Pledged to serve: Ormond Beach City Commissioners take oath of office

Ormond Beach has a new City Commission.

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, Mayor Bill Partington and City Commissioners Lori Tolland, Travis Sargent, Susan Persis and Harold Briley were sworn into office by Volusia County Judge Bryan Feigenbaum, as dozens of their family members and friends watched from the seats of the City Commission chambers. Three of them — Tolland, Sargent and Briley — are new to the commission.

"I've heard from so many people in our community who are so excited about this commission," said Partington, who was reelected for a fourth term as mayor. "A fresh new commission with fresh ideas and the stamp of the vote of the people. Moving forward is an exciting time time to be a resident of Ormond Beach."

He said he looked forward to working with the new commissioners and said it was encouraging to see the support in the audience — daunting, too, he added, since there is a lot of work to do at the city in the near future. 

During the meeting, Briley was also sworn in as deputy mayor after being nominated for the position by Tolland, who later asked the commission consider rotating the position on an annual basis to give each commissioner a chance to serve in that position. Currently, a commissioner voted to serve as deputy mayor does so for the duration of his or her two-year term. 

Briley said he was shocked to be nominated as deputy mayor and that it was an honor to serve. He thanked former commissioners — several of whom were in the audience — for their contributions. 

"You all have been great stewards of our city and we can only hope to carry on with the vision," Briley said. 

Tolland said she's looking forward to serving on the commission and working alongside city staff.

"I pledge to work hard and give my best, to be available to those that I serve and advocate for a beautiful community," Tolland said.

The real work begins now, Sargent said.

"My pledge remains the same — to bring transparent, honest and common sense leadership to make Ormond Beach city government work for all of us," he said.

Persis congratulated her fellow commissioners and said that she believed they will make a great team. 

"I'm very excited to work with every single one of you up here," Persis said. "I just have a lot of great feelings about what's happening, going to happen in Ormond Beach. This is going to be great."

Wonderful people make a wonderful city, Partington said. The city is blessed to have people who care about community and want to create an environment that people want to live in, he added.

"The voters of this great city elected this commission to do wonderful things and continue to pave the way for Ormond Beach to be the community of choice in Volusia County," Partington said.