DELTONA BONA FIDE

Disruptive citizens turn Commission meeting into circus

January 23, 2007

Merriam-Webster defines "wacky" as absurdly or amusingly eccentric or irrational.

During last night's Commission Meeting in Deltona, the City Commission was forced to respond to what might be described as irrational behavior. After Mayor Mulder had had enough and with the assistance of Volusia County Sheriff's Deputies, Deltona resident Robert Bello was removed from the Commission chambers after being disruptive. Two months earlier Mr. Bello was escorted out of Deltona's City Hall in very much the same fashion for the same type of disruption.

Shortly after Mr. Bello's removal from City Hall, another man was similarly escorted out of the Commission Meeting after he allegedly threw an object at another citizen's head.

Irrational-like behavior is nothing new to Deltona City Commission meetings. In December Deltona citizen Jamie Jessup was confronted and verbally assaulted with loud vulgarities by Bill Tavernier after Mr. Tavernier followed Mr. Jessup outside. Mr. Tavernier is a political advisor and friend of Mayor Mulder and Mr. Jessup has been very critical of the Mayor's leadership ability.

Just before last night's episode ensued, Commissioners Denizac and McFall-Conte expressed some concerns they had regarding numerous emails purportedly sent to them by Mr. Bello. In the purported emails Mr. Bello allegedly characterizes both female Commissioners as having set the women's movement back 40 years and goes on to further insult with remarks that some might consider sexist. McFall-Conte had also received emails threatening bodily harm.

Mr. Bello responded to the Commissioners' concerns with disruptive behavior, which prompted Mayor Mulder to react accordingly.

Bello regularly communicates with Mayor Mulder. In fact, the two spent many hours on the phone together in the days leading up to Bello's disruptive meeting behavior, and in the evening time just after the meeting was adjourned.

Deltona has no specific policy to deal with repeat violators of order at Commission meetings, so it is unclear how many times the Commission will allow Mr. Bello to be disruptive before taking appropriate action against him.

Discuss it at Deltona's online discussion forum DeltonaChat.com