LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Former city employee warns of Mueller’s behavior

Editor’s note: The Observer verified through city records the validity of the claims in this letter. 

Dear Editor:

You may have read in the The Observer that current District 2 Commissioner Ron Mueller was set to go through a forfeiture hearing due to repeated actions directly opposed to the City Charter. 

That hearing was stalled, however, with the commission ultimately deciding that it be dropped due to the closeness of the March election. 

What they couldn’t say, but can be reasonably assumed, is that Ron should have been removed from the commission; he admitted to multiple and repeated violations of City Charter. However, he could have then continued his current election campaign, and if re-elected, he would be able to regain his vacated seat beginning with the last commission meeting in March. There is no telling the ramifications of such a scenario.

Depending on what you’ve read or your interactions with Ron himself, he might have come across as a genuine person and a “nice” guy. But in my professional dealings with Ron, his true character couldn’t be further from that notion.  

I’ve decided to share one such story because it sheds light on Ron’s dishonesty and disregard for City Charter and rules, among other things. This story is 100% factual with no embellishments.

Until recently, I had the honor and pleasure of working for the city of Winter Garden, making the difficult decision to resign for a better opportunity in November 2022. My position was equally rewarding as it was challenging, as I was able to serve employees (city, police and fire), board chairpersons and members, as well as citizens directly for my seven-plus-year tenure.  

That said, one of the most difficult people I had to serve during my time was current District 2 Commissioner Ron Mueller.

I say difficult, because, as you may have read in previous articles published in this newspaper, Ron Mueller has an uncanny knack for muddying the “city employee/city commissioner” relationship. I assure you this assessment is true; I witnessed it first-hand, multiple times. Typically, this was in the form of contacting me directly without city manager knowledge or approval, which was against City Charter, but other such instances certainly exist, including on at least one occasion threatening the city manager that I receive “counseling or termination” for a response contrary to his desired outcome during one of his muddied requests. I assure you, I was just one of many city employees who received threats like this from Ron.  

Rewind to September 2022, when Florida was hit by Hurricane Ian. The storm crossed the state and caused significant damage, including here in Winter Garden, with many local neighborhoods losing power for days. During that time, Ron Mueller contacted me directly.  

Ron’s “ask” was that I assign his access badge permission to enter the Public Works compound so that he could take a hot shower, because his home was without power. He claimed to have contacted the city manager, and that he had already gained approval. I reminded Ron that he shouldn’t have contacted me directly, and told him I’d be contacting the city manager to verify the request and approval. The city manager told me that Ron had not contacted him regarding this particular request and asked that I loop the assistant city manager into our conversation. 

In the end, it was decided to grant Ron’s request. I configured Ron’s badge with appropriate access levels for entry into the complex, contacted him to let him know, and then watched the access system for Ron’s entry and exit logs from those buildings. 

A few hours later, Ron messaged me to say, “Thank you,” for the access and the shower. I was watching the logs for his entry and exits, but no logs were ever created. This means that Ron must have followed someone into the complex or coerced someone else to let him in, thus taking matters into his own hands and fulfilling his own request.

The point of this story is not the shower. It is the means and methods by which Ron Mueller uses to get his way: dishonesty, abuse of privilege, disregard for his own constituents who are in the same situation as he,  unauthorized access to city buildings, and his inability to follow certain direction, in this case, bypassing the city manager and contacting city employees directly in attempts to make them do his bidding. 

Again, while you were without power, suffering with downed trees, flooding, or other damage to your homes, Ron Mueller was wasting a city employee’s time, lying to gain access to a city building, worried about taking his own hot shower, while we city employees were trying to help all of 46,000 Winter Garden residents recover from Hurricane Ian.

Thank you for reading my story, and I encourage all of you to vote wisely this election season.

Chad Morrill, former director of information technology, city of Winter Garden