Volusia County Council candidates debate growth, housing, roads, water

DAYTONA BEACH — Expanding and improving the county's road network. Transitioning septic tanks to centralized sewer systems. Handling the county government's $1.1 billion budget.

Those issues were all worked into questions lobbed at the four candidates running for the Volusia County Council's at-large post during a debate Thursday in an LPGA International meeting and banquet room.

During the luncheon debate hosted by the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County, a nonpartisan organization that doesn't endorse candidates for political office, the four contenders hoping to represent all 400,000 voters countywide distinguished their experience and priorities with their responses.

But before they took turns fielding questions, each candidate introduced themselves to the roomful of onlookers that included several current and past elected officials, judges, a public defender and the county's tax collector.

Sherrise Boyd owns a consulting and marketing business. She has also worked in government, including a stint with the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta and as a support services manager in the Volusia County Division of Emergency Medical Services.

Boyd ran for Daytona Beach mayor in 2020 but finished last in the three-way competition.

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Jake Johansson was city manager of Port Orange for five and a half years, a position that he decided to step down from at the end of 2020 to deal with some family matters.

Johansson spent 35 years in the Navy. He commanded a combat squadron in Iraq and a Naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, where there is one of the largest concentrations of military personnel in the world.

Johansson also worked at the Pentagon and carried the nuclear football in the White House for three years. He's currently a small business owner.

Meet the Volusia at-large candidates

Johansson has the backing of the current at-large councilman, former Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson, who decided not to seek re-election to the Council. He also has donations from some of the power players in Volusia County: Hyatt and Cici Brown; Charlie Lydecker and his Foundation Risk Partners insurance firm; two NASCAR-affiliated businesses; and the political committee controlled by state Rep. Tom Leek.

Johansson has amassed the most campaign contributions of the four candidates, with $77,700 raised so far. Doug Pettit and Andy Kelly each have about $20,000 in their campaign war chests, and Boyd has $2,280.

Kelly served on the Volusia County Council from 2007 to 2012. In 2012 he ran for supervisor of elections but lost to Ann McFall. He then lost a 2014 County Council race to Pat Patterson by less than one-half of 1%.

Kelly has since been elected to the Volusia County Soil & Water Conservation District Board.

He said he took a step back from public life over the past several years because of serious health issues among his family members. Over the last four years, he said his mother, father, brother and sister-in-law all died.

Kelly said some people urged him to try once more now to return to the County Council.

Pettit is a coach and retired teacher. He coached the Taylor High School football team from 2007 to 2010, and he's currently a coach at Spruce Creek High School.

Pettit is also a retired U.S. Marine with 26 years of military service that included serving in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991.

Pettit said he has lived in various parts of Volusia County for 30 years. He also lived in Seminole County for 15 years.

Pettit has owned several small businesses.

'If you don't grow, you die'

Pettit said he's focusing on three issues on his journey toward the Aug. 23 primary election, which will either produce one outright winner or pare the field of four candidates to two who would face off in November. He said he won't "advocate for a tax increase," he wants to "control overdevelopment," and he wants to protect the county's water and environment.

"The people of this county are scared of overdevelopment and feel they don't have any say," he said.

He said the county's residents, not developers, should decide what is built.

Boyd said she's also finding disillusioned residents.

"So many people are disappointed and don't know where the county is going," she said. "So many don't vote. They don't feel their vote counts. They don't trust the government."

Boyd said her perspective on development in Volusia County is that "we're under-developed in some areas and over-developed in others."

Johansson said he wants "to bring a collaborative culture to the County Council."

"We all need to march ahead strategically if this is going to work," he said. "We can be a force to be reckoned with at the state and federal level."

He said it's important to balance the county's industry with its residents, but added that not all growth is bad.

"If you don't grow, you die," he said.

'We can lower taxes'

Kelly noted that he's the only one of the four candidates who has lived his whole life in Volusia County.

"I've watched our natural resources get built over," he said. "We can take control and we can lower taxes."

One of the audience members at Thursday's debate asked the candidates what experience they have with financial leadership, asset management and budgetary prioritizing.

Kelly said he has worked as an accountant for 45 years. His father was an independent government auditor for the county, and Kelly said he worked under him on those probes.

He also said he has to control his business' budget to keep it profitable.

Johansson said during his years in the military he purchased aircraft worth millions of dollars and oversaw a multibillion-dollar budget at the Naval base in Virginia. The city of Port Orange had an annual budget of about $80 million to $100 million when he was the top government official there, he said.

"I can come up with a lean budget," Johansson said. "I can get you to rollback (on property taxes) if you tell me what you want to cut."

Pettit said he had a small business in San Diego for 10 years that he started from scratch. One of his competitors bought him out, which he said was a high compliment. He said he also ran a business in Lake Mary for three years.

When he was in the Marine Corps, he said he was a heavy equipment officer with a $107 million budget.

Boyd said in her past jobs she worked with budgets and created her own internal audits. She said she found budgetary errors, items that could be cut from budgets and ways to save money.

'Get growth under control'

The candidates were also asked what they thought was best for changes and improvements to Volusia County's road system.

"I'm not a fan of spending a tax dollar to build a new road," Pettit said. "We need to fix what we have."

He said developers can build and pay for new roads when they're needed.

"Growth is not paying for itself," Pettit said. "We need to do things to get growth under control."

Johansson said existing road problems need to be fixed, and road capacity has to be limited to avoid gridlock.

Kelly said if growth isn't controlled Volusia County will become a metropolitan area without sufficient roads.

Boyd pointed out that the county government doesn't control the cities inside it, but she said she'll do her best to slow down growth if elected.

"I would love to see us not spend more money on roads," she said.

When asked about the county's lack of affordable housing, Johansson questioned if that's something a government should address.

"I'm a less government guy," he said. "I don't want the county to do more."

He said "the worst place" to put something like a housing program is a government. With government rules, $1 intended for a particular goal becomes 60 cents, he said.

Pettit also said he doesn't think a county government should get involved with housing and financing it.

Creating more affordable housing is high priority for Boyd. She said she has a perspective shaped by growing up very poor in New York and living through an eviction as a child.

Boyd said Volusia County needs more housing based on income, and more housing developments with residents who have a mix of financial abilities.

"What kind of county are we if we build for out-of-towners, but people born and raised here can't afford to live here?" she asked. "We have people who are just not happy where they're living. Some are barely surviving."

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

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County Council candidates debate growth, housing, roads, water