- October 5, 2026
The Daytona Beach City Commission rejected a request to have the city's internal auditor examine impact fees, grants and the city's vehicle fleet after a lengthy discussion Sept. 9 that led to a heated exchange over transparency.
Commissioner Stacy Cantu proposed the audit after questioning city staff about several expenditures involving police impact fees, including nearly $1.59 million associated with a police boathouse and dock project.
Cantu also questioned whether grant funding from the Florida Inland Navigation District had been used for the project and asked for more information about transfers involving impact fee reserves. City finance staff said they did not have all of the information available during the meeting and would need to research some of Cantu's questions.
The discussion eventually led Cantu to make a motion directing the city's internal auditor to review impact fees, grants and the citywide vehicle fleet.
The motion failed 4-3, with Cantu and Commissioners Quanita May and Monica Paris voting in favor. Commissioners Dannette Henry, Paula Reed, Ken Strickland and Mayor Derrick Henry voted against it. Several commissioners said they wanted to speak with the auditor before adding more work to his responsibilities.
After the vote, Cantu criticized the decision.
"We definitely have a problem with transparency when we hire auditor and we're afraid to have an auditor do his job," Cantu said.
Commissioner Dannette Henry pushed back, saying opposition to Cantu's motion should not be interpreted as an unwillingness to scrutinize the city's finances.
"Nobody's afraid of anything. I'm not afraid of anything," Henry said.
Henry said she considered it "extremely disrespectful" to suggest commissioners who disagreed with Cantu were not transparent or honest.
"We have to be able to disagree, and we don't have to get up here and be disrespectful to the other people who don't agree with us," Henry said.
The issue resurfaced later in the meeting when Cantu said she has repeatedly struggled to get clear answers when questioning city finances.
"Every time I ask for something or asking for questions, it feels like a cover up constantly," Cantu said. "I just want the facts."
Mayor Derrick Henry responded that his opposition was about the process rather than opposition to oversight. He said commissioners should have an opportunity to hear from staff, residents and the auditor before being asked to vote on proposals raised during commissioner comments.
"I don't personally like when we come into the commission meeting and we try to make a decision that night and make a motion on items that we just bring up that I've never heard of," the mayor said.
Henry said he wanted to slow down what he described as a growing tendency to make decisions from the dais without giving commissioners enough time to consider them.
"I don't think that's the way good commissions operate," he said.
The failed motion did not prevent the commission from revisiting the proposed audits later. Commissioners who opposed the motion indicated they wanted to hear directly from the city's auditor before deciding whether to assign the additional reviews.
