The Ocala City Council officially voted to cancel its contract for upcoming drone shows for the next two Fourth of July celebrations on Tuesday night, with one councilman suggesting the city should not consider any other alternatives, including fireworks, unless it can get a financial commitment from the county.
The council voted 4-0 to cancel the city’s $300,000 contract with Sky Elements, LLC, on Tuesday, January 21, exactly one month after a child was critically injured by a falling drone during a holiday show in Orlando on December 21, 2024.
“You know how I felt about it before, this is just the icing on the cake,” said Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano before the council issued its decision. Marciano has been a vocal opponent of the drones since the initial Patriotic Skies show back on July 4, 2024, which was exclusively streamed by Ocala-News.com:
“I think it’s an easy decision to move on and look at some other options,” said Marciano.
Councilman Jim Hilty echoed the mayor’s sentiments, citing his background in aerospace engineering and saying that he believed their could have been some “interference” created by “somebody just trying to fool around.”
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, which conducted an investigation into the drone incident in Orlando, several issues, including a misaligned flight path and pilot error, led to a failure that caused drones to crash into each other and fall to the ground.
“We’ve got that exposure to ourselves, it’s all done by radio frequency,” said Hilty. Staff informed Hilty of the results of NTSB investigation before he continued.
“The other thing, obviously, that I was against was the cost,” said Hilty, saying although the drone show was “dramatic,” it wasn’t worth the price.
“The cost of $300,000 for two years, that does not include the cost of parks and recreation, and police, and things of that nature,” said Hilty.
The councilman then cited a previous discussion during one of the city’s meetings in December wherein the council debated the value of a $190,000 contract with the Ocala Chamber and Economic Partnership, suggesting that far less time was spent discussing the $300,000 drone contract. Ultimately, both contracts were approved.
“We had argued, a little bit before that, on renewing the commitment to the CEP for $195,000, and we gave them accountability, and then we go ahead and we approve $300,000. So to me, I think this is the right thing to do,” said Hilty in reference to the contract termination.
Councilman Jay Musleh went a step further in his comments, saying he wanted to cancel the drone show and wasn’t for spending any money on a celebration.
“The contract needs to be terminated, I would also echo, that right now I’m not for spending any money at all on either fireworks or a drone show,” said Musleh. He went on to suggest that the expenditure should be one bore by a business or the county, but not by the city.
“If it needs to happen, it needs to happen either in the private sector or the whole county. Because what you’re basically doing is that you’re putting on a show for, not just city people, but, a lot of county people too,” said Musleh. “Nothing against them; they’re not paying the. bill.”
Now, the city may look to find possible alternatives for July 4, 2025, and July 4, 2026.
The decision comes just weeks after the Federal Aviation Administration stripped Sky Elements’ of its Part 107 Waiver, which partially allowed the company to operate multiple drones at night without position lights. Although the FAA confirmed that Sky Elements has sought to have its waiver reinstated, a memo from the city of Ocala suggests there is no timeline as to when a potential reinstatement could occur.
Leading up to Tuesday’s 4-0 vote, which was absent Councilman Barry Mansfield, representatives from Sky Elements attempted to address several concerns posed by city officials about the incident in Orlando.
At the time, the results of the NTSB investigation had not yet been released and the company said it would incorporate redundancies, add personnel, and revert to paper records.
The drone that fell from the sky and injured the child was confiscated by the Orlando Police Department and given to the NTSB for further inspection, according to the company. It is unclear if Sky Elements has reclaimed the drone now that the NTSB is done with its investigation.
Ocala City Council members voted 4-1 to approve the original contract with Sky Elements in December. At the time, Hilty was the lone dissenting vote.
Shortly before the council approved the original contract, Mayor Marciano said he had spoken with members of the community who wanted fireworks over drones and that one of those business leaders had quoted the cost of fireworks at around $30,000.
That same Ocala business owner, who is heavily involved in the industry, decried the idea that fireworks were dangerous in a letter to our publication.
Now that the drone show has been cancelled, how do you think the city should proceed? Should it schedule another drone show or should it find a site to offer fireworks? Share your opinions in a comment or a letter to the editor.