During his first evaluation, commissioners mentioned they couldn t speak to Peters progress in the fiscal category since he hadn t yet worked on the annual budgeting process since being hired.
Last month, Peters announced his intent to resign, citing interference from Commissioners Dana McCool and David Sosa. At a June 7 meeting, he asserted that McCool and Sosa were impacting his ability to tackle his daily responsibilities because of the time he was taking to investigate issues the commissioners said their residents had.
Both Sosa and McCool during the June 7 meeting addressed the interference and expressed not wanting to see Peters leave.
In February the commission voted 5-2 to hire John O Grady, Mount Dora s former police chief and public safety director, for a contracted part-time position in Deltona s code enforcement department.
John Peters III, acting city manager, said O Grady has the right set of skills for the job, the contract for which expires Oct. 1. There s a lot of good things going on, but it could probably be better, O Grady said by phone Wednesday. We just need to hear from the community on how best to serve them through code enforcement services.
Deltona s biggest issue? Illegal parking
O Grady said the biggest issue citywide is illegal parking.
DELTONA Ask any resident what the city s biggest issue is and there s a good chance they ll say it s code enforcement.
The reasoning will depend on whom you ask, but residents, city commissioners and the acting manager agree: something s got to give.
The commission Monday night voted 5-2, with commissioners Maritza Avila-Vazquez and David Sosa dissenting, to give John O Grady a chance to help turn things around.
The item saw about 90 minutes of discussion regarding concerns about code enforcement and the reported reasoning behind O Grady s termination from serving as the police chief and public safety director in Mount Dora in July 2019.
When the Deltona City Commission named John Peters III acting city manager in November, they had just finished ranking firms to assist in the search for the city s next permanent manager.
Now, nearly three months later, commissioners don t seem interested in finding someone to replace Peters, a DeBary resident.
Some elected officials, however, are wondering if it could be time to change the charter, which says city managers must establish residency in Deltona within six months of appointment.
Since the resignation of the embattled Jane Shang one year ago, some commissioners have expressed finally feeling hopeful about the city administration s direction with Peters at the helm. And while his title includes the term acting, commissioners and residents seem in no rush to see someone else take the helm.