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City of Casselberry, Florida image of Fire Department Public Works Building entrance At A Glance With a constant vision toward the future, Casselberry has evolved from a sparsely populated agricultural town to a bustling, dynamic City which has maintained an enviable growth rate in both residential and commercial areas. Offering a rich quality of life supported by excellent City services, tranquil residential surroundings, and a continually expanding business market, Casselberry is an exciting and thriving community in which to live, work and play. The City of Casselberry started as a vision and grew into a sizeable suburb of Orlando. In 1926, Hibbard Casselberry of Winnetka, Illinois settled in the area and bought 3,000 acres of land as an investment along a new highway (US 17-92). He turned that land into a fernery, which became one of the largest in the world, and this area became known as Fern Park. A general store was opened in 1928, followed by the opening of the Fern Park Post Office in 1930. Growth continued during the next decade when a large portion of the fernery was converted into a housing development, a water company was established, and a tax-free town was proposed. Some two years later, on October 10, 1940, the "tax- free" Town of Casselberry was officially incorporated and Hibbard Casselberry became the town's first mayor. The Town of Casselberry was later reincorporated as the City of Casselberry in 1965. In 1976, after 36 years as a tax free town, Casselberry City residents voted to institute property taxes. Another change by the citizenry occurred in 1990 with the decision to replace the City's strong mayor with a Commission/City Manager form of municipal government. Five Commissioners, one of whom serves as Mayor, are elected at staggered intervals to serve four-year terms. The Commission, in turn, appoints a professional City Manager to oversee daily City operations. The City has 225 full-time and 10 part-time employees who provide the labor force to support City operations. These operations consist of all municipal and water/sewer utilities services, as well as traditional City functions such as police and fire protection, emergency medical services, sanitation, road maintenance, water and sewer operations, parks and recreation, planning and community development, and administrative support activities for City governmental programs. In addition to its dedicated workforce, the City also advocates strong community involvement through a number of voluntary citizen boards. These boards assist in the decision making processes in the City and include the Planning and Zoning Commission, Parks & Recreation Advisory Board, Police Officers' and Firefighters' Pension Board of Trustees, Lakes Management Advisory Board and Community Redevelopment Agency. These Boards are indicative of the public-private partnerships and commitment toward progress and expansion in the City demonstrated by citizens. Page 8