The truck purchase inflamed many a confrontation among Flagler Beach city commissioners and embroiled the city’s fire department in a nearly year-long battle to secure it.
Flagler Beach City Commission
Flagler Beach Shock: Settle Opts Out of Commission, So Mealy and Belhumeur Are Elected
In a minor shock in Flagler Beach, Commissioner Steve Settle opted not to file for re-election, automatically resulting in the election of Rick Belhumeur and the re-election of Jane Mealy at 5 p.m. Friday.
Sudden Resignation of Flagler Beach Firefighter Follows Allegations of “Unauthorized Absences”
Clint Dixon, a firefighter for the past three years, resigned “for personal reasons” after confirming to his fire chief that he’d left his post a couple of times.
Flagler Beach and Manager Newsome Agree To Open-Ended Contract at $88,000 a Year
City commissioners had only minor quibbles, such as the elimination of a $200-a-month car allowance and evaluation matters, before they adopted the contract with the long-time Escambia County government administrator.
Municipal Elections for 3 Flagler Cities To Be Held on Presidential Primary Day, March 15
The municipal elections for Bunnell, Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach will be held in conjunction with the county-wide Presidential Preference Primary election scheduled for March 15 to save money and encourage more turnout.
Flagler Beach Hires Larry Newsom as City Manager, From a County 70 Times Larger
Larry Newsom, hired by a 5-0 vote Thursday night, had been assistant and interim manager in Escambia County, with a population of 350,000. Flagler Beach’s population is 5,000.
In Flagler Beach, City Manager’s Choice is Down to “Old Shoe” and “Shiny New Pair”
Flagler Beach commissioners have zeroed in on Joe Gerrity and Larry Newsom as their next city manager, but haven’t mustered the super-majority they need to offer the job to either.
Flagler Beach Manager’s Short-List Gets Shorter as 3 Withdraw, Leaving Only 2
Flagler Beach is having trouble attracting candidates for its city manager’s job, with just 23 applying and most of those making the short-list deciding to take jobs elsewhere. The commission interviews Andrew DeCandis this evening.
No Other Choice and Nothing to Lose, Flagler Beach Opts to Negotiate With Lone Golf Bid
Flagler Beach government will negotiate with Flagler Golf Management LLC to run the old Ocean Palm Golf Club, but a majority of commissioners have serious concerns and unanswered questions about the company.
Fearing Costs of Long and Losing Battle, Flagler Beach Surrenders to Sea Ray
Flagler Beach government approved a settlement agreement, 3-2, that ends its challenge of Sea Ray’s parking lot plans and the county’s land use changes.
Flagler Beach Shortlists 4 for City Manager’s Job, From Skimpy List of 23 Applicants
Compared to the 140 applications for the job 5 years ago, this round drew a skimpy response, with a shortlist reflecting the city commission’s limited choices.
Golf as Wrestling Match: Only in Flagler Beach as 2 of 3 Proposals for Old Course Bogey
A split Flagler Beach City Commission is leaning toward Flagler Golf Management to take over the old 9-hole course at the south end of town as obstacles remain and few alternatives exist. The next round is scheduled for Oct. 22.
Three Companies Tee Up Proposals to Run Flagler Beach’s Fallow 9-Hole Golf Course
The 34 acres of the old Ocean Palm Golf Club will be in play this evening at 5:30 p.m. as a committee hears proposals to rejuvenate the grounds profitably through a lease.
Party On: Flagler Beach Commission Approves Policy For Private Events on Pier, 4-0
The Flgler Beach City Commission Thursday voted 4-0 to approve a new policy regulating how the Flagler Beach pier may be rented out for private parties–and closed to the general public–up to six times a year.
In Flagler Beach, Builders Are Beating Back Higher Standards For Flood-Plain Homes
Builders in February opposed new regulations raising new homes higher than current flood-plain heights. Builders are now objecting to a compromise, forcing the city to revisit its regulations yet again.
In Flagler Beach’s On-Again, Off-Again Relationship With Manager Campbell, It’s On Again
The commission doesn’t want to have an interim manager, fearing a return to the years when it employed one—Bernie Murphy—for five years.
Flagler Beach Manager Want Ad Draws Just One Internal Applicant, With Little Experience
The lack of heftier applications suggests that the city commission may be forced to go to Plan B, which means opening the application process to a statewide and nationwide search, as was the case five years ago.
In Setback for Sea Ray, Flagler Beach Votes 3-2 to Challenge Land Use Change Over Parking lot
A divided Flagler Beach City Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to take a challenge to the state of a county land use amendment enabling Sea Ray Boats to build a parking lot on 24 acres south of its property off Colbert Lane in Palm Coast.
Flagler Beach Will Seek In-House City Manager Before Putting Out Broader Call
As it replaces Bruce Campbell, who’s leaving in september, the city will give preference to an internal applicant, then possibly advertise more broadly later this month if internal applicants don’t make the cut.
Sea Ray Issues Open Letter to Flagler Beach Ahead of Thursday’s Special Meeting
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets in special session Thursday to consider taking its opposition to a Sea Ray plan for a parking lot to the state. Sea Ray offers its side.
Ordering Them to “Get On With It,” Flagler Beach City Manager Tells His Bosses to Find His Replacement
Addressing his five bosses more bluntly than he has at any point in his four years as city manager, Cambpell told them he’s not interested in another contract and that he’s quitting in September.
County and Bunnell Join Schools and Palm Coast’s Higher Taxes, Flagler Beach Holds Line
The tax increases are generating almost no opposition, in large part because they are tied to benefits taxpayers can see: raises for teachers and cops, additions of firefighters (three this year at the county, three more next year), restoring reserves decimated during the recession, and so on.
Old Battle Brews As Land Owner Snags Flagler Beach Offer to Make Old Golf Course Whole
Instead of selling a 2.9-acre parcel to the city to fill in the old Ocean Palm Golf Club, the parcel owner rejected the city’s offer and asserted it will seek a zoning change, reviving a 25-year legal battle over the land at the south end of town.
In Flagler Beach, Lighter Rules for Farmers’ Market and 2-Week Limit on Golf Course Buy
The Flagler Beach City Commission voted to apply only a light regulatory hand on the city’s famed farmer’s market, and to start negotiations on buying the last remaining enclave in private hands at the former Ocean Palm Golf Club at the south end of town.
Flagler Beach Doesn’t Have a Parking Problem. It Has a Big Government Problem.
If Flagler Beach adopts paid parking, it’ll invite a problem as onerous as Palm Coast’s red-light cameras, damaging its reputation, needlessly hurting its businesses and alienating its closest and most loyal visitors.
Hurricane, Terrorism, Evacuations: In Flagler Emergencies, These Are The People Who Hold Your Fate In Their Hands
The Flagler County Executive Policy Group is the most powerful local government panel you’ve never heard of, and its members make all key decisions in natural or man-made emergencies. They practiced this morning.
Public Denounces Flagler Beach Paid-Parking Option, Splitting Commission on What’s Next
A proposal to impose paid parking on vast new swaths of Flagler Beach is likely dead shortly after its arrival at the Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday. What happens next is unclear.
662 Spaces Would Convert to Paid Parking in Flagler Beach in Panel’s Vast, Costly Proposal
Flagler Beach’s Ad Hoc Parking Committee, at work two years, will submit its recommendations Thursday to a special meeting of the city commission, with a focus on two options that call for paid parking either in city lots or throughout premium areas of the city, including A1A.
As Palm Coast Groans Over Its Anemic Golf Course, Flagler Beach Wants One Of Its Own
the Flagler Beach City Commission will look to buy the last 3 acres within the old Ocean Palm Golf Club at the south end of town and look to return the whole parcel to a golf operation through a lease with a private company, assuming one can shoulder the task.
The Inappropriate Commissioner Kim Carney
Flagler Beach Commission Chairman Marshall Shupe apologized to residents tonight on behalf of the commission for vile remarks Commissioner Kim Carney had made in the context of a rape case involving a friend of hers. FlaglerLive editor Pierre Tristam explains the background, which involves this site.
Echoing Advocates, Flagler Commission Unanimously Approves Sea Ray’s Parking Lot Expansion
The vote was a victory for the Brunswick Corp.’s Sea Ray manufacturing plant, the unanimity of the vote was a victory for the county’s business establishment, though opponents had voiced concerns about the company’s existing pollutants and its future plans.
We Don’t Oppose Sea Ray. We Oppose Pollutants and Debasing Flagler Beach’s Quality of Life.
Two Flagler Beach residents lay out the case against Sea Ray’s proposed land use change to accommodate a parking lot, a change opponents say paves the way for more pollution without compelling the company to take stronger toxic-emission control measures.
To Replace Manager Bruce Campbell, Flagler Beach Returns to Old Playbook: Doing Nothing
Like his predecessor, who was an interim manager of Flagler Beach for five years before he decisively quit, Bruce Campbell is finding it difficult to walk away from the job, and the city commission is not making it easy for him.
For Oceanside Grill in Flagler Beach, a Parking Lot Becomes Epic Battleground Over City Rules
The city told Oceanside Grill that it had inadequate parking, and when the restaurant bought a lot to comply, the city told it it could not use it for parking. The contradictions came to a head at a planning board meeting Tuesday, but a compromise is in the works.
Flagler Beach Settles With Ex-Flagler Beach Firefighters, Retracting Firing and Paying $80,000 to Each
Ex-Flagler Beach firefighters Jake Bissonnette and Shane Wood wrote resignation letters to replace their firing orders, but they will not be returning to work for the fire department.
Despite Big Economic Impact, Flagler Beach Mostly Snubs Groundbreaking to Double Gamble Rogers Park’s Camping Sites
There were more top state and county officials than Flagler Beach officials at today’s groudbreaking at Gamble Rogers State Park, an echo of the city’s failed attempt to change the name of the recreation area back to Flagler Beach last month.
Case Closed: Flagler Beach Commission Votes 4-1 to Buy $600,000 “Quint” Fire Truck
There was debating, pleading, occasional shouting and plenty of sniping, but in the end a conclusion foretold months ago was ratified with a 4-1 vote as the Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday night opted to buy a nearly $600,000 fire truck called a “quint.”
Flagler Beach Mayor Calls Special Meeting on Fire Truck Only To Be Outmaneuvered With Planned Vote
Flagler Beach Mayor Linda Provencher wanted a meeting to further investigate what she considers a dubious $600,000 fire truck buy. Instead, she got a meeting where the commission may finally vote to go ahead with the purchase this evening.
Bruce Campbell Resigns As Flagler Beach City Manager
Flagler Beach City Manager Bruce Campbell on Friday told his staff he was resigning after three years on the job. He did not give any reasons.
Flagler Beach Attorney Scott Spradley Marks 25th Year With Pier-Timbred Gift to City Commission
Flagler Beach attorney Scott Spradley will present a 6 foot by 3 foot photograph on canvass of the pier, which he took, to the City Commission on Oct. 9 as a gift marking his 25 years as a member of the Florida Bar.
Flagler Beach Commissioner Settle’s Attempt To Boot Kim Carney Off Chairmanship Fails
Some two dozen people roundly criticized and at times ridiculed Flagler Beach city commissioners’ bickering in their attempt to remove Carney Thursday evening, calling on the commission to talk and get along more appropriately.
Flagler Beach Retreats From Clumsy Attempt To Regulate Farmers’ Market, But It Isn’t Over
Flagler Beach Farmers’ Market owner Zoee Forehand was stunned by an imprecise city proposal to impose new regulations on the market. Thursday, the city commission agreed to step back and let the owners, their attorney and the city attorney draft a proposal together.
Settle Wants Carney Out as Commission Chair in Flagler Beach, Underscoring Dysfunction
In an unprecedented move in the city’s history, Flagler Beach City Commissioner Steve Settled will seek to have Kim Carney removed from the commission chairmanship next week, and replaced with Marshall Shupe.
Gamble Rogers Rec Area Will Keep Its Name as Flagler Beach Concedes: “Not Worth the Fight”
The Flagler Beach City Commission and the County Commission both retreated from a push to remove Gamble Rogers’s name from the Flagler Beach recreation area following a series of setbacks and a public backlash against the idea.
Fuego Del Mar Restaurant Owner Again Draws Commissioner McGrew’s Wrath in Battle Over Entertainment Permits
For the second time in 15 months, McGrew publicly let loose a torrent of venom against Nick Kimball, questioning his word, his neighborliness, his business habits, even his “good faith” in a 90-minute hearing where one of Kimball’s permit requests was approved, another denied.
Flagler’s Constitutional Officers, With Combined Salaries of $1 Million, Get 0.4% Bump
When the $140,406 in salaries to city elected officials is added to the figure, the combined total, for elected officials in Flagler County, stands at $1.13 million for the coming year, not including benefits.
Flagler Beach’s Dishonorable Ploy: Don’t Remove Gamble Rogers’ Name From Rec Area
Flagler Beach is terribly misguided and short-sighted in its attempt to remove Gamble Rogers from the state recreation area’s name, a reflection of the tourism industry’s faddish obsession with “branding” at the expense of fostering more substantive cultural attractions.
Flagler Beach Rejects Commissioner Carney’s Proposal to Put $600,000 Fire Truck Buy on Hold
When Commissioner made a motion to pull the $600,000 truck buy proposal out of the budget this year and “think about what we’re doing,” the rest of the commission snubbed her during a contentious, at times anger-tinged meeting.
650 Names, or 13% of Flagler Beach Population, On Petition Opposing $600,000 Fire Truck
The 65-page petition, published here in full for public examination, has not been authenticated by the city, but would, if verified, pose a serious challenge to a majority of commissioners still intent on buying the fire truck.
Far From Settled, Whistleblower Case Against Flagler Beach Fire Department Focuses on Captain’s Truthfulness
Flagler Beach Fire Captain Bobby Pace’s truthfulness on his job application and his handling of a probationer’s work hours at the station were the focus of a deposition in which Pace repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment’s right not to testify. An attorney is seeking to compel him to answer. The matter goes to court Wednesday.