- January 29, 2025
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Ormond Beach Mayor Jason Leslie held his first "Coffee with Mayor Leslie" event on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
Leslie was pleased with the turnout — about 20-30 people showed up to the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center for the morning event, which also featured two guest speakers: Daytona Beach Shores Mayor Nancy Miller, who is also the president of the Volusia League of Cities, and Miranda Tressler, Volusia County Environmental Program manager.
What have the first couple of months as the city's mayor been like for Leslie?
"It's been busy. I was told this is a part time job, but whoever said that was lying," he said with a laugh. "But I don't mind it. It's been great."
The community, Leslie said, has given him a warm reception, and staff has been helpful in getting him up to speed on city issues.
The Observer sat down with Leslie on Tuesday to discuss topics such as development, fluoride and future priorities. Here's what he had to say.
What is a top priority that you're hoping to address during your first term as mayor?
I think that one of the things that I'd like to do is try to bring more high paying jobs here. Everybody wants to live in this community.
But the last time I saw the numbers, the average three bedroom, two bath home is $410,000 in the area, and so in order to purchase a home like that, through a mortgage with the minimum down payment, you have to make $150,000 a year.
I'd like to try to bring more high paying jobs here so that we can raise that median income, so people can afford to buy a home and live here, because people want to live here. It's great community, but I think more high paying jobs is going to help bring more folks here to be able to enjoy this place.
Editor's note: In a follow-up email to the Observer, Leslie said his estimation of the yearly income was based on a family of four, which includes two young children, and included other factors such as living expenses. Simply put, he said, a family of four with two young children needs an income of over $100,000 plus a year to afford the average home and other living expenses.
The City Commission recently unanimously denied the Little Tomoka Village development. What were your concerns with the project?
A lot of talk right now is about flooding, and the County Council and the county chair had a special meeting about the moratorium, and I know the moratorium didn't pass, and I think that made sense why, but there is still concerns.
We all have concerns about the flooding and future flooding and so I think that that's really what the main topic was, and why that project was denied.
Some citizens are concerned that the commission’s decision to remove fluoride from the city’s water supply will result in long term negative effects. Do you think the item should have been placed on a future agenda for discussion?
It will be actually on the agenda. It's going to be an amendment to the ordinance, which will have two rounds of readings, as you know. So there'll still be opportunities for the public to come and comment.
I did ask the city attorney when it was discussed if we can just have a vote now on it, just to let everybody know that we wanted to bring this discussion. I didn't know that it was going to stop the fluoride immediately. I honestly thought that this was going to be a vote to put it on the agenda, to have those rounds of meetings, and so we're going to do all that.
So the decision isn't "final," so to speak?
No, because it could fail the two rounds of voting, for whatever reason. A lot of things come up in public comment that we can learn from. I love public comment, I do. I think public comment, it really helps us as a commission learn things.
I will say with the fluoride, there's a lot of concerns and there's studies on both sides. I just think that, for me personally, I don't like government telling me what to do or what to do or what to put in my stuff. If I want fluoride, I have toothpaste, I have mouthwash. But I don't drink it though.
The other thing is we put less than the minimum standard.
So if we're not putting the minimum standard in, and we're doing less than that, where's the benefit anyway?
A study for a new emergency operations center and public safety complex is moving forward. What are your thoughts on an EOC and a new police station?
As an elected official, public safety is always our top priority. I did law enforcement when I was younger, I was a volunteer firefighter, so I understand the importance of these type of jobs and needing the equipment and the facilities and all the stuff that goes with it, and if it's something that we need, that's going to provide better services to people when they need it, then I'm all for it.
If it's going to be something that's not going to be used, and it's going to be not utilized to benefit the residents, then that might be a different story, but staff has said to us that this is going to benefit the community, it's going to really help us with emergency services and everything else that we need, especially during storms and stuff like that. If we need it, we need it.
Development has been a concern for city residents for a long time, and we've often heard the terms low impact development and smart growth. What do these terms mean to you?
Councilman Troy Kent brought this up at the moratorium meeting, and I think it was a seven step plan.
I think that that initiative right there is a step in the right direction because we need to change our policies in order to help mitigate these issues, in order to get back on the right track here, right? Because maybe the policies that we had that worked 20 years ago, or 30 years ago, whenever it was, it's different than it is now.
Changing those policies and looking at what we can do better as we grow, because stopping growth, I don't know if that's realistic or not, but going in and trying to change our policy so that we are growing right and we're not creating these problems that happen later is probably a step in the right direction and I fully support that.
Once we start changing those policies, then the things that are coming up on the agenda with these development plans won't look the same as they look now. We can maybe lower the density and maybe put in the proper storm drainage or our proper equipment that we need to lower the risk.
If you could describe the future of the city of Ormond Beach in one word, what word would you use and why?
I hate to use the word special, it makes it sound like, 'What does special mean?' But it is a special place though. It's a special place — a hidden gem that is no longer hidden, and now it's become a place that people know about. It's on the map and they want to come here, and it's a great place to live.
