It's Not Over Till The Fat Lady Sings By Betty O'Laughlin

September 30th the Council will meet in Council chambers and make the final decision on a redistricting map. Map 9 was the map of choice to be tweaked. All cities and communities remained in tact except for DeBary that was split into District 1 and District 5. In order to keep DeBary whole DeLeon Springs would have been put into District 4 with Ormond Beach. DeLeon Springs is a rural community that belongs with the other rural communities in District 1. Nobody wanted to see any city split but in order to balance the population amongst all the districts either DeBary or
Deltona would need to be split. DeBary's split is a north/south

split similar to Port Orange and Daytona Beach who have been split for years and appear to do just fine. DeBary will now have 2 representatives on the council and 2 on the school board. This was not an easy decision for our Council but they did the best job they could with a very highly charged emotional situation. Citizens were allowed to voice their opinions on the maps and the Council was very gracious in listening to all of them. This brought to light a very important fact. Lake Helen could have ended up in District 5 and DeLeon Springs in District 4 with whom it has absolutely nothing in common if citizens had not spoken up. Citizens must stay informed as to what is going on in their city and county.