- June 16, 2025
Dear Editor:
I am no expert on politics, but because I do have a pretty good understanding of municipal government, I thought it would be helpful to provide somewhat of a civics lesson, especially given the recent controversy about the Ormond Beach mayor's actions.
Here is my disclaimer though: This is not an attack on the mayor. I don't know the mayor.
Ormond operates under the city manager form of municipal government, wherein there is a 1) City Commission, 2) city manager and a 3) city attorney.
Key point: Places like Orange County have a "strong mayor" form of government. We do not.
Our City Commission consists of five equal voting members, four commissioners and one mayor.
As the City Commission, by majority vote of the five, they hire the city manager, adopt the budget created by the manager, pass laws and ordinances, and set policy.
Under Florida state law, no one on the commission may direct city staff. It would be a crime if they did.
Everything goes through the manager.
The city manager, like all the good ones, stays invisible and runs the business of government. They create the budget and importantly, prepare the commission agenda.
The mayor's job description is established by our municipal code, which states, the mayor "is the head of city government for all ceremonial purposes" and "represents the city in all agreements with other governmental entities."
Here is where the mayor may have a misunderstanding of what "represents" means. It means representing the city's position, which can only be established by the commission.
Hopefully our current mayor will come to realize he has mistakenly overstepped his authority and will join with the full commission in the future.
I hope this helps.
Stan Driscoll
Ormond Beach
Dear Editor:
Mayor Jason Leslie’s April 14 negative comments to the First Step Shelter board completely misrepresented the Ormond Beach history of strong support, so much so that Executive Director Victoria Fahlberg and board member Bill Milano felt compelled to come to the city to address the May 6 commission meeting and seek clarification.
All four commissioners refuted the mayor’s false claims reported verbatim in local newspapers, and the commission’s unconditional votes of confidence were put in a letter to the First Step board at the suggestion of Commissioner Travis Sargent. Mayor Leslie did not verbally endorse this written communication and remained silent until the end of the meeting, when he referenced challenges to his misrepresentations as “finger-pointing.”
Upon receiving the city’s glowing letter of support at their May 12 meeting, the First Step board thanked the City Commission, not Mayor Leslie, as he claims. At that meeting, Leslie made no attempt to explain the letter’s clear rejection of the positions he had falsely attributed to the Ormond Beach City Commission a month earlier.
In his May 15 Observer response, Mayor Leslie still does not deny or acknowledge his false representations, which have diminished the credibility of our city government. The mayor believes he is under “attack” when he is simply being held accountable for his public statements.
We in the community need Mayor Leslie to succeed so that Ormond Beach can succeed. As spokesperson and the face of our city, the mayor’s continued miscommunications undermine that success. We continue to plead for him to unify and lead all of us, not just a handful of negative supporters.
In achieving and maintaining fragile public trust, truth matters.
Jeff Boyle
Ormond Beach
Editor's note: Mayor Jason Leslie was given a chance to respond.
"As the elected mayor of Ormond Beach, it is my fiduciary responsibility to review the city’s expenditures.
While First Step is a great undertaking, one of great merit, it must not be overlooked that it hasn’t lived up to expectations, has been mired in controversy, and, in my opinion, the City of Ormond Beach has not received the expected value for the $80,000+ paid.
The mere act of speaking about the shelter, in a perceived negative or positive manner, should not be taken as if decisions regarding my opinions have already been made. In fact, I supported the program by donating food.
Without conversation, without ideas, and without sharing those ideas, we are left in a predicament of funding programs year after year without effective governance. I was elected by the people to serve and will continue to do so by asking questions, raising concerns, and listening to the community. I was also thanked by the First Step board members for the letter of continued support — being that I did sign the letter along with the commission and was the only representative from the city at the time of the meeting.
You have been fixated on wording from a meeting that you didn’t even attend. If you had attended, you would know exactly what was said, and that the one major concern I mentioned was the timing of the contract.
Mr. Boyle, thank you for your concern about our homelessness problem. Please call me — I am always available for further discussion. I think we can come to a better consensus by seeking common ground and solutions for a better city."
Dear Editor:
In light of the recent talk of putting a sales tax increase for Volusia County on the ballot (again), I looked at the operating budget from the year of most recent Volusia sales tax vote (2018-2019) and the current Volusia County operating budget year (2024-2025).
2018-2019: $768,755,651
2024-2025: $1,322,153,507
A 72% increase.
Volusia County government doesn’t have a “not enough taxes” problem. It has a “too much spending” problem.
Joe Hannoush
Ormond Beach
