Volusia leaders

APRIL 3, 2020 — Bill Partington — 52 years old, born at Halifax Hospital, raised in Ormond Beach, and now that city’s mayor — can’t help but look at the coronavirus pandemic in the way he frames hurricanes.

He knows this is different. But he can’t get away from the storm cycle that’s so familiar to longtime Floridians.

“An emergency event usually has more of a beginning, a middle and an end to it that’s predictable. This one is so unique that it came on kind of slowly and then it had the beginning and now … we’re not 100% sure where we are,” said Partington, the mayor of Ormond Beach since 2016. “We hope we’re in the middle of it. And we know it will end at some point. We just don’t know when that’s going to be.”

Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington says he hears every day from concerned residents and business owners during the coronavirus pandemic. [News-Journal/Mark Harper] |

For mayors like Partington, and city managers like Michael Pleus of DeLand, coronavirus poses new and uncharted challenges. While they are used to making difficult decisions, there’s no playbook for this.

“The biggest difference between this and a hurricane or tornado — we plan for that. We train for that. We know what to expect, and even though every hurricane is different in terms of damage and everything, we have plans and protocols that are put into place,” Pleus said. “With this, it was daily changes in terms of what we’re dealing with, and the governor’s orders changing the scenery every single day. And trying to figure out how local government fits in.”

In most cities in Florida, mayors and managers have distinctly different roles, but both are figureheads, leaders who are held accountable by residents every day.

City managers are the CEOs of cities; they run the government, are responsible for the hiring and firing of city employees, of ensuring public protection by providing support and oversight to public protection, making sure the utilities are operating properly, shepherding a city’s finances, and communicating with the public.

Most mayors are part-time heads of city councils and commissions; they are elected and the only hiring and firing they do is the city manager. They run meetings, vote on sometimes-controversial policies and ordinances, shake a lot of hands and kiss a lot of babies.

But not now. Partington is careful to keep his distance; he hears regularly from residents who complain about people at a grocery store who aren’t staying 6 feet away from other shoppers.

He is doing regular conference calls with other mayors and elected officials’ organizations. And he’s taking more phone calls, some from concerned residents who need more information. Others call and ask why the beach isn’t closed — a decision in Volusia County’s hands.

[READ ALSO: Volusia Beach Ramps Closed for Coronavirus Precaution, But Crowds Still Come]

“I just got an email from an Uber driver who’s wondering what’s going to happen as far as transportation goes, if there’s a complete shutdown, will they be considered essential services?” Partington said. “And I’ve had a few emails from businesses that are explaining to me why they are essential services.”

That’s a decision he believes is up to the governor, but one in which he thinks local leaders such as himself might be allowed to offer input.

Partington said his toughest call during the pandemic was to cancel the March 16 City Commission meeting, mainly out of concern that the public wouldn’t be able to participate safely.

In contrast, DeLand held a meeting on March 23, but canceled a public hearing and limited seating in the chambers so no one came within 6 feet of one another. Pleus said he won’t hold public hearings while coronavirus guidance includes distancing measures, but he might call meetings if immediate commission approvals are needed, such as for large expenditures that can’t wait.

For Partington, an attorney who works as an assistant public defender by day, a slowdown in the court system has loosened up his schedule a bit. During this pandemic, his nomal schedule of getting up at 6 a.m., being to work by 7:45 a.m. and working until 4:30 p.m. isn’t the same.

“Once you do the messaging, and you answer your calls and your emails and you keep up with your conference calls to try to learn anything new that you can, that’s when you have downtime or time to wait and figure out what’s next,” he said.

Lori Partington, his wife of 26 years, said if any positive has come from COVID-19, it’s been that parents and children have gotten an opportunity to reconnect. That’s been the case with Bill Partington and his three daughters, C.J., Anne and Faith.

“It’s actually been kind of a way to unplug on one hand, trying to use that time to reconnect and spend some time together and laugh,” Lori Partington said. “The other night our oldest daughter was home from Gainesville, and she and Bill and our middle daughter were upstairs just having a grand old time laughing. It’s nice to see in the midst of this.”

The mayor was able to take the family to Ravine Gardens State Park in Palatka on March 22.

“We had never been there and that was something we had been wanting to do and so we walked around the park and as it turned out, it’s lucky that we did, because it was the last day for awhile as they shut all the state parks down,” he said. “I think it’s healthy to get away from all the media coverage to take a walk or do something that you like to do.”

While following the CDC guidelines, he added.

A good part of a mayor’s job is cheerleading.

“I’ve tried through social media to encourage people to still patronize our businesses and support our restaurants,” Partington said.

His Facebook page is filled with evidence: photos of takeout Tipsy Tacos, a Cuban sandwich from Ormond Garage and a box (minus two or three) from Donnie’s Donuts, plus a listing of restaurants and phone numbers that are now offering curbside and takeout service.

Unlike mayors, managers like Pleus are less cheerleaders and more bosses, concentrating on all of the details of their organizations, their cities.

Pleus, who is 49 and has been DeLand’s manager since 2008, starts early, scanning lots of information from overnight and piecing together a picture that keeps changing.

DeLand City Manager Michael Pleus, Wednesday March 25, 2020. [News-Journal/David Tucker] |

Gov. Ron DeSantis issues executive orders. There are new federal and state programs to help small businesses, new aid programs for people and communities, and while cities don’t administer those, Pleus wants his team to become experts in them so they can help locals.

He maintains contact with his city commissioners, his staff and the public.

He calls his work a “triage,” a near-constant review of information and reprioritizing of things.

The fast-moving situation has at times surprised Pleus, who said a couple of his employees approached him in early February suggesting a coronavirus sick leave policy.

“I looked at them and I said, ‘Are you nuts? You know, you can’t do that. You can’t give free sick leave,’” Pleus said. “And now everybody’s got that.”

Pleus, too, can’t resist comparing the coronavirus to hurricanes and tornadoes, where local communities are on the ground, leading the response. There’s a distinction.

“In a public health crisis, local government has less of a role,” he said. “Even though we don’t deal with health-related issues, it does have an impact on our workforce, and our workforce is critical services. You’re talking police and fire and even utilities that cannot fail. We have to be sure that those operations continue.”

One crisis: Getting personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks, for firefighters who are routinely called into close contact with medical patients and families.

“They’re scared every interaction with the public means they could potentially be exposed to the virus, and so trying to make sure that they know we’re here for them and to take care of them is important,” Pleus said. “Making sure that they have personal protective equipment is an issue like you wouldn’t believe. I mean, we haven’t been able to get shipments of that stuff.”

It was a problem he was still working this week. He said DeLand’s public-safety officers still have some supplies, but they will run short soon.

Pleus is in a position where, in some cases, he can make an immediate difference. When Melissa Reed, owner of The Table restaurant, approached the city and asked if certain parking spaces could be designated for 5-minute, curbside deliveries, Pleus was able to say yes immediately and quickly have the signs made and installed.

Making it all the more difficult is attempting to keep some semblance of balance between work and home life. He’s a married father who’s close to his parents and five siblings, three of whom have lost jobs in recent days.

His wife, Vickie, said the past three weeks have been challenging.

“I believe he has been put more to the test,” she said. “Now there are 20 priorities instead of 5.”

Both Pleuses agree his schedule – he always eats family dinners and frequently takes evening walks with his son Nicholas – plus his devout Catholic faith have kept him calm in the face of chaos.

“I’ve lived in DeLand for 30 years and I care deeply about our residents and our businesses,” Pleus said, “and making sure I do the very best job that I can to be there for them is important to me. I think it’s important to our commission as well, and to our staff. I mean we’re all dedicated to making sure we do our part to helping them get through this because we know that it is really challenging everybody. There’s a lot of anxiety and fear and nobody has a crystal ball and can tell you how this is going to end. All we can do is do the very best we can to act accordingly when we get information, and to do the things we can do to help.

Partington said he frequently talks with local business owners, including one restaurateur with 100 employees.

“The guy’s losing sleep worrying about it all,” Partington said. “It’s just gut-wrenching to think about.

“But I’m talking to them – trying to be optimistic and generally I’m an optimistic person anyway – and generally trying to reassure them that we’re going to try to get through it somehow and everything will work out in the end. I think people are poised to get back to normal as soon as we can,” he said. “It’s just the waiting is the – kind of like waiting for the storm to come through – the waiting is the hard part.”

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