In 2022, Bryan Nelson became the first person to win re-election as Apopka Mayor since John Land. Now, one year after his inauguration, he could be the first in its history to be recalled.
A committee of vocal Apopka residents is in the early stages of petitioning for Nelson's ouster. The Facebook Group "Recall Bryan Nelson" has begun the process of getting petitions signed by registered Apopka voters to get to the next stage of a recall.
According to the petition, the reasons the committee cited for recalling Nelson are:
We, the electors of the City of Apopka, recall Mayor Bryan Nelson due to Malfeasance, Misfeasance, and Incompetence. Bryan Nelson lied about- 1) Serving as Mayor for half salary; 2) Firing the former Fire Chief; 3) Firing long term employees who disagree with him, or who supported his former political opponent; 4) new Affordable Housing Development in the City Center; 5) the death of a young firefighter, and the safety committee that was supposed to investigate same; 6) the water quality, backflow preventers and the fine assessed by Fla. DEP; 7) Encourages City employees to withhold public records; He refuses to hold anyone accountable for the death of Austin Duran; continues to reward those responsible for the lack of proper training for firefighters; manipulated a city council election; continues to involve himself in the Rock Springs Ridge matter; refuses to properly fund or provide for first responders; uses City Resources to punish those that oppose or question him; argues against hiring needed first responders; Ignores the council and the public; permits employees to disrespect members of the public and the council; ignores provisions of the charter; wants to be dictator.
“There’s a whole lot of issues that he’s not taking any action on, so it’s time to find honest leadership for our city,” said Dennis New, the chairman of the recall committee.
But recalling the mayor of a Florida municipality is a tall order for any group to achieve.
According to Florida Statute 100.361 – on Municipal Recalls for details on a municipal recall, there are two petition stages before an actual recall vote can happen.
At the last election, there were 35,243 registered voters in Apopka. That comes out to 1,762.15 (5%) petitions needed to move to the next stage. According to New, the process started on April 19th, which means they are on day six (as of April 24th).
If they can get enough signatures in stage one, stage two is an even greater hurdle to clear.
Stage Two: Upon receipt of the “Recall Petition and Defense,” the committee may circulate them to obtain the signatures of 15 percent of the electors. All signatures shall be obtained and all signed petition forms filed with the clerk no later than 60 days after delivery of the “Recall Petition and Defense” to the chair of the committee.
That comes out to 5,286.45 petitions (15%) within 60 days of the first signature.
To put that into perspective, in the 2022 Apopka Mayoral election, 6,762 Apopka voters participated, with Nelson receiving 3,643 votes to Commissioner Kyle Becker's 3,119.
To make it to a recall ballot, the committee would need to receive 2,167 more petitions than voted against Nelson in 2022.
"In my tenure as the Supervisor of Elections, I have never seen a recall petition drive go through the full process," said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles.
But New, who is on the frontlines of this initiative, believes there is momentum in this community thirsting for change.
“I firmly believe we will have the signatures to get this onto the ballot,” he said.
And on local social media over the weekend, New sounded like a man on a mission.
"Our group is not full of deep pockets like past PACs and candidates," New said "We are not funding anyone's trip or giving away door prizes! I'm doing this for the good of the City. The dishonesty and issues from lack of leadership and poor management have left this city with a huge liability problem, as well as cost us $45,000 a month in interest from poor leadership and management."
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MamaMia
Make no mistake, this is a prime example of underhanded dirty politics by people who supported the last Mayor, Joe K., and currently the same bunch, who wanted Kyle Becker to win the election, when he ran against Mayor Bryan Nelson, but lost out on his bid to be mayor. He lost the election. So now, Becker is vice mayor, seated on the city council, and is doing everything he can to try to make the mayor look bad, along with his cronies, along with this recall effort, along with the other certain commissioners seated, who supported the previous mayor. A lot of people in our city do not keep up with these political issues. They are not aware of what is really going on with this recall. Some don't even know who the mayor of our city is, and who the city commissioners are. True. They just listen to TV news, and may happen to overhear gossip. That is what the re-call bunch are hoping for.....just their biased side of the story. I happen to keep up to date on our city happenings at city hall, and have for a very long time. I could write the mayor's rebuttal, in fact, but he doesn't need me to do that, he will respond when the time comes, if ever. I could write you a book in his defense, though. They are slinging mud and hope something sticks. One thing is the mayor did work for half the salary, until the city commissioners approved his salary increase. So everyone will know, former Mayor Joe K's salary starting out, when set, was $150,000.00 per year, with raises annually during his term, every year, and Mayor Nelson, who has been in office about 5 years, even with annual raises, like everyone else, is still not making what Mayor Joe did starting out! I think this mayor makes approx. $ 130,000.00 or so per year. The city attorney and fire chief make about the same as the mayor. This bunch is using the firefighter's death to promote getting rid of the mayor. It is shameful. Say what you want, but it was an accident. I am so sorry it happened, but it did. This bunch claims, save the city, but what they are doing is tearing the city apart, but they don't care about this city, even though they say otherwise. It is political revenge, and dirty politics, plain and simple. i have been looking over re-calls in Florida on Ballotpedia. There have been recalls on mayors, vice mayors, and commissioners. It is very interesting. One who was being recalled, even fired a gun at a SWAT team, when they went to put him under arrest! While this recall is underway, nothing the mayor has been falsely accused of, even compares to that crazy case. This city would be running very smoothly, but there are those preventing it, because of their own agendas. They do have the right to do a recall by law, and they do have freedom of speech, but I would urge you NOT TO BELIEVE everything they list on their recall petition. They are definitely on a mission, no doubt, but I disagree as to the reason why they are on this mission.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
JimNisbet
What MamaMia said. This is a clown show plain and simple. And to be honest I'm getting down right angry about this firefighters death being used for political gain. I had a good conversation on line with Mr. Durant and if there is one thing I think we both took away from our discussion, it's that his sons death was NOT one persons fault. Not the Mayor, Chief, etc. The FD Union has to answer some questions, as does middle management. Half of the accusations made against the Mayor can be shared amongst the entire City Council. I'm actually composing an email for all of them now. Their performance has been utterly pathetic. All they do is point fingers and try to get people fired, completely ignoring their own inadequacy and failure to perform. I think the Mayors enemies are in for a rude awakening. This man has Apopka's best interests at heart, and he has a lot more fans than people realize. I think the City Council is going to be shaken up if they continue this nonsense.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
SusanBeth
Good grief. The people commenting are either Nelson homies or Nelson under an assumed name.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
wheresthepopcorn
No, I am not a "homie" of Mayor Nelson's.
I agree wholeheartedly with MamaMia. How ridiculous is it that someone is coming from out of state who has not been a resident in years to assist with this recall? This man is exploiting the death of this firefighter for his own vendetta against the mayor. This man makes stuff up and y'all people him. I say post proof of all your claims.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
DennisNew
Well, again I won't hide under a fake name, this recall has nothing to do with the past mayor, nothing to do with the past election except. Nelson ran on the I will work for half salary and then manipulated his way into full salary. He got a 8 k raise in this budget by having it buried in with other things while the council was busy trying to force change for the sake of safety on the fire department. As for dirty politics there are non, not any. When asked by the news who we were endorsing, we were clear, we are endorsing honesty, integrity and transparency all the things missing in this admin. I'm guessing that non of you other commenters paid attention to the 45K a month lost by Nelson's move of the money to Arrowsmith's and Rankins bank, only the first 2 mill was voted on, then an additional 29 million was moved by email request. They moved it from a bank paying interest to One Fla. paying almost nothing. I'm also assuming that you believed his lie that the reserves were spent, well, then ask yourself this, where the heck did the 31 million come from! The dollar fairy? No, truth is the audit proved the reserves were not gone. The death of the young firefighter is but on piece in the puzzle, people are quick to say firefighters go to work knowing they could die, that's right, in a accident on a scene, in a vehicle wreck while responding, yes those are possibilities but not by a trailer that should not of been in service, was refilled and these two young men who had never been trained on it, even seen it used were sent to move it without supervision. It's not just a trailer it was tons of sand in a poorly designed unbalanced contraption which had tipped over on multiple occasion prior to it being put in the shed empty. The fault lies in the fact that the Mayor along with others fabricated a EMS funds issue promising a investigation and prosecution (which never happened to prove his claims) to replace the previous fire chief with this fella who was training officer. Then at the direction of the mayor the training officer position was not replaced, the deputy chief was not replaced and all those duties were added to others workload so things fell to the wayside, training and ensuring that everyone got trained on all equipment was one of those things, along with their so called established culture of intimidation and internal bullying. Austin's death is but one small puzzle piece in this whole picture. Issues with code enforcement on taxpayers while so many city owned properties are out of compliance, issues with understaffed departments across the city, issues with potable water supply, stormwater run off, lift station failures, lack of general infrastructure maintenance are all issues, staffing turnover, general morale of the employees that work for the city is another. Realize that almost every manager got a perfect performance score including the fire chief while all these failures are going on. It's your tax money as well. So think what you want, but the facts are there. There is plenty of dishonesty in this admin without having to make things up. And so everyone knows, the issues go back to way before Austins Death, maybe had more people been paying attention and speaking out, maybe had the truth been known about the issues at the FD he might still be here. But lots of people want to form opinions without getting all the information or even attending the meetings, and yes watching youtube is not attending, you can't see the packet, you can't hear the conversations. Did you even know that the council does not get the packets until at best the friday before the meeting? Lack of information causes tons of issues.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
MelissaW
Bryan Nelson’s maybe five resident supporters coming out of the woodwork lol. Nobody likes or cares about the mayor besides these five and all of his wealthy donors. He clearly DOES NOT care about the city or the residents of Apopka. He never chimes in or speaks up or against anything except during public comment anytime someone dares criticize him. He could be a good family man and friend, who knows, but he isn’t a good mayor.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
JimNisbet
Dennis, You lose ALL your credibility very time you blame the Mayor for the Fireman. It's inaccurate, and despicable. I, literally, won't even consider any of your other assertions until you stop beating that drum, ands will actively work against your cause. I simply don't believe you.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
wheresthepopcorn
I am not going to disagree when it comes to the Fire Chief, why he got a perfect review...I have no idea. What I do know is that not everyone can go to a meeting, I praise those who take the time to watch it on youtube. We don't have babysitters. If the Mole had a case, Morgan & Morgan would have take it years ago. Attorneys are known to be ambulance chasers. Ambulance chasers are shady and make a ton of money. A government attorney makes a lot less and are not in it for the money. I reached out to a commissioner for the county and asked them when they get the packet you refer to, they also get it the week before. The commissioners are given an opportunity to have a one on one with the county attorney before that meeting. Do all the commissioners do the one and one, yes. There is no lack of information. Y'all keep harping on the same issues over and over. Read the article, you have an uphill battle with this recall. Focus on making Apopka a better place by being a part of the community not taking down its leader. Whether the Mayor is silent or speaks up, you will never be happy. The mayor is one person, he can not micromanage everyone. There are enough hours in the day. If you really wanna know why people leave the administration...the council is making everyone miserable. It is a domino effect. There are other opportunities out there, take them. Get out of there or you will be miserable. Some of these things like the Bank, people do not understand so they are just going to go along with it. Like MamaMia said they overhear gossip and listen to the news. Do any of you even know what a backflow preventer is? Has anyone ever been to your house to inspect it? Lack of information, how about lack of understanding. I am gonna sit back with my popcorn and just watch y'all. Shoe string operation...give me a break. Who is funding the mole?
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
Richard
It’s so funny how T-Reid wants to talk about Cronies. Then you have Jim who wants to argue about anything to anyone according to folks who know him well. Then you have popcorn head who is all over the place. Meanwhile, this goofball mayor still has not held anyone accountable for the death of Austin Duran. When people start getting deposed, the truth about negligence will unfold. Nobody is going to perjure themselves for Nelson or Wylam. You can count on that.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Some of the chatter about the recall is contradictory. One person stated they had some deep pockets backing the recall, now it is being stated, above, within the article, that it is a shoestring operation, not deep pockets....come on, which is it? Not, that I really care. I know in the very beginning of the recall talk, mole was posting some donation amounts given for the recall cause, on his website, and by who, and the goal amounts, then I didn't see them posted again, for whatever reason, but anyway, it is immaterial actually, who is investing in the recall effort, and for the real reasons they are trying to ouste the mayor. Why so hostile, Dennis, for people who watch the council meetings via You Tube, instead of attending in person? We can sit right in our homes, and watch all we want, and can repeat, go back, repeat, enjoy our drinks, and snacks, geeze! I don't care to come and sit up there to the midnight hour, in that unbearable toxic environment, to listen to the same people rant over and over, getting up to the podium, sometimes 3 or 4 times, to rant about anything and everything, and push their luck, on getting the mic cut off. I don't get paid, to sit there and listen, it is the city council that gets paid for that job, come on. Just not sure they listen, though. Y'all fuss like crazy if one speaker is allowed to go over their alotted four minutes speaking, then when the mic button is cut off, for another speaker, you all fuss about what a shame it is, and how disrespectful it is by the mayor. Do you all not remember Commissioner Velazquez lecturing the mayor, to do something to keep order in the council? She wanted the mayor to gavel the speakers, and flex his muscle, so to speak. So he is flexing, a little, and apparently, she thinks it is disrespectful, if he cuts the microphone off, on certain people. I tell you, being the mayor, is a no- win situation, even if you win the mayor's election! A very impossible job! Now, I see above, in Dennis' posting, he states the mayor snuck himself a raise buried in the budget, when the commissioners were busy working on other issues, about fire department safety. Snuck in the budget??? Dennis, I'm sorry, but it is the commissioners' duties to read, and look things over thoughly, so that is negligence on their parts, if they didn't study everything over, before voting on the budget. I'm not buying that it was snuck in the budget, at all.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Reply to Richard: T-Reid, of Sharknado fame, wants to talk about cronies? Ironic, I wasn't aware she was even concerned? LOL
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Report this
JimNisbet
@Richard, I'm not trying to argue with anybody. I started out here just trying to get the FACTS on what happened to Austin, and to figure out why the Mayor an Fire Chief (FC) are being blamed specifically. I have learned that this tragedy is not the blame of any one person. This could have been prevented by a vast number of things, including proper direct supervision, apparent poor direction/decision making from middle management in the AFD, absent or ineffective basic work place safety training on the part of the AFD union, and I'm sure other contributing factors if I were the official investigator of this. The sequence of events for this had many failures, none of which could, or should, have been solved by the Mayor or FC appearing out of nowhere and telling the guys "Don't Touch That Trailer!!" That is how silly this is. People want to recall the Mayor and FC for just this. They did not use their super human powers to detect hazards and act on them. But the supervisor who sent two poorly trained rookies to work on the thing... He's OK... The Deputy Chief who had the thing removed from mothballs against the advice of his firemen... No issues there... ALL of the previous personnel who worked with this thing and kept -0- maintenance records, and didn't submit ANY official documentation to have the thig removed from service... They Cool... It's all the Mayor and FC.
Look it's human nature to want to blame a single person when something like this happens, but that's an established flaw in human nature. Sometimes there is no single person to blame. Which leads to my next, far more disturbing conclusion.
This tragedy is being used to unseat the mayor and his appointed officials. Plain and simple. It's organized. Personally, I've been blocked from commenting on this newspapers FB page. No issues, no foul language or any of that, no explanation. I just disagree with this narrative and can ask the right questions that prove what I'm saying. So, I get silenced. I expect it will happen here soon as well.
Make no mistake, the way this tragedy is being exploited is one of the most horrendous and despicable things I've ever seen. I would advise people that if someone is beating the "Fire the Mayor and FC due to Austin's death!" drum, be suspect of anything else they say, because they are NOT seeking truth, they are NOT trying to improve the AFD situation, they are USING it as a political ball bat trying to accomplish and agenda.
I'm not arguing, I'm asking questions that lead to answers that do not match someone's agenda. And I'm being silenced for it, which will only make me louder!
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Reply to Jim:. I agree
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Reply to Wheresthepopcorn: This city is entertaining its own version of "Desperate Cronies" like "Desperate Housewives" with this drummed up recall of the mayor, by some of the ex- mayor's cronies. Really some shameless salacious stuff being throw out there, along with BEGGING people to sign the recall petitions, in their desperate attempt for yet another drummed up reason to oust the mayor. So very shameful!
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Reply to Dennis:. Dennis, I am rereading your petition grounds for the mayor recall, and following up on your comments in your article above. You state, you all are not giving away door prizes. Why would you bring that up? Door prizes? I wouldn't have even thought of such, until you stated that. Are you all paying your 60 or so volunteers, seeking petition signatures against the mayor? I am curious. I know that sometimes when I go to the shopping centers, people with various petitions come and want me to sign petitions for various causes, such as legalize marijuana, gun control, etc. and those petition workers are very motivated into getting me to sign their petitions, because they get paid for each signature they get that is verified. Some are a little too pushy, because of their motivation of getting paid, to get people to sign. Dennis, do you want to comment on any of this to MamaMia, who is asking out of curiosity?
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Reply to Dennis:. You posted above a response in which you were talking about watching the city council meetings on You Tube is not attending , and you can't get the packets, or hear the conversations.....Yes you can get the packets, and yes, you can hear the conversations of the city council meetings. The packets are right on the city's government website, and can be downloaded on your cellphone, computer, or other mobile device. You can download the packets before watching You Tube, or afterwards, and yes, you can hear the council meeting conversations. Why would you tell people that Dennis?
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Reply to Dennis:. Dennis, you state above that "our group is not full of deep pockets, like past PACs and candidates...we are not. funding anyone's trip, or giving away door prizes.". I am asking for your response, but you are not responding to my questions to you. I see you posting like crazy on Apopka Voice Facebook and posting on Apopka Mole website, but you don't answer here to me, on the regular Apopka Voice website. I don't have Facebook, never have, so I can't post on those websites. Mole indicates there are deep pockets, funding the trip, or at least, offering to fund the trip, plus hotel. So which is it, deep pocket operatives, or not? Trying to seek the truth here, because someone is clearly offering up some fictitious info. Conflicting info, no doubt. Mole was laughing talking about Lear jet, and a stretch limo. Again Dennis, do you want to comment to MamaMia, about all of this?
Thursday, April 27, 2023 Report this
wheresthepopcorn
MamaMia - Hope you had a great weekend. I have had some time to think on a lot of what has occurred recently.
1. The Mole seems to have a problem with his picture taken while in town shaking the Commissioners hands. But he has not problem using a photo of the city attorney sent to him by some apopka resident of him eating a sandwich and mocking his weight.
2. If this a political Campaign, They will need to account for all their expenses which should include the funds used to fly the mole in to assist. It seems that he is being paid for his services.
3. The Mobile Billboard - Who paid for that? If it is a campaign we have a right to know where all the funds are going, right?
4. The mole obviously makes things up. The mayor went to Tallahassee with forged signatures. Then they were not actual signatures then the mayor did not even leave town, he sent an email.
5. The gofundme - Contributions are not tax deductible
6. Y'all should of hired an Attorney! Not a Mole!
I am sure I got more in me. I am sure I will get screenshots of the events over the weekend per facebook soon.
Monday, May 1, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Reply to Where'sthepopcorn:. Hey, popcorn, I just read your latest posting on here, just seen it Yes, I had a good weekend, but the winds were so very bad. I see the wild plum tree at Park and Martin got broke down by the strong winds. Very interesting, your observations in your comments, for sure. Council meeting coming up, get your popcorn ready! LOL
Tuesday, May 2, 2023 Report this
wheresthepopcorn
I must correct myself. I do not know for sure if the Mayor went to Tallahassee or not. I do know that the Commissioners names are on the letterhead. He doesn't have to ask permission to do everything. This council wants to micromanage everything. It is counterproductive.
The pictures of the Mole with the Becker is ridiculous. If he becomes Mayor, he will toss the mole to the side. He is being used.
I did not get any screenshots not that I really care. It is probably all gossip.
They have not even gotten a Economic Development Director, have they? And they think they will get a new attorney? That is laughable. Before taking a job anyone googles the employer. Duh? After all of this press and facebook scuttle butt, no good attorney will take that job.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Report this
wheresthepopcorn
I have popcorn with "butter" and some M&M's.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Report this