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:

Ormond Beach: Positive Change Begins with Civic Introspection

The undervalued concept of “civic introspection” refers to the process by which community leaders reflect on their values, reinforce a civic culture, identify responsibilities, determine accountability, examine needs, shortfalls, and encourage positive citizen engagement, particularly in response to significant events.

I’m not talking about bureaucratic navel gazing. Rather, a comprehensive review of what works, what doesn’t, and what can be changed organizationally and legislatively to better meet current and emerging challenges.

That’s not as easy as it sounds. 

Especially in the cloistered confines of a government administration building – or the politically-charged pressure cooker of an election year – when incumbents would prefer to keep warts and blemishes away from the light of day.

Last week, Ormond Beach City Commissioner Travis Sargent demonstrated the best qualities of civic self-reflection when he began to question how, when, where, and why his city’s legal staff seeks outside legal counsel. 

Commissioner Sargent’s questions came in the still smoldering aftermath of two development-related lawsuits – the travesty at Tomoka Oaks, which will see 254 homes shoehorned onto the former golf course – and the ongoing push-and-shove with the City of Daytona Beach over utility service to Avalon Park (the future “city within a city” that will fundamentally change both communities forever).

According to a report in the Ormond Beach Observer, “During his closing comments on Tuesday, April 7, City Commissioner Travis Sargent asked staff to look into the city ordinance on legal representation and bring back a consideration to add language concerning the use of lawyers outside of the city’s legal department.

“I’m not trying to take away anything,” Sargent said. “I’m just trying to add to our decision-making process.”

It was painfully apparent that the Tomoka Reserve development consortium’s ultra-sharp land use attorneys simply outpaced the city’s legal apparatus at every turn – publicly beating them like a cheap gong – leaving a battered and bullied Ormond Beach City Attorney Randy Hayes on his heels, with a grim thousand-yard stare, and a discernable trepidation about what the inevitable loss would look like.

It didn’t help that Ormond Beach was fighting with both hands and legs hogtied behind its back as the Florida legislature continues to serve its masters in the development industry, stack the deck, and preempt local growth management regulations…

In late March, the Commission rejected a settlement offer in the Avalon Park case, something many see as an increasingly risky (and expensive) proposition now that the developer and Daytona Beach have marched the matter into federal court.

According to the Observer, “…the commission once again rejected a $2.3 million settlement offer in the ongoing Avalon Park dispute with the developer and the City of Daytona Beach. A suit has now been filed at the federal level, claiming the delay in development caused by the utility dispute (Ormond was designated as the water provider for the land in 2006) has caused Avalon Park a $50 million loss.”

The vote to reject the settlement offer was 4-1, with Sargent casting the lone vote against.

In both cases, the City Attorney’s office engaged the same outside law firm…

In my experience, most local governments have a process whereby the elected body can authorize outside legal counsel and establish limits on compensation.  A commonsense (and fiscally responsible) procedure that puts everyone on the same page, establishes a scope of work, sets expectations and defines the services sought.

For his part, Mayor Jason Leslie said, “We have a lot of decisions to make here sitting on the dais, right, and then some of these other decisions are made outside of our purview here.  Things change. These ordinances that we have, things were probably done differently back then than they are now.”

In my view, it is refreshing in this election year to see Ormond Beach elected officials beginning to think beyond the “That’s the way we’ve always done it” civic myopia that keeps many communities mired in bureaucratic mediocrity.  

It is abundantly clear to anyone watching that it is time for the Ormond Beach City Commission to get their heads in the game – engage in a comprehensive self-examination – and take an active role in decisions that have been abdicated to senior staff for far too long.

Only then can the elected body begin the process of ensuring their constituents are being adequately (and aggressively) represented in matters with potentially catastrophic impacts on the community.   

Volusia’s County: “When First We Practice to Deceive…”

“When in danger or in doubt, run in circles scream and shout!”

–Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny

What I witnessed during a March meeting of the Volusia County Council still bugs me.  That weird uneasiness that comes when what we suspect is suddenly revealed – the unspoken said aloud, the glimpse behind the curtain, a brief revelation that suddenly proves our worst suspicions were true all along.

It caused me to recall ol’ Nick Copernicus’ thoughts on “epistemic humility,” the insight to recognize the limits of one’s knowledge: “To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”

That hard-earned wisdom reminded me that We, The Little People have no idea what these people we elect to represent our interests are capable of when it comes to furthering their personal interests or those of their political benefactors. 

It is increasingly apparent that our elected officials on the Volusia County Council have given up on the concept of truth, transparency, and honor in public service in favor of some grossly chaotic sham – a weird pastiche of Three Stooges slapstick performed as a gut-wrenching Greek tragedy…

Those who hold senior public leadership positions know (at least they should) that perception becomes reality for outsiders peering in at the complex watchworks of a cloistered bureaucracy when what they are told does not comport with what they see with their own eyes.

Those suspicions became reality last month as concerned residents looked on in stunned silence as Councilman Don Dempsey’s cheese slipped off his cracker… 

During a March meeting, Dempsey suffered a very public meltdown, his petulant tantrum eerily reminiscent of the mad Captain Philip Francis Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, obsessing over Volusia Forever and the contractual provisions of conservation easements, perpetuity provisions, and partnerships with state environmental agencies.

In the view of many, it appeared Dempsey was suffering a weird delusional disorder, living in an illusory world where only he could sense the existential danger posed by partnerships that further the goals of the venerated voter-approved conservation program.

Many residents were taken aback when Dempsey began raving about urgent threats, like being contractually blocked from building a nuclear reactor in Volusia County when fossil fuels are exhausted and the Floridan aquifer runs dry – leaving “Fun Coast” residents 1,000 years from now doomed to a Mad Max dystopia – all because we selfishly voted to conserve some ecologically sensitive greenspace in a previous millennia… 

When Councilman Danny Robins made a motion to remove the discussion of “policy considerations” surrounding the voter-approved Volusia Forever conservation program from the agenda, many in the standing room only crowd that packed the Volusia County Council chambers were relieved.

But not Mr. Dempsey.  He continued to pout and pule like a recalcitrant child… 

Then, in a typical VCC eleventh-hour ambush, Dempsey continued to press the issue during closing comments, claiming his “colleagues” were attempting to “gag” him – publicly embarrassing his fellow elected officials by equating them to that moon bat California Governor Gavin Newsome – apoplectic that no one wanted to hear more of his Clarence Darrow routine.

At the end of the day (literally) Dempsey finagled a future workshop to discuss contractual issues and the potential effects of pending legislation on the tax supported conservation program.

It’s what happened next that raised eyebrows.

Many observers were shocked (not surprised) by the brazen suggestion of Councilman David Santiago to sanitize the intent of Dempsey’s “workshop” as a means of easing it past those who left thinking the issue was dead by rebranding it an “educational session.” 

That’s psychological semantics, not transparency.

This manipulative “small bites” tactic was also urged by County Manager George Recktenwald who explained:

“When you bring the whole thing, I think that it brings the impression that you are trying to overhaul.”

Many Volusia County residents enjoyed an “aha!” moment as the behind-the-scenes deception and choreography that routinely happens in the secluded inner sanctum was suddenly on public display:

How are we going to polish this turd to camouflage our intent?

How can we keep this contentious issue at a bureaucratic simmer while diverting the attention of our constituents?

In my view, this council’s pathological need to whitewash controversial issues is indicative of the conniving behavior that is destroying the public’s trust in their government.  Let me reassure everyone that what you hear and observe at what passes for Volusia County Council meetings is correct – hard to believe – but accurate.

It really is a shit-show of epic proportions.  

Your eyes aren’t playing tricks and the everyman’s soapbox of social media isn’t always wrong.  

We’re not all mistaken. 

Our cogent assessment of the acts, omissions, and premeditated procrastination we watch month in and month out is valid – and you have the right to form an alternative opinion to the bureaucracy’s carefully crafted narrative – free from the bullying and spite of hubristic perennial politicians.

That’s strategic distraction, not statesmanship.

These political finger puppets have already proven, time-and-again, who they work for – and it isn’t us…

This election season, I urge you to do your homework, get involved, become educated voters and elect quality local and state candidates with the temperament, ethical courage, transparency, and sense of civic and environmental responsibility to represent the interests of all Volusia County residents. 

We deserve better.

Quote of the Week

“If something has already been zoned a certain way, Board Chair Doug Thomas said he wasn’t interested in trying to take property rights away from owners and tell them what they can or can’t do.

“There’s a lot of residents in the city who would like you to put a sign out at the border of Georgia and say nobody else can move to Florida,” Thomas said. “But just because that’s what those people, that minority of people, say doesn’t mean that that’s what’s best for everyone.”

–Ormond Beach Planning Board Chairman Doug Thomas, as quoted by reporter Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer, “Ormond Beach Planning Board members weigh property rights and city planning,” Friday, April 10, 2026

I’m sure Chairman Thomas and his fellow members of the Ormond Beach Planning Board have the best interests of established residents at heart. 

Right?   

Surely, they temper the cold letter of zoning regulations by considering our quality of life, health, safety, greenspace, and the unique character of our neighborhoods when making life-altering recommendations regarding the number, frequency, and physical appropriateness of residential and commercial projects that will our forever alter our grandchildren’s lives and livelihoods, right?    

Because when the chair of our planning board tells the Ormond Beach Observer he’s not interested in curbing obscene sprawl in this once quaint community because people want to move here – describing the overwhelming number of his neighbors who are screaming for commonsense planning and zoning regulations and an end to state preemptions as “that minority of people,” I get confused…

And concerned.

If our planning and zoning process has become little more than a Chinese menu, why do we need a “Planning Board” gumming up the works? 

In my experience, when a hotel reaches maximum occupancy, management hangs a “No Vacancy” sign to alert potential lodgers that the property currently has no more available space.

Because the alternative – packing guests like cordwood in every nook and cranny, placing cots in hallways and ballrooms, overburdening recreational amenities, gridlocked parking lots, and overcrowding limited facilities – is unsafe and unsanitary.

Letting potential customers know there is no room at the inn is a temporary measure that protects the property from the ravages of excess and overuse, frees staff to meet current needs, ensures existing guests have a quality experience, and allows management time to plan – and improve infrastructure to accommodate more customers within set parameters – so that expansion does not infringe on neighbors, current residents, or detract from the unique character of the hotel that attracted visitors to begin with.

Unfortunately, our ‘powers that be’ in local governments here on Florida’s Fun Coast – Ormond Beach included – have failed to grasp (or manage) the myriad issues that occur when one attempts to shove ten pounds of shit into a five pound sack – a crude metaphor for the malignant growth that is rapidly metastasizing along the spine of Volusia County from Farmton to the Flagler County line – sprawl that is now threatening once rural areas of West Volusia with high-density development and its detrimental impacts to our environment, infrastructure, and quality of life.

With evidence mounting that unchecked growth is the principal concern of residents across Volusia County, why do those we have elected and appointed to represent our interests continue to ignore the fears of their constituents?  

Elections have consequences.  This is one of them…

And Another Thing!

Since I retired, few things spark my legendary ire. 

During my productive life, I was rightfully accused of having sharp elbows, vociferously defending my position with no qualms engaging in an argument, fistfight, or footrace to prove I was right.  Call it passion, or the arrogance of an outsized ego (it was both), but I can admit now that my approach could have been different, softer, more collegial, less defensive, and far less confrontational…     

Now, in my old age, I get more annoyed than angry. 

For instance, running out of vermouth is a personal pet peeve – and I’m not a huge fan of the roar of a leaf blower on a quiet Sunday morning when I’m nursing the night before – but it takes a lot to ignite my incendiary anger as I age not-so-gracefully.

That said, sitting up here in the cheap seats watching elected and appointed officials – those who accept public funds to serve in the public interest – deflect responsibility for their actions, omissions, and procrastinations (and those of their subordinates), “gaslighting” their constituents with contrived narratives designed to avert accountability, while projecting blame on those with the courage to speak out on the issues, makes my blood boil, dammit…   

On Tuesday evening, during a contentious meeting of the Volusia County School Board, I watched as Superintendent Carmen Balgobin spun a whopper, openly crafting a skewed plot to escape the fact she was caught flatfooted sneaking through a half-baked plan to move the Riverview Learning Center – an alternative program for students of all grades with intense emotional, conduct, and behavioral needs – to a fenced off building on the Holly Hill K-5 campus.

Last week, Holly Hill city officials and residents were blindsided – taken by complete surprise – when news of the Riverview move escaped the cloistered confines of Balgobin’s Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand leaving confused stakeholders rightfully feeling left out of the planning process. 

Because they were.

Unconscionably, Balgobin used her sizeable soapbox Tuesday evening to mischaracterize the situation – claiming that her staff was “disrespected” in a meeting with overwrought city officials – turning the focus from her lack of transparency to a virtue signaling description of “our kids” in the Riverview program, insinuating those students assigned to the “alternative” program were mischaracterized as delinquents by what she described as a “handful of individuals” spreading “erroneous information.”

Bullshit.

This latest debacle has nothing to do with the virtues of Riverview Learning Center – which, according to Balgobin, spends up to $3 million a year to provide “mental health services” to just 30 students who, as Balgobin describes it, have experienced “trauma” – and everything to do with the district’s pathological secrecy and abysmal communication practices.     

For instance, in 2024, after the Balgobin administration caused a community uproar by failing to notify Ormond Beach residents and city officials that the Riverview facility was being moved to the Osceola Elementary campus, former District 4 School Board member Carl Persis was left staring dejectedly at his shoes, attempting to deflect blame using the same tired “misinformation” tactic in a report by WESH-2:

“Volusia County School Board Member Carl Persis said there’s a lot of misinformation out there about these students being dangerous.”

“These are just just regular kids that just made some some errors,” Persis said.”

“Persis says most of them are there because they either got into a fight, used some bad language, or brought a small amount of drugs to class, but none of these kids have been in jail.”

But that’s not the only reason Ormond Beach residents are upset, many near the former Osceola School say they weren’t properly notified this vote would happen.”

Sound familiar?

On Tuesday, to my complete surprise, Superintendent Balgobin denigrated Barker’s View from her high and mighty perch on the dais – accusing me of “never verifying” sources. 

How in the hell does Carmen Balgobin know who my “sources” are? 

Or how I vet information received from dedicated employees at all levels of Volusia County District Schools who reach out to express their silent disgust with Balgobin’s gross mismanagement, self-aggrandizement, and manipulation of data to skew outcomes and control the narrative?  

In turn, Balgobin unraveled in a paranoid lecture – spewing scary stories that we have people in our community who are “…truly committed to disrupting the educational process and the success of our students…”

Really?

It was a cheap diversion – a reversal of blame. Bureaucratic DARVO on full display.

How dare Superintendent Balgobin wag her finger in the face of engaged residents, taxpayers, staff, and stakeholders who voice their very real concerns for the education of Volusia County students – the very future of our community – and take exception to the gross mismanagement of a massive bureaucracy now commanding $1.4 billion annually amid declining enrollment and dubious school grades that defy logic?

Superintendent Balgobin ended her impetuous dressing down with an ominous “enough is enough.”

I agree. 

In this election year, I’ve had enough of those in government and publicly funded organizations that we generously compensate with our hard-earned tax dollars hectoring us with a constant stream of “you’re wrong, I’m right,” “miscommunication,” “erroneous information” while gaslighting constituents with virtuous tall tales as a means of disguising the blunders and secrecy of a bloated bureaucracy intent on covering its wide and increasingly obvious tracks.

Enough is enough.

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