DAYTONA BEACH — You might not know which city commissioner represents you or what City Commission zone you live in, but if you’re a Daytona Beach resident, it’s possible both of those things could change for you next year.
Nearly a year ago the city was sued over its City Commission zones that were redrawn in 2023 in compliance with the mandate to do that after every decennial U.S. Census count.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the Daytona Beach City Commission’s redrawn districting map, saying neighborhoods were sliced up and illegally gerrymandered to give incumbent city commissioners an advantage in their re-elections.
To settle that lawsuit, the city is now poised to throw out the six new commissioner zones and go back to the drawing board to try again.
Daytona Beach city commissioners in 2023. Standing from left to right are City Commissioners Quanita May, Stacy Cantu, Paula Reed and Ken Strickland. Seated from left to right are City Commissioner Monica Paris, Mayor Derrick Henry and City Commissioner Dannette Henry.
Commissioners briefly talked about the commission zones at their meeting Wednesday night, but they’re not slated to take a vote on repealing the city’s current districts until their Jan. 8 meeting.
If they decide to go through the redistricting process again, they’ll most likely hire a consultant tasked with evenly divvying up the city’s population, and then discuss options at public meetings.
Whatever commissioners choose will have to stay in line with laws that require things such as ensuring the zones each have about the same number of residents and keeping communities of common interest together.
It’s important to residents because the lines that are drawn will determine what neighborhoods a candidate running for office could represent, who residents have representing them and where voters cast ballots on Election Day.
Accusation of protecting incumbent commissioners
The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of five Daytona Beach residents. Those plaintiffs are Nicholas and Alice Sakhnovsky; Devon Morris; James Noce; and Josephine Pope. The Sakhnovskies live in Zone 4, Morris lives in Zone 1, Noce is in Zone 2 and Pope is in Zone 6.
When the lawsuit was filed, the ACLU issued a statement saying that “the commission’s mapmaking was driven by the desire to protect incumbents and keep each of their residences in their districts, in violation of state law. Centering commissioners’ home addresses above all else caused the commission to split traditional communities of interest, including the beachside neighborhood and the Embry-Riddle and Bethune-Cookman campuses.”
The ACLU said it was the first lawsuit in Florida filed under HB-411, “which prohibits local governments from redistricting with the intent to favor or disfavor candidates or incumbents based on their residential addresses.”
The lawsuit also accused the City Commission of violating Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law by failing to properly notice the proposed map before approving it. The commission’s agenda publicized a different draft of the map which was not considered.
The new zones were all in place this year when city commissioners Ken Strickland, Paula Reed and Stacy Cantu were up for re-election and won new terms.
Because Cantu’s western Daytona Beach zone has been undergoing a population explosion, she lost some of her areas in redistricting to prevent her from representing more people than the other commissioners. Reed picked up Cantu’s Indigo Lakes neighborhood, and Strickland’s zone was stretched farther south on the beachside to pick up the swath of land between Seabreeze Boulevard and East International Speedway Boulevard.
But now the commissioners’ zones will revert back to what they were if commissioners repeal the zone boundaries adopted in September 2023.
City likely to redraw zone boundaries
The city denies that the new zones were adopted with the intent to favor any incumbent commissioner or candidate for the City Commission. But a city memo states that “it is indisputable that the consultant who assisted in developing the adopted redistricting plan requested and considered the residential addresses of each of the incumbent city commissioners.”
The trial court has denied the plaintiffs a summary judgment, but city officials say it’s still uncertain that the city would win in court. And the city would risk paying out attorneys’ fees if it lost at trial.
“Such risk is effectively mitigated by repealing (the redistricting ordinance) and adopting a new redistricting plan togo into effect for the next regular municipal election in 2026,” the city memo states.
City Attorney Ben Gross said Wednesday night that none of the city commissioners will have to run for re-election next year because none of them were displaced by the redrawn zones. But if newly drawn zones no longer include their residence, they will have to run for their seat again, Gross said.
Read more: Daytona Beach’s fast-growing west side has forced changes in city commission zones.
The measure commissioners will vote on next month ensures that city board appointees won’t be displaced if commissioner boundaries go back to what they were so the appointees can finish their terms.
Also, to accommodate the upcoming special election needed with the resignation of U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, the measure will have a delayed effective date of April 2, which is set for after the special election. That would allow the supervisor of elections to delay any changes to precinct locations, and it would allow the city to avoid incurring the costs associated with providing notice to any affected voters regarding changes in precinct locations.
You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach appears ready to redraw its city commission zones again