Commissioner Nadia Anderson said a 2025 lawsuit challenging her residency was dismissed this week but refiled less than a day later and accused fellow Commissioner Nick Nesta of helping draft the complaint. 

Anderson’s comments came at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, where she said Nesta has participated in a series of coordinated efforts intended to undermine her. She called it a “troubling pattern” citing similar tactics directed at other women – Mayor Bryan Nelson’s wife Debbie Nelson, Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore, and City Finance Director Blanche Sherman.  

Such efforts included repeated complaints, calls to law enforcement, and instances of hostility meant to intimidate, Anderson said.  

Nesta is competing with Moore and Bryan Nelson for the mayoral seat in the general election next week. 

“This pattern is deeply concerning,” Anderson said. “It reflects behavior aimed not at policy disagreements but at intimidation, personal distraction, and destruction. I want it clearly on the record: I am concerned about what will come next.” 

Anderson outlined a timeline beginning in late 2025, when attorney Bill McLeod filed a lawsuit challenging her residency and her qualification to run for city commissioner. 

She noted the lawsuit was initially dismissed by a judge on Monday, but said it was refiled less than 24 hours later with the city added as a defendant.  

In the ruling, the Orange County Ninth Circuit Court dismissed the case on the grounds that it did not include the city, which it said is an “indispensable party” to the lawsuit. As of midday Thursday, the docket did not show any re-filing of the suit. 

Anderson presented correspondence from January 2024, when she was still a candidate for City Council, from an email address associated with Nesta.  

“One of those emails read, ‘See attached notes within the PDF,’” Anderson said. “Please do not share this document with anyone or tell anyone that I assisted in the efforts.’” 

According to Anderson, other emails indicated coordination with the McLeod Law Firm representing the plaintiff. She said one individual involved in the lawsuit has since apologized for participating in efforts to remove her from office.  

Anderson was elected to her first council term in March 2024.  

In the residency challenge, the suit says Anderson lives on Falcon Hill Drive, citing official documents she filed using that address, which is outside Apopka city limits. A separate complaint filed against her real estate license with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation said she does not live at Falcon Hill Drive — a discrepancy Anderson said was duplicitous.  

“It cannot be both ways,” she said. “I ask publicly, what does my real estate license have to do with my service as a commissioner? … What it would do is harm my livelihood and attempt to financially cripple me and bankrupt me.”  

Anderson urged Nesta to stop what she described as “secret harassment,” to “respect the will of the voters,” and to allow the council to focus on governance.  

“Commissioner Nesta, you constantly lecture about transparency, integrity and wasteful spending, but in secret, you do the opposite, attempting to harm innocent people, with the taxpayers being forced to pay for your shady practices,” she said. “My question: To what end do you want power that much?” 

During the meeting, Nesta did not respond to Anderson’s remarks. In a Thursday text message to The Apopka Chief, Nesta declined to comment citing the pending litigation involving the city.