- April 7, 2026
Daytona Beach Chief Building Official Gen Urquhart has resigned amid the city’s on-going turmoil over the misuse of taxpayer money by city staff.
Daytona Beach is undergoing an internal audit across several departments after city staff allegedly misused city-issued Purchasing Cards. In a resignation letter to City Manager Deric Feacher, Urquhart said he was resigning over the “unnecessary pressure, unreasonable requests, extreme micromanaging and personal attacks.”
Urquhart’s final day will April 29, after having worked for the city for over 12 years.
Daytona Beach auditor Abinet Belachew released his audit on the Daytona Beach Fire Department, which reviewed the department’s P-Card spending between 2021 and 2025, at the April 1 City Commission meeting. During that five-year period, Belachew found questionable purchases in the thousands: $50,000 in P-Card food and beverage purchases, $500,000 in P-Card car maintenance purchases, $50,000 in technology accessory items like phone cases.
The car maintenance purchases are in direct violation of the P-Card policy, the report states, which prohibits using P-Cards on vehicle maintenance. In other cases, the purchases were flagged as questionable as they were items that could be used for personal use or had no documentation supporting their purchase.
During the April 1 City Commission meeting discussing the DBFD report, City Manager Deric Feacher told the commission he would be looking into all the P-Card purchases made over the last five years.
“We're going to look at every single document,” Feacher said. “All five years of them, one by one. And if there is someone who has used their P-card for personal reasons they will be dealt with.”
Other questionable purchases were identified, too, the report said: televisions, baby shower decor items, greeting cards, irons, travel laundry items, a mini refrigerator, Ramadan decorations, collapsible beer can cooler, men’s dress shoes, sunscreen, kitchen equipment and other consumer goods.
Additionally, in multiple instances purchases did not have itemized receipts or lacked any receipts at all. In that case, employees were permitted to submit written explanations instead of the missing receipt.
“These transactions were not supported by adequate written justification, documented business purpose, or evidence of prior supervisory approval as typically required for expenditures of public funds,” the report said. “Supporting documentation generally consisted only of receipts, with little or no explanation of how the items directly supported official duties or City operations.”
One such questionable purchase occurred between July 25-28, 2023, when the DBFD purchased 15 televisions from a Best Buy, which, the report said, warranted further review.
Mayor Derick Henry said everyone was alarmed by the 15 televisions.
“It's obvious that some of the policies have not been followed, if not a lot of them,” Henry said.
Belachew said there is not sufficient evidence yet to say there is fraud within these purchases. There may be, but, he said, if he finds evidence of fraud he would immediately take it to the prosecutor, not the commission.
“We don't want to be accusatory without sufficient valid evidence,” he said.
In the report, he states that while the vast majority of employees are dedicated and ethical public servants, “effective internal controls are essential to protect public funds, promote transparency, ensure consistent compliance with Florida law and City policy, and maintain public trust.”
Belachew said the city needs to update its policy, including standardizing areas like where uniforms are purchased, creating a budget item for food spending, and requiring and enforcing that all purchases include itemized receipts and supporting documentation.
“Improving this process will benefit our city,” he said.
