- October 7, 2024
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The qualifying period for the 2024 elections will wrap up at noon on Friday, June 14. So, who’s running for the Ormond Beach City Commission?
As of Wednesday morning, seven candidates have filed to run for one of the five seats, which are all up for reelection.
Incumbent Mayor Bill Partington is not running for reelection; he is running to represent District 28 in the Florida House.
Running for mayor is incumbent Zone 3 City Commissioner Susan Persis, who filed to run in March 2023. Persis, a former teacher and principal, has served on the commission since 2018. She was reelected in 2020 and 2022 without opposition. She has raised over $97,000 in campaign funds.
Also running for mayor is local businessman Jason Leslie, who filed to run in June 2023. Leslie owns commercial real estate and an online e-commerce business. He has raised almost $39,000 in campaign funds.
Incumbent Mayor Bill Partington is not running for reelection; he is running to represent District 28 in the Florida House.
Two candidates are running to represent Zone 3 on the City Commission since Persis is vying for the mayoral seat.
Barbara Bonarrigo, chief executive officer for CJ Manufacturing in Daytona Beach, filed to run for the seat in March 2023. She previously ran in 2020 to represent District 4 on the Volusia County Council, losing the race to then-incumbent Heather Post. Bonarrigo serves on three city advisory boards, including the Leisure Services Board. She has raised over $21,000 in campaign funds.
Kristin Deaton, a sales manager with Guild Morgage, is also running for the Zone 3 seat. She filed to run in March 2023 as well, and is a graduate of the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class of 2019 and a board member of the city’s Municipal Police Officers’ Pension Trust Board. She has raised almost $33,000 in campaign funds.
As for the Zone 1, 2 and 4 seats, only the incumbents — City Commissioners Lori Tolland, Travis Sargent and Harold Briley, respectively — have filed to run, as of Wednesday morning. They were all first elected in 2020. Tolland has raised almost $33,000 in campaign funds. Sargent has raised $9,600 and Briley has raised almost $14,000.
If no other candidates file to run against them by noon on Friday, they will be reelected. For the other two city races, a primary election will be held on Aug. 20. The general election this year falls on Nov. 5.
The Ormond Memorial Art Museum’s gardens may soon be added to the city’s Historic Landmarks List within the Land Development Code.
The Ormond Beach Planning Board will meet on Thursday, June 13, to discuss an amendment to its LDC to add the museum, located at 78 E. Granada Blvd., to the list. The museum was founded in 1946 and underwent a $4 million renovation completed in 2022, but its relevance to the community’s history may date back much farther.
According to a city staff report, a large “hill” located near the museum garden’s waterfall — installed in 1998 — was evaluated by the Smithsonian Institute in the 1920s and determined to be a burial mound for the Timicua.
Based on the Florida State Antiquities Act of 1906, the mound is a protected site, according to the city staff report.
In addition to this amendment, the board will also hold two discussions. One to review six zoning districts — including B-8 Commercial and I-1 Light Industrial — and the other on electronic changeable signs.
The Ormond Beach Historic Landmark Preservation Board will meet at 4 p.m. Monday, June 17, in the City Commission Conference Room 103, where they will consider a request to demolish a single-family home at 130 N. Beach St.
The property, though not on the Ormond Beach Historic Landmarks List or a contributing property within the Lincoln Overlay District, according to a city notice, must go before the board because it was built in 1940.
The cities of Ormond Beach, Port Orange, Daytona Beach Shores, Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Holly Hill and South Daytona are now part of a Coastal Cities Negotiations Team.
The Ormond Beach City Commission approved a mutual aid agreement at its June 4 meeting. According to a city staff report, the seven cities “are so located in relation to each other that it is to the advantage of each to share special law enforcement resources and services to adequately respond to exceptional situations, circumstances and events requiring personnel with special skills, training and equipment.” Joining the CCNT, the report stated, has no additional financial impact on the city.
The Environmental Discovery Center’s summer hours began on June 3. The EDC will be open only on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. as the facility hosts its summer camp. Normal hours will resume on Aug. 5.
