- December 16, 2025
About 70 new signs are set to be posted around town, to help improve emergency services.
BY WAYNE GRANT | STAFF WRITER
Sixty-eight signs are currently going up throughout parks and sports complexes in Ormond Beach, in response to a misdirected 911 call in September.
The signs are meant to help people who call 911 accurately explain where they are located to avoid a delayed emergency response. On Sept. 4, it took first responders about 15 minutes to reach an emergency at Nova Community Park, because they initially mistook their directions from a dispatch trainee to mean the South Ormond Recreation Center, on Division Avenue.
The victim, Bob Hill of New Smyrna Beach, reportedly suffered a heart attack and died. An inquiry by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department, which has handled emergency dispatches in Ormond Beach since 2007, found that the trainee who took the call did not verify the address, and the training officer, Shauna Justice, was disciplined with a three-day suspension without pay.
The new signs are being installed “wherever people congregate” at Ormond Beach parks, according to Leisure Services Director Robert Carolin. Each one provides the address that a 911 caller should use.
“We looked at an aerial map and put dots where all the signs should go,” he said. “Hopefully, this will make a big difference.”
The signs were designed by the Leisure Services Department and are being made and installed by Public Works Sign Shop. About 34 signs have been made, 25 of which have already been placed. Carolin said the goal is to have another 34 made and installed by the end of January.
In another measure taken to improve communications, Leisure Services and the Ormond Beach Fire Department provided the Sheriff’s Office with a list of all park features, such as basketball courts, buildings and fields.
Also, the city has provided the county with a list of nicknames for the parks. For example, Nova Community Center is sometimes called “Ormond Rec," which is what the caller referred to it in the Sept. 4 incident. But the dispatcher sent responders to the South Ormond Recreation Center on accident.
These initiatives were worked out by City Manager Joyce Shanahan, Carolin, Fire Chief Bob Mandarino and Public Works Operations Manager Kevin Gray.
“We found a way to make location identification more easily identifiable,” Shanahan said.
The dispatcher in the Sept. 4 incident was found to be at fault because the caller also gave the names of the intersecting streets at the location. Investigation found that the dispatcher trainee failed to follow “proper address verification procedures” and his training officer, Shauna Justice, was “totally unaware” of the mistake until the trainee brought it to her attention 10 minutes into the call.
Justice admitted to using her personal phone during the call, which is against policy, and also talking to others in the dispatch room. Since 2007, Justice has received two written reprimands and three verbal reprimands.
Since the reprimand, Justice, on Nov. 12, was arrested after pointing a gun at a television reporter who had come to her house for an interview. The 28-year-old was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on $1,500 bond.
Davidson said that Justice has bonded out of jail and is suspended without pay because of the gun incident. A disciplinary decision will be based on the results of an internal investigation.
The trainee received counseling for inattentiveness to address verification procedures. Justice received a three-day suspension without pay.
Punishment fit the crime?
One Ormond Beach City Commissioner, however, Bill Partington, doesn't believe Justice's punishment is adequate.
“I didn’t agree with the discipline,” he said. “I expected a minimum of a demotion. It didn’t seem like enough of a discipline to discourage the behavior that occurred.”
Partington added, though, that during a tour of the dispatch center, he could see that they have cracked down on verifying addresses.
“It’s got them on their toes,” he said.
He called installing the signs a step in the right direction, especially since he has noticed that problems usually seem to occur at recreation facilities.
“We’ve had two problems at the sports complex and one at Nova (Community Center), because they were either misrouted or couldn’t find the (victim),” he said. “(Calling) 911 normally works seamlessly but it seems we have problems at places that don’t have a hard address.”
He said he has asked city staff to bring EVAC, 911 dispatchers and other county personnel out to the parks to familiarize them with the facilities.
“It’s that hands-on, gritty-type work that will get results,” he said.
Emergency money
Partington has also expressed concerns that the county is not adequately funding 911 operations, possibly because of a high turnover rate which causes the county to pay overtime wages.
“I still wonder about that and think they should look at it,” he said.
Gary Davidson, Sheriff's Office spokesman, confirmed that there is “quite a bit” of overtime at the communications center.
“Public safety dispatching is an extremely challenging and stressful work environment, and not everyone is cut out for this line of work,” he said. “Consequently, there tends to be a fair amount of turnover.”
He said this results in temporary vacancies that need to be filled with overtime, and it’s a problem faced by all dispatch centers.
“I appreciate Commissioner Partington’s comment, although I don’t know that more money or more positions is the answer, since the challenges of running a communications center would be the same regardless of the budget or size of the workforce,” he said. “We’re making a concerted effort to reduce the overtime by moving new hires through the process as quickly as possible, although we obviously can’t cut corners and shortchange the training in the process.”
