Explosive development, taxes, environment on minds of Volusia Council District 4 candidates

DAYTONA BEACH — Managing explosive growth countywide. Fueling a $1.2 billion budget without spiking taxes. Protecting the fragile environment.

The challenges shouldered by the seven members of the Volusia County Council are complicated, big and numerous. But the four men vying to take on those responsibilities from the District 4 seat each say they're equipped to handle the cascade of issues that flow down to Council members during their terms.

Troy Kent, Robert Littleton, Jr., Mike McLean and Ken Smith will face off in Aug. 23's primary election. If none of them win outright with more than half of the votes cast in their race, the top two finishers will face off in the Nov. 8 general election.

The winner will be sworn into office in January for the position that pays $47,797 annually.

Heather Post is the current District 4 representative, but she decided not to seek re-election.

Council terms are normally four years, but the District 4 candidates are competing for a two-year term this election because of redistricting. Every 10 years after the U.S. Census numbers are released, voting zone boundaries are redrawn to incorporate changes in population and maintain similar numbers of people in each district.

To maintain the staggering of Council elections mandated by the County Charter, the winners of the District 2 and 4 races will be elected to two-year terms this year and be up for re-election in 2024. Winners of the District 1, 3, 5 and at-large seats will be elected to four-year terms this year and be up for re-election in 2026.

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Here's a closer look at each of the competitors hoping to represent District 4, which covers northeast Volusia County.

Kent: Relieve congested roads, rein in spending

Kent is a lifelong Volusia County resident who graduated from Seabreeze High School. He has spent his 24-year career in education working as both a Volusia County teacher and assistant principal.

The 47-year-old married father of three has also been heavily involved in Ormond Beach government. Kent has been an Ormond Beach city commissioner for 19 years, and he's currently serving his ninth two-year term.

Kent said he decided to run for the District 4 Council seat "to straighten out the nonsense at the county level" and "to get their financial house in order." He said the county has some of the highest taxes in the state, and it should rethink things such as spending $100,000 for a Christmas light display at the Ocean Center.

He said two bottlenecked roads also need to get fixed at their chokepoints. LPGA Boulevard gets congested where there is a two-lane bridge just west of Interstate 95, and Tymber Creek Road needs to widen from two lanes to four where it connects to Airport Road in Ormond Beach, he said. Traffic routinely clogs around two schools near the intersection of Tymber Creek and Airport roads, he said.

Kent said the city of Daytona Beach, county and state all need to work together to widen the narrow LPGA bridge, something he said should have been addressed long before all the thousands of new homes were approved to be built west of I-95. If elected he said he'd push to have the situation fixed in 18 months.

Kent said he'd like Volusia County to provide free beach access to all drivers who live in the county, but he still wants to charge visitors who live outside of Volusia County and want to drive on the beach. He also wants to make more sections of the beach dog-friendly.

Another priority for him is bringing more events to the Ocean Center that local residents are interested in, especially concerts.

Kent said he is also "totally and completely against short-term rentals in residential zoned areas."

"No one should have to live next to a hotel or frat house," he said.

Littleton: 'Absolute place to live, work, raise a family'

Littleton is also an Ormond Beach city commissioner, a position he's held for six years.

He said he's running for County Council now because "I want to make Volusia County the absolute place to live, work and raise a family."

Littleton is a Maryland native who has lived in Florida for 17 years, and Volusia County for 13 years.

The 36-year-old father of two small children owns a tutoring business that focuses on math and accounting.

Littleton said his top three priorities are responsible growth, smart budgeting with low taxes and full support for law enforcement. He has come up with his own acronym for SMART budgeting: Sensible, Measurable, Accountable, Reachable and Timely.

He would like to see better paying jobs in Volusia County, and more affordable housing "so working families don't struggle paycheck to paycheck."

Littleton said more commercial development is needed west of I-95 so the thousands of homeowners there don't clog roads east of I-95 traveling for everything they need and want.

While the west side of the county is getting overdeveloped, the beachside could use redevelopment and a permanent advisory board made up of everyone from surfers to hoteliers overseeing the county's entire oceanfront, he said.

Littleton has attracted more campaign contributions than his three challengers, with a tally of $56,237. Kent has amassed $52,463, followed by McLean with $21,066 and Smith with $10,652.

McLean: Prior county government experience

McLean is a Detroit native, and when his parents retired to Florida he followed and joined them in 1986. His parents settled in Naples, and McLean moved to Orlando.

From 2000 until 2006, McLean was a Lake Mary city commissioner. Then from 2006 until 2010 he served as a Seminole County commissioner. In 2010 he ran for re-election to the Seminole County Commission but lost his race.

McLean was also a candidate for Seminole County Clerk of Court and Comptroller in 2016, but he lost that race as well.

McLean ran an insurance agency in Lake Mary for 26 years. In 2017 and 2018, he was Chief Administrator for the Seminole County Tax Collector.

Then in 2018, the 64-year-old McLean sold his insurance business and moved to Daytona Beach. He has since started a government consulting company, and he's vice chair of the Daytona Beach Planning Board.

He said he doesn't work full time, so he would have plenty of time to devote to being a County Council member.

McLean said he's running for the Volusia County Council now because he hopes to "make tomorrow a little better than yesterday." He also said his experience on the Seminole County Commission makes him the best choice to represent District 4 on the Volusia County Council.

"I'm the only one with county government experience," he said.

He said working with the much larger county government budget, greater number of employees and impact a county government has is a very different thing than being an elected official for a city government.

"The learning curve is steep," he said.

If elected, he said one of his top three priorities will be addressing growth and traffic. He said he dealt with a growth spurt in Seminole County and he has experience working with developers to get agreements early in the process.

"Otherwise the developer is out the door, throwing you the keys and saying good luck," he said.

His other top priorities are holding down taxes and building trust in elected officials.

Smith: 'Green, lean and clean'

Smith was born in St. Augustine, and when he was 2 his family relocated to Ormond Beach.

The 40-year-old Smith owns and runs Wally-Y-World Gallery in Ormond Beach, an art and custom picture framing business his father started in 1987. He took over the family business in 2013.

This is Smith's second attempt at running for an elected office. In 2020 he competed against Kent in the District 2 Ormond Beach City Commission race, but lost to.

Once re-elected, Kent appointed Smith to serve on Ormond Beach's Police Advisory Board, which Smith now chairs.

Smith said he decided to run for the County Council post largely because of "the state of overdevelopment in the county."

"Avalon Park really scares me," he said of the 10,000-home community planned to be built on a large undeveloped property west of Interstate 95 and just south of State Road 40.

He expects the sprawling development, which is also planned to include businesses and a school, to have a large impact on Ormond Beach even though it will be located inside Daytona Beach city limits. He said it's an example of why Florida shouldn't have tossed out its congruency rules in 2008. The rules gave cities and counties some degree of protection against development in neighboring jurisdictions.

He said not enough planning is going into the number of police officers and firefighters, roads, water and sewer service, and other infrastructure needed to handle new development.

"Developers make all the money and cities are stuck with the bill," Smith said, noting he doesn't think impact fees are doing enough to help.

He said he's not accepting any campaign donations from developers. He's not worried about raising the least amount of money in his race. He said he's reaching voters with plenty of door-to-door campaigning.

Smith said he's also concerned about the environment and doesn't want to see damage done to wetlands.

"It's my highest priority," Smith said. "We really need to make a difference."

He said Volusia County needs to protect its fresh water supply. He's not in favor of using a "toilet to tap water" system to provide potable water.

Smith said he's also against raising property and sales taxes.

His slogan captures his priorities: "Green, lean and clean."

You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County Council District 4 race draws four contenders