The word ‘character’ is derived from the Greek word charattein, meaning to engrave.

The late United States Army Colonel Eric G. Kail, in his excellent series on leadership character wrote, “The engraving process that is the development of our character requires courage and transparency to forge this true integrity. My integrity is what it is today because of painfully valuable lessons with consequences, born from accountability to moral and ethical principles.”

When it comes to defining the character of a civic leader, which traits do you find most important?

Courage?

Honor?

Integrity?

Selflessness?

Empathy?

Collaboration and the ability to truly value the opinions of others?

In my view, personal integrity, built upon solid moral and ethical values, is perhaps the greatest attribute of leadership – because it builds trust.

This is especially important in government service, because the confidence of those our elected and appointed officials serve is so extremely fragile.

Once the public’s trust in their government processes is lost, it is nearly impossible to recover.

(Just ask the Volusia County Council. . .)

Having the courage to speak the truth and the inherent ability to recognize situations where your personal integrity and that of your office are jeopardized, then taking the right course of action, for the right reasons, regardless of circumstance, are key to forging bonds among subordinates and constituents.

It doesn’t mean perfection in our personal and professional lives – and it doesn’t require blindly “going along to get along.”  We all have ethical lapses, and if we are honest with ourselves, we recognize them, learn from our mistakes and failures, then strive for self-improvement.

It’s when people and organizations refuse to recognize their personal and systemic shortcomings, become self-delusional and develop a sense of infallibility – or selfishly ignore the needs and responsibilities of others – that results in a loss of transparency and dysfunction.

In my view, public officials who manipulate community perceptions on issues of serious civic concern by self-aggrandizement and posturing – turn insular and opaque – or maliciously use oversight committees as a cheap political insulation mechanism to rubber stamp unilateral decisions involving public funds and resources have lost the moral authority to lead.

To shut out others who have a clear responsibility to protect and steward public funds and resources is dishonest and destructive to the foundational elements of collegiality and trust.

That’s wrong.

On Friday, Holly Hill City Manager Joe Forte, who, in my over three-decades of experience working with and for him, personifies the great character traits mentioned above along with a deep faith and inherent willingness to put the needs of others above his own self-interests – formally resigned from the First Step Shelter Board.

When it became apparent that he could no longer effectively serve the mission of the board, protect the interests of citizens (who have generously pledged public funds to underwrite the First Step project) and meet the needs of the less fortunate, Mr. Forte did the honorable thing and distanced himself from the pernicious actions of those who have hijacked the process.

For a thoughtful man who respects the ethical and moral values of good governance, it was the only viable option.

Clearly, the other members of the First Step Shelter Board – which is almost exclusively comprised of sitting elected officials from the various cities who contributed, or private business leaders (some with direct ties to the City of Daytona Beach) – must realize that City Manager Jim Chisholm has no intention of permitting them to set policy, exert control, properly manage funds or establish a direction for the shelter.

In fact, Mr. Chisholm is intentionally bypassing the oversight committee altogether – ramrodding his personal will to the exclusion of any reasonable outside supervision – and is now meeting with contractors and employees who ostensibly report directly to the board – something that has made an embarrassing mockery of board members and effectively neutered their management ability.

I applaud Mr. Forte’s moral courage in recognizing when his position was being compromised – and taking definitive action to protect his personal and professional reputation.

As a taxpayer and citizen of Volusia County who has watched this shit show play out for years – I took personal offense to the social media comments of Jane Bloom, posting under the First Step moniker, following Mr. Forte’s announcement.

Apparently, Ms. Bloom is one-half of a bizarre co-interim executive director position – a duo actively shilling for the City of Daytona Beach now that Rev. L. Ron Durham has mysteriously been removed from the leadership role by Mr. Chisholm – a move that added to the sense of utter chaos and confusion that has destroyed the public’s faith in the project and all but ensured an end to municipal funding sources and private donations.

In her ill-advised post, Ms. Bloom, by all appearances on behalf of First Step Shelter, audaciously lectured:

“You can walk away when the going gets tough.  Or you can toughen up and work through adversity and make it happen.  This is not doom and gloom.  It is growing pains and while issues arise, many of us will continue with the goal of a new service to meet the needs of those who are homeless and want to use it.  There is not one answer.  There is not a right answer.  There is a community working to offer options and while there are disagreements, at least there are various possibilities.  Better to do something than do nothing.  Better to stand up and make things happen then to quit and not keep taking a stand to have your voice heard.  When you are done and go without being demeaning to the efforts of those who remain.”

While Bloom later tried to clean up her steaming mess – and attribute her post originally published under the First Step Shelter flag as her own personal views – the damage to Mr. Forte’s service and exemplary reputation was complete.

 My God. 

 Who the hell does Ms. Bloom think she is? 

In my view, the First Step Shelter Board should immediately move to terminate her involvement as co-captain of Mr. Chisholm’s no-holds-barred push to wrest any reasonable control from those who generously volunteered and worked hard to fund and administrate this horribly compromised process despite withering criticism and roadblocks – along with a letter of reprimand for her blatant misuse of First Step Shelter’s social media presence and public communications resources.

Despicable.  This cannot stand.

Frankly, the First Step Shelter Board can sit idle while Daytona Beach officials expose and exploit them as feeble weaklings – and compromise their personal and professional reputations and openly destroy their political careers – but I will not sit silent as Jane Bloom denigrates the exemplary service and commitment of Joe Forte as he boldly does the only thing an honest and ethical public official can under these disastrous circumstances.

Hey First Step Shelter Board – what happens when Ms. Bloom comes for you?

This is a new low.

The opposite of values-based leadership.

The antithesis of ethical, moral and transparent governance.

 

Photo Credit: The Daytona Beach News-Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, kids!

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

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

Angel               First Step Shelter Board

“We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”

— Konstantin Josef Jireček

Regardless of how you feel about the Halifax area’s painful, plodding and laborious quest to establish a homeless shelter on publicly-owned land in the hinterlands west of Daytona Beach – the one positive has been the dedication and perseverance of those intrepid members of the First Step Shelter Board.

At times, I wasn’t sure how much longer these volunteers would remain at their post – and no one would have blamed them had they said, “enough is enough” and distanced themselves from the embarrassing roil.

But, like good stewards, they valiantly remained in the wheelhouse, steering the struggling project through the storms.

I admire that.

Like many, I still struggle to understand the mindset of Daytona Beach senior administrators who, after asking other local governments for assistance and commissioning the oversight committee, seem intent on single-handedly ramrodding their unique vision of the shelter to completion.

It has now dissolved into one of those civic pissing contests that never work out well.

I fear the City of Daytona Beach is about to find itself in a very cold and lonely place when the other municipalities and private donors have had enough, and taxpayers are forced to shoulder First Step’s constantly increasing operating cost by themselves (perhaps with some loose change thrown in by Flagler County?)

For instance, when former First Step Executive Director Mark Geallis was forced into an untenable position and resigned in June – given the critical need for boots-on-the-ground leadership – the board asked city staff to advertise the position immediately.

On Monday, they learned this commonsense request was ignored. . .

Add to that the utter confusion surrounding the city’s previous last-minute push for a bizarre “outdoor safe zone,” a proposed 1,800 square foot concrete slab littered with “pads and mattresses” plopped awkwardly at the main entrance of the facility.

Now, the board is hearing from Daytona Beach Community Relations Manager L. Ron Durham that the outdoor “safe zone” concept has changed once again – with the current plan calling for the shelter to incorporate an area inside the building where homeless people “not enrolled in the facility’s rehabilitation program could spend the night and leave in the morning.”

In the News-Journal’s excellent continuing coverage of this unfolding shit show, this week reporter Eileen Zaffiro-Kean wrote, “Neither city safe zone idea went over well, nor did the continued end runs around board decisions. The board’s decision to buy used kitchen equipment and cook food on site is rapidly morphing into the city’s idea to instead buy food from the Volusia County Branch Jail.”

Which calls into question exactly what the center’s “rehabilitation program” will include, especially if residents have no responsibilities beyond enjoying three hots-and-a-cot. . .

For reasons known only to him, it appears Mr. Chisholm has no intention of working with – or even consulting – the First Step Shelter Board on operational and policy decisions in the lead-up to the center’s October 15 grand opening.

That leaves board members in the untenable position of sitting passively as they are dictated to by city officials, maligned by the City Commission and ignored by key contractors who have also taken to bypassing the oversight committee.

It also forces board president Mayor Derrick Henry – and Rev. L. Ron Durham – to continue this mendacious double-dealing that is rapidly undermining what’s left of their personal and professional credibility – and all but ensuring municipal contributors and private donors rethink their commitment to something they have absolutely no control over.

Asshole           Florida Wildlife Commission

 If you’ve travelled to South Florida or the Keys recently you know that green iguanas have become a prevalent part of that hot and humid landscape.

In fact, they’re everywhere down there – like swaying coconut palms, corrupt politicians and white compression socks. . .

I don’t know about you, but I’m a live-and-let-live kind of guy when it comes to wildlife encroaching on my neighborhood – even when it comes to invasive, non-native species.  You see, I happen to believe that there is an inherent unfairness to destroying a wild creature’s home for strip malls and “theme” subdivisions – then killing them when they try to share ours.

Last month, many were taken back by a weird mandate issued by the Florida Wildlife Commission that essentially directed residents to terminate green iguanas with extreme prejudice.

The crime?  Occasionally burrowing under driveways, munching on ornamental plants – and the one unforgivable sin of Florida wildlife: shitting on pool decks owned by transplanted retirees. . .

“Homeowners do not need a permit to kill iguanas on their own property, and the FWC encourages homeowners to kill green iguanas on their own property whenever possible,” the agency said.

So, Floridian’s did what Floridians do – they locked and loaded.

Then they went bananas. . .

Apparently, throughout South Florida, residents put their License to Kill to good use and began shooting, stabbing and intentionally running over the creatures on-sight – mowing them down, en masse, from Collins Avenue to Duval Street, in cities and suburban neighborhoods, firing indiscriminately at anything that moved in a feverish attempt to wipe out the entire genus. . .

As writer/comedian Rob Fox said in a satirical piece in Rare:

“Grab your shotguns, handguns, rifles, chainsaws, katanas you bought at the pawn shop when you were kind of drunk, crossbows, switchblades, toothbrush shivs, baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire, homemade shark tooth spears, Super Soakers poorly converted into flamethrowers, brass knuckles, heavy-duty gardening gloves with shards of broken glass glued to them, flip flops with a retractable blade in the sole, DIY claymore mines made from milk jugs and marbles, old syringes, poorly socialized Pitbulls, random jugs of acid you have laying around, nooses you used for inadvisable Halloween costumes, and stolen riding mowers. Use your bare hands if you have to. There’s yet another invasive species in your backyards, quite literally, and the state’s Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission needs YOU to kill them.”

“You’ve got your orders, Florida. Waste these fools.”

 Then, Florida Man mistakenly shot a pool boy in the leg with a pellet gun. . .

Now, the Florida Wildlife Commission has walked-back its policy of wanton extermination in favor of a more organized approach to this state-sponsored squamate genocide that will hopefully keep pool maintenance workers and other innocent bystanders out of the crossfire.

Apparently, the state’s “new” policy requests that residents “who are not capable” of killing one species without endangering another seek assistance from professionals who “humanely” dispatch the hapless lizards for a fee (only in Florida). . .

According to FWC Commissioner (and fourth stooge) Rodney Barreto, “Unfortunately, the message has been conveyed that we are asking the public to just go out there and shoot them up. This is not what we are about, this is not the wild west. If you are not capable of safely removing iguanas from your property, please seek assistance from professionals who do this for a living.”

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the FWC asked us trigger-happy Floridian’s to do.

It’s a good lesson in why those we elect and appoint to high office should occasionally monitor what their highly paid mouthpieces are putting out to the masses on any given day.

Honestly.  I don’t make this shit up, folks. . .

Look, at the rate we Floridian’s kill each other – did Commissioner Barreto think directing a population of 21.3 million heavily armed vigilantes to openly massacre a passive species would end any other way?

Asshole           Eco-Poseurs of Volusia County Politics    

After I published this piece earlier in the week, Volusia County Council Chairman Ed Kelley responded by posting on social media, “Mark’s article shows just how off base his views are. We (sic) working with the state and federal government to obtain funding for our waterways and get “slammed” for making a difference!”

He’s right.  I am “off base.”  

Hell, I’m off their whole friggin’ reservation.

I’m their worst nightmare – an educated voter with what’s left of his own mind who can’t be bullied, bullshitted or bought – a former Master Magician who knows all the tricks and political sleight-of-hand and isn’t afraid to expose the sham.

So, sell that “making a difference” tripe to someone who’s buying, Mr. Chairman.

In case you missed it the first time around:

Earlier this week, the faux conservationists of the Volusia County Council joined with members of our state legislative delegation for a meeting of their exclusive mutual admiration society to congratulate each other’s performance in wheedling a paltry $450,000 – apparently split between the City of Oak Hill and Volusia County – ostensibly for restoration of the imperiled Indian River Lagoon.

The introductions of the “honorables” went on for over ten minutes. . .

To their credit, council members Heather Post, The Very Reverend Fred Lowry and Barb Girtman were conspicuously absent from the over-the-top pageant of political vainglory.

Jesus.

Congressman Michael Waltz was in attendance to tout a recent committee vote which moves his amendment adding the Indian River Lagoon to the South Florida Coastal Clean Waters Act.  If approved, Waltz’ amendment would include the lagoon in a convoluted multi-year assessment of algae blooms that have already killed thousands of acres of seagrasses, fish and wildlife.

By convoluted, I mean the proposed assessment protocol would include a 540-day deadline for an interim study, a two-year deadline for completion of an “action plan” to drive federal funding and a three-year deadline for final assessment.

Considering that many South Florida waterways are being turned into a fetid guacamole by what everyone (except, apparently, our state and federal government) attributes to nutrient runoff – and the fact any child with an aquarium understands the nitrogen cycle – it’s nice to see that those charged with protecting our environment are finally getting around to “assessing” the situation. . .

The always arrogant Volusia County Councilwoman Deb Denys – who also chairs the Indian River Lagoon Council – served as master of ceremonies for this cheap photo opportunity that included sitting politicians, appointed officials, entrenched bureaucrats and “water management” types.

During her seemingly endless self-congratulatory gabfest, Ms. Denys gushed, ad nauseum, about how hard our politicos have worked to bring state and federal dollars to Southeast Volusia – which will no doubt be distributed to various consultants, corporations, contractors and hangers-on. . .

Bullshit.

These are the very assholes who have systematically approved rampant, out-of-control growth from Farmton to the Flagler County line – sprawl that continues to contribute to the abject destruction of our sensitive wetlands and estuaries – who continue to lie to us about their demonstrably bogus commitment to “clean water” as a gaudy political ploy.

The political theatrics turned into a crude cartoon when our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, who continues to deny scientific evidence of sea level rise – lest it slow the rapid destruction of our natural places by his greed-crazed political benefactors in the real estate development community – actually had the balls to be recognized in the same sentence with environmental funding. . .

This stomach-turning soiree was also attended by Senator Tom Wright and Representative David Santiago – who represent our compromised state legislature that recently gutted local land use regulations by neutering a citizens right to challenge the adverse impacts of development in their community.  The same legislature that has stood silent as tons of sewage sludge are dumped near the headwaters of the St. John’s River and beyond.

It seems like everyone-who-is-anyone in Volusia County politics was on-hand for the goofy check presentation ceremony – except those of us who pay for it all.

Why is that? 

Frankly, it was nauseating to watch these eco-poseurs jockeying for position behind over-sized checks representing our money in a craven effort to convince us they care.

These preening phonies make me sick.

Don’t take my word for it – watch the video.

While the Indian River Lagoon Council has provided funding for some valuable studies, technical assessments and shoreline restoration projects – it also has a tendency toward self-centered spending that, in my view, has little direct effect on the myriad threats to the lagoon’s water quality.

Let’s take a look at a few of the way’s public funds and donations allocated for restoration and mitigation under the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program (IRLNEP) have been spent in the past few years:

$50,000 to a corporate entity to assist the IRLNEP to “revise” the 2008 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.

$50,000 for “brand engagement” of the IRLNEP’s “One Community – One Voice” initiative.  Apparently, an enigmatic marketing program designed to “. . .build upon the One Lagoon concept and succinctly articulate the activities and value proposition of the IRLNEP.”  (Say what?)

$100,000 to a corporate entity for “technical support and data management.”

$80,000 to three “consultants” for technical grant-writing assistance for “stakeholders.”

$100,000 for “Brand Activation and Implementation,” which, according to the IRLNEP’s almost undecipherable summary, “Deliverables include 2 half-day enculturation sessions, production of a learner’s guide summarizing important IRL-focused topics, audio production of compelling, personal IRL stories for up to 50 stakeholders, creation of a One Voice web page to house archived audio/photo/video experiences.”

(You just know anytime there’s an “enculturation” session it’s going to be expensive. . .)

All this on top of the IRLNEP’s estimated $350,000 annual cost for salaries and benefits, $20,000 for facilities expenses, $30,000 in administrative expenses and $110,000 for legal, accounting, auditing and personnel services. . .

While the lagoon continues to suffocate.

Whatever.

While these shitheels are slapping each other on the back, positioning themselves for even “higher office,” posing behind expensive marketing materials paid for with our tax dollars and donations – the bulldozers and industrial pumps continue to roar – and we inch ever closer to drinking our own reclaimed sewage in the name of progress. . .

Screw these frauds.

The proof of how much this wholly compromised gaggle of half-wits and others like them truly care about our environment is evident in the rapid decline of our springs, the horrific lesions appearing on fish, the toxic algal blooms that are slowly strangling our rivers and estuaries, the wholesale destruction of our aquifer recharge areas, kowtowing to political donors from big agriculture and the slash-and-burn land clearing practices that are obliterating wetlands and wildlife habitat in exchange for more-more-more “theme” developments and strip malls.

This is exactly what it looks like when politicians lose the capacity for shame.

God help us. . .

Quote of the Week

“This has got to stop.  We’ve got to have Daytona quit interfering with our decisions.  It’s driving me crazy.”

–Joe Forte, Holly Hill City Manager and First Step Shelter Board Member, as quoted by The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Homeless shelter board wrestling with Daytona Beach decisions,” Tuesday, July 30, 2019

I had the pleasure of serving with Holly Hill City Manager Joe Forte for the bulk of my long career in public service.

He’s one of the best human beings I know.

A true gentleman and dedicated civil servant who always places the needs of those he serves above his own self-interests.

Trust me – it takes a lot to ruffle Joe’s feathers.

As a citizen of Volusia County, it pains me to see Mr. Forte – and the other volunteer members of the First Step Shelter Board – being openly ignored, marginalized and relegated to a cheap rubber stamp as important decisions are made in a vacuum at Daytona Beach City Hall.

Why?  Because it’s my money they’re charged with protecting.  Dammit.

Something tells me this was the city’s plan all along.

In my view, this latest circumvention of the independent oversight authority represents the death knell for private donations and local government funding.

Clearly, the First Step Shelter concept (whatever it may be this week) has lost any semblance of independent supervision or civic collaboration and is quickly becoming the exclusive domain (and ultimate albatross) of the City of Daytona Beach.

Sad.

And Another Thing!

I’m frequently asked by well-meaning people why I feel driven to take on our ‘powers that be’ – to stick my thumb in the eye of the ‘Rich & Powerful’ who increasingly control our lives and livelihoods here on Florida’s Fun Coast – and engage in this base form of criticism of our local government institutions, that, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “points out where the strongman stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.” 

They look at me with obvious concern in their eyes and warn that my goofy screeds are angering very important people – pointing out things best left alone – and my talk of tired concepts like “responsibility,” “accountability” and “honor” is just rehashing antiquated notions, evolutionary mutations that no longer play an active role in our politics and governance.

Some think I went crazy in the isolation of retirement – a gin-soaked mind irretrievably lost in the maze of my own quixotic perceptions.

Others view this space as the ravings of some unlikely sentinel – a deluded voice from the political wilderness – desperately screaming to anyone who will listen that our sacred democratic principles are being shit on, sold to the highest bidder, as millionaires ramrod their lucrative vision for our collective future.

Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

However, in my view, anyone who can read critically and form opinions on the issues that we face in Volusia County and not be moved to a seething rage is either a member of the CEO Business Alliance or a sitting elected official.

For instance, another week has come and gone and we are still no closer to resolving the festering quagmire at Mainland High School that saw some 336 students caught up in what I call a “reverse cheating scandal” – where impressionable minds were led to believe successful completion of an Advanced Placement exam would earn college credit for their effort – only to find out they were intentionally deceived by those they were ordered to trust.

People close to the conflagration continue to reach out to me with stories of internal dysfunction at Mainland – serious issues that are jeopardizing hard-earned teaching careers and undermining the institutional underpinnings of this community icon – things I believe deserve an independent investigation by the Florida Department of Education and others who care about excellence in education.

Unfortunately, the district’s self-imposed informational black hole only reinforces the idea that senior administrators would prefer we pesky taxpayers simply forgive and forget – allow the dust to settle on the grave of this horrific chapter in our district’s history – and stop worrying about what other unscrupulous practices may be accepted policy at Mainland High School.

In my view, the onus is now firmly on the shoulders of Interim Superintendent Tim Egnor, who emerged from a comfortable retirement and put his legacy on the line to restore sanity to a school, and district, in grave crisis.

Time is of the essence. . .

Have a great weekend, friends.

 

 

Earlier this week, the faux conservationists of the Volusia County Council joined with members of our state legislative delegation for a meeting of their exclusive mutual admiration society to congratulate each other’s performance in wheedling a paltry $450,000 – split between the City of Oak Hill and Volusia County – ostensibly for restoration of the imperiled Indian River Lagoon.

The introductions of the “honorables” went on for over ten minutes. . .

To their credit, council members Heather Post, The Very Reverend Fred Lowry and Barb Girtman were conspicuously absent from the over-the-top pageant of political vainglory.

Jesus.

Congressman Michael Waltz was in attendance to tout a recent committee vote which moves his amendment adding the Indian River Lagoon to the South Florida Coastal Clean Waters Act.  If approved, Waltz’ amendment would include northern portions of the lagoon in a convoluted multi-year “assessment” of algae blooms that have already killed thousands of acres of sea grasses, fish and wildlife.

By convoluted, I mean the proposed assessment protocol would include a 540-day deadline for an interim study, a two-year deadline for completion of an “action plan” to drive federal funding and a three-year deadline for final assessment.

Considering that many South Florida waterways are being turned into a fetid guacamole by what everyone (except, apparently, our state and federal government) attributes to nutrient runoff – and the fact any child with an aquarium understands the nitrogen cycle – it’s nice to see that those charged with protecting our environment are finally getting around to “assessing” the situation. . .

(I happen to like freshman Congressman Waltz – he’s doing good work – but perhaps the next time he finds himself in a room full of fawning local politicians – with no ‘regular Joe’s’ in attendance – perhaps that should be a clue to take his leave – because he’s being used as a prop. . .)

The always arrogant Volusia County Councilwoman Deb Denys – who also chairs the Indian River Lagoon Council – served as master of ceremonies for this cheap photo opportunity that included sitting politicians, appointed officials, entrenched bureaucrats and “water management” types.

During her seemingly endless self-congratulatory gabfest, Ms. Denys gushed, ad nauseum, about how hard our politicos have worked to bring state and federal dollars to Southeast Volusia – which will no doubt be distributed to various consultants, corporations, contractors and hangers-on. . .

Bullshit.

These are the very assholes who have systematically approved rampant, out-of-control growth from Farmton to the Flagler County line – sprawl that continues to contribute to the abject destruction of our sensitive wetlands and estuaries – who continue to lie to us about their demonstrably bogus commitment to “clean water” as a gaudy political ploy.

The meeting turned into a crude cartoon when our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, who continues to deny scientific evidence of sea level rise – lest it slow the rapid destruction of our natural places by his greed-crazed political benefactors in the real estate development community – actually had the balls to be recognized in the same sentence with environmental funding. . .

This stomach-turning soiree was also attended by Senator Tom Wright and Representative David Santiago – who represent our compromised state legislature that recently gutted local land use regulations by neutering a citizens right to challenge the adverse impacts of development in their community.

The same legislature that has stood silent as tons of sewage sludge is dumped near the headwaters of the St. John’s River and beyond.

It seems like everyone-who-is-anyone in Volusia County politics was on-hand for the goofy check presentation ceremony – except those of us who pay for it all.

Why is that? 

Frankly, it was nauseating to watch these eco-poseurs jockeying for position behind over-sized checks representing our money in a craven effort to convince us they care.

These preening phonies make me sick.

Don’t take my word for it – watch the video.

While the Indian River Lagoon Council has provided funding for some valuable studies, technical assessments and shoreline restoration projects – it also has a tendency toward self-centered spending that, in my view, has little direct effect on the myriad threats to the lagoon’s water quality.

Let’s take a look at a few of the way’s public funds and donations allocated for restoration and mitigation under the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program (IRLNEP) have been spent in the past few years:

$50,000 to a corporate entity to assist the IRLNEP to “revise” the 2008 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.

$50,000 for “brand engagement” of the IRLNEP’s “One Community – One Voice” initiative.  Apparently, an enigmatic marketing program designed to “. . .build upon the One Lagoon concept and succinctly articulate the activities and value proposition of the IRLNEP.”  (Say what?)

$100,000 to a corporate entity for “technical support and data management.”

$80,000 to three “consultants” for technical grant-writing assistance for “stakeholders.”

$100,000 for “Brand Activation and Implementation,” which, according to the IRLNEP’s almost undecipherable summary, “Deliverables include 2 half-day enculturation sessions, production of a learner’s guide summarizing important IRL-focused topics, audio production of compelling, personal IRL stories for up to 50 stakeholders, creation of a One Voice web page to house archived audio/photo/video experiences.”

(You just know anytime there’s an “enculturation” session it’s going to be expensive. . .)

All this on top of the IRLNEP’s estimated $350,000 annual cost for salaries and benefits, $20,000 for facilities expenses, $30,000 in administrative expenses and $110,000 for legal, accounting, auditing and personnel services. . .

While the lagoon continues to suffocate.

Whatever.

While these shitheels are slapping each other on the back, positioning themselves for even “higher office,” posing behind expensive marketing materials paid for with our tax dollars and donations – the bulldozers and industrial pumps continue to roar – and we inch ever closer to drinking our own reclaimed sewage in the name of progress. . .

Screw these political opportunists.

The proof of how much this wholly compromised gaggle of half-wits and others like them truly care about our environment is evident in the rapid decline of our springs, the horrific lesions appearing on fish, the toxic algal blooms that are slowly strangling our rivers and estuaries, the wholesale destruction of our aquifer recharge areas, kowtowing to political donors from big agriculture and the slash-and-burn land clearing practices that are obliterating wetlands and wildlife habitat in exchange for more-more-more “theme” developments and strip malls.

This is exactly what it looks like when politicians lose the capacity for shame.

 

I agree with Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry – Mainland High School deserves our support during this difficult time in her history.

However, I also think Mayor Henry should understand that the leadership of Mainland – and our school district – must be worthy of our backing before real recovery can begin.

In his over-the-top, hyper-dramatic editorial in Sunday’s Daytona Beach News-Journal – which included saccharine histrionics such as, “Mainland needs us, and we need her to birth into our community the soon-to-be adults who are evolving under her care,” (Wow.  Here I am watching my sugar intake and I inadvertently read that?  Whoa – the N-J should have included a warning label. . .) Mayor Henry made the valid argument that the institution’s good work should not be lost in the fallout of the AP ‘placebo’ exam debacle.

 Look, I’m kidding.

God knows I’m the worst when it comes to gilding the Lilly in these verbose essays of mine – but, in this case, Mayor Henry takes the cake.

On the same op/ed page, the News-Journal’s editorial board expertly summarized what the rest of us have been thinking since word of this fiasco broke late last month:

When will the Volusia County School Board issue a formal apology to the 336 students whose scholastic lives have been adversely affected by an organized scheme to deceive them and allow the healing to begin? 

I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t wholeheartedly support Mainland High School.

In fact, when Elizabeth Albert, president of Volusia United Educators, recently implored the Volusia County School Board to apologize to the teachers and staff whose lives and careers have been adversely impacted – our elected officials broke into an unabashed lovefest for the school.

Unfortunately, it came off as a clumsy attempt to deflect and defer responsibility – something akin to Principal Cheryl Salerno’s aggressive efforts to dodge accountability by fighting a benign reprimand that many felt fell far short of the corrective action it deserved.

By all accounts, Principal Salerno is a dedicated career educator who works hard to challenge and encourage her students with innovative learning experiences; however, it is also clear to everyone watching – including the district’s own investigative apparatus – that serious mistakes were made.

In my view, most people can separate the issue from the institution – especially one so vitally important to the life of our community.

A school is not merely the brick-and-mortar structure where the theory and principles of education ensure the transfer of knowledge to varying degrees.  Rather, it is a living, breathing social institution – of and for the community it serves.

As the great Indian educationist S. Balakrishna Joshi once said, “. . .a school is a spiritual organism with a distinctive personality all its own, a school is a vibrant community center, radiating life and energy all round, a school is a wonderful edifice, resting on the foundation of goodwill – goodwill of the public, goodwill of the parents, goodwill of the pupils.”

Clearly, after serving generations of Halifax area families, Mainland High School is all of those things and more.

But what about that all-important foundational goodwill?

When will the district’s elected and appointed leadership initiate the restorative practices that ensure equity of opportunity for all students, reinforce core values, set an example that accountability extends to the principal’s office and allow a mechanism to ventilate the frustration and resentment many students and parents are feeling?

The Volusia County School Board and district administrators have an immediate obligation to restore organizational confidence, end the trepidation and anxiety many educators and staff members are feeling and rebuild the public’s trust in Volusia County Schools.

That begins with a sincere apology to those who were adversely affected by this deception and an honest promise that all efforts will be taken to ensure an open and independent external review of the error chain that led to this disaster.

In my view, the best way we can support Mainland High School is to ensure this never happens again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, kids!

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

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

Asshole           Volusia County Chair Ed Kelley

In Volusia County, the ability of a sitting council member – a district representative – to meaningfully participate in the legislative process is directly proportional to the elected official’s willingness to “go along and get along” – to protect the status quo and conform to the rigid expectations of an entrenched power structure that values fealty to those who can pay-to-play.

It also requires strict subservience to a bloated bureaucracy that has reduced the elected body to mere figureheads – a tail wagging the dog situation – where elected policymakers with the temerity to think outside systemic limitations are pounded like square pegs into the round holes of groupthink and political conformity.

Look, don’t take my word for it – watch any meeting of the Volusia County Council and you tell me who’s in charge?

Because it is becoming clear to anyone paying attention that our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, is quickly transitioning from the addled, uninformed and utterly ineffective dipshit we came to know and love during the bulk of his term – to an aggressive, mean-spirited tyrant.

During last week’s Volusia County Council meeting, an important annual milestone when our elected representatives set the proposed millage rate, Heather Post asked a commonsense question regarding why a highly-publicized plan to improve Emergency Medical Services – which was recommended by senior staff and approved by vote of the council in February – had been unilaterally altered without notice by public protection director Joe Pozzo.

But when Councilwoman Post attempted to press Mr. Pozzo and other senior administrators for information – she was rebuked and interrupted by Chairman Kelley – who repeatedly talked over her, ignored her objections, protected senior administrators from answering difficult questions and generally acted like a bullying asshole intent on shutting down any substantive discussion of this important issue.

In addition, Mr. Kelley upheld Director Pozzo’s apparent sacrosanct right to patronize our elected representatives – maintaining utter silence on the dais as Pozzo chattered incessantly – talking down to sitting officials and quibbling what he did and didn’t do in February, like some condescending snob – all while Ed Kelley repeatedly covered Pozzo’s ass with those inane hillbilly analogies he’s famous for. . .

But when Councilwoman Post pressed for answers to legitimate budgetary considerations, she was brusquely silenced by the Chair – her very real concerns marginalized and dismissed as “micromanagement” and “Grand-Standing.”

Seriously.  It was ugly – over-the-top – and whether they will admit it or not, every sitting elected and appointed public official in municipal and county government knows it.

As residents of District 4 – my neighbors and I deserve equal representation – just like everyone else in Volusia County enjoys – especially during the always murky budget process.

Instead, we are expected to stand silent as Ms. Post – our duly elected representative – is forcibly shut out of the process, ostracized, maligned, embarrassed and delegitimized by this foul ball of a County Chair – and the horribly compromised power structure he represents – a wholly dysfunctional “system” that continues to ignore the will of the people in favor of protecting (and funding) the status quo regardless of cost.

In most places, Old Ed’s abhorrent personal conduct during a public meeting would result in his “colleagues” calling for his resignation – and a formal reprimand for our “new” County Manager Georgie Recktenwald for allowing a subordinate to surreptitiously subvert the will of the County Council.

But not here.

On Florida’s fabled Fun Coast, the rules are different, depending upon who your political benefactors happen to be – and the rest of our elected twits in DeLand are too cowardly to do the right thing and stand up for Ms. Post – lest they fall into disfavor with those who actually set policy in Volusia County. . .

Sad.

Angel              The Daytona Beach News-Journal

As a dilettante opinion blogger, my “body of work” is never going to receive an award. . .

I get it.

A successful day here at Barker’s View HQ is when someone doesn’t hock a loogie on the Lone Eagle’s windshield and leave a colorful note denigrating my ancestral lineage over some goofy thought that I wrote in one of these screeds. . .

That’s why I have such incredible admiration for true journalists, feature writers and columnists who so eloquently report the important stories and bring meaning to the issues that affect our lives and livelihoods, often under incredibly difficult circumstances, with integrity and a true dedication to the craft.

Kudos to the intrepid journalists of The Daytona Beach News-Journal – my ‘hometown heroes’ –  who were appropriately recognized for their outstanding work earlier this month at two prestigious galas – the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors annual awards banquet and the Society of Professional Journalists’ “Sunshine State” awards.

I’ve said this before – we need local journalism, now more than ever, and I’m glad to see those who work so hard to bring the news into our homes recognized for their efforts.

In my view, reading the daily paper should stir the complete range of emotions – from breaking  local news, to in-depth series and well-written editorials that spark a greater discussion in the community – and I am invariably moved (sometimes to rage, sometimes to laughter) when I digest the news of the day as reported by The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

These intrepid professionals serve in an environment where local government officials no longer present themselves to the working press – scurrying around like diseased rats and hiding like the cowards they are behind paid mouthpieces and canned “press releases” that spin the facts and dodge any semblance of accountability or responsibility.

For instance, Dustin Wyatt – a young reporter of great promise – received recognition for his government and politics reporting – including his work on the Volusia County half-cent sales tax debacle – and for exposing the “secret impact fee study” that earned him a well-deserved notch on his pen for helping usher former County Manager Jim Dinneen out the door.

I also believe that Dinah Voyles Pulver is the best environmental reporter working today – and, in a place where our sensitive natural places are being exploited by greed-crazed developers – we’re lucky to have her on the beat.

Congratulations and a hearty BV “Thank You!” to all the outstanding reporters and staffers of The Daytona Beach News-Journal who serve our community with such dedication.

Angel               Cocina 214

So long Cocina 214.  We hardly knew ye. . .

This week, we learned that the Tex-Mex restaurant which shared a beautiful beachfront spot with Landshark Bar & Grill will be leaving us early next month – and it’s not clear if the eatery’s exit was voluntary – or they got eighty-sixed. . .

According to Sir John Albright, head honcho of Consolidated-Tomoka Land Company, who owns the oceanfront property (and the souls of many local policymakers) – the eatery that opened to great fanfare in January 2018, “didn’t translate well to the beachside,” – so, it has apparently been given its walking papers.

Next!

Look, it’s been a tough week over at Consolidated-Tomoka.

Just when Sir John was setting the hook on a buyer for the LPGA golf complex – a subsidiary of a Chinese conglomerate known as CBIGG willing to pay over twice what C-T paid the City of Daytona Beach for the property just a few years ago – the City Commission got jittery and wanted a closer look – leading to ugly accusations from the potential buyer’s representative of “good ‘ol boy networks,” “racial bias,” and “back channel deals” as they crawfished on the deal.

So, I guess it’s “hello” and “goodbye” to CBIGG – thanks for playing!

(Something tells me everything will work itself out – as soon as the City of Daytona Beach decides exactly who they want Consolidated-Tomoka to do business with. . .)

Weird.

Last year, during a simultaneous grand opening with the incredibly successful Landshark, Cocina 214 was hailed by Daytona Beach officials as a “match made in heaven,” while Sir John spoke as though the very revitalization of Daytona Beach were lashed to its success.

“Our whole mission here is basically to get this property activated and get the beachside activated,” Albright said. “To me, this is the potential of Daytona Beach, and this is a start and there’s a lot more to come.”

Oh, well.  It didn’t translate.  Easy come, easy go. . .

The Halifax area’s fast lane is littered with the carcasses of restaurants and bars that didn’t translate – which is a sad reality of having grown up here.  Last week, I posted a long list of once popular/now defunct eateries and nightspots that any long-time resident would remember from birthday celebrations and prom dinners past.

My maudlin reminiscence received nearly two hundred responses from “Old Daytona” residents who fondly recalled the tastes and places of our youth that, like Benny Grunch says, “Ain’t dere no more. . .”      

Such is life on Florida’s Fun Coast.

I’m sad to see the demise of Cocina 214.  But don’t fret, Sir John is working hard to convince us that the replacement will be good too. . .

Just don’t get emotionally attached.

In reality, Landshark – and whatever comes next to Cocina 214’s soon to be empty shell – are merely temporary parts of a much larger plan – stand-ins until Consolidated-Tomoka makes good on a plan to demolish these disposable restaurants and erect massive, high-density hotel and condominium towers on the oceanfront property.

Remember?

In 2016, despite the concerns of many in our community who feared the massive density increase would permit Consolidated-Tomoka to shoehorn too much “stuff” onto the 6-acre property, Daytona Beach city commissioners approved a future land use change and rezoning needed to allow high-rise buildings that could climb 360 feet in the air.

C’est la vie, losers.  Money is money – and in Daytona Beach, those who have it make the rules.

Get used to it.

I happen to enjoy the Landshark – if you haven’t passed a warm summer afternoon with a cold beer at this corporate reproduction of an open-air beach bar – well, you’re doing it wrong.

Let’s wish Cocina 214 all the best as we bid a fond farewell to yet another oceanfront ‘game-changer’ that didn’t.

I just hope Sir John won’t hold it against me if I don’t get all misty about the “next big thing”. . .

Angel              Coach Morris Small, Jr.

Barker’s View joins a sad community in mourning the monumental loss of Coach Morris Small, a former Bethune-Cookman University men’s basketball assistant and prominent Volusia County educator who taught the attributes of sportsmanship and fair play to generations of area student athletes.

He was a graduate of the former Campbell Sr. High School and Bethune-Cookman College and a member of Mt. Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, where he sang in the male chorus.

During his career, Mr. Small served the Volusia County School system for 33 years and the youth of our community for over 40 years as a volunteer coach with many area high school teams.  In 1991, he took the Father Lopez High School boys team to a district championship – and lead the Daytona Beach Housing Authority basketball team to a National Championship in 1994.

However, he will be best remembered for his love of family.

Coach Small was 71.

Quote of the Week

 “Do Daytona Beach residents know what is happening with their tax dollars or how their city is being managed?

The “shady” attempt to remove deed restrictions on City Island to make way for private development.

The planned obsolescence/intentional neglect of the City Island Recreation Center.

The mismanagement getting the First Step Shelter built – it’s years behind schedule and costs have skyrocketed from $2.5 million to $6 million.

The “dirty dirt” deal with P & S Paving, selling the topsoil from 40 acres without putting it out for bids and being paid what appears to be well below market value for the dirt.

Allowing the deplorable conditions of East International Speedway Boulevard to exist for over a decade.

The Main Street CRA has collected approximately $100 million with very little improvement, very little transparency and no accountability.

Millions to special interests, without enforceable benefits for the city, including $20 million to One Daytona, at least $1.5 million to Trader Joes, $2.25 million to Tanger Outlets, more than $5 million to Brown & Brown and an estimated $40 million over 50 years to Brown Foundation Riverfront Esplanade to be paid for by the tax money paid on Brown & Brown building to the CRA.

Spent $1.97 million on the purchase and demolition of apartments on Grandview Avenue, then sold the property for $27,500.

Removing general citizen comments from city commission meetings, demonstrating a lack of concern for citizens’ input. Transparency almost nonexistent

Granting of a CO (certificate of occupancy) to the Hard Rock Hotel while construction was ongoing.

Failure to protect the city’s interest in establishing a process of accountability for the now idle 34 story Protogroup Project (Russian Project).

In the private sector, as a manager of a multi-million-dollar budget and keeper of company assets, there are standards to meet. If those standards are not met or assets are not protected, walking papers quickly send you on your way. Apparently, the standards for managing the $750 million budget and public assets for the city of Daytona Beach are very low. Many of the items on the list above would be a firing offense in the private sector. It is past time to hand City Manager Jim Chisholm his walking papers.”

–Community Activist Ken Strickland, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Letters to the Editor, “Daytona’s problems are a long list,” Sunday, July 21, 2019

Wow.

Periodically, The Daytona Beach News-Journal compiles one of those dull “Most Influential” lists – always heavily laden with all the right last names – those with the wealth and political wherewithal to affect change by buying  the rights to political candidates – or through the Halifax areas weird mystique that believes the size of a persons bank account somehow equates to intelligence and civic vision.

All while those who work hard to truly influence positive change and improve the quality of life for their neighbors are ignored, even marginalized.

In my view, Ken Strickland is a tireless advocate for the citizens and unique lifestyle of the Halifax area – and his incredibly sobering look at the myriad issues we face speaks to the frustrations of many in our community who are desperately looking for a new way forward.

Sitting politicians and long-time government administrators owe it to themselves – and those they represent – to take a long, hard look at Ken’s fervent attempt to sound the klaxon while there is still something worth preserving.

As president of Sons of the Beach and Friends – the political arm of our areas premiere beach driving and access advocacy – and his countless acts of organized and independent grassroots activism, Ken Strickland has dedicated himself to making our community a more livable, fun and environmentally resilient place to live, work and play.

He’s one to watch.

And Another Thing!

This week, I shook my head in disbelief as I read an excellent piece by News-Journal education reporter Cassidy Alexander regarding a recent request by Volusia United Educators that School Board members issue a formal apology for the festering debacle at Mainland High known as the “AP ‘placebo’ test.”

Rather than accept responsibility for a cockamamie scheme that saw hundreds of freshmen sit for a fake Advanced Placement exam many thought would result in college credit – our elected officials did some weird dance – quibbling the issue and lavishing praise on the school.

In my view, that’s a far cry from the sincere apology that students, parents, teachers and staff members who were touched by this mess deserve.

It was clumsy.  And it made matters worse. . .

In my experience, there comes a time during every public crisis when those in the Ivory Tower of Power convince themselves of their own infallibility – call it ego or arrogance – many times, those at the top of an organization simply cannot accept that mistakes were made.

So, they dig the hole deeper as a siege mentality takes hold – deny everything, admit nothing, make counteraccusations.

What I know of crisis management begins with the premise that most people can forgive what they can see themselves doing.

Can you see yourself doing any of this?

In my view, it is simply inconceivable that the apparent architect of this mess, Principal Cheryl Salerno, remains at the helm of Mainland High School as she aggressively fights a slap-on-the-wrist reprimand – while long-time teachers and school administrators who were caught up in this fiasco have their lives and careers disrupted or destroyed.

That’s wrong.

Look, in addition to the ongoing U. S. Department of Justice investigation into the district’s treatment of disabled children – if half of the serious issues I’m hearing about through the Barker’s View Telegraph are true – our school system is in serious peril. . .

It’s time Interim Superintendent Tim Egnor step up to the plate – conjure up some of those “unique set of skills and experiences” he touted when applying for this gig, demonstrate some strong leadership and take command of this growing shit storm.

Now.

I believe that begins by requesting a formal investigation by the Florida Department of Education, cleaning house of the entrenched power structure in DeLand, establishing a confidential means for teachers and staff to report ethical, moral and procedural concerns without fear of reprisal and enforcing the time-honored doctrine of superior responsibility that says leaders are accountable for their own acts and omissions and those of their subordinates.

Otherwise, our schools – and district administration – will fall further into anarchic dysfunction.

Rather than apologize and turn this mistake into an opportunity – the Volusia County School Board is allowing it to fester – and reinforcing a culture that fears ingenuity and errors, values secrecy and equates honest mistakes with abject failure.

Hard lessons learned. . .      

 Have a great weekend, friends!

 

 

 

 

There is an incredibly transformational power in a heartfelt apology.

Trust me.  During my public service, I had many opportunities to issue sincere apologies for my own acts and omissions – and those of subordinates that I was responsible for.

Whenever I conducted dispute resolution meetings – from mediating arguments between employees to settling disciplinary issues and neighborhood squabbles – I was always amazed by how the atmosphere in the room shifted whenever someone said, “I’m sorry,” and took personal responsibility for their part in the issue.

When we make a mistake, there is a restorative quality in a sincere apology that can begin the process of setting things right – an acceptance of responsibility – a starting point to rebuild trust and heal relationships.

Earlier this week, veteran educator and President of Volusia United Educators Elizabeth Albert asked the Volusia County School Board to issue a formal apology for the unmitigated debacle at Mainland High School that saw hundreds of students sit for a fake Advanced Placement examination many thought would earn them college credit.

What has become known as the “AP ‘placebo’ exam” fiasco was the brainchild of Mainland Principal Cheryl Salerno (who is currently disputing a district slap-on-the-wrist) and clearly approved by senior administrators – to include former Superintendent Tom Russell. . .

In my view, this was no less than organized fraud – a scheme that adversely affected the scholastic lives of some 336 students – impressionable young people who will rightfully have a well-earned distrust of authority figures – and suspicion of a system that led them to believe they had a right to equal opportunities, then cheated them.

Yet, when the time came to begin the important process of righting this abominable wrong – and send a strong message of support and reconciliation to students, parents, teachers and staff – our elected officials quibbled away the importance of the moment by expressing support for the school.

Say what?

In an outstanding report by News-Journal education reporter Cassidy Alexander, our elected officials were quoted:

“As an alumni of Mainland High, I love Mainland, I support the teachers, parents, students and alumni,” she said, quickly echoed by Jamie Haynes and Ruben Colon.”

“Linda Cuthbert spoke in the same vein.”

“A lot of things happen that are extremely good at Mainland High School,” she said. “I think you can go into any public school, anywhere, and there’s going to be controversy. So, we have to be supportive of the employees.”

What the hell does that mean?

In my view, the district stands at a dangerous precipice.

By their failure to issue an apology to those who were harmed – and publicly support those teachers and staff members who were ignored when they called attention to this catastrophe in the making – our elected officials risk reinforcing a culture of silence where cover-up and self-preservation become the operative ethic.

If the Volusia County School Board doesn’t have the collective strength of character to admit a mistake and begin the incredibly difficult process of unifying a fractured organization and restoring the public trust, who do they think will?

Principal Salerno? 

Right.  She’s still blaming the anonymous complainant who had the courage to report this deception to the Florida Department of Education and sidestepping any responsibility for her actions while still at the helm of Mainland High School.

Former Chief Academic Officer Teresa Marcks?

Please.  She’s gone.  Allowed to comfortably retire and exit the conflagration she helped ignite with a lukewarm “reprimand” and a healthy pension.

Superintendent Tom Russell?

Volusia who?  Mr. Russell has moved on to the top job at Flagler-Palm Coast High School with a sack full of severance cash and a bright new future bringing his unique leadership and management style to yet another school district.

Just once I would like to see a Volusia County government entity drop the arrogant belief in their own superiority and infallibility – apologize for their abhorrent mismanagement and blatant disregard for the trust and confidence of their constituents – and humble themselves to the incredible responsibility of true public service.

Don’t hold your breath.

Sometimes my arguments against the machinations of Volusia County government become limited to calling our ‘powers-that-be’ funny names, repeating myself like a broken record and using weird tropes to explain the inexplicable.

That’s because I’m intellectually limited – not the sharpest knife in the drawer – and although I pretend to have an advanced vocabulary, sometimes my utter exasperation extends beyond the capability of mere words and phrases.

It’s incredibly frustrating.

Sometimes, seeing is believing – and if you haven’t watched the shit show that was the July 16, 2019, “meeting” of the Volusia County Council – I encourage you to take a strong anti-emetic and have a look. . .

I hold to the simple belief that in a representative democracy, the governed should expect that those who hold themselves out for high office will serve the best interests of all constituents – and uphold the highest traditions of equal and equitable representation during the open debate of competing ideas – in an accessible forum that values public input.

Unfortunately, in Volusia County, the ability of a sitting council member – a district representative – to meaningfully participate in the legislative process is directly proportional to that elected official’s willingness to “go along and get along” – to protect the status quo and conform to the rigid expectations of an entrenched power structure that values fealty to those who can pay-to-play.

It also requires strict subservience to a bloated bureaucracy that has reduced the elected body to mere figureheads – a tail wagging the dog situation – where elected policymakers with the temerity to think outside systemic limitations are pounded like square pegs into the round holes of groupthink and political conformity.

Look, don’t take my word for it – watch any meeting of the Volusia County Council and you tell me who’s in charge?

Because it is becoming clear to anyone paying attention that our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, is quickly transitioning from the addled, uninformed and utterly ineffective dipshit we came to know and love during the bulk of his term – to an aggressive, mean-spirited tyrant.

During last week’s Volusia County Council meeting, an important annual milestone when our elected representatives set the proposed millage rate, District 4 Councilwoman Heather Post asked a commonsense question regarding why a highly-publicized plan to improve Emergency Medical Services – which was recommended by senior staff and approved by action of the council in February – had been unilaterally altered without notice by public protection director Joe Pozzo.

When I served in municipal government, if I proposed a project to the people’s elected representatives that involved the expenditure of public funds that they have a fiduciary responsibility for protecting – then fundamentally changed the budget and operational strategy without notifying them – I would expect to be summarily terminated and my role filled by a paid professional they could trust.

Why?  Because to do otherwise it’s a direct misrepresentation – regardless of the reasoning –  and contrary to the notion of politically accountable oversight.

Since February, our elected officials, and the citizens they represent, have been under the mistaken impression that Mr. Pozzo’s department had made specific improvements to EMS protocols, hired personnel and implemented the central changes outlined in a presentation to the Volusia County Council in February.

Now, only when preliminary budget reports are released do we learn that only 15 emergency medical personnel will be added – not the 23 authorized and expected by our elected officials – among other material variations.

Unfortunately, when Councilwoman Post attempted to press Mr. Pozzo and other senior administrators for information – she was openly rebuked and repeatedly interrupted by Chairman Kelley – who talked over her, ignored her objections, protected senior administrators from answering difficult questions and generally acted like a bullying asshole intent on shutting down any substantive discussion of this important issue.

Conversely, when the always arrogant District 3 representative, Deb Denys – or the hapless District 2 Councilwoman Billie Wheeler – yammered and stammered from their perch on the dais, Old Ed looked on, slack-jawed, like their comments were coming from the burning bush – held in rapt attention as they mewed and cooed over the “success” of senior staff members – as though acting contrary to the stated will of the County Council is a positive professional trait?

In addition, Mr. Kelley upheld Director Pozzo’s apparent sacrosanct right to patronize our elected representatives – maintaining utter silence on the dais as Pozzo chattered incessantly – quibbling about replacing ambulance chassis, “recommendations,” “revenue projections” and “five-year forecasts” – talking down to sitting officials, hedging what he did and didn’t do in February, like some condescending subject matter snob – all while Ed Kelley repeatedly covered Pozzo’s ass with those inane hillbilly analogies he’s famous for. . .

But when Councilwoman Post had the unmitigated gall to press for answers to legitimate budgetary considerations, she was brusquely silenced by the Chair – her very real concerns marginalized and dismissed as “micromanagement.”

Seriously.  It was ugly.

Why is it “okay” for residents living in Volusia County’s other districts to receive inclusive representation by their individual elected officials – yet, when Ms. Post attempts to make policy decisions based upon the best information available or represent her constituents from an informed perspective – she is branded a micromanaging grand-stander and rudely excluded from the legislative process?

That’s not fair – and it’s counter to our sacred democratic principles.

As residents of District 4 – my neighbors and I deserve equal representation – just like everyone else in Volusia County enjoys – especially during the always murky budget process.

Instead, we are expected to stand silent as Ms. Post – our duly elected representative – is forcibly shut out of the process, ostracized, maligned, embarrassed and delegitimized by this foul ball of a County Chair – and the horribly compromised power structure he represents – a wholly dysfunctional “system” that continues to ignore the will of the people in favor of protecting (and funding) the status quo regardless of cost.

Hi, kids!

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

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

Angel               First Step Shelter Board

Early on, I naïvely thought the First Step Shelter Board and the City of Daytona Beach were simply working off different sheets of music.

Now, it’s clear the two entities aren’t even in the same concert hall. . .

Earlier this week, long-simmering tensions boiled over when board members finally came to the realization that their star-studded committee is mere eyewash – a high-profile façade to fade the heat – a well-orchestrated diversion purposely created to give the appearance of independent oversight and screen the fact that all decisions regarding the First Step Shelter, large and small, are wholly controlled by Daytona Beach City Manager James V. Chisholm and have been from the project’s inception.

For months, while the dedicated members of the First Step Shelter Board have been spinning their wheels and suffering withering criticism from the Daytona Beach City Commission – Mr. Chisholm and his senior staff have been working in total isolation – constructing the facility and establishing budgetary and operational protocols, completely independent of these impressive volunteers who are charged with the shelter’s financial management and oversight.

While Daytona Beach City Commissioners Quanita May and Rob Gilliland were publicly lashing First Step board members, accusing them of heel-dragging, crowing about the board’s composition and threatening to dissolve the committee altogether – Mr. Chisholm and Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood were formulating eleventh-hour programmatic changes, touring Pinellas Safe Harbor in Clearwater, exploring food service options and turning the homeless assistance center into a hybrid “jail diversion program.”

In fact, the discussion between the two got so specific that there was talk of Sheriff Chitwood actually taking over the Volusia County Branch Jail in order to replicate the Pinellas program – a quantum change to county government operations that the Sheriff has publicly said “he’s not going to fight for. . .”

Jesus.

According to an informative report by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, at Monday’s First Step meeting, board member Dwight Selby, an Ormond Beach city commissioner said what many have been thinking for months, “I really wonder why this board was created. City staff is exercising so much control over this.”

In addition, Holly Hill City Manager Joe Forte called it what it is, “We’re acting as a front for the City Commission.  It’s not right.”

He’s right.

At the same meeting, my friend Mayor Bill Hall of South Daytona didn’t pull any punches when he put into words the growing anger of board members who feel their time and talent is being wasted hashing over issues that Daytona Beach city officials have already decided:

“It’s not what we signed up for,” said Hall. “Tonight is a night I wonder why I wasted three hours and 15 minutes. … We’re getting something shoved down our throats.”

Wow.

Other controversial issues brought forth included the shelter’s $1.1 million annual operating budget – substantially less than the $1.7 million board members had been discussing – which will support an initial shelter capacity of just 40 to 45 people rather than the 100 beds originally proposed.

Add to that an “unusual” lease agreement foisted on the board by the city – something real estate attorney Ray Schumann of the preeminent Daytona Beach law firm Cobb Cole, said contained performance metrics and serious structural maintenance responsibilities that could “set the board up for default” – and you get the idea that perhaps the First Step Shelter Board is being, at best, intentionally blindsided – or, at worst, actively sabotaged.

Perhaps most embarrassing is the fact that Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry, who serves as president of the First Step Shelter Board, has been exposed as either the most uninformed public official in the history of Daytona Beach governance – or a shill for the Chisholm administrations near-constant diversionary tactics as the real decisions are made in the cloistered executive offices at City Hall.

Now, board members – and the long-suffering taxpayers who have paid dearly for this unfolding debacle – are being told that the First Step Shelter will have a bizarre “outdoor safe zone,” an 1,800 square foot concrete slab littered with “pads and mattresses” plopped awkwardly at the main entrance of the facility, apparently to accommodate “. . .people who don’t have an interest in working through the shelter’s rehabilitation program.”

Say what? 

Oddly, I don’t recall seeing this dystopian “front lawn safe zone” noted in the original plans – or included in the pretty conceptual drawings we were sold on?

Something tells me the First Step Shelter Board didn’t either. . .

Apparently, this concept is another off-shoot of the Pinellas Safe Harbor concept where people seeking shelter are interned in a hierarchical system wherein ferine sub-humans survive outdoors, humans progress to floor-space inside and gainfully employed “residents” graduate to a cheap bunk bed in some purgatory between a jail cell and the mean streets.

According to reports, the Reverend L. Ronald Durham, the city’s community relations manager who has become the unfortunate face of homelessness in Daytona Beach, said the safe zone would be fenced, but “people would be free to leave the property if they wished.”

(As opposed to not being free to leave?  What?)

I don’t know about you, but something tells me the end result of this convoluted mishmash of disjointed “objectives” won’t bear any semblance to a homeless assistance shelter. . .

My God. 

As I’ve previously written, maybe Sheriff Chitwood’s desire for a cut-rate alternative to the incredibly expensive revolving door of incarcerating homeless persons for nuisance crimes has legs – I don’t know.

However, those who have volunteered their time, talents and political reputations to steward this important social service deserve the respect due those who work hard in a cause of great importance to our community.

Treating the First Step Shelter Board like mushrooms – keeping them in the dark and feeding them bullshit – isn’t just counter-productive, it’s ethically wrong – especially when public funds are commingled to achieve a common goal.

Whatever ultimately becomes of the First Step Shelter, in my view, it will long stand as a troubled monument to the political ineptitude that continues to plague the long-suffering residents of Volusia County and proves, once again, that our path forward on the real issues we collectively face will be dark and slippery for many years to come.

Angel              City of Flagler Beach

Endangered species are just that – an entire genus which is in grave danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Florida’s gopher tortoise is an imperiled species whose habitat is being actively destroyed by out-of-control development – sacrificed on Florida’s Altar of Greed – that puts the needs and wants of speculative developers who are ravenously clearing large swaths of our natural places to make way for ghastly “theme communities” and even more half-empty strip centers.

Last week, the Flagler Beach City Commission took action to ensure that gopher tortoise burrows are properly identified – and steps taken to relocate these threatened animals to a safe haven – before slash-and-burn site preparation turns pristine forests into an environmental abattoir.

On a 4-1 vote, commissioners mandated that all proposed sites have a gopher tortoise survey performed by an expert trained and authorized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission before “grading, clearing or construction can begin.”

Inexplicably, Commissioner Rick Belhumeur cast the lone vote to deny a threatened species this commonsense protection. . .

It is common knowledge that, for years, disreputable developers often bulldoze evidence of gopher tortoise burrows to avoid the time-consuming and expensive process of identifying and relocating the vulnerable creatures.

In my view, there’s a special place in hell for those bastards who intentionally destroy wildlife to advance their greed-crazed pursuit – but, for now, measures like this will give species in danger of extinction a fighting chance for survival.

Kudos to Flagler Beach for taking this important step to ensure that gopher tortoises have an independent advocate to properly safeguard their diminishing habitat before even more of it is clear-cut for new development.

Asshole           Consolidated-Tomoka Land Company

Look, I don’t have an issue with Consolidated-Tomoka making a profit on the sale of their holdings at LPGA International – after all, that’s how they make a living – and, if the stories routinely plastered across the News-Journal’s business page are accurate, the Good ol’ Boys Investment Club has made a fortune in recent years selling pine scrub around the I-95/LPGA Boulevard interchange.

I just think it would have been nice if we had been told upfront, when they bought LPGA’s Jones and Hills golf courses, that they were going to flip them. . .

Earlier this week, residents of the LPGA community (and Daytona Beach taxpayers) learned that Consolidated-Tomoka Land Company is actively trying to unload the two golf courses it purchased at LPGA International for over twice what it paid the City of Daytona Beach in 2017.

According to reports, the deal between Consolidated-Tomoka and CBIGG, a subsidiary of a Chinese conglomerate, is contingent upon sealing a new licensing agreement with the Ladies Professional Golf Association that requires “reasonable efforts” to bring an LPGA Tour event to the Daytona Beach facility each year.

It also required that the City of Daytona Beach vote to amend its a decades-old master agreement, which included releasing deed restrictions, establishing payments to the city for a $1 per round surcharge and “solidifying privileges of the Ladies Professional Golf Association to use the facility on the city’s west side.”

To their credit, on Wednesday, the Daytona Beach City Commission opted to delay a vote on the agreement amendments until August 7, to give more time for review and reflection.

Smart move.

Given the on-going issues at nearby Indigo Lakes – where the golf course has been allowed to revert to an overgrown xeriscape as the foreign owners determine how many homes, apartments and commercial spaces they can profitably shoehorn onto the property – naturally, LPGA residents and club members are concerned about the future of their neighborhoods chief amenity.

And they should be.

As a result, a lot of people hoped it would remain locally owned and operated by an entity with a vested interest in our community – because that’s sort of what we were led to believe. . .

In a January 2017 article in the News-Journal explaining the terms and reasoning for the sale of the links – that had been owned by the City of Daytona Beach for the past 40-years – we were told by Sir John Albright, president and CEO of Consolidated-Tomoka, that, “Owning the courses now is incentive for Consolidated-Tomoka to try to make the venture profitable in the long run.”

Sir John didn’t lie.

Considering the fact Consolidated-Tomoka purchased the property from the citizens of Daytona Beach  for a cool $1.5 million – then off-loaded it less than three-years later for a reported $3.6 million – I guess it was an incredibly profitable venture in the long run. . .

(I dunno – maybe it’s sour grapes, but shit like that never happens for me – how about you?)

At the time, many questioned why Consolidated-Tomoka would want to operate a golf and country club that was estimated to have lost some $15 million over the past few decades?

Look, God knows I’m no business analyst – but that seemed like one hell of a risk. . .

I guess we know the answer to that now, eh?

According to Sir John, the City Commission’s temerity in actually looking out for the best interests of those who elected them, just might put the kibosh on Consolidated-Tomoka’s incredibly profitable sale – and he’s not happy. . .

In an incredibly rare moment, almost never seen in a local governmental chamber – Mayor Derrick Henry took the unprecedented step of calling CBIGG’s bluff – putting their attorney on notice that the city wouldn’t be rushed.

“Your tone doesn’t resonate well with the community,” Henry told the CBIGG representative.

Damn.

Now, Sir John is openly wringing his hands and publicly fretting over the future of his incredibly lucrative deal.

Late Wednesday, he told the News-Journal, “What buyer in his right mind will want to close on this after what just happened?  What kind of welcome mat was this?”

My ass.

In my view, if the deal was good for everyone involved today – it will still be good three short weeks from now. . .

In perhaps the most cogent analysis of what many in our community are feeling, Daytona Beach resident and civic activist Greg Gimbert recently posted on our regions foremost social media political action forum, Facebook’s Volusia Issues:

“Remember when the City of Daytona Beach gave our premiere community LPGA golf course to ConTom (Consolidated-Tomoka) for a song because ConTom would be a good steward of it and protect it for the future?

#MeToo

Daytona Beach residents would be treated better if their politicians had to face two-year terms and the potential of a clean sweep instead of the staggered four-year terms which protect an entrenched political class.  Changing the county charter to two-year terms would also put a band aid on those trust issues that actions similar to these will never cure.

Question: How much money does ConTom need to make on flipping public property before the voter’s demand that they buy and build their own roads from now on too?”

Good question. . .

I’ve got another head-scratcher for you.

Why is it when the people and corporations who comprise the political donor class in the Halifax area step in a bucket of shit, they always come out with a gold nugget between their toes?

Anyone care to venture a guess how this will ultimately resolve for Consolidated-Tomoka?   

Just curious.

Angel               Daytona Beach Police Department

I want to extend a hearty Barker’s View “Thank you” to Chief Craig Capri and the intrepid officers and staff of the Daytona Beach Police Department for their incredible professionalism during what was a very challenging week for our community.

By any metric, Chief Capri and his hard chargers acted in the finest traditions of the law enforcement service by calming our fears and quickly identifying those responsible for a spate of violence earlier in the week.

They kept the public well-informed and solicited our help – working hard to provide a calming presence and a true sense of partnership with those they serve.

I admire that – and you should too.

The police have very little direct influence over these inexplicable acts – or the social, economic and civic issues that precipitate them; however, they are so often blamed for the result.

In my view, that’s not right.

I have great respect for Chief Capri and the outstanding men and women of his department who regularly go into harm’s way – often under extremely difficult and dangerous circumstances – to protect and serve the citizens of the City of Daytona Beach and beyond.

Godspeed.  These heroes deserve our respect, admiration and support.

Well done.

Asshole           Volusia County Council

Ha!  You thought I forgot my perennial favorites high atop the gilded Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand, didn’t you?

Not hardly. . .

On Tuesday, our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, and that passel of dullards we elected to represent our interests shocked the conscience of their already traumatized constituents when they “tentatively approved” a 6.75% property tax increase.

You read that right.

To their credit, Council members Heather Post and the Right Reverend Dr. Fred Lowry (who was apparently struck by some preternatural fit of conscience and moral clarity) voted against the proposed tax rate.

According to a report by the News-Journal’s intrepid Dustin Wyatt, this massive hike would more than cover fundamental changes to its disastrously inefficient ambulance service – reward county employees with a comfortable 3% across the board pay increase – and summarily punish the rest of us for having the temerity to approve Amendment 10. . .

That’s on top of a $17.00 increase for trash collection and recycling services for residents living in unincorporated areas.

Wait.  Did I forget to mention that the proposed increase will also allow Volusia County to shove a surplus windfall of $16 million into the general fund for, you know, “unforeseeable” events?

Because it will. . .

Jesus.

Now, don’t fret.  Our elected and appointed representatives want us all to know that they are burning the midnight oil to find ways to trim the thick crust of fat from this horribly swollen bureaucracy and bring those of us who pay the bills some “relief” before they set the final budget this fall.

(So long as it doesn’t affect the salary, benefits or pay raises for those lard-asses in the senior management class – or cut into “economic development incentives” for their political benefactors. . .)

My ass.

One idea working its way through the smoke and mirrors that is our county government calls for a reduction of the amount Volusia County residents contribute to the ECHO program – which was created by a citizen-approved referendum in 2000 – and “provides grant funds to finance acquisition, restoration, construction or improvement of facilities to be used for environmental, cultural, historical and outdoor recreational purposes.”

You know, the very fund that has been raided, mismanaged and squirreled away for pet projects by our elected and appointed officials for years?

Yep.  Contributions to the only program that was approved and mandated by the sacred vote of Volusia County residents to save our natural places – which amounts to just .20 cents per $1,000 of taxable value – would be reduced by these pernicious shitheads so they can take an even larger bite from their already overtaxed constituents?

This is classic budgetary sleight-of-hand – and they think you and I are  too stupid to notice.

In perhaps the most egregious slap in the face since, oh, the last time he arrogantly ignored the will and voice of Volusia County’s long-suffering electorate, Chairman Kelley said he wants – by royal edict – to eliminate our ECHO fund altogether.

When asked by Dustin Wyatt if the council could arbitrarily eliminate a measure that was approved by the voters, he said yes “because it was adopted by the council.”

WHAT!

“I think by a supermajority we could change that,” he told The News-Journal. “We could just say we aren’t going to do that anymore.”

What a tyrannical scumbag. . .

I can’t think of anything more un-American – more counter to our democratic values or destructive to the public trust – than some autocratic, ethically crippled political hack who believes he can suppress the will of voters by imperial diktat of those shameless marionettes he shares the dais with.

I’ve got an idea! 

How about in 2020 We, The People stand together at the ballot box and collectively tell Old Ed we’ve had enough of his unique brand of domineering idiocy – and summarily throw his intellectually challenged, dictatorial ass on the ash heap of history – that low place where screw-job politicians who long ago sold their souls to the highest bidder go when their aggrieved constituency has had enough?

Sound good?

At the very least, this latest insult to Volusia County taxpayers – many of whom are eking out a living at or below the poverty line in this horribly compromised artificial economy that benefits the few at expense of many – should prompt the discussion of how we right-size county government.

In my view, it’s time to get Volusia County’s hands off the municipalities, reign in the belligerent county attorney’s office, pare down bloated administrative departments and refocus efforts on the county’s core constituency in unincorporated areas – as we work to return fiscal sanity to this morbidly obese bureaucracy.

Stay tuned, kids.  This isn’t over – not by a long shot.

Quote of the Week

“Mislead students and their families, create phony test documents, mislead district staff and the College Board, and encourage teachers to perpetuate the ruse. Then claim it was done with good intentions.  As a retired principal, I find it deeply troubling that a colleague in the education profession would devise and implement such a scheme, no matter the perceived justification. Leading a school with a challenging population is difficult, but does not ethically justify providing false information to students in an effort to enhance their performance.”

–John Atkinson, DeBary, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Letters to the Editor, “Decision deeply troubling,” July 2, 2019

I wrote about this important issue earlier in the week, but it bears repeating:

After anxious students and parents waited nearly two-weeks with absolutely no substantive information while the district finished investigating itself – earlier this week we were told that no one in a leadership role will be held responsible for the appalling Advanced Placement ‘placebo’ testing scam at Mainland High School that has destroyed the public’s trust and forever altered the way Volusia County students will perceive and interact with teachers and administrators.

On Monday, thanks to the outstanding reportage of the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s Cassidy Alexander, taxpayers – and those who were victimized – learned that the architect of this sordid scheme, Mainland Principal Cheryl Salerno, and the district’s former Chief Academic Officer Teresa Marcks, will receive little more than a stern scolding from something the district absurdly refers to as the “Office of Professional Standards” – whose inquiry described this inexcusable malfeasance as “inappropriate and/or unprofessional.”

My God. . .

According to reports, “No other disciplinary action is outlined in the documents. . .”

Unfortunately, rather than demonstrate the strong leadership needed during this mushrooming crisis, School Board Chairman Carl Persis, “. . .called the issue of whom to blame and disciplinary actions “a moot point.”

Really?

Accountability – the foundational element of good governance that ensures those who make decisions that affect people’s lives are answerable for their actions – is a moot point having no practical value or importance?

Now is the time for the elective body we have placed our sacred trust in to establish strong public policy, purge that wholly dysfunctional Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand and establish a lasting culture of honor, virtue and transparency that students of the Volusia County School District can take pride in – and learn from.

Now, I’m hearing from parents and district insiders of other disturbing happenings at Volusia County Schools. . .

Folks, I fear our district is in real trouble.

And Another Thing!

I know, I know – you’re sick and tired of hearing me gush about my love affair with The City with a Heart – I get it. . .

It does my broken old heart good to know that – finally – the City of Holly Hill is getting the serious recognition it so richly deserves.

Earlier this week, in an incredibly well-written essay the News-Journal’s editorial board waxed eloquently about the ‘little town that could.’

As many loyal readers know, I spent my entire career in service to the residents of this wonderful community on the beautiful banks of the Halifax River – a very special place that embodies many Old Florida traits that larger communities are trying desperately to recreate.

“With improvements big (the advent of the new Fountainhead business complex, new fitness-themed facilities in city parks, a fancy new facility devoted to the emerging sport of pickleball, a new art festival and a growing number of small, owner-operated restaurants that could boost the city as a “foodie” destination) and small (painting grants that encourage local businesses to spruce themselves up), the city is making steady progress toward recreating itself as a healthy, nurturing environment for the workers who are expected to fill hundreds of new jobs slated to open in Holly Hill and adjacent cities in the next few years.”

Most important, the newspaper gave credit where credit is due, pointing out that the city’s energetic leadership team – led by Mayor Chris Via and Joe Forte, the best City Manager in the business – along with economic development director Nick Conte (whose impressive portfolio includes assisting the revitalization of downtown DeLand) are working closely with residents and the business community to “reinvent” Holly Hill.

When you factor in the stability of the active and involved municipal government, the city’s ability to attract visionary entrepreneurs and its diverse workforce – clearly, this is a community experiencing a true renaissance.

Kudos to everyone working hard to make my favorite small town in the world an even better place to live, work and play!

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because I’m angry, I wanted to begin this heated diatribe by lecturing you on the importance of role models and positive influences in the life of a child – and crow about how we learn core values and the moral imperatives of life at an early age by emulating those we admire – learned traits which form the ethical backbone of our character.

But you already know that.

And you don’t need a degree in educational psychology to understand that building trusting relationships between students, faculty and staff is key to forming a healthy learning environment.

Perhaps most important, anyone with a modicum of human decency knows that intentionally misleading impressionable young people – regardless of how well-intentioned the lie may be – is reprehensible.

Like many of you, when the disastrous news of the ‘placebo’ Advanced Placement examination scandal broke at Mainland High School in June, I was literally dumbstruck – unable to process the breadth and depth of an organized fraud that adversely affected so many families in our community.

I found it hard to believe that ostensibly smart people – veteran educators with extensive training and experience could exhibit such horrific personal and professional judgement – or deliberately devise a scheme wherein 336 high school students would be intentionally deceived into believing they were sitting for an AP examination leading to college credit.

Unbelievable.

Now, after anxious students and parents waited nearly two-weeks with absolutely no substantive information while the district finished investigating itself – we are being told that no one in a leadership role will be held even marginally responsible for this appalling scam that has destroyed the public’s trust and forever altered the way Volusia County students will perceive and interact with teachers and administrators.

Earlier this week, thanks to the outstanding reportage of the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s Cassidy Alexander, Volusia County taxpayers – and those who were victimized – learned that the architect of this sordid scheme, Mainland Principal Cheryl Salerno, and the district’s former Chief Academic Officer Teresa Marcks, will receive little more than a stern scolding from something the district absurdly refers to as the “Office of Professional Standards” – whose inquiry described this inexcusable malfeasance as “inappropriate and/or unprofessional.”

My God. . .

According to reports, “No other disciplinary action is outlined in the documents. . .”

Perhaps more disturbing is the fact the Volusia County School Board apparently allowed former Superintendent Tom Russell (who, according to the “investigation,” approved the original plan) to slip the noose and run off to a comfortable new position as principal of Flagler Palm Coast High School with a sack full of severance pay – without ever having been interviewed by investigators. . .

Our elected officials knew about this building fiasco – and voted to award Mr. Russell some $68,700 in severance pay anyway?

In addition, Ms. Marcks – who served as the district’s chief academic officer and a member of Superintendent Russell’s “cabinet” – was allowed to retire the same day Russell left.

Wow.

Look, I’ve read all the testimonials to Principal Salerno’s professionalism – and I have no doubt she is a wonderful person and creative educator who normally has the very best interests of her students at heart.

However, it appears to me – regardless of her altruistic intentions – Ms. Salerno pursued a path that she either knew or should have known would compromise the trust of over three-hundred high school freshman who were led to believe their academic efforts would lead to advanced credit for their work.

In my view, Ms. Salerno must have realized the depth of the problem the very minute Ms. Marcks refused to pay the $60,000 required for all 414 students to sit for the examination – and it is inconceivable that other senior administrators were unaware of the plan.

Instead of admitting a mistake and alerting students and parents to the problem – inexplicably, the key players concocted a fake ‘placebo’ test intentionally made to resemble the actual exam.

That’s inexcusable.

Now, rather than act in a manner her senior leadership role demands and accept personal responsibility for her actions – Ms. Salerno has submitted a letter to district officials challenging the investigative findings and carping that the courageous whistle blower who exposed this travesty to the Florida Department of Education “influenced public opinion.”

Jesus.

What message must that send to the 336 young victims of Ms. Salerno’s bizarre “experiment”?

And how do senior administrators maintain the moral authority to discipline students and staff in the aftermath?

Unfortunately, rather than demonstrate the strong leadership needed during this mushrooming crisis, School Board Chairman Carl Persis, “. . .called the issue of whom to blame and disciplinary actions “a moot point.”

Really?

Accountability – the foundational element of good governance that ensures those who make decisions that affect people’s lives are answerable for their actions – is a moot point having no practical value or importance?

An experienced ship captain once wrote on the subject of responsibility, authority and accountability:

“What holds together the tradition of command is inescapable accountability.  How many times do we hear people say they take full responsibility for some disaster and then nothing happens to them?  No accountability.  Without accountability there can be no trust from your crew, especially in times of danger.  If they don’t trust you, you’re finished.”

With all due respect to the Chairman’s lofty position and delicate sensibilities – I’m going to offer Mr. Persis an urgent suggestion – in the same spirit an old chief of police I worked for would do for me whenever I had that deer in the headlights look during an emergency:

CARL!  PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS – DEMONSTRATE SOME BASIC LEADERSHIP – AND TAKE CHARGE OF THIS CATASTROPHE BEFORE EVEN MORE DAMAGE IS DONE TO THE DISTRICT’S CREDIBILITY!

Because your district is in real trouble – and you are rapidly losing the trust of those you were elected to serve. . .

Now is the time for the elective body we have placed our sacred trust in to establish strong public policy, purge that wholly dysfunctional Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand and establish a lasting culture of honor, virtue and transparency that students of the Volusia County School District can take pride in – and learn from.

It is important that our children know that character counts.

Why is it so difficult for Volusia County politicians to accept the will of the people and move on?

Regardless of the question, when We, The People use our sacred vote to choose how we wish to be governed, oppose entrenched power structures or express our shared disapproval for dubious measures that enrich the few at the expense of the many – we are invariably second-guessed and formally challenged by those we have elected and appointed to represent our interests.

If the electoral system is the foundation of our hallowed representative democracy – a regulated process that allows the governed to share power with those we elect through political accountability – then what do we call it when our elected policymakers ignore our collective will and fight to overturn our decisions with protracted legal actions (while using our money to pay for their arrogant folly) – or simply cycle the question through repetitive election cycles until their desired outcome is achieved?

In the aftermath of the Volusia County sales tax initiative – a failed plan that asked long-suffering taxpayers to suspend reality and lavish a $42 million annual windfall on the same compromised politicians and entrenched bureaucrats that created this quagmire of overburdened transportation and utilities infrastructure by rubber stamping massive development without any concern for the devastating impacts of unchecked growth – it’s clear many of our elected officials are still not mentally prepared to accept our decision.

You see, in their cloistered world high atop the Ivory Tower of Power – you and I are too stupid to understand the significance of the problems we face – or the importance of allowing the same dullards who created this mess even deeper access to our pocketbooks as they try in vain to find a workaround to their previous handiwork.

Bullshit.

Immediately after the results of the “special” mail-in only referendum (the brainchild of a privately-funded, first of its kind scheme concocted by government contractors and others who stood to benefit most) that cost Volusia County taxpayers an obscene $490,000, our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, began discussing the option of resurrecting the half-cent sales tax question on the 2020 ballot.

This week, The Daytona Beach News-Journal ran a very informative Community Voices column penned by my incredibly smart friend, Mike Scudiero – our areas preeminent political consultant and analyst – who offered a cogent road map for sour grapes politicians who remain intent on ignoring the will of their long-suffering constituents.

Mr. Scudiero hit all the high points – explaining the mechanics of crafting a better argument for taxing the eyeballs out of every man, woman and child in Volusia County at the point of sale – to include fashioning a more transparent plan, providing a factual accounting showing exactly how much of the burden will be borne by tourists, being inclusive of tax-wary Republicans and touting the “Come on, everybody’s doing it!” philosophy that the increase would bring us in line with fifty other Florida counties. . .

What Mr. Scudiero’s strategy failed to consider – or counter – is the fact that the vast majority of Volusia County residents have lost total confidence in this compromised cabal of political marionettes that populate the seats of power on the Volusia County Council and beyond.

The “Trust Issue” is the one aspect of this sordid debacle that even the incredibly influential  Volusia CEO Business Alliance can’t throw enough money at.

And absolutely nothing has changed. . .

Despite the fact the electoral deck has been stacked against us – with staggered terms and other pernicious protections designed to ensure the status quo survives – I believe the one positive lesson resulting from this monstrously expensive fiasco is that we can protect our interests and bring positive change through the power of the ballot box.

Perhaps it is time Volusia County voters begin the process of exercising our will – and replace this contemptible oligarchy that has, by design, ensured that the self-serving wants of the uber-wealthy puppeteers who deftly manipulate the rods and cables of government always outweigh the needs of those who are expected to pay the bills.

Let’s return a sense of sanity and restore the public trust in our local government.