Less than 80 days remain until the big 2024 election, and politics — even at the local level — can be fierce and furious.
As she does her City Council duties and seeks to be Orange City’s next mayor, while sitting atop a charity that feeds local families, Kellianne Marks is trying to fend off allegations of improper activity in her nonprofit work.
During the Orange City Council’s Aug. 13 session, Christina Bertrand, a critic of Marks, addressed the elected body and attacked her for pursuing “her own personal agenda.” After she retired as a corrections sergeant, Bertrand said, she wanted to “give back” to her community.
“I began hearing the name Marks and what underhanded stuff she was doing,” she said. “So I began educating myself about this person who is representing the city and who is continually abusing her position.”
Bertrand also accused Marks of domestic violence in 2003 and later quitting a 2017 event in which the West Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority was involved.
“The county attorney had to sue her to get a small amount of money returned,” Bertrand said. “She [Marks] kept $3,500 that she did not even earn.”
Marks established a charity known as Backpack Buddies in 2019 to provide food to children during times when they were not in school.
THE OPPOSITION — The team opposing Orange CIty Council Member Kelli Marks’ bid to become the next mayor of Orange City pose together at the DeLand and Greater West Volusia Chamber of Commerce’s Aug. 6 Hob Nob. From left are Julie Bertrand, campaign manager; Ellee Massey; Laurie Scotton, candidate for mayor; and Marika Tremblay. The general election is Nov. 5.
“She sits on this council and argues against other local charities being helped by the city,” Bertrand added. “It seems to me that the only time Marks does anything except for a photo-op is to get people to donate to cover her paycheck by donating money to her nonprofit.”
City Attorney William Reischmann advised the council to listen to critics, but to keep in mind the elected body may adopt and enforce rules of decorum.
“We do have in our house rules limitations, and we can enforce them under constitutional law, which is always changing, based upon the United States Supreme Court,” he told the council. “We do place limitations on those who comment and make presentations, like this young lady did just now in her comments.”
Reischmann went on to describe the rights of citizens to speak about or against their leaders and their actions, within limits.
“As long as these comments … are not slanderous, as long as they are not completely unrelated to what our business is, then we have the obligation to let these individuals, taxpayers, citizens speak. We have the obligation to listen,” he continued. “The nature of democracy is not pretty. The illustration is kind of like watching sausage being made. It tastes good, but you don’t want to know what’s in it. That’s kind of what we’re doing tonight. And so, a lot of times we don’t want to hear people complain, and it’s not a lot of fun, but the law says, and the Supreme Court of the United States has said we have to listen to them, but there are limitations, and this is the thing I wanted to say. It doesn’t give people who come up they can disrupt our meeting. We can’t tell people they cannot talk because we don’t like what they say.”
Marks, for her part, remained silent during this portion of the meeting. Afterward, however, she hinted she may take legal action over what she considers defamation of herself.
“I’m going to call my attorney and talk about this situation. I don’t want to play games,” she told The Beacon.
Marks said the attacks are coming from those who oppose her candidacy for mayor of Orange City.
“Now my signs are getting cut up and thrown into the weeds,” she added. “These people are plotting against me for running for mayor.”
Marks is running against Laurie Scotton in the Nov. 5 general election. The municipal race is nonpartisan.
Besides the prestige of the elected office, the mayor of Orange City is mostly a ceremonial position. The mayor is a voting member of the City Council and presides over its meetings, signs official documents and represents Orange City at various events within the city and elsewhere.
The truth can be found with a simple search of court records. Yes, in 2017 the West Volusia Tourism and Advertising DID sue Kellianne Marks’ business.
Here’s the back story:
In 2017, Kellianne Marks’ business, Kmarks Enterprises LLC, entered into a contract with the West Volusia Tourisn and Advertising Authority to do some work for them. They asked her to do work that was outside of the scope of the contract and she refused. They took her to court and the judge sided with Kellianne.
0n 3/21/2017 the court issued a “Notice By/For Defendant” and in 2017, the court issued a “Motion to Dismiss/Dissolve”.
The tourism board was ordered to pay her for work completed.
Perhaps the ladies of the Sorosis Club, which includes mayoral candidate Laurie Scotton, should have dug a little deeper before slandering Kellianne Marks at a city council meeting. I don’t blame Kelli one bit for considering taking legal action against her accusers.
In addition, I think this court case shows that Kellianne is not afraid to stand up to bad government. She fights against injustices. I respect that and that is an excellent quality for a mayor!