Bob Jones, Flagler County Commission Candidate: The Live Interview

Bob Jones is running against Donald O’Brien in the Republican primary on Aug. 18. The winner will face two independents in the Nov. 3 general election, Denise Calderwood and Paul Anderson. Jones, like other members of the local Trump Club, is not answering questions.

Three seats are up on the commission in this election cycle. In District 3, incumbent Republican Dave Sullivan faces a challenge by Republican Kim Carney, the former Flagler Beach city commissioner. Because that race drew only two Republicans, it will be a universal primary, meaning that all registered voters may cast a ballot on Aug. 18. There will be no runoff. The winner will be seated in November. 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.

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: Bob Jones

Place and Date of Birth: 
Current job: 
Party Affiliation:
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.

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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.

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’s answer

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’s answer

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

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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.

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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?

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’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.

Bob Jones did not answer the question. 

See Donald O’Brien’s answer