Electronic Newsletter

City Manager's Corner

I am getting acclimated as Cocoa's new City Manager and along with City Council and staff, we are moving our community in the right direction. Over the last few months, we successfully negotiated our waste services contract with Waste Management to minimize the financial impact to our residents, approved a development agreement with Framework Group to redevelop the old abandoned Winn-Dixie Shopping Center off SR 524 for new high-end apartments, officially announced the arrival of a brand new Amazon Last-mile Distribution facility in District 3 by the end of 2021 that will bring hundreds of jobs to our community, unveiled our new online building permit portal to make doing business with the City of Cocoa easier than ever, and announced two grants awarded to the City from Firehouse Subs for new extrication equipment for the Fire Department and a FEMA Hazard Mitigation grant that will allow us to add improved drainage along Fiske Blvd. In the coming months we will be hiring a new Police Chief and updating the City's Strategic Plan, which expires in 2021.

We are also in the beginning stages of building the City's 2021/22 Budget. This process begins in April with Council Budget Priorities workshops and runs through September when Council approves a final budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2021. There are a number of priorities that need to be discussed and there will be opportunities for residents to engage in discussions with Council and staff about the budget at our public hearings leading up to the final adoption in September. You will be hearing about these opportunities in the weeks ahead and we encourage all of our residents to learn about and get involved in the budget process.

Thank you for your support and encouragement as we continue to work together to move Cocoa forward.

-Stockton Whitten, Cocoa City Manager