Photos for Headline Surfer / Jake Johansson, the former Port Orange city manager who is running for the at-large seat on the Volusia County Council, is shown in the large display pic. And at left, chatting with Sheriff Mike Chitwood. Top Middle: He's greeting citizens in the VFW in DeBary. Bottom: Johansson is shown with his wife, Kristin, and their three sons in this family shot for the campaign.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- He's patient, professional, and principled.
Meet Michael "Jake" Johansson, who is clearly the cream of the crop among the four candidates running for the at-large seat on the Volusia County Council in the Aug. 23 primary election. And he's Headline Surfer's endorsed choice for the elected post to serve Volusia County's 574,833 residents on the dais in the Frank J. Bruno, Jr. County Council chambers.
Johansson has the most experience in government having served as the city manager for the City of Port Orange for nearly six years, strong education credentials, and a decorated record of military service to our country in the United States Navy as a sailor and commander in warfare overseas.
His leadership is desperately needed on the County Council, which has become divided and grossly dysfunctional, to say the least in recent years, especially during the last two with incompetent Jeff Brower as the chair of the seven-member council.
Due to re-districting, all the seats are up for grabs in the 2022 elections with the exception of Brower because he was the most recently elected.
Johansson is vying for the at-large seat, the only countywide contest in this election cycle, currently held by former Sheriff Ben Johnson, who is retiring at year's end.
Johnson has put his support behind Johansson, as has current Sheriff Mike Chitwood, and the Volusia County Republican Party under Chairman Paul Deering, even though county council seats are non-partisan with the primary open to all registered voters regardless of political affiliation.
While each of Johansson's opponents insists they are the best candidate for the job, such hyperbole is expected or they wouldn't be running. But Johansson is clearly and unequivocally the leader of the pack with the full monte of what it takes to win elected office and then get the job done. The same cannot and will not be said of Johansson's three opponents in the race with no incumbent. Consider:
Photo for Headline Surfer / Andy Kelly, candidate for the at-large seat on the County Council in the 2022 elections, was on the council, 206-2012), but quit mid-way through his final year to run for county supervisor of elections that year, which he lost in the primary. He ran for his former council seat in 2012, but lost to incumbent Pat Patterson. Kelly spent $44,500 out of his own pocket to run in these two failed campaigns despite amassing unpaid property taxes totaling $20,983 for 2012 and 2013. He finally paid his back taxes on Aug. 22, 2014 on the eve of the primary for his second campaign weeks after a polished story in the Daytona Beach News-Journal pointed out his debt to the citizens of Volusia County.
• ANDY KELLY: The Deland resident actually served on the County Council for six years - 2007-2012 - and was basically a time server: That was and is Andy Kelly of DeLand, who is running for the at-large council seat this time around after 10 years since his rather quiet exit midway through his last year as the District 1 representative. Too quiet, in fact.
Here's why: For the first five years of his six years in office, Kelly had the responsibility to levy taxes by virtue of voting on the annual budget, along with a majority on the 7-member council. Nothing wrong with that.
But he quit the council midway through 2012 to run for supervisor of elections. He loaned himself $35,000 for the campaign in late 2011 and later added another $9500, for a total of $44,500. But Kelly put his campaign ahead of his unpaid property taxes totaling $20,983 for 2012 and 2013. They were finally paid on Aug. 22, 2014, and he lost the election that November to incumbent Pat Patterson. Kelly dismissed Headline Surfer's inquiries into his taxes as "old news" and not relevant to his current campaign since they were "paid eight years ago."
Since this is an endorsement for Jake Johansson, Headline Surfer is deferring a full story segment on Kelly's taxes as part of an upcoming investigative series on Volusia County politics over the past decade, which premieres overnight tonight: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING PROJECT: Volusia County's Venality: A Decade of Abuse.
This monumental multimedia series is the most ambitious to date for Headline Surfer. It will run through the remainder of 2022 and continue through the first five days of 2023.
And now back to Jake Johansson's endorsement. In addition to Andy Kelly, here are brief summaries on Johannsson's other two opponents vying for the at-large seat in the Aug. 23 primary:
Photo for Headline Surfer / Doug Pettit (right), candidate for the at-large seat on the Counyy Council in the 2022 elections, is shown with Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower in June outside the county administration building in DeLand. Pettit is among Brower's Volusia Values Platform of candidates he's pushing for election on the dais.
• DOUG PETTIT: The retired Seminole County resident and Marine is among a slate of Republican candidates running under the direction of Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower referred to as the Volusia Values Platform candidates, none of whom have been endorsed by the Republican Party of Volusia County chaired by Paul Deering.
Though the at-large and other county council seats are non-partisan, Jake Johansson is the endorsed candidate of the Volusia County GOP. Pettit, who lives in Ormond Beach, and acts as a puppet of Browser, is not.
Pettit was non-responsive to Headline Surfer in inquiries as to his candidacy for office and his connection to Brower. He too was non-responsive to Headline Surfer's inquiries.
Photo for Headline Surfer / Sherrise Boyd, of Daytona Beach, who ran for mayor of Daytona Beach in 2020, is again running for elected office, this time for the at-large seat on the Volusia County Council in the 2022 elections. Her main campaign talking point has focused on social issues like human sex trafficking on job creation.
• SHERRISE BOYD: She ran for mayor of Daytona Brach two years ago against incumbent Derrick Henry and lost. Boyd finished a distant third with a paltry 18.72 percent of the votes in the primary. Ken Strickland finished second with 31.17 percent of the votes and Henry won the primary and the election outright because he captured more than 50 percent of the votes, 50.11 percent to be exact. Boyd, a Democrat, is a former Volusia County employee, who has focused much of her campaign for the county council seat on human sex trafficking.
Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette on Jake Johansson's prior experience as city manager: 'First rate, to say the least'
Johansson's experience in managing the overall operations of the City of Port Orange was "first-rate, to say the least," according to Mayor Don Burnette, who also endorses his candidacy for the at-large seat.
Johansson most recently held the public position as the City Manager of Port Orange from August 2015 to December 2020.
He was instrumental in transforming the city staff into a high-functioning, ethically-responsible organization. His rapid transformation of the staff and council into an ethically responsible team led to being selected as the Administrative Officer of the Year for the Volusia County League of Cities in 2018.
Then-City Manager Jake Johansson (far right) is shown on the dais of the Port Orange City Council in 2018, along with Mayor Don Burnette, the late councilman Bob Ford, and Councilman Chase Tramont.
Johansson championed responsible development by ensuring the city did not overcrowd interchange areas and worked with the State and local developers to ensure regional interests were heard for road expansion and new interchange development. He has advocated for regional solutions to complex problems throughout his city management career.
Jake Johansson began his career as an enlisted sailor in the United States Navy attended night school at Troy University and received his commission as an officer in 1989. He was winged as a Naval Aviator in 1991.
In his 35-and-a-half-year career, Johansson held numerous leadership positions at the line and staff levels. He further established sustained leadership performance in battle-flying combat missions in support of multiple operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Johansson was the commanding officer of a squadron of 600 sailors that safely flew over 5000 hours of combat missions over Iraq without incident. His staffing tours were with the Chief of Naval Operations staff in the Pentagon, and later in his career with the Commander, Naval Air Forces Pacific.
Johansson was also personally selected by Vice President Richard B. Cheney as his Naval Aide for three years. He also was selected to command a Naval Base (Naval Support Activity in Norfolk, Virginia) and was responsible for five local naval bases of national importance. During these tours, he was a guiding force in base operations, infrastructure development, military-civil collaboration, homeland security, ethics training and investigations, and leadership training. He has been awarded an Air Medal, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, and Defense Superior Service medal for actions in defense of our nation.
His civic involvement has been wide-reaching, he collaborated with Norfolk Schools to partner in STEM initiatives with the Navy. He also worked as a member of the Virginia Military Affairs Committee on establishing a military identifier for military-connected children enabling an increase in federal funding to local schools with military-connected children. He was a member of the City of Norfolk Military Economic Development Committee coordinating with local non-profit organizations dedicated to providing jobs and education to people with disabilities.
Johansson was on the St. Leo University Business School Leadership Advisory Council providing leadership and mentoring to graduate and undergraduate students specializing in the use and abuse of power in leadership.
He also served briefly on the Board of Directors at Versability Resources; an Ability One associated non-profit organization dedicated to providing jobs and education to people with disabilities.
Johansson has served on the Advisory board at the Spruce Creek High School Academy of Finance and is on the Daytona State Facilities Planning Advisory Council. He was also a senior advisor for the American Flood Coalition. He currently holds a certificate in leadership from the John C. Maxwell Leadership Team. He has a Master’s degree (honors) in Public Administration from Old Dominion University.
Photo for Headline Surfer / Jake Johansson, a retired and decorated Navy sailor and commander, has visited local VFW chapters throughout Volusia County during his campaign for the at-large seat on the County Council in the 2022 elections.
Michael “Jake” Johansson and his wife currently own and operate Core Concepts Leadership consulting specializing in keynote speaking, executive coaching, and organization leadership training. They are facilitators of the Port Orange, South Daytona, Daytona Beach Shores Youth Civic Leadership Training Experience, and the Southeast Volusia Leadership program.
Clearly, Jake Johansson is head and shoulders ahead of his opponents -- Andy Kelly, Jake Johansson, and Sherrise Boyd, in the race for the At-Large seat on the Volusia County Council in the Aug. 23 primary.
Headline Surfer gives the full might of its 2022 endorsement to Jake Johnasson, candidate for the at-large seat on the Volusia County Council, whose motto is "ethics and integrity" in public service.
'Ethics and integrity' of Jake Johansson sorely needed on the Volusia County Council
With the recklessness and mediocrity demonstrated on the dais of the Frank T. Bruno, Jr. County Council chambers in DeLand for the past two years by County Chair Jeff Brower, almost always on the losing end of 5-2 or 5-1 votes, the "ethics and integrity" of Jake Johannson and the leadership qualities he possesses, will go a long way to helping the council forge ahead to set real policies snd get things done for the benefit of Volusia County's half-million-plus residents.
Multimedia: Jake Johansson campaign video
Featured campaign video of Jake Johansson for the at-large County Council seat in the 2022 elections.
Previous-Related Campaign Coverage:
Headline Surfer Endorsement: Barbara Girtman of DeLand for Volusia County Council Dis 1 seat in November electionsComing Up:
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING PROJECT: Volusia County's Venality: A Decade of Abuse
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008, that serves greater Daytona Beach, Sanford & Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed close to 150 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high-profile cases such as the George Zimmerman murder trial, Frederick has appeared on national crime documentary shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. AWJ: