- December 20, 2024
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The relationship between the city of Ormond Beach and the Volusia County School Board is at an “all-time low,” said Mayor Bill Partington during his closing remarks for the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, March 19.
The mayor’s sentiment comes after Volusia County Schools’ community meeting on Monday, March 18, regarding the transfer of Riverview Learning Center to the former Osceola Elementary campus at 100 Osceola Ave., a decision local officials say they weren’t aware of until after the School Board had unanimously approved the transfer.
Though the mayor did not attend the community meeting, City Commissioner Travis Sargent did, calling it one of the “most hostile, unorganized meeting” he believes he’s ever attended. The school district, Sargent said, tried to blame the City Commission for not informing residents of the program transfer.
“It’s very unfortunate that we have to defend ourselves to our residents because they want to put this back onto us and pass the buck because they have failed us in their decisions since August 2021,” Sargent said, referencing when the School Board opted to merge Osceola and Ortona Elementary and build a new school in the Ortona campus. (That school is now Beachside Elementary).
A resident who lives next to the school, he added, has been sleeping in her living room for two years due to the AC noise from the portables on the campus, first placed for the merged Beachside student population as the new school was built, and now used for Tomoka Elementary as that school is constructed.
The resident was told the issue will be resolved this summer when the portables are removed.
“I’m just absolutely flabbergasted at the way they treat our residents,” Sargent said. “It’s absurd.”
He made a motion to have staff bring back all of the city’s contracts with the school district for property maintenance. Currently, the city maintains Osceola School Park, which sits on the school’s campus and has baseball fields, a playground and outdoor tennis and basketball courts. The city, he said, also maintains a portion of property within Ormond Beach Middle School.
The commission agreed to have staff bring back information on what properties the city maintains for the School Board.
Partington said he was surprised that the superintendent didn’t attend the community meeting and said he’s asked City Manager Joyce Shanahan to meet with her.
“That’s all I know that I can do,” Partington said. “Perhaps the superintendent should come here and apologize to everybody for such a hot mess of handling of this issue, but something needs to happen,” he said.
Work at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center continues, as the city aims to reopen the facility after a small fire caused damages on March 9, less than a month after the PAC celebrated its reopening following a $1.7 million renovation.
At the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, March 19, City Manager Joyce Shanahan said most of the affected drywall and some carpet at the PAC have been removed to improve drying.
Paul Davis Restoration, a fire damage restoration company, has placed fans, dehumidifiers, air scrubbers and generators, she said.
“They’re working around the clock to get the facility dried out,” Shanahan said.
City staff also met with Bomar Construction to determine what supplies can be ordered now to keep the renovation moving forward, and fire inspectors are working to determine the root cause of the fire. This could take three to four weeks.
Commissioner Harold Briley expressed his condolences to city staff for the fire.
“I know when we get it back, it’ll be better than when it was redone” Briley said.
After two delays — one because of an advertising error and the other due to the fire at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center — the City Commission will review a rezoning request for the former Tomoka Oaks golf course on Tuesday, April 16.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in City Commission Chambers at City Hall. The city will set up overflow rooms with screens to livestream the meeting.
The developers of the Tomoka Reserve subdivision, proposed the 147.94-acre golf course property in the middle of Tomoka Oaks, are seeking a rezoning for the property from a Planned Residential Development to R-2 “Single-family low density.”
The city has repaired one set of stairs at Andy Romano Beachfront Park, located at 839 S. Atlantic Ave.
The stairs should be open this week, City Manager Joyce Shanahan said. The city is waiting to repair the other sets of stairs as they coincide with the seawall replacement.
