Anderson defends city support for Heart and Soul Music Festival 

Commissioner Nadia Anderson defended the city’s involvement in the Heart and Soul Music Festival at the Wednesday city commission meeting, saying an approximately $13,000 contribution would provide residents free admission to a privately produced event following last month’s contentious debate over the city’s discretionary-funds policy. 

Speaking during her commissioner’s report, Anderson said private organizers would cover approximately $250,000 in production costs through ticket sales, sponsorships, donations and other event revenue. The festival is scheduled for Saturday at the Apopka Amphitheater. 

“For me, this is about being creative with taxpayer dollars and maximizing the return to our community,” Anderson said. 

She described the city’s involvement as a limited partnership, with part of its contribution associated with facility use. She said the event would support businesses and vendors and raise money for a nonprofit, which will be announced at the concert. 

“The city is not producing this event or collecting the event revenue,” Anderson said. 

Anderson’s comments followed a Sept. 16 discussion in which commissioners voted 4-1 to table possible changes to Resolution No. 2025-34, with Anderson opposed. The commission did not amend the policy or publicly resolve her pending facility-use request during that discussion. 

Adopted unanimously Sept. 3, 2025, the policy allows the mayor and each commissioner two free uses of city rental facilities annually, including city staffing costs. It does not specify eligible facilities, cap those costs or expressly require events to be free, open to the public or organized by an elected official. 

Mayor Nick Nesta said Sept. 16 that staff needed guidance after receiving a request involving what he described as a privately organized, separately ticketed event that could cost the city about $13,000. 

Nesta said the provision was intended for town halls and similar public-engagement events. He proposed a spending limit, requiring an elected official to organize the event and prohibiting separately ticketed events. 

Anderson accused officials of targeting her because she sought to use the policy and warned of ethics complaints and lawsuits if changes affected her existing request. Nesta denied that the review was an attack, saying staff needed clarification about potentially substantial expenses. 

On Wednesday, Anderson compared the festival partnership with other city-supported concerts. She said the fiscal year 2026-27 budget included $150,000 for six amphitheater concerts, or approximately $25,000 each, and said the city had contributed more than $1.2 million toward Saturday Sounds over more than four years. 

She also said the festival organizers had not made a profit and lost $60,000 last year.  

Public records obtained by the Apopka Chief show Anderson formally invoked one of her annual facility uses Aug. 21 “in support of” the festival. On Aug. 25, interim City Administrator Radley Williams told her he had referred the request to the city attorney because it was the first request for that type of facility use under the policy. 

The festival application identifies Paul Billings as the applicant and WHPB Inc. as the organization. It lists anticipated attendance of 3,000. 

Rental paperwork lists $7,625 in charges, including a $500 deposit, while separate police and fire estimates list $6,222.82 and $2,237.76. Those documents do not establish which charges were ultimately waived or paid by the city or document the final disposition of Anderson’s request. 

Anderson did not name the nonprofit beneficiary during her report or explain how residents would obtain free admission. She invited fellow commissioners to attend and support the event. 

“This is not a Commissioner Nadia Anderson thing,” she said. “This is a thing for the whole entire council, for the whole entire city of Apopka.”