Regardless of the outcome, Ormond Beach is better for the debate

By Ken and Julie Sipes

Here we are, just five days out from the election, and we are amazed at where we are: that the citizens of Ormond Beach have a choice in who will lead our city for the next two years.

When the idea of CANDO 2 was birthed, we never knew where it would lead. We just knew there was a disconnect between the city government and many of its residents. We never imagined we’d be in this place of having all five commission seats up for election. We believe there are important issues facing our community and that the public debate has been necessary and healthy.

It’s unfortunate that there have been many false accusations aimed at our group. We are disappointed that the Ormond Proud PAC would think Ormond residents would be fooled by false advertising.

For the record:

1) All five of the CANDO 2-endorsed candidates continue to support our strong leisure and recreation services and resources for young and old. In fact, all the candidates have been impressed by all the city employees they’ve encountered during their campaigns.

2) All five of the candidates bring excellent life and career experiences that will help them serve on the City Commission. From working in state government, to education, to banking, to the judicial system, to security and military service, and HOA president, that’s a broad and diverse range of experience that will prove helpful to our town.

3) CANDO 2 is for Low-Impact Development. We are for development that makes sense and is economically and environmentally sustainable. We are for development that preserves or enhances our quality of life in Ormond Beach.

4) The endorsed candidates want to ensure that the developers, rather than the average taxpayer, pay their fair share of the cost for required infrastructure.

Please note that thousands of developer dollars have been contributed to the campaigns of the incumbents and Ms. Susan Persis.

We believe the citizens of Ormond will rise above the scare tactics and see through the false and negative messaging.

We are grateful to all five of the CANDO 2-endorsed candidates for stepping up for the city they love. It takes courage to do what they have done. We’d also like to thank our supporters for their hard work and passion.

No matter the outcome, undoubtedly Ormond will be better because of this citizen engagement. We believe Ormond will move forward in tackling our challenges. We encourage everybody to vote. It’s the first step in our democracy.