BY ROBIN MIMNA
The Gems, a group of 10 longtime Lake Helen families, has officially disbanded after three years of service to the community. The Gems originally formed to take over the troubled Creative Arts Café at 493 S. Lakeview Drive in Lake Helen. The building, built in part by a taxpayer-supported grant program called Volusia County ECHO, had not abided by the rules of the grant for several years.
During their tenure, the organization hosted many popular events in the community space, such as haunted houses, Touch-a-Truck, and Christmas storytime gatherings. But the group faced significant challenges in complying with the ECHO grant requirements tied to the former Creative Arts Café building, particularly regarding staffing at the grant-required museum.
On March 14, 2024, the Lake Helen City Commission approved a plan to repay the $156,000 ECHO grant to Volusia County over three years, with annual payments of $52,000 beginning in January 2025. This repayment plan followed multiple unsuccessful efforts to bring the building’s operations into compliance with ECHO grant restrictions.
At the Jan. 9 City Commission meeting, The Gems former President Alan Cook announced the group had distributed its remaining funds of $3,743 equally among four local organizations: Outside the Gates Food Pantry, the Lake Helen League for Better Living, the Massey James Center and the City of Lake Helen.
Each group received $935.75, with the city’s portion designated for the Arbor Day event Saturday, Jan. 18.
When asked about the reasons behind The Gems’ decision to disband, Cook highlighted several key factors, including two years of efforts to meet ECHO requirements, a divided city commission, and a lack of clear direction from the city regarding The Gems’ role in local events.
“None of us wanted to quit, but if we couldn’t accomplish our goals, we needed to move on to other projects,” Cook explained.
When The Beacon reached out to the city commissioners for comment, Zone 1 City Commissioner Heather Rutledge expressed her disappointment regarding the dissolution of The Gems.
“Ultimately, what I believe led to this decision were the cumulative years of the city failing to live up to the guidelines of the ECHO grant,” Rutledge said. “We are lucky the 10 families involved in The Gems are still active citizens in our community.”
The end of The Gems marks the end of yet another chapter in the long saga of the property.
The Lake Helen City Commission is currently evaluating estimates to convert the former Creative Arts Café building into city hall offices while they address mold remediation and repairs required at the existing city hall.
Additionally, the city is considering an option to repurpose the adjacent shuffleboard court and building as a new museum.
FUN WITH GEMS — A watermelon eating contest was one of many kinds of events hosted and sponsored by The Gems of Lake Helen.
A summary of the saga of 493 S. Lakeview Drive
Opened as a teen center in 2007, the now-named Creative Arts Café in Lake Helen was beholden to its initial funding of $156,626 from the Volusia County ECHO program. The grant has several requirements, including access to the public.
Over the years, the teen center slowly transformed into a full-fledged restaurant, with city commissioners in the position of running a restaurant. The city’s police chief at the time was serving as head chef. Eventually, restaurant visitors were counted as museum guests, although at that point the “museum” was a display in a small adjacent room.
Running a restaurant proved to be untenable for the city, as employees, including dishwashers and part-time cooks, had to be hired and fired by the Lake Helen City Commission.
Ultimately, the grant was allowed to be altered substantially in 2017 to allow the center to become 75 percent museum and 25 percent restaurant. The change was made with approval by the ECHO Advisory Committee.
The restaurant was taken over by a series of private businesses, the latest of which closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Volusia County voters opted to extend the ECHO grant program. The extension included a requirement that ECHO projects be audited, and the Creative Arts Café was flagged for violating the grant restrictions. At the time, the building was shuttered.
In November 2021, the Lake Helen City Commission selected The Gems to handle the building. The coalition of families hosted many events, planted a new garden, and generally made multiple improvements on the building and landscape.
So Lake Helen officials — and The Gems — were taken aback when the ECHO Advisory Committee, reviewing the work in 2022, blasted the attempts as still failing to meet ECHO requirements. One of the main factors was that the building was not consistently open and therefore not consistently accessible to taxpayers.
In 2023, the City Commission decided to argue that The Gems work actually did meet the ECHO requirements. The ECHO Advisory Committee did not agree.
Finally, in March 2024, the commission voted to pay back the $156,626 grant over a period of three years. The monies will be paid in increments of $52,000 per year, beginning in January 2025.
— Eli Witek
