Kim Carney, Flagler County Commission Candidate: The Live Interview

Kim Carney is candidate for the Flagler County Commission, challenging District 3 incumbent Commissioner Dave Sullivan. They are both Republicans, and they are on the Aug. 18 ballot. But since they are the only candidates in the primary, and no Democrat or independent has filed to run, this election is open to all registered voters regardless of party or non-party affiliation. It is a universal election, and it will decide the winner on Aug. 18.

Three seats are up on the commission in this election cycle.  In District 5, incumbent Republican Donald O’Brien faces Bob Jones in the Republican primary, with the winner facing both Denise Calderwood and Paul Anderson in the general election on Nov. 3, the latter two running as independents.  Two-term Commissioner Charlie Ericksen in District 1 has opted not to run again. Republican Andy Dance, the long-time school board member, will face Democrat Corinne Hermle in the Nov. 3 general election. Neither has drawn a primary opponent.

Flagler County Commission members serve four years. They’re paid $55,387 a year.

FlaglerLive submitted identical questions to all candidates, with the understanding that additional questions might be tailored to candidates individually and some follow-up questions may be asked, with all exchanges conducted by email and on the record. The Live Interview’s aim is to elicit as much candor and transparency as possible. We have asked candidates to refrain from making campaign speeches or make lists of accomplishments. We have also asked candidates to reasonably document any claim or accusation. Undocumented claims are edited out. Answers are also edited for length, redundancy, relevance and, where possible, accuracy. If a candidate does not answer a question or appears to be evading a question, that’s noted.

But it’s ultimately up to the reader to judge the quality and sincerity of a candidate’s answers.

Carney, a former Flagler Beach city commissioner, initially said she would participate, then said she would not, saying–inaccurately–that she had not been given a deadline and implying that FlaglerLive would endorse the incumbent (“You and Mr Walsh can endorse the incumbent that is the way it is going to be,” she wrote in an email, referring to John Walsh, publisher of the Observer). FlaglerLive does not endorse political candidates.

The Questions in Summary: Quick Links

• Basics
• Character
• Critical issues
• Coronavirus
• Taxes
• School cops
• Beach rebuilding
• Beach rebuilding
• Environmental protection
• Library
• Homelessness
• Economic development
• Jerry Cameron
• Social media
• Background check

The Basics: Kim Carney

Place and Date of Birth: 
Current job: 
Party Affiliation: Republican
Net Worth:
Resume
Website and Social Media:

1. Tell us who you are as a person—what human qualities and shortcomings you’ll bring to the board, and what makes you qualified to serve—or to unseat an incumbent, as the case may be. Please give us real-life examples to illustrate your answer.

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

2. What are the three most critical issues facing the county, where do you stand on each, and how would you judge the commission’s current handling of each?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

3. Evaluate the county’s response to the coronavirus emergency. As of this writing, the county has not mandated the use of masks in public places, though it’s in the commission’s power to do so. Tell us how you’d vote on a mask mandate, and explain your answer, citing appropriate scientific authorities.

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

4. Commissioners like to say they won’t raise taxes or will keep taxes, or at least tax rates, flat. How do you define a tax increase—as keeping the rate the same or as exceeding the rollback rate? Adopting your definition of an increase, are you against property tax increases? What three specific line items would you cut from this year’s proposed budget to keep the property tax where you’d want it?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

5. State law requires armed security in every public school. Flagler has chosen to have a School Resource Officer at its schools. The district and the county essentially split the cost. But the county doesn’t have to assume that security cost. Would you reduce the county’s share? Alternately, do you pledge to preserve that split for the duration of your term?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

6. Evaluate the county’s long-term plan to save its beaches. It signed on to a $100 million beach renourishment plan for just 2.6 miles of beach just in Flagler Beach. The cost is expected to increase by the tens of millions of dollars, with half that cost over the next four or five decades the county’s responsibility. It is now demonstrably certain that sea levels are rising, and Flagler’s revenue sources for additional beach protection are tapped out. How do you propose to pay for the next repairs should a hurricane like Matthew or even a strong storm with damaging surges strike during your tenure? How is beach protection not a losing battle?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

7. Where and ow is the county succeeding in environmental protection or preservation, and where is it failing?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

8. The population of Flagler County has increased almost two and one half times since the main library opened in 2001. Yet current funding for the library is approximately the same as it was in 2007. What are you willing to do to restore some financial balance to the system, reflective of the 50,000 cardholders it serves? Library administration and the Library Board of Trustees have determined that a library branch is badly needed in the southern part of the county. The county has picked out a site near the Government Services Building, but year after year has not funded it. What are you willing to do to see that a library branch is constructed?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

9. For all the county’s claims of tackling homelessness, it has done little more than push the homeless to different encampments after fencing in the public library site on the claim, later proven inoperable, that it would build a sheriff’s district office there. What’s your plan for homelessness?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

10. Was the county right to all but disband its economic development department? What do you see in its place in the next four years? How much are you willing to budget for economic development?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

11. Evaluate the performance of County Administrator Jerry Cameron, listing strengths, weaknesses and areas of concern. In the next four years the commission will very likely face another search, given Cameron’s Methusalahian status. What skills will define the sort of administrator you will look for?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

12. We currently have five white Republican men as county commissioners on a commission that’s never elected a Black or Latino member, though every other local government has seen minorities elected. Does the commission have a diversity problem? Explain how you have reached or would reach out specifically to constituencies that don’t mirror the commission’s demographics.

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

13. Should you be held to account for what you display on your social media pages any differently than for what you would say anywhere public? Do you have different standards of behavior between the way you’d conduct yourself as an elected official—in a meeting, at an official function—as opposed to on your social media platforms?

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.

14. Have you ever been charged with a felony or a misdemeanor anywhere in Flagler, Florida or the United States (other than a speeding ticket), or faced a civil action other than a divorce, but including bankruptcies, or faced any investigative or disciplinary action through a professional board such as the bar or a medical board? If so, please explain, including cases where charges or claims did not lead to conviction or disciplinary action.

Kim Carney did not answer the question. 

See Dave Sullivan’s answer.