Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board Changes Again as Vice Chair Departs

Feb 18, 2025 in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

Posted: Tuesday February 18, 2025 1:15pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Charbel Barakat is no longer serving on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) board, where he had held the position of Vice Chair. His departure marks the latest change in the board's leadership, and the district has since updated its website to remove his name from the listed members.

Charbel Barakat is pictured center at a CFTOD meeting in 2024

Barakat, a former Jeopardy! champion, was appointed to the board by Governor Ron DeSantis on June 1, 2023, replacing Michael Sasso, who resigned after less than four months in the position.

In his place, new appointees John Gilbert and Scott Workman have been added to the board, both with terms expiring on February 26, 2027. The Chair position remains open, with Alexis Yarbrough expected to assume the role pending confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Despite their terms expiring soon, Bridget Ziegler and Ron Peri remain listed as board members, with their seats officially set to expire on February 26, 2025.

Updated CFTOD Board List

Open – Chair (Presumably to be filled by Alexis Yarbrough) – Term expires 2/26/27
Brian Aungst, Jr. – Term expires 2/26/27
Ron Peri – Term expires 2/26/25
Bridget Ziegler – Term expires 2/26/25
John Gilbert – Term expires 2/26/27
Scott Workman – Term expires 2/26/27

The removal of Vice Chair Charbel Barakat marks another shift in leadership within the state-controlled oversight district. Barakat, who was added to the board midway through 2023, served for less than two years before being removed in the latest restructuring.

With the Vice Chair seat now vacant and the Chair position still open, CFTOD leadership continues to transition under Governor DeSantis' appointees. The district, which replaced the Reedy Creek Improvement District in 2023, remains responsible for governing infrastructure and services within Walt Disney World property.

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LAKid538 hours ago

My GPS sends me THROUGH property on the way back from MCO. But South on 429 to get there.

LAKid539 hours ago

Avalon is bad in the mornings & evenings. Now imagine adding a 1400 unit housing project on Hartzog just before the curve to the intersection with Avalon. Which was just widened up to Schofield.

Brian18 hours ago

It all comes down to I-4, specifically I-4 west of 535/Daryl Carter down to Hwy 27 (Davenport/Haines City). The GPS apps are essential, even for locals, if you want to avoid traffic, and they direct motorists onto, in many cases, one lane roads that were never meant to handle even a fraction of the traffic they now handle. These roads include Old Lake Wilson, Sherberth, 17/92, Poicinana Blvd, Griffen, Avalon, and of course the on property roads leading out to 429 you mentioned, Western Way and Buena Vista Drive. World Drive gets hit with this problem too, as folks try to head southbound to 192 to go to Old Lake Wilson. All of these roads are inundated with motorists who, if not for the mess that is I-4 between Disney and Hwy 27, would be on I-4, and they simply cannot handle that kind of volume. Luckily, most of the aforementioned stretch of I-4 is actively being expanded and will be done in the next few years, and hopefully with that more resilient, the pressure on these "shortcuts" will be reduced/eliminated. That said, I do think that Western Way and Buena Vista Drive out to Flamingo Crossings will have to be reconfigured/expanded regardless, as the Horizon West area is growing rapidly.

castlecake2.01 day ago

Yah it’s terrible there too, and what it looks like is happening is people are coming on to property via Osceola pkwy then cuttingg up to buena Vista to get across to western way. It’s normal now for the left turn onto BVD from world drive to back all the way up onto Osceola. Orlando has a traffic problem which is turning into a traffic problem for Disney as people cut through property to try to get around it. I think western way was approved to become three lanes each way though?

LAKid532 days ago

You should see Western Way at 4 PM.

MisterPenguin2 days ago

I'd prefer not to say.

TheCoasterNerd2 days ago

Knowing him, it's a joke

Advisable Joseph2 days ago

Have you heard of "scrivenor's errors" before, is this a joke flying over my head, or did a secretary or paralegal throw a memorable temper tantrum? I found "scrivenor" in the OED as a variant of "scrivener," if that's what you're referring to.

castlecake2.02 days ago

Curious if the district had been seeing the insane traffic problems every night as people cut through property to try to get to 192/old lake Wilson, it’s becoming a real mess as people take Osceola and Buena Vista drive going on to Workd dr trying to save some time

MisterPenguin2 days ago

They tried that before, but the scrivenor would prefer not to fix any errors.

DCBaker2 days ago

Here's a look at the agenda for the CFTOD Board of Supervisors meeting next week, which includes an item about District support for the Sunshine Corridor study: