The Flagler County Board held their monthly business meeting at 5pm today August 21st, 2023. Vice-Chair Andy Dance filled in for Chair Greg Hansen who was absent during today’s meeting. The commissioners in attendance were Andy Dance, Leann Pennington, Greg Sullivan and Donald O’Brien Jr.
The meeting started by recognizing and honoring the late former County Commissioner Charlie Ericksen who recently passed away.
The Bunnell police department made a presentation regarding the Flagler Veterans Day parade. There is a call to bring back the Veterans Day parade, and luckily this Veterans day is on a Saturday. The parade will start at 10am, and will go through downtown Bunnell headed towards the Government Services Building (GSB), where there will be a Veterans Day ceremony following the parade at the GSB. There will be a website for the parade where people can sing up to be in the parade.
At this point public comment was opened up, and the public had the opportunity to address the Board. Residents came up to speak about projects being constructed, the county website being updated with project updates, issues regarding the Carver Center, the Early Learning Coalition of Flagler and Volusia came up to speak about some basic information on what they do and who they serve, and the assessment regarding a potential tax rate increase for the Daytona North area, as well as drainage issues in the area.
Commissioner Sullivan made a note that according to multiple consent items they are spending almost $11 million dollars that will be going towards the beach areas and locations next to the beach. He stated that when all is said and done they will have spent in the vicinity of $100 million dollars on the beaches in Flagler County since Matthew.
The Board heard a presentation about a development being planned and an issue with an easement. The presenter, from Chimento Law, represented the client, who talked about the fact the easement is not actually an easement, so it needs to be taken off the notes, as it isn’t an issue.
Heidi Petito told the board that she wanted to forgo the raise the special assessment for the Daytona North Area, that she had previously included in the budget. Petito stated that she wanted to rethink the 5 year plan regarding maintenance in the area.
The floor was opened up for public comment for the second time during the meeting. During this time, a resident spoke again to the special assessment issue where they felt the special assessment tax was unnecessary. Another resident spoke regarding the county giving money for the purchase of new buses for other uses instead of supporting the local nonprofits who could use the funding. Public comment was closed, and the conversation moved to commissioner reports.
Commissioner Sullivan stated that Flagler Beach is going to be coming back to the county for assistance and financial support for issues they cannot handle on their own. He wanted to have more of a discussion on the matter before anything is decided. Vice-Chair Dance wants the board to work on citizen participation and the trust level with the electorate. Dance wants to see a higher level of trust with the electorate as things move forward. He also talked about being as transparent as possible.
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