Mount Dora stops taking tips from shuttle system volunteers By Jason Ruiter Staff Writer

MOUNT DORA — Terry Nuxol, 69, was shocked when he learned the tips he’d collect for volunteering for the city’s new shuttle system would be confiscated.

Instead of going into his pocket, he was told at an information session that the cash would be counted at a dropoff under the eye of a video camera to go into city coffers.

“What kind of humiliating crap is this to go through?” asked Nuxol, who’s retired from insurance work and lives outside of Mount Dora. “A police officer was there, and he said we’re going to have you drop the tips off by City Hall and there’s a camera just so you won’t be tempted to put it in your pocket, and I’m thinking, ‘It was our tips to begin with.’ ”

The city carried out the practice for four days, collecting a total of $30 from volunteers before deciding the practice was “confusing” and nixed it, city spokeswoman Lisa McDonald said in an email.

“Again, we are not doing the tip program now,” she said. “We did not want this to be misleading to the public.”

Now, neither the city nor its drivers are accepting tips of any kind for the new shuttle system that launched April 5. The tip money was originally meant to help offset the $1,600 monthly cost of renting the two eight-person golf carts that travel from two church parking lots several blocks from the city center to the downtown known for its charming restaurants and boutiques.

But when it first launched, those golf carts weren’t street legal. A volunteer pointed out that the vehicles didn’t have the correct equipment, so another $600 was spent to install brake lights and directional signals. The golf carts were back in use April 11.

The city shuttle is in addition to a private free shuttle called Mount Dora Transit. It’s run by Scott Alderman, owner of a boat-tour business called the Rusty Anchor. He said volunteer drivers get to keep any tips they receive. The shuttle service is funded by advertisements on the carts.

“That’s the only way they [the volunteers] get paid,” he said. “They don’t make anything else.”

Alderman estimated that his volunteers ferry about 50 to 100 people a day, making home calls and personalized stops and even conducting historic tours with no particular set route.

It’s a method that differs greatly from Mount Dora’s scheduled transit, which was launched as a way to ease the city’s lack of downtown parking.

The city service runs every 10 minutes from 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday from the First United Methodist Church of Mount Dora on Fifth Avenue between Grandview and Tremain streets and First Baptist Church of Mount Dora at 925 E. First Ave.

The city’s shuttles also are available from 1:30-6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Nuxol said he won’t be a part of it. Turned off by the tip-collection methods, he told the event organizer he was no longer interested.

“I said I think you’re deceiving the public,” Nuxol said. “People think you’re leaving tips to the drivers and you’re taking the money.”