- October 14, 2026
Editor's note: This is part of a series of stories highlighting the candidates for local office who will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Harold Briley has dedicated decades of his life to Ormond Beach.
Most of his life, in fact. Briley was 15 years old when he attended his first meeting of Citizens for Ormond Beach. The group was debating the future of the now-demolished Ormond Hotel.
Briley was the youngest person in the room.
"They asked me if I wanted to be part of their organization, on their board of directors," he recalled. "I said, 'Sure.' So that was the start of that, and just grew from there."
In 2022, Briley was elected to the City Commission as its Zone 4 representative. He was reelected in 2024 without opposition and is now seeking a third term.
He's running against challenger Amber Bobak following the results of the August primary election, where neither earned the majority vote to win the race, which originally had three candidates. As the top two candidates — Briley received 41.86% of the vote and Bobak received 38.84% — they are headed to a runoff on Nov. 3.
In number of votes, Briley earned 931 and Bobak 862, a difference of 69 votes.
Born and raised in Ormond, Briley centers his campaign around his roots in the community. Having been involved for so many years, he's also invested in its future, he said.
"I care very much about the city because my family has deep, deep roots here — quite a bit of history," Briley said.
Briley's grandparents moved to Ormond Beach in the early 1940s. His grandfather, whom Briley is named after, helped found the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce in 1945, and became the organization's fourth president in 1948.
His grandmother Sheila was a member of the Ormond Beach Historical Society and The Casements Guild. His grandparents also helped start First United Methodist Church in town.
While Briley's grandparents were very active in the community, they never ran for local office.
Briley became the first in his family.
His interest was piqued, he said, when he started serving with CFOB.
"Ultimately, the City Commission makes the decisions for the city, and I thought, if you want to try to be part of something, what better part of it to be than helping to be a decision maker," Briley said.
But first, he had to graduate high school. After attending Seabreeze High School, where he formed part of the chorus, Briley studied at the Daytona Beach Community College. He went on to work for Volusia County government in its traffic and engineering division, where he built a 21-year career. In 2014, he left county government to become a real estate agent.
Throughout the years, Briley served on a number of city boards, including Ormond's Beautification Board, Development Review Board and Downtown Revitalization Task Force in the 1990s. In 1996, he was one of the founding members of Ormond MainStreet, serving as its first treasurer. He also served as president from 2001-2003.
He also served on the Ormond Beach Planning Board for a total of 21 years — from 1996-2006 and then from 2011-2022.
"I think the board service that I had really gave me a much broader knowledge of the different facets of city government and what staff deals with," Briley said.
Briley first decided to run for office, to represent Zone 4, in 2016. It was something he couldn't have done previously while he was working for the county, and the 2016 election was an open seat.
It was a tight race, with Briley losing to former City Commissioner Rob Littleton by a margin of 226 votes.
When Littleton decided to run for County Council for the 2022 election, Briley decided to give it another go.
"Ultimately, the City Commission makes the decisions for the city, and I thought, if you want to try to be part of something, what better part of it to be than helping to be a decision maker." — HAROLD BRILEY, Ormond Beach Zone 4 City Commissioner
The past four years have been rewarding, he said, and each two-year term has been different. The first was a learning curve, even with his experience on city boards. Then, the second term brought on new dynamics as longtime commissioners exited and new faces were brought on board.
Suddenly, he was one of the "veteran" commissioners, despite only serving for two years.
How important is stability?
"Very important," Briley said. "I think having some level of institutional knowledge on the commission helps especially when certain ideas or certain projects are presented ... Sometimes knowing where you've been or what your history is, you get a better idea of how you should move forward."
Ormond Beach, like many other Florida communities, is facing all the side effects that come along with the pressures of growth, he said — like demands on the city's water supply and traffic.
But the city is growing at a rate of 1%-2% a year, he explained. So a big impact is the growth of neighboring cities and counties, from the apartments in the LPGA corridor to the new homes being developed in Flagler County.
"I don't think we're necessarily overdeveloping," he said. "Of course, you may find some folks that would disagree with that, with like the Tomoka Reserve project and some other things. But I still think a lot of our development pressures are coming from our neighboring jurisdictions."
There's not much the city can do about that, Briley said. But, he would like to see some more coordination between governments regarding growth, something similar to a regional planning council.
Is Briley pro-development? No, he said.
"I try to prefer smart growth," he said. "I try to prefer growth that makes sense."
Being in public office takes copious amounts of time. It takes asking questions, Briley said, both on and off the dais.
"I think the reason I do it is to try to ensure that Ormond Beach stays the quality place that it is," he said.
One of his accomplishments he's most proud of during his time in office is helping to establish a Citizens Academy. The program has helped many residents now learn about city government.
He's also proud to have voted to create a dedicated millage for recreation, as well as worked with staff to address residents' concerns, from new sidewalks to stormwater needs.
"I always appreciate when people come to the commission with a problem, because the commission or staff may not be aware of it, and it gives us the opportunity to address it from there," Briley said.
The best piece of advice he's ever gotten is to listen to people and always be open to new ideas. And, he added, to be respectful.
"Not everyone's going to agree with you," he said. "Not everyone's going to necessarily like you, I guess. But do what you think is in the best interest for all, or for the majority."
