By Jason DavisDAYTONA BEACH -- Here we are, 100 days into the new year, and what a year it has been.
I have learned the way our county council meetings run and have had to understand the individual personalities of our council while we have had to appoint several board members with more to come.
Sun Rail has been exposed as not being funded or having a plan in place. CRA rules are being re-written and need to be finalized and our county budget is constantly being reviewed under a microscope. We have reduced some spending, with much more needed to come.
Sun Rail has been exposed as not being funded or having a plan in place. CRA rules are being re-written and need to be finalized and our county budget is constantly being reviewed under a microscope. We have reduced some spending, with much more needed to come.
The Farmton project, (a 50-year private land development project straddling inside the Volusia and Brevard County lines), moved into its final approval stages. We continue to work to get the Space Florida Program to come to fruition in Southeast Volusia. New highway projects are in the works and several on the books for the future.
New hotels in Daytona Beach are being planned and will soon be built, while our advertising authorities are finally starting and will continue to work together to resolve issues of tourism that have long been looming over our heads.
I have been written about in local media and reported on televised media; some things were good, some things were not so nice, but that is just the way it goes sometimes when your life is open to the public.
The above mentioned issues were not only of my doing, there is, and has to be, a great deal of cooperation with our county council members, and I feel that we are starting to see that happen.
As I have said, I am new to the game of county politics, and I have to get used to the fact that we move at the speed of government, maybe more like half the speed.
Having served in our military in a leadership role as a squad leader, it sometimes is a little difficult to have things move at such a slow pace. In the Army, we have to be able to move quickly, make decisions that will affect lives and react to situations minute by minute. So, this much slower pace takes a little getting used to, But I am adapting to it.
What does the future hold, for the next 100 days? I can tell you that I will continue to ask the hard questions: Do we need it? Do we have to tax to accomplish it? What is the long term cost? Can we afford it. And the biggest question of all, why?
What does the future hold, for the next 100 days? I can tell you that I will continue to ask the hard questions: Do we need it? Do we have to tax to accomplish it? What is the long term cost? Can we afford it. And the biggest question of all, why?
It is not so important to know the answers. One must be willing to ask the questions, the tough questions, to get the correct answers. This is what I was elected to do, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my public life.
On April 18, I will be giving the "State of the County Address," in County Council Chambers, when I and all members of the council, will continue to promote Volusia County as a great place to live, work and play.
We as a council may even be discussing which committees need to be disbanded. That issue was brought up in our retreat on March 28, and is a good start to reduce the size of government. There are a lot of good ideas out there, and If you have one, please do not hesitate to write it down and email it me, so we can start to discuss them.
I look forward to hearing from everyone, thank you again for your support, and let's fix those things we can, leave the things alone that are not broken, and most importantly, we must recognize which is which.
Related sidebar:
County Chair Jason Davis internet newspaper blog tops Google News Directories for Daytona Beach