Hi, kids!

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the news and newsmakers of the day who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life or detracted from it in some significant way…

City of Ormond Beach – Welcome to the Weirdness

I guess it’s the Ormond Beach City Commission’s turn in the barrel, eh? 

Unfortunately, it comes to all communities eventually.

Differences of opinion, outside influences, or simmering personality clashes between those huge egos that are drawn to politics finally boil over, factions form, and what was once a working elected body lycanthropically transforms into a snarling, dysfunctional shitshow.

Examples of this syndrome include the Lost City of Deltona, Palm Coast, or the decade old Debacle in DeBary, which ultimately saw the city’s demonstrably weird mayor cashiered following a Kangaroo Kourt that continues to serve as a cautionary tale for area municipalities.  

A better illustration is the continuous thuggery that County Chair Jeff Brower has suffered for the past six years at the hands of two iterations of the Volusia County Council – a near constant bullying, blocking, and marginalization as the “Old Guard” attempts to beat him into the round hole of lockstep conformity.

Most recently, there was an unfortunate incident where the Volusia County Council failed to respond to a racial slur uttered from the podium during public comments.  In the aftermath, each elected official present cited the fact they were distracted or did not hear the offensive term at the time it was uttered.

Except At-Large Councilman Jake the Snake Johansson…

Not one to miss a meanspirited opportunity to paint Chairman Brower in a bad light, Johansson – who heard the repulsive epithet and later admitted his own moral cowardice, stating “I should have said something” – turned the tables and slammed Brower for not “stopping it immediately.”

Incredibly, Johansson doubled down in an open letter read in his absence at last week’s Volusia County Council meeting, which read, in part: “I will be working with the chairman during meetings to ensure we respond appropriately in the future and will ensure to become more active in voicing my opinion when issues are not addressed in a timely manner.”

Shameless…

In February, the Ormond Beach City Commission fell victim to similar infighting when Vice Mayor Lori Tolland, Zone 3 Commissioner Kristin Deaton, and Zone 2 Commissioner Travis Sargent put the boots to Mayor Jason Leslie for his participation in the seemingly normal mayoral duty of escorting a reporter to highlight several community amenities.

The mayor’s unforgivable transgression of painting his community in a positive light without clearing it through an unelected staff member resulted in a sustained attack from Deaton and Tolland – who went as far as suggesting a city ordinance to quash the free and open exchange of information between elected officials and their constituents – prohibiting individual elected officials from speaking to residents without majority approval.

Bullshit.

This petty bruhaha resulted in embarrassing media coverage, a critical essay in RedTapeFlorida.com, a rebuttal by former Ormond Beach Commissioner Jeff Boyle, disturbing revelations about how the city’s “public information” apparatus operates and concerned murmurings by residents confused by the backbiting. 

Now, Mayor Leslie has apparently gone a step too far when he had the temerity to visit a valuable civic resource, Barracks of Hope – the successful transitional housing program of Halifax Urban Ministries serving homeless military veterans – which resulted in even more questions from his “colleagues” on the dais.

According to a report last week by Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer:

“On March 12, the Ormond Beach City Commission were all copied on an email from Halifax Urban Ministries’ interim executive director Donna Dooley.

Dooley thanked Mayor Jason Leslie for visiting the faith-based nonprofit’s Barracks of Hope, a homeless shelter for veterans in Daytona Beach. She also mentioned that the shelter’s program manager “noted the possibility of available funds from the city of Ormond.”

“Could you please advise us on the next steps? We are very interested in continuing our partnership with Ormond Beach,” Dooley wrote.

City Commissioner Travis Sargent brought the email up at the commission’s meeting on April 1, asking the mayor to elaborate on what was discussed during his tour.

“I don’t know that we have available funds to donate to anyone,” Sargent said.”

And so, it began…

Mayor Leslie explained he viewed Barracks of Hope as another potential resource to address homelessness, something the commission might want staff to research, so police officers and those performing outreach would have another tool. 

Apparently, there was confusion as to whether Mayor Leslie suggested to HUM administrators that there may be city funds available to assist Barracks of Hope.  Regardless, there is an established appropriation process in place for donations to non-profits (like the $85,000 Ormond Beach pisses away each year on the enigmatic First Step Shelter) – and not something Mr. Leslie could snap his fingers and authorize on his own.

Something tells me Commissioner Sargent knows that… 

One thing is certain, in Volusia County politics, you’re either part of the clubbish “in-crowd” or you aren’t.  

During last year’s election cycle, Mayor Leslie – a newcomer to local politics – took on popular perennial politician Commissioner Susan Persis.  The disparity in campaign contributions told observers all they needed to know about who our “movers and shakers” supported.

Before the general election, Persis collected contributions totaling $106,427.53 (for an Ormond Beach mayoral race?) more than double Mr. Leslie’s largely self-funded $42,797.  

All the right last names were represented in the Persis war chest, along with the various entities and LLCs under their control.  That included heavy hitters in the Halifax area’s aggressive development community, and everyone who is anyone in what passes for Volusia County’s social, civic, and political nobility…

But the harsh reality of politics is that votes beat money every time.

Last November, Mayor Leslie soundly defeated Susan Persis with nearly 54% of the vote, proving that many in Ormond Beach are seeking substantive change as we watch our beautiful community transmogrify into something unrecognizable, with looming threats to our quality of life now closing from all sides… 

Perhaps the loud and clear message behind Mayor Leslie’s victory over an entrenched insider is something the remainder of the commission should consider? 

In my view, it is time for Ormond Beach’s elected officials to learn the lessons of other local governments who have been derailed by distracting power struggles, stop the spiteful sniping on the dais, and get back to the pressing issues facing our community. 

Belvedere Terminal’s Palm Coast Project Withers in the Sunshine

Well, that didn’t take long…

Just days after Belvedere Terminals joined with Palm Coast and Flagler County officials to officially announce it was considering a 78-acre site off Peavy Grade for a planned 12.6-million-gallon fuel distribution site, residents let their elected officials know just how they feel about it, and any political support it appeared to have quickly faded.    

Last week, Flagler County officials pulled a proposed agenda item considering a $10 million grant agreement with the Florida Department of Commerce that would have been used to acquire the property and fund certain infrastructure improvements related to the fuel terminal while the City of Palm Coast sought a site analysis to determine suitability.

The Peavy Grade site is adjacent to a Palm Coast water treatment facility, several potable water wells, and two subdivisions, which prompted concerns similar to those expressed by Ormond Beach residents when their community was threatened.

According to a report in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Palm Coast resident Angela Dawson said, “It sounds as bad to me as a nuclear waste site. …homes will be devalued, and what about a mass casualty event? You’re putting our lives at risk, now and into the future.

Another resident, Wayne Bruce, said, “This is gallons of diesel fuel you’re talking about. …” we need to study the risks. I’m very concerned about what’s going to happen to our beautiful city.”

Diesel fuel would be just one of several products such as gasoline, ethanol, propane and other sources of energy that would go through the terminal.”

In an effort to protect the best interests of her constituents, Palm Coast Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri was quoted by FlaglerLive! last week expressing her valid fears:

“One of my concerns is, we’re going to pick this land and the county is going to buy it and own the land, and the company is going to go belly-up,” Pontieri said. (Belvedere’s CEO, Edwin Cothron, filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and 2012.) “If it does go belly up we certainly don’t want a wasteland, particularly next to residential development.”

According to the report, even Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris – who championed the project as an economic boon and strategic fuel supply in an emergency – acknowledged the site is not suitable, “Maybe they can try something further down in the county. I don’t know. If it’s safe in the county that’s a big bonus to the tax base, but I don’t think the citizens of Palm Coast have an appetite for it. But that’ll be between the county and Belvedere.”

In an all to familiar twist, Palm Coast and Flagler County residents also learned last week that their elected and appointed officials engaged in secret closed door meetings with Belvedere in late February and early March, keeping things quiet under a weird state provision that exempts certain economic development projects from public disclosure – which means you and I can be kept in the dark while the particulars are “worked out,” (wink, wink).   

In my view, regardless of the project, that’s not transparency – its collusion – and the reaction of vulnerable Palm Coast residents is what happens when people realize they’ve been kept in the dark and fed bullshit…

By last Friday, Mayor Norris, apparently sensitive to public pressure and the reluctance of his “colleagues” formally pulled his support for the fuel terminal. 

For now, it appears the brief discussion of the Peavy Grade location is over. 

So, the frightening saga of a massive bulk fuel terminal looking for a home continues – and the speculation is making residents in southern Flagler County nervous for the same reasons the citizens of Ormond Beach and Palm Coast roundly rejected the project in their backyard. 

In my view, if you live anywhere along the Florida East Coast Railroad in Flagler, Volusia, or Brevard Counties and value your quality of life, this one bears watching…

Volusia County District Schools – Financial Apocalypse?  Here we go again…

From the “what else is new?” column…

With an astronomical annual budget now north of $1.5 billion, on Tuesday, strapped taxpayers, students, and staff learned that Volusia County District Schools is facing yet another Financial Armageddon.      

You know, another chorus of the Poormouth Blues: “difficult decisions,” “program adjustments,” “closing schools,” “reevaluating staff ratios,” and the frightening refrain “gonna try and retain teachers.” 

Go figure…

During a workshop earlier this week, the Volusia County School Board got the annual bad news from Chief Financial Officer Todd Seis that the district currently has a $25.8 million deficit in its general operating fund. Per usual, the district’s senior staff is blaming the Florida Legislature/declining enrollment/school choice/etc. for its perpetual inability to live within its steadily escalating budget. 

During her 2024 campaign for the district 4 School Board seat, Donna Brosemer – whose fiscal conservatism and no-nonsense observations led her to victory over perennial politician Carl Persis last November – wrote in an essay published in the Ormond Beach Observer:

“I got curious recently and decided to look at where we were 10 years ago, especially given all the very loud chest-pounding over population growth. To my surprise, while our general population may be growing, our student population is not. We can’t say the same for the school district budget.

In 2014, we had approximately 61,000 students. Our budget was $777 million.

In 2024, we have approximately 61,000 students. Our budget is $1.4 billion.

My math says that’s a budget increase of approximately 80% in 10 years, with no increase in students.”

(Current estimates show an enrollment of 57,100 for the 2024-25 academic year.)

She also discussed the various windfalls and COVID relief funds that have benefitted the district over the past few years and suggests anyone looking on would think Volusia County Schools are “rolling in dough.”

Read the remainder of Ms. Brosemer’s insightful op/ed here: https://tinyurl.com/mr3at849

During Tuesday’s discussion, District 2 School Board Member Krista Goodrich attempted to calm the waters, explaining “There’s no cause for panic or fear right now. We want to hear from the community, hear from our stakeholders about ways that we can increase our enrollments, ways that we can make our schools more efficient and optimize the size of them.” 

Which is unusual, because Superintendent Carmen Balgobin and her senior “cabinet” have historically been less than receptive to the concerns and suggestions of those most effected by “program adjustments,” school closings, and other broadbrush financial decisions to meet the latest economic catastrophe du jour that have a negative impact on the educational experience of students…   

Hell, don’t take my word for it. 

Ask the City of Ormond Beach how responsive the administration was to retain the now defunct Osceola Elementary rather than convert it to the Riverview Learning Center, an alternative education program for troubled students, that was sprung on residents.

During a 2021 community meeting to address mounting concerns, confused residents heard the same refrain from their neighbors: “I honestly am appalled that everybody was blindsided by the decision with zero input,” and “People living directly next to Osceola had zero idea that this was happening.”

Quickly followed by former School Board member Persis, staring at his shoes and blubbering – “Was it anyone’s intent to keep it from you?  No. Was it anything shady, underhanded? No, I guarantee you that…”

Right.

Confidence inspiring, eh?

In my experience, no one in the Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand has ever given two-shits about stakeholder input on “…ways we can make our schools more efficient;” and the Volusia County School Board has never been known for their stewardship of our hard-earned tax dollars.

For instance, in November 2023, taxpayers watched in stunned silence as Superintendent Balgobin dispatched her redundant deputy superintendent, and an equally unnecessary “Interim Chief Operating Officer,” to prostrate themselves before the Volusia County Council and beg the county to pay for school resource deputies at multiple middle schools. 

It was a pathetic example of how not to sell a funding proposal important to protecting the physical safety of children and staff…   

As you may recall, Balgobin’s hapless emissaries were horribly unprepared – equipped only with a slapdash slideshow and a misguided notion that the Volusia County Council would simply rubber stamp their ask. 

To their credit, the Volusia County Council did something they almost never do – stood on principle – and sent the district representatives away emptyhanded with an admonition to get their facts in order the next time they come grubbing for money.

Then, one year ago, Volusia County taxpayers, students, teachers, and staff learned (by email) that despite repeated concerns – the district had inexplicably continued to use temporary federal emergency relief funds for recurring personnel expenses – knowing well the federal teat would run dry on a date certain…

Why would anyone with a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers do that?

Again, in keeping with the worst traditions of what passes for fiscal stewardship, the finger pointing and obfuscation began with Superintendent Balgobin and Chief Bean Counter Seis claiming they “inherited” the problem and other financial issues from their predecessors…    

As the emergency relief revenue drew to a predictable close, we were told teachers were in danger of being “displaced,” popular electives eliminated, and core subjects diluted amidst growing fears of overcrowded classrooms.

I could go on. And on, and on…

It was “Armageddon” all over again.

Now, the shameless ‘budgeting by fearmongering’ continues…

But why? 

Cui Bono?

As President Elizabeth Albert of Volusia United Educators, the union representing teachers and instructional staff, explained on Tuesday “We understand that the legislature is not doing their part to fund public schools appropriately. However, as it was pointed out in the discussion today, every year we have an initial discussion about the budget where essentially the sky is falling and there’s no money. But we always end up in the black.”

I agree with Board Member Goodrich – with a budget now in excess of $1.5 billion – it is time for the Volusia County School Board to make the tough decisions required of them and stop this tiresome “Chicken Little” routine that marks each budget discussion.

In my view, a good start would be taking a hard look at Superintendent Balgobin’s top-heavy administration, hacking the thick rind of fat off that bloated bureaucracy, then reinvest those funds in the classroom where students learn.

Quote of the Week

“Palm Coast is down to two.

The only candidate with city manager experience has dropped out of contention to be the next city manager of Palm Coast. Sonia Alves-Viveiros informed the city, through a consultant, on April 7 that she had withdrawn.

Alves-Viveiros had been the No. 4-ranked choice out of five.

Less than a week ago, the top-ranked candidate dropped out of contention: William Lee Smith has been hired as the city manager in Nome, Alaska. (That’s about 4,218 miles away.)

The news was reported to the City of Palm Coast on April 1 by Doug Thomas, executive vice president over recruitment and leadership development for SGR, the firm the city has hired to guide its city manager search.

Thomas also reported that another candidate, Michael Reese, also dropped out “to focus his energies on another opportunity,” Thomas wrote. He had been ranked fifth at the City Council’s March 11 meeting.”

–Editor Brian McMillan, writing in the Palm Coast Observer, “Another candidate drops out of city manager search; Palm Coast has two remaining choices,” Monday, April 7, 2025  

It’s no secret. 

The City of Palm Coast has trouble attracting quality leadership – elected or appointed – and the unfortunate results are becoming too obvious to ignore…

According to reports, the top-rated applicant for the vacant Palm Coast city manager position, William “Lee” Smith, formerly of Port Wentworth, Georgia, announced last week that he was taking the job in Nome, Alaska – a community of approximately 3,700 located less than a 150 miles from the Arctic Circle on the Bering Sea – with a climate marked by “long, very cold winters, and short, cool summers…”

According to an article by Diane Haecker writing in the Nome Nugget last month, during his interview with the common council, “Smith also noted that Nome is at the precipice of major growth that may come with the Port of Nome expansion and stressed that his strength lies in preparation for changes of that nature and planning for increased housing needs and economic development strategies. He described his leadership style as “management by walking around,” knowing the departments and effectively communicating.”

Trust me, planning for change and preparation for growth is something the entirety of Florida’s “Fun Coast” could benefit from, and it appears Palm Coast may have lost a true asset in Mr. Smith.

As residents of The Lost City of Deltona and now Palm Coast can attest, instability and dysfunction have profound civic consequences.  According to the Observer’s report, “Thirty-eight candidates applied for the Palm Coast position.

Meanwhile, in similarly sized Palm Bay, 114 candidates applied for the position of city manager, which most recently paid about $260,000…” 

In an odd twist, Palm Bay recently hired former Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton, who fled City Hall amidst political turmoil in 2021. Now, the tumultuous Palm Coast City Council are left with few (as in two) options.

By Monday, things deteriorated when Sonia Alves-Viveiros informed Palm Coast officials through their headhunter that she was withdrawing from consideration citing a “lack of stability” on the city council.  

She isn’t wrong…

According to reports, the remaining candidates are Paul Trombino and Richard Hough, neither of which have served as a city manager before.  

Unfortunately, it now appears any candidate worth their salt would rather work in a Bangladeshi coal mine than suffer through the external influence, self-serving agendas, and political intrigue that have so horribly compromised Palm Coast governance…

And Another Thing!

In July 2024, those self-described “fiscal conservatives” on the Volusia County Council once again dipped into voter approved ECHO funds – adding approximately $10 million in “direct county expenditures” (read: “It’s our piggybank and we take what we want”) – to include $3.5 million for Councilman Don Dempsey’s self-indulgent motocross facility…

In my view, shoehorning the pet projects of council members while supplanting recurring repair and replacement expenditures for existing infrastructure with funds earmarked for new grants by wrapping it in bureaucratese and shoving it down our throats is not a compliant use of these tax dollars.

It’s bait-and-switch sneak thievery…

Most responsible governments (without a slimy tax supported slush fund at their disposal) properly budget for asset repair and replacement obligations each year. In Volusia County, senior staff simply craft a narrative that fits within the ballot language that was used to convince voters to renew the ECHO and Forever programs.   

Rather than justify the expenditure in a competitive process with other public and non-profit applicants, the County of Volusia simply reaches into the pot of money using an obscure 2020 resolution passed by the Volusia County Council authorizing the ballot initiative and permitting the council to use ECHO funds for “direct county expenditure for County government projects or by grants-in-aid awards.”

I’ve said this before, but when I voted to extend the ECHO and Forever programs, I had no idea that those dollars would ultimately be used for “cultural and historic” amenities like repairing long neglected beach ramps, walkovers, and docks, renovating public restrooms and parking lots at county facilities, or building a multi-million-dollar motocross facility to eliminate overhead for a yet to be identified for-profit motorsports contractor.  

In my view, the premeditated shim-sham Director of Community Services Director Dr. Brad Burbaugh is pulling on unsuspecting Volusia County taxpayers to misappropriate Volusia Forever funds – tax dollars earmarked for the purchase of conservation land to protect Volusia County’s biodiversity – should be stopped. 

Now.

At their September 2024 meeting – without being told the site was being purchased for Dempsey’s motocross facility – the Volusia Forever Advisory Committee was merely asked to use suitability criteria to determine if wetlands located on the property being considered off State Road 44 made the parcel eligible for further consideration.  

According to a sparse application filed by the property owner, when asked to “Briefly explain why this parcel(s) should be considered as eligible for purchase in the Volusia Forever Land Acquisition Program,” the company simply responded:

“You called us to buy it.”

You read that right. 

It is now chillingly apparent that Dr. Burbaugh went property shopping with our money to find a suitable location for Councilman Dempsey’s motocross track – then used carefully crafted smoke-and-mirrors to sneak it past the appropriations requirements of Volusia Forever…   

That’s wrong.

Trust in government is essential in a functioning democracy, and public confidence in those we elect and appoint to represent our best interests forms the foundation of good governance.  

If this cheap deception is permitted, it will cement the “business as usual” skepticism that has destroyed public trust in county government, and it will become perfectly acceptable for senior staff to quibble resolutions, twist ballot language, and stretch programmatic intent to shoehorn anything and everything they wish.

Including the pet personal projects of sitting politicians or their influential cronies…

In my view, those machinations are what destroyed the credibility of the Volusia ECHO and Forever programs before – and why the Volusia County Council still suffers from the stigma of the “trust issue” that has left us the disheveled civic laughingstock for the remainder of Central Florida. 

The ECHO and Forever funding for the incongruous purchase of land for “conservation and outdoor motorized recreation” – along with the long-delayed discussion of permitting driving on the now closed section of the beach from International Speedway Boulevard to Auditorium Boulevard in Daytona Beach – will come before the Volusia County Council next Tuesday.

The fun begins at 4:00pm in the Volusia County Council Chambers in DeLand.

You might want to be there for this one… 

That’s all for me.  Have a great weekend, y’all!