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:

The Debacle at Daytona: Justice Demands Accountability  

In legal parlance a “fishing expedition” is described as seeking broad, unspecified information that is seemingly irrelevant to the focus of an investigation.  Casting a wide net in hopes of developing evidence of wrongdoing or confirming unsubstantiated allegations.  

Based upon information contained in the latest round of subpoenas issued by Special Counsel Richard Mantei, a special prosecutor with the Florida Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit investigating questionable spending in Daytona Beach municipal government, it is now apparent this is no prosecutorial fishing trip… 

After initially compelling Deputy City Manager/Fire Chief Dru Driscoll and Deputy Fire Chief Jessica Matthews to provide sworn statements and additional information regarding disturbing audit findings in the fire department, last week the Office of Statewide Prosecution issued additional subpoenas to key city officials.   

These latest subpoenas demand information, documents, “electronically stored information,” and communications from city owned and personal devices of City Manager Deric Feacher, Mayor Derrick Henry, Growth Management and Planning Director James Morris, Fire Chief Dru Driscoll, Business Enterprise Management Director Michael Stallworth and Commissioners Paula Reed and Dannette Henry.

According to a follow-up report by WFTV-9 investigative reporter Demie Johnson, “Also, on the list – all city purchasing cards, their transactions, and who is using them.

Bills, receipts, invoices and email transactions related to Step-by-Step Expressions inc. or themathparty.com, have also been requested. The mayor is listed as the Executive Director of Step-By-Step Expressions inc. on his bio on the city’s website. Sunbiz.com lists his wife as the CEO.

According to themathparty.com, the mayor’s wife founded that organization as well.

To be clear, just because city officials are listed in these subpoenas, does not mean they are guilty or accused of a crime.”

According to a report earlier this week by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, the scope narrowed further on Friday afternoon when another subpoena arrived at the City Clerk’s office, “…seeking records connected to Feacher again, Chief Financial Officer Natalia Eckroth, and former Daytona Beach city employee Amber Spears, who worked in purchasing. There’s also a specific inquiry about the Mayor’s Math and Fitness Bootcamp, and a 2024 Childhood Obesity Grant.”

In addition, “The assistant state prosecutor said he wants all records and emails, including attachments, relating to city purchasing cards containing the following terms alone or in any combination: circumvent, violation, hemorrhaging, non-employees, splitting charges and out of contract.

Mantei is also seeking any agenda summary, application, bid or description regarding funding of the Mayor’s Math and Fitness Bootcamp, and the city manager office’s acceptance of Childhood Obesity Grant 2024 together with documentation of any payouts or spending from that fund including all accountable payments for the total value of the grant.”

Look, it doesn’t take the deductive reasoning of Hercule Poirot to recall that in 2024, the City of Daytona Beach received a $125,000 grant as a part of the Childhood Obesity Prevention & Environmental Health and Sustainability Awards sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the American Beverage Association’s Foundation for a Healthy America.

It was in all the papers…

At the time, Mayor Henry said the grant funds “…will be instrumental in positively impacting the children participating in the city’s summer programs. With a focus on math and fitness strategies, the grant funds will help improve our youngest residents’ academic, physical, and emotional well-being.”

Say what?  “Math and Fitness” go together like kittens and sauerkraut?

Now, we learn that Mayor Henry and his wife own a company with a website called themathparty.com – which just happens to advertise “…a motivational musical method of mathematics created by Dr. Stephanie Pasley-Henry, to amplify the interest, retention and achievement levels of students who struggle in mathematics.” 

It also uses the “Mayor’s Math and Fitness Bootcamp” in its online marketing… 

Look, I’m not hurling accusations here – just connecting the increasingly visible dots – but surly Mayor Henry didn’t use city sponsored youth programs as a conduit to direct grant funds to a company owned and operated by himself and his wife?   

Let’s hope not. 

Because, in my view, that would come perilously close to violating Florida’s statutory prohibitions on elected officials, acting in a private capacity, selling goods or services to their own agency… 

The metaphorical term “House of Cards” describes the precariousness of a delicate situation, relationship, or plan – where seemingly insignificant or unrelated actions or events can cause the entire system to collapse on itself.

It is commonly used when describing a criminal enterprise that falls like a “house of cards” when people get nervous, start talking to law enforcement, and the evidence mounts against co-conspirators… 

In this case, it appears the significant questions surrounding how the municipal government has stewarded public funds – to include increasingly credible allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse – may prove to be the downfall of a pernicious system where certain entrenched insiders and outside influencers have played fast-and-loose with government funds – or enriched themselves at the public’s expense.

Despite Mayor Derrick Henry’s rambling diatribe last evening supporting City Manager Feacher’s continued employment while attempting to sugarcoat serious financial irregularities, time will tell, as the cards begin to fall…

If the state’s investigation, and any resultant prosecution, proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Daytona Beach elected officials or city employees violated the ethical and fiduciary standards expected of those who accept public funds to serve in the public interest – someone should go to jail. 

This is as serious as it gets. Preserving the public’s trust in their government is all-important and justice demands accountability.

Based upon what has been reported by WFTV’s Demie Johnson, the News-Journal’s Eileen Zaffiro-Kean, and others, it appears Mayor Henry and senior city administrators are about to be reminded of that… 

Volusia County Council: The Benefits of an Election Year

Ah, that every year could be election year here on the “Fun Coast,” eh?    

A topsy-turvy time when up is down, down is up, lambs lay down with lions, dogs and cats live in complete harmony – those halcyon days every two to four years when those running for reelection treat We, The Little People as though our concerns and input actually matter to them…

For instance, on Tuesday, Volusia County residents got a glimpse at the fleeting benefit of election year optics when our County Council suddenly transmogrified from bought-and-paid-for development shills into tree-hugging dirt worshipers when they voted unanimously to allocate $20.1 million in Volusia Forever conservation funds to purchase the River Bend Ranch, an ecologically sensitive parcel consisting of 1,299-acres in southern Volusia County.

To show just how wild and wacky things can get during election season, District 1 Councilman Don Dempsey – who previously joined with his “colleagues” to misappropriate $4.62 million in Volusia Forever and ECHO funds to purchase 356 acres off S.R. 44 to accommodate his pet motorcross track – pasted a fake smile on his face and somehow championed the effort from the dais without choking on his own sarcasm: “To me, this is exactly what Volusia Forever’s all about.”

(Now I’m gagging…)

The River Bend Ranch is directly adjacent to the county-owned 1,385-acre Deering Preserve at Deep Creek and includes approximately two miles of frontage along the St. Johns River, and 1.3 miles of frontage along Deep Creek, providing water resource protections in addition to land conservation.

According to a county report, the conservation land holds some 561 acres of wetlands and “The property lies within the St. Johns River floodplain and supports natural water storage, filtration, and flood attenuation for the Middle St. Johns River basin.”

The purchase satisfied Councilman Dempsey because it was completed without state or federal partnerships, which means some distant iteration of the Volusia County Council can theoretically say “screw the wishes of those puritanical pilgrim’s way back in 2026,” and sell the property for development or use it to meet the needs of the county…  

“I’m in full support of this,” Dempsey crowed. “The fact that we own it fee simple, the fact that there’s no partners, the fact that in 500 years, if the city and council finds some emergency need for it, they have that ability to do what they need to do to, take care of whatever the issue at hand might be in the future. I have no problem with it being forever in perpetuity, as long as the county owns it by themselves.”

Bullshit…

In my view, the acquisition of River Bend Ranch is the very essence of the voter approved/tax supported Volusia Forever program and speaks well of those intrepid local environmentalists who worked hard to spread the word on the importance of conserving this sensitive land to future generations, forever.  

Here’s hoping the Volusia County Council will heed the will of the people, respect the letter and spirit of Volusia Forever, and place a charter amendment on this year’s ballot requiring a vote of We, The Little People – those who paid for the properties and expect them to be protected in perpetuity – before conservation lands can be sold, removed, or degraded by a manipulated “supermajority” vote of the council the next time developers stack the deck…    

I know you rarely hear this from “Barker the Bitcher,” but absent a brief bout of bilious nausea caused by Councilmen Troy Kent and David Santiago’s shameless politicking from the dais during their closing comments, it was a surprisingly good meeting. 

While I didn’t agree with everything they “accomplished” (and kept waiting for the wheel to come off the cart as Chairman Jeff Brower droned on about God knows what before mercifully adjourning the festivities) it was a rare example of a (relatively) painless and productive public meeting.

For instance, in approving the consent agenda, the VCC allocated $477,113.08 to “update” antiquated audio/video capabilities in the council chamber. 

About time…

For years, what passes for a meeting of the Volusia County Council has sounded like it was being broadcast from the dark side of the moon – transmitted between rusty tomato cans connected with taut waxed twine – as our ‘powers that be’ conduct what passes for the “people’s business” and us rubes who pay the bills put in our ear trumpets and lean closer to our choppy YouTube feed. 

I’ve heard clearer communications transmitted in chirps and squeaks from space probes in the Kuiper Belt…

While things have gotten slightly more comprehensible in recent years; historically, the sound quality, unreliability, and physical manipulation required to remain marginally connected to these staged bimonthly hootenanny’s sucks.

Am I wrong?

Kudos to the Volusia County Council for bringing communications with their long-suffering constituents into the 21^st Century… 

The Lost City of Deltona: A Community in Flames

I’m frequently asked why I rarely write about the conflagration that is the Lost City of Deltona anymore, and the reason is simple: I take no pleasure in kicking a horribly crippled and self-destructing municipal government now that it is hopelessly beyond repair.

In my dim view, there is no hope of saving Deltona in its present form and configuration.

Well-meaning people send me the latest ugliness coming out of Volusia County’s largest city by population – a toxic kakistocracy “governed” by an elected body that, in my view, should be uniformly purged from the dais and prosecuted by Gov. Ron DeSantis for gross malfeasance and abject stupidity – that includes the oafish cartoon character of a mayor that I believe represents the worst of the worst in local governance.  

In my view, Mayor Santiago Avila, Jr is a shameless political poseur with a history of shady self-promotion who relies on a public paycheck to feed his family absent any visible means of support. 

That’s dangerous, because he’s desperate.

By any metric, Mayor Avila is a political vagrant who survives by promoting the whims and wants of those special interests willing to fund his feeble political ambitions, a disreputable hack who exploits a vulnerable community and uses public funds as his personal piggybank – much like a parasitic leech who survives off the blood of its host.

This week, Councilwoman Dori Howington, a mawkish political amateur whose redeeming quality is she fought valiantly against unchecked development in Deltona (to no avail) had something of a psychological meltdown during a shambolic public meeting. 

It was a godawful sideshow that saw Howington removed/resigned as Deltona’s representative to Team Volusia’s executive board (that “good old boys travel club” that is perhaps the biggest corporate welfare shim-sham ever to infect Volusia County governance). 

During the meeting, that disastrous cabal of half-brights that now control the Lost City of Deltona insinuated that Councilwoman Howington’s employment as Chief Financial Officer with the Volusia County Clerk of the Court may be a conflict of interest.

Why? Because the Clerk has ancillary dealings with the City of Deltona (and every other municipality in Volusia County).

Bullshit.

This week, an off-the-dais City Hall dust-up between Councilwoman Howington and Councilwoman Emma Santiago – whose husband, Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago (another perennial scrounger whose only viable income appears to be based on political connections) who fancies himself a behind-the-scenes puppeteer of Deltona politics – dissolved into the latest shitstorm to befall the long-suffering community. 

According to a report in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Deltona Commissioner Emma Santiago is seeking criminal charges against fellow Commissioner Dori Howington, alleging that Howington threatened her and touched her without her consent at City Hall.

The tension began at a Deltona City Commission meeting on May 4, according to the report filed with the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.

During an audit presentation, Santiago raised concerns about Howington’s employment with the Volusia County Clerk of Court and asked whether the city should get an opinion on a potential conflict of interest.”

According to the report, Ms. Santiago’s complaint has been forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office for review.  In typical form, Volusia County Councilman Santiago saw reason to weigh in, huffing-and-puffing that Howington should resign.  From someone who routinely attacks citizens and civic volunteers who disagree with his self-serving antics, I find that rich…

I wonder why they want Howington gone?   

Is it because she championed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s SB 180 that preempted local control of development regulations and granted Mr. Santiago’s benefactors in the development industry carte blanch to build when, where, and what they want?

Or because she won’t get along and go along with the status quo?

I’m asking.  

If you live and pay taxes in the City of Deltona, you should too – then follow the money…    

Quote of the Week

“Local transportation engineer Maryam Ghyabi White, CEO of Ghyabi Consulting and Management, said the project has been years in the making and is critical for the region’s continued growth.

“This project has been a long time coming,” Ghyabi White said.

She said the improvements will help address traffic concerns while supporting residents, businesses and visitors traveling through the area.

“The initiative reflects a focused effort to improve connectivity, reduce congestion and support the needs of growing communities,” she said.

Ghyabi White added that without the accelerated funding approach, the project likely would have remained years away from construction.

State leaders say the broader initiative represents a significant investment in Florida’s transportation system, targeting key bottlenecks across the state.

For Volusia County, officials say the I-95 and U.S. 1 interchange reconstruction project represents a major step toward improving one of the region’s most heavily traveled corridors and preparing for continued population growth.”

–Reporter Rich Carroll writing in the Ormond Beach Observer, “DeSantis visits Ormond Beach to announce I-95 and U.S. 1 interchange project,” Friday, May 1, 2026

Our areas preeminent transportation engineer (and all-around good egg) Maryam Ghyabi White and I are the most unlikely of friends – we shouldn’t agree on anything, but I always come away vastly more enlightened on the issues of the day whenever we have a chance to talk.

She truly cares about transportation infrastructure and its importance to public safety and our quality of life.

By any metric, Maryam is infinitely smarter than I am – and much better connected in Tallahassee and beyond – which means, like the old E. F. Hutton ad implored, when she speaks, I listen.  

I know how hard she has worked to see the I-95/U.S.1 interchange in Ormond Beach, and other long neglected local transportation infrastructure improvements, become a reality in our fast-growing region.

That said, I could do without the Florida Department of Transportation’s disingenuous hype and spin that erodes the public’s trust in the process.     

Last week, many of our local political “movers & shakers” donned their finery and gathered with Gov. Ron DeSantis near the most dilapidated interchange in Florida as he announced the launch of a much-anticipated reconstruction project that has languished for decades.

For years, area residents have been forced to accept the decrepit appearance of the wholly inadequate span – one of the oldest interchanges in the Florida highway system – which has stood as a repellant gateway to Ormond Beach’s largest commercial corridor.   

As a result, it became another monument to mediocrity – a shining example of how infrastructure and concurrency have been considered an afterthought by local and state officials – during this period of unprecedented growth.

A key component of any political dog-and-pony-show is a fabricated whopper – a contrived spin that allows senior officials to take credit for something/anything that can be couched as a positive after the bureaucratically laborious (and insanely expensive) process of prioritizing, engineering, and funding public infrastructure projects. 

Last week’s scripted announcement by Gov. DeSantis at Destination Daytona was no different.

After decades of waiting, in September 2023, some FDOT mouthpiece in Tallahassee swagged a wild-ass guess and arbitrarily pulled a date out of their backside, then announced construction of the interchange was set to begin in “Fall 2027.” 

At the time, then Ormond Beach Mayor (now the District 28 representative in the Florida House) Bill Partington said the obvious: “That intersection has failed at a mind-boggling level on a daily basis,” he added. “For the last few years, there have been a number of deaths and serious traffic accidents.” 

Even though the interchange was repeatedly identified as “antiquated” by senior FDOT officials – and universally seen as an eyesore by area residents and business owners – no one in state government seemed interested in expediting the project as years drug into decades.

“Mind-boggling” indeed.

Thank God for the astonishing power of an election year…

Now that Gov. DeSantis is nearing the end of his term and turning his eye to what comes next, we’re told he is using something called “accelerated funding” to start the project a year ahead of schedule.    

Great.  Whatever it takes…  

Given the fact that area residents have been forced to accept the shabby landscaping and run-down appearance of the now dangerously outdated span – an overgrown blot on the landscape that has kept much of north US-1 a blighted wasteland – as far as I’m concerned, FDOT and Gov. DeSantis can couch it anyway they want. 

Look, I don’t care who takes credit for the reconstruction of the US-1/I-95 interchange, let’s just hope FDOT moves swiftly to ensure the “3-4 year completion estimate” (read: 5-6 years and millions in subsequent “budget modifications”) is anywhere close to accurate. 

The City of Ormond Beach has deserved better for a long, long time…

And Another Thing!

“For the good of the city, for the restoration of public trust and for the stability of this council, I’m asking you to reconsider and step down from your position,” Knight said.”

–Orange City At-Large Council Member Dana Knight, speaking to Mayor Kellianne Marks, as quoted by reporter Robin Mimna writing in the West Volusia Beacon, “Orange City mayor faces renewed calls to resign after tense council meeting,” Wednesday, April 29, 2026

During last week’s Orange City Council meeting, Councilmember Dana Knight reiterated what many residents of her beleaguered community have been openly shouting for months – it is time for Kellianne “My Name is Mayor!” Marks to resign.

Following Ms. Knight’s remarks, a clearly overwrought District 3 Councilmember Dawn Tiamson added to the tragicomedy by reading from a melodramatic memorandum announcing she is withdrawing her candidacy for re-election.

According to the Beacon’s report, “In the memo, dated April 28, Tiamson cited concerns about “the conduct and operational dynamics of both staff and council,” writing that current conditions fall short of “the standards of professionalism, accountability, and effective governance” expected by residents.

“I will not associate my candidacy with an environment that does not support those principles,” Tiamson wrote.”

In light of the constant churn and roil that has gripped the community, in my view, Mayor Marks should follow suit and step aside.  

It’s time.

The tension that shrouds Orange City like a shit-fog is a direct result of the embroglio started by Mayor Marks last December when – in a petty pique of personal embarrassment and hubristic arrogance – she demanded an “emergency” city council meeting in order to fire City Clerk Kaley Burleson. 

That didn’t work out quite as Mayor Marks expected…

As a result, many in the small West Volusia community have continued to call for the mayor’s resignation during subsequent public meetings. 

It seems each council meeting, after first receiving a brusque “blanket first warning” from Mayor Marks – an off-putting monologue letting citizens know they will be removed should they breech her subjective notion of “decorum” – concerned residents dutifully approach their elected officials to demand an independent investigation and ask that Mayor Marks’ show some dignity and leave.   

When emotions get high and citizens react from the gallery, Mayor Marks goes off on a gavel slamming power trip, and the entire affair devolves into a theater of the absurd.

As a veteran voyeur of local civic affairs, I have found that megalomania is common in politics.  In my view, Ms. Marks’ gross hypocrisy, vindictiveness, and willingness to destroy others in order to deflect blame marks the nadir of that particular political personality disorder…

As a result, Mayor Marks’ reign has become a farcical sideshow – a source of division and controversy – as evidenced by her reference to engaged constituents as “riff-raff,” flippant dismissal of legitimate citizen concerns as a “witch hunt,” and increasingly bizarre behavior, like engaging an 11-year-old boy to defend her at the podium during a public meeting.

In my view, it is time for Mayor Marks to overcome her pathological persecution complex and awake to the sobering realization that she alone is responsible for this ongoing distraction. 

The good citizens of Orange City have every right to feel anger and disappointment, and to seek the removal of Mayor Marks as they work to restore dignity to the dais and public confidence in their municipal government.

That’s all for me.  Welcome to Rockville, y’all!