The Belle Terre Swim Club’s Advisory Committee is soliciting $20-a-month memberships that would enable members to use the facility on an hourly and daily basis. But at least 120 members are needed to open the club one hour a day. The committee’s goal is to build up to enough members to open the facility several hours a day, six days a week.
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Palm Coast Government Will Award Forensic Audit ‘Education’ Contract to MSL, an Orlando Accounting Firm
As the Palm Coast City Council seeks an education on forensic audits–either to conduct one or to learn that it may be too prohibitively, unnecessarily expensive absent imperative reasons to do one–Palm Coast government intends to award the contract for such an education to Orlando-based MSL, P.A. The accounting company specializes in audits, including fraud and forensic audits, business, tax and financial consultancies.
Nearly $1 Billion in New Construction Raises Flagler County Taxable Values 12% Over Last Year, a Salve to Budgets
“Humming along” is how Flagler County Property Appraiser Jay Gardner describes the year’s property values: powered by nearly $1 billion in new construction alone, $631 million of it in Palm Coast, taxable property values in Flagler County rose around 12 percent this year, and 13 percent in Palm Coast, about the same as last year. The estimates being finalized this week play a central role in local governments’ budgeting and taxing decisions.
Developer of Proposed 204-Boat Storage Facility in Hammock on Collision Course with County and Residents
Flagler County government, the Hammock Community Association and Hammock Barbour, the proposed development of a 204-boat storage facility and restaurant on A1A in the Hammock, are heading for another likely collision in court. A nearly four-hour mediation session that started this morning and stretched into afternoon, involving the three parties, failed.
Old Dixie Motel Owners Tell Skeptical Judge They Have No Intention of Abiding by Repair Contract with County
Flagler County government and the attorney representing the always-mysterious owners of the derelict Old Dixie Motel argued in front of Circuit Judge Chris France today about a three-year-old contract requiring safety and construction benchmarks. The county considers the contract valid. The owners do not. The county considers the contract valid. The owners do not. The judge will issue a ruling in the near future, though if his questions were any indication today, France is skeptical of the motel owners’ position.
Judge Rules Luke Ingram, 21, Legally Insane at Time of Brutal Killing of His Grandfather; Family’s Pain Unravels
Circuit Judge Terence Perkins in a short bench trial this morning found Luke Ingram not guilty by reason of insanity in the brutal killing, mutilation and raping of his grandfather Darwin Graham, 85, on Clermont Court in Palm Coast in November 2022. The short trial was also an occasion for family members to fill in, publicly for the first time, the distinguished life that Darwin Ingram had lived, and include for the court record some of the atrocities Luke Ingram committed that morning.
Scott DuPont Booted Off Ballot as Judge Rose Marie Preddy Prevails in Challenge Over Eligibility to Run
Circuit Judge Rose Marie Preddy, who sits in Putnam County, will not face an opponent in her bid to retain her seat as a judge today threw out Scott DuPont–a former judge–off the August ballot. DuPont, a former judge in the circuit, was removed from the bench by the Supreme Court in 2018, then suspended from the Bar for several months. That suspension meant he could not be eligible for a judgeship until 2026.
Increasing Sales Tax Divides Palm Coast and Flagler County As Both Scrounge for New Revenue for Cops and Other Needs
Discussion of a possible increase in the local sales surtax sharpy divided opinions between the Flagler County Commission and the Palm Coast City Council, who were meeting jointly today to discuss funding for the sheriff’s office. The discussion divided the two bodies even within their own memberships, suggesting that any possibility of an increase is remote best this year, if that.
Supreme Court Rejects Challenges to Florida’s Use of 6-Person Juries in Most Felony Trials Instead of 12
The U.S. Supreme Court did not explain its reasons for declining to take up 13 cases challenging Florida’s use of only six jurors in most felony trials. But Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a dissenting opinion that said the court should reconsider a 1970 ruling in a Florida case, saying the constitutional right to trial by a jury is not met by six-member juries.
Spectrum Launches Long-Awaited High-Speed Fiber Option for Western Flagler County
Charter Communications’ Spectrum, the internet, phone, cable television and wireless service company, last week launched high-speed internet and other services to more than 900 homes and small businesses in rural, western Flagler County. The fiber-optic network is now available in Andalusia, Bimini and Daytona North, also known as the Mondex, reaching into areas of the county that had been chronically underserved but for satellite connections.