38 Ormond by the Sea, ya later

So here we go again.
Enter the political ramblings of Mark Barker from Barkers view, posted sep 18, 2019. Speaking to those of you with an open mind about the ills of politics.
Once again I say well done Mark.
I read about the issues of the Ormond by the Sea organization, which was established to fight “city Hall” if you will, to basically become self governing group, to fight those who would destroy their way of living. Great Idea, but………, yes there is always a but.
To accomplish the end goals of self governance you have to create a governing body, or else the big boys of the county and cities will just walk all over you.
When I say the big boys, I mean the City and County managers, for you see, they are the ones that run the show. Make the real decisions, and push their agendas on the little people, also known as the citizens of the county, under the guise of Smart Growth, or economic structure.
A little history
The Ormond-by-the-Sea Association was formed by a group of concerned citizens to fight for the community’s right to self-determination and freedom from what they perceive as governmental interference in their lives and property.
This sounded like a great idea at first, and as a young lad I spent many a Summers end in the sleepy little town, frolicking on the beach, and enjoying the last hoorah of summer.
Ahh, good times. Free of all the BS of my future life, living for the minute, and just enjoying the time with family.
Like all good things though, it had to end, and so it would seem with the citizens of Ormond by the sea.
As most of you may know, I was the Volusia County Chair, The first, and apparently only, conservative chair to ever sit on the council. Just saying by the votes I have seen being made on the council.
When I was elected, I thought I had an Idea of what was going on, and how the county worked. Man was I ever wrong, as so are a lot of you.
It took me a very short period of time to realize that, even though I was the head of the County Government, I had very little authority.
I could not make any decisions, without the managers approval. This is in respect to the day to day operations.
I did not make my schedule. It was made by staff members under the direction of the manager.
I did not assemble the special council meetings, or the meeting agenda, that was done by the county manager.
I could not even hire anyone, nor fire anyone, as a matter of fact, I had no decision as to where my office was or even who was my administrative assistant. All those decisions were made by the County Manager.
Are you seeing the trend here?
The same is said for the cities in Volusia County. The city managers say what is on the agendas, they say how the budget is spent, they say what issues will be addressed, and they are the ones that push for annexation of smaller communities.
It has been said many times before, money talks and BS walks, And I am afraid it is all about the money.
Just a question, how much revenue will Ormond Beach acquire if the annex Ormond by the sea?
If you get that number, you will more than likely understand the reason for the push for annexation.
Now the reason it will go through the city council.
As I have stated, the managers are the ones with the power. And no one will say that more often than I, especially when it comes to re-elections.
For you see, all the managers have contacts in their communities, and beyond, and if you need to have those all important donations from the big money donors of the five families, you had better stay on script.
I was promised, by all the big donors, the all important donations, but I believe that because I voted against Jim Dineen’s budget my last year in office, all of a sudden, the money dried up. I also lost support of the local political executive committee, after a meeting with their chairman and the County Manager.
Funny how that happened and very coincidental.
There are no coincident in politics, by the way, there are only executed plans. Remember that if you ever want to enter into the den of thieves and wolves.
So, the end result is very simply this, you either accept the annexation, be cause they are going to keep coming after you, the will condemn your wells so you will need city water, and they will charge the crap out of you for it and the hook up.
The will condemn you septic systems, even if you have the highest scientific labs in the country proclaim your septic is better that a new one. I have seen this happen to a friend in New Jersey. The response is that their tests resulted in a failed system and yours is condemned, and they are not issuing new permits for septic systems on the Barier Island.
By the way that is a fact, there are no new county permits for septic on the Barrier Island.
In case you missed it, they have already run the water pipes and septic lines down A1A, so you will have to connect if you are within a certain amount of feet from the lines. State law.
Slowly, and underhandedly the city and the county have been setting you up for a fall, setting you up to rely on their services, and if you have all their services, then you will have to annex, and then there is the issue of contiguous property lines.
Another sneaky way for them, to get you into their over taxing, greedy hands.
This is when a piece of property is surrounded on three sides by city annexed property, you are then forced into annexation, and you have no choice.
Simple explanation.
So what can you do?
Well, Ormond by the sea residents, My fellow Volusians, your only option left is to incorporate your community into the city of Ormond by the Sea.
So how do you do this?
There is a process, drawing maps, writing city charter, creating offices of a police chief, administrations, city manager, and city council member. Road an bridges, Etc, Etc, etc………
You will have to have a petition signed by every citizen that accepts this proposal, and there is a minimal amount of signature and residents. Cities, or townships are population based.
Then it will have to be put on a ballot for the citizens in your community to vote on, and it will have to pass by 60 plus percent, I believe.
It gets a little far into the weeds to do this, and then there are state mandated rules to operate a city. County Regulations, Cost for fire, and sheriff services, plus, plus plus.
So can you do this? Yes.
Will you do this? Unknown.
From what I have read in Mr. Barkers View, your organization has been split into factions of incorporate, and do not incorporate.
Can you get you citizens together to create a More Perfect City Union? Can you agree on the structure of this new city?
Who will lead the charge?
Most importantly who will follow?
Here in the Iron Bunker, we are unincorporated, and I have been approached by the city to incorporate, I ask them One simple question.
What is the benefit of me incorporating? Will it lower my taxes? Will I have better police, fire, and ambulance services? Will you provide me with a high quality water service, and waste water services at a reasonable cost?
If I get a no, which I have for all the time I have lived here, then that is my answer. NO.
It is only common sense.