DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona Beach City Commissioner Stacy Cantu on Wednesday night called for City Manager Deric Feacher‘s termination.
The move came after the results of an audit found the Daytona Beach Fire Department misused city credit cards.
The audit was conducted in direct response to a WFTV investigation into City of Daytona Beach finances.
Cantu’s request came during a city commission meeting that lasted until 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
Channel 9 reporter Demie Johnson was on hand for the entire 7-hour meeting.
Commissioners ultimately voted against terminating Feacher, but agreed that policies need to change and people need to be held accountable.
But city leaders didn’t give any indication as to how that might happen moving forward.
During the meeting, commissioners asked City Auditor Abinet Belachew if he found fraud within the city. He said there could be.
Some commissioners asked for Belachew’s report to be looked over by someone else before he shared the results; they claimed there were some inconsistencies, but didn’t say what those inconsistencies involved.
Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry shut down that request and let Belachew continue.
The discussion at hand Wednesday night was related to only one audit; after Channel 9’s investigation began late last year, the city commission voted to have the auditor look into every department’s credit card spending.
On Friday, WFTV shared a 51-page report breaking down how the Daytona Beach Fire Department spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on city-issued credit cards.
The report read, in part, “In numerous instances, staff purchased individual meals and beverages from local restaurants...” and indicated that many charges had no itemized receipts to show what was purchased.
Belachew found $500,000 in vehicle maintenance charged to city credit cards, so he looked into the department’s take-home car policy.
His investigation found staff driving vehicles with no city logos or tags.
The report said, without knowing mileage, the city cannot be sure employees aren’t using city dollars to maintain their own vehicles or driving city vehicles on personal time.
For the first time Wednesday night, we heard the Fire Chief Dru Driscoll defend his department’s actions.
He claimed the auditor’s findings weren’t accurate.
Feacher’s contract is up for renewal in May, but it’s not clear what will happen next.
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