Emily Bonilla clashes with other Orange commissioners over parks appointee

New Orange County Commissioner Emily Bonilla has to be getting used to being a kicked-around rookie on the Board of Commissioners, especially as an outspoken Democrat on a Republican-dominated panel, but Tuesday she got taken down by all of her fellow commissioners.

“I feel it is pretty disrespectful,” Bonilla told them during Tuesday’s meeting, after none of the other six members, including Mayor Teresa Jacobs, agreed to second her nomination of her trusted advisor to the county’s 11-member Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.

That brought strong retorts from others, including Democrat Commissioner Victoria Siplin, who insisted she meant no disrespect but essentially told Bonilla she needed to learn how it’s done. But Bonilla stood by her indignation.

The spat involved involved a parks advisory board seat that is designated for a representative from her District 5, covering northeast Orange County. The incumbent, Bobby Beagles, was nominated to the panel by Bonilla’s predecessor, Republican Ted Edwards, whom she beat in November after a highly-contentious election campaign. Even though Beagles’ term has not expired, Bonilla wanted him off, replaced by University of Central Florida naturalist Ariel Horner.

Several commissioners, led by Jennifer Thompson, objected, arguing that Beagles was respected, that he had done nothing to deserve to be thrown off the board, and that he was a key player, arranging for a $1 million grant, in establishing a new park in the district, in the hamlet of Christmas. You just don’t throw someone like that off a county board without cause, Thompson argued.

Jacobs then lectured Bonilla on commission protocol, particularly about respecting political rivals and their appointees. Jacobs also told her to not think of the District 5 parks seat as hers, but rather simply as one to which she could make recommendations, that the appointment always would be up to the full board, and the board had no obligation to back her.

Bonilla tried anyway, got no second, and then expressed deep frustration that the other board members refused to support her.

The dispute, Bonilla’s frustration, and Jacobs’ rebukes signal something deeper than just a simple board appointee. Bonilla was a smart-growth activist who toppled an institution in Edwards, and while she came onto the board promising to work closely with all commissioners, she also came with the expectation that she has a reform agenda to pursue, and she has pushed it. In just three months, on a board not accustomed to open fighting, she and Jacobs already have clashed frequently in open meetings, and the mayor has lectured her on protocol on several occasions.

Tuesday, Thompson and Jacobs suggested a compromise, which Bonilla reluctantly accepted, and the board unanimously approved. It leaves Beagles as the District 5 representative, but puts Horner into another open seat on the parks board, one set aside for a natural resources expert.

“It had nothing to do with him,” Bonilla said later of Beagles. “It had to do with my vision for someone I can work with.

“I can still work through her [Horner] for what our district needs,” she added.