County Chair-elect Jason Davis a man of his word

ORMOND BEACH -- So Jason Davis’s new best friend and advisor is Ted Doran according to a Dec. 1st story in the Daytona Beach News-Journal ( http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20121201/NEWS/312019989). How low will the newspaper go with its negative coverage?

Headline Surfer Publisher Henry Frederick and County Chair-elect Jason DavisCounty Chair-elect Jason Davis, shown here at right in a recent interview with Henry Frederiick, editor and publisher of Headline Surfer, has come under increasing scrutiny from the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Jason Davis is  the newly elected, not-yet-seated chairman of the Volusia County Council. Davis won the Nov. 6 election by a wide margin over Carl Persis with Doran finishing a distant third and out of the race in the mid-August primary election.

That News-Journal story makes it look like Davis is already pulling strings to get his favorites into government jobs. The real story is that Davis dropped off a resume for his campaign manager at the county and that was it.

To say that Davis is upset about the lack of fact-finding in the N-J story shows the character of the man. He is upset, but feels it comes with the territory. He called a number of people to clearly state his case that he will work with anyone, but make up his own mind on the issues that face our county.

Personally, I hope Davis can stick to his guns and put the citizens of Volusia County first, before special interests with bags of money, over-reaching developers or those desiring particular favors. Volusia County has needed better leadership for a long time. Both Bruno and Persis never met a tax dollar they couldn’t wait to spend.

Personally, I hope Davis can stick to his guns and put the citizens of Volusia County first, before special interests with bags of money, over-reaching developers or those desiring particular favors. Volusia County has needed better leadership for a long time. Both Bruno and Persis never met a tax dollar they couldn’t wait to spend.

Volusia County has paid for more studies than you can count on both hands and they all come up with the same answers. Davis appears more inclined to think a little harder when our money is on the line. He told me he will always ask three questions (about projects presented by the County):

1. Do we need it?

2. How much will it cost/how will it be paid for?

3. What is the end cost of maintenance over the life span of the project?

When I asked him about the County’s recent decision to waive the impact fee for new development, he told me that would expire in one year.

Let’s hope our council doesn’t continue to burden homeowners who’ve lived in the County and already paid their fair share for new roads, expanded police and fire, schools, water/sewer services and the like. That impact fee is there for a reason. Leave it alone.

Davis is an amiable man with a mind of his own. I doubt he’ll ever be influenced by those who’ve been in power in our county for the last several decades. Given his experience in the Army, in business and in life, it appears he can think for himself and won’t need a horde of advisors to help him make decisions.

Davis is an amiable man with a mind of his own. I doubt he’ll ever be influenced by those who’ve been in power in our county for the last several decades. Given his experience in the Army, in business and in life, it appears he can think for himself and won’t need a horde of advisors to help him make decisions.

Say a prayer for Jason Davis and all the other newly elected officials; that they will work for us and are able to resist the siren call of the “in crowd,” as well as the many temptations of public office.

How refreshing to find we’ve elected someone entirely capable of doing just that in County Chair-elect Jason Davis, a man of his word.

Headline Surfer is a 24/7 Internet newspaper lanched in 2008, and owned by NSB Nes LLC in the state of Florida under the sole propietorship of Henry Frederick, its editor and publisher, and winner of four awards for excellence in journalism in the 2012 Florida Press Club Contest. Access is always free via HeadlineSurfer.com, NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net. Headline Surfer is a registered trademark. Headline Surfer is a registered trademark.