MOUNT DORA, Fla. — A Safe Place program that was unanimously approved in Mount Dora last week has drawn the ire of the Lake County Legislative Delegation, which sent a letter to the city decrying the move. Much of the controversy revolves around the design of the Safe Place decal, which is a rainbow badge.

Within the letter, members of the delegation — state Reps. Keith Truenow, Stan McClain and Taylor Yarkosky, and state Sen. Dennis Baxley — said that they were considering legal action, in response to the city's approval of the program.

The Safe Place Program was founded by the Seattle Police Department to help train small businesses on how to respond in case a victim of a hate crime comes into a store for help. Participation in the program is strictly optional and the training would be done through the Mount Dora Police Department.

After the business is trained, they would be able to put the decal in their front window.

While the badge is emblazoned with a rainbow, the creators of the program say it represents standing with any victim of a hate crime, regardless of, among other things, their ethnicity or sexual orientation.

One business owner who spoke with Spectrum News said she was excited to learn more about the program and wasn’t happy when she saw the letter from the delegation.

“My wife Linda and I founded 'Spouses with Houses' when we moved here and opened up in 2018," Jeannette Bokland said. "We just jumped in two feet into the community, we love Mount Dora."

Bokland’s old business is a downtown staple, and while she doesn’t own Spouses with Houses anymore — she recently sold it and merged with Century 21 — she still calls Mount Dora home.

"I love Mount Dora — anything I need people take care of us, we take care of them," she said. "We love the visitors, we love the variety. We love the food, we love the art — what’s not to love?"

Last week, the Mount Dora City Council unanimously approved moving forward with the Safe Place initiative, which caught Bokland’s interest.

"I always want to know more information before I jump two feet into everything," she said. "What I see is it’s a good program. Like I said it’s voluntary, like everything else is. If the office chooses to participate, I’ll be really proud of the office, and I expect that they will."

On Monday, the Lake County Legislative Delegation sent a letter disapproving the program, saying it puts Mount Dora "in the crosshairs of potential detrimental, and absolutely unnecessary, economic harm." They go on to say that participating in the program, which gives shelter to victims of hate crimes, will create "a less safe environment in Mount Dora."

“We are considering all legislative, legal and executive options available to quickly and permanently address this matter to ensure it never causes any financial harm to any business in this county," the group of lawmakers wrote.

Bokland said she was disappointed to see the reaction from the state lawmakers representing Lake County.

"My first thought was, 'What is all the fuss about?'" she said. "They used words like divisive, and I don’t know how offering protection, or just general kindness, creates division."

In its letter, the Lake County Legislative Delegation claimed that hate crimes haven't been reported in Mount Dora for more than a decade.

But according to the U.S. Department of Justice, hate crimes toward members of the LGBTQ+ community are underreported, which is something that Mount Dora Police Chief Mike Gibson brought up during last week's City Council meeting.

"Do I think it’s a big problem here?" he said. "I don’t. Do I think it’s never a problem here? I cannot say that."

While the future of Mount Dora’s Safe Place program is still unknown, Bokland said she hopes to see the decal around town.

Spectrum News also talked with Mount Dora Mayor Crissy Stile about the backlash from legislators over the program.

“I think they read the headline and not the whole story," she said. "If you read the resolution, it does mention that it includes every gender, race, religion, anything that includes age discrimination, your sexual orientation whatever the case may be, it’s included in there. I think maybe we just didn’t do a good enough job emphasizing that point."

She also told Spectrum News she was disappointed by the letter, which she found unprofessional. She said the hope is the situation was simply caused by a miscommunication between state, county and city leaders.

Stile said she plans to better communicate about it to the residents of Mount Dora.