City of Deltona

2345 Providence Blvd.

Deltona, FL 32725

Minutes

City Commission

Monday, August 4, 2025

6:30 PM

Deltona Commission Chambers

REVISED 8/1/2025

PUBLIC FORUM: 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM

BUSINESS MEETING - 6:30 PM

1. CALL TO ORDER:

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Mayor Avila.

2. ROLL CALL – CITY CLERK:

Present:7 -

Mayor Avila

Vice Mayor Heriot

Commissioner Avila-Vazquez

Commissioner Colwell

Commissioner Howington

Commissioner Lulli

Commissioner Santiago

3. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE TO THE FLAG:

A. Invocation Presented by the District #1 Commissioner.

4. ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS:

5. PRESENTATIONS/AWARDS/REPORTS:

Presentation - Volusia County Stand Down 2026 - Veterans Event.

Mr. Scott Olson, Veterans Service Director for Volusia County, gave a brief presentation

and the Mayor requested to add Mr. Olsen's request to waive fees for the use of The Center

on the next available meeting.

Commissioner Avila-Vazquez requested that due to the amount of work that goes into the

event and the year is half over that the Commission vote tonight on the request.

The Mayor requested a consensus of the Commission to discuss and vote on the

item at this time and the Commission concurred.

The Mayor opened the public hearing and a resident addressed the City Commission.

Motion by Commissioner Avila-Vazquez, seconded by Vice Mayor

Heriot, to approve the request tonight. The motion carried by the

following vote:

For: 7 -

Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner

Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Colwell, Commissioner

Howington, Commissioner Lulli, and Commissioner Santiago

Presentation - Movie in Deltona

Commissioner Santiago stated she met with Mr. Rivera but, she is not in support of the

movie that the City would have to contribute $200,000 to $400,000 towards the movie.

The Mayor requested a consensus to put the request for contribution for the movie on the

next agenda.

Vice Mayor Heriot stated his preference would be not to continue with it any further and

there was no other comments from the Commission.

6. DELTONA COMMUNITY EVENTS:

7. CONSENT AGENDA:

The Mayor requested to pull Item 7-E and Commissioner Avila-Vazquez requested to pull

Item 7-D for discussion.

Motion by Commissioner Lulli, seconded by Vice Mayor Heriot, to

approve Consent Agenda Items 7-A through C. The motion carried by

the following vote:

For: 7 -

Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner

Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Colwell, Commissioner

Howington, Commissioner Lulli, and Commissioner Santiago

Request for approval of minutes of Regular Commission Meeting of

July 21, 2025, as presented.

Approved by Consent - to approve the minutes of the Regular

Commission Meeting of July 21, 2025, as presented

Request for approval of Resolution No. 2025-86, 3rd Quarter Budget

Amendment for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.

Approved by Consent - to adopt Resolution No. 2025-86 for the 3rd

Quarter Budget Amendment for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.

Request for approval of Resolution No. 2025-98 to purchase ryegrass

seed.

Approved by Consent - to approve Resolution No. 2025-98.

Request for approval to expend no more than $55,000.00 in Florida

Housing Finance Corporation State Housing Initiatives Partnership

(SHIP) funds for the Purchase Assistance project listed below.

The City Attorney read the title of Resolution No. 2025-96 for the record.

Commissioner Avila-Vazquez and the Housing Supervisor, Development Services,

discussed the procedure followed for staff and elected officials to apply, family and friends

of staff and elected officials applying, and whether the applicants name is public record.

Motion by Commissioner Santiago, seconded by Vice Mayor Heriot, to

direct staff to move forward with the Purchase Assistance project for

the property located at, 728 Vicksburg Street, in the amount of

$51,000.00 for Purchase Assistance and $4,000.00 for Closing Costs, the

property's expenditures will not exceed $55,000.00, and Staff will utilize

Florida Housing Finance Corporation SHIP funds to fund the purchase

assistance. The motion carried by the following vote:

For: 6 -

Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner

Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Howington, Commissioner

Lulli, and Commissioner Santiago

Against: 1 - Commissioner Colwell

Requests for presentations before the City Commission.

Motion by Commissioner Lulli, seconded by Commissioner Howington,

to approve the following presentation be made before the City

Commission on the August 18, 2025, Regular Commission Meeting

agenda, #1 Terri Ellis The State of Domestic Violence. The motion

carried by the following vote:

For: 7 -

Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner

Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Colwell, Commissioner

Howington, Commissioner Lulli, and Commissioner Santiago

8. ORDINANCES AND PUBLIC HEARINGS:

Public Hearing - Ordinance No. 24-2025 - Creating Chapter 111,

“Architectural and Building Design Standards,” and amending Section

70-30, “Definitions” to include regulation updates of the Land

Development Code of the City of Deltona, at second and final reading.

The City Attorney read the title of Ordinance No. 24-2025 for the record.

Motion by Vice Mayor Heriot, seconded by Commissioner Lulli, to

approve Ordinance No. 24-2025, at second and final reading.

Commissioner Howington stated she just wanted to bring up the fact that any time the

Commission votes on something like this, we are putting ourselves at risk with SB 180.

However, the Commission needs to acknowledge that because SB 180 does have that

preclusion, that if one person considers the Commission to be restrictive or burdensome,

we are opening ourselves to lawsuits.

The Mayor called point of order, for clarification from the City Attorney, because he was

under the understanding that this does not include SB 180. The City Attorney stated so it is

our position that this regulation is not more burdensome. It is not a more burdensome

procedure because it provides clarification of some existing regulations as to design

standards, and is in fact, less burdensome than the City’s existing enterprise overlay

district. However, there is always a risk that someone could challenge under SB 180 so that

is always a risk of really any procedure in the Land Development Code (LDC). However, it

is our position that it is not a more restrictive or burdensome procedure.

The motion carried by the following vote:

For: 7 -

Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner

Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Colwell, Commissioner

Howington, Commissioner Lulli, and Commissioner Santiago

9. ACTION ITEMS:

Request for approval of Resolution No. 2025-99, to approve the

purchase of fire equipment, supplies, and services from Bennett Fire

Products Company, Inc. pursuant to a piggyback agreement from Lake

County contract no. 22-730B.

The City Attorney read the title of Resolution No. 2025-99 for the record.

Motion by Commissioner Lulli, seconded by Commissioner Howington,

to approve Resolution No. 2025-99. The motion carried by the following

vote:

For: 7 -

Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner

Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Colwell, Commissioner

Howington, Commissioner Lulli, and Commissioner Santiago

Amendments to Article IV - Stormwater Management of the Land

Development Code.

The City Attorney read the title of Resolution No. 2025-97 for the record.

Motion by Vice Mayor Heriot, seconded by Commissioner Santiago, to

approve the amendments to Article IV - Stormwater Management of the

Land Development Code.

Commissioner Lulli requested to amend the motion to talk about the dollar amount in the

request.

Amended motion by Vice Mayor Heriot, seconded by Commissioner

Santiago, to authorize the expenditure of $30,000 for the City's

engineering consultant to prepare amendments to Article IV -

Stormwater Management of the Land Development Code. The amended

motion carried by the following vote:

For: 7 -

Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner

Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Colwell, Commissioner

Howington, Commissioner Lulli, and Commissioner Santiago

Request to approve the reduction in fine request by the respondent.

Motion by Commissioner Lulli, seconded by Commissioner Colwell, to

deny the reduction in fine request by the respondent.

The Mayor opened the public comments and a resident addressed the City Commission.

The Commission and Code Compliance Supervisor discussed the date of the violation, the

days in violation, having an opportunity to fix the issue, violation for expired permit, fire

prevention at Dollar General, putting the public at risk, Dollar Tree's operating income, other

issues with the stores.

The City Attorney stated he just did want to point out that the procedures under the code, as

far as a consideration of recommendation of a reduction in fines does specify “the City

Commission may take action solely based upon the sworn application and

recommendation of the Code Enforcement Board/Special Magistrate and information

previously provided by the violator/property owner to the code enforcement hearing officer

considering the application for reduction or release of Lien fine and judgment.” The

Commission’s decision tonight does need to be based on the record and the

recommendation from the Special Magistrate. The Special Magistrate has recommended

this for approval. However, the Commission based on it's review of the record presented at

Special Magistrate which the Code Compliance Supervisor has testified to the time it took

them to comply. Those are grounds that the Commission may use to override the Special

Magistrate’s recommendation. The Commission may continue to ask questions of the

Code Compliance Supervisor as to what it took and the time it took, and the gravity of the

violation, as the Commission considers whether or not to support or deny this application.

The Commission, City Attorney and Code Compliance Supervisor discussed the decision

being based on facts, facts presented to the Special Magistrate, the recommendation to

reduce the fine, the discrepancies with permits, providing enough time to comply, and a

previous case and working with the owner.

Commissioner Lulli stated for the record his motion was based upon the testimony and

evidence presented and not around any other anecdotal comments he may have made this

evening.

The motion carried by the following vote:

For: 4 -

Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner Colwell, Commissioner

Howington, and Commissioner Lulli

Against: 3 -

Mayor Avila, Commissioner Avila-Vazquez, and

Commissioner Santiago

10. CITY ATTORNEY COMMENTS:

11. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:

The City Manager reminded the Commission of the upcoming workshop on Monday,

August 11th and the topic included the Lobbyist Registration and the Commission

Guidelines.

12. CITY COMMISSION COMMENTS, REQUESTS & REPORTS:

Commissioner Santiago gave a shout of to everyone who participated in the Back to

School Bash.

Commissioner Avila-Vazquez spoke about the Back to School Bash, the Jamaican

Independence Event, the Firefighters Pinning Ceremony, the employee luncheon, the grand

opening of Key Foods Supermarket, and the Festival of Nations event.

Commissioner Howington spoke about the grand opening of Key Foods Supermarket, the

dates and times of ribbon cuttings, signage at Lakeshore Boat Dock, and using a building

to be demolished for fire training.

The Commission discussed Commissioner Howington's request to use a

building to be demolished for fire training and the Commission concurred with a

controlled burn with recommendation from the Fire Department.

Commissioner Howington spoke about lot grading with regards to stormwater and a

previous consensus vote to bring SB 180 vote for joining the coalition back.

The Mayor spoke about being mindful that students are going back to school next week,

and he reminded everyone to lock their cars as he had a recent burglary.

13. ADJOURNMENT:

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m.

______________________________

Santiago Avila, Jr., MAYOR

ATTEST:

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