By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
Dr. Hank Dunn is not a guy trying to steal the spotlight.
Sit with him for a while, and you quickly realize he’s far more comfortable asking questions than becoming part of the story. He listens, he guides, and he moves on. If anything, he’d probably prefer his name not be mentioned at all in this article.
Sorry, Hank.
The Apopka Involved Voters group organized and moderated the mayoral runoff forum, continuing its role in facilitating these forums throughout the election cycle. The event was hosted at Victory Church in Apopka, where the two-hour discussion between the candidates took place.
But before Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore and Apopka City Commissioner Nick Nesta delivered their opening statements or answered a single question, Dunn did something more important than moderate.
He framed the election.
“The essence of a city mayor’s role often involves making critical decisions on resource allocation, staffing, capital projects, and financial management to ensure the smooth functioning of the city," Dunn said in his introductory statement. "Neither of the candidates has had prior direct operational responsibility for governing the day-to-day operations of a city with nearly 600 employees. Therefore, serving as mayor represents a significant transition from the candidate’s experience in public policy formulation to providing crucial leadership to a city of more than 66,000 residents. The city is at a crossroads, we think, between status quo and positive, affordable growth.”
Everything that followed lived inside that frame.
Tone and strategy
Over the next two hours, Moore and Nesta didn’t just debate issues; they answered Dunn’s question in fundamentally different ways, and they did it with very different tones.
By my unofficial count, Moore delivered approximately 15 direct attacks on Nesta, while Nesta responded with roughly seven.
That imbalance was probably not coincidental, but likely strategic. By most accounts, Nesta should be considered the frontrunner in this election, given his plurality of votes on March 10. If only Nesta and Moore’s voters returned to cast ballots in the runoff, Nesta would win with 3,365 (56.6%) to Moore’s 2,576 (43.4%). If that result were to hold, it would make Moore a 13-point underdog, and that’s exactly how she responded Monday night. And Nesta, operating as a favorite, was more selective in his critiques of Moore.
Moore worked to define Nesta by his record. Nesta worked to define the system he was operating within.
Moore’s case
From the outset, Moore made clear how she intended to build her argument.
“This council, including my opponent, voted for over 10,000 [housing] units in the City of Apopka. I have not done that. And so when we talk about infrastructure, when we talk about roads, when we talk about stormwater, when we talk about all of the things that are impacting our residents right now, those decisions were made over the last several years, and my opponent was part of those decisions.”
She tied that directly to what residents are experiencing.
“You cannot continue to approve thousands and thousands of units without making sure the infrastructure is there first. That’s what’s happening, and that’s why residents are feeling the strain.”
On costs, she added, “I didn’t vote for your increased water rates in Apopka. My opponent did. And those are real dollars that are coming out of the pockets of our residents every single month.”
She questioned effectiveness, saying, “You’ve had six years to change that. Six years. And I haven’t seen you strip anything back. I haven’t seen you fundamentally change how this city operates.”
And at multiple points, she tied current conditions to his tenure.
“I have a hard time understanding why they don’t have it now when you’ve been on the council for six years.”
Then Moore referenced a story from earlier in the runoff cycle - Chris Delgado’s arrest.
“He did business deals with a Ponzi schemer and made almost $200,000 in commissions. That’s not speculation. That’s documented. You profited from it.”
For the record, Nesta has served as an Apopka City Commissioner for four years, first winning a 2022 special election for Seat #4 and securing re-election in 2024. His involvement with Delgado was in his capacity as a real estate agent, where he brokered home sales. According to Nesta, he never participated in any cryptocurrency ventures with him, and never had any financial involvement with him beyond those standard real estate transactions.
Nesta’s response
Nesta didn’t match Moore’s attack volume, but he didn’t avoid contrast.
He pushed back on development.
“My opponent collected zero dollars for the project she approved in Apopka. Zero. So when we talk about making sure growth pays for itself, that didn’t happen there.”
On influence, he added, “My opponent has taken thousands of dollars from developers and special interests, and I think that matters when we’re talking about how decisions are being made and who those decisions are benefiting.”
On costs, he said, “We’re seeing rising water, sewer, and sanitation costs across the city, costs that I did not approve, and residents are feeling that every single month.”
But more often, Nesta widened the focus back to improving City Hall.
“We’re still operating this city as if it’s 2005, 2010. The reality is we’ve grown, but our systems haven’t grown with us. Departments are still working in silos, there are inefficiencies across the board, and we’re not leveraging technology the way we should be.”
He emphasized his experience, saying, “I’m the only candidate that has sat as a duly elected commissioner in the city of Apopka.”
And he described his candidacy personally, saying, “The city isn’t a political stepping stone for me. This is my home. This is where I’ve raised my family, built my business, and served. And that matters in how I approach this job.”
Leadership
Dunn framed the election as a test of leadership, and the candidates offered two different answers.
Moore emphasized collaboration, saying, “Nothing gets done unless you have a team approach. You have to work with your staff, you have to work with your departments, and you have to work with your partners at the county, the state, and the federal level to actually deliver results.”
Nesta emphasized oversight, saying, “The CEO shouldn’t be in everything, but the CEO needs to understand everything. You need to know what’s happening in your departments, you need to be talking to your employees, and you need to be making sure the system is working the way it’s supposed to.”
Budgeting
That divide carried into budgeting.
Moore said, “We need to have a zero-based budgeting process. We need to look at every department and every line item, and make sure we are funding the priorities of this city. That means public safety, that means infrastructure, and that means making sure we are planning not just for today, but for the future.”
She added, “We should be using national standards for police, fire, and parks so we know where we stand, and we need to make sure we are maintaining appropriate reserves so we can handle both emergencies and long-term needs.”
Nesta countered, saying, “It hasn’t really been a budget. It’s been, ‘what can we cut?’ That’s not how you run a city. We need a process that actually prioritizes needs, that involves residents, and that shows clearly where every dollar is going.”
The bottom line
Dunn likely never intended to be part of the story, but in the end, he may have delivered the most important line of the forum.
Before the candidates spoke, before the attacks, before the contrasts, he told voters exactly what this election is about: managing people, managing growth, managing a city that is more complex than it was just a few years ago... and doing it for the first time.
So, which candidate can step into that challenge and be effective?
That was the question at the beginning. It’s still the question now.
And on April 14, Apopka voters will decide who they believe answered it.
