Anna Jones is one of three Republican candidates for Flagler County Commission, District 4. She faces incumbent Leann Pennington and Drew Moss. Only registered Republicans may vote in the primary. The winner of the Republican Aug. 18 primary will still go on to the general because a write-in has filed, but the Republican who prevails is all but certain to win.
Two seats are up on the commission in this election cycle. In District 2, an open seat, Greg Feldman faces Theresa Pontieri in the Republican primary. The winner will face independent Raymond Royer in the general election.
Flagler County Commission members serve four years. They’re paid $77,000 a year, an amount that will likely go up by a few thousand dollars by next year.
The Live Interview format changed this year. Since 2010, FlaglerLive had submitted identical questions to all candidates, enabling them to answer in writing. There typically were a round or two of follow-up questions, also in writing. Artificial intelligence has made that approach obsolete now that candidates can run the questions through AI and spit out prefab answers. To get around that, candidates were invited to a video interview. The video and the transcript are provided below.
The candidates were provided the same basic question within half an hour or less of the scheduled interview, but obviously not the follow-ups, which all differed. The questions to county commissioners are here.
Following the interview and before publication, the interview transcript went through two rounds of editing at this end, once by AI (yes, the irony is inescapable) for spell checks, copy editing and to smooth out verbal tics or repetitive words, and once by me for the same purpose. The candidates were then provided with the interview transcript and the video to review–not to make substantial changes, but to verify transcription accuracy, and, if they so chose, to add a postscript: if they felt they may have misspoken, or not clarified a point, or preferred to revise an answer, they were given that chance in the postscript, without changing the original text in the transcript. The postscript window is remaining open for subsequent additions, until the election.
The interviews can be quite long–not a surprise for a site pathologically incapable of brevity, but the county is awash in candidate quickies. We offer a little more depth, seeking to draw a profile rather than check off boxes. The Live Interview’s aim is to elicit as much candor and transparency as possible, and to learn about the candidate beyond the basics in what amounts to extended conversations about the person, the character and temperament behind the candidate, the candidate’s seriousness, and the issues.
The rest is in the voters’ hands.
–Pierre Tristam
Flagler County Commission Greg Feldman (Dis. 2, R) Theresa Pontieri (Dist. 2, R) Anna Jones (Dist. 4, R) Drew Moss (Dist. 4, R) Leann Pennington (Dist. 4, R) Flagler County School Board Cathy Moon (Dist. 1) Jill Woolbright (Dist. 1) Will Furry (Dist. 2) Rob Wood (Dist. 2) Christy Chong (Dist 4) Ron Long (Dist. 4) Trevor Tucker (Dist. 4) Palm Coast City Council Tony Amaral Jr. (Dist. 2) Jeani Duarte (Dist 2.) Jimmy Hengy (Dist. 2) Dylana Dee Galery (Dist. 4) John Kvederis (Dist. 4) Ramon Marrero (Dist. 4) Darlene Shelley (Dist. 4) The candidates' interviews will be live-linked the day their interview publishes. |
The Interview Themes in Summary: Quick Links
- Basics
- Preparation and Character
- Grading the Commission
- Goals
- The homestead amendment
- Sales tax increase
- Blaise Ingoglia’s claims of waste
- Consolidation
- Environmentally Sensitive Lands
- Beach management
- Public safety budgets
- County airport
- Rap sheet
- Postscript
The Video:
Note: In the first segment of the interview, when Ms. Jones was just outside her house, there were numerous technical difficulties as the screen froze or voices were delayed.
FlaglerLive: Good afternoon, Miss Jones, and thank you very much for taking part in the live interview. So, I wanted to start with the basics, but first I would have wanted you to explain your outfit.
Anna Jones: My hat—it’s my favorite hat. I wore it all last week. I went to D.C. for America’s 250th birthday. I wouldn’t have missed it.
FlaglerLive: What was your vantage point up there?
Anna Jones: I couldn’t get in. We got evacuated twice, and they wouldn’t… You had to go where Trump was speaking. They were only letting 150,000 in, and they had evacuated, and then they sent TSA away, and then they had to wait for TSA to get back. The streets all the way back were just packed, and I got on one of those little scooters and went down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to try to get in that way. They weren’t letting people on the Mall; they were only letting them on that certain part where he was speaking. I didn’t expect to get in there, but if you had a media pass, you could get in. So I watched on the street.
FlaglerLive: Any idea why there were evacuations?
Anna Jones: Well, storms. They had lightning coming, and who knows why the delay was getting back. Even that was the confusion. I went back to my little scooter and went to the west end near the reflecting pool because I knew that the barges had them on the river. So I watched it from there, and it was a clear view. It was spectacular.
FlaglerLive: Tell us where you were born and on what day.
Anna Jones: I was born. June 17, 1963, Albany, Georgia.
FlaglerLive: And when did you move to Florida, and particularly to Flagler County?
Anna Jones: In 2022. We moved to… We started in St. Augustine. That was our initial… I’m from the South—Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia—and I love the Gulf. I’m a Gulf girl. I love it. I was a lifeguard in Gulf Shores. My husband went to JU. He said, “Hurricanes, hurricanes, hurricanes in the Gulf.” So I lost that argument, and I didn’t want to live in Jacksonville, so we were going a little south around St. Augustine, and then we were looking in Palm Coast. Never heard of it, and we were driving around and chose Palm Coast because it was beautiful and quiet.
FlaglerLive: And that was in about 2022?
Anna Jones: About 2022. And then in ’23, December or January, we moved into this house.
FlaglerLive: And that’s the one near the airport, right?
Anna Jones: Yes, sir.
FlaglerLive: What was your career, or what is it still?
Anna Jones: I was in the culinary union. I worked in casinos. I have done real estate, so I say customer service. They were customer service jobs, and then the last 10 years before we moved here, I was the general contractor of our house, which was a foreclosed horse ranch, and we renovated it.
FlaglerLive: And clearly, you’re a Republican running in the Republican primary. You’ve always been a Republican?
Anna Jones: I campaigned for Nixon when I was 9, and I’ve always been a Republican. Campaigned for Trump in ’16 and ’20. I worked the polls in ’20. I’ve worked the polls since 2008. In 2020, they stole… Well, because of what happened, I filed nine affidavits against my precinct of violations of what happened. We were in a swing state, and so I became… To vote in the primary, you have to be Republican, so I went back.
FlaglerLive: You said “stole,” because you sort of skimmed over the word “stole.” What were you referring to?
Anna Jones: Voter fraud.
FlaglerLive: And that was in what state?
Anna Jones: 2020.
FlaglerLive: In what state?
Anna Jones: In Nevada.
FlaglerLive: You believe that election was stolen?
Anna Jones: Yes.
FlaglerLive: You still believe that?
Anna Jones: Yes.
FlaglerLive: Despite all the evidence to the contrary?
Anna Jones: Yes.
FlaglerLive: And when you campaigned for Nixon when you were 9 years old, was it because you liked Checkers or because you really liked his Vietnam policy?
Anna Jones: My dad was campaigning for him in California in 1968 or ’72.
See how the other candidates answered:
FlaglerLive: How have you prepared yourself for the county commission job?
Anna Jones: I have been going to the meetings, trying to figure out how it works. Just going alone isn’t making me qualified, but trying to figure out how these departments work and how they function. I’ve always been an activist on this side of it, and I like data. I like research. I tend to overdo it because I have to be sure what I’m saying is factual.
And when you look at the mission of the board of commissioners: exceptional quality of life, committed to excellence, integrity, collaboration with cities, and to act as a fiscally responsible steward. They put Flagler first through fiscal accountability, innovative solutions, responsible growth, superior service, and transparent government. I think that’s everybody’s campaign slogan that they want. It’s not happening, I don’t think.
And what makes me qualified? They say actively engage our citizens, not only as taxpayers, but contributors to the greater good of our community. So many people are not happy with the process of the growth, the infrastructure, all the issues. You do what you’re supposed to do: you call them, write your representatives, email them, band together, petition, show up at these meetings, and this does not happen. They don’t listen. They’re not listening to us, and I believe I could do a better job.
I might be the only one. Well, I can see a couple holdouts sometimes on some of the votes, but if you get a whole room full of people, I don’t believe you should pass it. Whatever it is, you should listen to the people and at least be able to meet both sides in the middle. Whether it’s a development in Seminole Woods… That particular one, through growth management, infrastructure must be concurrent with growth, and they could pass, delay, or deny these projects. They could have sent it back and said, “Make it smaller, make it smaller,” when you see all these people coming to us.
FlaglerLive: We’re going to get into growth questions specifically, where you’re going to get a chance to speak about that. I wanted to focus on what your preparation for the job has been so far. Like, for example, have you studied the budget?
Anna Jones: Yes. I have been studying the budget. It’s pretty big, and to go through it line by line, you can’t really do that with the constitutionals, you can’t really do that with some of the other departments, but you can tell them to cut back. Was that your question?
FlaglerLive: Well, I’m trying to get an understanding of how much you’ve tried to get ready for the county commission job on day one by studying their documents, maybe meeting with staff, meeting with county commissioners, understanding the job, so you’re ready from day one.
Anna Jones: Yes. Have you seen this document?
FlaglerLive: I have not seen that particular document, no.
Anna Jones: This was written by a citizen that took the five-year budget and analyzed it.
FlaglerLive: Who is the citizen?
Anna Jones: She lives in the Hammock. She sent this to all the candidates and everyone on the county commission, and I read it. I don’t know if anybody else read it, but I read it. She did a lot of work in putting together the analysis, and I appreciated the work she and another person did in doing this. She sent it to them, and I replied to all and said I appreciate all the work you’ve done and would love to have an open meeting with the commissioners. She had some questions, I had some questions, and Ms. Pennington wrote back, attached the budget and 500 pages of links, and told the rest not to respond. At first I was like, “Why would she do that? Why would you not want to have an open dialogue?” But it’s probably because of the Sunshine Act.
FlaglerLive: Yes, I’m 100% certain that the reason elected officials typically do that when there is a reply-to-all kind of thing is to say, “Don’t reply to me or engage me,” because if other elected officials on the same panel are part of that list, then they would be breaking Sunshine laws if they were having conversations that then might end up having something to do with what they’re going to deal with on the commission itself. So it was a safety matter; it was not like “don’t talk about this.”
Anna Jones: Maybe a workshop, yes.
FlaglerLive: Right. But again, I’m really very vague on what the document is, who the person who did it is, what the person did it for, and what the conclusions are. I mean, we’re talking about something very much in the dark here.
Anna Jones: She said she was going to release it to the press, and it’s on a public website. I can tell you off camera, but obviously she didn’t send it to you yet.
FlaglerLive: But if it’s already part of the public… Or you would rather not tell me who that person is? Because if it’s a public document, it’s already been disseminated among the county commissioners, and you want to have a public workshop on that document regarding the budget… Isn’t it important for us to know who is instigating this? How do we know that it’s not…
Anna Jones: I’m not going to put it in my interview. We can put it out another time; it’s on a website. My point is, she did an analysis and did a really good job. I thought that they would welcome it because she critiqued Ingoglia’s audit.
FlaglerLive: We’re going to get to that as well.
Anna Jones: And she had some very good suggestions of her own, such as…
FlaglerLive: If you were to sum up her analysis like in a couple of words, what’s the gist of what she’s getting at? Because if this is part of your campaign, that might enlighten us about what your ideas are, too. What’s the summary in one sentence?
Anna Jones: Well, to require justification for all flagged categories. You flag a category—like if you watch the June budget meeting, there are items that could be flagged, but then they don’t ever get addressed. Require justification and establish a formal reserve policy. When you read these and look at the money they spend in the reserves—the money coming into the reserves and the general funds—it appears to be used whenever they want a pet project. There are no rules per se on what’s used for what.
FlaglerLive: Would you agree that the reserves, which they have built up over the last several years, is one of their biggest successes? They’ve built up the reserves to somewhere close to $40 million—between $40 million and $50 million—whereas before the reserves had been depleted. This is one of the reasons that they say their budget has increased in numbers, but for a good reason. Would you agree that the reserves policy has been very successful?
Anna Jones: The reserve buildup that they achieved in the last several years?
FlaglerLive: Yes, that they have been built up and restored to their current health because they were depleted previously.
Anna Jones: Correct. Yes, I would agree that they were in sad shape prior to this. They did have some problems back in 2018, ’19, and ’20, and when you look at the problems that they were having, it was mismanaged. Maybe people didn’t realize how bad it was. But then in ’22 and ’23, when the assessed value started going up, the trim went down, and they kept getting… That’s when they filled in their reserves. Yes, they did have a lot of money coming in and filled in the reserves, but they did spend a lot of money. And where did that money go? So those are some questions. And what’s their plan for the future? It’s like they started spending more money, and now the problems are going to get worse.
FlaglerLive: Let’s set aside the mystery document and talk about Ms. Jones. Tell us a little bit more about you. What would you say is a character flaw that you would bring to the county commission that would pose a challenge to you doing your work there?
Anna Jones: A character flaw is I don’t have very much patience. Sitting through those meetings is like putting bamboo into your fingernails. It’s just so long. [Jones was referring to the Monday, July 13 workshop and meeting.]
FlaglerLive: How are you going to deal with that? Because you’re going to have a lot of those meetings.
Anna Jones: Tolerance for incompetence.
FlaglerLive: You’re going to have a lot of those meetings, so how are you going to deal with the bamboo in your fingernails?
Anna Jones: You read the agenda and follow along. Some of them do, by some of the things they say. Follow it along, but if you have not read the agenda, do not hold up the meeting and try to learn what’s going on as it’s going, like what happened on Monday, in my opinion.
Please watch Monday. July 13, Workshop and Meeting
FlaglerLive: I haven’t had a chance to see what you’re referring to, but as far as you’re concerned, how do you overcome your impatience?
Anna Jones: I’m used to doing two or three things at once, and to have to focus on just one thing… And government is slow. My husband worked for the government for 36 years, and I think the turtle down the street is faster than the government. I’m more used to getting things done, and that’ll be a challenge. I suppose I will try to get more things done at the same time and multitask.
FlaglerLive: You mean during a meeting you’re going to multitask? How do you multitask during a public meeting?
Anna Jones: I think some of them sleep, so I would have to do something.
FlaglerLive: Are you saying that you’re going to multitask on other things going on during a meeting where you’re going to maybe work on something else that doesn’t necessarily have to do with the meeting?
Anna Jones: No, you have to listen to people. I would never ever take my mind off someone coming to speak, ever. These people take their time, their day, their concern, and bring it to you. I would never disrespect them.
I would never take my mind off someone coming to speak, ever.
FlaglerLive: What about when your colleagues are speaking?
Anna Jones: You can pay attention to what they’re saying, but you watch the other ones. They don’t always speak. You don’t have to always talk; you can listen. I’m not saying read a story or do something else. You have to be attentive, listen, and wonder what the outcome would be. Such as Monday, they were talking and talking, and then it just got delayed, so there’s no outcome. They delayed the vote.
FlaglerLive: What vote specifically are you referring to?
Anna Jones: I think it was the budget. They did a couple of things. I can’t remember. One was the budget, and something else. [Jones was referring to a discussion on MSBUS, or municipal service benefit unit.]
Beach MSBU and Budget
FlaglerLive: That’s all right, but you’re running, of course, against Leann Pennington, who is an incumbent. So a person who generally runs against an incumbent, it’s fair to ask: why do you think you would do a better job than Ms. Pennington?
Anna Jones: I think she’s pretty good with the numbers and the budget, and she knows some of these numbers. I can learn, and I think I already know a lot. I like data, I like facts. I’ve been going through these things and learning how it operates. You can’t just jump in and expect to know all these things.
But I don’t think she’s tough enough on… There’s the county administrator, and then they’re in charge of all the other departments. I don’t want to say the constitutionals, but all of them. And then she’s not tough enough on the developers, and then not caring enough to the residents. So when they’re saying we actively engage our citizens, with integrity, collaboration, superior service, transparent government—it’s just not. I don’t see what they’re doing for the residents.
FlaglerLive: Is there an example where she has not been tough enough on a constitutional officer, like the tax collector or the clerk of court?
Anna Jones: For example, the June budget meeting, she asked Mr. Bexley—Tom Bexley is the clerk of court—questions that she had sent him ahead of time, and he did not answer. She did not say what the questions were, and I applaud her for asking questions, just like we ask questions and they don’t answer us. So I thought, “Oh, how does it feel to be ignored?” And he didn’t answer her, and he just didn’t seem to care. I don’t know what authority you have, but you need to answer the questions and address these issues that we’re saying, and then you have to do it in public. I was talking to Mr. Mengo yesterday, and you have to do it in a public forum, but she never asked the questions.
And then the other ones had questions. For example, Andy Dance asked Mr. Strobridge about the 29 911 callers that went to the county, but they still reflected in their budget, and then they wanted more. And Mr. Strobridge said he would come back to him.
FlaglerLive: Strobridge is the chief of staff for the sheriff’s office. You’re talking about the 911 operators who were shifted from the sheriff’s budget to the county budget, and in fact, they have come under the county budget. I don’t think that there is an issue with that, in the sense that they are now county employees, and there may have been a period when it might have been confusing as to who they were under right now. But it’s very clear that they’re under the county, and I don’t recall that there was much of an issue over that.
I do recall the duel between Bexley and the county commissioners, but that was very tough. They did have a pretty serious series of questions back and forth, and Bexley stood his ground. But as a constitutional officer, he actually does not have to give accounts more than a budget to the county commission. He doesn’t have to explain why he’s doing within the budget what he’s doing beyond the bottom-line figure that he has to defend, and in that sense, he was standing by that authority. They were pushing him to the extent that they could to maybe get more clarity as to why his budget was increasing—I think it was 7% or something to that effect. But I think they were asking the questions, and he was answering. It was a tough moment, but I don’t think we could say that we got away from there without understanding the tension between them.
Anna Jones: Correct, and I understand where he’s coming from. But as the board, can’t they deny his budget?
FlaglerLive: No, actually, they can’t deny his budget. They’re responsible for the constitutional officers’ budgets. They have to fund the budgets. They can certainly raise questions, control to some extent, and apply pressure, but they can’t outright deny a budget because it’s very easy at that point… There is even a process where sheriffs were denied a certain amount and they appealed. Typically, it’s the sheriff—not usually the clerk of court—but they have a process where they can easily appeal to the state and have that reversed because, as constitutionals, they have an authority that can’t be interfered with.
Anna Jones: Deny the extra that they want when they raise it?
FlaglerLive: I’m not sure to what extent they can exert that, but they do have some leeway, of course. But that’s what that discussion was about. What you were saying was they weren’t asking enough questions, but you agree that they were.
Anna Jones: They were, but she asked her questions, and he never answered them. We don’t know what the questions were, and he didn’t answer them.
FlaglerLive: Incidentally, county commissioners have the right to speak to constitutionals outside of meetings. They’re not covered by Sunshine in that sense, although all their documents, if there are documents, are subject to the Sunshine Law.
Who do you admire most in office today among elected officials on governing boards in Flagler County?
Anna Jones: I admire Mike Norris. I like his style. We’re both Southern—say it like it is. And I have respect when the developers come and put all this pressure on, and he says, “It’s a no for me. Still a no for me.” I respect that.
See how the other candidates answered:
FlaglerLive: What grade would you give the current county commission?
Anna Jones: Three out of five.
FlaglerLive: Three out of five. And where has it performed not so well? A couple of examples?
Anna Jones: The infrastructure. They need to collaborate with the cities to do that. Flooding—I know there are some issues in Palm Coast.
FlaglerLive: Yeah, we should not really confuse the two, right? When you say flooding and infrastructure, are you referring to Palm Coast utilities and Palm Coast flooding? Because we really should keep the two separate.
Anna Jones: Yes. They are doing things, but their priorities are a little out of order.
FlaglerLive: For example?
Anna Jones: Infrastructure needs to be prioritized before you keep building. I worked for Summa Corporation in the culinary industry. We had to go to Summa Corporation regularly. You went to their building, and inside was the big, drawn-out master plan of Summerlin. You had to walk past it every time, and it was planned down to every tree. They did their parks and amenities first. Yes, they had the luxury of owning all the land first and planning it out.
And then I also lived in Reston, Virginia, and worked as a real estate agent there. Same thing: Reston was a little more progressive, where “live, work, play” was their motto, and they had these villages, towns per se, that you could live, work, play in each town. So your job was there, you could go to the doctor and the groceries in each little village, and they were connected by walking trails and bike trails, and surrounded by conservation land. You had that vision, and they rarely deviated from these plans.
FlaglerLive: As I recall, Reston grew extremely fast, and it was the poster child for sprawl. And you were okay with that?
Anna Jones: Reston or Fairfax County?
FlaglerLive: Reston particularly was known for its incredible growth. [Corrective note: FlaglerLive confused Reston with Fairfax County: Reston is a community within Fairfax, but it was designed to counter sprawl; Fairfax County around it, as Jones notes, was the often cited classic example of sprawl.]
Anna Jones: I think Fairfax County grew quickly. Reston’s town centers were a little bit aged because they were older—40, 50 years, some of them. But Fairfax County grew, and I was a real estate agent in Fairfax County, and I would tell families, “You could get a better house in Loudoun County or Manassas,” and they did not want to leave the school district.
So when you apply that here, same as Summerlin, if you have the infrastructure in place and you have excellent schools, you will have businesses. I did sponsorship for the festival through businesses and brought in sponsorship, and the businesses were knocking on the door trying to get in, trying to get into the town center. You didn’t have to give them incentives; they wanted to be in a successful community. So fix the infrastructure first before throwing in a big giant commercial development into Seminole Woods or Grand Landings the size of five Walmarts that was never planned there in the first place. That’s zoned timber, and just to do that is wrong.
FlaglerLive: So when you say infrastructure, do you mean utilities, roads, water? What specifically? Because the county does not handle water and wastewater.
Anna Jones: But the county just approved that land over there and did not consider that we don’t have the water or wastewater.
FlaglerLive: Which land is that?
Anna Jones: The MCH lots next to Grand Landings on Seminole Woods Parkway and Citation.
FlaglerLive: But they’re going to get the water and sewer from the city.
Anna Jones: I’m not sure what the specifics are, but regarding impact fees, they basically were saying only 100 will be [school district] students. School impact fees apply for schools, parks, police, and fire. There’s a brand new fire station over there, and the roads that way only have two lanes, while this way has two lanes both ways. So they’re saying it’s going to be a “live, work, play” community, so they’re saying they don’t have to pay impact fees or make an impact other than water and sewer.
FlaglerLive: But I think they are paying impact fees.
Anna Jones: That whole corridor is going to be commercial. So when you combine them all, once they get in, more comes in.
FlaglerLive: All right. Are there a couple of instances where the county commission is succeeding?
Anna Jones: Well, they do get grant money. There is a lot of grant money going around. They need better business, to slow home growth down, and get better businesses and better jobs, light industry. Where they’re succeeding, they do little things here and there. Up on Belle Terre, they do little turn lanes.
FlaglerLive: Again, that’s the city rather than the county.
Anna Jones: I don’t really see enough, especially when their budget has gone up so high. There’s no beach management plan.
See how the other candidates answered:
[Jones noted that the screen froze here.]
Talk about the county’s goals. What are a couple of goals that you like and a couple of goals that you don’t, and what would you bring to the table?
Anna Jones: What are the county goals?
FlaglerLive: I don’t have them in front of me. I would have expected that you might know them, having been attending their meetings, and since you’re running for that office.
Anna Jones: When you look at the 2050 plan, it’s vague. It’s not like they have a mission for 2026, 2030, 2035, 2040. When you look at the traffic study…
FlaglerLive: Just to be clear, is the 2050 plan not Palm Coast?
Anna Jones: It’s the Flagler County one that [Flagler County Principal Planner] Simone Kenny just presented. When they have the traffic study from State Route 100 to A1A—and I know that’s a state road, but this is in the 2050 comprehensive plan—they’re saying from Belle Terre to I-95, it’s okay and we don’t need to adjust until 2045. But from I-95 to SR 1, it needs work now. And I thought, why are they approving all these commercial developments—Walmart, Five Below, HomeGoods, everything in this corridor? Oh, this must be because they want grant money or the ecotourism center, because that’s the only thing there. There’s nothing there except for that pedestrian walkway.
FlaglerLive: Well, there’s significant developments going up along that corridor as well.
Anna Jones: Sure, but this one more so. So they’re not going to address this road until 2045, according to the comprehensive plan. You can’t just think short term; you have to think forward. You can’t just say a two-lane road needs to be three lanes, because you have to think about maintenance and be able to maintain that road. It needs paving every so many years, and that’s more maintenance the more you expand it. So you do have to consider all angles, but that’s not one commissioner’s job. We are a board of five, and you have a whole entire planning department staff to explain all that. But it just seems like they’re lacking.
FlaglerLive: Are there a couple of goals that you would favor that are not part of the plan right now?
Anna Jones: Yes. Fix the infrastructure first, and if they have to help Palm Coast get the water and wastewater done, do that. Work in collaboration with Flagler Beach and Palm Coast to fix this. It’s a mess, and you bring in good jobs, a good resilient economy, not just property tax. So you’re not leaning on property tax, and then you don’t have this problem when they want to give people a home exemption and the sky is falling. When they don’t have any other means of income besides property tax, you have to have more coming in so that it’s not your sole income.
See how the other candidates answered:
FlaglerLive: How will you vote on the proposed amendment, the Homestead amendment?
Anna Jones: I vote yes. I’ve been knocking on doors, talking to people. People need this. It’s not the only thing that’s high, but for people on Social Security or disability, this exemption has not gone up. Their income has not gone up, but bills have: property taxes, water bills, inflation, everything else except those. And these people need a break; you can see it in their eyes. They want help and need it. I don’t understand how it’s divisive between Republicans favoring it and Democrats not; I don’t understand the difference.
FlaglerLive: Do you understand the impact it might have on local governments?
Anna Jones: Yes and no. It’s hard to know the exact impact.
FlaglerLive: The numbers have been published. The Florida Revenue Estimating Conference has crunched the numbers and shown to what extent every single local government is going to be impacted by the Homestead Amendment if it passes. Those are significant numbers, in the range of losing between 20% and 30% of their general revenue funds over two years, which is very significant. So how do you make up for that?
Anna Jones: It’s longer than that because it’s going to be a permanent thing.
FlaglerLive: Right, of course. But in the next two years, they would have these shocks of revenue losses that they would have to make up. I would assume you would want to make them up somehow, would you not?
Anna Jones: Yes, you do have to make them up.
FlaglerLive: How?
Anna Jones: Get rid of some of the waste, fraud, and abuse.
FlaglerLive: Can you point to an example of waste, fraud, or abuse—just one of those—in the county budget today? What’s an example of fraud? Fraud is a very strong word.
Anna Jones: Waste. County employees get 14 paid holidays, and I think that’s union-driven, right?
FlaglerLive: I don’t know what you’re referring to there.
Anna Jones: County holidays. They get 14 paid holidays. Did you know that?
FlaglerLive: Are you saying that’s fraud or waste?
Anna Jones: Waste.
FlaglerLive: Giving county employees holidays is waste?
Anna Jones: 14 paid holidays.
FlaglerLive: I’m familiar with the big ones, but I don’t know about 14.
Anna Jones: I think it’s probably union.
FlaglerLive: Most employees are not unionized. There are firefighter unions in the county, but I don’t know of any other unions in the county.
Anna Jones: Fire and emergency get 14 days, and county staff get 14 paid holidays. They already get good salaries. This is the prime job in this county, government, and they get COLAs, merit pay, bonuses, 14 paid holidays a year, and excellent benefits.
FlaglerLive: When you say 14 paid holidays, do you have that sheet in front of you? Can you tell me what those are, other than Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, and July 4th?
Anna Jones: New Year’s Day, of course, which is a federal holiday. But they get an Employee Appreciation Day on January 2nd, the next day. Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, which adds another day to Easter this year. And then they want to change the dates next year to coincide with a three- or four-day weekend.
FlaglerLive: Which would you eliminate? Tell me which you would eliminate among those.
Anna Jones: Next year they want Employee Appreciation Day, December 23rd, and December 24th. I would eliminate everything in pink: Juneteenth, July 5th, Employee Appreciation Day, December 23rd, and December 24th. I think this is excessive. They already have good salaries, COLAs, merit pay, and bonuses.
FlaglerLive: Eliminating those holidays is not going to change the bottom line as far as revenue and expenses are concerned. Whether they work on a given day or not doesn’t change the fact that county government is operating. So what good would it do to eliminate appreciation days and days off for our employees, the majority of whom are not making fantastic wages unless you’re a director or up in administration? This is a way of showing them some appreciation. What good would it do to eliminate days off if we’re talking about waste?
Anna Jones: In the June meeting, they were saying lower the COLA or lower the merit pay.
FlaglerLive: That will probably hurt the employees more than taking away a couple of holidays.
Anna Jones: True, true.
FlaglerLive: Other than that, let’s talk about fraud. What examples of fraud or abuse might you have?
Anna Jones: In this analysis, she found an anomaly in the 2024–2025 county administration budget line 552002. Employees get bonuses every year, and I have a question on those bonuses regarding who is getting them and who isn’t. On top of salary, COLA, and merit pay, they get bonuses. But somewhere it went to $500,000 in bonuses, line 552002 labeled “county performance incentives,” jumping to $555,000 for that year only, and then went back down. What happened to that half a million dollars? Serious questions in this document!
FlaglerLive: Again, you’re referring to a document that I haven’t seen, and I don’t know about the numbers, whether they’re authentic or verified. I would rather stick with official documents that we know about, evidence right in front of us that we can easily refer to.
It would be much better actually if you could reposition closer to the Wi-Fi. Being outside might be affecting the connection quality. The alternative is to do it on your phone so we won’t have interruptions.
Anna Jones: I guess I could do it on my… I’m going to have to bring you into the office. I have all my paperwork and data right here.
FlaglerLive: You’ll think on your feet, as if you were in a meeting where you might not have access to all your ready information.
Anna Jones: Yes, but I like to provide data when you ask for specific examples. Funny how the connection went out on that $555,000 line item.
FlaglerLive: A lot of our remaining questions have more to do with principles and philosophy than specific numbers, so it might be easier even without ready access to data.
Anna Jones: And this paper being passed around from the state shows how much money local governments are going to lose if this bill goes through. I think it’s exaggerated. Everyone is running around saying the sky is falling, but I don’t think these numbers are accurate.
FlaglerLive: Even if you take a third of whatever numbers those are, you’re still talking about an extremely severe impact. Local estimates by the tax collector and state revenue conference show cuts in the tens of millions of dollars. So the impact is going to be severe. You would at least agree to that, right?
Anna Jones: Absolutely.
FlaglerLive: Do you want to reposition, or do you want to continue? Let’s try repositioning and see how that works. [Jones repositioned into an office inside the house.] How would you make up lost revenue? Even if we say conservatively that the county is going to lose $10 million, how would you make that up?
Anna Jones: Ask everybody to cut a percentage across the board. You can’t cut essential services, and you can’t tell Health and Human Services to cut domestic violence programs or animal services. You spread the pain and tell everyone to cut their budget 5%, or whatever amount is needed to make up for it. They asked departments to do an exercise on what their budget would be next year if this passed, but they ignored them.
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FlaglerLive: That exercise is still in the works and they might bring it back. Would you favor raising the sales tax half a penny?
Anna Jones: Yes. I would like to raise the bed tax, but I don’t think you can do that because it’s at its maximum.
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Blaise Ingoglia’s Claims of Waste
FlaglerLive: What do you make of CFO Blaise Ingoglia’s claims that Flagler County wasted $59 million? Do you take them at face value, That claim that Flagler County wasted $59 million, understanding that you agreed that the county, for instance, improved its reserves as much as it did, and a lot of that money went into that, and then there was also growth in public safety. Would you still take Ingoglio’s claim at face value?
Anna Jones: Yes. He used a formula. If reserves were not maintained correctly in the past, you can’t blame this administration for what happened in the last 10 years, and they did what they had to do. But it’s like telling people in Palm Coast that you need to pay for water and wastewater because nobody did it in the last 20 years, forcing them to hire a consultant to get a bond. They raised property taxes and utility bills to cover what should have been done previously, on the backs of everyone working and living in this community.
FlaglerLive: I’m not understanding how you take him at face value, though.
Anna Jones: He used a formula taking population and inflation, saying whatever is over that is waste.
FlaglerLive: You agree with that formula of like just taking the population, taking inflation, and saying whatever’s over that is a waste?
Anna Jones: Yes.
FlaglerLive: If reserves were drawn down and needed to be replenished, doesn’t that account for spending? What service specifically is a waste?
Anna Jones: They were playing catch-up, so you can’t say what they’re using reserves for is a waste. They needed to do it. But how much money do you need now? The reserves are fine. They want six months, but two or three months is fine.
FlaglerLive: Getting us here is what Ingoglio called waste.
Anna Jones: It seems to be that’s what DeSantis… He’s with DeSantis, and they’re trying to stop all this spending. The assessed value went up, and they net all these counties, not just Flagler, but all these counties kept taking the money in, where they could have reduced the millage because the… the amount went up. Now you’re in a pickle because now A, that might pass, and B, the assessed value is coming down. For the first time, the TRIM is ahead of the rollback.
So, what’s it going to be next year? I went to a meeting with the realtors, and I… I asked him how is the market. He said the market’s great, and I said, “Well, 2024 was great,” and he said, “No, it’s great now.” Well, it’s going down. I don’t know how much the percentage is, but 1, 2, 3%, it’s still a decline, and who knows what that’s going to be next year? And supply and demand is basic economics 101. When you put in more houses and less demand, the value will go down.
FlaglerLive: Existing home values have declined slightly, but new construction has continued and propped up valuations overall. You can still have a healthy housing market while your valuations have stalled, while your existing valuations have stalled. So, what couple of programs would you cut in Flagler County government?
Anna Jones: I would tell them to take a little off the top. Everyone has to squeeze your belt. You can’t eliminate one. You can’t kill the puppies. You can’t… You can’t tell the sheriff get rid of five deputies or five firemen, or some teachers or… can’t touch schools anyway. But you… Well, actually…
FlaglerLive: When you tell them cut 10%, does that not mean that essentially, since 85% of all those budgets have to do with personnel, employees, you cut 10%… Does that not mean eventually that maybe it could be 6, 7, 8 percent of your human capital that you’re going to have to lop off, and that does mean employees?
Anna Jones: I don’t know. I can’t tell them not to fire anyone. You can’t tell them not to. You could tell them to reduce their budget, though, everyone 10%.
FlaglerLive: But doesn’t it come down to the same thing?
Anna Jones: How they do it is not under our control.
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FlaglerLive: Are there services that you would consolidate between the county and the cities?
Anna Jones: Sure. Roadwork, infrastructure, they can consolidate. You can consolidate in a lot of ways. Everyone work together with payroll, ordering, office supplies, everything. There’s so much can be done through collaboration and saving money and utilizing the same… Well, utilizing each other, that… that… that it’s not my job description is not acceptable, but they can be. Everyone can all work together. When they say, “Oh, well, that’s city,” or “that’s county,” or “that’s this or that,” you’ll get a lot more done and save money.
FlaglerLive: I mean, I heard basically back office material, back office operations like… like, you know, procurement and maybe human resources. But would they not run into legalities with these… with these sort of consolidations? Because cities are run differently than counties.
Anna Jones: Would they? I don’t know. It seems like there should be something that… that they should do to work together.
FlaglerLive: And then who would answer to whom if you’re consolidating those kind of back office operations? Then who ends up answering to…
Anna Jones: Do I have to tell the mayor what to do? Is that what you’re saying? Do I have to tell the mayor?
FlaglerLive: No, I’m talking about administratively, how would that work? If, for instance, your human resources departments are consolidated between a city and a county, who’s… who’s setting human resources policy? You’re essentially having, for instance, employee policies set by one government, but for employees who might be under a different government. So it gets very complicated, and I’m not… I’m not seeing how…
Anna Jones: Yes. So you asked me a question, and if there’s a way for them to collaborate all together effectively to save money and save resources, yes, there’s a way to do it. You’d have to all get together and figure it out. Maybe police, fire. Well, they think fire’s all county. Oh no, Flagler Beach has its own fire.
FlaglerLive: Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, and the county collaborate on fire rescue: the county provides ambulances while cities provide fire engines. Would you favor merging departments?
Anna Jones: Like you said, there’s legalities, and I don’t know if that’s possible.
FlaglerLive: In Jacksonville, they merged everything under one county government and eliminated cities, but it’s not realistic to think about this county going that far.
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Environmentally Sensitive Lands
FlaglerLive: Environmentally Sensitive Lands Program. You’re familiar with it?
Anna Jones: Somewhat.
FlaglerLive: When we talk about ESL or environmentally sensitive lands, what does that… What do you know about it?
Anna Jones: This one that they took the taxes out for, they… It’s for larger projects. It’s not for smaller little things, because I thought we could use it for… I would like to require larger buffer zones between these developments, large, like over 100 feet to help recharge the aquifer, and also create the wildlife corridor and the eye pollution, and if we had to make them give up some land to do that, use that for that, but you can’t because it’s, I think it’s for large purchases…
FlaglerLive: what sort of pollution are you referring to?
Anna Jones: Eye pollution.
FlaglerLive: Eye pollution. you mean visual pollution?
Anna Jones: Yes, sir.
FlaglerLive: the environmentally sensitive lands program was approved by the voters since the 1980s, and it’s renewed every I think 10 years. It’s coming up for renewal. In other words, you’re going to be a sitting commissioner. If you were elected, you would be a sitting commissioner responsible for putting it back on the ballot, I think in 2028 for renewal. Princess Place Preserve is an example. Bings Landing is an example.
do you favor the ESL? Would you favor putting it on the ballot? And then if you do, do you, o you think that changing its mission would be something you’d think about? A couple of commissioners have talked about maybe we could use the money for beaches, which right now it’s not allowed to be used for beaches. I’m not even sure if legally they could do that, even if they wanted to. Would you want that? And would you raise the amount of money that taxpayers are paying right now?
Anna Jones: I’m for the ESL and for the amount it is now. I don’t think you can use it for other things. I don’t know if they are eyeing other projects or other parcels for this. I don’t know what’s in their pipeline for that. We do need to preserve land, but it… it can’t be all the way out there at the end of the county. You have to… you have to have open space. You can’t just build every… take down every tree and every blade of grass, and then save something miles away and saying, “Look what we did,” where this is a concrete jungle. Mix it in together as a master plan community. Do I want to raise it? No.
FlaglerLive: You’re describing master plan communities. You’re describing the westward expansion for Palm Coast. You’re describing the Haw Creek Preserve, as they so interestingly and euphemistically call it for Bunnell, the 6,100 home development. You’re describing several major developments in the coast—that’s what they call them—is master plan communities. But then people turn around and say, “How could you approve this development?”
Anna Jones: The whole thing is a master plan, like ITT master plan. Yes, those are smaller ones, and… but the overall vision of Flagler County. You’re talking about Flagler County. This is Bunnell, out coast. There’s a couple in Flagler Beach on John Anderson, and there’s… so it’s all discombobulated. You have to have a master plan for the whole county, and we need more open space. You can’t just take it all.
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FlaglerLive: The beach management plan. What are your thoughts on the plan that the former county administrator brought forth? Would you have supported that plan? And if not, what is your alternative?
Anna Jones: What was the former county administrator’s plan?
FlaglerLive: Heidi Petito’s plan, which rested on several sources of revenue to fund the beach management plan, which requires somewhere between 12 and $15 million a year, both to build the beaches back.
Anna Jones: I thought it was seven. It keeps going up. It was seven, and then it’s nine. Now it’s 12 to 15.
FlaglerLive: the plan that I saw was 12 to 15 because it includes both reconstructing beaches, but also setting money aside for periodic renourishments that will become necessary in the future, because right now there’s no money set aside for any renourishments that will be needed in the near future. It’s just about rebuilding beaches so that they protect the barrier island. So the plan would be expensive. Did you favor… Are you familiar with the plan that she put forth? And if… if not, what sort of plan would you favor, and how would you pay for it?
Anna Jones: You mean the Reach 1, 2, 3, 4?
FlaglerLive: Yes.
Anna Jones: It was kind of strange to follow. If you’re in Reach 1, you pay this much, or 2, you pay this much. The payments were never broken down that way. The reaches are more geographic delineations of the four segments of beach along the 18-mile shore. Like for instance, the Army Corps project is Reach 1. That’s one segment, and then they’re working on Reach 2 right now. But there are a lot of problems with that, even though they have…
FlaglerLive: $35 or $38 million dollars in hand, they can’t really put it to work because so many property owners have not signed the easements that would allow them to do that. So there are other issues, but the overall plan, even though it’s on the shelf, is not funded in the long run, and the question has been how to fund it. Whether with a special taxing district, for instance, that all Barrier Island residents would pay… would pay. Would you favor that, or would you favor setting aside a chunk of the sales tax that you just said you would approve? Would you favor… Would you favor that?
Anna Jones: It’s going to have to be a combination of things, just like you’re saying. When this budget comes, this budget cut, you can’t just cut one thing. Not one person, not one entity can pay for this. You can’t just put them on the hook. It has to come from different sources. Everyone has to pay and share. I was trying to look into other counties how they did it.
FlaglerLive: Larger counties have the benefit of a much richer bed tax revenue, which Flagler County unfortunately does not have; it’s limited, so we don’t have that source.
Anna Jones: You could use some of that. You could… You could give them the MSBU. I’m against MSBUs because everyone’s paying tax in the same pot.
FlaglerLive: Those are the special taxing districts. So you’re opposed to special taxing districts?
Anna Jones: Yeah, I think that’s mismanagement. You know the beach is there. You know it needs maintained. You know these things are coming up. They’re… they’re borrowing. They’re… I don’t know why have they not had a plan? The beach is not brand new. We all know it’s there. It’s been there forever, and they don’t have a plan to maintain it.
FlaglerLive: They have a plan. They don’t have the money to…
Anna Jones: …do it. Well, that’s not the same thing. So you have to fund it. The plan should be the funding.
FlaglerLive: I understand, but they do have the plan. they’ve had the plan now for a couple of years or more, but they do have a plan now. you’ll be responsible for coming up with that funding, because is there an alternative? Can you do nothing?
Anna Jones: Well, it seems like that’s what they’re doing, is doing nothing, and then waiting for an emergency or a hurricane, and then relying on FEMA or the Army Corps of Engineers to fix, which is not… They… they rely on a lot of grants. So this woman that did the analysis, in defense of the MSBU on the Hammock, and a lot of work. Everyone got it. Every single candidate got it, and every single sitting commissioner got it. I don’t know who read it, but I did. I enjoyed it very much. It was easy reading, and much easier than the PowerPoints you have to go through at the county. Right.
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FlaglerLive: Let’s talk about the sheriff’s budget and public safety. Sheriff and fire, both of which have increased substantially in the last 10 years, in the last five years, 87% for the sheriff, and the county’s population has increased about 22 percent. Fire rescue has increased about 80 percent in that span. Is it sustainable and is it defensible to increase at that rate when the population hasn’t increased nearly as much?
Anna Jones: Yeah, why is that? Why have they increased? Do they expect this population boom with all this multi-housing, everything? Or I’m not sure.
FlaglerLive: Well, in fairness, their defense is that they have been catching up, and that the fire services and the fire services are still under where they want to be, and the sheriff’s office also was catching up to where it ought to be, so they hadn’t been funded as they should have been in… in years past, and that’s what they’re getting at right now. At least that’s how they justified the… the recent spending. Do you disagree with that?
Anna Jones: No. But they want more, and inflation. Inflation. The county, in their defense of the DOGE budget, used the… the Parks and Rec and fire… Some of the things in the fire department budget as a reason why they had to spend more. And then the builders, in their lawsuit against the city and wanting more impact fees, they said the Parks and Rec and the fire… their budget’s too high, both of… And what are you going to do about that? And… but then you ask the firemen, and they’re short. So something’s wrong. It’s not adding up, or… Or are they expecting more homes? Population, you need… You have to fund the police and fire with growth. You have to, and is that what they’re saying? Is the growth somebody… Are they skewing the numbers, saying the growth is not… We have not grown enough to have these fire, these fire and police, or… And the police are saying, “But yes, we need more,” so somewhere the numbers aren’t matching.
FlaglerLive: Well, you live in Palm Coast, so you have the benefit of policing on Palm Coast’s dime and Palm Coast’s fire department, which generally get very high marks. You’re satisfied.
Anna Jones: Yes.
FlaglerLive: And so you wouldn’t want their services to be lessened.
Anna Jones: No.
FlaglerLive: You disagree with them continuing to grow. For instance, the new fire station that they just built in Seminole Woods, are you happy about that fire station?
Anna Jones: Sure. They use response time. So they use a formula on why they need more. Correct. So if their formula matches, they have to keep up with response time. It’s not for population. It’s response time.
FlaglerLive: Is there such a thing as overfunding police or fire?
Anna Jones: I suppose they’re the two largest budgets. I have not compared them to other counties, but we want to feel safe and secure. And if they’re going… Now they want… Now you’re passing more development, urbanization. That’s going to require more and more.
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FlaglerLive: So we’re getting toward the end. I need to ask you about the county airport. Have you heard about the county airport?
Anna Jones: Wait, I fell off my chair.
FlaglerLive: Is it fair to say that the county airport is really the reason you’re running?
Anna Jones: No. Yes, I have a beef with the airport, but to me, it’s the process. So if you have the process, you can insert any Seminole Woods with the… the building over there, or the flooding in the F section, or whatever the problems are, the beach management plan. You call, you email, you go down there, you band together, you petition. You do what you’re supposed to do as citizens, and they shut the door in your face. They ignore you or they mock you. In all situations, they’re not listening to us. So, with the airport, yes. Yes, there’s air pollution. There’s… This airport is number 39 in lead pollution.
FlaglerLive: Just off the top of your head, do you recall who ranked that?
Anna Jones: Per year.
FlaglerLive: Per year, but per acre, per square mile, per what?
Anna Jones: Well, they’re in the air, so these use lead gas. These flight schools, these Cessnas use lead gas. So if it’s windy, you can be up draft, down, or right here. When I started talking about that, it’s all on my website, Peace for Palm Coast. But there is a radius, and they did the lead test, which was an OSHA test. And anybody that’s having a job inside, you all… Everyone has to do the MSDS data sheet and the OSHA training. The OSHA test they did was an indoor… They did an eight-hour grab sample. This should be a three-month study. They found that in the eight-hour grab, but you multiply that by three because eight hours, and by all year, people that live around airports have higher concentrations of lead, and there’s a push to get–they were supposed to do away with AV gas in 2018, kicking the can down the road to 2024, and now it’s 2030. I don’t see any prep for eliminating AV gas in 2030. Trying to push for them to do that, but in the meantime, here they are, and they’re expanding this airport, and they are moving the fuel tanks. They’re not moving them. The old ones are old, and they’re getting new ones and putting them in a new location. And right on the agenda, it says “airport fuel farm.” And they said, “Don’t call it a fuel farm.” Well, you called it a fuel farm, I didn’t. And I said this needs a NEPA environmental assessment.
FlaglerLive: And what is NEPA?
Anna Jones: It’s a national EPA environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement, because this is AV gas and jet fuel, and it’s federally funded. This is the requirement of federally funded grants. And you have somebody on the board that says it’s the same as BJ’s, or the other one that said it’s the same as Wawa. It’s not the same. Those fuel tanks are buried in the ground with lined tanks; these are above ground. And Mr. Sieger and Mr. Moylan said they’re going to do a categorical exclusion for the NEPA.
FlaglerLive: I’m not understanding any of what that means. Mr. Sieger is the airport director. Mr. Moylan is the deputy county attorney. But we’re getting into very detailed weeds that I’m not really understanding. What does a categorical exclusion mean in this context?
Anna Jones: He’s going to hear this, but this does not qualify for categorical exclusion. Meaning that if these tanks are in the… in the rural area, yes. But if these tanks are near a school, traffic, shopping, homes, you can’t do a categorical exclusion. You have to do the NEPA, the full NEPA environmental assessment, and they’re not going to.
FlaglerLive: They’re going to break the law?
Anna Jones: It’s a grant violation. It’s a violation of their grant assurances. But what I’m saying is they don’t… I care more about the people and the children around this community than they do.
FlaglerLive: Those are harsh words. Let me get back a little bit, backtrack just a little bit before we that far. You agree that the county airport is an economic asset.
Anna Jones: For who?
FlaglerLive: Well, for you and me, because when we say for the county or for the city, that’s you and me. So, is it an economic asset in that sense?
Anna Jones: I can’t go get a flight anywhere.
FlaglerLive: I’m talking about the services that they have. My go-to place whenever I need to rent a car, I go over there. I’m sure other people have other services. Teens in Flight is located at the airport. That’s not a business so much as an educational enterprise, but it’s a great educational enterprise. There’s two flight schools there, and there are several other businesses that are flight-related. I happen not to be too versed in that sort of thing, but I do know that there are many businesses that are located there, and they generate a lot of economic activity for the county and the city.
Anna Jones: Yeah, but that’s not the airport. They can exist without the airport.
FlaglerLive: Well, I think a lot of these businesses are air-related.
Anna Jones: Yes, correct. Teens in Flight is in Phoenix East. Yes, but the restaurant and the… the church and the hairdresser or the karate, a gymnastics studio, those are just businesses. The attorney, you could put enterprise anywhere.
FlaglerLive: You see it as a noise and pollution problem, right? But what would you propose as a county commissioner?
Anna Jones: This airport is bringing in a lot of federal money. I understand that, and I don’t want to close it. People say, “Oh, she wants to close the airport.” No, I don’t have a problem with the airport, I don’t have a problem with the people. To me, it appeared to be just an airport where people that have planes park their… they go on wherever, their trip on leisure or travel or business, and then they come back and park their plane in the hangar. I have no problem with that. It’s the flight schools going like this, and that’s why they get the grant money. And those, there’s no benefit of them other than the grant money, because they’re not… They come from another county, and they… they don’t land, they don’t get gas, they don’t stay the night, they don’t eat at a restaurant. They do their thing and go back. There’s no… there’s no other benefit other than the FAA funding it, and we… they have regulations, and the FAA regulations… These planes are flying 50 feet over these houses, on the four runways, these planes take off or land at 50, up to 50 feet above these houses, which is a violation of 14 CFR Part 91, 91.111, 91.113, 91.119, careless and reckless, and they are not doing anything about it.
FlaglerLive: So you’re a county commissioner. So you’re a county commissioner now, and you walk into the county attorney’s office and you sit down and you say, “Here’s the ordinance I would like you to draft, and I would like to have you draft this, and I’m going to take it to my colleagues and see if I can get consensus.” What would the ordinance say about the airport? What would you want achieved that’s in your power to achieve?
Anna Jones: You don’t need an ordinance. They already have on their own website, the county website, that they have a airport advisory committee, but they don’t. I want one. I want a noise portal.
FlaglerLive: What is a noise portal?
Anna Jones: Where you have a complaint and you… a line port. They had one. They had… and it’s still on there. The link is still on there, but it goes to a dead page. The link… they had it on for three… three months and didn’t advertise, but people were called, and then… and then when it started picking up, they shut it down.
FlaglerLive: I recall the late Jorge Salinas talking about that portal and the survey, and he was saying that it was disproportionately used by one or two people who ran up the numbers, and that the majority of people were not using it, but a couple of people ran up numbers to such an extent that it looked like lots of people were complaining, but it was really just a couple of IP addresses.
Anna Jones: No, that’s not true, and there was more than two, but there was maybe… I think it was six. I think it was from your article that there were six, but people didn’t know about it, and they have gotten better. Mr. Sieger and Miss Petito asked them not to fly on Sunday. That was one of the… I asked the people around here. I… I have signatures on the petition. What would you… What would you like? And… and I’ve gone to other airports that actually enact these procedures, and they wanted no flights on weekends. You really can’t go outside. They have been flying all day yesterday and today, which is why I was outside. I wanted you to hear them, but they stopped.
FlaglerLive: Yes, because I didn’t hear. We didn’t hear any while we were on.
Anna Jones: You must have called them. Miss Petito and Mr. Sieger, I understand, asked them not to fly on Sunday. They still have been flying on Sunday, but Phoenix East, I think, is the most respectful. They can fly quietly. You can see them flying, and you can’t hear them. I have decibel meters. Other neighbors have decibel meters, but the ones on the runways, those people are getting hammered. So…
FlaglerLive: What would you do tomorrow if you were a county commissioner? What would you want to enact? What would you want them to actually do? Because you’re talking now about what they’ve accomplished, which is to their credit. But what would you say they should do beyond that?
Anna Jones: If we had an airport advisory committee and a noise portal, what would they actually do about it? Sieger and the commission can take this information to the flight schools. It’s in their… it’s in their flight friendly brochure, is to go up to 700 feet before you turn. They were turning at 200 feet, going 150 miles an hour over our neighborhood. All the U and Z section, we get hammered. So if you’re not supposed to turn till 700 feet. FAA regulation is 500 feet, and to do it under 350 is a violation of… it’s careless and reckless….
FlaglerLive: This is not policed by the county or the city. It’s policed by the FAA. So, what can you do as a county commissioner?
Anna Jones: They can call. They go to the flight school or the FAA. I have no authority. I have called. I’m working up the chain, but if they could do something, because other airport directors do it, other counties do it. So for them to say, “I can’t do anything,” I know that’s not true.
FlaglerLive: Can you address the recurring response by some candidates and others, and I’m sure to some extent maybe even Roy Sieger, who say that, well, when you bought your house, the airport was there already. You knew where you were buying. You’re buying next to an airport, you shouldn’t be complaining. How do you respond?
Anna Jones: I went to that airport. I went right there and parked and looked at this base. It doesn’t tell you… There’s no indication that there’s going to be flight schools from Daytona Beach at this airport every morning at six till midnight. There’s no indication of that. It looks like a mom and pop airport, which is what it was prior to him coming. It was a rural airport in 2015. So, if they say, “Oh, it was there since World War II,” we have no problem with the actual airport. It’s the flight schools. If you think it’s acceptable to live under a plane going 150 miles an hour, 2, 300 feet above your house…
FlaglerLive: No, I don’t. Absolutely not. I don’t. It bothers me when sometimes they fly over here. But the thing is, I didn’t buy next to an airport.
Anna Jones: What we didn’t know was a training field from Daytona Beach.
FlaglerLive: But it was an airport.
Anna Jones: But it’s a training field. I understand what you’re saying. I understand people say, you know, you move to… Is it… There are rules. It’s not a fair deal. They’re breaking the rules from FAA. When you look at the rules on their website, they… they just abide by that. They’ve been doing that lately. They’ve been pretty good.
FlaglerLive: Which I guess you’re giving them credit doing that, so some of the grassroots efforts have paid off.
Anna Jones: Yes, yes, I do give them credit. I don’t trust it, though. I don’t know how long it’s going to last. So they don’t have anything in writing about the Sunday, and…
FlaglerLive: Well, I think that those are voluntary. The way it was explained to me was those are voluntary moves by the flight schools because you can’t actually mandate it or put it in their lease that you can’t do this, you can’t do that. So, I guess it’s an achievement.
Anna Jones: We appreciate that.
FlaglerLive: Has that taken the wind out of your campaign sails?
Anna Jones: No, we were doing that before.
FlaglerLive: And so, just to be clear, then it’s not… This is not… I mean, the reason you ran is… is the reason you’re running is not because of the airport, or is it?
Anna Jones: It’s the… It’s the process. No, I do not have a… I do not have a ax to grind with the airport. It’s the process. Do you have…
FlaglerLive: Let me ask you just to be very clear. Do you have an ax to grind with Roy Sieger, the airport director, or with Sean, for that matter?
Anna Jones: No, I understand they’re doing their job. They’re just not… There’s more that they can do. I think, yeah. There’s more that they can do instead of mocking or ignoring us. And it is quite enjoyable when they’re… It’s… it’s a great community when they’re… they’re quiet. And like I said, there’s planes… I mean, you can see them in the air, and you can’t get… you can’t hear them. We don’t mind. It’s the ones that are going like race cars over your head, over your roof. You can’t… There’s babies can’t… You can’t sleep. You can’t… And the lead.
FlaglerLive: Well… Well, you know, lead is not something to take lightly. Of course, I’d like to ask you about just a little tiny contradiction here. I don’t disagree that Roy Sieger can sometimes be a bit… a bit rude in public, that his manners are a bit too… too military.
Anna Jones: He’s a little abrupt. Yes.
FlaglerLive: Abrupt is a better word. However, you described Mike Norris as a model, and as far as abruptness is concerned, he’s right now the reigning champion in Flagler County. So how do you square the two?
Anna Jones: So you’re saying they’re both abrupt, but I like one and not the other.
FlaglerLive: Yes.
Anna Jones: I think Mr. Norris can compromise somewhat. I don’t know Mr. Sieger enough to say this. It’s only my opinion, but he seems like he’s not going to budge. I’ve heard things that it’s his way or the highway, or I didn’t hear that exactly, but it’s that. Yeah, you know what I’m saying.
FlaglerLive: It’s true that Norris has–I’m not going to use the word mellowed, but Norris has come around quite a bit, and he’s very deferential very often to his colleagues, which we might not see from Roy when he appears because he doesn’t have to be, because he doesn’t have to deal with a board. He just has to deal with the airport and with the complaints.
Anna Jones: But he doesn’t deal with the complaints.
FlaglerLive: But there are improvements.
Anna Jones: One out of five, it’s slight. But yes, and and I do believe our our efforts are paying off, and it’s not any credit to the county because we have been doing other things, we’ve we’ve been taking other avenues.
FlaglerLive: We being who? Do you have a group, you have an organization?
Anna Jones: I have 1,036 signatures on my petition.
FlaglerLive: How many of those are local?
Anna Jones: About 65% I would say, I’m guessing 60-65% but I’m working with other communities, so it’s not local. This is not the only problem. This is not the only place. It’s an issue, and I’m collaborating with other counties and other states with this problem, and which good things happen when you operate.
FlaglerLive: Have you discussed with your husband the possibility of moving to another neighborhood, neighborhood here or in the county?
Anna Jones: We were going to move in 2024, and we would have lost 100,000 on our house, or at least 50. And I just didn’t feel like… I worked hard for my money. I’ve lived, worked all my life, and just to take a loss of 50 to 100,000 because we got duped, or they can’t be neighborly. So I just didn’t want to throw that 100,000 in the garbage right yet.
FlaglerLive: Ultimately, and this is really the last question I’ll badger you with on the airport: Is it not a homeowner or prospective homeowner’s responsibility to do their homework, regardless of whether you’re going to be living next to, you know, an airport or a place that might be considered a nuisance or annoying or noisy and all that? Is it not ultimately your responsibility as a prospective homeowner to know that you’re going to be buying there and to know everything that there is to know about that place, rather than blaming somebody else or blaming the government or blaming the neighbors?
Anna Jones: Sure, I did my due diligence. I…
FlaglerLive: Mean, you believe in personal responsibility.
Anna Jones: Sir?
FlaglerLive: You believe in personal responsibility, right?
Anna Jones: Yes, I did do… I did research, and it looked like… and I met the neighbor every time we came, and the issues they said in Palm Coast were flooding, so when we were in St. Augustine, we would come down here when it was going to rain, just to make sure, because there’s a gully right there, and just to make sure it was not going to flood. And doing your research, drive around at night, check the neighborhood, go around. What’s back here? What’s over there? And we went to that airport. There’s nothing there that tells you there’s flight training from Daytona. There’s no realtor that tells you that. They’re not required. There’s no duty to disclose that. They… Realtor.com has a noise thing, just like they have the flood zone.
FlaglerLive: Did you ask?
Anna Jones: Ask what?
FlaglerLive: What sort of activity is there at this airport? What are the most common flights that we have? Are there flight schools? Are there festivals? Are there…
Anna Jones: Know anything about flight schools. I didn’t know anything about them. The… The noise on the realtor is the road. They only… they only give you an indicator on the… the road noise, and that’s a model also. But other places do it better, or they’re strict, they’re for the residents, then you wonder why aren’t we?
See how the other candidates answered:
FlaglerLive: Have you ever been charged with a felony or misdemeanor, or been party to a civil action other than a divorce?
Anna Jones: When I was 19, I was with my girlfriends on New Year’s Eve, and in her car, and she couldn’t drive, so I drove. Her car had a… didn’t have a key, so we used a… a screwdriver, and couldn’t shift. And the police saw everything, and I drove two blocks and got pulled over and went to jail for a DUI. I don’t think they did the breath thing, but I don’t think I was legally drunk. I don’t know what the number was. I sat in the jail for eight hours. I didn’t want to stay out that night, and I worked in the morning, and I called my work, which was at Circus Circus arcade, biggest arcade in the world. I fixed the machines. I fixed pinball machines, and they said… they laughed and they said, “No, come in.” So I got out on my own and went to work, and that was a miserable day. But then the charges got dropped, so…
FlaglerLive: Where was this?
Anna Jones: Las Vegas. But they dropped, so I’m not sure. I was arrested, but I don’t know. Nothing happened. And then in the ’90s, I was a single parent, working, going to school. I went to church twice a week, taking care of my mom. My kids were in baseball, softball. My mother got sick. They said it was diverticulitis, and she had colon cancer, and she died within… She was sick a lot and then died suddenly of cancer, and that really affected me. And I got into credit debt. I never… and I filed bankruptcy in the ’90s. I have never been evicted. I’ve never been fired. I’ve never been demoted. I don’t remember the last time I got a speeding ticket—don’t tell him. But other than that, I’m pretty clean.
FlaglerLive: And the bankruptcy was in what state?
Anna Jones: Nevada.
FlaglerLive: How many years… It wasn’t much?
Anna Jones: I… I think it was… I think it was like 15,000. I just couldn’t get ahead of it. I couldn’t… I was only paying interest.
FlaglerLive: And you were cleared of it. What year? What year were you declared, you know, whatever the legal term is?
Anna Jones: I think it was 2003, ’05.
FlaglerLive: Okay. How long were you in… How long were you in… in Nevada, in Vegas?
Anna Jones: Total, because I lived in other places and came back, so probably 25 years. Well, my dad was in the airport, so my mother… We were there for Nellis Air Force Base, and then lived in other Air Force bases. I lived in Colorado, and I lived in Reston, Virginia, when I was a realtor in the 2000s, and then we came back. But we didn’t live in Vegas then.
FlaglerLive: And there’s never been professional disciplinary actions, professional boards, associations that have disciplined you for any reason or anything to that effect?
Anna Jones: I’ve never been fired.
FlaglerLive: Well, that brings you to the end of the interview. I appreciate very much the time and the patience, and thank you very much for taking part.
Anna Jones: I appreciate that.
See how the other candidates answered:
Regarding development, Jones said “This county lacks overall vision,” and that she would “require all developers to submit all studies with all proposals.”
Jones addressed feedback that the airport generated through a web page that invited complaints: “Mr. Salinas said 12 users, but noted 3095 complaints and 574 required investigation, but no investigation ever happened. They buried it.”
Jones also wrote:
Most of the technical issues were during the budget questions. A brief summary of what I see as the role of County Commissioner is:
Establishes fiscal policies, sets tax rates, approves the final (balanced) budget, appropriates funds, and provides ongoing oversight.
What I see when watching these meetings is chaos. If anyone would like to know which meetings I’m referring to in this interview, please watch June 6th Constitutional Officers Budget Workshop and the two July 13th 1pm Workshop and 5pm Meeting.
The Constitutionals all wanted more money, some a lot more money, and when questioned it was obvious they were not going to budge. Even in this atmosphere of overspending and the “waste, fraud, and abuse” headlines, you could see they couldn’t care less.
On July 13th Workshop, the BOCC was to set an amount for the Beach MSBU. Taylor Engineering gave a brief overview, residents gave opposition, Mr. Tabassian gave overview and discussion on permitting, and more discussion added to uncertainty. The result was the same outcome as it is currently, ZERO MSBU until next year and the funding will come from General Funds. Then they were to set the millage rate which was proposed at 7.99. There was much discussion on TRIM, Millage, Roll Back, ESL, etc. And discussion about the county getting their budget 5% and how to get the constitutionals to do the same. Final result was millage set at 7.99. Please watch these three meetings to get an idea how bad it is. I asked some people that are or were in high positions in this county and they have said, it’s the chair, it’s the admin, it’s the constitutionals, or it’s the whole board. It’s completely dysfunctional.
What would I propose? First, I will release the name of the report I referred to; FLcitizenaudit.com/reports/flagler. An ordinary citizen that lives in the Hammock did a very good 69 page analysis. She critiqued Ingolia’s audit for lack of details and I thought this might be of interest to the county as they rebutted the audit as false. She dove deep into years of budgets and analyzed the constitutional departments. She even found a $500,000 ‘anomaly’ in the 24-25 budget. Where’d that money go? Then she gives detailed recommendations for the future – all of which I agree with, yet we are both ignored. As a matter of fact, I was speaking to a group at the Hammock Beach Resort about this very subject and my opponent stated, “it’s AI”. Completely dismissed. If you care about Flagler County and its future, please watch those 3 meetings and read the Flagler County Fiscal Accountability Analysis.
Third, the airport. No, my campaign is not a vendetta against Roy Sieger. I don’t believe he’s a very good airport director and needs to do more for the residents of the communities around the airport. You can see this on the airport website and if anyone did any due diligence, you would not know there is a flight school problem. We all know there’s no Fly Friendly Policy, no airport advisory committee, noise portal, environmental assessment, etc. The demands we have are on the website peaceforplam.com and linked to the petition. I would like to rescind my compliments of Phoenix East (a tenant of KFIN) as they have been flying all low and over the neighborhood all Sunday morning, our day of rest.
Lastly, my campaign is about the process of handling any of the issues here in Flagler County. I believe I can address them properly and efficiently. Whether it’s the airport, the MCH Lots project my opponent just approved in Seminole Woods, the MCH Lots project just approved in the E Section by another candidate (who accepted campaign funds from that developer before the vote and returned them after public backlash), the MSBU. the beach management plan and the citizen that wrote the analysis, or the lack of infrastructure before rapid growth – the pattern is the same. Residents call, email, band together, petition, attend public meetings, and speak in opposition. The result is always –ignore, mock, attack, or “JUST MOVE!” “You knew it was an airport” or “you know it’s a beach and needs to be maintained” or “you can’t stop growth”, “our hands are tied”.
This dynamic must change.
See how the other candidates answered:
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