The Flagler County Commission agreed to delay building the long-awaited $6.5 million terminal at the county airport, agreeing instead to a $560,000 project to build 42 new hangars, which the airport director says will make the airport $212,000 a year.
Local Business
Community Cats Opens Bigger Thrift Store in Bunnell to Pay for New Adoption Facility
Community Cats of Palm Coast, Flagler County’s largest cat-rescue organization, opened its new thrift store today in the Alamo Business Center at 4550 North US 1 in Bunnell to help fundraise and support a future adoption center in an adjoining location.
For Waste Pro in Palm Coast, Trashy Service Piles Up Complaints and Fines Again As City Nears New Bid
Waste Pro since March 2018 has accumulated $112,500 in fines over shoddy service. It had a good 2020, but the first three months of 2021 have been increasingly poor, and just as the city is preparing to bid out the contract, which expires in 2022. The company again blames a driver shortage. The city wants Waste Pro to live up to its contractual obligations.
Affordable Housing Under Attack: Flagler Realtors Join Opposition to Decimation of Housing Trust Fund
Flagler County Realtors are joining forces with state counterparts to oppose a proposal that would gut the amount of money the state will spend on affordable housing, by limiting Sadowski trust fund expenditures to that end to 33 percent of the fund’s total.
Flagler Beach’s Iconic A-Frame Is Getting a Make-Over for First Time in 24 Years
The Flagler Beach Pier’s A-frame is getting its first re-shingling in 24 years, a $9,360 job and the fourth in the last four years on different parts of the pier and its restaurant, ahead of the city’s upcoming centennial.
In Florida, Companies Will Be Shielded from Covid Lawsuits, Leaving Frontline Workers to Fend for Themselves
Opponents of the bill heading for Gov. DeSantis’s signature warn it will protect corporations more than people and offers no protections for front-line workers who contracted the virus while on the job. Employees are required to use the workers’ compensation insurance system for on-the-job injuries, but claims often are getting denied.
Flagler Beach Again Cancels July 4 Parade and Fireworks, Wrapping Hopes for a Big Event Around Christmas
For the second year in a row, Flagler Beach will not host its traditional July 4 parade and fireworks, the city commission decided tonight, nor will the event be postponed to Labor Day. Doing so would be too “risky,” the commission agreed with Flagler Health Department Chief Bob Snyder. Commissioners are placing their hopes on a big event and parade around Christmas, including fireworks.
Hutson-Sponsored Bill to Regulate Vaping Clears House Panel, Without Ban on Flavored Products
More than two years after the U.S. surgeon general declared youth vaping an epidemic, Florida lawmakers again are working on an effort to regulate the sale of electronic cigarettes and raise the age to use tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21.
House Committee Postpones Debating Vacation Rental Bill That Would Have Stripped Local Authority
Flagler County has kept preservation of regulatory authority among its legislative priorities year after year, as the vacation rental industry has–year after year–attempted to scrap the 2014 law and “pre-empt” local control to the state.
Employee Ranks Double at Flagler’s Own Coastal Cloud as Company’s Vaccine and Testing Platforms Go Viral
Hammock-based Coastal Cloud’s testing and vaccine platforms, adopted by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, placed the company at the center of the state’s battle against covid and resulted in a doubling of the company’s ranks to 280, despite the crisis.