A tempest in a teapot or a scandal in the sandbox?

Two weeks after he came under fire for allegedly violating Deltona’s policy on official travel, Mayor Santiago Avila Jr. emerged from a courtlike hearing without a verdict of guilt or any punitive action.

“A finding of guilt requires a supermajority — five votes — of the [City] Commission,” City Attorney Gemma Torcivia told the elected body at the outset of the Feb. 17 proceedings, deemed a quasi-judicial hearing.

Avila, by the way, presided over the hearing into the charges of knowingly failing to follow city policies on travel, specifically a requirement that fellow commission members be informed about out-of-state official-business travel plans.

“There is no prohibition of the mayor being involved in the meeting,” Torcivia told the commission.

Avila’s attorney, Anthony Sabatini, also addressed the commission.

“That has to be the basis of your decision. If it’s based on anything but the facts, then you have purposely violated the Constitution. I trust that no one on this commission would do that,” he said. 

After two hours of statements, examination and cross-examination, oratory, comments by the public, and legal advice, the commission voted 4-3 in favor of finding Avila at fault, but that vote fell short of the minimum to censure him.

Avila was roundly criticized by colleagues at the commission’s Feb. 3 meeting and in social media for not informing commissioners about his trip to Washington, D.C., last month and requesting their permission for it. The odyssey to the nation’s capital took place during the presidential inauguration, but Avila said he actually went to attend a national meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Although he added that he had missed the inaugural ceremonies, the mayor said he did attend a couple of inaugural balls and met with Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. In any case, the demands for a hearing into Avila’s failings culminated in the quasi-judicial hearing.

Travel policies dated 2006, 2007 and 2013 were mentioned.

“So the 2013 travel policy has been in effect,” Commissioner Dori Howington said. “We know we have a 2013 policy in effect.”

Vice Mayor Davison Heriot said the commission is uncertain about the travel policies.

“The lack of policies, the lack of clarification,” he noted. “We don’t have clear updated policies.”

Avila conceded he had not kept his peers informed about his travels.

“I’m owning up to it,” he told commissioners.

That alone was not good enough for Howington and others.

Before the City Commission acted, there was an opportunity for the public to speak. Members of the audience could comment for one minute per person.

“This to me is a political vendetta,” Carolyn Hickerson said.

“It’s not a political issue. It’s a policy issue,” former City Commissioner Janet Deyette said.

Finally, the matter returned to the commission for a decision.

“I make the motion that the mayor violated the commission travel policy,” Howington said.

Commissioner Stephen Colwell quickly seconded.

When the governing body voted, the motion fell short of the authority to censure Avila.

Four members, Commissioners Howington, Colwell, Maritza Avila-Vazquez and Nick Lulli voted for the motion. Thus, there was no supermajority to rule the mayor had done anything worthy of censure or sanctions.

For his part, Avila had the support of Heriot and Commissioner Emma Santiago.

Had the vote prevailed in favor of Howington, a follow-up vote by the City Commission could have subjected Avila to a range of penalties. The sanctions, according to a city memorandum, could have included public shaming, forfeiture of pay, suspension from ceremonial duties and activities, to “finding malfeasance or misfeasance in office with request to be made to the Governor to suspend the commissioner from office.”

The failure-to-convict vote was not the end, however. 

After the censure vote failed, Howington called for “a symbolic vote of no confidence.” Colwell likewise supported it. 

That motion went down to defeat on a 3-4 vote, when Avila-Vazquez declined to support it.

“Can we please move forward?” Santiago asked. “Let’s stop the politics and move forward.”

Contacted afterward, Avila said he hopes Deltona can now focus on other issues, especially flooding and attracting more commercial development.

“We need more commercial, and sit-down restaurants,” he told The Beacon.