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Volusia County Council approves multiple appointments, budget adjustments and projects; consent approvals include traffic signal fiber project
Summary
At its March 18 meeting the Volusia County Council confirmed multiple department directors, approved technical and budget items and adopted a new indexing policy for landfill fees; the council also approved consent list items including adding a fiber-optic traffic-signal project to the regional priority list.
Volusia County Council handled a slate of appointments, contract amendments and budget reconciliations during the March 18 meeting and approved several administrative and infrastructure items by unanimous votes.
Appointments and confirmations - Aaron Van Cleek was confirmed as Director of Emergency Services (county career official). The motion to confirm carried and he accepted the post. Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt moved to confirm; Councilmember Jake Johansen seconded. The vote was recorded as unanimous. - Dr. Randa Matusiak was confirmed as Director of Public Protection following a motion by Councilmember Matt Reinhardt and a second by Councilmember Danny Robbins; she was confirmed 5-0. - Scott Olsen was confirmed as the Division Director for Veteran Services; the motion carried unanimously. - Nicholas Ventura was confirmed as Division Director for Building and Code Administration, 5-0. - Veronica Black was confirmed as Division Director, Management and Budget, 5-0.
Consent, grants and projects - The council approved the consent agenda 5-0. A public speaker, Connie Colby, asked questions about consent item P; Jay Williams, county traffic engineer, briefed the council and the public that item P is a new fiber-optic project to improve communications between traffic signals across county and state roads and that the project is primarily under FDOT jurisdiction; placing it on the TPO priority list is an administrative step to facilitate FDOT funding. - The council approved four ECHO grant recommendations (three nonprofits and one municipal project) 5-0. - A contract amendment to CPH Engineering for architectural and engineering services for expansion of the Southwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility was approved; the amendment increased the engineering contract total to approximately $5,300,000 within an overall project budget approaching $70,000,000 (grants and utility funds). Motion carried unanimously.
Budget and fees - A resolution to index landfill disposal fees to the CPI plus 1% for Class 1, Class 3 C and D rates and certain other fees passed 5-0; staff said solid-waste enterprise funds rely on fee revenues and the indexing is intended to sustain operations during a multi-year landfill expansion. - Finance staff presented a FY2024-25 revised budget fund reconciliation and appropriation package that consolidated several transfers between funds; the council approved the transfers 5-0. CFO Ryan Osofsky said none of the adjustments created new spending; they reallocated funds between accounts.
Other procedural actions - The Cultural Council and Historic Preservation Board appointments were approved as listed on the agenda; the council confirmed nominees from each district and at-large seat with unanimous votes.
Ending: Several items will return for follow-up (notably the Banyan affordable-housing award), and staff will provide additional documentation requested by council on contract scopes, grants leveraged and legal questions about tax treatment on projects.
