days later, the employee who initiated that contact with the FDEP was terminated.
Culture and Internal Conflict
Several interviewees described internal tension and political maneuvering that they said complicated daily operations.
Barq said what ultimately led to his resignation was not a single policy disagreement but what he described as internal gamesmanship and a toxic workplace.
“They play games with staff,” he said. "They tell somebody something, and others something totally different, and then the backstabbing starts. Wasting time with petty games and just backstabbing and all that kind of stuff was not conducive at all.”
Conant described prolonged stress during his tenure.
“I never knew what they were going to throw at me next,” he said. “But I’m open to telling the truth and letting the public know exactly what’s going on. It's only gotten worse year after year.”
The former engineering division employee described a cultural shift after the departure of former Public Services Director Deodat Budhu, who retired in December 2024.
“When Dio was there, it felt great. We all got along. We all talked to each other. It was fine. And then, once Dio left and there was really no leadership, you felt a culture shift. People got promoted over other people, and there was a power divide.”
City Administrator on the State of the City: “When you open that hood, there’s a mess”
Chuck Vavrek, former Apopka Police Chief and interim city administrator, described what he saw from an administrative perspective.
“The car looks shiny, and the tires look good,” Vavrek said. “But boy, when you open that hood, there’s a mess.”
He said he urged focus on completing existing work.
“I had a meeting with Mayor Nelson and told him that he needed to stop creating projects, finish up what we had going on out there, and get them finished,” Vavrek said. “He reached his hand across the desk, looked me in the eye, and promised he’d do that. It wasn’t even a week after he went out there and created another project. There were too many things started and not enough things finished."
In Part Two: The series examines how the City’s budget process works — and how repeated deferrals may shape what gets built and what waits. Former City Administrator Jacob Smith describes what he learned after stepping into the process mid-cycle, and how his perspective evolved over time. The numbers may show growing fund balances — but the decisions behind them tell a more complicated story.
Disclosure:
On Tuesday, February 25, The Apopka Voice emailed a detailed list of written questions to Mayor Bryan Nelson at his City of Apopka email address, seeking his comments and responses to the issues raised in this series.
On Wednesday, February 26, The Apopka Voice also submitted a formal public records request through the City’s online public records portal seeking documents related to budgeting, stormwater compliance, equipment usage, and departmental communications referenced in these interviews. Confirmation of receipt was received the same day.
As of publication, neither the mayor nor the City had responded to the submitted questions, nor had the requested records been produced.
The Apopka Voice will update this series if responses or records are provided.
