- March 27, 2024
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Citizens for Ormond Beach will hold a candidate forum at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28, for the Ormond Beach City Commission and local Volusia County Council races that will be on the November ballot.
Candidates for the city’s mayoral and Zone 4 seats, as well as Volusia County Council District 4 and at-large will be in attendance. The forum will take place at the Ormond Beach Senior Center, located at 351 Andrews St. There will be a meet-and-greet opportunity from 6-6:30 p.m., and the forum will run from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
This will be CFOB’s second forum for the 2022 elections.
Running for Ormond Beach mayor is incumbent Bill Partington, an assistant public defender and division chief for Florida’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office. If elected, this will be his fourth term as mayor, though he has served on the commission since 2003, initially as the Zone 4 representative. His opponent is Rob Bridger, a past three-term homeowners association president for The Trails. This will be his third time running against Partington.
The Zone 4 candidates are longtime residents Brian Nave and Harold Briley. Nave is president of an engineering company. He serves on the city’s Leisure Services Advisory Board and the Board of Adjustment and Appeals. Briley is a real estate agent and has served on city boards for 35 years, 21 of which have been on the city’s Planning Board.
Former Port Orange City Manager Jake Johansson and retired high school teacher Doug Pettit are both running for Volusia County Council at-large. In the primaries, Johansson won 33.88% of the vote; Pettit won 23.72%.
The District 4 candidates are incumbent Zone 2 Ormond Beach City Commissioner Troy Kent and Wall-Y-World Gallery owner Ken Smith. In the primaries, Kent won 30.17% of the vote; Smith won 30.84%.
Ormond Beach developer Paul Holub is donating over 600 theater chairs for the renovation of the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center.
Holub, who is redeveloping the former Regal Cinemas site at 215 Williamson Blvd. into a 312-unit apartment complex, reached out to the city once he heard the PAC would receive a $600,000 ECHO grant from the county.
The Regal Cinemas building, prior to its closure in 2020, had upgraded seating in two theaters.
“I’ve been a resident here for 50 years,” said Holub, whose daughter participated in shows at the PAC when she was young. “It’s my hometown and I’d do anything I can for this city.”
PAC Supervisor Marc Schwartz said they are grateful for Holub’s offer, and that the new seats will greatly improve guests’ experiences when the PAC reopens. The seats have not been upgraded since the PAC first opened in 1991.
“When people walk into this theater after this renovation, they’re going to be amazed because it’s not going to look anything like it used to,” Schwartz said.
Volusia County announced that the boat ramp at Highbridge Park at 39 High Bridge Road is now open.
The boat ramp was closed by the county in January in order for upgrades to the ramp to be completed. These upgrades, per a county press release, include the replacement of two wood walkways with concrete walkways, addition of a new pavilion and picnic table, repair of the existing sheet pile walls, installation of rock for shoreline revetment and the construction of ADA-compliant parking spaces.
While construction of the ramp is complete, access to the southside aluminum walkway and floating dock will not be available until mid-October, the county stated. This is due to material delays.
For now, guests can use the northside aluminum walkway and floating dock.