The Apopka City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to dissolve its financial agreement with scandal-marred Main Street Apopka following concerns about financial oversight, governance and unmet obligations under the agreement. 

Interim City Administrator Radley Williams presented staff’s request for direction regarding a notice of default previously issued to Main Street Apopka regarding the downtown mural that the organization had commissioned last year.  

Caitlin Kasheta resigned as executive director effective last October and is no longer affiliated with the organization, Yvette Anderson, a Main Street Apopka board member, told the council.   

Anderson also announced that Main Street Apopka had recently been approved by Main Street America, a national organization that supports downtown revitalization programs, and said the city would be promoted nationally for three months as part of that approval. 

“The reason I am telling you this so you can have that in consideration, because that would be very important for our city to be a part of Main Street National as well as the state,” she said. “And they have approved it.” 

Despite Yvette Anderson’s update, council members expressed reservations. Commissioner Nadia Anderson questioned the organization’s financial practices and lack of transparency. 

“I don’t think [we can] justify … continuously spending taxpayer dollars on an organization that has clearly defaulted on our agreement and has spent substantially a lot of money that I don’t think is justifiable,” she said.  

When motioning to terminate the agreement, Anderson suggested the city could consider a future partnership with stronger oversight. 

Commissioner Diane Velazquez said that since the notice of default was issued, no one from the Main Street Apopka board had reached out to council members to explain what went wrong or how the organization planned to move forward.  

Velazquez also referenced the controversial downtown mural project, which was unveiled with much fanfare and then painted over days later after an Iowa artist called out the design for plagiarism.  

“Since that time till now, no one’s made any attempt to at least contact any of us to say, ‘Let’s sit down and let’s just talk about, go over what was our mission, what did we do, what did we accomplish before the mural,’” Velazquez said.  

During public comment, local business owners said they support the concept of a Main Street program but emphasized the need for experienced leadership, transparency and accurate public information.  

The city had sent Main Street Apopka the notice of default on Oct. 29, 2025, outlining concerns with compliance under the funding agreement.  

Main Street Apopka submitted a Dec. 12 response, within the notice of default cure period that was set to expire Dec. 14, 2025.  

The response outlined how the organization implemented several solutions to rectify the mural issue, including forfeiting $4,600 from the next city disbursement, stating that it spent that same amount on the downtown mural, including $1,600 to remove it, according to the Jan. 7 City Council staff report.