Ousted DeBary mayor vows to run in impending special election

DEBARY, Fla. — After a nearly six-hour meeting Wednesday night, the DeBary City Council voted unanimously to kick it's mayor out of office.

The vote came after the council found Clint Johnson violated the city's charter.

In his opening statement during the meeting, Johnson’s attorney, Doug Daniels, called the hearing “bad for the city” and something that “flies in the face of democracy.”

But the clock is ticking for residents to elect a new mayor.

The city must elect a new mayor within 45 days after he is removed.

As comments went on during the meeting, members of the audience became more boisterous in their reactions, prompting Johnson to remind them about decorum expected at a public hearing.

“I understand this is an extremely tense and comical situation,” he said.

But the city and the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections said there is no way that can happen.

So they are looking at their options and dates to elect a new mayor.

Moments after the DeBary City Council unanimously voted to oust the mayor, Johnson told channel 9 that "now would be a perfect time to just announce my candidacy for mayor of DeBary. I fully intend to run."

“I feel bad for the citizens of DeBary, I feel really bad for them,” he said. “The council has shown so little respect for their vote and the integrity of democracy that they’re going to throw me out on eight frivolous charges with no grounds whatsoever.

According to a DeBary ordinance that time to run must be within 45 days and during a special election. Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis said that's not going to happen.

"No. Not if today is 45. We don’t even know who is on the ballot," said Lewis.

City manager Ron McLemore said the city will hold a special meeting on Monday to decide a date for the election.  McLemore said he believes they can move it to the general election in November.

However, they are also looking at January, which would cost taxpayers money.

"For DeBary, it would probably be about $5,000 to $7,000 per election. So if they had a special primary and a special general, then of course it's $10,000 to $14,000 for the overall,” said McLemore.

On a day when early voting is going on in Volusia County, resident Tom Ratcliff told Channel 9 was not opposed to spending money on a special election.

“The city would be better off with him out of here and absent, then you'll just have to spend the money to do it," said Ratcliff.

Johnson vowed his fight as mayor of DeBary was not over, but admitted that the controversies of his term would take a toll on the city in the long term.

“I intend to run (in the special election), not for me, but for the citizens who put me here, to give them the opportunity to let their mayor finish his term,” he said.

Cox Media Group