According to the March 5 agenda for an upcoming Volusia County Council meeting, the council will discuss dissolution of the following boards: Animal Control Board, Cultural Council, Environmental and Natural Resources Advisory Committee and the Library Advisory Board.
Several other boards could also be combined or dissolved “with minimal consequences,” the agenda item states, but with some caveats. The Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission (PLDRC) could also be abolished, but only if the County Council takes on their duties. The Code Enforcement Board could be “replaced with a special magistrate.” And the Historic Preservation Board could be removed, but Volusia County would lose a historic district, and access to grants.
An effort to reduce annual grant funding for cultural arts went nowhere in June 2023, after impassioned outcry from community members, Beacon reporter Al Everson wrote last year.
The County Council will discuss the dissolution of the advisory boards at its next regular meeting. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 5, in the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center, Frank T. Bruno Jr. County Council Chambers, 123 W. Indiana Ave., DeLand.
