The majority of Deltona City commissioners voted that Mayor Santiago Avila Jr. violated the city’s travel policy when he and his wife attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month on the city’s dime.
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However, the motion failed by one vote. It required a supermajority of the council—five votes.
The Mayor, Vice Mayor Davison Heriot, and Commissioner Emma Santiago all voted against the motion that stated Avila Jr. had knowledge of the travel policy before he attended the inauguration and violated the city’s policy with that knowledge.
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The city’s travel policy says all trips must be approved by the commission. It also says the city won’t reimburse travel for a guest or spouse and Avila Jr.’s wife was with him in D.C.
Aliva Jr. said repeatedly in the meeting that he was looking at a “different” travel policy.
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Two weeks ago, Eyewitness News asked the mayor if he was aware of the travel policy, and he said he was aware of one from 2013 but that commissioners were going off one from 2007. We looked at both policies and each say elected officials must get commission approval before traveling out of state.
In the meeting on Monday, he claimed he was actually thinking of the November 2024 travel policy that was implemented by the city manager but not the council.
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Vice Mayor Davison Heriot asked staff to review all travel policies in the next 30 days.
The Mayor says while he did attend the Inaguration, he was there on behalf of the city to negotiate a bill with Senator Rick Scott.
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