Youth Council Joins City Commission on the Dais During May 11 Meeting.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

Members of the city's Youth Council Task Force, consisting of five New Smyrna Beach High School students, joined city commissioners on the dais last night to ceremonially gavel in the May 11 regular meeting.

The Youth Council task Force’s presence at the meeting allowed students to give a presentation on their decorative shark statue group project, and unanimously approve the consent agenda that included the return of a 4th of July fireworks display following last year's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I want this generation to know that sitting up here and being a leader in your community is an attainable thing. This isn't some faraway thing that has to be reserved for anyone special per se. It's just people that want to make a difference, and that's what leadership is,” said Mayor Russ Owen kicking off the meeting by introducing the Youth Council to the audience.

According to a release, the shark statue project, first pitched to the City Commission on May 14, 2019, consists of selecting local artists to decorate up to 10 7-ft. long statues to be installed in outdoor public locations throughout the city. Resident Eliza Midgett was also on hand to display her shark statue as one of the Youth Council's selected local artists. 

"I live here in New Smyrna Beach; I am an elementary art teacher for Volusia County Public Schools, and you may find my artwork at The HUB on Canal Street in the front, right gallery. Color is the most important part of my work and it sets a vibrant and happy mood for my 'Unconventional Beachscapes,'" she writes in her application package. "New Smyrna Beach is a unique, colorful, and happy town, and I express that by exaggerating my colors and abstracting my landscapes into bright, surreal wonderlands. It would be an honor to have the privilege of painting a shark for this town I call home." 

Phase I of the project includes City Hall, the Alonzo "Babe" James Community Center, Brannon Center, City Marina, and Live Oak Cultural Center with Phase II adding Riverside Drive at the end of Canal Street under the flag poles, the west boat ramp on North Causeway, Christmas Park, Flagler Avenue Boardwalk, and 27th Avenue Beachfront Park. 

"We want to say thank you. First and foremost, thank you to Paul Woodard and [City Clerk] Kelly McQuillen who have worked so closely with us for the past three years and helped make this a reality. This never would have been possible without your support and guidance. Thank you to Mayor Owen for always having a kind word and a new idea. Thank you to Tahmina Tisha for her commitment to the project and to all of our selected artists and the artists who applied for believing in our sharks and caring enough to submit an application, and to Ed and Sue Kenny for allowing us to keep going with this for as long as we can. Most importantly, we want to thank the City of New Smyrna Beach and its residents who have shown up for this project and supported us in a thousand different ways," said Youth Council Chair Shelby Balmer in closing at Tuesday’s meeting.