‘I hope I left this town better than I found it’
Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn announced in a newsletter this week that he is resigning, ending a 15-year mayoral run that included a police scandal that put the chief in prison and a media frenzy after a Black Friday crash involving Tiger Woods.
Bruhn, 66, said he can’t continue to serve as mayor because he is moving to a new home in the Reserve At Belmere less than two miles away just outside town limits. Residency is a requirement for the office.
“Yes, I will be a ‘Windernear,’ ” Bruhn said, using a term he coined to describe people who live close to but not in the affluent town of 3,400 in west Orange County.
The regular community newsletter included highlights and heartbreaks of his tenure.
“I hope I left this town better than I found it,” the eight-term mayor wrote.
Six months after he took office, the tree-lined town was battered by three hurricanes — Charley, Frances and Jeanne — in six weeks.
“The devastation was significant,” said Bruhn, who retired from Lockheed Martin after working nearly 30 years in information technology.
He remembered neighbors helping neighbors and described the closeness of the community, which sits on the shores of the Butler Chain of Lakes about 22 miles west of Orlando.
“I always tell people you better not say anything bad about ANYONE in Windermere. Many are related over the generations,” he said in the newsletter.
His resignation letter was posted on the town’s Facebook page and residents chimed in, praising his leadership and wishing him well.
“Gary has been a faithful servant in our town through the good, the bad and the completely crazy,” wrote Suzanne Reagan.
In his newsletter, Bruhn recalled complaints about the town’s road projects, intensifying traffic from the booming growth in nearby Horizon West and the tragic, on-duty killing of Windermere police officer Robbie German in 2014.
German, 31, who was employed as a police officer by the town for five years, was fatally shot by two teens who had run away from home.
“Windermere’s heart is broken,” Bruhn said at the time, remembering the officer’s kind and caring policing style.
German’s death came three years after calls for the town to disband its Police Department because of a scandal centered on then-Chief Daniel Saylor, now serving eight years in prison for perjury, obstructing a criminal investigation and official misconduct.
The disgraced former chief was found guilty of perjury by a jury in 2014 for lying on the witness stand during the child-rape trial of a friend, Scott Frederick Bush.
“It was a dark time,” Bruhn said.
He noted in the newsletter that he had moved to Windermere 30 years ago because of the police presence.
“It was a safe town where the police could be at your door in minutes during an emergency,” he said.
He also boasted in the newsletter of the improvements in the 12-officer department under the guidance of new Police Chief David Ogden and Town Manager Robert Smith.
“I am most proud of what this Police Department has become,” Bruhn said.
But the newsletter didn’t mention a scuffle during a 2011 Town Council meeting that sent Bruhn to the hospital.
Because of a corruption probe of Saylor, Bruhn had called for the firing of then-Town Manager Cecilia Bernier while her husband, Roland Bernier, was in the audience.
"At what point does the town manager, as the supervisor of the chief of police, become responsible and accountable for letting a man like this serve and protect our children and residents, let alone lead a police force?" Bruhn asked at the meeting.
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office decided not to charge Roland Bernier with battery against Bruhn, who was knocked unconscious.
Bruhn said Bernier pushed him and he hit his head on the floor. But witness statements conflicted, a State Attorney's Office spokeswoman said.
Three days later, Cecilia Bernier announced she planned to resign.
Current Town Manager Robert Smith praised Bruhn’s passion and dedication not only to the town but to all local governments.
Smith jokingly suggested to Bruhn that the town could annex the Reserve At Belmere so he could stay on as mayor.
As mayor, Bruhn played an influential role in local government as chairman of the Orange County Council of Mayors and across the state as president of the Florida League of Mayors.
He fiercely fought for “home rule,” the concept that a local government — and not state or federal authorities — should decide what’s best for their city.
Bruhn wrote in the newsletter about Tiger Woods’ 2009 crash on Sixth Avenue, which unraveled the golfing icon’s personal life and derailed his legendary career.
“Windermere became world famous overnight with the Tiger Woods’ accident…,” Bruhn recalled.
TV trucks invaded the quiet oasis of a town, lining up on the narrow, tree-lined streets during the Thanksgiving holiday to show viewers where Woods’ Cadillac Escalade SUV hit a fire hydrant, a tree and hedges near his Isleworth home.
“My phone lit up,” Bruhn said. “Residents wanted them gone and there was a serious safety concern as our entrance had turned into a tourist attraction.”
Ultimately, the town got a legal opinion allowing them to shoo away the trucks.
Bruhn can remain as mayor until his Windermere home sells and his residence officially changes, Smith said.
But qualifying for the March 12 election begins Dec. 12 and the town is listing the mayor’s seat among the races, which are elected at large.